But I understood his kind of desperation and the willingness to do terrible things for the people you loved.
I'd left my entire family behind to escape my father's poison. I’d walked away from Koolaroo, from my siblings, from everything I'd ever known. But I wasn’t walking away again. This time, I’d finish what I should have done a decade ago.
Doug and I weren't so different. We'd both made choices we couldn't take back. Both of us had ended up in situations we didn't know how to escape.
The difference was, I'd learned to live with my choices.
Doug was still running from his. I knew the stupid bastard was never going to back down, which meant I’d have to finish this bullshit, too.
My mind ran through scenarios, exit strategies, and ways to disarm him. I'd disarmed men twice his size in situations ten times worse than this. However, with Charlie in my arms, I couldn't risk her getting hurt. So, I wouldn't take him on here in the dark.
I’d known Charlie for merely hours, yet she’d somehow become someone worth dying for.
I'd been treating people as my mission objectives for so long that I'd forgotten how to care. Ten years of war had ground the humanity out of me, turning everything into risk assessment and acceptable losses.
Charlie was not an acceptable loss.
So, I waited.
And stared into the absolute blackness.
And held her close.
Because when morning came, all hell was going to break loose again.
I needed to be ready.
Chapter 14
Charlie
* * *
I jerked awake, blinking into the dim light. Where am I?
An arm tightened around my chest, and my heart slammed against my ribs as memory crashed back. The cave. The flood. The skeleton. Doug and his gun.
And Mitch. Oh shit. I'm still between his legs.
Heat flooded my face. I should move.
Light filtered through hairline cracks in the cave ceiling. Tiny threads of dawn, barely enough to see by. Each time I’d woken during the night, I'd listened to water dripping through those fissures above. The storm must have passed now, though, allowing weak pre-dawn light to seep through those cracks instead.
I started to shift, but Mitch's arm locked around me, holding me still. His body had gone rigid, every muscle tensed.
I glanced across the cave, and my stomach dropped. Doug was just visible, seated against the far wall, the rifle aimed right at me. His eyes were open, watching.
How long had he been awake?
"Keep calm," Mitch murmured against my ear. "Just breathe. We'll figure out the next steps."
"Next steps?" Doug's voice growled. "Like you letting me walk out of here with those jewels?"
"We can sort this out," Mitch said, still so calm.
"There's nothing to sort out." The rifle scraped against stone as Doug adjusted his grip, letting us know we were still his hostages. "These jewels are mine. I found them."
Anger flared through my chest. "We all found them, Doug."