Falling Light (Game of Shadows #2)(79)

He smiled at her. “God, I love you. I love your scent and silliness, your too fine sense of ethics and your crazy, sexy hair.”

She returned his smile with a joyous one of her own. “We’re not going to talk about my silliness. I’m glad you think my crazy hair is sexy. My ethics are not too fine, no man should tell a woman she smells, and I love you too.”

He laughed. “Fair enough.” He grabbed items from a locker and flung a Kevlar vest in her direction. She dropped her shoes to catch what he threw at her. He bent to finish yanking his bootlaces tied. “You’re not that much bigger than Astra. That vest should fit. Put it on.”

“Where is Astra?” She stomped her feet into her tennis shoes without untying them and pulled the Kevlar vest on, all her actions designed for optimum speed.

“Astra’s gone.” He tossed a black hooded mask at her. “Cover your face and hair.” He jerked one over his head as well.

She obeyed. Her shocked face disappeared. “Gone?” she said, her voice muffled. “I don’t understand.”

“She left us, Mary. The island’s surrounded.”

He slapped an explosive, complete with a timer, on his computer tower and keyed it to detonate in five minutes. He didn’t want anybody getting their hands on the contents of his hard drive, especially if he and Mary managed to make it off the island alive.

The explosive was designed to do maximum damage in a five-yard radius. When it went off, it would ignite other items in the armory. He straightened and swept the room to make sure he had everything he wanted, because they weren’t coming back. He turned his attention to Mary.

Worried blue eyes blinked at him from two lopsided holes in a black mask. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and steered her through the darkened cabin. She asked, “Why would she just leave?”

“She didn’t see fit to inform us.” He forced his voice to remain calm and even, to keep his rage contained. He paused in the doorway to scan the clearing. “But I think we’re bait. We have to make our decisions based on what we know, and I’ve f**king had it. I’m voting us off this island. I don’t see any reason why we should die without knowing why. Do you?”

“Hell no. Let’s get out of here.”

“They’re going to have night-vision equipment,” he whispered. Precious seconds trickled away so he spoke fast. “But the equipment has to be monitored by human minds, and we can fool those. I’m going to cloak us. Stay right with me and as quiet as possible. You can help me avert their attention if you focus on something inconsequential and natural. Pretend you’re a mouse, or a squirrel, and keep that image fixed in your mind. All right?”

“Does it help you to know what I’m pretending?”

Pleased, he squeezed her tight. “Yes.”

“I’m a mouse.”

“Good. No talking and no telepathy,” he warned. “Remember, mice don’t talk.” He paused to think of his hawk friends and the pack of wolves that had been guarding Mary when he had found her. “Much.”

She shook a little. Incredibly, it was a chuckle. “Got it.”

He took a few more seconds to fix the null space around them. Then he pulled her out the door. He thought through their options. One of their boats had been moored in the small bay, so taking the path to the pier was impossible. Within the next few moments, the path would become the setting for an ambush, or at the very least, they would have disabled—or sabotaged—the boat.

The island was shaped like a human foot without the toes. West and south would take them to wetlands that covered the heel of the foot. Not ideal, but then again, it wouldn’t be ideal for their enemies either.

He steered Mary across the open area of the clearing, grateful she responded without question to his silent prompting, her small, compact body moving in concert with his.

They reached the forest. He let his arm fall from her shoulders and took her hand. Then he continued at a slower pace, picking a path through the dark.

Mary gripped his hand so tight the tips of his fingers throbbed. She tried to move with his stealth but couldn’t quite manage it. He slowed further to help her pick her way more quietly.

The cluster of pines bordering the clearing gave way to deciduous trees. They reached a large tangle of underbrush and fallen tree limbs. They would have to circumvent it. A couple of stealthy figures approached and were sneaking around one side of the tangle. He touched Mary’s mouth with a light warning finger and pulled her in the opposite direction.

He thought ahead to their next challenge. The men came to the island on boats, and they could no longer use theirs. They would have to commandeer one from their uninvited guests. There would be one or two guards left on the boats for just this kind of eventuality.

The cabin exploded. The night roared with a concussion of heat and light.

He had accounted for the explosion and had dismissed it. It had already become a part of his past, so he didn’t react other than to note that it blew right on schedule.

But what he hadn’t accounted for was Mary’s untrained reaction. He had forgotten to warn her.

She gasped and stumbled.

For want of a nail, the shoe was lost.

Michael had loved that old fourteenth-century poem as a small boy. He had discovered it when he had written a school report on Ben Franklin, who had quoted it.