Sam took a moment, sweeping her into a quick hug. He kissed her cheek, not caring that the rest of the team was probably watching his public display of affection. Emily had just been rudely introduced into the realities of zombies roaming the woods and eating people’s faces. The least he could do was take a quick moment to offer comfort and reassurance.
“I’ll be fine, Em. I’ve done this before. Don’t worry. Besides, I only saw two people at the site. Should be easy work.” He let her go, knowing he had little time. “The sooner I go, the sooner I’ll be back. Wait here. Let them debrief you. Tell them what you saw. Every detail is important. I’ll be back before you know it.”
“I’ll hold you to that, Sam.” She gave him a tentative smile and he admired her grit. Few women he’d known would have handled this situation with so little fuss.
Sam gave her another quick kiss, onlookers be damned.
He left her by the truck and headed back toward the team, who were waiting for him with a variety of expressions on their faces.
“Getting chummy with your new boss?” Sarah asked with a knowing grin as he rejoined the group.
“Give me a break, Sarah. Emily’s had a rough day.”
Sam took point, leading the way back through the woods. The first few yards were within the larger perimeter the support team had set up so there was still an opportunity for low-key conversation.
Xavier and Sarah walked beside him. “How did the frangibles work out for you?” Xavier asked.
“Twenty-nine to thirty seconds to take effect,” Sam reported. “One shot, one kill.”
“Ooo-rah.” Xavier made the soldier’s sound of approval in a quiet tone. “I was hoping they worked as advertised but we haven’t had a chance to try them in the field yet.”
At that point they passed the perimeter guard and Sam moved into the lead. They’d travel in silence, using hand signals only from here on.
When they reached the edge of the woods beyond the shack, Xavier took the lead. He signaled for Donna and John to remain on watch there while the rest of the team went on to the cave entrance. Donna was the least skilled of the combat-qualified members of the team but John was one of the best. Together, they’d already proven to be an effective team. They could take care of any potential problems from the shack while the rest of them dealt with whatever they found in the cave.
Sam didn’t think they’d find much besides the two men he’d already spotted, but it was always best to be on guard. A battalion of creatures could come at them from the depths of the cave. Sam really hadn’t had that much time for recon so it would pay them to tread lightly.
The two men he’d originally seen were captured with little fuss by John back at the shack moments after Xavier gave the order to strike. Sam rushed the cave with the rest of them, surprised to find two more people inside. They were in the caged area, chained to tables. No doubt, they were to be the next test subjects . . . the next zombies.
“Looks like we got here just in time,” Sarah commented, shouldering her rifle.
The two prisoners were both female. Both young and dressed for a night on the town, not a night spent doing evil science experiments. They were gagged but when they saw the team, they began to struggle against their bonds and try to scream. Sarah opened the cage and tried to reassure the girls.
When they were sure the cave didn’t go any deeper and there was nobody else inside anywhere, Xavier and Sam made their way back to the shack to back up John and Donna. As it turned out, there was no need. John already had both of the men wearing handcuffs, well and truly caught.
“Looks like we’ve got this under control. You should probably go back to your lady friend and get on your way.” Xavier sidled next to Sam and spoke in low tones. “The commander wants you to stay undercover as long as you can. Judging by what I see here . . .” He looked around with disdain. “I don’t think this is more than a small offshoot. There are more of them out there and we need to track them all.”
“Roger that, captain,” Sam agreed.
He headed back through the woods to the convenience store with a light heart. This wasn’t the big haul they’d hoped for, but it was something. One less scientist, perhaps, capable of unleashing that madness on the world. One less criminal trying to exploit the terrible technology. That definitely was something.
And the fact that they hadn’t caught the big fish he was angling for only meant he got to stay on the case a little longer. On the case and in the cockpit . . . with Emily. While he wanted to wrap up the mission as soon as possible and catch the bad guys, he also wanted to be with Emily.
Opposing forces there, but so it goes. Sam was challenged by the sentries in the woods as he neared the convenience store lot, as it should be. They let him through and he immediately sought Emily. He came up behind her as she stood leaning over the open door of the rental car.
“Are you ready to go?”
She spun to face him. “Dammit, Sam. I told you to stop sneaking up on me.”
He moved in closer and leaned in for a deep kiss. He made it last, letting them both enjoy the sensations of life and hunger for a few moments before he raised his head.
“How are you, Em? Dealing with what you saw?”
Her eyes went from dreamy to troubled in a few seconds flat.
“I’m not sure. Nobody around here will talk to me since I finished answering their questions. They just keep telling me to wait by the car.”
“You have to understand, everything about this mission is top secret, Em.” Sam backed off, putting about a foot of space between their bodies. She was too distracting up close and personal. “But after what you’ve seen, there’s no way to keep you out of it anymore. I still need to figure out where the remaining scientists might be hiding or conducting further experiments.”
“And you think they’re using Praxis Air to get around?”
“It makes sense. Private flights. Nobody needs to know who you’re transporting or where you’re taking them. Same for the cargo.”
“It makes sense.” She shook her head in a frustrated gesture. “Dammit,” she cursed. “It makes too much sense. All that laboratory equipment. All those small airports. All the blank cargo manifests with Scott’s signature at the bottom so nobody dared question them.”
“And let’s not forget the attempt to silence you,” Sam added.
She rolled her eyes. “How could I forget that?” She slammed her hand down on the hood of the car. “I can’t believe Scott would be so foolish as to risk everything for something like this.” She shook her head again. “Scratch that. I
can
believe it. Scott is a complete moron. Has been all his life. A self-centered, egotistical, mini-megalomaniac. I didn’t want to believe he’d risk the airline running drugs, but this is so much worse. I mean, drugs are bad enough, but this . . .”
