Page 63 of Rafe’s Future

“Good idea.” She retrieved her phone from her back pocket. “I’ll give West a call and fill him in. Maybe we’ll get lucky, and Roger’s cell will be back on. If it is, Derek can use his signal to lead us in the right direction.”

It was wishful thinking, and a long shot at best, but it gave her something to think about other than the fact that the world had just lost another good man.

“Meet me outside when you’re done.”

“Copy that.” Lena nodded.

Rafe turned and walked out of the room. The soles of his boots were no longer silent as he marched with purpose on his way to the kitchen. He kept the lights off as a precaution, using his small flashlight and the light of the moon to guide him from the room’s entrance to the back door.

His steps slowed, finally coming to a stop when he reached the worn floor mat centered in front of the cabin’s rear exit. Using the light in his left hand, Rafe took a page from Lena’s playbook and carefully checked the door’s latch, knob, hinges, and frame.

Satisfied there was no threat on the other side—especially since he hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary during his search of the cabin’s perimeter—he placed the unlit end of the pocket flashlight between his teeth and shifted his weight forward. His boot had barely moved when the section of floor beneath the mat suddenly flexed and dropped under his weight.

Rafe went completely still.

The click that followed seemed deafening in the quiet cabin. Recognition came instantly, followed by a cold rush of dread.

A pressure-plate bomb.

He’d heard the same sound once before. As long as he kept his weight steady and his foot exactly where it was, nothing should happen. The moment he lifted his boot, however⁠—

Kaboom!

Rafe let his eyelids fall shut. Adrenaline and fear surged through him, chased by a heartache that was far more painful than either. The next few seconds stretched into an unbreathable eternity as thoughts, memories, and half-formed plans raced through his mind.

His first thought was of Alice, but he pushed his emotions aside and concentrated on calculating his odds of survival. Unfortunately, this wasn’t his first encounter with a pressure plate.

Ignorance truly is bliss.

The first time was decades ago, during a mission that had taken Rafe and his MI6 team deep into the Venezuelan jungle. He’d been fourth in a single-file formation when their team leader suddenly stopped moving.

Once they realized what had happened, Rafe and the others went straight to work. Their goal was to get their leader off the pressure plate without triggering the bomb. In the end, they’d agreed to spread out into the trees in search of heavy branches they could use to offset the man’s weight.

Rafe remembered hauling back the biggest pieces of wood he could carry. The jungle air had been thick with humidity, and mosquitoes and other flying insects had swarmed around them relentlessly. But none of it had mattered. He and the others had been too focused on keeping their team leader alive to notice the heat, insects, or sweat running down their backs.

He’d been the first one to return with his load, certain they’d found a way to save their friend’s life. Unfortunately, the man on the bomb had decided his life wasn’t worth risking theirs.

Rafe could still see the look in the brave man’s eyes the moment the decision was taken from the team’s hands.

I can still hear the explosion.

Even now, some nights, his most vivid nightmares brought back the bite of that heat against his skin. The sound. The shock wave. The terrible finality of it all.

And now I’m the one standing here, knowing this is how my story ends.

This was it. After decades of close calls and frequently putting his life on the line, his luck had finally run out. There was only one way this ended, and it wasn’t with him walking away.

Rafe let his eyes close. Memories of his precious Alice filled his mind, and his chest physically ached. The pain from his death would be so severe.

She doesn’t deserve this. She’s already lost too much.

First her mother and now him. Both parents taken by sudden, violent deaths.

Alice has Slade. The other members of the team. Their women. She’s strong, and she’ll be okay.

His daughter was one of the toughest people he knew, resilient to her very core. Still, Rafe knew his sweet Alice would need time to grieve.

Just not too much, he prayed.