Edge of Reason (EDGE Security Series Book 2) (7 page)

“For not trusting you,” he said. He sighed. “I’m not sure what I was thinking, but when you stepped forward into the gunfire I couldn’t help but stop you.”

“I’m not some helpless civilian,” she said. “I’ve got just as much training as you. I’ve been in many nasty situations. If you’re on my team, you’ll need to trust me. You’ll have to follow where I lead. Can you do that?”

He studied her face. She wondered if he could see beyond her blonde hair and blue eyes, to the soldier underneath.
 

Finally he nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Good.” She smiled grimly. “Then you and I start training together tomorrow.”

“Training?”

“Meet me in front of the building at 0530. We’ll start with a run.”

Rhys yawned and swung his arms to warm them up, before jogging a bit in place. The streetlights still lit the road, though the gray predawn light made everything visible. Five twenty-five a.m. Cat came out of the building’s front doors wearing only running shorts that showed off her long, muscular legs, and a tank top. He swallowed.
 

No inappropriate thoughts, Rhys
. He grit his teeth, but couldn’t help envisioning what he’d like to do with her. Those long legs featured a starring role wrapped around his waist.
 

No. She was his team leader.
 

It didn’t help that memories of that night six months ago resurged with palpable ferocity. He pushed them away and managed to keep his eyes up and on her face, rather than on that delectable body.
 

“You ready?” she asked.

He was more than ready.
 

Don’t smile
, he ordered himself. “Yes, ma’am.”
 

She shook her head. “Lose the ma’am.”

“Okay, Valkyrie. Let’s go.”

This would be torture, he thought, trying not to watch her for however long she decided to run. He figured it wouldn’t be that bad, maybe thirty minutes at most. He could avoid looking at her for that long.

They started off at a loping pace, nothing too strenuous. She took them east for the first couple of miles. Once they’d left downtown, she lengthened her stride. Their feet hit the pavement in unison, the cool morning air refreshing against his heated skin. Montreal was not a flat city. She led him up and down hills as they continued to work their way east, before she turned north.

Within half a mile she’d turned back west so they ran toward the Mountain, the name Montrealers gave the elevated park in the middle of their city. It seemed to loom over downtown, and Valkyrie headed straight for it.

So she was going to prove how tough she was to him? He almost rolled his eyes, but decided to play along.
 

“So,” Cat said, sounding barely out of breath. “Tell me about yourself. Something not in your file. Like why you would want to join E.D.G.E.?”

He studied the side of her face for a moment. She wasn’t sweating that much, and didn’t seem to be breathing hard as she kept pace. This could get interesting.

“Something not in my file?” He let his drawl thicken. “I love Creole food.” He waited to see what she’d do with that info.

“Why?”

“Because of the spiciness.”

“Indian food is spicy. Why do you like Creole?”

“Because I’m from N’Awlins,” he said, his accent as thick as any time he spoke.

“So you like reminders of home?”

“Are you trying to play amateur psychologist?”

“Don’t you like talking about your home?”

He decided he didn’t like her games anymore and lengthened his stride—time to see if she could keep up. She kept pace and didn’t acknowledge what he’d done.
 

“You know I don’t have a home,” he said.

“I know no such thing,” she said. “I know you said you have no family. That doesn’t mean you don’t think of New Orleans as your home.”

He didn’t say anything, but increased the pace again. They neared the mountain and the incline increased. He wanted to leave her behind.

“Why did you join E.D.G.E.?” she asked.

“Why did you?”

This time, she did look at him. An eyebrow cocked, but she didn’t reprimand him for his snapped question. “I want to be the best soldier I can be,” she said. “When E.D.G.E. asked me to join, I leapt at the opportunity.”

“Why?” He made his voice softer this time. “Why did you want to be a soldier?”

“To help people. To make a difference.”

“Why not a doctor?”

She snorted. “You sound like my mother. Do you believe like she does, that a woman is too delicate to be in a war zone?”

