Under the Wire: Bad Boys Undercover Read Online Free PDF

second.” Reid spun around and glanced at Parker. “Anything?”
    Parker shook his head. “We seem to be in a dead zone, and I don’t know why.”
    “I was having a problem with . . .” Reid glanced at her. “. . . other equipment earlier.”
    Parker kept fiddling with the phone. “That’s not good news.”
    “Keep trying. We need to figure out if this is a normal technical blip or if something else is going on. Either way, we’ve got to get word to headquarters and arrange for an exfiltration for Cara and technical backup for us.”
    Ignoring the part where she was not leaving that way, with her research open to being stolen, Reid’s orders qualified as the exact wrong way to handle this situation. The Alliance would swoop in and take over. Break her cover and possibly further endanger her missing team and the true reason for the expedition.
    Maybe that was fine, and someone could tell her that, but until then she had to comply with the requirements given to her. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t help in another way. In a way that was much more important.
    She took a step forward, putting her body between the men. “Instead of staying here or going to the main compound, you could investigate what happened to my team. That could be a violation of some oath I took, but at least you wouldn’t be messing around with the research.”
    Being a good six inches taller, Reid looked rightover her head to Parker. “Good point. We’ll need intel on the area and expedition parameters.”
    This side of Reid she remembered all too well. She grabbed his arm and yanked. Anything to get him to listen. “I’m standing right here, telling you there are limits on what you can see. Hunting for people, protecting them, is fine. I’m saying that has to be fine.”
    This time Reid spared her a quick glance. “You don’t get to make assignments.”
    Air refused to fill her lungs. She tried to drag enough in, but her body wouldn’t cooperate. Not when they stood this close. It had been that way from the start for her. “I’m not stupid. The idea of having a few guys with guns around here right now sounds pretty damn good.”
    A look of satisfaction crossed Reid’s face. “Then we’re agreed.”
    “Almost.”
    He eyed her up, ending the visual tour with a frown. “When you stumbled out here you were ten minutes away from going into shock.”
    “Not anymore.” Determination and more than a touch of anger fueled her. The fuzziness that threw off her equilibrium slowly lifted.
    But the details of that night refused to gel in her mind. She’d walked through every minute she could mentally grab and tried to connect it to anything. Remembered the wind and the tent. Cliff getting out his knife. Then the world went black and she awoke hours,possibly a day, later. Somehow she’d survived the exposure to the cold. Animals. The attackers.
    None of it made sense.
    “She does look better,” Parker said.
    Reid shook his head. “I don’t care.”
    That was it. The one commanding comment too far. “You are not in charge here, Reid.”
    “Oh, boy,” Parker said as he mumbled something about her tone.
    “And you are in charge?” Reid’s voice had gone deadly soft while he looked at her. “Is that what you’re trying to say? Because you look a mess, and last I checked this is not your area of expertise.”
    She had no idea what she was talking about, but she knew they needed to work all of this out before he called in the rest of his team with rocket launchers and missiles and whatever other weapons they had in their possession.
    If she wasn’t careful, something already awful could turn into an international nightmare. Escalate into an unsolvable political problem. “It’s my expedition.”
    Reid opened his arms wide at his sides. “Then where is everyone? Why aren’t the comms working? Why didn’t you check in with Caleb?”
    Smartass . “Those are points I need to figure out.”
    Parker held his thumb over a