That Day by Karen Deen (best novels to read in english txt) 📕

“Fuck, how long have we got?” I move inside the back door of the house where we have the clients.

“Thirty minutes tops. New coordinates coming through shortly. Move now!” And he’s gone.

We have been listening to chatter for weeks about this, but it went silent for the last few days. Not that I took my finger off the pulse at all.

Silence in my world usually just means trouble is brewing.

“Hawk, it’s go time. Get moving! We need reinforcements!” I speak into my phone quickly, not waiting for a reply as Fred looks up at me.

“What is it?” His eyes tell me he already knows, even before he asked.

“Grab your go bag, we have to move, and there’s no time to waste.” I watch him scramble into the bedroom while I’m moving around the house, locking the internal doors and pulling the blinds. We don’t want to make it too easy for them when they arrive.

The routine kicks in now, we’ve been over it enough times that it’s instinct.

Both of them are waiting by the back door, not speaking, just waiting for me to guide them out and into the dark of the night.

We hurry down the back of the yard and out the gate into my waiting vehicle.

The doors locking and the car in motion, I see Hawk coming down the alley in his vehicle behind me. There should be another few agents at the end of the alleyway in the same types of vehicles, so we can create confusion, with the cars all splitting in different directions when the time comes.

On the backseat lying down to be hidden from sight, it’s a way of protecting them from any danger if they can’t be seen. Although my windows are tinted black, with them out of sight it helps with the confusion of which vehicle they are in.

My phone rings through the car as we’re heading out of town.

Hawk’s voice comes through the speaker. “Five more miles and we’re taking the I95 exit. Then we will take the left turn to head back west.”

“Roger that.”

The call disconnects, and I can hear the heavy breathing of fear from behind me. I don’t have time to worry about the fear right now. My job is to make sure I get them out of here safely.

One by one, the agents’ cars in front of me peel off at different exits, so it’s only Hawk and me left in the convoy. He comes around me and slots back in front of me again, just to keep moving in different formations. Seeing an exit ahead, I know it’s the last one before we get to our exit.

As we approach it, a black car comes from nowhere behind me, no lights on, so I couldn’t see it until the last minute. It speeds up the inside lane and comes level with Scott, trying to nudge him in the side. His car shoots off the exit with the car right beside him racing forward and still on the road in front of me.

“Fuck!” I yell, trying to clear my head because I know now, I’m on my own.

Doing the only thing I know will help, I push the call button for the one person I trust with my life.

“Ghost. Got a problem. Hawk’s left me, and I’ve still got the unknown car in front of me.”

“Yep, got you on the tracker. Listen up, this is what we are going to do.” His voice continues to run me through the plan. I take it all in and get ready to put it into action.

“Game on, assholes, here we go!” I hit the brakes hard and spin the car around in the opposite direction. Smoke erupts from the tires and my foot hits the accelerator as hard as I can, driving right across the grass strip in the middle of the road and straight to the opposite exit ramp.

My heart is beating hard listening to Ghost’s voice in my ear.

The whole time repeating to myself – your job is to keep them safe… no matter what.

“Kurt.” A hand touching my arm has me jumping and almost throwing Asha to the ground.

Old instincts never die.

I was so far in my thoughts I didn’t even hear her approach me.

Which is not like me at all.

“Are you okay?” she asks tentatively, looking up at me with a worried expression on her face.

I snap myself out of it quickly. “Sorry, yeah, I’m fine. I was just watching the water and wasn’t expecting you awake yet. Did you sleep okay?” Pulling her into my chest, I wrap her in my arms while I calm my mind again. Pushing away the memories, I kiss the top of her head and breathe everything that is Asha. That soft scent of her shampoo that smells like apples and the lingering memory of the vanilla lotion she rubs on her skin after a shower. I was never one who could tell you what sort of smell I liked for anything, but now apple and vanilla are my favorite.

“Is that a joke? You wore me out last night, I slept like a baby. I don’t even remember hearing you get up.” Her head pulls back from where it was lying on my chest and she looks up at me.

I know she has no idea what was in my head, so it’s time to get the day started and a smile on her face. “Well then, I achieved my goal. Nothing like being put into a sex coma.” Taking her hand and pulling her back inside, I say, “Now let’s get you some breakfast to recharge your batteries.”

Since I’ve met Asha, I’ve been sleeping solidly. No waking in the middle of the night or trouble getting to sleep. Yet the last few days, after I hear her breathing even out and she is sleeping peacefully, I lie awake for hours with my mind full of thoughts.

I know I need to be ready for just about anything.

I pray, even though