the laboratory ledger and all that it contained. He'd felt off balance, then and now, knocked from his axis.
That is, until he remembered the centering feel of Corinne's arms wrapped around him. As though sensing his inner struggle now, she lifted her head from the printed Google maps in her lap and glanced over at him. "Is everything all right?"
His confirming nod felt weak to him, transparent. "You've hardly spoken since we left New Orleans. If there is anything you need - "
"No," she said, shaking her head. "If I'm not very talkative, it's just that I'm nervous. I'm scared, I guess. I can't believe we're actually on our way to find him. At last, I am on my way to find Nathan."
She spoke her son's name with reverence and so much hope it tore at him. Hunter was learning to feel many things where Corinne was concerned, but the acid burn of guilt at his deceiving her was a pain almost too much to bear. He cleared his throat and forced himself to spit out the truth. "We can't be sure how good the chances are that your son is actually at the cell Gideon located outside Atlanta. But you and I are heading farther north than that, Corinne. I'm taking you back to Rhode Island, to Andreas and Claire's Darkhaven."
"What are you talking about?" He saw her mouth go slack in his periphery. "What do you mean, we're not going to Atlanta?"
"It would not be a safe situation for you, so once you're secured with Andreas and Claire, I will return alone to investigate. It will be better this way, for everyone concerned."
His veins, courtesy of his blood connection to her now, prickled with the sudden spike of her outrage. "When were you planning to tell me this - before or after you dropped me on the Darkhaven's doorstep?"
"I'm sorry," he said, meaning it completely. "I realize this is not your choice, but aside from ensuring your safety, I also want to spare you any worry or disappointment."
"It's him at that location, Hunter," she implored. "I can feel it in my bones. Nathan is there."
Hunter glanced from the highway stretching out before him, to the beautiful, protective mother who likely would throw herself in front of a hail of wild gunfire, if she thought it would save her son. The thought made him pause, stricken to consider it. "The facts we have to go on are few, Corinne. Logically, for all we know, this intel may lead to another one of Dragos's assassins. Not to your son."
She pivoted on the long bench seat, turning the full force of her anger on him. "By the same logic, for all we know, it is my son."
"All the more reason I don't want you there, Corinne." He blew a low sigh at the glass of the windshield. "If it is him, then it cannot end well."
"How do you know that?" she charged hotly. "You can't possibly be sure of that - "
Another look at her, realizing what he was about to say might destroy everything they'd shared in their short time together. "I do know, Corinne. I have seen how your reunion with your son will play out. The little girl, back at the Order's headquarters - "
"Mira?" She seemed stunned, confused. A frown settled between her fine black brows.
"What does she have to do with anything?"
"There was a vision," he replied. "A vision concerning you and the boy ... and me."
"What?" Corinne stared at him as if he'd just punched her in the stomach. Although she was clearly taken aback, there was an edge of grim understanding in her soft, level voice. "Tell me what's going on, Hunter. Did Mira see something since we've been gone from the compound?"
"No. It was months ago," he admitted. "Long before I met you."
When he glanced at her now, she looked ill to him. A paleness came over her face in the dim light of the truck's dashboard. The accusation in her eyes sliced at him like a blade. "What are you saying? What do you know about Nathan? Do you know whether or not we'll find him?
Did Mira predict how this will end tonight?"
Hunter's answering silence seemed more than she could bear. "Stop this vehicle," she demanded. "Stop it right now."
He eased off the northbound, three-lane highway, gravel crunching under the tires as he slowed on the shoulder of the straightaway. He put the truck into park and turned to face Corinne beside