From Darkness (Hearts & Arrows Book 3)(95)

“You just need to tell Ares how you feel about everything. He’ll listen if he thinks it will get him back in your good graces. Just wing it. I’m sure you’ll know what to do.”

Dita laughed. “That is so reassuring since I can’t even find my own ass these days.”

“You’ll be fine. And in the meantime, do you have any big ideas on what to do with Jon and Josie?”

Dita looked in on the players. “I don’t know. I can’t stop Rhodes, or I’ll mess with Jon and Josie’s math on catching up with him. They’re so close. It’s only a matter of time before they’re on him, and they have to find him. I don’t know what will happen to Josie if they don’t. They look so tired. Like, life-tired. But they need to talk before they get to Rhodes.”

“I know.”

Jon’s Jeep rumbled down the highway, leading to a small town in Montana, and Dita noticed three things—a garage attached to the gas station, a bed-and-breakfast, and the fact that she’d seen the town before.

She smiled. “I got it. Watch this.”





Josie woke with a start as the Jeep shuddered to the telltale flapping of a flat tire. They were in a tiny Montana town nestled in mountains and covered in boulders and massive firs. Jon pulled gingerly into a gas station, stopping in front of the stalls of the weathered red garage adjacent to the store and pumps.

An elderly man approached them, smiling amiably. White hair peeked out of his baseball cap, and his coveralls were spotted with grease. He waved a greeting as Jon climbed out of the Jeep.

“Any chance you have some time to patch a tire?”

“Sure, son. Let’s have a look.”

As they walked around the car, Josie climbed out and stretched, stiff from sleeping in the Jeep again. She took a look around at the small main street, which was a pleasant change from the rolling dry plains and mountains they’d been driving through. They stood in a small strip built into a majestic green mountain pass with a few shops across the street, a diner, and what looked to be a log cabin bed-and-breakfast. Signs for kayaking and hiking marked the road, and Josie was surprised that they had landed in a little gem of a vacation spot, smack in the middle of nowhere.

The two men knelt down by the tire, and the elder thumbed a nail that stuck out from between the tread.

“That’ll be no problem to fix. Give me a couple of hours.” He stood and hitched a thumb toward the garage. “Bring her around to the first stall.”

Jon nodded, looking beat. “All right.” He turned to Josie as the mechanic walked away, his eyes distant and hard. “I’ll grab the bags. You hungry? We can hit the diner.”

“Sure,” was all she could say.

He didn’t respond, only turned for the car.

Josie stood uselessly in the parking lot while Jon parked the Jeep. He came out of the stall with their bags on his shoulder and his eyes on the ground, and he didn’t stop when he reached her, just kept walking, the distance between them unbreachable.

She turned and followed him with a lump in her throat. “Here, let me take my bag.”

“Nah, I got it.” He didn’t look at her, his voice flat and succinct.

She followed him across the street and into the diner, her eyes on her boots, following him to a booth. Jon kept his eyes trained on the street beyond the window. Neither of them spoke.

They sat in silence for a few agonizing minutes before the waitress stopped at their table and mercifully ended the quiet.

“Can I get you folks something to drink?”

Jon glanced at Josie, and she momentarily lost her wits. “Um, coffee, please.”

“Sure thing, honey. And for you, sir?”

“The same, thanks.” He shifted to pull a flyer of Rhodes out of his pocket, unfolded it, and held it up in display. “Could you tell me if you happened to see this man? This looks to be the only spot to eat here in town.”

The waitress nodded. “Yeah, he was in here just last night. I’m pretty sure he stayed at the Beckham House, the little bed-and-breakfast down at the end of the street, since it’s the only place to get a room.”

Josie’s pulse hit double-time, her breath coming short. She couldn’t speak, not with her mind screaming.

“Thank you, ma’am,” Jon said as he took the offered flyer back before stuffing it in his pocket.

“Are you guys cops or something?”

“No, but we’re working with them, and we need to find this man. Anything you can tell us would be helpful.”

“Not much to tell,” she said with a shrug. “He sat right over there and was nice enough. Tipped okay.”

“Did you happen to see what he was driving?” Josie asked.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t. Let me go grab that coffee for you two, and just holler if you have any other questions.” She touched the edge of the table and turned for the kitchen.

Josie met Jon’s eyes. “We’ve got him.”

He seemed worried and relieved and tense, so tense. “We’re practically on top of him. And now we know we’re on the right track. He’s on our road.”

“I talked to almost every motel on this path.”

“Then all we’ve gotta do is wait. We can’t move until we hear something, and we don’t want to pass him. Not that we can go anywhere with my tire busted.” Jon sighed and pulled the paper ring off his silverware, avoiding her eyes.