“We’re here,” Sydney announced and abruptly stood. She set the iPad on the couch as she reached for a thin gold handle by the window. She ducked her head and kept her attention on the window as the train slowed to a stop.
Jesse stood from the swivel chair, crossed the cabin in two strides, slid onto the couch next to Ella, and reached for her hand. His touch and the way he peered into her eyes stopped the flurry of nerves that’d been relentlessly abusing her insides. “I got you,” he mouthed, and she hoped that meant forever-forever. No steps backward, no matter what.
“I’ll go check on the boys. I assume you’re staying with Ella?” Sydney turned toward them, and Jesse nodded.
Yeah, like hell would he leave her alone in the cabin. He wasn’t armed, but his body was a weapon in itself. She’d seen what he was capable of back at Rochella’s.
Once they were alone, Jesse wrapped his arm around her back and tucked her against his frame before setting a kiss to the top of her head. “You okay?”
“I’m trying to be,” she returned, willing her lips to stop quivering, worried he’d notice. She didn’t want his attention divided. He needed to focus on the mission and not on her emotional state or well-being.
“You’re not going inside that mountain. Bomb in the village or not.” The gritty tone of Jesse’s voice had the hairs on her arms standing beneath the long sleeves of her blouse.
She twisted in his embrace to face him, but he didn’t pull his arm away at her movement. “You don’t have a choice. I can’t let anyone die because of me.” Her nerves came at her full swing again. Harder punches than before.
Jesse tipped his head, his lips in a tight line. A “fuck no” written in his eyes and growly expression. “You want me distracted? If you’re there, then I’ll be distracted, and I might die.”
“Don’t you play dirty with me,” she quickly snapped through clenched teeth. “I’m part of this, whether you like it or not.” Squeezing her eyes closed, she shut out the dark look on his face—irritation that she was refusing to comply with his demand that she stay out of danger as well as determination to compel her to listen to reason. To be honest, she was terrified. Absolutely freaking terrified to go inside some 7,000-year-old salt mine with the world’s most dangerous assassin waiting for her. “The only thing keeping me sane is that I’ll be with you. And I know you’ll never let anything happen to me. Or to you. Because you know I wouldn’t survive losing you either.”
The conversation they’d had in the courtyard yesterday felt like years ago, and his confession resurfaced in her mind. It broke her into a million pieces to know he’d fought to prevail over his internal battles because of his love for her. She was certain they would get through this night. Their love could piece everything back together, couldn’t it?
“What’s that sappy saying? Love makes the world go round? Well, we’ll prove that tonight. Somehow. Some way. You all will conquer this asshole, and he’ll get what he deserves. Zoran too,” she said, doing her best to channel some of Sydney’s badassery.
When Ella opened her eyes, she found Jesse staring at her with parted lips. “Ella, I—” He let go of his words when the door to their cabin flew open, and Gray stood there breathing hard.
Jesse sprang to his feet. “What happened?”
“One of Yuri’s men boarded the train to give us this phone.” Gray held out a phone as Jack and Sydney filled the cabin behind him. “Yuri will call us when he’s ready to meet.”
“I assume the guy got away?” Sydney asked.
Jack nodded. “He wasn’t armed, but he knew we couldn’t make a scene.”
Ella peered at the image Gray had pulled up on the screen. “That’s what I think it is, right?”
“Too zoomed in to help us ID a location, but that’s C4,” Jesse answered. “The C4 is the main charge, and it’s attached to a fuse.” He pointed to the screen, keeping his tone steady, clearly doing his best not to frighten her. But that was impossible at this point. “And the fuse is attached to a trigger. Once the fuse ignites the charge, that’s what causes the—”
“Explosion,” Ella whispered, drawing her hands to her abdomen. “So, Zoey was right. If we don’t do what he says, he’ll set this thing off.” She turned to Jesse and set her hands to his chest. “You don’t have a choice, you hear me?” She tipped her chin to cast her gaze on his face. “You’re not sacrificing others for just one person.”
“Just one person?” He clutched her arm and guided her away from the others and toward the window before gripping her biceps. “You’re not just anything, damn it. You’re my whole fucking world. I’m not losing you.” Jesse’s raspy words were coated in something more. Absolute terror.
If she went into that salt mine, he really was worried she might not make it out alive . . . wasn’t he?
Chapter Thirty-Two
Hallstatt, Austria – Later that night
Ella gazed out the window of their lakefront room, the sound of Jesse speaking over a burner phone to A.J. a faint murmur in the background as she focused on the reflection of the village lights shimmering atop the water.
The lodge Carter had chosen was Austrian-quaint and painted a beautiful sunset yellow with multiple terraces overlooking the water. The entire village felt almost as if she’d stepped back in time.
Alpine houses with charming window boxes, now topped with snow. A majestic stone church, steeple reaching toward the heavens. A picturesque town square with small shops, a bakery, and cozy-looking restaurants.
If only she and Jesse were there for their “honeymoon.” She could imagine stepping out onto their private veranda, Jesse wrapping his arms around her as they took in the view as husband and wife. He’d rest his chin on her shoulder, maybe press a kiss to her cheek, and murmur into her ear all the naughty things he’d be doing to her later.
And in the morning, after a night of making love, they’d walk along the bank of the lake and take in the sights of the beautiful village as the sun kissed the snow-capped Alps surrounding them.
Hallstatt was wedged between the lake and mountains on a narrow strip of land and was most likely the image for a jigsaw puzzle out there somewhere. The whole place was a stark contrast to their grave situation and what was soon to go down. Ella rubbed her hands along her biceps, trying to erase the chills when reality once again grabbed hold of her at that thought.
The team assumed they’d hear from Yuri sometime around midnight, which was in an hour, and that he’d most likely planned their “showdown” for tomorrow.
Ella did her best to convince herself that Falcon’s “counterplan” would succeed. But there was also the matter of a bomb hidden somewhere in the city for Oliver to deal with, and that had her stomach turning as well.
“Tunnels. I fucking hate tunnels.” A.J.’s words over the speakerphone had Ella swallowing the massive lump down her throat and turning to the room, honeymoon fantasy officially vanishing from her mind. “You don’t know this,” A.J. went on, “but I had to deal with an operation involving tunnels in Budapest last year.”