They left the basement, and Xavier locked the door again. “Let’s check out the shop.” He radioed Cohen, updating him on the situation, giving more details about the archaeological site, cameras, and why it mattered as they walked toward her vehicle.

The clock was ticking on the op countdown. If there was something odd going on at the blacksmith shop or the archaeological site, he had precious few minutes to call off the training.

“You think something’s wrong?” Cohen asked.

“I’m not sure,” he said as they rounded the building to the road- and mountain-facing side. The blacksmith shop was the farthest from the lodge down a gravel track that continued after the paved road dead-ended at the lodge. “We’ll take your SUV to the shop. It’ll save time.”

He reached out a hand when they reached her vehicle. “Keys.” It was not a request.

She glared at him. At this point, it was pretty much her permanent expression when looking at him, but she handed him her heavy key chain.

The road was pitted with potholes filled with gray water. He dodged as best he could at speed. Audrey held on to the bar above the passenger window and cursed at his driving as she bounced in the seat, but they reached the blacksmith shop in what had to be record time.

The building had wide double barn doors at the front that were chained closed for winter. Audrey led him to the rear door. He flipped through her key chain. “Which one? I don’t have keys to this building.” It had been specifically deemed off-limits for the training, which was fine because it didn’t belong in their planned simulation anyway.

“Black,” she said, indicating a key that had a black band around the top. “For blacksmith.”

He looked at the key she’d used for the basement of the lodge. “Why is the basement key gray?”

“Dark. Dank. Full of gray-panel breaker boxes.”

“What’s the front door of the lodge?” he asked as he slipped the black-tagged key in the lock.

“Purple.”

“Why?”

“It’s my favorite color. My favorite building in the park.”

All at once, he remembered her purple sports bra. He’d met her after a long day of fieldwork, and her bra and panties had been all business, no play, but the color—and the woman who filled them—had been sexy as hell and plenty playful.

This was not the time to remember those sorts of details.

He shoved open the door and groped for the light, but old buildings like these didn’t always have switches next to the door. Audrey unerringly crossed the dark room and flicked the switch. Flame-shaped sconce lights mounted to vertical log posts filled the room with a warm yellow glow.