Page 66 of Sloth
“There’s more?”
“Absolutely.”
“Anything we can actually use?”
She gasped. “I’m offended.”
“No you’re not.”
“You’re right. I’m not. But you don’t know what we can use, so I learned whatever I could.”
“You snooped.”
She shrugged. “Maybe I call it being thorough.”
“Good work. Just stop here for a minute.” Max squinted up at the sun and pulled out his cell to check for reception. “Battery’s almost dead, but we’re heading in the right direction. Two more hours and we’ll hit our target. I’ve let them know where we’ll end up for Parker’s contact to deliver the car.”
“Thank God. I can’t wait to have a proper shower. I’ve still got mud in weird places.” She continued after him, catching up to walk side by side.
“Yeah, well, get used to it if you want to come camping with me.”
She feigned excitement. “I get to have mud in weird places all the time?”
A pink tinge flushed his cheeks. “You know what I mean.”
“Oh my God, Max. Are you embarrassed?”
He averted his gaze. “I didn’t mean for you to get so filthy. You were still hurt, and… I should have controlled myself.”
Sloan sidled up to him, wrapped her arms around him and held his gaze. “Are you telling me you have regrets?”
“Hell, no. Except… maybe next time I buy you dinner first. At least pizza.”
“No pineapple.”
He smirked, brown eyes sparkling. “Loads of pineapple.”
She made a gagging action, but he kissed her, swallowing her protests. The kiss turned deep and heavy, and he squeezed her on the ass, lifting her a moment before placing her back down. Brushing her fingers through his hair, she felt all together happy. “I shouldn’t feel so happy when we’re on our way to rescue a teenager from the clutches of a fanatical organization hell bent on ruining the world.”
“Just another day in paradise, right?”
“You don’t think they know Barry is missing yet, do you?”
“It’s hard to say. Perhaps if they’ve gone over their camera footage, but that could have taken a few hours, depending on their system. Barry could come and go as he pleased, so unless they have tagged him as missing, they shouldn’t notice his absence until he was next due to work.”
Sloan let those words sink in. Hopefully, since they’d seen Barry in the early hours of the morning, he was due to go home and not return to the base until the afternoon. They wouldn’t know unless they could get through to Parker and ask.
They walked onward for another hour or so, and then Sloan noticed something strange. “Are you sure we’re in the right place? That tree looks very familiar.”
He squinted at it. “They all look familiar.”
“No, I’m serious. That cropping of rock with the dried moss on it. We’ve come this way. I know, because the moss looks like the baby Moses in a basket.”
“Baby Mosses,” he joked with a goofy snort.
They chuckled, but then Sloan’s brows drew together. “We’d better check. How’s the reception on the cell?”
Max took his cell out again, but groaned. “Dead.”
