Page 28 of Critical Strike

“That might bring the cops straight to us.”

It wasn’t a perfect plan. Hell, it wasn’t even agoodplan. He would much rather have a few days to scope somewhere out to see if they had alarms or security. Or go somewhere he was familiar with and could protect her more easily.

A location came to mind. One where he’d watched out for her when they were kids.

“How about the Wars Hill library?” He watched for her reaction.

A little smile lit her face. “That would be perfect.”

Of the limited time they’d had together when they were young, a lot of it had been spent there. She’d stayed at the library until closing just about every evening. Book time. Computer time. Avoid the group home time.

Once Luke had discovered where she was disappearing to, he’d begun joining her. At first, he was only looking out for her.

But Claire, who’d read way above her grade level, started recommending books to him. That library, waiting for her to finish on the computer so he could walk her home each day, was where he’d developed a love for reading.

The next time Brax wanted to tease him about staying in with a book on a Friday night instead of going out and having fun, Luke would tell him to blame Claire.

At the next red light, he turned south in the direction of the library. He drove by it often enough to know the building hadn’t changed much. But more importantly, he was familiar with it and would be better able to keep watch there.

“It’s a plan,” he said. “We’ll park a pretty good distance away, get there before it closes, and hide. That’s better than trying to break in.”

He glanced over at her and she smiled at him, her brown hair not right, but still beautiful. “Maybe by this time tomorrow, this can all be over.”

Chapter Nine

The library hadn’t changed much in the past fifteen years. The puffy blue couches in the children’s section had been reupholstered but were the same. The glass study rooms in the back hadn’t changed much, either.

They’d parked the truck a quarter mile away—he hadn’t wanted to take any chances on it being spotted near the library. Claire hadn’t wanted to leave Khan behind. A backpack Luke had forgotten about and found stuffed under one of the truck’s seats did the trick. Nestled in there, with the top unzipped a bit for air, the cat only meowed occasionally.

It was impressive, really, the amount of trust that animal had in his human. Then again, she’d no doubt worshipped the little furball from the start.

Kitten.

Luke smiled to himself. Claire was definitely more of a kitten than Khan was.

They slipped in separately about an hour before closing, long enough ahead of time so the librarian wouldn’t be paying attention. Claire headed back to the fiction section and Luke ended up in poetry.

He was the least poetry-reading guy he’d ever known but forced himself to crack open a book anyway. Walt Whitman wasn’t so bad.

A mom with three young kids came in about twenty minutes before closing and couldn’t have provided a better cover if Luke had been designing it himself. The librarian’s attention was immediately homed in on them, undoubtedly because the older man didn’t want to have to clean up whatever the kids dug out right before closing.

Still, finding a place to hide where he wouldn’t find them wouldn’t be easy. Luke started scoping it out. He was back in the nonfiction section when Claire found him and motioned for him to follow.

“I can’t believe it’s still here,” she whispered.

“What?”

She didn’t answer, just gestured for him to keep following as they took a back aisle toward the children and teens section. The librarian was busy checking out the books for the mom and kids.

“Here.” She walked over to a display that took up the entire back corner of the room. Worldwide scenes lit up the front, telling kids that reading could take them wherever they wanted to go.

“It’s really nice.” Luke didn’t know what more to say. He vaguely remembered the display from their time here.

She walked over to the side of the display. “It’s also still got a false back...”

“What?”

Claire pulled the back of the display from the side it should’ve been attached to. Sure enough, it created an opening big enough to slip into.

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