Page 74 of Under Fire in Big Sky

A talent she once admired when it wasn’t being used against her.

Anger surged, welling in her chest. She picked up the plastic bottle and hurled it against the wall.

Footsteps came down the hall at a clipped pace. Sean stalked into the room, his stride full of urgent purpose. His 9mm was holstered on his thigh, not his hip. The position offered an advantage in close-quarter engagements or situations requiring dynamic movements like kneeling or crouching.

It gave her pause.

He unlocked her cuff from the iron bed frame, restrained her wrists in front of her, and made her stand.

“Where are we going?” Olivia hadn’t requested to use the bathroom and there was no sign of Paige in the hall.

“First, I have a question.” His steely gaze held hers. “Who is Orson?”

Orson?

She struggled to remember why the name sounded familiar. Then it came to her. “A hacker. The IPS team worked with him on a case. Highly skilled. Can be relied on for his efficiency and discretion.” Eli told her almost everything when it came to his work. “Why?”

The response seemed to appease him, a satisfied grin curling his lips.

Sean ushered her down the hallway and onto the porch, where a guy with a goatee, holding an assault rifle, stood.

She welcomed the fresh air and sunshine on her skin.

“We’ve got a meeting with Eli,” Sean said.

The news caught her off guard. “Where?”

Holding her arm, Sean led her off the porch and toward the barn. “He’s en route here.”

Her hand brushed his side. Beneath his shirt, he was wearing a ballistic vest. Was this going to be a meeting or a battle? “He got the NOC list?”

“Eli claims to have paid Orson to get the list for him.”

Brilliant, if it was true.

Risky, if it was a bluff.

“For his sake,” Sean said, “he better have it.”

A nondescript black van zipped down the road and turned into the long driveway of the farm with Brandon behind the wheel. Sean hustled her into the barn, to the middle where a laptop had been placed on a small table. He cuffed her to the grill bars of a nearby horse stall.

She glanced around at the decaying wood and chipped beams overhead. The place looked ready to cave in. “I’m surprised you agreed to meet him. I thought you would’ve drawn out the exchange, stalled until Tuesday.”

Sean went to the laptop. “Eli threatened to delete a name from the list every hour I made him wait.”

Good thinking. “Once you get the list, are you going to let us both go?”

Glancing over his shoulder, Sean grinned at her. “In due time. Eli will remain here in the barn as my guest. Unharmed. Provided the list is genuine. Do your part to ensure he behaves and this will go smoothly.”

She couldn’t control Eli and didn’t know whether the list was real or fake. “And if it doesn’t?”

Sean’s smile faded, his eyes taking on a predatory glint that made her stomach clench. “It can all turn to blood in a blink.”

A wave of nausea rolled through her.

Brandon strode into the barn with his meaty hand locked on Eli’s arm. A black hood covered Eli’s head. His wrists were bound in front of him with a zip tie.

“Thank you, Brandon,” Sean said. “I’ve got it from here.”