Under the Wire: Bad Boys Undercover

To the readers who asked for more books in the

Bad Boys Undercover series—this one’s for you!

C
ARA
L
AYNE
woke on a scream. The noise rumbled to life inside her chest but choked off as her eyes snapped open. Her muscles jerked. Without thinking, she grabbed for the inside stuffing of her narrow down sleeping bag, digging her fingernails deep into the slippery material. Bunching it in closed fists, she pulled the bag even tighter around her and tried to cocoon her body for protection. From what, she didn’t know.

The weather had turned without warning. The wind built to a sick wail then faded, only to roar back to life again. It echoed around her like a child’s cry as it whipped through the campsite. To block the screeching, she pulled the bag up and against her ears.

She could still see that black night surrounded the tent. The chilling cold signaled early morning, but nowhere near dawn. She tried to focus, to figure out what was happening.

Her tent mate shifted and kicked beside her. A zipper screeched. The material of his bag rustled and he said
something she couldn’t quite hear over the crescendo of sounds muffled through her clogged ears. The ground shook and the air almost vibrated.

Nothing made sense. They’d ventured out on an overnight trip to collect samples. The usual work and not dangerous. They’d set down outside of avalanche and flood zones. This was the right season. The right place. Yet, dread hovered all around her. The sleepy haze dragging her down refused to lift. She tried to shake off the clouding in her brain and focus on the clicking sound. A steady tapping.

What the hell was that?

Then it hit her . . . her teeth. Chattering.

The tent shook as a new blast of air caught the canopy, the material flapping above her head. She pulled her body tighter into a ball. Fear rocketed through her as the nylon that promised to stay sturdy even during the most punishing high mountain expedition ripped around her.

The howling sound finally registered. Not weather. Not animal. Human.

She lifted her head only high enough to see a dark figure pulling at the material above her. At first she thought her tent mate held their failing shelter together with his bare hands . . . then the blade flashed. She screamed, but the sound disappeared into the cacophony of banging and shredding.

The pain came next. Blinding pressure drilled against
the sides of her head. She felt as if her skull had compressed. Had started to collapse and shatter. Stray thoughts bombarded her brain. Paranoia drowned out common sense as the top of her tent split open and more cold air poured inside.

She struggled to get to her knees then slipped and fell flat on her stomach again. Her skin flashed from cold to hot. Footsteps thundered around her. The crashing of equipment. Yelling. Still, her head pounded. Not with a headache or migraine. This pushing made her eyes ache as wave after wave of dizziness crashed over her.

Someone or something tugged hard at the seam of her sleeping bag. She grabbed, tried to hold on but her fingers slipped in the slick material. The tugging became dragging as the down slid over rocks and her hip thumped against the unforgiving ground.

She fought to force out a scream but no sound came. The bag trapped her, making it impossible to move more than a few inches. Vulnerability sent her racing headfirst into panic. Her teeth ground together as she struggled to move, to fight back, and despite the screaming in her head, a strange lethargy she couldn’t kick weighed her muscles down. It hurt to lift her arm. Her thigh rolled up underneath her as she was dragged along, crushed against her stomach and stealing her breath.

She couldn’t suffer through one more minute. Losing
the physical battle, she looked for mental escape and tucked her head as her mind floated away. Music filled her scattered thoughts. A familiar melody her father used to play. One she struggled to remember whenever she needed comfort. The humming swam through her mind, mixed with the pain.

She heard a crack and felt a hard
thwap
like a punch to the back of her head. Then the world around her blinked into a tunnel of darkness.