Reviving Trish

by Becca Jameson

  She replied through nearly gritted teeth. “You made this escape plan and didn’t tell me. I’m hardly in good enough shape to walk across the room, and you thought it would be a great idea to trek through the woods toward the mountains at an altitude that’s not conducive to breathing.”

  She had to give him credit for not walking away from her while she railed at him. But dammit.

  He cleared his throat, stepped even closer, and whispered again. “Trish, you’ve hardly been speaking to me for three weeks. When was I supposed to share my escape plan? Would that have been while you were giving me the cold shoulder in bed with your back to me or while you were barricaded in the room avoiding me during the day?”

  He was right. Of course. But she was still pissed. She jerked up her wrist and held it in front of his face. “And let’s not forget we both have a GPS tracker in our damn arms. If that’s what the enemy used to find us on this ranch, all we’re doing is luring the bad guys away from civilization and trapping ourselves out in the middle of nowhere.”

  He nodded. He’d thought of that. She could tell by the look in his face. “We have to hope whatever intel someone might have came from a tip. It would be very difficult for someone to get into the system and use the GPS locator.”

  She nodded past him. “Fine. Let’s go find these indentations you seem to think will resemble caves.” She stepped past him, continuing toward the north.

  Chapter 8

  Tushar followed his wife the rest of the way to the base of the mountains, impressed by her ability to keep them headed in the right direction. Not that it would have been difficult. They were aiming for the damn mountains for heaven’s sake.

  She moved at a faster pace too, even though he knew it was too much for her. He felt bad. She hadn’t left the cabin since they arrived three weeks ago. A month of PT could only do so much to help someone regain strength. She had no cardio under her belt at all. Not in over ten years, strictly speaking.

  He tipped his head to one side several times, listening, constantly diligent. Aware of their surroundings. Praying he never heard any sound that was out of the ordinary. Where were Davin’s men?

  While they hiked, he silently slid a weapon from the pouch on the side of the backpack and palmed it. He had no interest in facing an unknown enemy alone, but if they were forced to confront someone, he wanted to be prepared. He hadn’t taken it out while his wife was at his heels, but something was not right. The farther they moved, the more concerned he grew.

  When she stopped suddenly, he ran into the back of her, steadying himself with his free hand to her waist.

  Her gaze was focused on something up ahead, and he followed it to see a wolverine loping along in their line of sight. A full-grown adult animal. It didn’t seem to notice them, or it didn’t care, and after a few moments, it wandered out of sight.

  Tushar pointed past the spot where the wolverine had stood. “Let’s head for that indentation.”

  She kept walking and minutes later they were at the side of the mountain. “We’ll be trapped here,” she murmured.

  “Hidden,” he suggested. A rustling to his left made him spin around, gun raised, hoping to find the wolverine. Instead, he was relieved to see Jack making his way their direction.

  “It’s just me,” Jack stated softly as he approached. He was smirking when he reached them, tugging his black facemask down to reveal his expression. “Not sure how I feel about those shooting refreshers we had in the last few weeks,” he joked as he reached out, set a hand on Tushar’s forearm, and gently lowered it toward the ground. “Your aim is probably greatly improved. I’d hate to get shot.” Jack was dressed all in black from head to toe. He had a weapon in his hand and another strapped to his back.

  Tushar rolled his eyes. “I’ve never shot anyone yet.”

  Jack lifted an eyelid. “Because you missed? Or because you’ve never tried?”

  “Ha ha.”

  Trish sighed. “Whenever the two of you are done posturing, could we maybe hear the plan?”

  Tushar reached out and grabbed her hand again to pull her in closer. If this threat had occurred yesterday or any time before that, he wouldn’t have had the courage to so readily touch her as often as he had. But the truth was, they had made strides in the last twenty-four hours toward getting things right between them. He felt the need to keep her close, pull her into his side often, touch her. Even through the layers of mittens and coats and scarves.

  Jack shifted his gaze to Trish. “Sorry. I’m also sorry to say I don’t know much. Davin sent a man to the cabin to take off on the four-by-four. Hopefully if anyone was watching or listening, they will assume it was you. If not, they will at least presume you aren’t at the cabin when they find it empty with no vehicle out front.”

  “Now what?” Trish asked.

  “Now we wait.” He pointed to a spot behind him and then another spot in a different direction. “I have two men with me. I’m going to join them, creating a perimeter. I’m sure you’re exhausted. Why don’t you sit down inside the cave and rest? It’s not deep, but it will protect you from the wind. It’s damn cold out here.”

  Trish turned around and made her way toward the small dark space.

  “She okay?” Jack questioned.

  “She will be.” It was the only thing Tushar could think to say that wouldn’t infuriate his wife further if she overheard. He left Jack without a word, to follow her.

  She was facing the cave, standing just outside it, when he reached her side. “Cool plan. And by that I mean, freezing to death is exactly what I had in mind after spending ten years in a chilly state of vitrification.” Her voice was so snarky, he had to bite his tongue to keep from making it worse.

  “I have a Mylar blanket.” He stepped around her, set his gun on the ground, and swung the backpack around to lower it also. After tugging out a bottle of water and the Mylar blanket, he motioned her over.

