Chapter 639 Chapter 639
“The window down really helps.”
He glanced at her to see she was smiling at him. The window down may have helped her not feel carsick, but all it was doing for him was blowing her scent in his face constantly. He cleared his throat. “See any you recognize yet?” She had the laptop on her legs and had been scrolling through pictures of people. Not watching the landscape move outside the SUV also helped her feel less ill.
She shook her head. “None so far.” She held the laptop still on her legs. “This is neat though.”
He remembered he was driving and looked back at the road. “What is?”
“That this is a computer. The last one I saw, I couldn’t have balanced on my lap.”
He shrugged. “Yeah, technology has come far since you left.”
“How much longer are we going before we stop?”
Jerking his head, he looked at her, “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “Yes. I’m not used to just sitting.”
Asher snorted. “You get used to that. Driving is what I do.”
“You must have seen a lot.”
He checked the mirrors and then shifted in the seat, “a fair bit.” His phone ringing had him stiffen. He hit the answer button. “Yeah?”
“Asher, it’s Calum.”
“Hi.”
“How are you doing?”
Asher shrugged, “good. We’ll be out of province by dark, and I plan to drive through as much as I can and try to get to the next border before dawn.”
“Good. How’s Journee?”
He looked at her to see her staring at the phone. “We went shopping, and now she’s looking at the photos.”
“Recognize anyone?”
“Not yet.” He looked at her again, she was still looking at the phone. “Everyone else get where they were headed?”
“Most have. Others had a bit further to go.”
Asher nodded. “When do things start?” He hadn’t been in on any of the ops planning, so he had no idea who was where and how many teams were in play.
“Just before dawn. We’ll need you near a screen to see if Journee recognizes anyone.”
Asher blew out a breath. “Any big dogs in sight this round?”
“A few we believe.” He could hear other voices in the background.
Asher wasn’t sure how to ask about the king. “Has anyone heard from…”
“No.” More talking in the background. “I just thought I’d touch base with you and see how it was going. I need to go now.”
“Okay. Best of luck to all.” Asher sucked in a breath, feeling the tension that usually went with the ops.
“Call if anyone looks familiar.”
“We will.” The line went quiet.
“Do you think they’ll find the king?” She sounded worried.
“I’m sure they will.” He chanced a quick glance at her, she looked like she wanted to cry. Checking where they were, he had a pretty good idea. “How do you feel about ice cream?” Anything to distract her. Tears he didn’t do.
“Ice cream?” She sounded less upset now.
“Yeah. There’s a place not far from here, I thought we’d grab some to go.”
“I would love ice cream.”
The whole situation of her life pissed him off, but his gut actually ached for her when he thought of all the things she’d missed out on. Something as simple as fast food and junk food—even he had taken the time for those after that day. “All right, cone, sundae, or sandwich?”
“I don’t know.”
He looked to see her eyes were wide.
“Any?” She smiled at him.
His cat was mentally nudging him every thirty seconds for the last hour, and it was starting to really grate on his nerves. “After that, maybe we’ll find a quiet spot to go for a run.”
“Is it safe to do that?”
That automatically had him looking in mirrors again. “Yeah. It is.” As he said the words, his mind went in the opposite direction. It was his job to keep her safe and find the island. There was no room for failure. He gripped the steering wheel tighter. He understood why it was easier for the two of them to travel, but having someone along that was used to looking over their shoulder and protecting others wouldn’t have been all bad. Other than it would have likely been one of the men, and his cat wanted no part of that. He glanced at her to see she was again going through pictures on the laptop.
The phone ringing startled him. He quickly answered it and put it on speaker.
“Asher.”
It was Jesse. “Hi.”
“Just wanted to check in before we get busy here.”
That meant he was at the safe house location, and they were getting ready to go in places. “We’re making decent time.”
“Illias says even with everything going on, you’re to message him an hour before you’re due to hit any borders.”
Asher nodded. “Will do.”
“When do you think you’ll reach that location the rogue identified?”
He’d gone over the maps about six times before they left. “If I don’t have to change routes, four days, maybe five if the roads are bad.”
“Okay. That’s good. I’m going to need Deva and Taggart to fill in on one of the teams. One of the ladies is going to be out for a few days.”
Asher knew that was Jesse’s way of saying one of the women had hit their cycle. “We won’t need the others until we figure out the next area.”
“That’s what I thought.”
He looked to see Journee looking at the phone, “I’m going to try for two more days before we stop at a motel for showers and a place to stretch out.”
“Don’t push it too far.” Jesse hissed, “I want you to get to that location yesterday, but I also don’t want you exhausted and doing something sloppy.”
Asher looked hard at the phone. “I know to stop before I start seeing things.”
Jesse chuckled. “I know, but all of us push it further than we should.”
“Driving is what we do, boss.” Asher grinned; Jesse hated being called boss.
“It is, but our jobs are much more than they used to be.” Someone spoke in the background, “Evanna wants to know how Journee is doing.”
Asher looked at her and nodded, so she would speak.
“I’m—” she leaned toward the phone, “I’m doing good, thank you. We went shopping, and we’re going to get ice cream soon.” She smiled.
“Ah, good to hear.” There were more voices, “Evanna says to tell Asher to stop and get licorice and fudge cookies.” Jesse sounded amused.
“Oh—” Journee looked at him, and he shrugged, “Okay, we will do that.”
“Okay, guys, we’ve got to get some planning done. Drive safe.”
Asher nodded. “Someone let me know when things are going down so I can stop and have a connection.”
“Absolutely. Take care.” The line went quiet.
“It makes me nervous.”
He checked the mirrors before turning to her. “What?” Her eyes were huge with fear.
“Knowing what they are going to do.”
He relaxed a bit. “They know what they’re doing. It will be fine.” He could say that his stomach tightened, but he also worried about all of them. Tomas had to be better prepared by now. He knew they were coming. He stared at the road in front of them, maybe this task was the better one. He reached down beside his seat and touched the leather case the rifle was in. Might not be a bad idea to check the area with the scope when they did stop. He glanced at her. She looked terrified. “I think I miss Furball.” He hoped that distracted her.
Her expression relaxed. “I do too.” Smiling, she looked at the laptop and then reached over and grabbed his arm. “Asher, I just remembered something.”
He looked to see her eyes were huge. “What?”
“That day.” She swallowed and then squinted and looked down. “There were two wolves.”
“That’s not surprising.” He’d only seen one.
“The man told one of them to get back to their clan before anyone noticed they were missing.”
He barely glanced in the mirror before he slammed on the brakes. “You’re sure?” She was nodding. “Okay.” He grabbed his phone and tapped the screen. He needed to tell Jesse this. Opening his contacts, he scrolled. “If it was one of the clans close to theirs, they had a traitor no one knew about.” He froze and looked at her. “The nearest wolf clan is Shepard Addison’s. It’s a huge clan.”
She put her hand over her mouth. “That could be how they got him.”
“Shit. Shit. Shit.” He hit send to call his boss. Someone from Shepard Addison’s clan was responsible for his family’s deaths.