“The only thing that meant for either of us was a pleasant day away from the Run. But why take you there? And why at this particular time?”

“I made a promise. Ask her.”

Caleb’s lips tightened. “I will. Count on it. Tomorrow.”

“Then am I off the hook?”

“For the time being. Go to sleep.” He was looking into the fire again. “Dawn will come soon enough.”

*  *  *

Jane hung up the phone and sat there gazing into the darkness. That talk with Rodland had been both upsetting and oddly bracing. She had needed to know what she had to face, as well as what she had to make right. The cost of Bohdan’s attack had been staggering and it must be paid. She just had to figure out how.

She wearily rubbed her temple, then spread the blanket she’d taken from Nojer’s camp before the fire and curled up for the night. It had been an exhausting two days; she needed to rest and try to prepare for what waited tomorrow.

She had known she would have trouble explaining to Caleb why she had gone on the run instead of letting him talk to her. Everything had seemed to bombard her after she had witnessed the deaths caused by those drones; her guilt had seemed enormous. It had brought home to her all the depths of terror she’d been experiencing about losing Caleb. But she’d known he was so damn persuasive, and it would have been like arguing with herself if she hadn’t made the choice to run. She knew he only wanted to protect her, and she desperately wanted to stay with him. But how could she allow herself to do that as long as she was the bait that might kill him? She had to rely on herself. She had to stay as far away from him as possible until one of them managed to take Bohdan down.

Caleb had said dawn, but she had to be ready for him before that. She had already started when she’d first arrived here in the hills after settling Jocko. She had taken the time to look over this section of the Highlands before dark and refreshed her memory of the time she’d spent here. Now it was only left to rise early so that she’d be ahead of the game.

Only it wasn’t a game. She and Caleb had played games before in these hills. Wild, passionate games that had seemed to have no beginning and no end. This was something entirely different and she wasn’t sure that she could make Caleb understand that the rules were different now.

Because God knows she didn’t want to live without him.

*  *  *

Next Day
2:15 P.M.