might be named Bligh, after the lieutenant who made the crew mutiny on the Bounty.”
They laughed together. Cari leaned up, kissing him swiftly on his mouth. She gripped his upper arms. “I want this every day moving forward, Chase. I love to laugh with you. I love that we are on the same wavelength.”
He kissed her cheek and straightened. “I guess if two people in today’s world have read Mutiny on the Bounty, there’s gotta be something good between them. Ready?”
“Lead on,” she said. “I’m right on your heels.”
* * *
The wash continued to have shorter walls as another hour passed. Chase had stopped and looked to the west, searching for any sign of a building in between the wavering horizontal lines of heat. They were down to four quarts of water left between them. And they were drinking one an hour, the temperature still climbing and in the high eighties now, from his estimate. Cari stood next to him and they both searched the western horizon.
“Wait,” Cari said, excitement rising in her voice. “Look there, Chase.” She pointed to the southwest. “I think I see black blobs . . . are those buildings? I can’t tell. The mirage is really messing up my vision.”
He moved his gaze, looking at where she was pointing. They were standing in what little shade was left on the eastern wall of the wash. “Yes . . . I see something . . .”
“Did they teach you in sniper school to be able to read mirages and heat waves?”
He grunted. “Not exactly.”
“But you see them? There’s like two blobs. They dance around . . . I can’t tell what they are . . . maybe buildings?”
He studied them. “I think you’re right. That appears to be solid. It’s not moving right or left.”
“Then, maybe it’s not a mirage, but a real building?”
He heard the hope rise in her voice. “Yeah, it could be.”
“Is that the right direction?”
Again, he didn’t want to worry her. “It’s in the right direction.” And it was the only thing on the horizon, so he was fervently hoping it was the raptor facility. There wasn’t anything else out here. Cari’s face was getting red. He was sure his was, too, but he was far more acclimated to desert heat than she because of his five years in the Sandbox. Her cheeks were rosy, face glistening with sweat, but those wonderful lips of hers were compressed, and he could see the dogged stubbornness in her expression that she was going to keep up with him, no matter what. He wanted to tell her that she was surprising him. At the ranch, she appeared fey, almost fragile. But when push came to shove, this other side to her, the tough woman warrior who was his equal, came out of nowhere.
He was going to spend the rest of his life uncovering the many layers of Cari, and it was going to be an investigation of pure delight on his part. He had always known she was a complex being, but now, he was seeing the fighter side of her rise to the challenge they were in, and he sure as hell reveled in her backbone, her unstoppable spirit and can-do attitude. In some ways, Cari was just like Hannah, but Cari hid it very well from most people until she needed to call on that reserve.
“You know,” he said, gesturing for her to leave the shade and start the walk again, “you are one tough customer, Cari Taylor. I love the hell out of you for your strength and courage.” He saw her eyes grow light, an impish grin on her face.
“Chase, I have never told you about my global trips, hiking in the Pyrenees, the mountains of Turkey, to reach beekeepers and help them. I did a lot of hiking, sometimes a whole day, to reach an out-of-the-way place where I could consult with the owners who wanted to establish a beekeeping company.” She laughed and shook her head. “We have a lot to talk about and discover about one another, Mr. Bishop.”
Chuckling, he nodded. “Guilty as charged, Ms. Taylor. Let’s hoof it . . .”
Cari pushed herself hard. She’d never hiked twenty miles in her life. Her legs were tired and stressed. The stiffness was certainly gone, but now, her knees were beginning to ache and she was sure it was from the grueling hiking speed under a very hot, unrelenting sun. Chase seemed like a robot, tireless, in comparison. His