Page 46 of Under Fire in Big Sky

Working quickly as a team, they got the panel off faster than Eli expected. He and Liv both shined their flashlights inside and locked around.

“Do you see anything?” she asked.

Just then, he spotted it.

“There.” Eli pointed to a display with blinking red digits, but they were covered by wires. He slipped the screwdriver under the pair of red and blue wires that were twisted together. “Four minutes forty-two seconds.”

She keyed the radio again. “We found it. Hidden in the heat exchanger.”

Eli looked at her. “Olivia, you need to get out of here.”

“No way. I’m not leaving you. We stick together.”

“You’ve got to go,” he demanded, trying to ignore the churning in his gut and the rolling tension in his shoulders that made his blood run cold at the prospect of Liv being hurt or in danger again. This was already too much. “You helped me find the bomb. Now leave.”

“I brought you in on this assignment,” she said. “My assignment. I won’t leave you to handle this by yourself. We stay together. I know you can do it.”

The pressure was too much. Having her life and that of their unborn child literally in his hands. He could tolerate a lot, but not that. Not being responsible for their deaths. “I can’t focus with you here, worrying about making a mistake that could get you killed.”

“You won’t.” She gripped his arms. “You never slip up and won’t now. The guys called you stone-cold for a reason.”

Not because he was heartless. No matter what the mission, he always had steady hands and an unshakeable demeanor in any high-stress situation, but this one tested his limits. Pushed him too far.

Johnson and Lenek hurried over to them. “We didn’t find anything else,” the plant manager said. “I think this is the only one.”

Good news. Although Eli was surprised. Special Forces operators tended to go for redundancy. Backup measures were considered a typical fail-safe to getting a job done.

Regardless, he still had a bomb to disarm. “Please, Liv,” Eli urged. “Go.”

“I believe in you.” She held his gaze. “You can do this.”

“Uh, guys.” Trujillo peered inside the unit at the bomb. “We need to hurry this along.” He turned to Lenek. “Head to the chopper. But don’t take off until I give you the word.”

The other agent left without a single protest.

“We’ve got three minutes fifty-eight seconds left,” Trujillo said.

Every fear about loving someone and getting too close, only to lose them, surged to the surface. Emotions mounted, weighing him down, crushing his chest until he couldn’t breathe. “Please. You’ve got to go.” He pressed a hand to her stomach, his voice lowering to a hoarse whisper. “For the baby, Liv.”

Tears welled in her eyes. “But you need me to hold the light for you.”

“I’ll do it,” Trujillo said, taking out his cell phone and switching on the flashlight. “I’ll stay with him.”

“So will I.” Johnson stepped up alongside Eli. “This is my responsibility.”

Liv took a shaky breath. “Okay,” she said, her voice sounding almost pained.

“Wait for Ms. Lane,” Trujillo said over his Bluetooth comms. “Take off as soon as she’s on board.”

Without thinking, Eli pulled Olivia into his arms and kissed her. Hot and deep but fast. This was the wrong time and sent all the wrong signals, but he couldn’t stop himself. In that moment, the idea of never seeing her again or meeting their child shredded him.

Pulling away, he let her go. “Hurry.”

“Failure is not an option.” She put the handle of his knife in his hand. “Get it done, Pioneer.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Then she turned and ran toward the chopper.