No Ordinary Day , Tate, Harley [best ereader for pdf and epub .TXT] 📗

Vince’s voice radiated calmness from the doorway. He eased past Raymond and Emma and headed straight for a cabinet on the opposite wall. He pulled out a bottle of bourbon and held it up. “I think we all deserve a drink, don’t you?” He passed out glasses as Gloria and Holly entered the house.

Emma stepped up to help, handing out the tumblers one after the other.

“What’s going on? Is that my liquor?” Sandra’s voice carried across the room and Emma glanced up. The woman stood at the base of the stairs, one hand on the bannister, one covering her mouth.

“Shut up, Sandy. I paid for it, so we’re drinking it.”

Her mouth fell open, outrage passing across her features. Emma turned back around before crossing the living room and handing John and Holly a glass.

Holly raised her brows.

“Go ahead. I think you need it.”

Vince handed Emma a half-full tumbler and she took a sip. The liquor burned as it slipped down her throat and she closed her eyes. They were still alive. That’s what mattered.

They all drank in silence, each person lost in their own thoughts. Emma went over the events of that day, breaking it down like a failed experiment, trying to figure out where it went so terribly wrong. John leaned against the sofa, eyes closed, liquor gone. Emma set her empty glass on the side table and squeezed onto the couch beside him before taking the gauze from his fingers and inspecting the wound.

He smiled in appreciation and dropped his hand.

“I’ve been thinking,” Vince began, “if that chip was how they found us, then they know where we live. It’s not safe for any of us to stay here.”

“If you had told them to leave, none of this would be happening.” Sandra still stood across the room, arms folded over her chest as she leaned against the wall.

Vince ignored her. “I’ve got some land a day or so away. It’s not farm ground like this. It’s mostly trees and brush. I use it for hunting, but it’s got a few resources. A little cabin, an outhouse, that sort of thing. It wouldn’t work long-term, but it would give us all a chance to regroup. Figure out what to do next.”

“If you think I’m going to that falling-down shack in the middle of nowhere, you’re crazy.” Sandra lifted her chin in defiance.

Vince exhaled and his shoulders sagged. “You know what, Sandy? That’s fine. You are more than welcome to stay right here. But I’m not staying, and neither should anyone else.”

Sandra sniffed and wiped her nose. “Maybe that’s for the best. If everyone is gone, then there’s no reason for these thugs to come after me. I can have everything I’ve always wanted. All to myself.” She strode forward, chin wobbling as she reached for the half-empty bourbon bottle. “I’ll take this if you don’t mind.”

Holly stared at her mother, lips tightening into an angry pout. “I just don’t get it. Why are you so awful?” The words burst from the teenager’s mouth as she scooted forward on the couch. “It’s not like we want to be hunted down. It’s not like I asked to be your daughter.”

“It would have been better if you had. I’d have dispelled the notion and saved us all a bunch of trouble.” Sandra walked out of the room, stomping back upstairs, bottle of bourbon in her hand.

Vince walked over to Holly, who tried to keep it together on the sofa. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I don’t know why she’s this way.” He kneeled in front of her, taking one hand in his own. “She’s the one who’s broken, not you.”

Holly sniffed back a wave of tears. “I’m sorry I ran away. I heard you all outside, when she wanted us to leave. All those things she said...”

“Then I’m sorry about that, too. No daughter should have to hear those things.”

Emma sat on the other side of the couch, at a loss for how to help and thankful Vince had the wherewithal. For a man who never had children, he seemed to know how to relate.

Holly pulled herself together and Vince stood. “It’s time we all rustled up some food and get some rest. If we’re leaving, then we need an early start first thing.”

They each set to work, Emma, Gloria, and Holly pulling together a quick meal of canned soup from their supplies and bread and butter from Vince’s pantry. Raymond and Vince took care of Willy’s body outside and cleaned the evidence of John’s injuries as best they could from the carpet inside.

After dinner, Emma helped Holly hand-wash her clothes. As they draped the towel-dried clothes over the shower curtain rod, Holly glanced at Emma. “Do you think John will be okay?”

“He’s strong.” She wished she believed the words, but Emma wasn’t sure. Something about the way he looked at her this afternoon, eyes clouded over with regret and something worse. She smiled and tried to push the thoughts aside. “If anyone can recover from something like this, it’s him.”

“I know Raymond doesn’t like him, but John’s a good guy. Even Tank warmed up to him.”

Emma nodded. Part of her still wondered about John. Could a man with his life experiences really put someone else first? He’d proven himself time and time again, but the fact remained that he was hired to kill her.

She understood Raymond’s refusal to give him the benefit of the doubt. She just wished she knew for certain where John’s ultimate loyalties lay. When push came to shove, would he fall back on his past or look to the future?

She smiled again at Holly and gave the girl a heartfelt hug before saying goodnight. In the morning they would pack and hit the road again for places unknown. She hoped this move would be Holly’s last.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Raymond

Raymond slid under the covers of the double bed and Gloria made room with an exhausted smile on her face. “It’s a little smaller than our king back home, but it