Page 77 of Corbin
He could be trying to destroy Corbin to make her heel at his side.
No more.
She had finally broken out of the emotional and mental chains Leszek had wrapped around her. She’d worry about the financial ones later.
Corbin had taken a wide curve to the left when he called back to her. “I’m seeing traffic slow to a stop up ahead. Could be a roadblock. I’m getting off this highway.”
She took note of them turning onto Highway 23. “Good idea.” No point in sharing her worry that they might find SCIS and possibly police waiting for them on the new highway.
Riding for another twenty minutes with heavier traffic, she could see how Tallulah State Park drew so many visitors. The area was as soothing for the soul as the landscape was gorgeous for the eyes, or it would have been if not for her realizing cars were slowing to a stop yet again. She saw no safe exit point.
If they turned around near a roadblock, that would be a red flag to send law enforcement after them.
Before she could ask Corbin what he thought, he showed her. With the traffic ahead of them becoming bumper-to-bumper, he kept the bike upright until he dropped out of the sluggish traffic to take a dirt road off to the right that ran between two wooden posts.
Brilliant. He’d made that change so subtly, the drivers behind them probably thought this had been their destination all along.
Still, she held onto his hips and twisted to see if anyone had caught their deviation from Highway 23. Not yet, but at the roadblock, some of those drivers might volunteer that they saw a motorcycle with a couple leave the main road.
She hoped by the time anyone could alert police to seeing them, they’d have a decent head start.
Moving adroitly as when he’d woven their way through traffic on paved highways, when the dirt road ran out, Corbin began maneuvering around saplings and larger trees. Her fingers might not open after clenching them so hard to hold on and not disturb the balance for him.
It wasn’t long before Corbin broke free of the woods to cross an undulating open space.
She slipped into a mindless time when she could do nothing to help and allowed the landscape to fill her thoughts. She’d dropped her head against his back and had almost fallen asleep when he patted her leg.
Shaking off the drowsiness, she watched as he rode the bike through thinning trees and the land climbed slowly. When he reached a small open area, he stopped. “Let’s get off and take a break.”
She stood on the back highway pegs, proud to remember what they were called, and clutched his shoulders as she stepped down. Her legs ached from being bent so long. Taking the helmet off again, she held it by the strap.
Corbin unzipped his tank bag and pulled out a black plastic disk six inches in diameter. He rolled the bike forward to a more level spot and leaned over to toss the disk on the ground where the kickstand hit.
Oh. That would keep the bike stand from sinking into the ground and the bike from falling.
He walked over to her with a stiff gait and pulled her to him, smothering his face in her hair. “I love your helmet hair.”
She expected anything but that and started laughing. “Don’t waste your time trying to convince me I’m hot with helmet hair.”
Lifting his head, he smiled. “But you are.”
He sounded so tired. It wasn’t riding the bike. Corbin had a body built to go hard for long periods.
The strain of trying to keep them safe was weighing on him. She went along to keep from adding to his worry. “Want a picnic?”
“Great idea.” He sounded excited when he knew they had almost nothing left for food.
While she dug out two bars for each of them, Corbin walked farther up the slight incline. Over the years, weather had worn dirt off the boulders.
Pixie had been quiet for a long time but came to life with a tingle of energy.Ohhh, water. We should take a swim.
Eirene listened. Water moved not far from them. She told Pixie,There could be more jackals like Ares fought last night chasing us. May not be able to swim right now.
I see, her wolf sighed, then went silent.
Finished pulling out what she and Corbin needed, she grabbed a bath towel that would have to do for a tablecloth. Not that they cared about getting dirty, but she wanted to treat Corbin and take his mind off everything for a while.
She followed where he’d hiked and found him standing next to a tree with six feet of land between him and a drop-off. Now she heard the roaring water. Looking over the cliff, she found white water rushing down below the way it had for probably centuries, wearing down the rock and dirt of a gorge.
