needed to remove the fog to find it. With my notebook in hand, I moved closer to the fire to sit on the couch. I studied the satellite photos of the last mission Frank had sent over. With a red marker, I traced North Rock’s position and then traced Blackstone’s in black. Something just didn’t add up. In the past, the cartel had typically crossed their paths, but this time they were coming in directly behind them as if they knew and followed their route.
“How could that be?” I whispered to myself.
“How could what be?” I looked up to find John in the doorway. “May I come in?”
“That depends. Are you going to play nice?”
As he closed the door, he shot a look at Tripper, who was now snuggled down by my feet. He wagged his tail in delight. John stood in place and looked like he wanted to say something.
“Do you want something?”
He tucked his hands in his pockets then quickly removed them to finger comb his hair.
I leaned back in the couch and sipped my wine, waiting for him to speak. When he didn’t, I turned back to my work.
“Years back, my sister was in a car accident. Well, actually, she was hit by a semi. The driver was eighteen hours over his logbook. Her head bounced off the window, severely damaging her temporal lobe. Though she doesn’t remember much of the accident, she remembers everything before it. She just has trouble with everything after it. Damn, I really wanted to hate that driver, I really did, but after I learned who he was and that he had a five-year-old daughter with cystic fibrosis, how could I? After all, he’s really not the one to blame.”
His haunted eyes found mine, and I knew there was a lot more to the story, so I remained quiet, allowing him to find his words.
“My dad’s equipment was getting old. For his birthday that year, I wanted to buy him a weather station to help him predict the barometric pressure. It would help him decide when to harvest the grain. I told Ellie about it. She knew I ordered it, but I got called out on a mission and didn’t have time to pick it up. When the cops were finished with the investigation, they found it among the wreckage. She had gone to pick it up for me.” His shoulders sagged. “It should have been me. I should be the one stuck in time.”
“John—”
“I’ve never told anyone that before.”
“Does it feel better?”
“What?”
“Telling me. Does it make you feel better?”
“I don’t know. I’ve felt this way for so long, it’s hard to recognize any other feeling.”
“Why now? Why tell me this?”
“I don’t know. There’s something about you that makes me want to tell you.”
“That’s a really nice thing to say.”
“I’m leaving.”
I shook my head to keep up with his spinning thoughts. He must have caught my confusion. He glanced at the satellite photos on the table.
“North Rock’s team got separated, and we’re going to make an attempt to locate them. We leave in an hour.”
I felt my chest tighten at the idea of him leaving. I didn’t want him to go, but I knew he had to.
“I think they know ahead of time where you are landing.”
“Impossible.”
“Is it?”
“Yes. I know where you’re going with this. You heard they have one of our radios, but like I’ve said before, we use codes and speak in different languages. It would be impossible for them to decode our messages.”
“Then explain to me why every other time they’ve found you, they’ve come in from the sides, but this time,” I pointed at the photos, “they came in directly behind both your teams’ locations.”
He pulled out the photo I had traced on with the marker and studied it.
“Coincidence.”
“Well, in my line of work, there are no coincidences.”
He turned back to study the photo again, this time a little longer, then he let it drop to the table. He looked at his watch, and I knew his head was already in the mission.
“Tripper,” he addressed his dog, “watch over her for me.” I felt my face blush, so I removed my glasses and stood, not sure where to go with that. He headed for the door, hesitated, but stepped out and closed it. I stood there not moving, mulling over his words. He’d opened up to me and shared a secret no one else knew and was about to leave on a dangerous mission. I felt my legs