And yeah, maybe I’d agreed to that plan, but it was still kind of hard for me to like Sophie after that. If Alex was right though, and she’d really taken Mom into protection, then she was officially my new favourite person.

A chilling thought came. “Wait a minute – if Mom and Aunt Jo are okay, who were in the body bags?”

Alex shrugged. “Two women of about the right age? It wouldn’t be hard for the CIA to find a couple of unclaimed bodies; the morgues in New York City must be full of them.”

In a flash I saw again the body bag on the stretcher, slipping as the fireman stumbled. Oh my god. Who had been in it?

“Or maybe the bags had living people in them, just to make them look right for the cameras,” added Alex. “It depends on who was at the scene; whether they were CIA or not.”

“I like that version better,” I said softly.

“Okay. We’ll go with that one, then.” He wrapped his arms around me and I closed my eyes, just drinking in the solid warmth of him. There were no words to explain what I felt for Alex; for how grateful I was that, even with everything that had happened, we somehow still had each other.

Finally I cleared my throat, fingering the damp patch on the collar of his T-shirt. “I got you all wet.”

“Don’t worry, I’m waterproof.” He squeezed my hand. “Come on, we’d better get going. We’ve still got all of New Mexico to get across.”

“No, wait,” I said. “There’s something I want to do first.” And rising up on my tiptoes, I twined my arms around his neck and pressed close against him, kissing him deeply.

I felt his heartbeat leap against mine, and caught my breath as his hands slipped into the back pockets of my jeans, pulling me closer still. The soft-rough heat of his mouth; the feel of his hair as I stroked my fingers through it...I never wanted this to end. But finally, softly, we drew apart.

“Wow,” murmured Alex. He nuzzled at my neck. “What was that for?”

“Well, A, because I wanted to, and B...” I stopped. “B, to say thank you. I don’t know if it would even have occurred to me to search psychically for Mom, after what I saw on TV. I would have spent the rest of my life just...thinking she was gone.” My chest clenched; I couldn’t say any more.

Alex rested his hand on my cheek. His eyes looked darker than usual – a stormy grey that melted me. “We’re a team,” he said quietly. “Always, remember?” Then he grinned. “Hey, do I get to say ‘You’re welcome’ now?”

I managed a casual shrug as my pulse skipped. “You know, I think you should. It’s good to be polite.”