“Jesus, Whitmore, I’m fine.” Kane accepted the hand Neve offered him, levering onto his legs. The left buckled slightly before he locked his knee, looking as if the climb had aged him five years.
Kane tapped his wrist. “We’re down to ten minutes before Gus’ call. We need to be as far away from here as possible, because there’s no way whoever’s left standing won’t scour every inch of this mountain.”
Neve watched him stumble off with Wynn, that left leg dragging a bit before he got it beneath him, carried more of his weight. She scanned the ridge line, pain clawing at her ribs, the ghosted feel of the soldier’s fingers around her neck hampering her next breath as she followed after her team.
Rain poured from the sky, the thunder a constant backdrop as they marched along a narrow trail, mud splashing up their pants. A deep chill settled into her bones, her teeth chattering in a poor attempt to stay warm.
They hit an open expanse of scrub, the perimeter too far to avoid crossing. Neve pushed down her inner voice, working with Wynn as they carried Kane across, set him against a tree once they’d reached the other side. He winced, balancing on his right leg for a moment as he drew in a series of shallow, choppy breaths.
Wynn checked Kane’s vitals, cocking her head to the side. “You okay? You’ve been favoring that left leg.”
Kane snorted. “Just cold, like everyone else.”
“Everyone else didn’t get shot or slam into the ladder.” She layered on more bandages, gave him something to help with the pain, then moved over to Neve — held out a nasal spray. “Take this before that pain blurs everything into gray.”
Neve turned the unit over a few times, eyeing Wynn out of the corner of her eye. “Ketamine? Really?”
“Do you want to keep moving or not?”
“You should save it for Kane.”
Wynn snorted. “Please, if I give the man any more, it’ll look like I spiked his damn coffee.” She crossed her arms, stared.
Neve relented, inhaled the mist, then stuffed the empty bottle in her vest. “Thanks.”
“It’s only temporary. As soon as we’ve got a minute to breathe, I’m performing a full body sweep, so start pouting now, if you need to.” She tossed her a roll of gauze. “And wrap that damn graze before you look as bad as Kane.”
Neve nodded, cinched the bandages around her arm, as they continued down the trail. Esposito’s message arrived on time, Zadie taking down the coordinates before switching off the radio.
She sighed when the rest of them stared at her. “I’ll save the power in case we really need it.”
Kane chuckled. “Worried we might encounter an even graver situation, Noor?”
Zadie cocked her head to the side. “Did you really just jinx us?”
Kane grinned, looking as if the simple exchange had drained half his reserves before they pushed off, then stopped at the edge of the next clearing. Two Tacomas sat off to one side, a thick diesel scent riding the breeze. Large silhouettes loomed in the clearcut, piles of logs just visible amidst the fog.
Scout motioned to the crew cab. “Give me thirty to cross over, jump inside and strip the wires, then dart across. I’ll fire her up once everyone’s inside. With any luck, the storm will hide the engine growl in case anyone’s hanging around.”
Neve maintained her vigil, dividing her attention between the two active fronts as Scout crept out, darted across the open stretch of uneven ground, then up to the pickup. She tried the door, hopping inside when it opened on the first try, her head dipping beneath the dash.
Neve ushered everyone out once she’d reached thirty, helping Kane slide into the back with Wynn and Zadie before rounding the vehicle and jumping in the passenger side. Scout got sparks arcing between the wires, the engine coughing to life on a sputter of smoke. Thunder crashed overhead, the rain drenching the windshield as Scout popped the truck into drive and eased forward.
They bumped down the gravel road, picking up speed once they’d put enough distance between them and the loggers. Scout ignored the headlights, relying on her NVGs to see through the night. The wipers tapped out a rhythm, the air inside the cabin thick with shared tension.
Kane rested in the back, thermal blanket draped over him, Wynn hovering like a hawk. He inhaled as the truck skidded through a patch of washboard, a few cans in the back rattling across the floorboards. Zadie inputted the coordinates into the truck’s GPS, staring at her radio as if she expected the general to bark out more orders. The vents pumped out some much-needed heat, the interior falling into an uneasy silence.
They traveled for another twenty minutes, each mile a small victory, as they slalomed down a tight switchback, bounced through a series of potholes. Scout rounded a bend, shuddering to a halt, a swath of black cutting through the gray. She removed her goggles, hit the lights. An old log bridge spanned a large ravine, one side tilted lower than the other.
Neve opened her door, had her flashlight centered on the edge as Scout inched ahead, tires slipping on the rain-soaked wood. The structure creaked, dipping more as they rolled across, the outer part of the tires clawing at air.
Neve held her breath, glancing back, checking for headlights she feared would slice through the dark as Scout kept the vehicle moving, finally driving off the other side as the bridge shifted, one of the support beams crumbling off the edge.
Scout followed the GPS, skirting onto spurs, then crossing back onto the main service roads, avoiding any chance of an encounter. They arrived at the cache coordinates four hours later, the rain lessening to an annoying drizzle.
Neve trekked into the woods at the edge of the pullout, uncovering the hidden case from inside the hollow log. She waited until she’d returned to the truck before popping it open, retrieving a sat phone and a thumb drive. Zadie took the drive, grabbed her ruggedized tablet from her pack, then hacked through a series of encryption codes before uncovering the final coordinates.
She read them out to Scout, studying the map as it drew a line to the bunker’s location along Harrison Lake. “What the hell would we have done if I hadn’t been able to crack the codes?”