Chairs scraped against the floor as the team rose.
The hunt had finally started.
* * * * *
Stina was bored out of her ever-loving mind.
Her first day at Sierra had been chaos involving war rooms and black hoods. Not to mention learning that she was surrounded by enough heavily armed men to invade a small country.
She’d gotten a chance to reconnect with her best friend, only to learn that Jolie had grown and changed in the two months they’d been apart. Her friend was busy for most of the day, which left Stina to roam the base on her own.
She’d explored every hallway she was permitted to enter, gotten lost twice and somehow ended up in a supply room of cages full of weapons and ammunition she definitely wasn’t supposed to be near.
Yesterday she’d watched Jolie and Archer make heart eyes at each other.
She’d annoyed Rome simply by walking into breakfast.
And she discovered there was a limit on how many hours a person could spend thinking about a certain dark-haired, steel-gray-eyed special operator before they started questioning their life choices.
Today she’d reached a new stage of captivity.
There was nothing left to do.
Jolie was tucked up in a corner of the common room with her laptop, and Rome was either off on some mission or actively avoiding her. The last thought irritated her more than she cared to admit.
She sprawled across one of the couches with her feet hanging over the armrest, staring at the ceiling.
There was nothing to see there either. Boring gray. The concrete tunnels didn’t provide any stunning views and they sure as hell weren’t designed for entertainment.
They were designed for secrecy. Security.
Hiding.
Apparently, they were also designed to slowly drive her insane.
The sound of Jolie’s fingers tapping at the keyboard paused, and Stina turned her head to see if her friend was available.
“Thank god you’re finished—I was thinking about licking an electrical outlet for a change of pace.”
Jolie burst out laughing, but it ended with a lilt of remorse. “I’m sorry—I’m still working on this research paper for my cognitive psychology course.”
Stina controlled her sigh. She really was happy for her friend. She also really needed something to do—some direction while her life was on indefinite pause.
“What will my other friends think? What about my parents? I talk to them on my day off. And they’re supposed to come for a visit soon.”
Jolie touched her arm. “Have you talked to Rome about getting in contact with them to let them know you’re okay?”
She shook her head. “I will. And my job…it isn’t a great job, but I need it. If I stop showing up, I’ll be fired. My rent’s already past due, and all my stuff will be tossed in a dumpster.”
“Maybe someone can be sent in to move your things to storage. I don’t know how everything works. I only know it’s worked out for me.”
They fell into silence for a long moment. Then Stina looked at her. “What do people do around here for fun?”
Jolie gave her a sideways glance.
Stina rolled her eyes. “Besides that.”
Jolie laughed again. “That’s not all we do.”