He wasn’t sure how to answer that. Sure, he’d seen some tough women in his time. He knew logically that women were already in wars all over the world, but he just couldn’t believe they could do the types of jobs he could do.
 

She shook her head slightly. “Men,” she muttered, and increased the pace again. He frowned but didn’t say anything, just stretched his long legs. They were in the park now, racing up the hilly path toward the top. He could feel his quads burning as he plowed up the hill beside her. Sweat ran down his back and he breathed deeply. More runners were out and they dodged them as they ran the circuitous path.
 

They’d been running for about thirty minutes, and he figured they’d covered a good four miles. The woman beside him seemed to be going faster the steeper the incline. He grinned and pushed himself to go a bit faster, just to see if she could keep up.

She bared her teeth in a fierce grin and kept up stride for stride with him. They pounded up the slope, breathing hard. Sweat dripped down his back and his muscles loosened and warmed. He pushed harder, faster. The top was in sight. The woman beside him flew beside him like the fierce warrior woman she was nicknamed for.
 

Within moments they’d hit the top, an area cleared of trees with a view of the city below. Montreal lay before them. The morning sun with its orange-red light struck the mirrored buildings of downtown, creating shadows and silhouettes that demanded he pause.
 

He slowed. Cat did too, once she noticed him looking.

They jogged in place. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she said. “A melding of manmade and natural beauty.”

“Beautiful,” he agreed, but he watched Cat and not the view anymore. Her long limbs were covered in a slight sheen of sweat. She pushed her blonde bangs out of those incredible blue eyes. She froze when she caught his gaze, her mouth parting slightly. He could tell she wasn’t as indifferent to him as she’d like him to believe. It made him smile.

Careful, Rhys
. Time to get his thoughts back on track.

“Let me guess,” he said. “Track star?”

She nodded carefully. “I did some track. We should head back. We’ll take a more direct route. You ready?”

“Anytime,” he said.
 

The run back was almost lazy. It wasn’t slow by any means, but it wasn’t the fierce, driving pace they’d come up the hill with. Cat kept it steady and strong, but he couldn’t help being disappointed. She didn’t look winded, but maybe she’d used all she had already.
 

The exhilaration he’d been feeling drained away, leaving his body itchy to do more, press harder. Maybe he’d do another loop of the route they’d just done and then hit that gym Jake had told him about. Would she come with him?

They ran up to the doors of the E.D.G.E. building and he jogged in place. “Well, thanks for the run,” he said. “I think I’m going to do another loop. Do you want to join me?”

She smirked at him. “We’re not finished yet, Lucky. That was only the warmup. We’re hitting the Beast now.”
 

Cat wanted to laugh at the look on Rhys’s face.
 

“The Beast?” he asked.

“Follow me.” She entered the building, waved at the security personnel at the front desk—who were civilians but still under E.D.G.E. employment—and went to the E.D.G.E. private elevator. Inside, she pressed her thumb against the scanner and typed B3 on the keypad.

“How many sub levels are there?” Rhys asked.

“Below the parking? Seven, as far as I know,” she said. “Research, weapons and ranges, and training takes three floors. The Beast takes two.”

The elevator doors slid silently open. Lights flickered on, revealing a large two-story room filled with an inclined rock wall for climbing, four hanging ropes for the same, a two-lane lap pool, and a massive obstacle course that would impress the best of athletes. Rhys didn’t disappoint in his reaction.

He whistled and walked straight toward the ten-foot wall, the first obstacle, and ran his hands over the smooth polished wood. “This is the Beast?”

Cat nodded. “You’ve got five minutes to look over the obstacles.”

“And then?”

She smiled. “And then we have some fun.”

She turned her back and began stretching her legs from the run, then swung her arms in circles, warming them up. There was a lot of upper-body work required to get through the Beast and she needed to be ready if she was going to prove her point to Rhys.

After the designated five minutes, she turned back to see Rhys studying her. “How are we doing this?” he asked.

She knew what he was asking. “A race. You against me.”

He huffed a breath. “You want to race me?”

