Page 69 of Altered By Lead (Undercover Sinners 2)
Hawke pulls the Navigator up a logging access road, the dried mud so bumpy and uneven that Mace hits his head against the roof as we climb the mountain, cursing under his breath in that grumbling way of his.
Once we get to the top, we climb out and stand in a half-circle around the trailer.
“Colt and Weston will deal with the explosives,” Janet says brusquely, her eyes narrowing slightly as she looks up and over at me, like she expects me to protest or flaunt the hickeys on my neck. I just stand there because I know better than most that a woman stuck in a man’s world is the alpha among alphas; I’m not about to piss her off and lose my place in the company. “Hawke and I will remain with Natalia to assess her progress; Mace and Arsen will guard the gate leading from the compound. Not a single one of those trucks is to make it off the property, is that understood?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Mace growls, frowning severely, his dark eyes flicking to me. He doesn’t like the idea of leaving me without his protection; I like it even less, but it is what it is. Orders are orders, right?
“The first explosion should take place here.” Janet shows the boys a spot on the map, and then gives them coordinates to add to their smart watches. “The second here. And the third and final should be the lab itself. I expect the first to go off in fifteen minutes or less.”
“As you wish,” Colt says with a grin, unloading one of the wooden crates from the trailer. Janet curls her lip at his less than professional response to her command, and then turns to me.
She hates me. I can already tell. Maybe she doesn’t want to, because she seems the type to bond over womanly comradery, but there must be something about Hawke that she likes because there’s a fury there that I can’t figure out otherwise.
“Your job is to prove to me that you can do this. I don’t expect perfection. I don’t even expect you to be good; I just need to see progress, potential.” I nod as she turns back to Colt. “So far as your assessment goes, I just need to see you complete this assignment without fucking up.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Weston answers for Colt, elbowing him in the side before he can say anything stupid in response. The two of them pause, each one holding up a side of the heavy crate, and then they press a kiss to either side of my mouth. “Don’t die while you’re out there, okay? I really liked that bit about me and you making babies.”
“I wouldn’t mind a brat or two either,” Colt says with a shrug and a grin, and he winks at me as the two of them disappear into the trees together. It doesn’t occur to me in that moment that I won’t be seeing them for a while.
It doesn’t occur to me that I won’t be going home to the Rogue Elk after this.
I figure I’m leaving in a body bag, or I’m leaving with the boys. A third possible outcome never enters my mind.
Not until it’s too late.
Mace and Arsen peel off to take care of their own duties, the former giving me a shoulder squeeze that might very well leave bruises, but that I liked anyway. The latter …
“Try not to get yourself killed; I’ll miss your magic pussy just a little too much for comfort.” Arsen nips my ear, and then takes off, slipping his dual pistols from the holsters on his hips and spinning them like some sort of old timey cowboy.
“Are you ready?” Hawke asks, after the other four have disappeared into the trees.
“As I’ll ever be,” I say, and then find myself shocked as shit as Hawke cups my chin and runs his thumb along my lower lip. Janet notices, face tightening, but she says nothing, ever the professional.
The three of us make our way through the trees, pausing to drop to our bellies and crawl the rest of the way. We end up at the edge of a small cliff, hidden in the bushes, a small clearing below us filled with men in leather vests, motorcycles, trucks, and trailers.
It’s bustling down there, like a city in and of itself, a community.
There are even women, one with a baby on her hip.
I feel sick.
Hawke and Janet say nothing, do nothing.
This is all me.
“There are three guards up here,” I whisper, signaling with one finger to our left, and two to our right to indicate their positioning. “Hawke, deal with the one on the far left, I’ll take the middle, and Janet, you head for the right.”
The two of them give me confirmation, and we move apart, Janet to one side, Hawke and me to the other.
