Chapter 18

Goddamn Dresden! He was going to blow up the whole mountain! Ella’s entire body trembled, and she wondered if she’d just come back to Jude to lose him to Dresden anyway.

“We’ve got to move, Jude,” she said against his chest. She pushed against his side to get him to move, and he hissed in a breath.

He laughed, and it was rueful in the sudden awful silence.

“Let me look,” she ordered, pushing his hands away as she moved to her knees in front of him.

“No time,” he muttered. “We’ll patch it again when we’re safe.”

Ella gazed at him, either to judge his words for truth or to see if he was simply placating her.

She nodded at what she saw in his eyes. They would run, and she’d care for him later.

He stood and helped her to her feet.

“I’ve got you, Chica,” she said softly to the cat zipped inside her go bag. The cat meowed back. “You’re getting a gold bowl when we get home.”

“We’re keeping it?” Jude asked, dismay hugging his tone.

A laugh escaped her. “Her. We’re keeping her.”

Jude grunted.

As she began following him once more through the caves, it struck Ella that over the last forty-eight hours she’d fallen back into team mode. The past year she’d been solo, with the exception of Brody. She’d conditioned herself to the reality that she was the only one she could count on 24-7.

Jude had erased that line of thinking in two days. That was indicative of how tired Ella was, but more than that, it was a clear sign that she trusted him. Their connection hadn’t disappeared. It had grown in strength.

She still didn’t know if she’d survive Dresden, and she knew she had to go back in, but she’d cross that bridge when she came to it. Dresden wouldn’t stop coming for her. She didn’t know everything about his operation, but she still knew too much. And he didn’t like being beaten. He wouldn’t take losing Ella to Endgame lying down, as evidenced by the continued explosions that rocked the caves.

She watched Jude’s back, kept her gaze trained on him. One foot in front of the other, she followed him without question.

He stopped once and sank down behind a cave wall. She lowered immediately. He held up his hand and waved her forward. “That wall wasn’t there when I came this way. It’s caved in, and I’m going to have to move some rocks so we can squeeze through.”

He took off his go bag, his weapons, and the light he’d taken back from her. “Train that light on the wall so I can see.”

She did, and he began moving rocks. And then he moved more rocks. And finally more rocks. The wall didn’t seem to be shrinking, and there didn’t seem to be any holes opening up.

“That’s not good, huh?” she asked.

He hung his head, glanced at her, and smiled. “Nope.”

She blew a strand of hair out of her face. “Do you have reception on the sat phone?”

He rubbed his forehead as he pulled out the phone. “No.”

“We’re stuck?” she asked, unable to keep the quaver from her voice.

“No,” he said, assurance in his voice. Then he started moving rocks again.

The cat meowed, and Ella opened the bag. The cat ventured out, looked around, and stepped right back into the bag. “Huh. She likes the bag,” Ella mused.

Jude grunted.

“Can I help?” Ella asked.

“No.”

She cleared her throat. “I really can’t help?”

“No.”

“Do you know any other word at the moment?”

“No,” he said, but there was a laugh in his voice. “You feel that?” He held his hand up above his head.

“No,” she responded with a smile. “Feel what?”

“Fresh air,” he told her and began to move faster.

He moved three more fairly large rocks, and a gust of fresh air rushed into the cave. He grinned. “We’re almost there.”

He climbed up the rocks a little and moved more. “Need you to move, Ella. Some are going to fall.”

She picked up their stuff and moved back, watching as he opened up a hole big enough for them to climb through.

“Let’s get out of here,” he called down.

Ella handed their gear, the headlight, and his weapons up to him. He pushed their things through and then slithered through the hole. Ella was left alone. The gaping maw of the cave rose behind her, and she shuddered. She hated the dark.

Jude was back through the hole in a minute at most, holding out his hand to her. “Climb up, baby,” he ordered.

She climbed after giving him her go bag. She slid through the small opening and reached back for the bag. He handed it to her, and then Ella wasn’t alone in the dark anymore.

They made good time to the mouth of the cave system. Again, Jude went ahead to do recon and came back telling her they were going to bed down there.

“It’s snowing hard,” Jude told her. “The opening is hidden, and I doubt anyone will move tonight.”

“Do you think Dresden breached the comm room?” she asked him.

Jude met her gaze. “No. But I think he destroyed it, and until he can verify you’re either dead or gone, he’ll be busy trying to dig through tons of rock to get in.”

