“He stopped crying,” Travis said.
Tara reached out and took Mason from him. Travis immediately sensed our mood.
“What’s up, cap?” he asked. “Lover’s quarrel?”
Tara gave him a look but went to put Mason back in the car seat.
“Change of plans,” I said. “We have to go back to Dayton.”
He arched an eyebrow. “You know I’d follow you anywhere, cap, but I think you need to explain this one to me.”
And so I did. I told him about the card, about how this whole thing had felt wrong from the start. As I spoke, he began to nod along.
“Okay,” he said. “Let’s make moves then.”
He got into his car and I leaned down against his window. “Listen, stay close. I don’t think anyone is after us right now.”
“I think you’re right. I haven’t seen a peep since we left Indianapolis.”
“Try and get in touch with Coop. We’ll regroup when we’re in Dayton.”
“Roger that.” He pulled out and I walked back over to my stolen car.
Tara was sitting in the back with Mason, giving him another dose of antibiotics. I climbed in and started the engine.
“You ready for this?” I asked her.
“Absolutely,” she said, her face serious.
“Let’s go.”
I floored it, pulled back on the highway, and headed back into the fire.
25
Tara
I woke up in the back seat of the car, my head draped down toward Mason. He was sleeping too, his little chest rising and falling peacefully.
It was mid-afternoon and we were still driving, though I recognized most of the signs. We were getting closer to Dayton, getting closer to the terrorists who wanted to hurt us.
But now they weren’t the terrorists who were after me. They were after my parents, and they wanted to do something horrible that could end up hurting a lot of people.
I wasn’t going to let them do that, of course.
I was done wanting to run away. I needed to protect Mason, but I was finished being too afraid. Everything had happened so quickly, so intensely, and it took me so long to really process it all. At the end of the day, though, I wasn’t going to back down.
And that was all because of Emory. He gave me strength. He made me feel something more than just fear. Before him, I was just living my life, going through the motions, but he made me see that there could be so much more than just existing. The things Emory did and could do, he was important, he was strong. I wanted to be more like him, but I also wanted to be near him.
“You awake?”
I glanced up and saw Emory looking at me in the rearview mirror.
“Yeah,” I said. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
“No problem. You needed rest.”
“How close are we?”
“Not far. We’re stopping soon, getting ourselves set up.”
“What’s the plan from here?”
“Well, that’s what I wanted to talk about.”
I yawned and stretched. “Okay, I’m listening.”
“I want you to go stay with a friend.”
“What?”
“I don’t think you’re in any more danger,” he said. “Omar and his people are likely with your parents or at least getting ready to try something. If we’re not too late, we’ll be able to stop them and help, but I can’t be worried about you, too.”
“No,” I said, surprising myself with how seriously I said it. “No way am I sitting on the sidelines.”
“Do you have somewhere you can stay?” he asked me, pressing.
“My friend Lindy would let me stay with her, but Emory, I’m not backing down.”
He grinned at me. “Look at you, princess, growing a backbone.”
“Shut up, asshole,” I said.
He laughed. “God you’re so fucking sexy when you talk dirty.”
“I’m not messing around. I can’t just give up on this.”
“Do you have some secret training I don’t know about?”
I clenched my jaw, annoyed. “No.”
“Then you can’t help. I’m sorry, but it’s the truth.”
He was so patronizing. It was driving me insane. “I know my parents,” I said. “I know the area too. I can help.”
“No,” he said again. “It’s not happening. You’re just too much of a distraction for me.”
“That’s not my fault.”
“It is your fault,” he said. “It’s that fucking body, that pussy, the way you look at me like you can’t wait to feel me fucking you again soon.”
“Emory,” I said, ignoring him, “I’m not getting left behind.”
He drove on in silence and finally let out a sigh. “Mason then. We have to at least leave him out of this.”
“No,” I said quickly. “I’m not separating myself from him.”
“I can’t do this with an infant to watch, Tara. You have to understand that.”
“I’ll watch him.”
“Then I’ll have to watch you, too.”
“I can’t leave him,” I said. “I just can’t. I have to make sure he’s safe.”
“I wouldn’t suggest this if I didn’t think it was safe.”
“You thought my parents would be safe too, didn’t you?”
I regretted that as soon as I said it. His eyes narrowed and he looked out over the road, not saying anything for a bit.
“Mason is my son,” he said finally. “I’m not taking chances with his life or with yours. You have a choice: You either stay at Lindy’s with Mason, or you leave Mason and come with me.”
He said it so simply, but I could tell that there was an angry edge underneath his words. I knew that he wasn’t going to let me do exactly what I wanted and that fighting him was going to be useless. It pissed me off, and I wanted to struggle, but that wouldn’t get me anywhere.
Emory had made up his mind, and he wasn’t the type of man to change it easily.
“Fine,” I said finally. “I’ll leave Mason with Lindy.”
“Okay.” He turned back toward driving.
I wanted to scream at him in that moment. I felt like he was forcing me to tear off my own arm, but I also understood why he needed this from me. If I was going to insist on coming along when he didn’t want me to, I was going to have to prove that I could follow directions.
And besides, he was right. We couldn’t be worried about Mason while finding and fighting terrorists. Leaving Mason with someone, even Lindy, sounded pretty damn horrible to me, but I couldn’t argue with his logic.
We continued driving in silence. I wanted to pick up Mason and hold him, but I also knew I should let him sleep. He needed it, especially with the ear infection. The antibiotics seemed to be working already, and he was taking the medicine pretty easily, but I didn’t want to mess with that.
I looked out the window, my stomach a knot of worry. But I was determined to stick this through, to help Emory, to save my parents.
I wasn’t backing down, not from this, not ever.