Page 22 of Stolen Salvation

“Yes, it’s through that door on the right. I’ll meet you both back in my office.”

They watched Dr Joseph walk away before Noah pulled her into the disabled toilet and closed the door. “Are you alright?”

Charlie nodded but didn’t answer him.

“Damn it, I should never have put you in this position. It’s too much.”

Her hand reached for his arm, and he paused, his eyes on her, his breath coming fast. “No, it was harder than I thought, but I’m okay.”

“How can you say that? I know you, Charlie.”

He did know her, and she knew him, which was why she knew this was as hard for him as it was for her. “Do you think about him?”

Her question seemed to catch him off guard, but he dropped his head nodding slowly. “Every single day.”

“Me too.”

The admission was torn from her throat and his hands came up to cup her shoulders. His eyes closed in pain as she buried her face in his chest. “I’m so damn sorry, Charl.”

“It wasn’t your fault. It was mine.”

“No, baby, it wasn’t. I should have been there for you.”

“You were, Noah. You would’ve been the best dad.”

“Baby.” His voice was laced with anguish.

He held her while she cried, her hand placed over his rapidly beating heart. “Let’s get out of here and find a new plan. I can’t bear to watch you in pain like this.”

“No, let’s do what we came to do. Drop the bugs and find the security room.”

His hands rubbed her shoulders as they stood in each other’s arms. “You sure?”

“Yeah, let’s do this.”

He studied her for a moment and then nodded. “Okay, baby. Let’s go.”

The light kiss he dropped on her lips was oh so familiar and so natural that she wasn’t even sure Noah was aware he’d done it. Or that he was calling her baby again as he had when they were married. Today had been brutal, so much harder than she’d thought but she’d gotten through it because of Noah. Because he’d been there every step of the way just like he’d always been. She’d just been too broken and guilt-ridden to see it before.

Chapter 9

“Was that true in there, what you said about a baby?”

Bishop was sitting outside the Mountain Rescue Centre in a deck chair smoking a cigar. The drive home from Leeds had been quiet for him and Charlie, as they tried to process the feelings the visit brought up. About an hour in, Charlie had fallen asleep, exhaustion forcing her body into slumber.

He cocked his head at Hurricane who blew smoke rings into the cooling night air. It was only the two of them who indulged in this ritual and for him, it traced back to his adoptive father who’d only ever smoked the occasional cigar. The sweet smell was a memory he’d needed tonight after the gut-wrenching day they’d had.

True to her word, Charlie had pulled strength from somewhere and they’d managed to plant the bugs and drop a device in the security room that would help Watchdog access the systems undetected without anyone getting caught.

He looked across the vista, seeing lights in the far distance but not hearing a sound, the peace and tranquillity of these mountains a balm to his bruised soul. “Yes.”

“I’m sorry. I had no idea.”

“No reason you should. I don’t talk about it.”

“I get that. Some things are just too hard, right?”

Bishop looked across at his friend who so often hid behind laughter and jokes, the same way he did and recognised a similar pain in him. “You lost someone?”