Page 18 of Iron Shield
“Never know when there’s a power outage.”
“Duct tape?”
For taping her mouth shut.
“Useful.”
“Zip ties?”
“Also useful.”
“Energy bars. Water purification tablets. A first-aid kit. Two knives. A sewing kit. Why do you have a sewing kit?”
“It’s got a needle. Never know when you need to stitch a cut.”
“Condoms?”
Of course she’d found those too.
“Planning for a very specific emergency, Rome?”
He shouldn’t be staring at her mouth when she said that. He shoved the coffee at her and picked up the bag. Taking two steps, he peered out the window facing the street.
“Let’s go.”
As they headed away from the safehouse, the escort SUV followed close behind them as they headed to the Naval base.
Close enough to help if things went sideways.
Far enough back to give him a few seconds’ warning if they did.
With Stina involved, he’d take all the warning he could get.
* * * * *
Stina watched the Chicago neighborhood slide past her window and tried not to think about how bizarre her life had become.
Just hours ago, she’d been worrying about tips and bills and whether her manager was going to schedule her for a double shift after he let her go early. She’d been planning her parents’ visit for weeks, and now that probably wouldn’t happen.
Now she was riding next to a man who looked perpetually annoyed by her existence.
Normal. Completely normal.
She glanced at Rome. He hadn’t spoken in at least five minutes. The man seemed perfectly content to stare at the road and brood while she was going slowly crazy trying to piece together what was happening to her.
“Are we going somewhere specific or is this a mysterious road trip where I don’t get to know the destination?”
Rome’s stare remained fixed on the road. “Naval base.”
She waited for more, but that was all the man had. Two words.
“That’s it? Just ‘Naval base?’ Not why, not what I have to do there when I should be working the evening shift?”
“Everything will be explained in time. You have to trust me, Stina.”
“Maybe I could learn to if you’d give me more syllables than a text message. Did you suffer some tragic injury to your personality?”
His eyes flicked from the road to the rearview mirror and back again.
