“Stop pushing me, Pearson. I know what the fuck my ground team will do. Your report. Your fuckin’ paperwork.” He sucked in a long breath that didn’t help with his red face. “I want your official report ready in an hour. I want a clean bill of health for my outpost job. I want a report so pretty that the fucking president of this damn country will call me and extend his regrets that anyone dared to think GSI’s on the take.”

“But we are.” Kip was having too much fun at the risk of giving his boss a coronary.

“Goddamn it, Pearson!” Buck raised his fist and snarled, but then paused for a breath, steadying himself.

Too damn bad. “Look, Buck, you can’t fire me. I’m in a great position. And the sooner you realize that, the better it is for both of us. I’ll write a report you can send to your government friends. Hell, I’ll testify before Congress. But it’ll have some dirt smudges and a red flag or two. Nothing that’ll lead to anything. You can’t turn in a report that’s pristine and shiny. Shit, man, you’d think this was your first time at the rodeo.”

Buck’s head bobbed. “Watch yourself, Pearson.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I’ll do that. And if I were you, I’d watch Titan. Rumor has it, our fall girl, she’s part of the tight clutches Jared Westin calls his family.” Kip probably should’ve dug a little deeper into Lilly Chase. But when a fine piece of ass like Sugar made herself available, he offered her the gig, only feeling the slightest bit bad that he would have to kill her.

Buck’s forehead veins protruded. The old bastard was probably a respectable bad ass back in the day. Back when he started GSI. Anyway, he was just an inch away from giving out blow jobs to bureaucrats to keep his money flowing.

The desk phone rang. After staring at it, he finally answered, without dismissing Kip. “Buck Baer.”

Buck’s face returned to its normal color as he breathed through his nose, his nostrils flaring. “Blow the side off that mountain. I want a crater where an outpost used to be. And I want Lilly Chase dead.”

CHAPTER THREE

Dawn cracked over the mountain. It was beautiful, despite the crosshatched cage impeding her view. The frozen air had chilled Sugar all night long as she’d huddled against the dirt floor. Her aches and pains were accentuated by lack of sleep and her concern for her safety.

She sat up, rubbing her hands over her arms for warmth. Movement caught her eye. The small hands that had thrown her pieces of stale bread the day before reappeared, as if waiting for her to wake. They waved hello.

“Hello?” Sugar whispered.