Total pages in book: 163
Estimated words: 150878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 754(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 503(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 150878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 754(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 503(@300wpm)
Charlie had opened his suitcase and was removing several items of clothes and draping them around his neck. “Babe, you know I can buy you another Louis,” Charlie said, kicking his suitcase aside and giving me a charming smile. “Heck, I’ll buy you the whole store. We’ll go on a shopping spree to celebrate this ordeal being over. We’ll sip Champagne and give my credit card a workout.”
“I’m suddenly glad I don’t have anything in my stomach,” Tuck said, beginning to turn.
Charlie’s head snapped up and he glared at Tuck. “Watch your tone when you talk to us.”
Tuck stopped, turning back, a muscle tightening in his jaw. “I’ll use any tone I damn well please,” he said, his voice low and even, locking eyes with Charlie.
My heart doubled in speed at the look on his face right before he turned again and began walking. That was a side of Tuck I hadn’t seen. That was the don’t fuck with me Tuck, maybe the one he’d developed while locked in a cage with other more dangerous men. And why it made me slightly breathless I didn’t know and didn’t want to think about. “Cut it out, guys,” I said, clutching my suitcase and moving past Charlie. “Let’s just find that house, or campground, or whatever and—”
“There it is,” Tuck said, stopping. “Right through the trees.”
Excitement made me want to run toward the house and the muted light it was casting through the thick wall of pines. Was that the sound of…chickens? Yes, I thought it was. If there were chickens, there were people who tended chickens. People who had eggs. And hopefully some cheese too. Coffee would be fantastic.
“Let’s go,” I whispered.
Tuck nodded but held his arm out. “We will,” he said. “But I want to check it out first. You stay here.”
“I’ll come with you,” Charlie whispered.
“I’d prefer you didn’t.”
“If there are people inside, and the light says there are, they’ll recognize me,” Charlie said. “I’m a ticket inside any door in America.”
Tuck was facing the other direction, so I couldn’t see his eye roll, but I swore I heard it. “You’re also a prime robbery victim if the people inside are so inclined,” Tuck pointed out. “I’ve been considering taking you for ransom myself.”
“What?”
Tuck ignored him, inching a few more steps forward. He’d been joking about the ransom. But he wasn’t wrong about Charlie—and me for that matter—being vulnerable to robbery should we stumble across the wrong people. Despite the strange combination of clothing I’d been forced to wear to keep warm, our attire was clearly expensive, and I was currently cradling a very high-end suitcase.
Charlie and I watched as Tuck carefully removed his duffel bag, set it on the ground, and then moved slowly and stealthily toward the break in the trees where the light was shining through.
He stopped, and then reached up slowly and moved a tree bough, before leaning forward. Through the larger gap, I could see the edge of concrete on the ground. A driveway?
Tuck let out a heavy exhale, dropping the branches back into place and turning toward us. “It’s not a house,” he said.
My heart plummeted, and I walked to join him. “What? No. What is it?” I’d take any kind of shelter at the moment. Any kind of civilization.
Charlie came up next to me and Tuck glanced at both of us before stepping through the trees. We followed, the flock of birds I’d made myself believe sounded like chickens rising into the sky in a sudden flap of wings. “It’s a substation,” Tuck murmured, walking forward. “Or it was.”
I blinked, looking around at the smoldering equipment that had been surrounded by a chain-link fence that now lay charred on the ground. “A substation?” I asked, a lump of deep disappointment settling in my gut. No house. No electricity. No shower. No chickens. No eggs or coffee. Just a smoldering pile of metal and concrete. I felt like crying.
“This was probably one of the fires we saw from the sky.” His eyes met mine. “There were lots of fires burning though,” he said, his expression deeply troubled. It startled me because Tuck rarely looked troubled. Even in extreme situations like running back into a plane to collect valuables, he’d appeared nothing but completely resolute.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“I don’t know exactly.” He paused. “Except that there’s no way this didn’t affect the electricity in this area. It must be down for miles around.” He moved forward. “The one silver lining,” he murmured, nodding to a dirt road, “is that that road has to lead somewhere.”
sixteen
Tuck
“That road might go on for thirty miles,” Charlie whined. “What the hell do we do now?”
I didn’t attempt to provide an answer, instead turning my back and taking a slow walk around the station that had once been part of the electrical grid.