Page 128 of One Last Promise

“Shep said they have history.”

“Looks more like a future to me.”

“Maybe. Shep said they shared some traumatogether. An avalanche. I do know that she was a missionary pilot in Nigeria before she came here.”

Moose looked at Colt. “You were in Nigeria, right? I remember Dodge telling the story—something about you getting kidnapped by the Boko Haram?”

Colt had balled up his sandwich wrapper, was now staring hard at London in the distance. “Yep.”

Wait. Maybe Londondidknow Colt. So, why the cold front?

“Did you know London?”

He sighed. Again, “Yep.”

A weird silence.

Axel looked at Colt, then Moose. “There’s something about her. I don’t know. Secretive. Like she has a past.” He had folded up his sandwich wrapper.

“What, like she’s a spy?” This from Colt.

Moose considered him, the strange way he’d said that. “What aren’t you telling us?”

Colt gave a laugh. “No. I mean, there were rumors that she wasn’t just a pilot.”

“What?”

He looked at Moose. “Just some . . . I don’t know. Like I said, rumors. But they all sort of circled around the idea that she was really in some branch of the clandestine forces. Even a NOC operative.”

“Non official cover?” Axel nodded. “I knew it. A spy.”

Colt held up his hand. “Don’t go crazy. People invent stuff when they don’t know much about a person.”

If Moose was honest, hedidn’tknow much about London. She’d come recommended by Shep.

Who knew herhow?

He watched the two of them. Shep calm, his hands in his pockets, London crouched in front of a flock of sanderlings,feeding them bread.

She got up and brushed off her hands, her profile in the sun. Pretty, but no-nonsense and smart. Still, he didn’t see her as a spy.

Then again, he hadn’t seen Tillie as a criminal.

Still didn’t see her as a criminal.

“Let’s go,” Moose said and stood up. Axel whistled to the pair on the sand and waved them in.

The sun had sunk on the horizon, the shadows long upon the ocean as they drove north along the ocean drive, finally cutting west at A1A, then north again.

“Florida always smells like it’s moldy,” said Shep from the back seat.

“And the palm trees are constantly shedding,” said London.

Moose looked back at them. “Since when did either of you live in Florida? Shep, you’re from Montana, and London?—”

“Never lived here,” she said. “Just visited a few times.”

Axel raised an eyebrow from the back seat.

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