Landlocked (Atlas Link Series Book 2) (21 page)

“We’ll go careful from here on out,” General Holt said. “Trevor, I want you to focus on resting until Doctor Hanney lets you off base restriction. I don’t want you working at all, no computers, no Waterstar map work.” He looked to Major Pike. “You, Dr. Hill, and Sophia are cleared to go this afternoon.”

They’re not going to wait for me?

“Didn’t you say we should go careful?” I asked. Being down two people when we’re the only ones who travel the Link Pieces seemed like a bad idea, especially now that we were most likely being watched.

Dr. Hill exchanged a look with Sophia and Pike. “We have a time-sensitive lead we want to check out, and you’re not exactly going to be back in time-jumping shape right away.”

No one spoke. Rage ignited my veins as I realized exactly why they’d leave now, before Doctor Hanney cleared me, and it wasn’t because of my health.

I swallowed my anger.

“I’m not in on it,” I said as flatly as I could. Not defensive, not angry. They must have thought my past caught up to me again. “I have no idea what the Lemurians are planning. I haven’t spoken to anyone, even my own family, since they took SeaSatellite5. And in case you’re wondering, my parents disowned me months before the hijacking even happened.” I clenched my fists. It was like Chelsea accusing me of working for Thompson all over again. “I can’t believe you’d accuse me of that after two years of working with you guys, and after watching the Lemurians take the
only
place I’ve ever called home.”

I stood on shaky legs and glanced at the wheelchair. It wouldn’t be a dignified enough exit. I forced my feet to guide me, my legs to hold me, until I got to the elevator bank. I hit the UP button and collapsed against the wall until it arrived. When the doors slid open in front of me, I entered the elevator with uneven breaths and a sweat-caked brow. I hunched over and tried not to puke from exertion.

I am not the mole. But I will find out who sold us out again.

But the fact my family may be up to something didn’t surprise me as much as it should have. I just didn’t think they’d ever come at us through the Link Pieces. If it wasn’t safe to go to temples a hundred miles outside rudimentary civilization, where
was
safe?

Family
.

My eyes flew open. I forced them to focus on the elevator’s control panel. It reminded me of the Lift, which reminded me of SeaSat5, of Valerie and the first day we’d set foot on the station. Of her last instruction:
Go to Abby.

Visit her
.

still had a grin plastered to my face when I awoke curled up against Josh. I could feel it sitting there on my face like an ad to the world saying: best night ever. And it was true. But the blaring of Josh’s cell phone drove the smile away.

Josh groaned into my shoulder.

“You have to get that,” I told him.

“I know,” he said, his voice thick with sleep. “I don’t want to.”

He sounded so much like a child that I couldn’t help but laugh, which only caused him to laugh as well. The rumble echoed in his chest, and I felt it where my hand laid against his ribs. I rolled over and kissed him. It was meant to be sweet, motivational, but instead it grew into a passionate blaze the answering machine said we didn’t have time for. When the apartment’s home phone rang, he growled against my lips and pulled away.

“Stay here,” he said.

He didn’t need to convince me otherwise. It was too cold outside of the sheets to ever want to leave. Instead, I reached over the side of the bed to pick up my tank top and throw it on. Josh’s voice carried throughout the apartment, but I couldn’t make out what he said, so I laid there, staring at the ceiling with a smile on my face.
Josh
. My heart swelled just thinking about him, about his confident, firm approach to making me—

“Hey,” Josh said, peeking his head into the room. He thumbed at the kitchen and left again.

I took that as a sign to get out of bed. The search for my clothes was short, and I enjoyed the sight of Josh still not in his as he paced back and forth, grinning at me.

I threw him his boxers and mouthed, “Put some damn clothes on.”

He lifted a fist to block his laugher as he listened to what the other person had to say. “We’ll be there in half an hour.” He turned to a cabinet and took out bagels, holding them up to me. I gave him a thumbs-up. He broke them apart and threw them in the toaster. “Sounds good, Weyland. See you then.” A pause. “Yeah, yeah, buddy, then propose to her already.” He hung up.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Weyland thinks he’s found ‘the one,’ but lacks the balls necessary to do something about it,” Josh said. “But if you meant with all the voicemails it’s because we shut our phones off last night.” He shot me a wicked grin.

