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“Success.” He held up the cell. “Extractionaccomplished.”
I went to grab the cell from him, but as soon as I drew my fingers together, I ended up smarting again. Dammit. My fingertips were my connection to the world. I depended on my devices for everything. I was helpless without the use of myhands.
“Let me do it.” Tanner clicked on the screen and brought up the security prompt. “Do you have apassword?”
I pointed at my eye. “Retinalrecognition.”
“Awesome.” He held the scanner to my eye until it locked on my pupil and beeped. “You’re up on yourtech,girl.”
If he only knew how much. “I do like mygadgets.”
He brought up the main screen and showed it to me. “What doyouneed?”
“Punch the U icon,” I said. “Yeah, that’s good. Bring up the GPS. Look at the coordinates. That’s where I needtobe.”
His gaze lingered longer than necessary on the satellite map I’d programmed into my Ulysses app. He turned the cell one way, then the other, as if checking his bearings before his stare homed in on me with telescopicintensity.
“And you need to gothere…why?”
I was about to invent a new story, one he would buy, but thrashing came from the woods, along with the unmistakable pounding of boots on dirt, a sound that had me bolting tomyfeet.
“What’s wrong?”Tannersaid.
What was wrong was not explainable in the short time we had left to live. I peered over the bank and caught sight of two figures bursting out of the tree line at a full run. My pulse skyrocketed. The newcomers wore fatigues and carried packs and heavy weapons strapped to their backs. Their speed and form screamed hired muscle. A wave of raw fear crashed over me and wiped out my reason. There was only one thingtodo.
Run.
I bolted to my feet, took a step, and almost screamed from the pain. My ankle caved in. I went down, but Tanner reached out andcaughtme.
“Easy now.” He settled me back on his lap. “I don’t think you’re goinganywherefast.”
“They’recoming!”
“Who?” he said with mind-boggling equanimity. “Who’scoming?”
My mouth worked the air. My pulse pounded in my head. I wasn’t going to be the only casualty. They were going to kill Tanner. He would die. For no reason at all. They’d shoot him. Just like they’d killed the hangarattendant.
“You need to go.” I twisted in his arms and began to elbow myself away from him, looking for a place to hide among the boulders. “You’re a nice guy. So get your ass on your ATVandgo.”
“Slow down.” He caught me by the waist and hauled me back without much effort. “If I’m such a nice guy, why are you in sucharush?”
“They’re coming!” I fought to get free. “Right now. They’vegotguns!”
To my horror, the outline of two men broke the bank’s uneven horizon. They looked giant to me, broad-shouldered, muscled, and tall. No way could I outrun them. Or fight them. They loomed over us, powerful chests rising and falling, nostrils quivering with the force of their breaths, shrewd eyes taking us in with the sort of systematic precision that chilledmysoul.
“It’s too late.” I muttered under my breath. “When they ask, tell them the truth. You’ve never seen me before. You don’t even knowmyname.”
Tanner’s confused gaze shifted between me and themen. “But—”
“Not a word,” I snapped under my breath. “Stay behind me and remember. You know nothingaboutme.”
I took a deep breath, pushed myself up from Tanner’s lap and, interposing myself between the thugs and him, challenged the men with a glare. I wasn’t going to let them kill another innocent. I justwasn’t.
Chapter2
Tanner
The woman I’d found wrecked in the meadow was terrified. I didn’t have to be one of the world’s busiest personality profilers to know that. When she glanced back at me, a spark of panic lit a pair of golden-hued irises that echoed the desert at dawn. Her wide-eyed stare revealed she’d seen things capable of shaking a bright mind andbravesoul.
