The fact that Jacob wasn’t leaving yet did make her reasoning a bit weak, but it was better than admitting to herself that she didn’t want to leave until Luke did.
Zane and Gil had cars arriving in six minutes. Tessa in eight. Luke held his phone in the air to show her the app. “Twelve minutes. It’s like my luck at the grocery store. I’m always in the longest line.”
None of them had much to say. What could they say? “Hey, I hope you don’t die tonight?” It was true, but it didn’t instill hope into the situation.
When Luke was the last one waiting, he and Jacob checked Jacob’s and Faith’s cars for explosives. “I’m going to dream about that stupid bomb,” Luke told her as he walked around her trunk.
Faith didn’t think he was joking, and she wished she could do something to make it better. She had never been personally targeted. At least, not that she knew of. What would it be like to be staring at a bomb and knowing your only choice was to run into the open, dragging your friend, risking being killed by the concussive force of the bomb or the debris that rained down after it but knowing you were also risking being shot? It was a no-win situation.
But Luke had won.
Faith didn’t know if she would be so lucky.
31
LUKE’S DRIVERpulled into the circular portion of the parking lot and waited. Faith’s car was clear. Jacob’s car was clear.
It was time to go, but he couldn’t make himself leave Faith. He wanted to be sure she was okay. She didn’t need him to, but he wanted to. He couldn’t invite himself to her house for the night, but there was another option. “Come with us.” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. “Stay at the hotel. Lots of security there. You’ll sleep great.”
“I’ll sleep great in my own bed.”
He knew he’d lost the battle. She was determined, and there was no point in making her as paranoid as he was. “Will you text me when you get home?” He tried to speak in a casual way, as if her answer didn’t matter to him one way or the other. He failed. There was a hint of desperation in his voice, and he knew she’d picked up on it when she frowned and cocked her head to one side.
“Worried about me?” Her voice was light and friendly, but her eyes told a different story. If she kept looking at him that way, he was going to be in big trouble.
“Yes.” There was no point in lying. “I know now isn’t the time...”
Their eyes caught. Held. Had she moved closer to him?
“Luke...”
“Okay, see, that, right there. If you keep saying my name like that, then I’m going to—” He caught himself.
Her eyes widened in surprise but not anger. What was happening? Were they making up? Was she messing with him? He had no idea.
The driver honked the horn, and Faith waved Luke away. “Go. Text me when you get to where you’re going.”
He winked. “Yes, ma’am.”
Three minutes later, he sent a text.
I’m in the car. I will get where I’m going before you do. Why don’t you call me in about ten minutes?
Her response was a bit too immediate for his taste. He wasn’t doing anything reckless. She, however, shouldn’t be texting and driving. It was dangerous.
Sure.
At least it was just one word. She might have voice-to-text. Or she might have been at a red light.
Or he might be losing his mind stressing over whether Faith was texting while driving. What had happened to him? He wasn’t a schoolboy hoping his crush would smile at him at lunch.
He was a federal agent.
So was she.
They were grown-ups doing grown-up work in a grown-up world. They knew how evil the world was, and they didn’t hide from it. They ran straight for it. And notions of love and meetingsomeone who could make you rethink your entire life plan were ridiculous.
He wasn’t that guy. He should think about the case. David Lee. The dead bomb maker in Seattle. The dead guy in the Raleigh boardinghouse. They were connected. They had to be. And they were. To Mi Cha.
