Mercenary's Perfect Mission. Carla Cassidy

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СКАЧАТЬ cuddled Sam to her chest, hoping he’d fall asleep. He’d been fussy off and on throughout the evening and she knew he was hungry and tired of the sling. She’d managed to stave off some of his hunger pangs over the last couple days with the snacks she always kept stored in her backpack, but earlier that evening she’d given him the last of the crackers and the last sip of juice.

      Nights on the mountain weren’t kind at this time of year. Although a September day could be warm and pleasant, the nights turned cold and she hadn’t been prepared or equipped with the supplies or the survival skills she’d needed.

      She had to trust Micah because she had no other choice. He was a daunting man, tall and with shoulders the size of a small county. In the moonlight his green eyes had looked icy cold—deadly—but she had run out of options.

      He kept up a fast pace, moving through the woods like a shadow as she hurried to keep up with him. As he led her to a narrow crevice in the side of the mountain, she realized that if this really was the way to the safe house she would have never been able to find it on her own.

      It felt like they had walked for miles in the narrow crevice where only the faint beam of his flashlight lit the way. He paused as they appeared to be at a dead end and once again her heart banged frantically. Had he brought her here to kill her? Was he really working for his brother or had he told the truth and was working against him?

      Despite the appearance of a dead end, he twisted his body into a seemingly invisible space and as she followed, she realized they’d entered a cave tunnel. She could feel a faint breeze on her face and knew the end wasn’t far.

      He paused once again, this time to pull a radio from his pocket. “It’s Micah. I’m coming in with two.”

      “Copy,” a faint voice replied.

      Micah dropped the radio back in his pocket and moved forward. Within moments they had left the cave and entered a small valley. The moonlight was brighter now and she could see a man standing in front of a rocky entrance of a half-hidden cave.

      He was armed, but greeted Micah by name. “I told June you’re coming in,” he said.

      “Thanks, Jesse.” Micah grabbed her by the elbow, his big hand warm on her skin.

      They went through another small narrow passage and that opened into a huge cave that had been transformed into living quarters.

      Olivia felt her mouth drop open as she took in her surroundings. It was like entering an alien world with huge ceilings and furnished comfortably with wood, bone, animal skins and whatever else the forest could yield.

      “Follow me,” Micah said. “June will probably be in the kitchen area and we have questions for you.”

      She had plenty of questions for him, too. She’d expected the rumored safe house to be a little cabin in the woods where people were spirited in and out of the area in the middle of the night.

      But, as she heard the sound of laughter coming from someplace in the distance and followed Micah through the huge main room where the scent of something cooking wafted in the air, this place felt more like a thriving community than a pit stop on the way to safety.

      Micah led her into a kitchen where the focal point of the room was a huge rough-hewn wooden table above which hung a chandelier fashioned from antlers.

      A woman stood at a stove stirring what smelled like some sort of stew. She turned at the sight of them and offered Olivia a tentative smile. “Got the news there were two incoming, didn’t realize it was really one and a half.”

      Olivia looked down at Sam, who had fallen asleep against her chest and fought the tears that pressed hot against her eyes.

      “She says she’s been in the woods for two days,” Micah said as he gestured Olivia into a chair at the table.

      “And you must be starving,” the tall, willowy, red-haired woman said as Olivia took off her backpack and sank into one of the chairs. Micah took the chair next to her and she was instantly aware of two things—he smelled like the forest, fresh, wild, yet clean and utterly male. And even though he looked amazingly like his brother, Samuel Grayson was really just a pale imitation of the handsome, hard-featured man seated to her right.

      “I’m June Farrow,” the woman said as she set a bowl of hot stew in front of Olivia. “And I’d be more than happy to hold that sleeping little boy so you can eat.”

      Olivia looked down at Sam and for a moment the last thing she wanted to do was relinquish possession of the one child she had with her. Once again as she thought of her missing three-year-old, her eyes welled up with tears that she desperately tried to control.

      “What’s his name?” June asked softly.

      “Sam. His name is Sam.” Olivia pulled the child from the front sling and handed him into June’s awaiting arms. She had to trust these people, she had no choice and the scent of the food cramped her empty stomach. She’d had nothing to eat for the last two days, afraid that if she took a single bite of anything that had been in her backpack, it might mean Sam going hungry.

      Micah sat silently as she ate. She tried not to shovel the savory stew into her mouth like a wild animal. She had no idea what exactly was in the stew, but nothing had ever tasted so good.

      When she was finished she looked at June. “Is there milk? I have a bottle for Sam in my backpack but he emptied it the first night we were in the woods.”

      The area where she sat was warmer than it had been outside and with her belly full, all she really wanted to do was sleep. She’d only had unanticipated fitful dozes while in the forest; she’d been too afraid to allow herself any real sleep. The forest had been filled with critters, both animal and human.

      “How about I get a bottle ready for Sam and put him down in the nursery?” June asked.

      Panic once again clawed up Olivia’s throat. “Nursery? Where is that? What, exactly, is this place?”

      “You’re safe here and nobody will hurt you or your son,” Micah finally spoke. “Why don’t you and June get the boy settled in for the night and then the three of us will talk some more.”

      Olivia hesitated for a long moment, so many questions whirling around in her head, coupled with the crushing fear for the child she had left behind.

      She finally got up from the table and rummaged in the now nearly empty backpack for the empty bottle. June handed Sam back to her and Olivia watched as the woman washed the bottle and then filled it with milk. “Come with me,” she then said.

      The cave was a maze of rooms, some small, some much larger, some with wooden doors and some without. The temperature was slightly cooler away from the kitchen area, but not unpleasantly so.

      They finally came to a medium-sized room that held several cribs and child-sized cots. “We have a couple three-year-olds, but they’re sleeping with their mommy in another room, so right now he’s the only little one we have here,” June said as she motioned for Olivia to place Sam in one of the cribs.

      Sam awakened and as always gave his mother a beatific smile and then when he saw the bottle June held, his fingers worked in a gimme fashion. “Bot,” he exclaimed.

      June smiled and gave him the bottle and as he began СКАЧАТЬ