“Turn left down that side street so that guy won’t get a good look at the Humvee.”
“What just happened?” Daniel whispered as he followed her instructions. Even in a whisper, the tension was easy to hear. No wonder the dog was anxious.
“Just picking up some ingredients I needed.”
“Ingredients?”
“I was out of opioids.”
As they moved out onto a wider road, Alex could feel his tension easing, probably due to her nonchalance.
“Was that a drug deal, then?”
“Yes. Remember what I said about bathtub chemistry? Getting my raw materials is a little more complicated than it used to be. I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity.”
It was quiet for a moment.
“I hope that was the right move,” she muttered.
“You think he’ll tell someone about us?”
She blinked for a second. “What? Oh, no. I’m not worried about the dealer. I was just thinking about sending that e-mail.”
“The e-mail was Kevin’s call,” Daniel responded.
She nodded. “And he has a better batting average than I do.”
“No, I just meant that if it goes south, it was his call.”
She laughed once. It was a heavy sound.
“You don’t like it?”
“I don’t know. I want to finish this… but I’m tired, Daniel. I also want to run away and hide.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” he agreed. “Oh, um, if I was invited?”
She glanced at him, surprised. “Of course.”
“Good.”
There it was again, that automatic of course. That crazy assumption that he would be present for whatever future she was allowed.
She didn’t know if it was the wearying strain or something more, but an annoying feeling of presentiment haunted her for the rest of the night. Maybe it was just the jitters from finally getting her hands on some coffee for the first time in two days.
She was almost shocked when, seven hours later and with the sun already well above the horizon, they reached the secluded cabin without incident.
Daniel had taken them down only two wrong turns—impressive, considering he hadn’t been to the cabin since he was ten years old—and all the roads they’d traveled after sunrise were empty. That meant no one could report seeing an armored vehicle in the vicinity.
She parked the Humvee behind the detached garage for the present. Daniel kicked a few rocks around the base of the stairs until he found the plastic one. He removed the concealed key and then walked up the porch steps with Einstein at his heels.
Alex stood in front of the log cabin—it was a red cedar A-frame, charming despite some evidence that it had been built in the seventies—so tired she couldn’t move those last few steps. Though the night had been blessedly uneventful, it had still been a long time on the road. She’d traded seats with Daniel outside Baton Rouge and then been too wired by the sense of apprehension that had troubled her since sending the e-mail to relinquish control again. Daniel had napped off and on, and he seemed almost chipper now. He passed her to go retrieve Lola from the back of the Humvee.
“You look like you might need to be carried, too,” he commented as he passed her again, this time with the dog. He set Lola beside the door and then came back for Alex.
“Give me a second,” she mumbled. “Brain sleeping.”
“Just a few more steps,” he encouraged. He put an arm around her waist and pulled her gently forward.
Once she started moving, it was easier. Momentum got her up the stairs and through the front door. She only partially took in a high wall of triangular windows looking out over a swampy forest, aged but comfortable-looking couches, an old-fashioned wood-burning stove, and a short open stairway as he steered her past it all and down a compact hallway.
“The master is over here… I think—Kev and I always got the loft. I’ll unload and get the dogs settled, then I’ll crash, too.”
She nodded as he showed her into a dim room with a large iron bedstead. That was all she noticed before her head hit the pillow.
“Poor darling,” she heard Daniel chuckle as she sank into the dark.
? ? ?
SHE CAME BACK to consciousness slowly, drifting up through layers of dreamy nonreality. She was comfortable and calm; nothing had startled her awake, and even before she was fully lucid she was aware of Daniel’s body warm beside her. A low, close thrumming caught her attention, but before the sound could frighten her, she felt the breeze of the oscillating fan move gently down the length of her body. She opened her eyes.
It was still dim, but the light was a different color than it had been when she’d collapsed. It leaked in around the lined floral curtains that covered the big window on the opposite wall. Early evening, not as hot as before. She must have been sweating earlier, but it was dried now, a film that felt stiff against the skin of her face.