“He’s smart, Jude. Don’t underestimate him,” she warned. “He’s a master strategist and will think of every move I could have made, including escaping. Don’t doubt he’s looking for that opening right there.”

“He’s the devil, Ella. I never underestimate evil like Dresden.”

She nodded and moved to set up a place to bed down. “Can I let Chica go? Do you think she’ll come back?”

“Let her out. She’s not going anywhere. You’re feeding her. You talk to her. She’s yours now, whether you like it or not,” he said.

Another ray of hope speared her chest. “I’ve never had a pet.”

“And now you do,” he affirmed with another patented Jude grin.

Ella rubbed the area over her heart. She was afraid to trust how much her world had changed in just a few days. She’d gone from wanting to shove a wineglass stem through Dresden’s eye socket to teasing parlays with Jude.

But it felt good. It felt right. So she’d take it and keep moving until she had to change directions.

Jude hunkered down in front of her as she unzipped her go bag. He reached for her hand, pulled it to his mouth, and gently kissed her palm. “He’s never getting to you, Ella.”

“You can’t promise me that, Jude. And the fact remains that I may have to return.”

His gaze darkened, and he lowered her hand as he stood again. “Over my dead body.”

“That’s what I’ve always been afraid of,” she whispered.

“We’re going to talk about this habit you have of trying to protect me. But right now you’re going to sleep. I’ll take first watch. You rest,” he ordered.

Fatigue pulled at her. She watched as Chica remained in the bag, refusing to leave. The gorgeous cat curled into an indistinguishable ball of brown, white, and black fur, then went to sleep. Ella lay down beside the bag, petting the cat. “Wake me when it’s my turn,” she told Jude around a yawn.

“Will do,” he promised.

* * *

He was going to allow them an hour at the most before he woke her and they left this cave. Dresden was a former Navy SEAL. He’d have gone over every possibility before blowing up the ground Jude’s house had sat on. That meant he was definitely searching for Ella’s path of escape.

Dresden knew damn well that Jude wouldn’t have left her safety to chance. Nothing was one hundred percent. Not even safe comm rooms built into rock.

Jude took a few moments to watch her sleep. He loved her with every molecule of his being. She was never going back to Dresden if Jude had anything to say about it.

Her hand rested on the cat’s back. Jude shook his head and let a smile curve his lips. Only Ella with her soft heart. She was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. His gaze traveled over her face—over the scar at her temple, across the slope of her cheeks, down past her lips to the small dent in her chin.

She was everything to him. He could admit it here in the darkness of the cave that sheltered them. Hell, he’d admit it to the world. He just had to convince her that he could keep them both safe before she left again.

There were so many angles to this thing with Dresden. The Piper, his daughters, Anton Segorski, people in Jude’s own government, and on top of that, there was now some nameless organization attempting world domination?

“What the hell have we gotten into, El?” he asked softly.

She turned her face to his, a frown creasing her brow as if she’d answer him, but her eyes never opened. She was tired. God knows she’d been through hell during the last year. He needed the entire story, but right now he needed to get them safe.

Jude stood, pulled a thermal blanket out of his go bag and placed it on top of Ella. He headed toward the mouth of the cave and sank down behind a big boulder, watching and listening. Dawn was about an hour away, and the moon was hidden behind the clouds that still dropped snow on the earth. There had to be at least six feet on the ground now. It was so thick that it’d already covered his tracks from earlier. It would definitely slow down anyone who tried to move in it.

The night was quiet; nothing moved in the cold and precipitation. Jude didn’t even see signs of forest animals moving in this weather. A twig snapped just outside the cave entrance. Jude raised his rifle and peered through the scope. Nothing but darkness. He got down on his belly and crawled to the entrance, settling behind a snowbank. He slowly created a hole in the snow and put his rifle through. He listened. He waited.

Nothing moved.

A shadow separated from behind a cedar. Big and stealthy, it headed toward Jude’s location. Everything narrowed to that shadow, though Jude’s other senses flared out, seeking more threats. Nothing else moved. No sounds of weapons hitting cloth or feet moving over snow hit Jude’s ears.

Just that shadow.

He’d never seen anyone but Jonah Knight move that silently. But this man was shorter than Knight—hell, shorter than any of Jude’s Endgame teammates.

The shadow drew closer. Jude pulled out his KA-BAR, palmed it, and lowered his rifle. He’d take the man as quietly as he could. He didn’t want anything to draw other scouts to this location.

