Deceptive Treasures: Slye Temp Book 5 by Dianna Love Read Free Book Online

want to leave this man alone to face that wall of guns coming at him.
    “Get my men out of here now , Jin!” he roared and she sprinted away, but she couldn’t see a thing again in this dark hole.
    Unlike the last primitive tunnel that had been straight, this one was a curving route with a flat dirt floor. Chewed up rocks formed the walls where workers had hacked out one section at a time by hand.
    With each thud of her shoes, the ground beneath her feet gradually descended.
    That was encouraging .
    It should mean that she was in the correct tunnel. If so, this one led to the tunnel that had killed one hundred workers when it collapsed in 1971.
    She listened for footfalls ahead of her and hoped the tunnel didn’t begin to turn sooner than she’d been told or she’d hit a wall and knock herself out at this speed.
    In the next ten steps, she did hit a wall, but it was made of muscle .
    He grabbed her by the arms. “Whoa . Where’s Bo?”
    Gunfire reverberated far away, answering his question . He muttered something about a FUBAR mission then released her.
    She stepped back. “He told me to come and lead the way.”
    “You’re doing a bang-up job so far,” he growled at her in an Australian accent.
    She flinched at the insinuation that they were under fire because of her .
    “Where’s Bo?” one of the men further inside called back.
    The annoyed one next to her answered, “Buying us time, mate. Sending the guide up to you.”
    Then the Aussie flicked on a tiny LED flashlight that he handed to her . “Take this, keep it pointed at the ground and get up front.”
    She grabbed the light . What kind of team left one man to face all those soldiers alone? “What about your friend?”
    An explosion boomed in the same area the gunfire had rattled and the smell of chemicals blew in on a burst of  hot air.
    The deadly operative snarled, “Move it . Now!”
    She ground her teeth at being yelled at when she was helping these men and wormed her way to the front, ignoring Pang’s muttered, “Bitch,” as she passed him .
    When she reached the head of the line, she took off at a fast jog, holding the light on the ground at her right . If she’d been thinking clearly, she’d have counted steps from the mouth of this tunnel so she’d know when to expect another turn. She only knew these tunnels from secret hand-drawn maps she’d studied over and over, memorizing the number of steps from one turn to the next.  
    Friends who knew what evil she was up against and risked much to help her leave .
    Someone from the rear ordered the line to shift right, which wasn’t far to move since the tunnel was barely wide enough for two of the men .
    “Pick it up, Jin, they’ll be right behind us as soon as they clear the bodies out of the way,” her mountain ordered.
    Her silly heart did a double flip of happiness at hearing his voice.
    She must need rest . She should not be reacting to this man.  
    The tunnel gradually curved left and continued dropping in elevation.
    Shouts echoed behind them. Too close. The soldiers were catching up.
    “What’s the plan, Jin?” her mountain asked in a calm voice that she might believe if they weren’t all running for their lives.
    She called up a mental picture of the map she’d studied. “We are close.”
    “To what?”
    The ground leveled off. Gunfire reverberated through the tunnel and bullets pinged off the rock walls.
    She fought panic that rose in her chest trying to choke her . Where was that …
    “Here it is,” she said just loud enough to give warning as they reached a fork in the tunnel . She took the right fork and rushed ahead, counting every step this time. The path they were on would eventually reach another turn to the secret tunnel, an alternate path that offered them a chance at evading the soldiers.
    Another tunnel dug prior to the one that collapsed over forty years ago, killing so many .
    The tunnel she had in mind had failed as well, but not because the structure