Kelly was dead. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad. It would be a bitch, but I'd get over it. What could I have offered her?
Kelly would have been in bad shape when she realized what had happened to her; she would probably need psychiatric treatment. Besides, she'd been starting to like the way we'd been living. Her death would tidy things up. I wouldn't have to protect or worry about her anymore.
I started back toward the car, deep in my thoughts. What was done was done; I couldn't change it, couldn't turn the clock back. I'd find out more from the news.
Behind me, in the distance, I heard the squawk of a bird, maybe a crow. It almost sounded like my name.
I stopped and turned.
And there she was, running toward me from beyond the trees.
I started to run toward her but checked myself. I wanted to make it look casual, even if my insides were shaking off the Richter scale.
She flew into my arms, burying her face in my neck. I pulled her back and held her at arm's length.
"Why weren't you at the trees?" I was half-angry, half-relieved, like a parent who thinks he's lost a child in a crowd and then finds her again and doesn't know whether to give her a good old chewing out or just a hug and a kiss. I didn't know what to do, but it felt good.
"Why weren't you by the trees where I said?"
She looked at me in disbelief.
"As if! Because you always make sure you stand off and watch. You taught me that!"
I got hold of her hand, grinned, and said, "Yeah, that's fair."
Still smiling, we walked toward the car. She was soaked, her hair matted to her head.
We reached the car and got in without exchanging another word.
I looked at her in the rearview mirror. We had eye-to-eye.
She smiled, and I snapped, "Put your seat belt on!"
I turned the ignition and we drove off.
The Author
A former member of the crack elite force the Special Air Service, Andy McNab has seen action on five continents. Now, in his explosive fiction debut, he has drawn on his seventeen years' experience of active service to create a thriller of high-stakes intrigue and unstoppable action.
In January 1991, McNab commanded the eight-man SAS squad that went behind Iraqi lines to destroy Saddam's scuds. He eventually became the British Army's most highly decorated serving soldier, and remains closely involved with the intelligence communities on both sides of the Atlantic.
Because of the highly sensitive and clandestine nature of his work with the SAS, McNab is wanted by a number of the world's terrorist groups. His whereabouts, therefore, cannot be disclosed.