Page 105 of Deadfall

My shirt was a shredded mess, but I was still glad for the barrier because if that wasn’t there, she’d be able to see the real damage. Emersyn didn’t speak again, but I could feel her attention. It made the skin on my neck prickle—similar to the feeling I got when I knew I was being watched by a predator. I carefully guided us around a corner, and turned to address Emersyn, when I noticed how she shadowed me, and covered our back, gun in her hand like she’d been working teams for years.

“You’ve done this before,” I stated.

She scoffed. “I’ve never been in a maze that’s wanted to kill me, no.”

I grinned. “I mean tactical—you know how to advance with me—CQB type stuff.”

We rounded another corner and whatever she’d been about to say died on her lips as we encountered an obstacle. Some sort of explosive had been tripped and a massive pile of debris was built up in the path. The only way was over and it was at least twice as tall as me.

“Wait here,” I muttered.

I scaled the debris easily and stopped low at the top. The other side was clear. I motioned for Emersyn and made my way down. The last few feet were a jump and once she reached it, I held my arms up to help her.

She stared at my hands. “What are you doing?”

“Helping,” I stated. “You shouldn’t land heavy on that ankle.”

She looked like she was going to do it anyway, but slowly, almost like she didn’t know how, she reached for me. My heart stalled in my chest as she leaned down and I took her weight. Her body collided with mine and I gently lowered her to the ground. I fought against every single instinct to look over body parts that were right in my face. I recited the alphabet—backward—I thought about the pain in my back and the next steps I was going to take down this path we were on.

Fucking, anything—

My only saving grace was that I had gloves on my hands and I was wearing clothes, because if any of my skin had touched hers—

I let her go the moment I could and abruptly turned away. I wasn’t sure if she felt the same magnetic pull, but now was not the time to find out. We came to a crossroads and I studied the area extensively as I attempted to get a picture of which way we needed to go. Before I was done, she walked straight for the path that branched to the right.

“Whoa, whoa, not so fast—”

Emersyn had the audacity to sigh, and I fought back a smile at the look of exasperation on her face.

She threw out a hand. “Those tracks are Griffin’s—”

Damn. I tilted my head, impressed.

“Yes, I know that, but how do you—”

“After the explosion he favored his left leg, you can tell by his prints. Those are Angel’s—he’s dragging and kind of unsteady, definitely a concussion—” Emersyn faded off as she studied my face.

“What?”

I shook my head. Of course, I’d deduced all of that too—but how the fuck did she know how to track? Words abandoned me and I just stared until she shifted uncomfortably. I was debating which of my million questions to ask first, when gunfire erupted close by. I stepped to her side and jerked my head down the path.

“Let’s go—we’re close.”

The oppressiveness of the hedges was less intense and when I checked another corner, I was beyond relieved to see G. I clicked to get his attention and he jogged over. He scanned us both quickly to check we were in one piece.

“Where’s Angel?” I asked.

“We ran into some trouble. He told me he’d deal with it and to go find you.” G nodded at the path. “I think we’re close to the entrance now.”

G went to herd Emersyn between us, but she shook her head and leveled the gun at him. We all froze as the tension built.

“Seven, what is she doing with a gun?”

I took a careful step toward her. “What are you doing?”

“What happens when you win?” She asked.

“You’re asking this now?” I stated. “After everything we’ve just gone through—”