  At least she closed the distance. He wasn’t sure what he would do if she decided to keep up this angry defiance. Her safety was his number one priority, even though she didn’t seem inclined to trust him on that front.

  After shaking out the silver blanket, he lowered himself to the ground and reached for her. She didn’t say anything, but she sat next to him, close enough for him to drape the wrap around both of them. He even risked circling her with his arm to pull her into his side.

  After a few seconds, she leaned her cheek against his shoulder. “I’m sorry I’m being such a bitch. I hate this. I thought we were safe here. How the hell did someone find us?”

  “I don’t know, but trust me, it’s the main thing on my mind. I keep running scenarios through my head, trying to figure out how it was possible. So few people know where we are.”

  “Do you suppose someone really could hack into the computers or phone or any other modern device and pull out the information?”

  “It’s possible, I guess. I’m not sure.” A chill raced down his spine. The entire reason he had brought Trish to this remote cabin on a secure ranch in Montana was so she could recover in peace and find herself without the threat of being discovered or the constant daily barrage of people hassling them outside the bunker in Colorado.

  He’d taken every precaution by permitting SURVIVE to sequester them. They’d come highly recommended. They were a strong force. He still trusted them even from this hiding spot against the mountain. Whoever might have found the two of them, Tushar would bet his life it had nothing to do with SURVIVE. The breech of information happened somewhere else.

  Davin and his team were extremely well-respected. Their security was top-notch. No way in hell would they risk their livelihood by selling any of their clients short.

  “I don’t suppose it’s possible whoever cut that fence was after something or someone else entirely,” she murmured against his chest.

  He squeezed her shoulder, not bothering to respond while he leaned his lips down to kiss the top of her head and inhale the scent of her shampoo.
He couldn’t remember if he’d ever smelled that particular mixture of strawberries and vanilla on her before.

  Perhaps it hadn’t even existed ten years ago. Someone could have simply provided her with it when she had her first shower six weeks ago. Honestly, he couldn’t remember what she’d used before they were preserved. And that thought made him sad.

  “Why didn’t we take the four-by-four and head for the main house or get off this ranch?”

  “Because that would be too obvious. Davin worried if anyone is after us, they’re probably watching the house. They might not even know about the existence of the cabin.”

  She sighed.

  He hated this for her. He hated it for himself too, but she didn’t have as many weeks reanimated as he did. She was weak. Slower. Tired. Mentally and physically.

  “We need to check in with Temple. ASAP. She needs to be aware of our situation,” she stated.

  She was right. In the mad dash to put distance between them and the possibly enemy, Tushar hadn’t considered contacting Temple. He nodded against her head. “As soon as we can.” If he could inform Temple or Ryan of their situation, one of them could at least track them and know their location.

  She shuddered. “I’ve never been fond of knowing there’s a GPS tracker in my arm. It might come in handy today, but it’s disconcerting knowing anyone can find us at any time.”

  “Yeah. When Ryan first told me, I cringed. It felt invasive. But since it was Ryan, I trust his reasoning for agreeing to the tracking devices in all of us. Besides, he explained that with today’s technology, it hardly matters. Our phones can be tracked just as easily. Since we each have one in our pocket, the GPS device hardly matters.”

  “I’m not sure that makes me feel warm and fuzzy either. So many changes in a decade.” Her voice trailed off.

  He held her in silence for a few minutes.

  “I’d also like an update on the protesters. Maybe they’ve dwindled in our absence, making it easier for us to sneak back inside without anyone becoming aware.”

  “It’s possible.”

  She lifted her gaze to face him. “I’m not willing to live like this. On the run. Always worried. We don’t even know if this particular scare is legitimate, and yet here we are, in the cold, resting in a cave against a mountain.” She shook her head vehemently. “I won’t do this again, Tushar. Once is enough. When we get out of this mess, I want to go home.”

  He knew what she meant by home. Not just the house they had lived in before being preserved, but the bunker itself where they’d spent the majority of their time. The house was still there. Trish’s mother had been living in it all this time. But the bunker was what she thought of as home.

  Tushar could no longer deny his wife’s request. She was right. If they were going to be pursued all over the country anyway, they would be safer inside the bunker. “Okay. I’ll talk Temple into it. We’ll make it happen.” He would do this. For her. Even if he had to defy orders.

  “What about Dade? Has anyone found about Dade’s existence yet?”

  “No. Thank God.” Dade was the fourth member of the team to be revived. In the two weeks since he’d been revived, not a word of his existence had been breathed. The secrecy of his reanimation was easier because he didn’t have any close relatives who needed to be informed.

  In the past several months, the bunker had acquired the funding to get additional reanimation chambers. Now four more people were currently being reanimated at the same time—another fact under wraps from the public. So far.

  “Doesn’t that raise a red flag in and of itself? I mean, if Dade’s existence hasn’t been leaked, there is little chance a mole is operating from inside the bunker.”

  “You have a point.” He stopped stroking her hair to consider her words. “I’m not sure I like that idea better or worse. The thought that someone higher up in the government or the military is sharing classified information with the outside world is almost less palatable than thinking it’s one of our own.”

