Page 46 of Christmas Harbor Secrets
“Shane, who I know as Shade, just radioed us he’s in trouble.”
“Don’t trust it. Too easy to clone voices now with AI. Send me what you’ve got,” the voice said at last. “If you survive long enough to get it to me. I’ll take it to the top. And then we’ll extract you. Looks like you’re the next to join WITSEC.”
“Me and Shade’s daughter.”
“Anyone else involved?”
Rone pinched the bridge of his nose. “One more.”
“Who’s that?”
“Echo.”
“That a code name?”
“No, it’s a K-9.”
“Don’t provide WITSEC for dogs,” Blake chuckled. “I’ll text you a location to meet.”
The line went dead.
Rone stared at the phone. The screen dimmed, then blacked out, his reflection muted in the glass—haunted, hollow-eyed, and tired of being a step behind.
“Rone?” Isobel stood in the doorway, the rising sun glinting off the water behind her. “What did he say?”
He slipped the phone into his pocket. “That we’re not the only ones running from Laurel Tides.”
Her brow furrowed. “What does that mean?”
“It means,” he said, turning toward the window, scanning the horizon as the tide began to pull, “someone else is already out there cleaning up their mess.”
He didn’t have to say it aloud—the unspoken truth that threaded cold through the air between them.
They were next on the list.
CHAPTER NINE
The cabin heldits breath after the call, as if even the walls refused to make a choice.
Isobel stood very still because if she started moving, she feared she’d shake apart. The burner phone lay face down on the table.
“I still think this is the wrong move. You were a detective. You can find Echo and my father; we can get them out and then disappear and send the info to the FBI,” she said.
Rone didn’t answer. He leaned against the bulkhead like he needed the wood to keep from tipping. Night had never really left his eyes; it just sat back in the shadows, waiting. “I’m not a team of specialized men. I’m one person—a washed-up, failed detective. What you’re asking is ludicrous. We get to Blake. We put this in the right hands and come at Laurel Tide with more than two bodies and a bad plan.”
“Right hands?” Her voice scraped up through the tightness in her throat. “You mean the same hands that helped fake my father’s death, but then those… those criminals found out he was alive? Have you even considered that there’s a leak at the FBI?”
He chuckled. “You watch too many shows and movies.They weren’t involved. More likely, your father made a mistake and was seen somewhere. Or his picture was seen somewhere.”
Long forgotten memories flooded in so much she feared her own brain would drown in them. Picnics, boating, whittling, making campfires. All of it stayed at their cottage on the lake. He never left. Only mom went to the store. “That’s why I was homeschooled.”
“What?”
She shook her head, trying to release the pressure threatening to take her attention. “He didn’t. It all makes sense now. He didn’t make a mistake. He never left our property. I only went into town on occasion until he disappeared on us. Mom died in that cottage five years ago.” she said, the words tasting like salt and rust. “And now you want to trust them with the only proof we have that could keep him alive. We could trade it for his and Echo’s lives. Promise to stay silent.” Tears filled her eyes, her throat closed, her ribs constricted. “Please. We have to?—”
Rone’s palms cupped her face. “Stop. Take a breath.”
She took in a stuttered inhale and swallowed the emotions back down, but not fast enough. Rone swiped his thumbs across her cheeks catching her tears. “Shhh. Just take a second.” He pulled her into him, his arms wrapping around her with such force she believed he could do anything.
