“I… I’m hiking.”
“Did you know Justin was here? Had you planned on visiting him?” The way he peppered the questions, and the tone laced behind the upset, made her feel guilty.
She ruffled at that thought. She had done nothing wrong. Hadn’t planned a rendezvous with Justin or anything, if that’s what Davis was implying. Was he jealous? Was that why he was mad?
“I didn’t know anyone was here, let alone Justin. Or you, for that matter.” You big jerk. She kept that last bit to herself. “I saw the mine while I was scouting and stopped in for a visit.”
“Because dropping in unannounced at a gold mine is a perfectly okay thing to do.” Davis shook his head and glanced out the roots.
Sunny glared at him. All Care Bear-glowing, warm and fuzzy feelings vanished.
“We need to get you out of here.” Davis talked to the roots like they’d help him evacuate her.
“You mean us. We need to get us out of here.”
When he shook his head, her frustration with him leeched to cold fear.
“What are you going to do, go Rambo and hunt these guys down?”
“Exactly.”
“No. No, not on your own, you aren’t.” She grabbed his shoulder and yanked him around. “Listen, we use my InReach and alert the authorities. Both Gunnar and Bjørn will be here in a matter of hours, plus whatever troopers would come.”
“We can call. Find a spot farther away from here where you can be picked up, and I’ll leave a trail for whoever comes to follow.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “But I’m not letting Justin’s murderers disappear.”
Sunny rolled her eyes and reached for her emergency beacon. She wasn’t about to argue with him, not at the moment, at least. There was no way she’d let him go on his own. If he wouldn’t let her stay with him, she’d just follow. It wasn’t like he’d tie her to a tree or something.
She unclipped the InReach handheld from her pack and turned it on. Nothing but silence, and no signal greeted her.
Goosebumps covered her already chilled skin. That can’t be right. This gadget worked at the North Pole. Why wouldn’t it be working? How would they get help now?
Davis took the gadget from her hands and fiddled with the buttons. When it was clear the thing wouldn’t work, he cursed and chucked a rock against the opposite wall. Dirt flew from the impact, and she jerked.
Pulling her knees closer, she ground her teeth together to keep them from chattering. She understood his frustration. Shoot. She wanted to throw stuff around too.
“What are we going to do now?” She shivered, the dampness finally seeping in with her adrenaline zapped.
Davis gazed at her across the small space and, with a sigh, moved beside her. “I need to get back to camp. There’s a computer in Justin’s cabin we can call out on.”
“Okay.”
She leaned into his side when he put his arm across her shoulder. It wasn’t because she was glad to see him. More like his heat eased a bit of her tension.
Oh, who was she kidding?
All kinds of emotions flooded her at once—relief, hope, even happiness. She just needed to remember that she couldn’t trust those emotions.
That she couldn’t trust him.
With her safety, yes. He was one of the country’s most elite soldiers. She just couldn’t depend on him when it came to her heart.