Page 35 of Peace Under Fire

He shoved his sunglasses back onto his nose. “Right now, we’re headed to meet our ride. After we hook up with him, we’re leaving for New Mexico.”

New Mexico. As she suspected.

The knot in her belly invaded her chest, tightening until her lungs burned. She grimaced, exhaustion crashing over her. New Mexico was hundreds of miles away. And they wouldn’t be flying, that was for sure. Not when they were trying to stay under the radar. Which meant they’d have to drive. More hours of being trapped in a car, trying to sleep in the most awkward and uncomfortable positions. More days of bone rattling vibrations and holding her bladder for hours on end.

She wrestled her dread back and gave herself a pep talk. Maybe it wasn’t as far as she feared. Or maybe he had a teleportation device and could materialize her there in the blink of an eye. If only real life had the same conveniences as the science fiction shows her sister JoAnn was so obsessed with.

“How long will it take to get there?” she asked, wincing at the crabby edge to the question.

A frown wrinkled the skin above his sunglasses and the mirrored lenses turned in her direction.

She saw two tiny reflections of herself in the plastic. Two warped, sallow faces with limp stringy hair. Cringing at the sight, she turned her face away. God, she looked even worse than she felt.

“Close to two-thousand miles.” He faced the road again. “Thirty hours of driving. Brick and I will take shifts behind the wheel. You can sleep.”

She groaned beneath her breath. Oh, goody, thirty more hours of contortionist positions, cramped muscles, and crappy sleep.

Kill me now.

“How about this? We find a motel out of town and call it a day. Your friend Tex can book us a couple of rooms and we can get a good night’s sleep. I’ll pay him back,” she quickly added, although settling up would have to wait until they rescued Brenna and put her talent to use. “Since he’ll be reserving the rooms under his name, nobody will connect the reservations to us. We could get a good night’s sleep,” she emphasized again. “And leave for New Mexico tomorrow morning.”

There was an additional benefit to her suggestion. Stopping somewhere for the night would give her the time and privacy to explain to Jacob why her sisters had been taken. She dreaded sharing the freaky details of her birth and childhood with him.

The shake of his head skewered her in disappointment. Her head throbbed harder until even her scalp ached.

“We’d still have to show ID to access the room. Besides, even if Tex convinced someone to let us in without verifying our identity, it’s still too risky. Whoever is after you hired professionals. They’ll canvas the local motels. And they won’t rely on booking info. They’ll go off guest descriptions and video feeds. We can’t afford to stay the night. We need to get you to Los Alamos ASAP.” He paused to roll his shoulders, then rocked his head from side to side—like explaining this to her was knotting his muscles up and stressing him out. “Sleep can wait for now.”

As though his rejection of her plan was the last straw, exhaustion crashed over her, sucking her down like quicksand. Her brain and body disconnected—until there was a thirty second delay between her synapses firing and her muscles responding.

Something itched at the back of her mind, but it took forever to bring it into focus. Jacob had mentioned a name—a weird name. Someone who’d help with the driving.

“Who’s this Stone person you and your friend were talking about?”

“Stone?” He shot her a puzzled look, but his face quickly cleared. “You mean Brick? He’s an old Navy buddy. He’s our ride to the safe house.”

“He’s a SEAL too?” She massaged her burning eyes.

Was the fact their escort was another SEAL good or bad? She was too tired to decide.

“Once a SEAL, always a SEAL. But Brick left active duty four or five years ago. He’s not on anyone’s radar anymore, which makes him the perfect escort.” He slowed the truck and turned onto a side street. The engine roared as the truck accelerated again.

Mandy watched an endless curtain of snow-thatched, square bodied houses—with neatly trimmed lawns dotted with bare-branched trees—stream past her window.

“He’s a good guy,” Jacob continued. “Solid. We’re lucky he’s in town.” His face suddenly went still. “Any more dreams about Lucky?” he asked abruptly.

She sighed, absently fingering the lump on her temple. When the throbbing accelerated beneath her fingertips, she dropped her hand. Maybe her head wouldn’t hurt so much if she quit poking at it. “No. I’m sorry. I only dreamed of your friend once and I already told you everything I saw.”

It was doubtful she’d dream of Lucky again. Or even Jacob, for that matter. Her dreams had changed since Giulia had connected with her mind. She dreamed of her sister now. Or rather, she shared Giulia’s dreams. True, she hadn’t slept much since that excruciating moment in the shower where Giulia’s scream had scoured her brain. But the few times she had fallen asleep, her dreams had been all about Giulia. The last dream she’d had of Jacob had been the one where he’d gone to the clinic for the MRI.

Somehow, Giulia had accessed her mind and forged a new mental connection.

But the dreams she shared with her sister were different than the ones she’d had of Jacob. With Jacob, she’d always observed what happened to him—like she was watching a movie—watching and hearing, but never feeling, never smelling, never touching. She’d seen the concrete block fall on him, but she hadn’t felt it hit.

These new nightmares though…

She felt what Giulia felt. Experienced what her sister was going through. Except she could wake up. She could escape the pain and terror and humiliation. Giulia wasn’t so lucky. Waking or sleeping, it made no difference, Giulia was stuck there. Trapped.

All her sisters were trapped.

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