Page 200
“You do realize this is a felony?” he muttered, driving the blade into the earth.
She glanced around, suppressing a shiver of her own as she looked around. No moon. No lights. No one else in sight. “I have friends in the FBI.”
He snorted. “Pretty sure not even Agent Barker can get us out of grave robbing.”
She spread the plastic sheet beside the hole to keep the soil contained. “Technically, we’re recovering stolen property.”
He gave her a flat look before sinking the shovel into the ground again. After several more scoops, the blade hit resistance. “I think I’ve got something.” He cleared more soil.
Felicity dropped to her knees, then stretched out on the grass and reached into the hole. Her fingers brushed rough canvas. She let out the breath she’d been holding. “Yep.”
Feeling around, she hooked a finger through one of the straps. She braced herself and pulled. Nothing. Getting a better grip, she tugged again. Still nothing.
Looking up, she found Ronan silhouetted against the night, leaning on the shovel, watching her with infuriating calm. “A little help would be nice,” she snapped.
A corner of his mouth lifted. “So that’s all I’m good for?” He dropped to the ground. “The muscles?”
“No.” She smiled. “You’re also my getaway driver.”
One sharp pull, and the waterproof haversack tore free from the earth.
“Show-off,” she muttered. Taking it from him, she slipped the mud-caked bag into the larger plastic bag they’d brought.
Together, they filled the hole, tamped the earth back into place, and carefully lowered the headstone onto its original footing. It lay a little deeper than before, but hopefully no one would notice.
Neither of them spoke until they were back inside the rented sedan.
Only then did they finally breathe.
Ronan started the engine and drove off. “Lissy-love, one thing’s for sure…” He glanced at her, amusement dancing in his eyes. “Life with you is never boring.”
She didn’t answer. As the adrenaline ebbed, the cold set in. Tremors rippled through her body.
“Liss?”
She ignored him, staring through the windshield at the dark ribbon of road ahead. “That night…” Her voice was barely above a whisper. “It was the first time I’d ever driven a car outside the compound.” She swallowed. “I was terrified.”
She rubbed her palms together, trying to stop the shaking.
“One mistake…” She shook her head. “One mistake and we’d crash. We’d end up in a hospital, and they’d take us back.” Her gaze never left the road. “This was the road.”
Ronan swore. Long and hard. Without another word, he steered the sedan onto the shoulder and killed the engine.
“Ro—”
But he was already out of the car. A second later her door opened, and he gently but firmly pulled her into his arms.
“Ronan…”
He rested his cheek against her hair. “Just let me hold you, okay?”
“Okay,” she whispered.
And for the first time in over twenty years, she stood on the roadside where her freedom had begun … and let someone else carry the weight of that night.
*
“That the last one?” Ronan asked, stepping onto the deck.
