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SEVENTEEN

“It’s a personal locator beacon. Satellite fed and activated.” He stomped on it with the heel of his boot. Kit opened the door, and he pitched it. The device sailed away onto the slope below, kicking up puffs of ash as it tumbled down.

Without a word, she delivered Tot into his arms and guided the bus back onto the path, bumping along until she found another, wider one that would still maintain their elevation but take them in the opposite direction from the spot where Cullen had tossed the beacon.

“I feel terrible. If I’d remembered it earlier...”

“You were busy trying to keep us all alive. Nico must have had a suspicion Annette was going to bolt, maybe saw her packing the duffel and slipped it in.” He rested his cheek on Tot’s head.

“He was on to her the whole time. She never had a chance.” Kit’s throat closed.

“Yes, she did,” he said quietly. “She met you. You gave her a chance, but it also put you and Tot into the crosshairs.”

“And you.”

“And me,” he agreed.

The sky grew darker, and a swirl of ash and wind whipped branches. He told her he’d gotten through to Gideon before Nico’s arrival, watched her shoulders sag as she wrapped her mind around the situation.

“And now we’ve left the pickup spot.”

“I’ve been thinking about that. Hear me out.” He took a deep breath. “I could drive around, be real obvious about it. If Nico’s close, he’ll follow me. You and Tot stay back at the trailers and wait for Gideon. It’s the best option.”

A wild idea formed in her brain. “I have another plan.”

“Why do I think I’m not going to like it?”

“Wait and see.” She drove the bus back down the way they’d come, stopping at the spot she’d noted earlier, a precarious bend in the road with a precipitous drop on one side. She parked. They walked to the edge and peered over into the chasm below.

“Yeah, my bad feeling’s getting worse.” Cullen nestled Tot in his jacket as she finished explaining.

“It’ll buy us time, if nothing else. We’re almost out of gas, anyway.

The bus goes over the side, maybe we set it on fire first. If Nico’s nearby, he’ll hear the crash, see the smoke.

He’ll assume we’re dead or he’ll have to hike down to the bottom to check, which will take hours if not a full day with his leg.

Gideon will reach us by then. We’ll have to reimburse the district for a new vehicle, but hopefully they’ll take installments. ”

“My plan’s better.”

She crossed her arms. “You’re a big galoot, so your plans are not even close to being better.”

He paused for a moment, then laughed heartily. “Okay, but we’re racking up quite a bill in this region.”

“We’ll split the tab. Small price if it saves our lives.”

When he wiped his eyes, she could not ignore the delight in them, the tenderness. For Tot. For her. And her heart lurched in response. He moved as if he would kiss her, then hesitated, backed up. She was glad, wasn’t she?

It’s what you wanted , Kit. There’s nothing real between you. Go set something else on fire , why don’t you?

“All right,” she said brightly. “Let’s get to work then.”

They tore pages of the bus’s emergency manuals to use as fuel and put them in an empty cardboard box they’d found.

Since he’d eaten all the corn chips, they used hand sanitizer from Tot’s duffel as an accelerant.

When the papers caught, Cullen added sticks until they had a respectable fire . .. in the back seat of the bus.

This had to be the craziest thing she’d ever been party to.

Cullen insisted on being the one to position the bus a few feet from the precipice. She found a suitable log to wedge down the gas pedal.

She touched the cheerful yellow vehicle that had saved their lives. “Sorry, my friend,” she said, blinking back tears. Silly. But she thought of her truck, crushed and ruined, and knew that in a strange way that vehicle had saved her life too.

And here she was, without the future she’d planned on, vulnerable and in danger ... but somehow not alone. Strangest of all, it felt the tiniest bit comfortable to be that way. Scary, but comfortable too.

For now.

Cullen put the bus into gear, jammed the log in place, and once the vehicle began to lumber toward the drop-off, he jumped out. The wheels churned as the flames crackled inside. With a screech, the bus catapulted out over the lip and plunged down the slope, picking up speed.

Her fear had been that it would get caught on a hidden obstacle, too close to the road, but it continued on, faster and faster until they heard a faraway crash, saw a faint streak of different-colored smoke in the clouded air.

They remained quiet for a moment, Cullen’s arm draped around her shoulders.

The gesture felt warm and right, and for the briefest of moments, she leaned into him.

He was just as banged up and depleted as she was, but together they were strong.

