Operation: Midnight Guardian by Linda Castillo Page A

talking about The Jaguar and his men.”
    She looked uneasily toward the black hole from which they’d just emerged. “You think they followed us?”
    “I think it’s an assumption we have to make if we want to stay alive.”
    “If they followed us into that bat-infested cave, who’s to say they won’t follow us into the blizzard?”
    “Knowing The Jaguar, he will.” Cutter looked around. “We’ll just have to make it a little more difficult for them.”
    He’d been saving the two concussion grenades in his belt for emergencies. This wasn’t exactly an emergency, but if he could keep The Jaguar’s men from following them, the small explosives would be well worth using. Tugging one of the tiny canisters from his belt, he walked over to the cave opening and looked into the darkness.
    Mattie came up beside him. “What are you doing?”
    “Buying us some time.” He lifted the canister, set the timer, and began to silently count. One one thousand. Two one thousand. “See that copse of trees?” he asked, motioning toward a protected area high on the other side of the small gorge where they were standing.
    She squinted. “Barely.”
    “You have fifteen seconds to get there. Start running. I’m right behind you.”
    She shot him a startled look he might have enjoyed had the circumstances not been so dire. “Why fifteen seconds?”
    Aiming carefully, he tossed the grenade onto a ledge directly above them that was piled high with snow. “Because there’s going to be an avalanche.”
    The explosion shook the earth. Cutter prayed his calculations were correct. If they weren’t, he and Mattie would be buried alive by a thousand tons of churning, crushing snow.
    He held on to her hand with a death grip as he dashed toward the stand of aspen trees. The ground beneath his feet trembled. He sensed the awesome power of the avalanche. Felt the spray of snow on his face.
    But he didn’t risk looking back. One wrong move could mean a fall. A fall at this point would mean certain death, and he had absolutely no intention of dying.
    As suddenly as the explosion began, it eerily stopped. Cutter and Mattie reached the trees and higher ground. Cutter swung around. The avalanche and snowstorm had combined forces and turned the mountain into a surreal scene that was white on white on white. It was one of the most stunning sights he’d ever seen in his life.
    “I can’t believe you did that.”
    Grinning, he looked at Mattie. Her eyes were on his, midnight blue against milky skin. “Mother Nature put on a hell of a show, didn’t she?”
    “She’s not too careful with her audience.” But her gaze was fixed on the powder snow swirling down like a white tornado.
    Cutter released her hand and stepped back. “That ought to hold them for a while.”
    “Now we can freeze to death in peace.”
    He frowned at her. Snow sparkled in her hair and on her skin. Her cheeks blushed with cold. Damn, he really wished she didn’t look so good. If he wasn’t careful, she was going to get to him on a level he didn’t want to acknowledge.
    “We need to keep moving.” Pulling the compass from his pocket, he motioned toward the faint trail.
    “Where are we going?”
    “To see if we can find one of those cabins I was telling you about.”
    “The ones you were hoping are still standing?”
    “Those are the ones.”
    “How far?”
    “A couple of miles at most.”
    She gave him a sharp look. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re not wearing coats.”
    But Cutter had noticed. He hadn’t missed the fact that she was shivering. That her teeth were beginning to chatter. With nothing more than their street clothes to keep them warm, he knew it wouldn’t be long before hypothermia set in.
    Because she wasn’t moving fast enough, he took her arm and pulled her into a brisk walk. He was starting to get cold, as well. His hands and feet were cold. To make matters worse, the throbbing of his ribs had returned with a vengeance.
    Mattie had