Audrey pulled her water bottle from the side pouch of her pack and filled her mouth, then swished. She spit the water into the garbage before taking a long drink. Her hands shook, and the lip of the aluminum bottle tapped her teeth.

She’d been holding herself together by reminding herself she was with a SEAL. Navy SEALs were the closest a person could get to being a superhero, right? But he wasn’t a superhero. He was just as human as she was. Just as mortal.

His coworkers were also SEALs, and one of them had lost a finger.

“Cohen was in here alone?” she asked.

He nodded. “Besides me, there are five others. Cohen in HQ, and four playing tangos. Two in the woods, two in the lodge. I’d just finished my final inspection and was headed back here when Cohen saw you on camera pulling up in front of the lodge. He radioed me to intercept you.”

She heard what he didn’t say—if it weren’t for her, he’d have been here. Watching Cohen’s back. If she hadn’t shown up, he might’ve been able to stop this from happening. Jeb would still be alive. Cohen would still have ten fingers.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. Her throat had turned dry again. She took another shaking sip of water.

“This isn’t your fault, Audrey.”

“I pulled you away. Maybe—”

“Don’t go there. We don’t know what would have happened. Hell, for all we know, it could be my finger on the table and Cohen with the butchered neck. Or vice versa.”

“What do we do now?” she asked.

He picked up the phone handset on the desk. An old-fashioned corded phone in keeping with the seventies architecture. It was one of the few items on the tables that hadn’t been smashed. “No dial tone,” he said. He pointed to the kitchen to the right of the main room. “None of the digital clocks are lit. I tried a switch in the utility room because it doesn’t have windows, and the light didn’t go on. I’m guessing they cut cable, phone, and power lines at the road. No electricity and no communications for the entire complex.”

“Several buildings, including the main lodge, have generators.”

He nodded. “Phone is what we need more than anything, though, and a generator won’t help there.” He cleared his throat. “We’re going to finish searching this house, we’ll grab any functional supplies we can get our hands on, then we’re heading to your SUV and getting you out of here.”

She nodded. She was terrified at the idea of leaving him, but she could call for help once she was out of range of the signal blocker and in range of a cell tower—which, unfortunately, was at the other end of the eighteen-mile road.