“Not particularly,” she said. “The Beast is made to instill teamwork. It’s very tricky to do alone, but I need to prove a point to you.”

He frowned. “What’s that?”

“That I am just as capable as you physically.” She could tell by his eyes that he didn’t believe her, but that was okay. He would soon.

“On three,” she said, her blood already starting to pump at the thought of the race. “Two. One.”
 

They both ran at the ten-foot wall. Cat remembered her first obstacle course in basic training. Then, it had only been a six-foot wall and she’d only made it over because she was taller than the average girl. Most of the recruits had been left behind that first day, until the directing staff had taken pity on them and shown them how to get over it.

Getting over a wall was more technique than brute force. It helped that Cat kept up her strength, both upper and lower, by working out religiously when she wasn’t on a mission—and sometimes even when she was, depending on what it was. Rock climbing was one of the things she loved to do, and it helped her keep up her strength more than most things.
 

She sprinted toward the wall. A step away, she leapt and placed her foot on the wall and kicked off as hard as she could, reaching for the top edge. Her fingers grazed the lip and she gripped it hard, pulling herself up.
 

Rhys already straddled the wall, watching her. He grinned. “This is gonna be fun.”
 

“Only if you like losing,” she said, and dropped down to the other side.
 

The other side was a misnomer, though. Two narrow planks, six feet apart and held up by chains, ran perpendicular to the wall. She dropped to the one in front of her, her arms out as it wobbled underneath her feet. After Rhys landed on his, he had to take a moment to steady himself against the wall.
 

She used that second to get ahead of him, walking quickly along the plank to the other side. Jumping off the end, she faced the under-and-over obstacle. She dropped and wiggled under a thick pole placed horizontally, only eight inches from the ground. Rhys grunted behind her and she grinned as she took a running step at the six-foot wall in front of her, swinging up and over easily, dropping again to go under the next pole. She had the advantage when going under, being more slender than Rhys. Thank god she didn’t have big boobs or she’d be in trouble.
 

As it was, Rhys almost caught up to her. She needed some distance between them and pushed herself harder, not thinking, just moving fast and sure. Down, roll, up, leap and push over the wall. Two more times and then she was through.
 

Hanging rings were the next obstacle. She jumped and grabbed the first one, swinging her way through them in a rhythm. She could just see Rhys in her peripheral vision, a look of determination on his face. He so didn’t want her to win. She laughed as she grabbed the next ring.

His gaze snapped to her and his outstretched hand missed the ring he needed. She didn’t look back, but took advantage of his mistake, keeping her eyes focused on what lay ahead of her. She needed that extra second for what was coming next.

She swung hard with the last ring to make it across the line on the floor, bending her knees to take the shock of the landing. Ahead of her was a metal tunnel, only two feet wide, that snaked along the floor and ended in a twenty-five meter, covered pool. Being a SEAL, Rhys would probably kick her butt swimming underwater, so she needed as much time ahead of him as she could get.

She dove into the tunnel, the cold metal of it banging her knees. She moved as fast as she could, now unable to check on Rhys’s progress. Darkness grew as she crawled and water began to cover her hands and knees as the tunnel sloped downwards into the dark pool. She slowed fractionally and mentally kicked herself.

This is just the tunnel, Cat. You’ve done it hundreds of times. It’s a pool, not a river.

This obstacle posed more of a mental challenge than a physical one. Especially for her. She splashed her way further into the dark. The cold water rose past her elbows now. It was a gradual incline into the pool, with the last five meters completely submerged in the narrow confines of the darkened tube. She turned her head to the side to get her last breath of air before plunging in fully. Her legs kicked powerfully, while her arms pulled her along gripping the sides of the tunnel. Her lungs began to burn and her heartrate climbed too high, but there wasn’t much she could do about that. The tunnel was too narrow to turn around. She had to keep going forward.
 

Almost done. Keep going.

Within seconds she was at the end and out into open water. Here, some light shone down around the edges of the pool cover and her heartrate steadied. Then, she mentally cursed.