BooksBarbecue
Back Deception Cove Save as PDF
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

“But on the plus side,” she said, “I sure learned how to kill people pretty good over there. And that’s going to come in real handy tomorrow.”

He tried speaking again, and she knew whatever he tried to say would be heartfelt and sweet and utterly useless. She leaned over and kissed him. “Don’t try and fix me, Burke,” she said. “Just try and get some sleep, if you can.”

Fifty-Four

Fifty-Four

Mason and Jess woke in the predawn, when the darkness outside began to fade, and the forest and rocks appeared as vague silhouettes beyond the cave entrance. The rain had stopped falling, but the wind was still blowing, and the ground was wet where they lay inside the cave. Lucy had weaseled her way between them, but she stirred when Mason did, grumbled and moved back toward the rear of the cave again.

Mason propped himself up, looked outside, watched the light grow, inexorable. He heard Jess rustling beside him, and then she sat up too and rested her head on his shoulder.

“Burke?” she said.

He glanced at her.

“I don’t really want to die today,” she said. “Not anymore.”

Now he really looked at her, and she was watching him, and he leaned in and kissed her, took her in his arms and held on to her.

This time was different from the first times, on the troller. This was something more intimate still, like they both of them knew to hold on to this, savor it, before the violence to come.

They moved slowly, wanting it to last, drawing warmth from each other, and strength. The cave seemed to shrink around them, as if time had slowed or even stopped altogether—but of course it hadn’t; the gray daylight seeping into their cave was proof, and soon enough the tides would turn and Kirby Harwood and the others would be here. And anyway, Lucy groaned from the back of the cave, like she couldn’t believe they were going to make her endure this again, and that was enough to break the spell and send Jess into fits of laughter, and Mason had to laugh too, and when the laughter died away, Jess wrapped her arms around him and pulled him deeper into her, her hands on his back, urging him faster, and she laughed again as she came, and then he was coming too, driving down into her and seeing stars behind his closed eyes.

They lay there together for a few minutes, but not very long. It was shortly thereafter they heard the sound of the motor.

*  *  *

Kirby was early. The tide wouldn’t turn for another half hour, but there he was; it had to be him, not too far away now, not if they could hear the motor with the wind blowing like it was.