BooksBarbecue
Back Deception Cove
Chapters (78)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. Prologue
  7. One
  8. Two
  9. Three
  10. Four
  11. Five
  12. Six
  13. Seven
  14. Eight
  15. Nine
  16. Ten
  17. Eleven
  18. Twelve
  19. Thirteen
  20. Fourteen
  21. Fifteen
  22. Sixteen
  23. Seventeen
  24. Eighteen
  25. Nineteen
  26. Twenty
  27. Twenty-One
  28. Twenty-Two
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. Thirty-Nine
  46. Forty
  47. Forty-One
  48. Forty-Two
  49. Forty-Three
  50. Forty-Four
  51. Forty-Five
  52. Forty-Six
  53. Forty-Seven
  54. Forty-Eight
  55. Forty-Nine
  56. Fifty
  57. Fifty-One
  58. Fifty-Two
  59. Fifty-Three
  60. Fifty-Four
  61. Fifty-Five
  62. Fifty-Six
  63. Fifty-Seven
  64. Fifty-Eight
  65. Fifty-Nine
  66. Sixty
  67. Sixty-One
  68. Sixty-Two
  69. Sixty-Three
  70. Sixty-Four
  71. Sixty-Five
  72. Sixty-Six
  73. Sixty-Seven
  74. Sixty-Eight
  75. Acknowledgments
  76. Discover More
  77. About the Author
  78. Also by Owen Laukkanen

Afia was dead by the time Jess got to her, facedown in the dirt and the rocks, and Jess barely had a chance to roll her over, faceup, see the damage they’d done close and firsthand, and then her guys were on top of her, dragging her back to the wire, four of them risking their lives to save hers, and Jess fighting like hell every step of the way.

That was Afia, how Jess’s cruel mind remembered her. Facedown in the dirt, bleeding into the dust, abandoned by the Americans she’d worked for and befriended. The Americans for whom she’d given her life.

Fuck this. Jess kicked the sleeping bag away, swung her legs out of the bunk and dropped to the floor of the fo’c’sle. She felt her way to the stairs, not sure yet what she was doing but imagining it was probably a bad idea, and knowing all the same that she couldn’t stay down here in the dark by herself any longer.

Forty-Five

Forty-Five

Lucy stood and stretched as Jess climbed the stairs to the wheelhouse, and then shook herself off, the tags on her collar jangling. Burke sat up and looked at the dog and saw the dog looking at Jess.

“I can’t sleep,” she told him. “I’m going to try and sleep up here, if that’s okay with you.”

She could see how Burke was trying not to stare at her bare legs—she was wearing a long T-shirt over her underwear—and she wondered if he was nervous or just being polite, if he was interested in her or he wasn’t.

And she wondered if she was really interested in him, or if she was simply desperate for human contact, someone to touch and comfort and be afraid with, and she wondered if there was a difference and if it really mattered.

Burke made to stand. “Yeah, okay,” he said, still not really looking at her. “I can sleep down there.”

She shook her head. “What good is that going to do me, Burke?”

Now he had to look at her, and she held his gaze and studied his face, and she realized that she was nervous, too, that this brave and decent man who’d found his way into her life wasn’t desperate for contact the way she was desperate, wasn’t feeling that same intimacy she’d felt on the dock, wouldn’t believe she was someone worth letting down his guard for.

And she was afraid, too, that if he did feel that intimacy, and if they gave in to it, Burke would wind up just like Afia and Ty. But she was more afraid of loneliness now, even though she knew it was the wiser course, and she looked at Burke and waited for him to say something and hoped he would let her into his bed.