Crux (The Aurora Lockette Series) by Miranda Kavi Read Free Book Online Page A

house. “This will work.”
    I leaned sideways so I could see the restaurant through the window. “If you say so.”
    “ We call it a greasy spoon.” A smile flitted across her face, but it was gone in seconds. She was too mired in tragedy to truly laugh, as was I.
    I followed her inside, and we slid into a cheap, scratched-up booth. I stared at the few patrons scattered about the restaurant.
    “ Act normal. You can do this,” she said.
    I flipped open the plastic menu and managed a fake smile while an overweight waitress with heavy eyeliner took our order.
    She returned a moment later to pour our decaf. Mid-pour, I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. My head begged to crane in the direction of the parking lot. Carmen was still fake smiling for the waitress, but I could see the strain around the edge of her lips.
    The waitress finished pouring the coffee and finally left. “Don’t look. They’re in a red minivan out in the parking lot, right behind you.”
    “ Damn,” I said. “What are they doing?”
    “ Watching us. A couple have gotten out. They’re probably seeing if there are more of us.” She dumped a sugar packet into her coffee.
    “ Or they are surrounding us,” I said.
    “ Or that.”
    “ What do we do?” I asked. I wasn’t into the fighter bit.
    “ We eat our waffles.” She cut a big chunk of hers off, dipped it into the whipped butter in the small tin, and then put it in her mouth. “Oh, that is good.” Her words were muffled by the food in her mouth.
    “ You Americans and your love of butter.” Nonetheless, I followed her lead, slicing off a big piece of my waffle and giving it a good soak in syrup. As we ate, the weirdness ebbed and then it was gone.
    She polished off her waffle first, then waited for me to finish mine. “They’re gone,” she whispered.
    “ Good,” I threw the fork down onto my syrupy plate.
    “ That was probably the best thing we could have done,” she said.
    “ What’s that?”
    “ Eat. Neither one of us has eaten since she went missing, and we can’t be of much help to her if we are unable to take care of ourselves.” She pushed her plate to the edge of the table.
    I stared down at my plate. “Is she alive, Carmen? Can you tell?”
    She put a twenty down on the table to cover our meal. “You know the answer to that.”
    She stood, pulling her sweater over her thin shoulders. As we walked to the car together, I stared out into the very dark desert that surrounded us. I could feel her out there. I knew she was alive. She had to be alive.
    The drive back to the safe house was quick, dark and tense. Carmen was resting her elbow on the door of the car, rubbing her temples. I knew she was hurting, and I knew she could sense what I was feeling, too. I fought the crushing pain the best I could. Aurora will be my wife, the mother of my children. It will all still happen. We will be together again.
    Once inside the door, a flurry of activity greeted us. Several men and women were milling about the living room. Dennis had a map spread out on the kitchen table. He jerked his head up when we walked in. “Good timing,” he said. “Glad you guys made it back okay.”
    “ What’s the plan?” I asked him.
    He leaned back to address the crowd of people behind me. “Gather round.”
    They all did, settling into a loose circle around him. I’d seen some of them before on various missions I’d been on with Aurora. The reminder that she was a fighter eased my tension a bit.
    Dennis pointed to a spot on the map where he’d drawn a star in magic marker. “This is the starting point of the dirt road that Gavyn and Carmen found. It dead ends here, about ten miles in.” He made another dot with his marker. “There’s a good chance Aurora and Keith are somewhere in between these two dots.”
    “ What’s out there?” Carmen asked.
    “ We looked at some satellite pictures,” Dennis said. “Several houses, some trailers, and some small commercial