A few moments later, Shane made his way down the trail, a black backpack slung over his shoulder. He stepped into the clearing an instant later. Nova spotted him with her flashlight.
Shane squinted his eyes as he approached. “Get that out of my eyes.”
She dropped the beam to the ground. The light bounced off the sand and reflected a soft glow on the two figures as the last light of dusk faded.
“I was beginning to think you weren’t coming,” Nova said.
“I got hung up.”
Shane slung the backpack from his shoulder and handed it to her. There’s $20,000 in there. It’s not much, but it’s a start. Enough to get out of town and get settled.”
“You trying to buy me off?”
“I’m trying to keep you alive.”
“Why do you care?” Nova asked, looking deep into his eyes. It was easy to see she still felt something for him.
“I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t care. Chad wants you dead. I’m risking my ass doing this.”
“He told you to kill me.”
He didn’t acknowledge the statement. “Just get out of town. Take your mother.”
“What about the house? My job? Her job? It’s not that easy.”
“I’m making it easy for you. That’s what the money’s for.”
“It’s not enough.”
He growled with frustration. “It’s all I’ve got.”
“You’re not really afraid of Chad, are you?” she asked in a tone that challenged his manhood.
“Chad is not the issue. It’s the people he works for.”
“Chadisthe issue. He’s the problem.” Then she added, “He could be taken care of.”
Shane stared at her for a long moment. She was going off script.
“You’re asking me to kill my boss?”
47
"We could go to the cops," Nova said. "You could become a prosecution witness. You could get immunity."
His eyes rounded. "Are you out of your mind?”
"No. I'm not out of my mind. I don't want to spend the rest of my life running. Do you want to spend the rest of your life doing this? How long do you think you’re gonna live doing this kind of thing, working for these kinds of people?”
"Don't even talk like that.”
"Why not? It's a way out," she pleaded with him.
"That's not the kind of way out I want.”
"We’ve got company," Jack muttered, his voice crackling through the speaker in my ear.
It was about that time when Chad stepped into the clearing. He’d come up from the beach. He must have followed Shane, then made his way around. Erickson and Faulkner hadn't seen him.
