Page 73 of Breached

His phone rang, and he hit speaker on it since it wasn’t paired with the Chevy.

“I just heard from Zack.” Cole was all business. “Where are you now?”

“Trying like hell not to make it look like we are racing back home.” Paul eased into a turning lane. “I’m watching to see if we have company.”

“Hunter called and said he lost track of Bruno and Armondo. He checked around, and one of his guys spotted Armondo pumping gas just outside Fort Benton.”

“What?” That shocked me. Bruno wasn’t supposed to make his move for another three days. “When was this?”

“That’s the answer we’re still waiting on.” Cole made an uneasy sound. “Something feels off.”

“Don’t I know it.” Paul cleared his throat. “I’m going to start heading back. If I spot anyone, I’ll take a detour.”

“Copy that. Keep me in the loop.”

He hung up, and I kept my eyes on my side mirror. We didn’t speak, we didn’t touch, we just kept on high alert as we climbed the mountain road, scanning for headlights and the tops of ridges for anything that moved.

We weren’t far from the hidden turnoff when lights appeared through the trees a mile or so away. Paul quickly turned off the headlights as he swung onto the smaller road, picking up speed as we went.

It suddenly hit me—the gate was open. “Where’re the checkpoint guys?”

“They’re there but just not manning the booth. Cole is tracking us and would have told them to clear the gates for us. Once we’re through, they’ll be on it again.” We turned onto a bumpy smaller road, and I held back my questions as we made our way toward Shadows from a way I’d never seen before.

The house suddenly appeared ahead of us. Chamness was helping Sloane and Dr. Roberts into an SUV as we came up quickly on them.

Once Paul stopped the truck, I hopped out as he raced around to my side. “Go with Chamness and Quinn. Keep your head up and do exactly what they say. No phones, no internet, nothing until you hear from me, okay?”

“I promise.” I kissed him hard then hurried to join the others.

“Nicole!” he called, and I turned to see his worried face. He put a hand to his chest, and I nodded. I loved him, too.

“Me too,” I called and put a hand over my own heart.

“Nicole.” Chamness stood by the SUV door, holding his rifle across his body. I could just picture him on a battlefield.

“Yeah.”

“Time to go.”

“Of course.” I looked back at Paul, who gave me one last look before he disappeared back in the truck and headed out to The Peak. I slid into the back seat, and as the door shut behind me, I noticed Davie and Dell had stepped back into the house. “They’re not coming with us?”

“Change in plans,” Chamness said as he buckled his seatbelt.

Dr. Roberts sat next to me, and I noticed he tucked a pretty pink scarf into the side of his leather bag. I didn’t ask who it belonged to, but I could guess. It was obviously important to him. He rubbed the fabric between his fingers before he pushed it down and zipped the flap closed. I caught Sloane’s eye as she got in. She had caught it, too, and mouthed Abigail’s name. I gave a slight nod and felt the heartbreak of what he must be feeling in that moment.

“How was town?” Sloane asked, but her tone told me she got wind of what happened.

“Eventful.” I sighed. I was happy to be back on the mountain with people I trusted.

“Heading to the first checkpoint on the west side of the property,” Chamness said into his radio as we headed down another road I didn’t recognize. Bushes scraped against our windows in some spots.

“Copy that. Raven One out.”

“That’s Cole,” Dr. Roberts kindly filled me in, even though I knew most of the call signs by now. “Raven Two is Mark.”

“What was your call sign?”

He smiled warmly. “I never served. I was the house doctor for Daniel and his team, Blackstone.”