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“Your Cana.” She nodded at Luca. “The Anubis is his to call. Just like you are.”
* * *
Every bone in Laura’s body ached, every laceration on her skin burned, and the fatigue from the loss of adrenaline left her feeling a hundred years old.
But she kept walking.
After pulling up a map on Max’s phone to locate the nearest semblance of civilization, she’d unpacked her suitcase, put on long underwear, jeans, two T-shirts, and one of the dead men’s boots. They’d been too large, but with a couple of pairs of underwear and part of a Stella McCartney blouse, she’d made them work.
Then she’d left the phone in the SUV, emptied everyone’s wallet of cash, stuffed it in her pockets, and headed south-east, hoping that the GPS on the phone had been up to date and she wouldn’t land in the middle of nowhere.
After fifteen miles, she missed her custom-made heels.
She also regretted not packing a coat.
Intermittent cloud cover erased the moonlight, forcing Laura to stop until she could see again. Trudging through forest and across running water was one thing, but free soloing was another.
Free soloing in the dark was stupidity.
Free soloing in the dark with a dislocated shoulder was suicide.
So she waited. It tacked on several hours, but it was better than falling to her death.
Dawn etched out pink lines on the horizon when she pulled herself over a guard rail behind a gas station.
A man pumped gas into a minivan while a woman slept with her head against the passenger seat window. Behind him, a truck pulling a boat.
Inside the store, a female cashier spoke to a man in a ball cap.
Bells on the door bounced against the glass.
Tense quiet followed Laura to the cooler.
She located the bottled water and opened the fridge. Cold air spilled out a white cloud around her feet. She took a bottle and tucked it under her arm to hold it in place so she could twist off the cap. Then carried a second one the same way while drinking from the first.
Laura walked down the food aisle. A couple of packs of cookies, a few bags of beef jerky, she had what she needed and made her way to the counter.
The man in the ball cap stepped out of her way. She set everything on the counter.
The cashier continued to stare.
Laura used the counter to brace one of the packages of cookies to open it, then shoved two in her mouth and washed them down with the last of the water. “Are you going to give me a total or is it free?”
“Uh… yeah… uh…” The cashier rang up the items.
Laura pulled out a twenty. “Keep the change.”
“Thanks.” She put it in the drawer. “Is that all? I mean…” The girl glanced at the man.
“Actually,” Laura motioned at the phone sitting on the counter behind her. “You mind if I borrow that?”
“Sure… sure…” The woman picked it up, but the cord wasn’t long enough to reach the opposite counter. She held the base and gave Laura the receiver.
Luckily, the coiled wire stretched the rest of the distance.
Laura told the woman what number to dial.
She stared.
