Page 71 of Mistaken

Abdul was silent for a moment, brows pulled together as he appeared to contemplate the problem. As he’d done yesterday, he’d left off the hooded robe and wore a black tunic and black pants, and Sarah realized she was already barely noticing the scars on the one half of his face, as if her brain had noted them once and decided to move on.

“Then you must go and tell them yourself,” he said, and she tilted her head at him.

“You’re sending me away?”

Immediately, he came over and pressed a kiss against the top of her head. Even that gentlest of pressure from his mouth was enough to send her blood racing again, and she knew she would never survive if she had to live without him.

“Dearest, of course not. It is only that I think it better for you to go in person and let them know that you have come and gone of your own free will. I will even accompany you, if you wish. The devices will be somewhat of a challenge, but I can manage them if necessary.”

His expression was earnest, and Sarah knew he meant every word he’d said.

She wouldn’t make him do such a terrible thing, though. While she might not have seen firsthand what Miles Odekirk’s devices could do to a djinn, she’d heard it could be pretty bad. And while Abdul wasn’t an ordinary djinn, he was close enough to them physically that she knew it still would not be at all pleasant for him to be around them for even a short time.

“You can’t do that,” she said as she rose from her chair. “I don’t want you to. But maybe — maybe you can come with me to the edge of the protected territory and wait for me there. It’ll feel better to know you’re closer than being all the way out here in Ghost Ranch.”

“Of course I will do that for you,” he replied at once. “And anything else that is within my power to make the process easier.”

He could probably think of quite a few things, considering all the supernatural gifts he had at his command. And while Sarah had to admit she wasn’t overly thrilled about going back to Los Alamos, even for a short amount of time, she realized this was a dangling thread that really needed to be tied off. The last thing she wanted was for Lindsay Odekirk — or anyone else — to spend any more time worrying about her than she already had.

“All right,” she said, glad she sounded firm and unworried, even though a few nervous butterflies had started darting around in her stomach at the thought of returning to her former home and doing her best to explain what had happened to her over these past ten days.

“We’ll go after breakfast.”

Chapter21

In the end,it wasn’t so very difficult. Abdul could tell that Sarah was not completely happy to be going on this mission but at the same time understood it was necessary. And because they both wanted to get it over with as quickly as they could, he came up with a plan that he thought would work.

They traveled in djinn fashion from Ghost Ranch to the border of the protected territory, not too far from the original place where Sarah had told him she’d begun her original exploration into the lands around Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch. This time, however, she would not be going back on foot, but would instead drive herself to Los Alamos in the pickup truck he summoned for her.

“Not bad,” she said with a grin as she ran a hand over the sleek black fender of the big Nissan. “There are a couple of guys I know who’d kill for one of these, even though we’re only supposed to drive electric vehicles in town.”

“Then you can leave it for them here when you are done with your mission,” Abdul replied. “It is not as if you will need the vehicle after you return from Los Alamos.”

Her expression turned thoughtful. “True. I’ll let Lindsay know to have someone come pick it up later today. That’s who I’m going to talk to,” she added. “It makes the most sense. She and Miles are the ones in charge, pretty much, and that way I won’t have to go into a bunch of explanations with a lot of different people. They can just get the information out to the community in the way they think best.”

Sarah paused there, her expression distant, and Abdul reached over and touched her hand. She’d already confessed to him that, while she had quite a few acquaintances in Los Alamos, it wasn’t as if any of them had been truly close friends, the sort of people she would have confided in.

No wonder she didn’t feel a strong connection to the town, even though she’d lived there for nearly five years.

“It is a good idea,” he told her. “Where will you find this Lindsay?”

A quick flash of a smile, one that felt infinitely warmer than the bright summer sun that shone down on both of them. “Oh, it’s the middle of the day. She’ll be at the lab. And if she’s not there for some strange reason, then she’ll be at home. Either way, I can make this work.”

That sounded reassuring. It seemed as if the woman Sarah was looking for had a fairly set schedule, and if she was not where she was supposed to be, well, the town wasn’t so large that it would be difficult to track her down.

“Then do what you must,” he told her. “I will be waiting for you here.”

“It’s probably going to take a couple of hours,” she said, now looking somewhat dubious. “Wouldn’t you rather wait for me at the ranch?”

Should he say that he would happily wait for her in this desolate spot forever, if that was what the situation required?

He decided against being quite so bold, although he did lean down and kiss her softly on the lips. “It will be no trouble to remain here. I know you will be as quick about this as possible.”

Her eyes locked on his, now warm with the same desire he knew he’d felt even after that very gentle kiss he’d just given her. “Oh, I’ll be fast,” she said. “No worries about that.”

She reached over to touch his hand, then turned so she could climb into the pickup truck’s cab and start the engine. Abdul thought she looked smaller than he’d expected, sitting up high in such a way, and for a moment wondered if he should have provided a more modest vehicle for her.

But no, even if she would be traveling through regions protected by Miles Odekirk’s devices, there might still be stretches of rough road and places where it would serve her to be driving something sturdy like the pickup truck.

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