Emerge: The Captive: (Book 3)(80)
“Call me in two hundred years and it’s a date,” Jay said, lining up his next shot.
“It’s a date.” It felt odd, thinking of being with someone other than Quinn. She still couldn’t wait for the day when she would see him again. And when she did, she hoped he would understand that she didn’t think she could go back to the way they were before. She wasn’t that girl anymore and she doubted very much if he was that same boy. “Promise me, Jayesh,” Sasha said softly. “Promise me you won’t wait that long to see me again?”
“You know we have to leave, Sasha,” he said gently. “It’s time.”
“No. Not yet.” She stared up at him.
A year ago, she would have given anything to leave the Chola Valley and never look back. But in the months since her training ended, she’d experienced some of the happiest times of her life here. Nearly three years had passed for Sasha during her time at the temple. It frightened her to think of returning to her old life, knowing for the rest of her family, it had only been six weeks. How can I go back? How can I leave him?
“I’m not ready.” She shook her head stubbornly. “Imogen’s not ready. She is still training with the mother.”
“I don’t want to leave either, angel. That’s why I know it’s time to go. Imogen needs to stay, but you need to leave.”
“Come home with me? Just for a little while?”
“I can’t. I have a job waiting for me.”
“Africa.” She nodded. His entire team was waiting for him to return so they could complete an important mission.
“When will I see you again?” Her chest ached at the answer she knew he would give.
“Hopefully never. I’ll miss you, but I don’t want you to have the life I’ve had.”
She nodded, staring at her hands.
“I owe you some long overdue truth,” Jayesh said. “I know I can trust you to never repeat this. To anyone.”
“You have my word.”
“While I do work for the Senate from time to time, they are not my true employer. I can’t tell you much, so you’re going to have to trust me. But I have orders to bring you in when this is done.”
“Bring me in where?” Sasha took a hesitant breath.
“I can’t tell you.”
“Then why are you telling me anything?”
“It will be a cold day in hell before I betray you like that. I tried really hard to keep you at arm’s length. But I can’t do it. I won’t do it. We have to get you home safely but I’m not sure how.”
Sasha nodded. “Your team will be waiting for us the moment we walk out of this valley?”
“They have orders to take you on sight.”
“What if we had help?” Sasha smiled. “You don’t really think my mother would let us leave without someone to watch our backs?”
“Of course.” Jay returned her smile. “She had you followed?”
“My uncle.”
Jayesh stood and walked along the edge of the cliff, taking in the lay of the land in each direction. “We could leave the valley the hard way.” He pointed to the hiking trails to the north. “But how would we find him?”
“He’ll find us.”
“How?”
“If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” she said sweetly.
“We need weapons, just in case we run into my team. They’ll know when we’ve left the valley and when they realize I’m avoiding them, they’ll circle around and come for us.”
“How will they know?”
“If I told you, I’d have to kill you.” Jayesh shot her a grin.
“Imogen and I brought weapons with us.”
“Of course you did. I would expect nothing less of the women of your family. You don’t have any more sisters, do you? I’m officially boycotting the El Sadawii women; they are too much trouble.”
“I’m the last one, but watch out for the Carmichael girl. She’s got that El Sadawii spunk too.” Sasha smiled at the thought that she might be seeing Allie soon. “When should we leave?” she asked. She wasn’t ready, but if his team was lying in wait for her, she needed to get out of here.
“Tomorrow night.”
“Will Imogen be safe when it’s time for her to leave?”
“Once they realize I’ve left, they’ll come for me. I’ll lead them away from Imogen.”
Sasha frowned. “You’re going to be punished for helping me escape, aren’t you?”
“No. The official story will be that you grew suspicious of me and left the valley on your own. When I realized what you’d done, I followed but was too late. They’ll buy it.”
But she didn’t buy it. He was lying. If he let her escape, he would be punished … and Sasha wasn’t going to let that happen.
~~~
CHAPTER
TWENTY-EIGHT
Quinn: Fall
The Dreamworld
“What are you saying, James?” Santi paced along the forest path under the canopy of ancient redwoods where Quinn had experienced his first lessons with Navid only a few weeks ago.