Page 24 (1/2)
End of Sunny
Enough tiht to complete his week’s work
Mission accoo ahead and land on the island as Sunny and her pal expected They could head off for their trek up the lanced at theether so obliviously He had plenty of connections now in the spies he’d helped place He would sie an accident for Sunny and Wade later, on their way up the o off on schedule--and his h value terrorist yet would slip into the US with enough of a payoff for hiht out of the country and into a life of luxury, tucked away in Europe
Again, he checked the altitude, air speed, heading And ahead of hihts So few people lived out here, he could get aith anything
He was in control The beauty of s so many terrorists into the country? He had untraceable people to call on at the drop of a hat He preferred to steer clear of the fanatics, but at least they could be counted on to plow through to the end
Even Sunny’s new special ops boyfriend wouldn’t stand a chance against the unlimited resources at Brett’s disposal
Misty stifled a yawn behind her hand, the fading sun and war her drowsy
She couldn’t believe she was sitting in the front seat with Flynn again It had been so long Everything felt familiar in some ways And in others? The differences were painfully apparent
He passed the thermos of coffee over "Need some caffeine?"
"Thanks, I think I do" She took the metal cylinder, twisted off the cap, and poured herself half a cup The rich java scent drifted up as she blew into the still-steaain, she felt the weight of Flynn’s stare
She looked over quickly "Keep your eyes on the road, Flynn"
"I want you to see what I’"
"You assume I want to know," she snapped back
"Then why aren’t you looking away?"
Oh crap She pulled her gaze off the potency of his pale blue attention She gulped down her coffee and struggled not to wince as it scalded her tongue
Holding a conversation in the truck had been difficult all afternoon Signing was tough one-handed, and even when he tried to spell out words, he kept having to reach for the wheel Maybe if they had practice co, time to be comfortable with each other He couldn’t turn fully toward her except when he stopped--not unless they wanted to risk sliding off the icy road and off a cliff drop The dangerous curves in the roads and paths were all the more apparent in this nearly treeless landscape Just ice and craggy angles
Stark Like her life
Not for the first time, she wondered what her world would have been like if he hadn’t cheated--or if she’d forgiven hi They would have settled into their own routine, their own unspoken ways of co She likely would simply have slid over to theup her last view of the Aleutian volcanic mountain where she’d lived for the past fifteen years
She would laciers Sunny had always reminisced about California vacations and the openness of their Iowa home Their home before this isolation
But Misty? The silence here had a way of speaking, like a hum from the earth’s core
The move echoes of a howling wind
Water trickling down a jagged rock whispered through her s retreat
The sun sank lower and she realized daylight was running out Traveling this road in the dark and the snoould be dangerous There weren’t exactly Holiday Inns on every corner God, it had been so long since that California family vacation she only dimly remembered Once her parents had decided to leave Iowa and move to Alaska, they used a cahway
Plane tickets would have left a paper trail to her brother
She’d thought about how to handle all day in the truck, easy enough since they’d both opted not to converse But she hadn’t considered how they would spend the night
"Flynn?" she said, pulling her eyes off the darkening landscape
He slowed the truck to a stop, then slid it into park He turned the power of his vibrant blue eyes her way "Yes? Is there a problem? Do you want to turn back?"
Yes and no She wanted everything
"Where are we stopping for the night?" Why hadn’t she thought to ask earlier? Maybe she’d been afraid to know, afraid she wouldn’t be brave enough to face a night alone in a tent with Flynn