Page 44 of Keel

“Oh yes. There’s a long history of making glass with toxic substances. That’s why it’s best to buy new glasses if you’re going to be drinking out of them. The glass bowls I put food in are safe. Like I won’t put an apple in an antique bowl because I don’t know the substances used to make it.”

“That makes sense.”

“I also have boxes and boxes of china patterns. My grandmother loved to collect them. Here, follow me, and you can see.”

Sonja led her to a back bedroom that had rows of boxes stacked four high and then a display case in the corner with ten different plates.

Sonja flicked on a light in the display case. “These are the patterns.”

“Wow, very impressive.”

“I haven’t used them since Ricky passed. He was a joy to cook for. He would rave over the dishes if I got them out. That man was a treasure. Once I burned dinner very badly, and he never said a word about it being awful, and let me tell you, it was terrible. Instead, he told his friends I was a wonderful cook. One day, when I was tired and sassy, I asked him why he lied about my cooking. He looked me in the eye and said that he once made a mistake at work that cost the company a lot of money, and he wasn’t fired. The owner helped him learn to never make that mistake again. No one held it against him. They used it as a learning opportunity. He said he wouldn’t hold my mistakes against me. He was a good man.”

“It sounds like he was very nice.”

“Oh, he was. He would have loved it if a lot of military guys moved in. He served for a few years but didn’t really enjoy it. But it was a different time, different wars. But he held a cookout every year and invited the few military men over for food and beer. He was that kind of man.”

Frankie nodded, wondering how she’d allowed herself to be taken in by Forest. Mr. Wiggles brushed up against her leg, and she glanced down, realizing that she’d been brave by leaving Forest, and she was trying to change. That counted for something. She wouldn’t dwell on the negative, because focusing on everything negative wouldn’t make her life better.

“He sounds very nice.”

They sat at her kitchen table while Sonja told stories about her life. It was nice to sit and listen to good stories of a life filled with happiness. Sonja did warn that there had been bad times, but those times had been few and far between.

When Frankie said goodbye, they hugged, and she promised Sonja to visit next week for more tea and talk. It was weird to her that just moving here with Keel had opened her world to friendships. These women were very nice, almost too nice, but not in a fake way. It was refreshing, like a fresh breeze she didn’t know she needed.

Chapter 24

Their plane touched down, and they filed off, ready to do what was needed. The jerk hadn’t died while they traveled, so they were still on for the takedown.

“You ready?” Chase asked as Keel stepped from the bathroom into the hall.

“As I’ll ever be.”

“So Frankie, she was okay with you leaving?”

He nodded. “Yeah. No problems at all with me taking off.”

“Good. At least you don’t have that hanging over your head.”

“She’ll be fine.” He hoped she would be okay. If she wasn’t, there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it over here. She was new to helping herself, but she could take care of problems as they arose.

“We’re meeting up in fifteen minutes. Get some food.”

“I’ll be there.”

He grabbed a few packs of MREs and opened one, wolfing down the contents. Mick stepped in, followed by the rest of the guys. They were getting ready to head out to begin their mission that would take days.

“You all ready?” Chase asked as he grabbed a few MREs.

They had enough food packed for their mission, but it never hurt to have a few extra at the beginning of a mission. If the mission lasted longer than expected, they would hunt and eat meat in the wild.

A part of their training was identifying foods that were safe to eat. And not everything they saw animals eating was good for human consumption. Hopefully, the mission wouldn’t last so long that he would have to forage for food.

The helicopter flight to their drop zone wasn’t too long. They headed to the trail that would take them to the compound. They were bedding down tonight and would continue on in the morning. They could have unloaded closer to the compound, but that would have potentially revealed their attack to one of the guards. Going in without being spotted was crucial to their plan working.

Keel took first watch. The area they’d picked to sleep was quiet, and when it was his time to doze off, he slept until they all woke at four the next morning. They were headed out early to avoid being spotted by locals. They would be in place close to two and would take time to rest before things got real at night.

Their hike required all his concentration. He didn’t have time to think about Frankie or their future together. Today was about moving silently through the jungle so they could make their move on the compound without being seen.