Page 45 of Laying Low

He dropped the tote and one of the knapsacks with a thunk and a groan of relief.

“He’s going back for another haul, and—”

“Here,” Reynaldo said.“You take Ilia, and I’ll wait for Mr.McCauley and help him with the rest.You’re so skinny.I can’t believe you hauled all this out here.”

“I don’t like letting you stay—”

Reynaldo gave him a very adult look.“We were talking.You need to let us pull our weight.We’re not children anymore, and you are trying to keep us alive.”

“Okay,” Reg said after a moment.“But remember, if you hear somebody coming down the path—”

“Hide,” Reynaldo said wisely.“Don’t worry.Like Ilia said, we’ve had practice all our lives.”

Reg grunted and picked up the tote—which seemed to weigh much less now that he was only carrying one of the packs—and hurried after Ilia.Please, let him and Anthony succeed.Pleaselet them succeed.Whether it was Bratva or the US government, Reg needed to keep these kids out of the bad guys’ clutches.

A HALFhour later, Anthony and Reynaldo caught up with them, and everybody took a breath and took stock.

“Did they see you?”Reg asked, and Anthony shook his head.

“Everybody was in the cheese factory when I got to the parking lot.I cleared our stuff out and took off through the grasses obliquely, missing the trail.”He glanced at his socks, which were full of stickers, and grimaced.“And I’m going to be paying for that later.”

Reg hissed and squatted down to pull foxtails and the like out of Anthony’s crew socks.

“Reg…,” Anthony whined.“You don’t have to do that.”

“No.If you’re anything like Chance, they’ll scratch and fester.He once got a really nasty infection because he wasn’t paying attention to his socks.Trust me.”

Anthony shook his head.“I mean,Icould do it,” he said gently, and Reg smiled up at him.

“But would you do a thorough job,” he teased, and Anthony laughed and glanced away.

“Got me there,” he said, before gazing back at Reg with an expression that could be termed “fondness” at the least, but something deeper and more intimate if Reg was being honest.

“Look at them,” Ilia said happily.“They’re cute when they’re stupid.”

“Yeah, but maybe we don’t spend so much time being stupid,” Reynaldo added.“Come on, you guys.I can see the dock through the trees.Let’s find a hotel or something.”

Anthony gave Reg a hand up, and they exchanged glances.Neither of them said the quiet part out loud.

If they couldn’t find a hotel or someplace safe to hole up until they came back for their vehicle, this last leg of the trip was going to be rough going.

The Young Men and the Sea

ANTHONY HADbrought a small set of field glasses with him—one of those fun little man-tools, along with a Leatherman and a multiuse flashlight that was insanely versatile and would last something like five hundred hours on one charge.

He, Reg, and the boys stood on a mild promontory overlooking the dock at the neck of Tillamook Bay and surveyed the small town.

“Do you see them?”Reg asked.

Anthony grimaced and sucked air in through his teeth.“We’re too far away,” he said.“I say we hike into town like we own the place, find a dockside hotel, and come back tomorrow for the car.Thoughts?”

“Hotel,” the boys groaned, and Anthony didn’t blame them.By his estimate, they’d been hiking for a good five miles, and sunset was drawing near.It was getting cold, and while they had denim jackets over their hoodies, that wasn’t going to cut it out here.

“Okay, then,” Anthony said, swinging his pack over his shoulders again.“Here, Reg, give me the tote back.Ilia, Reynaldo, you guys can switch.”

“I’ll keep it,” Ilia said mildly.He was the bigger and stronger of the two boys, and Anthony appreciated how he didn’t lord it over Reynaldo.

“I’m not five,” Reynaldo said with dignity.