Operation: Midnight Tango by Linda Castillo Read Free Book Online Page B

without considering the mountain was swarming with armed men bent on killing them.
    “What the hell else can possibly go wrong?” he muttered as he trudged through knee-deep snow.
    “Mother Nature could always make things a little more interesting.”
    Zack shot Emily a sour look, annoyed because she was right. In the last hour the wind had picked up, whistling through the treetops like a thousand teakettles. The snow was coming down sideways.His ears were cold. His feet were numb. And as much as he didn’t want to admit it, he was pretty sure they were lost.
    He’d memorized the map given to him by his superior at MIDNIGHT as he’d prepared for the mission. Avery Shaw had made certain Zack had had everything he needed for the operation. Maps of the prison. Terrain maps of the surrounding area. Background reports on Lockdown, Inc.’s employees and inmates.
    A bloody lot of good those things were doing him when he couldn’t see but a few feet in front of his face.
    But Zack knew most storms in this part of Idaho blew in from the northwest. He and Emily were heading into the wind, so he could assume they were heading northwest. He recalled seeing a notation on the map that there was an abandoned ski lodge somewhere in the area. It had been popular back in the 1960s but later abandoned. Hopefully the old place was still standing. If he and Emily were really lucky, there would be no welcoming committee from Lockdown, Inc. waiting to gun them down.
    A few feet away he could see Emily struggling through the wind and deep snow. Even though she seemed to be in relatively good physical condition, she was smaller and suffering from a bullet wound. He could only imagine how grueling this was for her.
    “I think there’s an old ski lodge ahead,” he shouted to be heard above the roar of the wind.
    Through the driving snow he saw her glance his way. “You mean the old Capello Hills Lodge?”
    “Is it still standing?”
    “Barely. I’ve never seen it, but a couple of the other corrections officers hiked up there last summer while on a rock-climbing excursion.”
    Zack tossed her a furtive glance. She was only a few feet away, but he could barely make out her silhouette in the blinding snow. Dangerous conditions for even the most seasoned outdoorsman. It would take only an instant for them to become separated. Ideally he would tie a rope to her. Since he was fresh out of rope, he opted for the next best thing.
    “Give me your hand!” he shouted, walking toward her.
    Even with the poor visibility he saw the astonishment on her face. “What?”
    “So we don’t get separated.” Without waiting for her to respond, he reached for her.
    She initially resisted, then her hand relaxed within his. Her skin was like ice. Lord in heaven, she was nearly frostbitten.
    Wishing he could do something to keep her warm, he tugged her along at a faster pace. “Let’s make some time,” he said, praying he could find the lodge before it was too late.
    DAWN BROKE AS DARK AND gray as a partial solar eclipse, but the light did little to improve visibility. The snow was still coming down hard, and visibility had dwindled to less than five feet. If it hadn’t been for the shift in the pitch of the whistling wind, Zack would have walked right past the Capello HillsLodge without even seeing it. But from twenty yards away, he discerned the change as the wind whipped around the portico. Finally they’d found the shelter they so desperately needed.
    “Jackpot,” Zack said.
    Emily had been lagging behind for the last hour. Zack hoped her slow pace was due to the punishing conditions and not the bullet wound. He wasn’t particularly fond of corrections officers at the moment, but he didn’t want her hurt. One woman’s death on his conscience was about all he could handle….
    Not allowing himself to think of the past, he took her to the open area beneath the portico where the building blocked most of the wind. Capello Hills Lodge had obviously