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“We don’t get nekkid.”
He snatched his hand back.
“I mean it, Trapper,” she said. “This is a professional agreement between a private investigator and a journalist. I need your input for the story that, when told, will be astonishing. You need me to tell it so you’ll be validated and the mastermind of the Pegasus bombing exposed. We’re working partners. I guarantee you my confidence until I receive a capitalized okay from you, but no—”
“Getting nekkid.”
“Right.”
“Well, damn.”
“You still have the option of taking me back to town.”
He looked out across the dark, barren landscape, made even more forbidding by the swirling snowfall. He cussed under his breath but then came back around. “I’m tempted to wish you luck and part ways. But I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to you. So…” He thrust his hand toward her. They shook on it. Then he reached beneath the driver’s seat and produced a cell phone.
“You have two?” she asked in surprise.
Distracted by punching in a number, he said, “Several. All with disposable SIM cards and blocked numbers.” Then he held his index finger vertically against his lips. She heard a man answer with a hello. “Hank?”
“Trapper? Where are you? Dad is about to stroke out, and I kid you not.”
“Are you with him now?”
“No, I’m at home.” In the background the sound track of a TV show could be heard, along with children’s laughter. “What are you up to?”
“It’s complicated.”
“With you, it always is.”
“I need you to do something for me.”
“Trapper—”
“Hank. You’re a minister. Isn’t this your calling? To help people in need? Or is that just hype?”
After a pause, Hank asked, “What do you want me to do?”
“First of all, has there been any further word about The Major’s condition?”
“Last report Dad got, he was holding steady. Even talking a little more.”
Trapper exhaled slowly, revealing to Kerra that he cared far more deeply about his father than he let on.
“Do you have Kerra Bailey with you?” Hank asked.
“Yes.”
“Is she all right?”
“Give me a break, Hank. You think I’d hurt a woman? Or take her by force?”
“I want to hear it from her.”
Trapper held the phone out to her and she said hello.
“Are you all right?”
“Perfectly fine.”
