Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 143382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 717(@200wpm)___ 574(@250wpm)___ 478(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 717(@200wpm)___ 574(@250wpm)___ 478(@300wpm)
God, this was the worst.
“Maybe we can go and get some coffee somewhere while Jess and the men figure things out,” Raye proposed.
Mrs. Johnson definitely didn’t like that proposition.
Mr. Johnson dipped his head to hers and said, “Let’s let them see how Chris is, darlin’.”
Her lip trembled before she got a hold on it, and she told her husband, “Nathan, I want to see my son.”
“I want to see him too, baby. But if there’s even the slightest chance we’re going to make this harder on our boy, harder for them to get him to people who can help him, I want no part in it.”
Mrs. Johnson warred with this.
It took a while.
We all waited that while silently.
Finally, she turned to Raye and nodded.
I was careful not to make it noticeable when I let out a relieved breath.
Raye shot me a look then stepped to the side with a small smile on her face, an offer for them to precede her.
The Johnsons moved, but Mrs. Johnson stopped them when they came abreast of Cap.
“You need to know, we’re proud of him. We’re proud he served his country and did it bravely.”
“Of course,” Cap murmured.
“But we’re also mad as hell,” Mrs. Johnson went on.
“I’m the same for you,” Cap agreed.
“Thank you for going out of your way to—” She stopped, swallowed, then forged ahead. “You didn’t have to.”
“Yes, I did. You know I did. You know if Chris was me, and I was him, Chris would too,” Cap returned.
Oh hell.
That did it.
Tears sprung into her eyes.
Which meant I had to fight the same happening to mine.
Mr. Johnson huddled her close and moved her to Raye.
Raye led them through the camp.
Now Cap was staring into the distance.
I got near and bumped him with my shoulder, so he looked down at me.
“All right?” I asked.
He shook it off, put his arm around my shoulders, shook me too, then he let me go and turned his attention to Eric.
I decided to take that as he was. Or he was as good as he was going to be.
“We need to wait to get input from Scott and Louise, but I’m leaning toward mission. He seems stuck in that mode. I think he’d be wary of any mention of R and R,” Cap remarked.
“Agreed,” Eric said.
I tried to mentally calculate time.
Cap and Raye were the closest to the camp. Both Mace and Roam as well as Scott and Louise were at least twenty minutes more away, and making that worse, it was rush hour.
We headed back to Homer’s tent to wait.
In the meantime, I got a text from Raye that said Scott and Louise told her they were close, and they’d talk to us when they got here.
Mace and Roam showed first. Scott and Louise showed about ten minutes later. And Scott confirmed there was no easy way to do this, and it was anyone’s guess how he’d react. He simply cautioned that if Chris balked, they needed to back off immediately and get a professional opinion on how to reapproach.
The sun was up, the heat was coming on the day, my hat was shoved into my jacket pocket, which was shoved into the Denali, and we’d adjusted the stakeout equipment to the back. All of this by the time Homer and his boys returned with Chris, which was maybe about forty-five minutes after Scott and Louise showed.
Chris looked tired, like he hadn’t slept all night, and perhaps that was what made what happened next go so easily.
Eric and Cap told Chris they were there to transport Chris to a new location. Chris got right into the Denali with them, and they drove away.
Homer took Mace, Roam, Scott, Louise and me to Chris’s stuff, and I called Raye to let her know what was happening so she could tell the Johnsons.
Tex came out, and without looking into any of our eyes, silently helped as we packed Chris’s stuff (it was meagre) and hauled it to the sidewalk outside the camp to see what Mr. and Mrs. Johnson wanted to do with it.
Tex slunk back into the camp, still not having fully looked at any of us.
I was impressed by his commitment to his cover.
When the Johnsons returned, they told us they wanted to take Chris’s things with them.
So we loaded them in their truck. Mr. Johnson handed out handshakes. Mrs. Johnson gave Raye and me hugs, the men handshakes. They took off. Roam and Mace angled into their SUV. Louise gave us hugs and “Proud of you girls,” whispered in our ears.
But before I got in beside Raye in Cap’s kickass Porsche Panamera, I looked to Homer standing outside his tent.
He dipped his chin, lifted a hand to give me a salute, and then he disappeared behind the flaps.
That was his version of “Thank you for seeing to one of our own.”