Outcast (SEAL Team: Disavowed Book 2) by Laura Marie Altom

knife and two 9mms that he fit into the waistband of his pants. “Can you shoot?”
    “No. I’ve never even touched a gun.”
    “Time for you to learn.” Not sure who or what they might encounter, he fit eight boxes of ammo into his coat pockets. Four hundred rounds seemed like more than enough, but the way their luck was running, who knew? “As soon as we get settled in the cave, you’ll get your first lesson.”
    “Yay.”
    Ignoring her lack of enthusiasm, he fit elastic-banded LED headlamps over their hats, then crammed two spare units and batteries into her coat pockets.
    “Do you think it’s odd,” he asked, “that our friends had all of this lighting gear when it won’t be dark outside for months?”
    “Very. Like they anticipated doing a little spelunking.”
    He slung long coils of banded rope over each shoulder. “Ready?”
    She grimaced.
    “Perfect. Let’s go.” From their vantage point, the steam vents were maybe a couple hundred yards deeper into the increasingly more rugged canyon. Hiking with his awkward load sucked. Toss in the added weight and lack of mobility of the bulky winter gear, and each step felt like ten. He looked back to find Eden’s lips pressed tight. “You all right?”
    “Swell.”
    “Need me to carry something?”
    She shook her head.
    Twenty minutes later, the steam plumes still looked two hundred yards away. Nowhere in the world had he been such a crappy judge of distance. If Leo and his crew were following on foot, they had to be making better time.
    He drove himself to a faster pace, but Eden struggled keeping up.
    Slowing, he took the med kit from her, as well as the batteries.
    “I said I can do it,” she complained.
    “There’s no doubt in my mind you can, but maybe I think you shouldn’t have to.”
    She rolled her eyes before snatching back the med kit, then plowing ahead.
    That’s my girl . He couldn’t help but be proud of her spunk. But if she had this much of a competitive spirit in taking a damned walk, why didn’t she feel the same about defeating cancer?
    Forty minutes worth of scrambling over rocks and boulders netted not much of anything special. No cave. No hot spring perfect for skinny-dipping. Nothing but the lone steam vent, plus more rocks and snow and ice capped by cheery blue sky.
    A glance at his watch that he’d found stashed with the gear showed it was ten at night.
    No wonder he was so freaking tired.
    Through a particularly rough patch, she asked, “What if Leo’s not following us? What if we’ve done all of this for nothing? And his goal was to drive us into the wild to let nature do his dirty work?”
    “Not gonna lie . . .” He paused to stretch his back. “It’s a possibility.”
    His grand plan had been to set up for an ambush, but now they were back on an open plain that more closely resembled the moon than any image he’d imagined of Antarctica. Where were the happy penguins and tourist cruises?
    “See that overhang?” He pointed north—at least what he thought was north. He felt all turned around and embarrassed by his lackluster navigation skills.
    “Yeah. It might as well be a million miles from here.”
    “Nah. Only a half-mil.”
    She flipped him off, only her bulky glove stole her thunder.
    “You’re sexy when you’re mad.”
    “Stow it.”
    “Say the word, and you know I’ll—”
    “Shh.” She looked to the sky. “Hear that?”
    “The sound of my heart breaking from your rejection?”
    “No, listen . . .”
    No way . “Is that a . . .”
    A helicopter banked low and to the right, hammering them with brutally cold wind.
    Jasper pulled Eden close, shielding her from the worst of the blow.
    The craft hovered. The cargo door opened and two men dressed all in white save for mirror-lensed sunglasses dropped a rope, then slid down it.
    Eight more guys followed.
    Through the craft’s open side door, a struggle broke out between one last man dressed all in white and another who wore a familiar red