Hot Zone by Elle James

Author:Elle James
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin Intrigue
Published: 2017-08-04T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Hawkeye held on tightly around Olivia’s waist. Not only because he liked being close to her, but because she drove like a bat out of hell. If he hadn’t held on, she’d have lost him a couple of times going around some of the tighter corners along the trail.

Thankfully, she seemed to know her way. He recognized the shapes of the ridges and the rugged trails down into the gorges. As they neared the trail down into the valley where he’d found the man planting the dynamite near the pipeline, he yelled, “Slow down.”

Olivia brought the ATV to a halt on the top of the ridge overlooking the area.

Hawkeye cast a glance around, taking in the other hilltops, searching for any movement. Anyone with a weapon perched on the ridgelines could easily pick off someone at the bottom. His military training made him look at terrain that way. He was glad of that training. Not only had someone tried to plant explosives at this pipeline checkpoint, but a pipeline inspector had been killed there. Shot from one of the surrounding ridges.

Yeah, Hawkeye would do well to treat this as enemy territory and be prepared for anything. “Let’s go to the bottom. I want to check on something.”

“Is this the place?” Olivia asked.

His chest tightened and he gave the neighboring hills another once-over with a trained eye. “Yeah.”

Olivia thumbed the throttle lever and eased the four-wheeler down the trail into the valley.

Hawkeye had her park it in the shadows of a lodgepole pine tree. When he got off, he pointed to the tree’s trunk. “Stay here. If there is anyone after you, you won’t present a decent target hidden in the shadows.”

Olivia shook her head. “I’m not hiding from anyone. I have just as much right to be here as anyone else.” She started past him.

Hawkeye snagged her arm and pulled her against his chest. “You aren’t wearing a bulletproof vest or a Kevlar helmet. If someone takes a shot at you, you’re dead. Who will take care of your family’s ranch?”

“If I die, who cares? I don’t have any family to leave the ranch to.” Her lips pressed into a thin line, her shoulders pushing back, displaying an inner strength and a willingness to charge into danger and seek justice. But the mist in Olivia’s eyes reminded Hawkeye of just how vulnerable she still was, having lost her father—the only relative she’d had left in the world.

“Yeah, you might not have a family to leave the ranch to, but you have an employee who, if I’m guessing right, is just as much a part of the family as your father. If you die, the ranch will be sold to the highest bidder and Abe will be out of a job. At his age, and still recovering from his broken leg, he’ll have difficulty finding work.”

Olivia frowned at Hawkeye. “Yeah, hit me where it hurts. Okay, I’ll stay close to the shadows and I won’t stand in one place very long.

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