Page 50 of North

“You tracked them here. Through that storm. That takes training. And motivation.” Frank’s eyes narrowed. “So we’re going to have a conversation about exactly what kind of danger your girlfriend is in.”

“Lots, maybe. Or none. I don’t know. I just know she was in that train wreck and is now mixed up with this James fellow.” He left the international-terrorist part out of the story.

“All right. Let’s go.”

“I can’t. I have to keep moving.”

Frank did a poor job of stifling a laugh. “Son, one look at you says that you wouldn’t make it a mile.” He clamped his hand on North’s shoulder. “Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is let someone help you.”

He turned and headed through the soggy yard toward the farmhouse.

Smoke curled from the chimney. Warm light glowed in the windows.

Right. Okay.

North’s knee nearly buckled as he stepped up the stairs. Frank caught his arm, grip strong.

“I’ve got you, son.”

He looked at Frank, not sure what to say.

Inside, little Amy sat at the kitchen table, hugging a teddy bear, her eyes widening as he came in. He caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror by the door.

Oh boy. Yeah, no wonder she’d screamed. He wore mud and sweat and grime and blood on his face, his shirt wrecked, a look of vagrancy about him.

“We’ll get you cleaned up.” This from the woman from the barn.

“My wife, Miriam.”

She stood at the counter, worry etched on her face. She looked like the kind of woman who hugged freely and kept cookies in a jar and wouldn’t let a man bleed on her floor without doing something about it.

“Frank?”

“It’s okay.” Frank guided North to the kitchen table. “He’s too weak to get ornery.”

North gave a wan smile at that.

The house smelled like coffee and cinnamon and safety. And yes, inside, voices screamed at him to keep moving, to find Selah, to stop whatever James had planned. But his body betrayed him, trembling with exhaustion and cold.

The coffeepot burbled on the counter, and Miriam pulled down a mug painted with yellow daisies.

“They came in this morning with my grandkids. My son and his wife were in the train wreck. Had to be life-flighted to Seattle. Your girlfriend took the children under her wing.”

He walked over to Amy and put a hand on her head. “But there was something about James I didn’t like from the beginning. Then I saw the truck.”

“What happened?”

Frank glanced at his wife. She stood at the counter, swallowed, looked away.

Something…

“Amy, why don’t you go upstairs and check on Tommy?”

Her eyes widened, but she slid out of the chair.

Frank watched her go. Turned to North. “I tried to persuade them to stay.”

North arched an eyebrow.