His mouth dropped open but nothing came. It was just as she’d said. His thoughts were a blank. No contingency plan, no tactical recourse. Slaton sat there shaking his head, stunned to inaction for the first time in his life.

“I just want this to end,” she said. “I know you’ve tried to escape your past, but it hasn’t worked. And now you’re doing just what they want, falling into this trap. The kidon is back—and I’m losing David Slaton.”

“No, Christine. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Yes, you are. I know you are.”

He said nothing.

“When can we just live like everyone else, David? When?”

After a long pause, he said, “Right now.”

Finally her face softened, and for the first time since arriving she looked at him as she last had—on the porch in Virginia with her suitcase in her hand. Having to go but not wanting to leave.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“No, there’s nothing for you to be sorry about.”

“If I didn’t love you like I do…”

He leaned in and kissed her.

She responded, tentatively at first, then becoming more insistent. Slaton pressed back and was met with more. Desperation gave way to relief. Relief brought comfort. And finally—the familiar anticipation. Soon they were holding and fumbling, kissing necks and raking careless hands through one another’s hair.

They’d only been apart for days, but it felt like years. The strain that had been building, cresting like a wave, suddenly expelled in a frantic rush. They half shuffled, half fell onto the bunk. An empty coffee mug got kicked to the floor. Hands went under clothing and shoes thumped to the deck.

And for the briefest of times, the hostile world outside was forgotten.

Chapter 21

TWENTY-ONE

They made love in a frenzy, to the point of exhaustion. Afterward, they went to the galley and indulged their other cravings, putting a far bigger dent in the provisions than they should have.

Then they did it all over again.

Slaton devoured every second, every sensation with an air of desperation, in the way a condemned man takes his last earthly meal. By midnight both were sated, having wasted time and food and energy in the most wondrous of ways. It was what they both needed, and afterward Christine collapsed into a profoundly deep sleep.

The kidon did not.