Chapter Nine

Pete called out at that point, asking about the ATVs he knew Larry’s family kept on the property, and the spell was broken; the chance for a meaningful moment of their own had vanished.

Maybe later, Larry thought. After all, Shannon did make a point of saying we’re splitting into pairs, so I’m about to get some alone time with this fascinating woman.

I just hope I don’t do anything stupid.

“Oh, I meant to tell you,” Leah said, scampering back to emotionally stable ground as Shannon and Pete rejoined them at the table. “You were right. You do cook a mean steak, Larry. This is really, really good. What seasoning did you use?”

“Classified,” Larry quipped, and winked. “I could tell you, but then… you know…”.

She laughed, and he sighed to himself.

I love the way she scrunches her nose.

***

Pete and Larry were ready to take up their stations the moment dinner was over, but Leah was having none of it.

“Come on, guys. Walking wounded, remember?” she reprimanded, pointing at Shannon. “We need to change out her bandages before we all go traipsing through the forest.”

She crooked her finger, gesturing for Shannon to come with her, and they went into the bathroom. Leah moved swiftly, applying the aloe vera then taping new bandages into place.

With Shannon’s burns tended to, they joined the men outside at the little shed where the ATVs were kept. Shannon had just climbed up behind Pete when Leah realized that without a pad and pen, they wouldn’t be able to talk back and forth.

She rushed into the cabin, and for the first time ever the size of her purse was a hindrance rather than a help.

“I know I’ve got a tiny notepad in here somewhere,” she grumbled as she fought the urge to dump the contents out onto the couch.

Defeated, she grabbed the pen she’d found and went back outside, where Larry surprised her by offering his notepad to the couple.

Pete took the pad and pen, secured them, and took off, Shannon holding on tightly behind him and yelling with delight as they steered across the property to the far hillside.

***

“Uh oh,” Larry said, as he felt Leah climb on behind him.

“Uh oh, what?”

“Well,” he said, “Pete got going so fast I didn’t get a chance to remind him.”

“Remind him of what?”

“That the deer blind on that side is ten feet off the ground.”

“Shannon doesn’t like heights.”

“Pete doesn’t either.”

“What about the one on this side?”

“It sits on the ground.”

“Should we use the walkie, let them know, see if they want to trade?”

“They’re halfway to it by now,” Larry said. “So, you and I will take this side, and if they reach out about it, we’ll trade.”

Leah shrugged.

“Works for me.”

“Hang on tight,” he told her as he fired up the ATV. “It will get a little steep.”

He was just about to get rolling when he remembered that the notepad he’d loaned to Pete and Shannon contained some things he’d never meant for anyone else to see… in particular, thoughts that had popped into his head about Leah.

Crap.

Maybe they won’t see those, Larry’s right brain said.

Yeah, right, came the retort from the analytical left. Pete is meticulous. He misses very, very little.

He shook his head without realizing it.

“Everything all right?” Leah’s voice pierced above the motor noise.

Larry gave her a thumbs-up, then started forward to take them to their assigned spot in the tree line.

***

Leah yelped when their ATV started upward at almost a forty-five-degree angle.

“You weren’t kidding!” she called out.

“Nope,” he called back, and Larry grinned as she clutched him even more tightly.

Holy crap, we’re going to fall! Leah’s brain screamed, and she barely kept that conviction to herself as they continue to climb upward.

Just when she thought the angle would prove more than the ATV could handle, she felt the pitch coming back down to a more manageable level, and she exhaled the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding.

“You all right back there?”

“Um… yeah, fine,” she managed.

About ten yards further, and Larry swung around in a tight circle, then stopped the ATV and turned the motor off.

“We’re here,” he told her.

Oh, thank goodness.

Leah slid off the side of the vehicle and watched Larry pull his combat kit from the tiny rack on the back.

“After you,” he said with a smile.

They opened the door to the blind and walked in. Larry set his bag down, pulled out the pieces needed, and had started to reassemble his M-16 rifle when the walkie-talkie crackled to life.

“Larry, you copy?”

Leah picked it up and answered, “He’s right here, hang on a sec,” then handed it to Larry.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“Well, Shannon’s necklace got hung on the ladder, and the chain broke.”

“Sorry, man.”

“No, that’s actually a good thing. We took a closer look at her locket. It opens, Larry, and you won’t believe what was inside.”

“What?”

“A microchip.”

“A what?”

“A microchip. And Larry? Robert gave her the locket.”

Larry and Leah looked at each other, stunned.

“Keep it safe,” Larry told Pete.

Then he set down the handheld device and looked back at Leah, immediately sensing that she was not okay.

“That…. bastard. Robert put her in danger. And he did it deliberately,” Leah was seething, so angry she was shaking and on the verge of tears. “He made the copies of his own free will, and he knew what he was doing was dangerous, and then he purposely hid them in something he gave to her?”

She glanced up at Larry and saw the understanding and the empathy shining back at her in his eyes, and she began to cry.

“Why would he do that? I thought he cared about her. You don’t do stuff like that to somebody you care about.”

Without a word, Larry held out his arms and she moved into them.

He held her tenderly, one hand on her back, the other stroking her hair, as she sobbed into his chest.

Stay quiet and listen, his instinct told him. This goes beyond what she and I just heard. It’s much deeper than that.

Someone wounded her once, too.