Page 41 of Knox's Mission

“Sure,” Lorna said. “He’s fixated on finding what he came for.”

“But no one is there to document the find,” Amy pointed out. It was the reason she’d become so valuable to the team. In fact, as Knox was told, Donnie insisted on moving forward without Lorna.

Would that create jealousy? Would Lorna believe Donnie had moved onto an attraction with Amy? Was he known for cheating?

This line of thinking put Lorna at the center of suspicion. The woman hadn’t proven to be much of afriend. Would she completely turn her back on Amy? Send her into harm’s way?

To what end?

Donnie was a jerk. What else was he?

“I’m not sure that would stop him at this point,” Lorna admitted. “If he comes out of this jungle without proof, his career is over.”

“Why did he lie about coming here in the first place?” Knox asked, listening carefully to any sound as they made their way toward the extraction point. There were too many variables to guarantee safe passage at this point. It was also clear to Knox that Donnie had to have made a friend along the way. It was the only explanation for him to still be alive once he broke off from Amy. Mercenaries or drug cartels wouldn’t let him live. That was a chicken-shit move on his part to save himself and sacrifice Amy. Said a lot about the man’s character, though.

“I honestly don’t know,” Lorna admitted. “He convinced me to use Amy because he said she wouldn’t charge us.”

Knox didn’t have to turn around to feel the heat coming off Amy at the admission.

“That’s why he offered a piece of the money on the backend,” Lorna added like that somehow made everything better.

Amy was struggling to make a name for herself, so it made sense on some level but if she didn’t getfootage she would have walked away empty-handed and in the hole. Flights here weren’t exactly inexpensive, even in the cheap seats. Then, there was the cost of surviving with supplying her own food.

“I sold my piano for this,” Amy cut in, clearly angry. “The one my grandmother left me in her will. Theonlything I had from her.”

Jerk move to ask her to foot the bill on an unknown outcome.

“I’m sorry,” Lorna continued like an apology somehow made it all better.

“Anything else I need to know about Donnie?” Knox asked, redirecting before Amy could get too worked up.

“He’s not the person I believe in,” Lorna said quietly. At least she was beginning to see through the man. Or was she saving her own skin now too? Going with the mood around her toward Donnie?

“You’ve been together three years,” Knox continued.

“That’s right.”

“And during that time, did he go on any solo missions?”

“Yes, of course,” she said. “It’s not like we could afford both of us to go every time. I had to stay back and work. Amy got me on at the bar as a sub, so I made a little money to keep things rolling when my parents wouldn’t come through with funding.”

“Did he ever do any fundraisers on his own?” Knox asked.

“Yes, but they didn’t bring in a lot of money,” Lorna said on a sigh. “We did everything under the sun. Kick-starter campaign. Yep. GoFundMe. Did that too. We tried standing in front of big box stores asking for donations.”

Sounded humiliating if anyone asked Knox. Since no one did, he kept his opinion to himself. A legitimate charity was one thing. Panhandling to keep from getting a real job, as he suspected was Donnie’s objective, considering he had no qualms about living off Lorna and her parents gave it a bad name.

“My parents had a couple of dinners and had Donnie come over and give a presentation to see if anyone wanted to contribute,” Lorna said. “Those were a little more successful at bringing in money.”

“Did Donnie ever work odd jobs to support the mission?” Knox asked.

“No,” Lorna confirmed. “His time was better spent organizing missions and studying maps. We made that decision together after talking it through one night early on in our relationship.”

“How fast did your relationship move when you first met?” he asked, going for broke since Lorna was in a talkative mood.

“We met one night and three weeks later hemoved into my apartment,” Lorna supplied. Blushing as she smiled.

“I bet he fell hard and fast in love with you,” Knox said, mustering up as much compassion as possible. His heart went out to Lorna because he suspected Donnie was only using her all along. The bastard!

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