Soon her brain reminded her. Another day, maybe hours, and that would be the end of things. Of their partnership.

She cleared her throat and pulled out the blanket that had finally dried from their tunnel excursion. “Who wants to be horsey first?”

He did, so she tied Tot onto his back. With his backpack and the duffel, they began the long trudge to the trailers.

The air was foul and thick, stinging their skin and eyes in spite of the medical masks they pulled on.

There was no way to get one to stay in position on Tot.

Though they’d taken a spare jacket and tied it over the top of the blanket sling, Kit worried that the stench was permeating Tot’s improvised bubble.

The baby did not help the situation, crying on and off, batting at the fabric from the inside.

Kit kept up with Cullen, but her feet were sore, her lungs burning. Her bones ached with a deep and penetrating exhaustion. Only one thought kept her trudging on.

Almost over.

Help was on the way.

Nico could not find them without his tracker and his brother.

The proof against him was still safe in her pack.

God would give her the strength to finish what they’d started an eternity ago when she’d stopped to let Annette into her rig.

Had they shared much, she and Annette? Her memories remained largely blank.

She wondered if she’d ever recollect their exchange, the minutes that had bonded them together much more deeply than they’d each realized.

After two arduous hours, they arrived back at the trailer park. There was no point in securing a different trailer, so they reentered Thelma and Frank’s. The expanding floodwaters had gobbled up two more homes until only a few remained dry. Nico might manage to return and figure out their deceit.

But they’d be gone long before that happened. Hopefully.

Cullen led them through the same side door and insisted that Kit shower immediately. “Going to pop Tottie in the sink and wash her off.”

She didn’t argue. Her own skin was on fire. The warm water was a straight-up blessing. She had to put on her dirty clothes again, but she took a damp towel and wiped away some of the debris first.

When she finished, she found Tot squirming on a blanket and playing with her toes in the living room. Cullen was on his knees, wiping Nico’s blood off the hallway floor. He looked chagrined. “Oh. I thought I’d be done before you got out. I, er, didn’t want you to have to look at a big bloodstain.”

Her mouth rounded in a circle of surprise, but the response stuck in her throat.

He cocked his head. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s ... I mean, that’s very thoughtful, is all.”

He ducked his head and shrugged. “Be done in a minute. Tot probably wants a bottle.”

She padded away and fixed Tot’s milk. Only a few servings of powder left and a handful of diapers. Tension tightened her stomach until she reminded herself that Gideon was on his way. They were safe.

And there’s a man who cares so much about you that he’s mopping up blood to protect your feelings. She’d gotten the occasional gift in her life, flower bouquets, Valentine chocolates, and even a tiny diamond chip necklace, but no gesture had ever meant as much as what Cullen had done.

For her.

Even though she’d basically told him there would be no future between them.

Tot’s squeal broke her reverie, and she offered the bottle.

The wind howled around them and the shower pattered softly as Cullen took his turn.

Tot yanked her mouth away, winding up for a good shout.

Kit offered the pacifier, which Tot allowed for a moment before ejecting it.

Kit rested the baby across her knees and took a close look.

Was Tot flushed? She pressed her cheek to the baby’s with a tingle of alarm.

Feverish? Or perhaps Kit was simply warm from the shower.

She fished through the duffel and retrieved a graham cracker. Tot cried, and her alarm grew. Cullen appeared. He too had to put on his dirty clothes again, but he appeared much more comfortable.

“Cullen,” she started, but he held up a finger.

“One second.”

She didn’t understand what he was up to when he went to the bedroom, until she heard him hauling a dresser to block the kicked-in door from opening.

So he didn’t believe the Nico threat was neutralized either.

When he finished, he joined them.

“Tot’s really cranky. Does she feel hot to you?” Kit watched anxiously as Cullen inspected the baby.

“Not sure. Won’t eat?”

“Not even the cookie.”

“Could be a lot of things: teething, she’s tired...”

Poison in her lungs, dehydration, she’d gotten too cold, been injured somehow in their crazy mad escape...

“I’ll walk her around for a while. You rest.”

She yawned. Yawned again, and the fatigue pressed down on her.

“Go ahead. Take a nap,” Cullen said. “Tot and I will hang out.”

“If you need me...” To do what exactly? If Tot was sick, how was she going to help? “I’ll walk her in an hour, let you rest.”

He winked. “I know where to find you.”