All in Time by Ciana Stone

he said in a bitter tone. “Believe me.”
    Sara wasn’t about to argue or to question his bitterness. Everyone had baggage. One day she would want to know all of his. But today all she wanted was to get out of Washington. Morgan wouldn’t be safe here. She wasn’t sure where he would be safe, but she had to do whatever it took to find that place.
    “Then let’s get busy,” she said. “I’ll get the phone book and we’ll start calling.”
    “Ahead of you,” he said and rolled over to lift the phone book from the nightstand.
    “Gotta get my pho—”
    She stopped short when he tossed her phone to her.
    “Mr. Johnny on the spot,” she said with a slight smile. “Okay, rip out some of those pages and hand them over.”
    It took them two hours to find a furniture store that would agree to deliver a sofa the same day. But then Morgan offered an astronomical amount, along with a ludicrous tale about how he’d been smoking a cigar and inadvertently set the couch on fire and now his wife would be home that evening and his life was going to be hell unless he did something fast.
    Sara had a hard time believing anyone would fall for that tale, but a small mom-and-pop furniture store did. They promised to be there by mid-afternoon.
    “So now what?” Sara asked when Morgan finished making the arrangements.
    “Now we wait.”
    “We could get killed waiting. You don’t think that killer’s just going to sit around and wait, do you? He’s going to figure out a way to get to us.”
    “We don’t have a choice, Sara. We have to wait on the truck.”
    “Well, I’m not the world’s best at patience,” she said and started to get up from the bed. He pulled her back down.
    “Then maybe we should keep your mind off the wait,” he suggested.
    Sara’s eyes popped open wide. “You’ve got to be kidding? People are trying to kill you and you want to—”
    “No one’s trying to kill me now,” he interrupted in a teasing tone, pulling her closer.
    “Morgan!” she exclaimed, pushing away from him and turning to get off the bed. “Don’t you realize what’s going on here? Someone wants to kill us! We can’t just act like it’s another normal day.”
    “It’s been hours since the attempt,” he pointed out. “Nothing happened all night and I don’t think there will be another such attempt. Especially not in broad daylight. It would be too risky, too much of a chance of being spotted. Trust me, whoever it is may be watching but they won’t make another move on us until we try to leave.”
    “You can’t know that!”
    “Yes I can.”
    “How? How can you know what that killer is thinking?”
    “Because that’s what I’d do,” he replied. “If I’d attempted an assassination with a high-powered rifle through a window and failed, I wouldn’t try it again. The target would be on the watch for it. Just like we are now with drapes drawn.
    “And I wouldn’t try breaking in on them in a place like this. There’s too much security—guards and cameras. Again, too risky.
    “But what I would do is wait until the target left, and pick them off on the street. In the resulting confusion there would be cover to get away.
    “But, Morgan, just because you have it reasoned out that way doesn’t mean—”
    “Sara,” he whispered. “I know. But it doesn’t matter. Not now. All that matters now is that I want you. I need you, Sara.”
    No other argument would have swayed her as effectively. But her fear kept her rooted in place. Her mind filled with the image of the man in the window, that rifle pointed at their apartment. He could be out there now, waiting for a chance to kill Morgan.
    “Nooooo,” she put her hands to her head. She couldn’t let that happen. They needed time. Time to make their escape. Just a few short hours. If only they could be safe for just a few short hours.
    She lost track of her surroundings, was unaware that Morgan had gotten off the bed and was shouting her name, shaking her. Her