Sam covered her hand on the roof of the car, offering comfort. “I know. This is a nightmare. I’ve been dealing with this reality for a while now and it doesn’t get any easier. The only thing we can do is work hard to shut them down and stop this madness before it goes any further.”
“Amen to that.” She took a deep breath, seeming to gather her courage before his eyes. “So what now?”
“Now we get back on the road and go to the hotel. Maybe stop for dinner beforehand somewhere. We act normal. Like nothing’s gone on here and we’ve had no part in it.”
“I don’t know how good an actress I am,” she looked worried. “But I’ll do my best.”
“You’ll do fine, Em. You’ve done really well up ’til this point. Nothing’s really changed except now you know what’s going on and what to look for. Actually, things have gotten easier, not harder. Before, you didn’t know what was going on. You could only guess.”
She sighed, looking around at the activity on the site. “Now I understand why they say ignorance is bliss.”
He chuckled and she joined him. She had grit and he liked the fact that she was bouncing back from her first—and hopefully only—zombie encounter relatively quickly.
Xavier popped out of the woods and headed for them.
“Here comes trouble,” Sam said to Emily, only half joking as they turned to face the approaching man.
“Ma’am,” Xavier nodded to Emily. “I’m Captain Beauvoir. How are you holding up?”
The Cajun smiled at her, oozing charm. Sam didn’t like that at all. He leaned back against the car and slid one arm along the roof behind Emily, clearly staking a claim the other man could read. It wasn’t necessary. Sam knew Xavier was already attached and very much in love with Sarah, but Sam couldn’t help the caveman impulse. Xavier saw it and smirked. The smug bastard.
Sam liked the guy enough to take the teasing with good grace. He supposed he deserved it. He’d been as quick as the rest of the team to tease Xavier when he’d come back from the mission on Long Island engaged to the woman he’d been sent to question.
“I’m okay, captain,” Emily answered simply. Good. She wasn’t inclined to get chatty with Xavier, which suited Sam just fine.
“Good. Sam, are you ready to resume the mission?” Xavier turned his attention to Sam with a nearly audible snap. Something was up. Sam went instantly on alert.
“Yes, sir. We’re ready to go whenever you like.”
“Best if you leave now. We’ve got locals coming. Can’t keep them out of it much longer and I don’t want you two seen.”
That spurred Sam to action. He moved to the truck, which was now parked only a few feet away, and relinquished the rifle and ammo clips.
“Better take a few extra rounds for your handgun,” Xavier advised. “Replace what you lost and add an extra clip or two.”
Sam was more than happy to follow that order. He did it quickly and was ready to go in under a minute.
“What about your outfit?” Emily asked as he walked toward the passenger side of the rental car.
“You drive. I can change in the car.” Sam caught Xavier’s eye over the roof of the car before he got in. “Tell Sykes I’ll be in touch at my regular check-in.”
“Roger that. Stay safe, Sam. Good work today.”
“Thank you, sir. Give my regards to the rest of the team.” Sam saluted his superior officer and climbed in the car.
Emily had already started the engine and got the car moving toward the two-lane road within seconds. They passed a convoy of county police cruisers and trucks as they made their way down the side of the mountain. Luckily, Sam had already ditched his camo shirt in favor of the T-shirt he’d worn beneath, though in these parts many hunters probably wore camouflage. Still, it wouldn’t do to draw unnecessary attention of the local police. He didn’t want to end up in some police report somewhere that the team couldn’t control.
He’d gotten away clean today, keeping his undercover persona intact. He wanted to keep it that way as long as possible, both for the good of the mission and for his own reasons. Most of those reasons had all too much to do with the woman sitting next to him in the driver’s seat.
“Where to?” Emily asked as they arrived at a crossroad.
“Let’s head back toward the airport. There ought to be a restaurant in that area. We can stop in and grab some dinner.”
“Would you mind if we get it to go? I mean, do you think it would look suspicious? I don’t know if I’m up to a crowd after . . .” She let her words trail off but he knew what she meant. She’d been through the wringer emotionally, if not physically. She had a lot of new and utterly crazy information to assimilate. He’d been through it too. He knew she needed time and quiet space to think through all she’d learned.
He took a close look at her. She was a little pale but otherwise seemed okay. Still, perhaps it was better not to test her reactions in public this soon after learning the reality of his mission and seeing the gruesome effects first hand.
“Yeah, we can get something to go. Bring it to the hotel and eat in our rooms. Or better yet, how about room service?”
“Oh, that sounds even better.” She looked relieved and Sam was glad he could ease a little of her burden.
“I recall you once said you weren’t my knight in shining armor,” she mused quietly as she drove toward the airport at a sedate pace.
He remembered the conversation. “I’m still not, Em. I’m just a soldier. Doing my job.”
“You might like to think so, but there
is
something special about you, Sam. And nothing you say will convince me otherwise. You saved us today. When I panicked, you knew exactly what to do—what to say to get me moving and how to deal with a situation I couldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams. What I’m trying to say is . . .” She paused, looking at him for a moment, taking her eyes off the road on the straightaway. “Thank you.” She turned back to the road but the emotionally charged moment lingered.
“You’re welcome.” His voice was quiet but she felt the import of the moment. The sun was quickly setting and the atmosphere inside the cabin of the car grew even more intimate. “Thank you too,” he said awkwardly.
“For what?” She was surprised by his words.
“For being a good partner. You’re rock solid, Em, even though you’ve never trained to deal with something like this. I knew right away that you were a competent pilot—and we both know that means something—but you’re good on the ground too. I wasn’t sure if your courage in the air would translate. For a lot of pilots, it doesn’t. But you did good today. Thanks for trusting me.”