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Lifting the phone, he adjusted the focus to zoom. He could see everything except for the hidden entrance of the submarine base, which was directly below.
A ship was anchored in the harbor, a chain of men passing goods from its hold into the unseen submarine berth. Crates were being passed efficiently from man to man. There were no markings or identification on the crates, but the ship registration was visible.
NOR-1901
He took a snap and quickly texted Leo with a request for more information.
“We need to get in there.” Jo’s voice was soft at his side.
When he faced her, sunlight highlighted strands of burnished copper in her hair.
“It’s surrounded by a double-width twelve-foot fence. It’s a goddamn fortress, but you’re right.”
She ducked her head in agreement. “But we can’t just walk in and unless we’re ninjas, we’re not going over the fence either. So what?”
His gaze drifted back to the fissure in the earth, the instruments tracking the pressure and movement of the apparently solid rock beneath them. “I have an idea.”
21
Jo ate a sandwich propped up by flowered pillows, but a headache made her skin hot and tight across her temples, tension stabbing down her neck and across her shoulders.
It had taken several hours to return from their clifftop climb and when they arrived back at the room Griff had paid for above the Kafe, fatigue was a real overwhelming thing. Her thighs ached, and her knees were sore from the sustained descent. Her sleep last night had been patchy. She could sleep standing up right now, if she had to.
Griff perched on the second single bed, his substantive weight making the mattress concave. He’d asked for a twin room. As she watched his dark head bent over his phone, his sandwich still uneaten, she wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Last night, sleeping in his arms, even on the bumpy couch…She’d liked it far more than she ought to but something about him called to her, made her want to lose herself in him, to forget the grief and need for justice churning inside her, for a few hours, days. Or more.
God. She was too tired to even make sense of what was going on between them. Her sandwich finished, she got up and touched him on the shoulder. “How’s it going?”
“Waiting for confirmation.”
For the fake ID he’d purchased on the dark web. He’d already taken her head shot and uploaded it.
Conflict tugged at her conscience. Right now, she understood these steps were a necessity to get the ID to access the base. A grim solution to a dire problem. But every action felt like a step into a murky abyss. Where did she draw the line in pursuing the truth?
His phone beeped with a notification, and a muscle bunched in his jaw as he read the information. “ID will be here in the morning.” He swiped the phone off. “And some appropriate changes of clothes.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“You really think this will work?” She fiddled with a loose thread on her cuff.
He took hold of her hand. “Eli is accessing the NORSAR database right now.”
“The seismic safety people?”
“Yup. If they check us out, we’ll be in the database. All bona fide. They can’t refuse us access. NORSAR ensures compliance with legislation. All you have to do is smile and let me do the talking.”
Griff put down his phone. He twisted, his massive body crowding her. He wrapped his arms around her and drew her to him, smoothing one hand down the line of her back. “It’s going to be okay.”
“How can you be so sure?” She spoke the words against his chest, breathing him in.
His hold on her tightened, his strength locked around her. “I’ve been doing this a while.” His words were soft against the top if her head.
“I wish I could be as confident as you.”
“Just as well I have enough for both of us.” Tingles danced on her scalp as he pressed his lips to the top of her head.
“You look beat.” He released her. “I’ll run you a bath.”
