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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

“I’ll think on it,” he said. He waved goodbye, and then he stepped onto the bus and handed over his ticket, walked up the aisle and found a place to sit down. Looked out the window to see Jess turning to leave, trying to pull the dog along behind her.

Lucy didn’t want to go, though. She stayed staring at the bus no matter how Jess pulled at her, staring and wagging that tail, until the bus driver shifted into gear and pulled out of the lot, and even then that dog was still waiting.

Sixty-Eight

Sixty-Eight

It wasn’t going to end like that. Of course it wasn’t.

As soon as that bus started moving, Mason Burke realized he’d made about the dumbest mistake of his life, realized he’d gotten caught up in some bullshit self-pity, telling himself Jess was better off without him.

He was trying to escape Makah County because he was scared, like she’d said. Because he was worried he’d never be the man in real life that she’d seen on that island, the man who’d fought beside her when no one else would.

He was afraid that he wasn’t much to be proud of when there wasn’t a war to be fought, that when it came to normal life, buying groceries together, cooking dinner, going on dates, she’d see right away he was still something less than a man. She’d realize her mistake and curse her shit luck all over again.

He was afraid she would figure out he had nothing to offer, nothing except strength and a bullheaded stubbornness that worked fine in a street fight but meant nothing at all when it came to balancing a checkbook and remembering anniversaries.

He was afraid he would disappoint her, and he wasn’t sure he could stand taking the risk.

Easier to escape. Get on a bus and ride two thousand miles and take a job cleaning houses, live in Maggie’s basement. Pay Glen back his money and gradually build a life, maybe rent an apartment, buy a used truck. Work an honest day, and come home and eat dinner, watch a hockey game, drink a beer. Shovel snow in the winter, try to forget the rain.

Keep to himself, keep his eyes down. Avoid looking at people, avoid conversation. Stay out of trouble, and just try to survive.

He’d done it fifteen years. He could do it some more.

That was his thinking, and he played with those thoughts as the bus trundled east, ran his mind over them like how you run your tongue over a sore tooth, testing the pain, playing with it, trying how it feels.