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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

If she went down this road, she’d be gone again. Checked out and flatlined while that evil still lodged in her chest tore her apart even more. She held Lucy close to her, and the dog squirmed a little bit. Jess didn’t relent. She couldn’t hear the surf anymore, couldn’t feel the wind. Her eyes burned from hot sun and gritty road dust, and she could almost hear the soldiers at the gate calling out their warning to the woman on the road.

In a moment, Jess knew, she would hear the shot.

“Hey.”

Burke reached out and touched her. Gentle but firm, he eased her arms loose from around Lucy’s body, freeing the dog to twist around and lap at Jess’s face with her big, sloppy pink tongue. Jess blinked. She could still feel it in her chest, but Burke’s touch helped, and the dog, too.

“Fuck,” she said.

The valley faded away, but it was still there in her mind. It wouldn’t disappear completely. She knew it.

“Damn it, I’m sorry,” Burke was saying. “This is nothing we need to be talking about right now.”

His voice sounded like water, and she knew she wasn’t entirely back. “It’s okay.”

“No, it isn’t.” He stood, held out his hand. “Come on. Let’s go get that package before it gets too dark to find it. Then maybe we set up for the night. Wind’s picking up.”

“Storm’s coming,” she said. She took his hand, and he pulled her to her feet, and he held her there, tight and close, and she closed her eyes and held on until she could feel the salt spray again, hear the crash of the surf, and she knew the valley was gone again, if only temporarily.

Fifty-Two

Fifty-Two

Mason and Jess worked their way around the edge of the little bay and across the table rocks and the point, and then down to the grassy beach and the shipwreck. It didn’t take long, but by the time they’d returned to the beach and found Lucy again, it was near dark and slate gray and the wind had kicked up something fierce. Sooner or later the rain was going to come back, Mason knew. He didn’t look forward to the night ahead.

He was worried about Jess. She was still quiet as they led Lucy back across the isthmus to where the skiff lay shot up and ruined. She handed Mason the bag of guns, and they divvied up the food and clothes and other supplies they’d stashed, and Jess picked up what was left of the skiff and motioned back toward the forest, toward the cliff that overlooked the dogleg in the pass where Jess intended to set up with the rifle when the deputies came back.