Page 60 of Under Fire in Big Sky

“I asked myself the same thing. But that’s what it seems like.” So far, anyway. “It’s a video call, too, but that kid is standing in the way of me getting a look at the screen.”

A dull ache started behind his eyes from a lack of sleep and an abundance of worry over how this was going to play out. “Tak, are you sure there’s no one else in the woods near her position?”

Takoda’s drone was flying overhead of Olivia. If anyone spotted any sign of danger or another person closing in, it would be him first.

“I’m only picking up two heat signatures,” Tak said. “Nothing else.”

Everything appeared fine, but Eli couldn’t shake the sense that something about this wasn’t right.

Shock short-circuited Olivia’s brain. “You’re supposed to be dead,” she said in a whisper.

“It’s a long story. I want to tell you everything. Explain it all. But it has to be face-to-face.”

She thought she’d prepared herself for everything. Every eventuality. Except this. “Where are you?”

“You’ll have to come to me.”

“I thought I already had. That’s why I’m here.”

He smiled, a warm, smooth curve of his lips, but his eyes reflected cold, hard steel. “Just you. Not Eli.”

Dual strings tugged at her heart—the hopeful need to see Sean, get answers to the questions swirling in her head, and the desperate desire to spare Eli any torment by disappearing. “Go where? Are you here in the park?”

“Have I ever led you astray?”

He’d only ever protected her. “No.”

“I have so much to tell you. This might be the most important choice you’ll ever make. But it is your choice.”

She felt stuck. Torn. Almost numb. The still-lingering grief and guilt over thinking Sean was dead, and the gut punch of seeing him alive, rendered her unable to decide.

“I hate to pressure you, but I need to know now. This is the one-and-only opportunity I can give. For me to answer any question. For us to talk. You’ll come, won’t you?” he said, nodding.

Something about giving a person a one-time offer worked.

Olivia released a deep breath. “Okay.”

“Follow my instructions carefully. You’ll call Eli on your phone. I’ll be listening. Tell him you’re leaving to meet me. Shepherd. You are not to tell him who I really am. Or signal him in any way. Instruct him not to follow you. Reassure him you’ll be returned to him, unharmed.”

“Eli won’t listen to me.” Her hand trembled, her palm growing slick with sweat. “Any more than I listen to him.”

“Do you want to see me in person and hear what I have to say?”

“Yes,” she said without hesitation. She’d replayed their last mission together a hundred times. Imagined a different outcome where he survived. Where she got to see him again. Hug him once more. Thank him for everything he’d done for her. “Of course.”

“Then make him listen.”

Her heart hammered against her ribs, like the wings of a frantic bird trapped in a cage. She couldn’t risk Eli’s safety, trying to do the impossible. “Nothing I say will stop him from coming after me, and if you hurt him, I swear I’ll—”

“Shh. No need for threats, Dove,” Sean said, calling her an old nickname he’d given her years ago because she always sought a nonviolent solution.

How times had changed. She was prepared to kill to protect Eli.

“I know what he means to you.” Sean’s eyes softened, the steely glint replaced by a flicker of something she couldn’t quite decipher. “And I believe I’ve proven I don’t want to hurt either of you,” he said, his voice warm with affection. “This isn’t a zero-sum game. Not yet anyway, and I’m doing my best to prevent that from happening.”

“What will you do when Eli enters the forest and follows me?” Because nothing would stop him from doing so once he learned her intent to leave. And where exactly was she going?

She clenched her hand into a fist, nails digging into her palm as she waited for Sean’s response.