Page 88 of Mountain Target

Val laughed. “Nobody’s going to get mad at us. Now come on, get up here.”

As the girl’s body relaxed against hers, Val felt herself settling in as well. There was a sense of rightness to it, like pieces in a puzzle finally coming together after rotating around the board for a long time.

And Val knew better than to assume things would be easy from now on, but whatever they had to face, they would face it together.

They were silent for so long, Val thought Ren had fallen asleep.

“You think Beau’s okay?” Ren asked suddenly.

“He’d better be,” Val replied lightly.

An answer that’s half answer and half prayer.

“I like him,” Ren said cautiously.

She’s fishing.

“I like him too, Ren.”

“Okay.” Then, a minute later, “We make a good team, right?”

“We do, Ren. We do,” Val replied, stroking Ren’s long hair. “Why don’t you take a short nap, while we find a doctor to release me, and we’ll go home?”

“Home is good,” Ren said, and after a few minutes, the girl’s breathing settled into a slow, steady rhythm.

28

Beau

The longest day had turned into the longest night, as emergency services brought from all over the country worked tirelessly to find and help all injured, and to support structures to prevent further incidents.

They’d seen severe injuries, most of them brought on by collapsing chimneys and walls, flying glass and falling objects, but the overwhelming feeling among first responders was that God had been with Megève today.

It could have been so much worse.

Dawn was breaking by the time Tristan flew the team back into Chamonix, where several vehicles waited to take them home.

“You sure you don’t want to get your knee checked out?” Ry asked in a low voice.

Beau looked up in shock. He’d thought he was doing a fair job hiding it.

“Jesus, Beau. How long have we been working together? We all know you’ve been hiding how much your knee is hurting.”

He shouldn’t have been surprised. “I’m okay,” he finally said. “I just need to rest it.”

He didn’t add that his knee was the least of his worries. Although he knew Valentina and Ren had been sent home, which meant they had to be okay, he wouldn’t feel completely at ease until he saw it with his own eyes.

“We’re off, then. But let me know if the pain’s still bad tomorrow, okay?” Ry lowered his voice. “Whatever you need, Commandant, you know we’re here for you.”

Beau let out the breath he’d been holding.

Have they ever not been here for you?

“Come on, Ry, or we’re leaving without you!” Hugo shouted from a waiting car. “We’re about to fall asleep on our feet.”

“Get some sleep. I don’t want to see any of you in the office until tomorrow afternoon,” Beau said testily.

By the time the car dropped him off in front of the driveway, Beau had decided not to wake Valentina up. She and Ren had been through a lot, and the last thing they needed was some asshole waking them up at six a.m. because he couldn’t control his own impulses.