The Hero She Needs (Unbroken Heroes Book 1)(46)

But it also felt right. Like coming home to where she belonged.

She shoved the metal door open, and it screeched angrily. Then she stepped outside and tried to see down the treelined hillside.

Her stomach clenched. She saw smoke rising from the direction of the cabins. No. She heard distant shouts and squeezed her eyes closed.

Then she noted the gunfire. She sucked in a breath. That had to mean that Boone and Shep were still alive and fighting back.

Please be okay.

“Come on, Atlas.” She stepped back into the gloom of the tunnel, and tugged the door closed behind her. She wouldn’t put herself at risk and make things harder for Boone.

With the dog by her side, she moved back through the tunnels, taking left turns, until she reached her hiding spot.

She slid down the wall and sat with her knees up.

All she could do was wait. And pray that Boone would be safe.

He’d been in Ghost Ops. He was good at this. The best. And he had Shep helping him.

“Come back to me, Boone.”





From the trees, Boone looked at the smoking ruin of one of Shep’s cabins. The flames flickered greedily over the wood.

“Motherfuckers,” Shep said, staring at the fire.

“Sorry, man.”

“You don’t need to be sorry.” He hefted his rifle. “But I’ll make sure those assholes regret it.”

“Plan? We don’t know how many are left.”

“Taking down the loudmouth leader is a good place to start.”

Boone nodded. “Can you see any of them?”

“No.”

Boom.

Shep made a pleased sound. “Someone hit another booby-trap.”

A grim smile crossed Boone’s face. “Let’s circle around and mark all their locations. Then we’ll stop them, once and for all.”

Shep nodded.

They crept quietly through the edge of the trees. Boone heard voices ahead and lifted a hand to signal Shep. His friend nodded.

He and Shep split, moving to surprise the mercenaries from two different directions.

There were three of them standing in a group. Idiots. It made them easy targets. One was hunched over a heavy-duty tablet.

Boone frowned. What the hell were they doing?

“They’re closing in,” one merc said.

Who was closing in? And what were they closing in on?

“In position,” Shep said through the earpiece.

Boone pulled out his Glock and readied himself. “Go.” He rose and fired. One merc went down with a sharp cry.

Shep rushed out of the nearby bushes like a nightmare. He pounced on a second merc and dragged him down.

Boone aimed his gun at the man with the tablet. The young guy raised one hand, his other still clenched on the device.

“Good choice.” Boone snatched the tablet from him, just as Shep appeared. His friend yanked the man’s hands behind his back and zip-tied them.

Lifting the tablet, Boone focused on the screen. It showed an aerial view of the trees in a dark shade of blue, and there were some orange blobs in the center. Three of them in the trees and moving fast.

“What’s this?” he demanded.

The young merc swallowed. “The thermal camera. It’s mounted on a drone.”

Boone looked up into the sky. Shit.

“I spotted a thermal signature up on the hillside, near the mine. Radu deduced that it was our target. That you’d hidden her.”

Ice filled Boone’s veins.

The merc swallowed. “He took two men, and he’s moving to intercept her.”

With a growl, Boone dropped the tablet and gripped the front of the man’s shirt. Emotions charged through him, fear leading the way.

“Boone,” Shep said sharply.

Boone met his friend’s gaze.

“Go,” Shep said. “I’ll hold the rest off. Go get your girl.”

Boone swiveled and ran.





CHAPTER SEVENTEEN





God, when would it be over? Huddled with her arms around her legs, nerves alive in her stomach, Gemma felt sick.

She shivered and wrapped her arms tighter around her body. It was cold in the tunnel.

A sound echoed off the rock walls. The screech of rusty hinges.

She shot to her feet. Boone was back. Her heart raced.

But beside her, Atlas growled, his strong body turning stiff. Then she heard the rumble of deep voices.

“Find her. She can’t be far.”

It was a familiar Romanian accent. No. Her stomach turned over. It wasn’t Boone, it was Radu.

Shit. She glanced around. What should she do? Her fingers clenched on the gun Boone had left her.

It would be best to stay hidden. She couldn’t fight off Radu and his mercenaries herself. She eyed the dark tunnel ahead of her.

“Come on, Atlas.”

She set off, with Atlas right beside her. She was careful to block as much of the light from her flashlight as possible. She didn’t want the mercs to spot it, but she wouldn’t take the risk of trying to navigate these old tunnels in the dark either.

The tunnel inclined, going up the hill. The walls and ceiling were rough, and in places, had deteriorated. There were small piles of rubble dotted on the uneven ground.

She reached a spot where the tunnel was almost completely blocked by rock.