“Shame on that.”

“Yeah,” he said, dark brown eyes twinkling. “Shame. Anyway, go hop in the shower. I’ll be there in a second. I hope you don’t mind eating on the go. Apparently Weyland and Eric picked today for your last step.”

“I thought General Allen said I was done.” My last day of training was yesterday. Next week, I’d be off hunting Lemurians in our own place-time.

“Officially, yes,” Josh said. “But we got a little something extra we like to do.”

“What is it?”

A mischievous smirk bloomed on his lips. “You’ll see.”

Anxiety rippled through me. I thought I’d finished testing and proved myself a long time ago, especially to Weyland. What in the world could they have planned for me, short of a SEAL or Ranger course or something?

My throat dropped into my chest and made it hard to swallow. I may have been strong physically, but I wasn’t Ranger strong. I didn’t have the same mental grit.

Josh’s Subaru made short work of the shoddy terrain they called a “road” here. The closest comparison I could think of were some of the roads in Cape Cod, or in Northern New England, but even those came up short compared to this. Josh seemed confident his SUV would make it up to this “lake” we were en route to, although if he called this pavement a road, I’d bet this lake was a pond or a swamp.

“Why do you look so anxious?” he asked me.

I sipped at the coffee in my thermos. “Because you’re driving these
trails
like you’re on a NASCAR track.”

He laughed. “Not what you’re used to?”

“I grew up outside of Boston, so no. I’m used to driving on streets with pavement or cobblestone. Not driving across sand, sand, more sand, and some dirt, all of it flying by at way too high a speed.” I looked out the window. I wasn’t used to it, but part of me thought I could be. “I mean, I guess it’s a nice change of scenery, minus this dangerous off-roading.”

Josh kept laughing. It wasn’t that I thought he couldn’t keep us safe; it was that I’d never driven on roads this damn shoddy before.

“So, what’s this whole thing about?” I asked.

He shrugged, like it was nothing at all even though it sure as hell was
something
. “This is Eric’s thing. It’s honestly more like hazing than unofficial training.”

Lovely. “Because that makes me feel so much better.”

“Hey,” he said, “it’s difficult but necessary. Trust me. I’ve seen Rangers go through this and cry, but others, people who barely made it through boot camp, scale this thing with no trouble at all. It’s all up here,” he said, tapping the side of his head.

“My head’s had a lot of abuse lately.”
Thanks to the Altern Device.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing.” He still side-eyed me. “It’s classified. But while we’re talking about pasts, were you the crying Ranger or the barely boot camp grad?”

He cringed. I knew it had to have been something rough that landed him at TruGates. Was it the same thing that put Mara here?

“Sorry, you don’t have to answer that,” I said.

“No, it’s okay,” he said. “You’re one of us now, anyway. I’m a Ranger. Did some engineering and explosives before that. This test kicked my ass until I realized what it was about.”

Engineering. Lord, I had a type. But he and Trevor were so completely different. They could have been from different planets entirely.

Josh’s avoidance of the real question forced a frown. I wanted to know, but couldn’t tell if he wanted me to.

“Sounds more fun than my background,” I said. “Archaeology grad turned SeaSat5 lab rat who got recycled into the Army. And now here I am, still a civilian by some miracle of God.”

“Keep it that way. Sometimes joining up isn’t the best idea in the world.”

I glanced over at him. He kept his eyes pointedly on the road in front of us. Whatever he’d done or been a part of must have been dark. Terrible. “I don’t intend on enlisting. I see enough military action as it is, and even if I didn’t, I could never do that after what happened on SeaSatellite5.”

“Mm,” he mumbled, though last I checked, he didn’t know anything about SeaSatellite5.

The road ended at a parking lot where everybody else stood waiting for us. They were clad in rock climbing gear. I groaned. Rock climbing was yet another activity Logan participated in that I’d never had the stomach for.

“Shit,” I mumbled. This wasn’t going to be fun at all.

Josh chuckled. “Already?”

“Easy for you to say.” I unbuckled my seatbelt when Josh parked the car and climbed out of the SUV slowly.