“Fine.”
Seconds later, they were in the same predicament—no horses. No chance of getting horses.
She forgot her agreement to let Mathias do the dealing, and planted her elbows on the counter to glare at the little man who couldn’t be further from the famous gunslinger the name of the establishment suggested.
“Is it normal to run out of horses all over town?”
“No. First time it’s happened in years. We always have a horse or two left in the stable even on a busy summer day.” He scratched a finger on his balding scalp.
“Then why today?” she demanded.
A dinner plate-sized hand hit her lower back. The jolt of heat and the size of Mathias’s hand shocked her as much as the fact he touched her.
“Sorry, sir. We’re just trying to have a nice vacation, and we planned to take horses on the trip.” Mathias’s voice was smooth as silk.
The man gave a sympathetic nod. “I’d love to help you out, but a man came in a few hours ago and rented the lot.”
“All of them?” Madeline burst out.
The pressure on her spine increased until she couldn’t think about much else. His hand felt as if it spanned her entire lower back, thumb to pinky. It was too warm, but the heat began to seep through her skin and work at the stiffness she had from sitting on a cramped plane and then the truck.
She stepped forward, trying to separate his hand from her body, but he moved with her, which left her pinned between the counter and those long digits that she knew must be callused.
What did she care? She just wanted to find some horses and set out in the morning to beat Dahl to the artifact.
“What are our alternatives if we can’t get horses?” Mathias asked.
“I’ve heard of people taking dirt bikes.”
“Not exactly my thing,” he stated. “What about other animals? Llamas?”
“Have you ever ridden a llama?” Madeline twisted to look up at him. At least he pulled his hand away.
He shrugged. “How different can it be?”
“No llamas that I know of. But I’ve heard of some mules at the place two streets over.” The man pointed in the direction.
“I don’t know if mules are a good idea—” Mathias started.
Madeline cut him off by spinning back to the worker. “Thank you. Have a good evening.”
She hurried out with Mathias on her six. The man never seemed to move from his position. At least he was devoted to his job.
“Mules? No way.” He tugged down his hat brim.
“What happened to being considerate to an employee? It’s not his fault some douche-bag rented all the…” She trailed off as it suddenly hit her.
Dahl.
Was it possible he was already here and knew she was on to him? Making sure she didn’t have a horse would set her back by days.
This flitted through her head in a blink, and she set the theory aside to examine further later. Right now, they had to find those mules.
* * * * *
If Madeline heard one more slurp coming from Mathias’s direction—
Slurrrrp.
She lifted her eyes from her own dinner to pin him in her gaze. “Can you eat a little less like a barbarian?”
“Wings are a man’s food. You make man noises.” He stuck a whole chicken wing in his mouth, bit down and pulled the thing out clean of meat. He dropped the bone to the plate.
They were the only people in the outdoor picnic area, but she still glanced around to make sure nobody was watching.
She curled her lip in disgust and pushed her own takeout platter away in order to set her phone in its place. When she passed her wrist over the device, the screen lit up with maps.
He stopped mid-suck on his wing and lowered it from his grease-smeared lips. “How did you do that?”
“All the members of my agency have microchips implanted in our wrists.”
He reached out and snagged her forearm, greasy fingers and all. When he flipped her wrist up, he stared at the tiny white scar.
She wrenched free of his grasp and used a paper napkin to wipe off the grease from his fingertips.
“Does it hurt?” he asked.
“No.”
“What does it do?”
“It’s programmable with whatever we need, so it’s always changing. Plus, it tracks our location.”
He straightened and stared at her. “This is high-tech spy stuff. Who developed it?”
“Our boss did. He knew what he wanted and had it created for us.” She turned her focus to her phone and tapped a few links to open a map.
“Jesus. Your chip did that?”
“Among other things.”
“Like what?” He picked up his wing again.
Sharing company secrets wasn’t really her thing, but they were working closely and were both professionals. “Unlocks doors. Starts cars.”
“You can steal cars?”
“We’re not exactly out to commit grand theft auto.”
“But you have.” His eyes took on a glimmer that brought her attention to the gold and brown flecks in them.
She gave a simple nod in answer.
When Mathias let out a whoop, she jumped. “Dang, Ross didn’t tell me I was guarding such a bad-ass.”
Warm satisfaction hit her system at his odd praise. She considered herself strong, independent and more than capable. Her teammates acknowledged it regularly, but hearing it from someone outside of her small circle of colleagues felt good.
To hide her thoughts, she fiddled with the map, stretching it on her screen so she could study the canyon along their route.
They had a pair of mules secured for the morning, and just to be certain the pack animals would actually be there upon their arrival, Mathias had shelled out more money for them. At least he saw the importance of having some mode of transportation.
On the other hand, he would have gone into the wilderness with nothing more than a water bottle and a blanket, and her practical side had taken charge and insisted on more purchases.
Her screen flashed. She wasn’t sure if Mathias even detected it, since it was no more than a pulse of light.
He jabbed his finger at her phone. “What’s it doing?”
“I’m getting a message.”
She plucked the phone off the table to keep the screen private and read what was there.
Her heart gave a hard, painful flip at seeing the words Oz sent her.
Dam done. Water and forest service plant to flood gorge in a few days.
“Something important? You’re pale. Well, paler.” Mathias took a drink of soda.
She shook her head and concentrated on keeping her expression neutral. She wasn’t ready to share this information yet.
God, could it be true? The dam built on the gorge was complete and they planned to flood it this week?
She shot off a text to Oz asking for an exact day and time. He responded immediately with: Working on it.
Oz would go as far as to hack the water and forest service’s mainframe in order to find the answer. She knew he’d come through for her.
That didn’t mean she liked waiting. In fact, if she hated anything, it was waiting for answers. She wanted what she wanted and she wanted it now. Was that too much to ask?
She pulled up the map again. She’d tell Mathias once she knew more.
On missions, things were bound to go awry. But this one was already starting off badly. They couldn’t get horses and now they had to reach the cave before the gorge was flooded?