“Thanks, but I don’t smoke,” Con said.It was one of those things he’d never been tempted to do.Might have been useful now.Give him something to do with his hands.
Joe lit up and blew a pale stream of smoke out his nostrils.
And that might be why Con was never tempted.He couldn’t see the appeal of becoming a smoke stack.
“You got trouble,” Joe said.
It wasn’t a question.
“Yeah, not with the law,” Con added.“We got crosswise with a couple of guys, saw something we weren’t supposed to.”
Joe nodded and blew out more smoke.
“If they come here, don’t try to hide what you know.Just tell them.No reason for you to get cross-wise, too.”
“I don’t—” Joe began.
“Just tell them what you know,” Con insisted.
“Don’t know much,” Joe pointed out.
“Give them something and they’ll go away.”He waited a minute, but Joe continued to smoke without saying anything.“We’ll go away, too, in the morning.”
Joe nodded, dropped his cigarette on the ground and extinguished the red glow with his booted foot.
“That Rita’s a nice girl.”
“Yes,” Con agreed.“She is a nice girl.”He almost grinned at the thought of telling Joe she claimed to be an alien.
“Night,” Joe said, starting back toward the house.
“Night,” Con said.Joe was one of the reasons Con liked flying.The pilots could be gruff and nearly mute at times, but they were good people.
Rita watched Red pacing in the dark.She saw Joe join him, smoke a cigarette, and then head back into the house.She let the curtain fall back in place and sat on the edge of the bed.
She wondered what they’d talked about.She wondered what kept Red up and pacing.
She knew why she couldn’t sleep
They should separate.The only reason those men were after Red was because of her.But in these small towns and even smaller landing strips, she would be toast.
But if they got closer to one of the bigger cities?There were a lot more eyes to see.She wasn’t sure she’d fare any better.
She gave a sigh.She’d probably be toast no matter what choice she made.
Would those men be able—or allowed—to summon more resources to track them?It frustrated her that she didn’t know why they were after her, or how badly they wanted to find her.
None of it made any sense.
She got up and did some pacing of her own, but there wasn’t room to out walk her thoughts.
She couldn’t go home.She couldn’t stay here.
Her recall device was locked for a reason.They weren’t supposed to change their destinations.You travel to your designated time and then you came back.End of mission and story.
She couldn’t go back.She repeated the thought because her gut didn’t like her thinking the word “home.”And neither did time.It wavered wildly for several seconds, so close she could almost reach out and touch it.
If she were in a time with more tech options, she’d have tried to reprogram her destination.She’d studied the technology, not because she wanted to tamper with the device.She just didn’t like using something when she didn’t know it worked—or what could go wrong.
