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She slogged through the white stuff in Mike’s wake as he trod a path to the back door of the cabin.
He jingled the key chain that he’d picked up from the car. “Our key to paradise.”
Tipping her head back to take in the log cabin, she twisted her lips. “You’ve got a funny notion of paradise, Becker.”
“Let’s put it this way.” He inserted the key in the dead bolt at the same time he punched a code in the keypad she hadn’t noticed before. “We have food, water, heat and a bed. Sounds like heaven to me.”
He must’ve heard the breath hiss from her lips because he jerked his head around.
“I mean two beds, of course—clean sheets and everything.”
Shoving open the door, he stomped his boots on the porch mat and then reached for a switch on the wall. “Welcome to paradise.”
Yellow light flooded the small room decked out like a snug getaway—a trio of love seats hugged an oval braided rug in front of a stone fireplace. End tables carved from logs stood sentry on either side of the love seat facing the fireplace, and a huge set of antlers graced the space above the mantel.
She swept her arm across the room. “Nice setup...except those antlers. I can’t help thinking about the poor buck who lost them.”
“Not my thing, either, but I didn’t decorate the place.” He dropped his bags by the door, closed it and reset the alarm. “Are you hungry? Tired? There’s a kitchen, and I’m almost positive there are toiletries in the hall closet—stuff like toothbrushes and combs. Probably none of the high-end stuff you use.”
“Hey, beggars can’t be choosers, but I’m not all that tired.”
“Hungry?”
She eyed the kitchen on the other side of the room. “What’s in there, astronaut food?”
“I’m sure we’re low on the fresh fruits and vegetables and the free-range chicken.”
She shrugged the strap of her purse from her shoulder and placed it on one of the log tables. “I’ll check it out. You want something?”
“I’m starving.”
“When aren’t you starving?” She moved into the kitchen and started throwing open the cupboard doors.
“I’m six-four. That’s a lot of space to fill. Check the freezer.”
She opened the freezer door and the stack of colorful boxes almost made her dizzy. “What do you want? We have lasagna, French-bread pizza, chicken wings, taquitos and a bunch of other stuff. This truly would be heaven for Ethan.”
“Make an executive decision.”
She peeked around the freezer door at Mike setting up his laptop.
“Are you going to call Jack now?” She grabbed two French-bread pizzas from the middle of the stack and steadied the leaning tower of frozen goodies with her other hand.
“That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
“Are you sure there’s internet and cell reception out here?”
“Unless the weather has interfered, we’ll have reception. We make sure of that before we set up shop in any area. Even going as far as installing our own tower.”
“I’m sure the neighbors are thrilled to have you.” She placed the two pizzas in the microwave and set the time.
“If we had neighbors. That bus stop was in the nearest town.”
While she’d been in the kitchen, Mike had cranked on the furnace and started a fire for good measure.
She sauntered out from the kitchen and sat on the arm of the love seat where he’d set up his computer.
He tapped in a number on his phone, followed by a series of other taps.
“It’s Mike.” He tapped his display once more. “Jack, I just put you on speaker, and Claire’s in the room with me.”
Jack’s low voice reached out from the phone. “Claire, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. D-do you know what’s going on?”
“I know that the FBI suspects Hamid Khan of placing the car bomb that killed the director of the CIA.”
“No way, Jack. Hamid is innocent, according to Claire.”
“The Fibbies are citing communications between Claire and Hamid, but they haven’t named Claire as a suspect yet.” He cleared his throat. “And then there’s the small matter of the escape from the two agents sent to pick up Claire at the bank.”
