AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Anything Hitchcock, but if I have to chooseNorth by Northwest.”
“Cary Grant, James Mason, and Eva Marie Saint. Good choice.”
“What about you?” She realized this was a silly and irrelevant conversation to be having at this time and in this place, but it felt comforting and reassuring to do so.
“I agree with you about Hitchcock, but I always preferredTo Catch a Thief.”
“Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. The costumes at the masquerade ball were insane. No one dresses like that.”
“Au contraire. You just haven’t been to the right masquerade balls,” he said with a grin, “but I can remedy that.”
“You two do realize that (a) we can hear you; (b) you’re naming mid-century films that were released before you were born; and (c) you’re both wrong. It wasTorn Curtainwith Paul Newman and Julie Andrews. The boys are making their way down the ravine to the SUV,” said Seth.
“Keep the drone moving and trained on the area,” said Miley. “If she survived, I don’t want her to get away. I sent Rob as he’s probably the best tracker on the team here in South Carolina.”
“Thanks, Miley,” said Rob over the comm.
“Nothing to thank me for. I was with the team when you got us out of Afghanistan last year. When we got separated from everyone else, we’d have starved or died of thirst if you hadn’t been there to track the wildlife. And track is an exaggeration—it was hard, dry ground. There was nothing to track.”
“There is if you know how to look,” Rob replied.
“Miley,” called one of the guys who were separating bodies from survivors at the cabin. “All clear. We’ve got an equal split. Three down; three dead.”
“I’ve got paramedics on the way as well as the locals,” said Dusty. “They say they’re about forty minutes out.”
“I don’t want Damon exposed like this. Who knows what else Frannie might have had in store. Seth? I’m leaving you in charge. I’ll take Dusty and Liam back with me. Brock, I want you to take two others and go back to Damon’s house in Charleston and get it secured. We’ll head back to the safe house at Folly Beach, and I’ll call Fitz with an update. Good job everyone. I hate that we lost Jimmy, but it could have been so much worse. Everybody stay sharp, there are most likely more booby traps. Everybody make sure the cops and paramedics know.”
Damon pulled off his comm unit and reached up to turn hers off. “It wasn’t your fault.”
Miley nodded. “I know. Just like you knew about Hank. Let’s get back to the safe house, and we’ll drink a toast to those we lost.” Damon reached for her, and she stepped back. “Damon, please don’t. Let me get back to the safe house, and then, I promise, I’ll fall apart.”
“I don’t need you to fall apart. I want you to be able to and to know I’m right here with you.”
She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “I know. And while I might not be ready to use the ‘L’ word, I want you to know I’m packing up my running shoes for good.”
Miley was pretty sure Damon had to blink back tears of his own. “That’s good to know. Don’t worry about saying it. You will when you’re ready, and I’ll be right beside you when you are.”
They made their way with Liam back to the parked SUV, checked in with Seth, picked up Dusty, and then headed to one of the SUVs.
“You’re sure about the wound. It looks like you lost a lot of blood,” said Miley to Dusty.
“Nowhere near as bad as it looks. Most of the blood got absorbed in my pants so that’s pretty much all there was. That damn spike only grazed me, I was able to dodge the rest of it. Poor Jimmy never had a chance.”
“Any idea how it got tripped?” she asked. Dusty looked away and didn’t answer. “It was Jimmy, wasn’t it?”
“He didn’t see it. It could have happened to any of us,” said Dusty.
Miley put her hand on his shoulder. “Yes, it could have. Jimmy was a good kid. We’ll need to look after his family.”
“Seth let King know. He’s already on it.”
“Liam, you drive, and Dusty, you sit up front where you can stretch that leg out comfortably. Damon and I will be fine in the back.”
Once they were back on the road, Liam, like Brock, made sure they weren’t being followed, and headed south to Folly Beach.
“This isn’t good,” said Miley quietly to Damon.
“No. For all of his various and numerous faults, Franco loved his daughter. He isn’t going to take this easily. It might go better if we get ahead of the newspaper and the cops and let him know what happened. Do you think Seth has video?”
