He returned her nod, taking her hand in his and pulling her up to stand with him. A light tug on her hand and she followed closely behind him, shifting out of his clasp to rest her hand lightly on the small of his back as they moved quickly yet quietly through the thick covering of trees.

A thrill of anticipation prickled through her blood, much like she experienced just before a race. Adrenaline pumped a sense of purpose into her, eliciting a confidence she knew she was going to need to get through this.

Sooner than she expected, they reached the wellhidden bunker. It surprised her to see just how close it was to the secret entrance she’d used not too long ago to sneak into her brother’s lab.

Rome held up a hand, motioning for her to stay put. Nodding, she watched him move with ghostlike steps toward a rocky area covered with thick green moss.

Harper relished watching him and was impressed at how stealthily he could maneuver, considering his muscular bulk. She imagined it wasn’t much different than the smooth way she cut through the water. They were more alike than they were different. She loved that.

Whoa. Love?

Where the heck did that come from? Wait. At the café, she’d said she loved him. In jest, surely, but she’d never slipped with the L word before. Ever.

“C’mon, we have sixty-five minutes.” Rome’s reminder shook her out of her shock, causing her to jump. “Hey, are you okay?” In an instant, he was beside her, rubbing her shoulder under the backpack she was wearing, sporting a sincere questioning look.

“Um, right. Yes, I’m fine,” she stammered, and gave him a smile she hoped backed up her words. He narrowed his eyes at her, clearly undecided whether to believe her.

“You’re sure?” he asked, his hand roving to her back in comfort.

She nodded crisply, gesturing for him to proceed as she reset her watch timer for the sixty-five minutes he’d bought them by shutting down surveillance. Or whatever he did.

He gave her a long, pointed look before turning toward the now-open door to the underground facility. After a quick shake of her head to clear her muddled thoughts, she followed him into the darkness.

Admittedly, she felt more than a little uncomfortable breaking into a facility like this. The worst she’d ever done was sneak into the living room while her parents were watching Jaws, after they’d forbidden her from seeing it. Yet, at the same time the fear spiked her adrenaline and got her heart pumping as though she were swimming a sprint.

Once again, Harper kept her hand on his firm back as they maneuvered down through the dimly lit corridor. The passage walls pressed in on them and the moist smell of packed soil sifted into her senses. Earthy dust grazed the back of her throat after she took a deep breath.

Every so often lightbulbs, enclosed by caged fixtures that had been secured to the dirt walls, illuminated the way for them. The slope wasn’t too steep, but it was a definite tricky descent, making her grateful for Rome’s sturdy presence just a pace ahead of her.

After a few moments of winding, the natural dug-out walls became smooth gray concrete and squarely structured. Their booted footsteps sounded deafening once on the level surface. Well, hers did, anyway.

This morning she’d hacked into several government provisioning databases to pull up the basic building plans of the facility to give them an idea of the layout. Then Rome had chosen this route when they devised this plan, thinking it would be the most deserted. He explained that the Five Watch was most likely confident in their anonymity and covert surveillance. So, he’d said with a wicked smile, they probably wouldn’t be counting on a seasoned agent and expert hacker to come aknockin’.

After running through several ideas together about where to head once they’d broken in, they’d concluded that the best option was to check out some offices or labs for files and hard evidence, then go through the ceiling’s service ducts to see what they could witness firsthand.

Though their knowledge of the facility was limited, his familiarity with infiltrating secure organizations was considerable, so she didn’t feel like they were going in blind.

But planning was one thing. Actually doing it was another. Especially with a novice like herself.

Rome stopped at a corner and peeked around it. His slow, easy movements were impressive. According to the building plans, offices were down this hallway, but Rome believed that the Five Watch may have made their own modifications by adding more laboratories.

She waited in silence, throwing an uneasy glance over her shoulder, chasing shadows. Ahead of her, Rome began moving forward again, rounding the corner as quiet as a summer breeze.

Following him closely, she once again marveled at how silently a tough guy like him could walk down a dim, sterile hallway. Every step she took sounded like a bass drum to her, but his strides were featherlight.

Rome slowed as they approached a closed unmarked doorway to their right. He flattened his hands against the surface and leaned in his head to listen. One of his hands brushed the door handle and tried it slowly. Locked.

He waved down the hall, signaling they’d try the next door, about twenty paces away. But that one was locked, too.

He gestured to a small panel on the wall with numbers and a tiny red light. Harper hadn’t even noticed it. Pointing to it, he wiggled his fingers like he was typing. What the heck? She wasn’t trained in special-agent signs. She was winging it here.

Holding her hands palms up and shrugging in the universal sign for huh? she waited for clarification. Rome rolled his eyes and moved close to her, brushing his mouth softly against her ear.

“Disable this,” he whispered; his warm breath against her skin caused her to shiver. He then pulled back slightly and gave her a questioning look, tilting his head toward the panel on the wall.

Oh. She nodded. She moved her fingers to the panel and pointed to the red light, giving him a cautious look. He nodded back, so she figured it was okay.

Removing the panel cover, she carefully fiddled with the wires, much like she had with Rome’s alarm at his warehouse. In less than a minute, the light flicked to green and she heard the lock snick.

Rome moved his hand to the doorknob and twisted it slowly, opening the door just a sliver. He peeked through, then opened it wider and quickly moved inside, yanking her along with him.

He shut the door but didn’t turn on the lights. The room was illuminated by two dim fluorescent bulbs, one hanging from each end of the ceiling.

Curiously, the room was very cold. It boasted several stainless steel tables and assorted laboratory equipment, not unlike the machines she’d been hooked up to while in captivity.

On the tables was a scattering of lab beakers, rubber tubes, and glass vials. Shuddering with unpleasant memories, she padded across the room to the laptop resting on the desk in the corner, careful not to touch anything along the way.

Rome was examining some of the equipment as he moved toward a bank of large metal cabinets that lined half of the wall in the back of the room. She continued to watch as he reached for a drawer handle and pulled on it, raising his eyebrows at her when it unlatched easily. He gave it a good tug.

A body slid out.

Harper choked and covered her mouth with her hand. Considering all the dead bodies she’d seen-well, caused-in the last week, the grisly sight shouldn’t have shocked her. But this one wasn’t a victim of self-defense like the others. Against her better judgment, she went to Rome’s side.

On a metal slab, the dead body was similar to the men who had attacked her-large and muscular, built for power. And almost familiar. But this corpse was withered and appeared annihilated, as though like it had been beaten thoroughly by some unbearable force of nature.