Dangerous Minds (Knight and Moon #2)(31)

“You taste like whiskey,” Emerson said. “I could use more.”

“Whiskey?”

“Yes. That too.”

“I don’t think I have any more whiskey.”

“Well, then,” he said. And he leaned in for another kiss.

“I hate to be a party pooper,” Riley said, “but I keep going back to the part about us getting locked up and the authorities throwing the key away.”

“It’s very simple,” Emerson said. “We need to uncover the secret being hidden at Sour Creek Dome and expose it to the world. Without a secret to protect, Tin Man and the Rough Riders’ usefulness to the U.S. government will come to an end. I suspect they’ll become more of a liability than an asset.”

“What if it truly is a matter of national security?” Riley said. “What if we’d be endangering people if we went public?”

Emerson nodded. “I thought of that, too. I’m certain that back in 1903, it was part of a noble plan to protect the American people from something really terrible, but I’m equally certain that the plan has been corrupted over the years.”

Vernon rapped on the driver’s side window. He was carrying two large North Face backpacks. Wayan Bagus was standing next to him, holding a third pack and his little duffel.

“We might have a problem,” Vernon said. “The Park Police just showed up. I saw them in the lobby talking to the front desk, so we skedaddled out the back door.”

Vernon pitched the backpacks into the back of the SUV and climbed in after them with Wayan Bagus. Riley put the Tahoe in gear and drove out of the lot. She breathed a sigh of relief as she pulled onto the Grand Loop Road, and the inn receded into the night.

Fifteen minutes later, Riley arrived at the intersection of the Grand Loop Road and Yellowstone Lake. To the right was the South Entrance. To the north, Canyon Village.

“We’re literally at a crossroads,” Emerson said. “We can go north to Sour Creek Dome, or south out of the park and back to our plane waiting for us in Jackson Hole.”

“I’m not even sure we’re going to be able to get out of here at this point,” Riley said. “There are only four entrances to the park, and they could have roadblocks set up for us at each.”

Emerson nodded. “There’s risk in either choice, but I’ve never lived my life making decisions based on risk. Innocent people are being killed. I have to see this through, but everyone else here needs to decide for themselves whether they’re in or out.”

“Mostly, I’m sort of the kind of guy who prefers to be in,” Vernon said from the other side of the police partition.

“It is fortunate that you know so very little,” Wayan Bagus said to Vernon. “A man who does not know fear cannot die, because death has no place to enter.”

Vernon grinned. “Well, I appreciate that, Little Buddy.”

“The universe put me in the middle of this mystery, and I believe it is my Tao to follow it to its conclusion,” Wayan Bagus said. “I’m in.”

Riley didn’t see where there was much of a choice. Even if she went home to Texas and led the life of a recluse, she suspected she would be hunted down and eliminated. These people were serious about guarding their secret, and she was in the uncomfortable position of knowing too much and not knowing enough. And, most important, her daddy wouldn’t be happy with her if she didn’t see this through.

“I’m in,” Riley said.

“Well, this sure is a nice moment,” Vernon said. “In the movies, they’d hug it out.”

Wayan Bagus looked at Vernon. “Like in Frozen when Elsa and Anna hug at the end because of true love?”

“No. Yuck. What the heck are you talking about? That’s girlie hugging stuff,” Vernon said. “There’s only two kinds of movie hugs that aren’t totally lame. The first is a Rocky III hug. You know, when Apollo and Rocky hug because Rocky finally gets his confidence back and they know he’s gonna kick Mr. T’s ass.”

“I know nothing of these people,” Wayan Bagus said, “but I understand the concept.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask about the second kind of hug,” Riley said.

“A Godfather hug,” Vernon said. “You know the kind of hug somebody totally boss, like Al Pacino, gives someone really annoying, like Fredo, just before he kills them.”

“I will reflect seriously on the matter,” Wayan Bagus said.

Riley thought it was unclear which type of hug Wayan Bagus was considering giving Vernon.

While all the hugging talk was going on Emerson had reached over and placed his hand on Riley’s. She thought it might have been just a gesture of camaraderie, but it felt warm and intimate. Whatever it meant, Riley liked it. She left her hand under his for a few seconds, then withdrew it and turned the steering wheel. The Tahoe veered left toward Canyon Village.

“I guess we should find somewhere to hide for the night,” Riley said.

“There’s a campground near Fishing Bridge at the northern part of the lake,” Emerson said. “We’ll hide the SUV there and start off into the backcountry at first light.”

It was dawn when Riley got out of the Tahoe and stretched, glad to exchange the stale air and cramped sleeping arrangements for the fresh smell of conifer trees. They were at the bottom of a gulch and about a mile from the campground. Emerson and Vernon were laboring to camouflage the car with branches and leaves.