Her apprehension kicked up a notch. Vague statements of “You’ll know what it is we’re searching for when you see it,” combined with the clandestine faction giving the order, mingled with nonexistent proof that anyone at Dreagan was doing anything wrong made her anxious and tense.
Denae bit back a grunt when Matt spitefully slammed into her shoulder. She cut him a look. “Three clicks,” she bit out.
Matt was the golden boy of MI5. She had earned her position after years of hard work, but Matt had climbed the ranks easily—too easily. Her annoyance was also due to the fact Matt had been given private orders beyond the ones they had been given together. And it left her with a weight in her stomach.
When MI5 became secretive with their agents, people died. Was that what this was about? Had Matt been dispatched to assassinate someone? Denae hadn’t gotten that order, and though she loved her work, the only time she had taken a life was in self-defense.
She paused at the threshold of the thick forest, which protected them as the trees turned to a sea of grass that stretched endlessly from one end of the valley to another and majestic mountains rose up on either side.
Denae took the lead since she had the GPS device. She kept as close to the mountain as she could, her eyes darting around, waiting for an attack she felt was imminent.
Frank, her superior, stated the people of Dreagan were dangerous, but she had been given no specifics on how they could be. Nor had her look into Dreagan shown anything.
Frank had said Dreagan and its people were private because they were hiding something. What exactly that was she hadn’t been told either. She was just supposed to know it when she saw it.
Denae glanced over her shoulder as she ran. Had Matt been told? Did he know what made the people of Dreagan—all of them—so important that MI5 was sent?
Her musing was cut short when they approached the designated spot. Denae slowed to a walk and pointed to the pool of water that rippled as a gust of wind blew past. “That’s it.”
“Good,” Matt said and jerked off his night-vision goggles before shrugging out of his pack.
Denae did the same and stepped out of her black utility pants and removed her black jacket. Beneath, she wore a solid black wetsuit. She had just taken out the small tank, mask, and fins when Matt stared at her with an unreadable look.
She felt his censoring gaze and slowly counted to ten. “I know you don’t like me, but get over it. And remember the feeling is more than mutual.”
“I understood your use when you were undercover at the universities, but I can’t believe they sent you on this important mission.”
“Why? Am I not good enough?” she asked as she put on her fins.
He was silent for several seconds. “You do well enough, I suppose.”
Denae frowned and looked at him. “Wow. I guess that’s as close to a compliment as I’ll get from you.”
“You should’ve stayed in America and joined the CIA or FBI instead of being lured to MI5. There are others with photographic memories.”
“So, it’s because I’m American.”
“You’ll regret ever joining MI5,” he said cryptically and jumped into the water.
It wasn’t the first time a colleague had made mention of her being American, but none had ever come close to threatening her as Matt just had. She would prove that she was put on this mission because she deserved it.
Denae slipped the tank onto her back, fit the mask over her face, and put the regulator into her mouth before she plunged into the deep pool. Thanks to the weights on her belt, she sank quickly.
Swimming had always come easy, and she used her skill and speed to cut through the water. Small lights on either side of their masks lit the way through the pitch-black water.
Huge rocks jutted from the floor beneath. The closer they got to the mountain, the thicker the boulders became until they were weaving through them.
Denae effortlessly caught up to Matt. She was swimming past him when he reached out and pulled her regulator out of her mouth. With a twist of her body, she turned to see what he was about when she spotted the knife in his hand.
In an instant, he cut the straps to her tank. It fell out of sight into the water below before she could grab it. Denae immediately went on the defensive. She kicked out her foot and hit him squarely in the chin.
Matt jerked backward, giving her enough time to turn and slip through the narrow slit where water gushed from the mountain to fill the pool.
Her lungs burned. She focused on cutting through the water as fluidly as a fish, just as her father had taught her. The retort of the gun was loud in the water. Denae turned her head and saw Matt firing his Glock, the bullets narrowly missing her. She had to get on land and gain the upper hand.
Twice she nearly bumped into rocks. She spent the precious few seconds and bent her leg to her chest, where she pulled out a glow stick stashed in a pocket on her leg and cracked it.