Page 92 of Thorn

“Is in custody with the FBI. DuBois was considered a charlatan by the medical teams at this clinic. The FBI, DARPA, and the Pentagon have a lot of questions, so they’ll be part of your life, okay?”

She nodded.

“Until things are stable, Iniquus will be providing your security. I’ll be living in the carriage house out back.” He scrolled to a picture of the back yard and a two-story carriage house.

She nodded. “Those were the things I was the most worried about. What my next steps looked like. How I’d survive without funds. How I could help get these criminals out of society.” She stared at the picture on Thorn’s phone. “It looks peaceful and quiet.” She shifted out of his arms, so she could look Thorn in the eye. “You asked me about peace and quiet, and I told you about the anechoic chamber where I could hear my pulse. But when I was on the bridge and the birds started to sing, I remembered something else. Out in the middle of the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park, there is a small red stone. It was part of a sound pollution project to find a single square inch on the planet Earth that was not obscured by human sound. No traffic, no planes, just pure nature.” She turned to look out the little oval window. “I was studying noise pollution in the oceans, and for curiosities sake, I wanted to go there, to see the red stone and experience natural acoustic purity.” Arya turned back to Thorn. “Finding peace wasreallyloud, teaming with life.” A tired smile tweaked at the corners of her lips. “It wasamazing. Hiking back there was a spiritual quest. I remember that when I came out of that glade, I had to sit on a log and sob. Such a miraculous experience. Sound doesn’t have to be painful.”

Thorn nodded.

“It’s interesting, with that one square inch project, airlines started changing their routes to try to lessen the noise pollution. I wanted that for the oceans. It was my life’s work. I was fighting for sound peace for the ocean’s mammals.” She looked down at her lap and swallowed hard. “The whales need me to stop being selfish and get back in the fight for them.”

“They do. You will. We’ll do this together.” He leaned his forehead down and resting it against hers. Then he sat up and reached into his pocket and pulled out the little red stone. “It’s kind of funny, to hear your story about the rainforest.” He placed the cool smooth surface in her hand. “I found this on the day we met. Just as I was heading from Toulouse to Paris trying to find you.”

“Red jade. It’s beautiful.”

“I picked it up and put it in my pocket for no reason at all.” He pressed a kiss into her hair, then laced his fingers into hers. “At that point, there was a lot going on, confusion about you and your case, people coming and going. There’s was a lot of noise, but in my brain, in that moment, everything stilled as I reached for the stone. When you were sharing about your experience in the rainforest, I thought yes, that was exactly right − life can be really loud, and crazy, and confusing, but in the chaos peace can be found.”