getting a vehicle and moving south again.”
Stella didn’t ask how Cole planned on procuring a vehicle. Maybe he would pay cash for one at a car lot, or buy one for sale in someone’s yard. But it seemed more likely that he would steal one. Or maybe even carjack one, like he’d done to her and David.
If they could make it to the motel without the police stopping them, maybe they would have a few hours to rest, clean up, eat, and make some plans. But they couldn’t wait too long. The police were going to ramp up their search in the next few hours when they got to the burnt cabin and saw the dead bodies inside of it.
And they couldn’t forget about the Ancient Enemy chasing them.
No, they could never forget about that.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Outside Cody’s Pass, Colorado
S omething woke Nora up out of a sound sleep this morning, something that she could’ve sworn sounded like some kind of explosion. It was far enough away to sound like a muffled thump in the distance, but she felt the explosion rumbling through her house, along the floor, rattling the old bones of her home. She got up and wrapped herself in her heavy robe and slipped her socked feet into her favorite slippers.
She’d always been an early riser so she would’ve normally been awake an hour later anyway. It was almost dawn and the sky was beginning to lighten up in the east. She walked through her house, turning on a few lights on the way, still trying to be quiet because her teenage son and daughter were probably still sleeping. She walked through the kitchen to the sliding glass doors that led out onto the wraparound wooden deck outside the house.
Nora looked out the sliding glass doors and saw the smoke rising up over the trees towards the northeastern end of her property. The smoke was black, but she could still make it out against the dark sky that was rapidly lightening with the rising sun.
“What are you looking at?”
Nora jumped and turned around. Her daughter Nicole stood right behind her. She was dressed in wool PJs and her hair was messed up from sleep.
“I heard something,” Nora told her. “I was just checking to see what it was.”
“I heard it, too,” Nicole said, knuckling sleep from one eye. She was fifteen years old but Nora still thought of her as her little girl. “What was it?”
“I don’t know, but there’s something on fire a few miles away.”
Nicole moved closer to look out the sliding glass doors, getting close to the cold glass so she could see the smoke in the sky just out of the edge of her vision.
Nora hadn’t been sleeping too well these last few nights, not with news that dangerous criminals were still on the loose—the bank robbers who had killed poor old Jed.
Poor Jed. She hadn’t been great friends with the old man, but her husband had known him. And now both Jed and her husband were gone.
She thought of her husband, dead six months now. But at least she didn’t live here alone—she still had her children with her. She had Nicole, and she still had Travis, her son, who was nineteen years old now. He hadn’t gone into the military or off to college, he seemed content to work part-time at the Olsen’s farm. He didn’t really seem like he knew what he wanted to do with his life and she wasn’t going to push him. Travis wasn’t like Nicole who already had her life mapped out. She made straight A’s in school (another difference between her and Travis), and she wanted to get a scholarship to go to a good college. She wanted to be a psychiatrist.
Nora was proud of her daughter. But she was proud of Travis, too. She was sure he would find his way in life soon enough. She was in no hurry for Travis to leave. Now that her husband was gone, it was comforting having a man in the house still. She loved having her son around. She felt safer with him here. She knew the day would come when he would leave, and the day would come when Nicole went off to college. It wouldn’t be fair to hold either one
Stella didn’t ask how Cole planned on procuring a vehicle. Maybe he would pay cash for one at a car lot, or buy one for sale in someone’s yard. But it seemed more likely that he would steal one. Or maybe even carjack one, like he’d done to her and David.
If they could make it to the motel without the police stopping them, maybe they would have a few hours to rest, clean up, eat, and make some plans. But they couldn’t wait too long. The police were going to ramp up their search in the next few hours when they got to the burnt cabin and saw the dead bodies inside of it.
And they couldn’t forget about the Ancient Enemy chasing them.
No, they could never forget about that.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Outside Cody’s Pass, Colorado
S omething woke Nora up out of a sound sleep this morning, something that she could’ve sworn sounded like some kind of explosion. It was far enough away to sound like a muffled thump in the distance, but she felt the explosion rumbling through her house, along the floor, rattling the old bones of her home. She got up and wrapped herself in her heavy robe and slipped her socked feet into her favorite slippers.
She’d always been an early riser so she would’ve normally been awake an hour later anyway. It was almost dawn and the sky was beginning to lighten up in the east. She walked through her house, turning on a few lights on the way, still trying to be quiet because her teenage son and daughter were probably still sleeping. She walked through the kitchen to the sliding glass doors that led out onto the wraparound wooden deck outside the house.
Nora looked out the sliding glass doors and saw the smoke rising up over the trees towards the northeastern end of her property. The smoke was black, but she could still make it out against the dark sky that was rapidly lightening with the rising sun.
“What are you looking at?”
Nora jumped and turned around. Her daughter Nicole stood right behind her. She was dressed in wool PJs and her hair was messed up from sleep.
“I heard something,” Nora told her. “I was just checking to see what it was.”
“I heard it, too,” Nicole said, knuckling sleep from one eye. She was fifteen years old but Nora still thought of her as her little girl. “What was it?”
“I don’t know, but there’s something on fire a few miles away.”
Nicole moved closer to look out the sliding glass doors, getting close to the cold glass so she could see the smoke in the sky just out of the edge of her vision.
Nora hadn’t been sleeping too well these last few nights, not with news that dangerous criminals were still on the loose—the bank robbers who had killed poor old Jed.
Poor Jed. She hadn’t been great friends with the old man, but her husband had known him. And now both Jed and her husband were gone.
She thought of her husband, dead six months now. But at least she didn’t live here alone—she still had her children with her. She had Nicole, and she still had Travis, her son, who was nineteen years old now. He hadn’t gone into the military or off to college, he seemed content to work part-time at the Olsen’s farm. He didn’t really seem like he knew what he wanted to do with his life and she wasn’t going to push him. Travis wasn’t like Nicole who already had her life mapped out. She made straight A’s in school (another difference between her and Travis), and she wanted to get a scholarship to go to a good college. She wanted to be a psychiatrist.
Nora was proud of her daughter. But she was proud of Travis, too. She was sure he would find his way in life soon enough. She was in no hurry for Travis to leave. Now that her husband was gone, it was comforting having a man in the house still. She loved having her son around. She felt safer with him here. She knew the day would come when he would leave, and the day would come when Nicole went off to college. It wouldn’t be fair to hold either one
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