The man reached the mouth of the cave, which put him right beside Jude. Jude flowed to his feet, rising above the man and stroking the knife across his neck. Jude’s movements were too fast for the man to be prepared, so he went down fast and easy. Jude ripped the man’s balaclava off and exhaled in relief when he didn’t recognize him.

Jude dragged the man farther into the cave, checking for a radio and finding none before he hid the body behind a boulder so Ella might miss it when they left. He had to do recon, and that meant leaving the cave. He checked on Ella, made sure she still slept, then moved back to the cave’s entrance.

He was wearing another set of white camo outerwear, and it remained pitch-black outside. He blended into the snow effortlessly. Jude used every last ounce of his training as he slithered out of the cave and into the tree line beyond the caves. Jude glanced back, checking the cave to make sure he’d hidden his path, and saw it still looked pristine.

The cave’s entry was hidden by low, overhanging trees that grew out of the sides of the rock. The mountain was a formidable foe, but life grew in the most bizarre places. The man he’d just taken out had to have known it was there, and that wasn’t good. It meant Dresden knew, or had guessed, about the caves.

Jude worked quickly, finding no one else hiding in the immediate perimeter. He hustled back to Ella. “Baby, get up. We gotta move,” he urged.

She was up in a second, asleep one moment, completely alert the next. His hands fisted. She’d been conditioned to do that by Dresden, no doubt. Yes, she had training, but nothing that would have prepared her for that instantaneous alertness. That only came from combat situations, and Jude was finally realizing that’s what her entire year alone with Dresden had been. Combat.

Ella zipped the cat in, folded the thermal blanket, and handed it back to him. He shoved it in his go bag and helped her load her bag and her weapon onto her shoulders. She was dressed exactly like him. He was about to test her endurance as they trekked up the mountain, hopefully reaching the pass that would take them down the other side.

“We’re heading up the mountain. We have to move quickly and silently. You loaded?” he asked as he strapped his bag to his back and checked his weapons.

“Yes,” she whispered, her voice husky from sleep.

“Dresden knows about the caves. You stay right on me, Ella. Step where I step, and do what I say when I say do it,” he commanded.

She didn’t bristle, and that more than anything told Jude she understood the precariousness of their situation.

“He’s not getting you,” Jude bit out.

She threw back her head. Ella had her game face on as she pushed her comm device into her ear.

Jude took a moment to trace the curve of her brows before he leaned down and kissed her lips. “Let’s handle business.”

They made their way out of the cave cautiously. Jude’s neck wasn’t prickling, but that didn’t mean Dresden wasn’t close. They hit the trees, and Jude forced a hard pace as they scaled the mountain. The path was rocky, and the forest began to thin out, their cover disappearing too rapidly. Jude motioned her to take cover behind a big cedar, and then he sank to the snow and pulled out his ocular scope.

He scanned the vista below him. In the distance, he could make out tendrils of smoke from his still-burning house. He didn’t hear any signs of big earthmovers, although he’d expected Dresden to be searching the crater he’d created when he blew the explosives.

But the mountain was silent.

“He’s here,” Ella’s voice whispered across the ear mic.

Jude nodded. Dresden’s strike team had arrived. The air quivered with their presence. “Stay where you are. I’m going hunting.”

“I’ve got your six.”

“Safe, El.”

Jude belly-crawled through the trees. He’d pinpointed two areas where Dresden could funnel men through the trees. He pulled two claymores from his go bag and set them in those places. He could hear a low drone now, the sound of snowmobiles echoing up the mountain.

Dresden was coming. Those claymores would slow them, but he and Ella had no choice but to run now.

“Get up, Ella,” he called out. “Run southwest. Hit the tree line.”

She was up and running, Jude on her heels, when the first claymore exploded behind them.

BOOM!

BOOM!

The second one followed the first. Screams of the men who’d been taken out by the explosives echoed in the mountains. Dresden was hitting them from both points.

Ella sprinted to the trees, feet sure in the snow. She hit the edge of the forest before Jude.

A bullet gouged out a slice of snow to his right. Jude turned, went to a knee, lifted his rifle, aimed in the direction the shot had come from, and fired.

A shout rose as the shooter fell. Jude eyeballed the scope and got off two more shots, two more kills, before he slung his weapon over his back and took off after Ella.

More shots peppered his path.

“Run, Ella. Keep running,” he called out.

Then he heard a sound that froze his heart. Ella cried out, the sound cut off as fast as it had split the air.