  She shuddered under his touch. “You’re right. There’s also no chance the next people to be revived can be kept secret. Now that there are three additional chambers, four new people will come out of their preservation in a few weeks. They have families and friends waiting for them. They’ve already started calling to find out when their loved ones might also be revived. Nothing about our existence can be kept under wraps for much longer.”

  The truth was that the entire project was about to draw international attention. It had been trial and error handling the first reanimation—Emily—as people she had known ten years ago learned of her preservation. With Tushar and Trish, they had each other and her mother to consider. Tushar had been in contact with his own parents also, but they would never breathe a word to anyone alive.

  Dade was an easy case too since he didn’t have many connections outside the bunker. But things were about to get dicey. Times four. And then fourteen more souls.

  Tushar knew Temple and several others were working frantically on plans to keep things from getting out of control with public perception, but it would not be an easy road.

  Tushar could help. So could Trish.

  As if Trish were thinking along the same lines as him again, she said, “Things are going to get complicated.”

  “Yes.”

  “I can’t stand the thought that there’s a mole on Ryan’s team. It would kill him to find out someone he’s been working with for the last few years was selling information to the very people who kidnapped Emily.”

  “I’ve thought of that. I’m sure it’s stressful for him, but he hasn’t mentioned anything to me.” Though Tushar was certain from the furrow he’d often seen on his son’s brow that Ryan was worried. “Let’s hope it’s no one we know. Temple has superiors we’ve never met. Plus, there is the team of active military and security guards protecting the bunker. Could even be someone Emily came in contact with. There’s no way to ever find out, most likely. But I sure would like the threats to stop.”

  His hope was that whoever was selling their information got bored or tapped out. With an increasing number of reanimations, perhaps the saturation of information would get less interesting to the public at large.

  Leaking the existence of the revived wasn’t meant to be a secret forever, but Tushar shuddered every time he considered the amount of information someone seemed to have collected.

  They sat in silence for a few minutes, Trish shivering slightly in his embrace. He pulled her tighter. “I’m sorry.”

  “I know.” She sighed against him. “Me too.”

  He lifted his free hand and tipped her chin back to meet her gaze.

  Her eyes were wide and trusting, the anger having dissipated.

  When he lowered his lips to hers, she let him. The kiss was brief and soft. The heat of the last twenty-four hours flooded his mind. He wanted that back. Why did this shit have to happen to stop the perfect reconciliation and make his wife angry all over again?

  “I hate that you were suffocating in the bunker,” she stated as their lips parted. “I didn’t know. I was only thinking of myself. I wanted more time with Ryan. It wasn’t enough.” She wiped a tear from her cheek that brought a knot to his throat. She had been hurting for three weeks, and he had done nothing to help her. Instead, he’d stubbornly left her to absorb all that pain alone.

  “I know. I should have explained things better. I made a mistake. It won’t happen again. I thought I was protecting you.” Instead, I made things worse.

  She nodded, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes as if to swallow back the tears.

  “We’ll go back. I promise. As soon as it’s reasonably safe.”

  Another slow nod. “Thank you.”

  He shrugged. “I know I need to be there leading the team as they each come out of preservation. We both do. I just felt so…helpless. Out of my element. I don’t know the latest medical advances. It was very frustrating. I didn’t even know anything about the process of r
eanimation. It was torture waiting for you to be revived while I scrambled to understand the reanimation chamber and how it works.”

  She grabbed his hand and held it to her chest. “I’m sure I would have been just as frustrated as you if it had been me to wake up first.”

  He set his forehead against hers, closing his eyes to absorb her comforting words two seconds before a shot rang out.

  Chapter 9

  Trish jumped to her feet so fast she lost her balance.

  Luckily, Tushar grabbed her arm, pulled her farther into the darkness of the cave, and stepped in front of her. His gun was in his hand. Raised. Alert. Ready.

  “Shit,” she whispered. “You have another weapon? I can’t just hide behind you.” What the hell was I thinking? This was serious. She shouldn’t have been so apathetic about this situation. She’d either been in denial about the level of danger or simply defiant. Both could get her killed if she didn’t snap out of it and pay attention.

  Tushar kneeled down quickly, lifted the opening of the backpack, and snagged another weapon. He set it in her palm. “You remember how to shoot this thing?”

  She assumed he was joking and rolled her eyes. For all intents and purposes she had last participated in shooting practice months ago by her mental calendar, during a training session. After all, she had been a lieutenant in the army, same as Tushar, before they had gotten sick.

  Palming the Glock, she took a deep breath and forced her mind to calm. They wouldn’t survive this if she didn’t get a grip on her emotions.

  Another shot rang out and someone shouted.

  “Fuck,” Tushar muttered under his breath. “We’re sitting ducks here. Can’t tell if the shots are friendly or hostile.” He grabbed her hand. “Can you run?”

  “Yes.” She could do anything now that her adrenaline was pumping.

  He met her gaze, lowering his voice further. “Stay right on my flank. I’m going to skirt the edge of this mountain, heading north.”