Delta: Retribution Read Online Free PDF Page B

Until then, the search was on—
    “Seriously, this time. You okay over there, buddy?” Roman’s eyes narrowed like he knew the rabbit hole Trace had just fallen into.
    “Yeah.” He stared up at the morning sky until the boat rocked again.
    Marlena was failing at another attempt to move on the piece-of-shit fishing boat. “Who sent you for me? How did you know where to find me?”
    Trace shrugged. He didn’t know who had hired Titan. Delta wasn’t there to explain, just to move her from point A to point B. But he had a few questions of his own.
    “If we’re trying to stay alive, shouldn’t we row this little boat faster?” She stared at the paddles lying on the floor. “Or at all? Floating with the current seems counterintuitive.”
    Trace shook his head. “No one speeds down this river. We do that, we stick out and find trouble.”
    “So we just sit here?” She pushed reddish-brown hair behind her ear, and at that moment he remembered the sound she made when his tongue ran across her earlobe.
    He sucked in a breath. “For another half hour, plus or minus.”
    “My two cents say we should get the hell out of here a little faster. Just so you know.” She peered up while bracing her hands on the side the boat. Her face was green, her nipples were showing, and all while, her voice had a bit of bossiness to it.
    He couldn’t stop the grin from forming and even chuckled. “We’ll take it under advisement.”
    “What’s so funny?”
    “I don’t get it either.” Ryder stared at him, then to Roman. “But who the hell’s heard Trace laugh recently?”
    Her eyes narrowed, and despite the smudged makeup around them, they were addictive. “You’re laughing at me? Just drive the boat faster. Surely you can go a little faster and not make a scene.”
    “You’re a hot, bossy mess, Cinderella.”
    “I said I was sorry,” she said.
    “Doesn’t mean I can’t call you on it.”
    “What the hell are you two talking about?” Ryder asked.
    Lips pursed, she didn’t look one bit interested in explaining, which made him like it all the more. “Nothing, man.”
    Trace moved off the bench and sat next to her on the floorboard. “What’s the deal with you, anyway? Why’d your cute butt end up down here?”
    “I don’t like to share.”
    “Or tell the truth.”
    She smacked him but smiled. “Don’t be an ass.”
    “Don’t know if that’s possible.” Ryder laughed.
    “Private conversation, buddy.”
    “On a boat the size of my couch.”
    Trace turned to Ryder and glared. “I get it, now shut up already.”
    He turned back to Marlena, and the boat rocked more than he had intended it to. “Sorry, total accident. I swear.”
    She elbowed him, making the little boat move, and her queasy look surfaced again. “I’ll pay you every dime I have if you get me off this awful raft.”
    “It’s a boat.”
    “Boat. Whatever.” Something jumped out of the water and snagged one of the baseball-sized mosquitoes. “Crap. Just get me home.”
    “Where’s home?”
    She sighed. “Nowhere, anymore.”
    That sounded familiar. “I get that.”
    Brock barked into his earpiece, “Air support’s early for your rendezvous. Be at that dock in fifteen minutes, and keep your eyes up.”
    “Roger that.” Trace glanced at Roman and Ryder then at Marlena. “Looks like you might owe me every dime you’ve ever made.”
    Ryder and Roman picked up oars, and Trace surveyed the horizon for anyone who seemed interested in their downriver push. Every time he darted from bank to bank, upstream and down, he stole a glance at her.
    They skimmed through the water. Marlena sighed, relief on her face, and then she caught him staring. She wiped her expression clean, replacing it with an almost laughable calm. It couldn’t have been more fake, and he couldn’t have wanted to kiss her any more than he did that second.
    The dock came into view as a chopper began its descent. Marlena leaned into his arm. “Instead of tossing you