“I thought of that too, but I remember Creed mentioning Matches are always on Saturdays at noon.”
Their stealth paid off as they quietly pressed the latches on the van’s doors and slipped inside. “Damn, I wish Evan were here to check for explosives,” he mumbled under his breath as he reached up and flipped the visor open, letting the van keys fall into his wide-open hand.
He slipped the key into the ignition and turned slowly, listening for the telltale pause, click and eerie silence that would happen when a car bomb has been triggered.
The key turned easily; the engine starting right up and purred softly in the silence of the night.
Alik let his breath out in a gush of relief. Even Maze seemed to relax the tension in his wide shoulders.
“Wow, you really thought they’d planted an explosive in the van? I thought you were kidding.”
“Think about it Farrow. It would have explained why there was no one in sight.”
Farrow’s dark-doe eyes widened as she realized the validity of his logic.
“Could it still go off?”
“Chances are we’re fine now.” Alik reassured as he put the van into drive and started up the curb and directly across the pristine lawn. He didn’t bother with the headlights, not wanting to attract too much attention.
Maneuvering as quietly and carefully as possible, Alik positioned the back of the van at an angle up against the front doors, just as his sister had asked.
Once there, he put the van in park and kept it running. “What time do you have?” he asked anxiously looking at his watch in the dim glow of moonlight trickling through Farrow’s passenger window.
When she didn’t answer he looked up to see her eyes watching him intently.
Too anxious to hold still, Alik climbed into the back of the van and began shuffling through the junk back there looking for…well, anything to keep his mind off the beautiful blush that tinged Farrow’s cheeks when he caught her staring at him.
“What are you looking for?” Farrow’s voice asked from the front seat.
“Um, a shirt, I guess,” Alik murmured. He was rummaging through the bags strewn in the back of the van. The second bag he yanked open was Farrow’s. Alik’s hand pulled out the small black dress she’d worn earlier. A whiff of her perfume mixed with the scent he knew to be hers naturally drifted to his sensitive nose. He resisted the urge to bury his face in her dress to breathe her in.
Coughing, he shoved the dress back into the bag and yanked it closed as he covered his blush with dialogue.
“Do you see any movement out there?”
“No, nothing.” Farrow’s eyes were scanning the area around them.
“Good,” he mumbled both in response to Farrow and to finding Creed’s satchel and in it, a black T-shirt that would fit him fine.
He was on his knees in the back of the van slipping his beautifully muscular arms through the shirt before dragging it up to his head. In that instant, Farrow couldn’t help but stare at his beauty. His wildly long brown hair slipped through and in that instant, Farrow was caught ogling the boy who had completely captured her heart. He glanced away from her, an adorable crooked grin on those full lips.
Farrow busied herself checking her weapon as he climbed back into the driver’s seat.
“Time?” he asked, his voice a bit gruff. Farrow cringed inside, wondering if she’d embarrassed him by watching him dress.
“It’s been three minutes, thirty-eight seconds,” Farrow frowned at her digital watch as though it was the cause of their awkward moments.
What am I thinking? Farrow scolded herself. We’re in the middle of life and death, and I’m worried about what Alik Winter thinks about me? He doesn’t think of you that way, Farrow. How could he? Focus soldier!
Alik grabbed his weapon and was taking the safety off, eyes scanning the area around them then whipping back to the front doors of the hospital, desperately looking for the others.
Keep it together, Al. Alik shook himself mentally. Meg expects nothing but the best from you and you cannot let her or Ev down because of some girl—no matter how attractive she is. But even as he thought the words “some girl” he cringed. She wasn’t just some girl. She was Farrow.
“Over there,” she whispered.
Alik’s eyes followed her intense stare. All he saw at first was a grove of trees and shadows draped around them.
“What did you see?”
“Movement.” Farrow was holding her scope up to her eye, keeping absolutely still as she searched the blackness. The anxious coyote let out the softest of whines, his eyesight even more acute than the metahumans in the van.
He just confirmed what Farrow already knew. All her training as a sniper was telling her they were being watched. Just then she saw moonlight glint off something metallic.
“I see a weapon,” she breathed.
Alik was scanning the surrounding area, not wanting to be caught off guard from a different direction. That’s when he saw movement himself.