Page 48 of Digital Desire

Aubrey went wide-eyed at his words, her mind instantly conjuring the image of Will naked and swinging in the breeze beneath his black fatigues.

“Here, keep an eye on that quadrant over there by the road. Don’t want our exit blocked,” he said handing her the binos.

Taking them, Aubrey lifted them to her eyes and watched the road. She knew what he was doing, he was trying to distract her, and she loved him for it. She loved this man! The thought made her smile so big that her cheeks bumped the binos and she almost missed the person that shot across behind the vehicle they were using. Focusing harder she watched and saw that it was a woman.

She had long dark hair and was petite with a slim but curvy figure. Her face was mostly hidden by the hat she wore, so Aubrey didn’t think she would be able to identify her easily.

“Will,” she said sharply and felt him move to her.

“What is it?”

“A woman is over by the vehicles.”

“Let me see,” he said taking the binoculars from her.

She watched as Will looked through them searching the area. “I can’t see anyone,” he said as he continued to look.

“She was right by the lead vehicle,” she said.

Taking the binoculars back she looked again and couldn’t see anything. Just as she was sure she was going crazy, she heard the roar of a motorbike and saw the dust kick up as the machine peeled out onto the road like a bullet, leaving nothing but sand in its wake.

“Did you see who it was?” Will asked.

“No, a woman with dark hair but I couldn’t see her face.”

“Hmm. I need to inform Jack,” he replied as he clicked the radio.

“Come in, alpha one.” She listened for Jack to respond.

“This is alpha one, go ahead.”

“Be advised we had visual on a lone subject near the vehicles. They left on a motorbike headed towards the road.”

“Copy that. Head for the vehicles, and we’ll rendezvous in eight minutes.”

“Copy.”

“We need to pack up and head to the vehicles,” Will said as the sound of a shot rang out destroying the silence of the valley.

Aubrey went still, and then the sound of more gunfire propelled her into action. Will packed the laptop away, and she handed him a weapon. Will, she now knew, was very proficient with a firearm, but why she would have thought any different was silly. He worked at Fortis and was the mystery man in charge of Eidolon. Of course, he could handle a weapon.

He turned to her. “Ready?” he asked as he grabbed her hand in his.

“Yes,” she said as adrenalin coursed through her body.

As they were running through the trees that ran down the hill on silent feet, they heard an explosion to their left as they passed the hacienda. The shock of the sound caused her to lose her footing, and she tripped, but Will caught her, stopping her from hitting her head on a tree stump.

“Keep going,” he urged as he held on to her arm, practically dragging her as his long legs ate up the ground. In minutes they were beside the vehicles. Will stopped her with a hand on her arm.

“Let me check for explosives before you go near,” he said as he took out a device much like a bug scanner and ran it all over the vehicles and then finding nothing ran it under the cars. “All clear,” he said opening the driver’s door of the lead vehicle. “Hop in, and I’ll follow right behind you,” he said as he dropped a hard kiss on her lips.

“Okay,” she said and started the engine and fastened her seatbelt. She watched as Will did the same behind her before pulling out as another explosion rocked the ground beneath her.

Chapter 22

Will scanned the horizon for his brother and his men as he kept a close eye on Aubrey driving in front of him. The second explosion had not been planned, and the yelling and shouting over his comms seconds before followed by silence directly afterwards was threatening his composure.

He knew they had secured Flowers and were heading for the exit when the bomb or whatever it was had detonated. Will fought to keep his panic to a dull roar in his head as he prayed for the sound of Jack’s voice in his ear.