In my mind, I’m back in time again, living the moment after I killed my brother, and it’s absolute hell. Everyone close to me dies and somehow in my mind, it’s Pri lying there on the floor where my brother had died, Pri dying, like it’s a damn premonition.
There’s a crack in the air, a gunshot in the far distance. Pri reaches the woods on the opposite side of the clearing and, heart pumping, I’m right there with her. I catch her arm and step behind the wide column of a tree trunk and rest my back against it, pulling Pri in front of me. A second later, I rotate her, pressing her back to the tree, and sheltering her here in the dark stormy night, my body her armor, waiting for the bullets to fly.Chapter FivePRI
Adrian’s big body is a wall that halts the onslaught of rain, but who’s protecting him? I know I heard a gunshot and I hold my breath, afraid for what comes next. Afraid he’s sheltering me at his own peril. Afraid he will soon fall to the ground, injured or dying, like Agent Pitt. I don’t know what happened with Adrian’s brother and right now I don’t care. I know we’re out here, fighting for our lives, the two of us. And I know I wouldn’t be alive right now if not for him. And I know he matters to me. Deeply, beyond what perhaps he should in a few short weeks, but I don’t care about that either.
Thunder rumbles overhead and I lose track of time, fifteen minutes pass, I think, and we don’t move. Finally, with no more shots fired, Adrian inches back from me, the rain slowing, almost a tease that promises more to come. He’s still close, so close that I could almost forget we’re in danger. Suddenly, one of his hands is on my head. I grab his T-shirt and now we’re both holding each other and our weapons. He leans in again and his mouth slants over my mouth. And then he’s kissing me, and it’s not just a kiss. It’s ravishing, hungry, a kiss that’s pure obsession and even torment, almost a goodbye like he has to taste me once more before we die. I’m panting when his lips part from mine and he whispers, “We have to move.”
Those words shouldn’t comfort me, but the kiss did and the very fact that we’re not dodging bullets, does. The very fact that we’re alive and well and still able to run does, too.
“I need you to hold onto me,” he says, taking my gun and sliding it into the back of my pants. “It’s too dark to hold onto it and me.”
I nod and he’s already holding my hand, stepping back, the rain’s retreat ending, as it pounds down on me, on us, once again. And then we’re repeating the past hour, hiking through utter rain-laden darkness that feels almost as suffocating as that tunnel.
I’m exhausted when we start an upward, tortuous climb, but at least the terrain is smooth rock now, easier to maneuver. For a good ten minutes, we power upward, when to my relief, Adrian halts and pulls out his flashlight. It’s then that I realize we’re at the entrance to a cave and we’re going inside. I have no idea why that concept doesn’t freak me out, but I’ve learned over the years that there is no obvious rhyme or reason to my triggers. Or maybe I’m just too tired to have triggers right now.
Adrian motions for me to stand under a ledge of rocks. Once I’m in position, out of the rain, he bends over and enters the cave. I’m drenched and suddenly cold. Hugging myself against my shivers, I count down two full minutes before he exits and motions me forward. He squats down in front of the entrance and I join him. “It’s narrow,” he whispers, “but once you enter the main cavern, there’s standing room and I’ve turned on a lantern.”
I try not to think about the narrow part. I don’t ask about the lantern or obvious planning he’s done, either. Not now. As he said, questions are for later. For the time being, I just nod and sway toward the cave’s entrance. Adrian catches my arm. “You okay?”
I hate that he fears my freak-out. I hate that I let him see me freak out at all.
“Yes,” I reply and say nothing more. More feels like too much right about now.
He studies me a moment and I don’t know what he expected to find and actually does find, but whatever the case, he releases me. I waste no time settling onto my hands and knees and entering the cavern. The path curves right and left. This ends at a decent-sized hole I climb through and I don’t give myself time to panic. I suck in air and just go for it. It’s not too tight and I’m through in an instant, but there’s another hole to my left. I repeat my efforts, sliding through it, and then I’m there, on my knees, just inside a small, bedroom-sized cave aglow with the promised lantern. There’s also a blow-up mattress, blankets, and what looks like a few boxes of supplies that must have taken real effort to get in here.