Page 42 of Atone in Darkness
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The makeshift meal was nothing if not tense. Edgar shoveled in the soup and fried canned meat as if it was the finest gourmet cooking, while Chase struggled to choke down enough to keep up his strength. Marisol had picked up her own food and disappeared into the bedroom to eat alone. Chase couldn’t really blame her, but he had no idea how to breach the wall she’d erected between them, especiallywith Edgar watching them both like a hawk.
Finally, the other man shoved his empty bowl away. “Thanks. That hit the spot.”
Then he looked around the cabin. “Any idea who owns this place?”
“No.”
Interesting question, though. In the hustle and bustle of getting Edgar inside to dress his wound, Chase hadn’t stopped to question how the man had just happened to stumble across the same abandonedcabin that he and Marisol had found. Also, why he’d claimed to have known Marisol from the compound, yet he hadn’t mentioned knowing Chase but hadsomehow immediately recognized him as a Paladin. Had he been following their tracks since escaping the compound? If so, why would he do that if he knew they were being hunted? And what had happened to whoever had shot him? Before he could give voiceto his questions, Edgar spoke up again.
“If it’s okay with you, I’m going to sack out for a while. My shoulder is feeling better, but I haven’t slept more than an hour or two at a time since night before last.”
“You didn’t say how you got away.”
Edgar had been in the process of standing up, but he froze for a second. “No, I guess I didn’t. Two of the guards were dragging me out of my cell whenthey heard the first explosions. One of them ran to see what the hell was going on, and his partner got careless when the screaming started. I knocked him out and took off. It was already dark outside, so it was easy to lose myself in the panic. I hid in the woods near the compound until I realized the bastards were planning a hunt when I overheard them say the doctor had disappeared.”
He carriedhis dishes over to the counter. “I managed to stay ahead of them for several hours, but then one of them got off a lucky shot. I kept to the creek for as long as I could to hide my trail. Eventually, they gave up and moved on.”
“Why?”
“From what I heard, they want the doctor back really bad. Their bosses think she stole their research and plans to sell it on the open market.” He glanced towardthe closed bedroom door. “You do realize the Paladins can’t afford for that to happen.”
True enough, although it was obvious that someone in this mysterious organization already knew more than theyshould’ve about them. Right now Chase would give anything to know how that had happened. One possibility was that someone in the Regents organization had betrayed him, since Marisol’s employer hadknown exactly when and where to kidnap him. He couldn’t wait to tell Jarvis and Devlin Bane his suspicions. If he was right, once they managed to ferret out that person’s identity, they could start the search for anyone else who’d been compromised.
“No, we can’t. For now, why don’t you get some sleep.”
“Good idea.”
But before that, he had one more question for Edgar. “How did you know I wasa Paladin? As far as I can remember, we’ve never met.”
Edgar stared past him toward the window, his hand rubbing his throat. “They made me watch you suffocate when they hung you from the rafters in the gym a few weeks back. After the guards cut you down, they did the same to me.”
Chase clenched his fists as the memory of that day washed over him. There had been an audience standing somewherebehind him. He could remember their laughter as he’d struggled to breathe. Bastards.
“Like I said, get some sleep.”
While Edgar stretched out on the floor, Chase worked off some of his anger wringing out the wet clothes and then draped them over the backs of the kitchen chairs to dry by the stove. When that was done, he debated whether or not to try to talk to Marisol. When he opened the bedroomdoor, though, she was curled up in the bed sound asleep. She stirred and blinked sleepily when he picked up her dirty dishes.
“I would’ve taken care of them when I woke up.”
Damn, he wanted to crawl back between those sheets with her again and pretend the past couple of hours had never happened. “I know. I was just checking on you. If you don’t mind, I’m going out to scout around a little whileEdgar is sleeping.”
When her eyes flared wide with what looked like fear, he hastened to reassure her. “Don’t worry, I won’t be gone long. Stay in here with the chair propped under the door handle if that makes you feel safer. You can also watch for my return from the window.”
She sat up and stretched. “What are you looking for besides the obvious?”
He shrugged. “I’m not sure. I guess I’llknow it when I see it.”
She didn’t seem impressed with his logic. “Good luck with that.”
“Do you want me to leave the rifle with you?”
After a brief pause, she shook her head. “You’re more likely to need it. Be careful out there.”
“I’ll try.”
His gut feeling was that there was more he should say to her, but she turned away and lay back down. Even if he could’ve figured out the words to use,she clearly wasn’t in the mood to listen.