Jude pumped his legs, chasing that cry. Behind him, Dresden and his men fired at will on Jude’s location. In front of him loomed a small drop-off that Jude feared Ella had gone over.

He slid to the edge and peered down. Ella had landed on a tree trunk about three feet below him. She was sprawled over the trunk, her weapon and bag falling off her back. Her eyes were closed, and she was squeezing the trunk with her arms and legs.

“Let the bag and weapon go, Ella,” he said.

“I don’t want to drop Chica,” Ella called back.

“Ella, do you trust me?” he asked.

Behind him, hell was being unleashed. Dresden had indeed come prepared for a war.

“Yes,” she replied instantly.

“Drop the damn bag. Do it now.”

She dropped the bag with a soft cry.

“Now slither off that trunk and get on the ground, woman,” Jude demanded.

She did as he asked and looked up at him in confusion. She’d only fallen about a foot to the ground.

“Run, Ella,” he told her. “Run and don’t stop until King gets here.”

“Where are you going?” she asked, fear a tremor in her voice as she grabbed her pack and gun. No way was his woman going to leave that damn cat.

“Talk later, baby,” he said as he ducked the shots coming through the trees. “Run!”

He didn’t look to see if she’d done as he asked. He rose, turned, and began firing, reloading, and firing again.

“Don’t die,” she pleaded over the ear mic.

He couldn’t respond. He ducked behind a rock and prayed that King got there soon.

Just then, the night exploded, the sounds of men crying out in pain echoing in the air around Jude. Another explosion, and the trees in front of Jude toppled, fire ripping through the night.

Jude didn’t question it. He just slithered down the small rise and followed Ella’s path. He ran until he reached Ella and then they both ran, down the mountain, through the creek, and through the trees.

In the distance the whump-whump-whump of helicopter blades broke the silence of the lightening sky. Jude pushed Ella down behind some boulders and pulled out his satellite phone.

It was ringing.

“Goddamn it, Keeper. Where the hell are you?” King demanded.

“Heading south, down the mountain. I’m heading toward a shed that’s about five miles from my current location. Head southwest of the coordinates I gave you, and you’ll find the shed. Is that you in the chopper?”

“No, that’s Black. I just blew Dresden’s men to kingdom come. No sign of Dresden yet. There’s no sign of any more men, Jude.”

“We’ll be at the shed,” Jude said and disconnected.

“Let’s go, Ella,” he called. “Follow me, baby. The cavalry’s arrived.”

“Thank you, God,” she breathed out as she stood.

It took them about an hour to reach the shed. Ella didn’t falter, and Jude was so proud of her resilience. The shed rose out of the foggy morning, a silent emissary offering safety. He urged her to the back of the shed and put a finger to his mouth, shaking his head.

She nodded. She wouldn’t move.

Then he stepped around the side of the shed and whistled.

An answering whistle rent the air. King stepped out of the trees. Jude almost went to his knees.

Instead, he reached deep, adrenaline close to failing him, and went back to Ella.

He pressed her body against the shed. “You’re safe, baby.”

She gazed up at him, the low light of a snowbanked morning kissing her features. “I never doubted it, Jude.”

“King’s here. He’s going to get you home,” Jude whispered at her ear.

She grabbed his shoulders. “Where are you going?”

“Hunting.”

He looked to his left and saw King approaching. He didn’t look at Ella again, afraid he’d go with her. He knew now, more than ever, that he had to eliminate Dresden. Ella wouldn’t be safe until that bastard was ashes in the wind.

“Don’t leave me.” She whispered the plea.

Jude didn’t respond, just pulled away and stepped to King, who reached out. Jude clasped the man’s forearm.

“Don’t be brave,” King commanded.

“Be accurate,” Jude responded immediately.

“Hooyah.” King stepped around Jude and walked to Ella.

“Damn it, Jude!” Ella cried out behind him.

“Let him go, Ella,” King said softly.

Jude began walking, shedding her pleas, shedding most of his humanity. He was about to hunt down a man and do his best to kill him. That required a level of animal Jude couldn’t affect if he didn’t drown out Ella’s voice.

“Dresden is mine,” she demanded on a shout. And then, “Come back to me.”

Jude walked away into the trees, blending seamlessly. He’d track Dresden, but he had a feeling the man was running even now. Jude didn’t care how far he had to travel or how long. Ella would be safe with King.

And contrary to what Ella thought, Dresden was all Jude’s.