Page 73 of Citadel

I see this processing in the man’s expression. It’s a minute before he replies, “Into lost causes then, are you?”

“It’s not a lost cause. We’re going to get her back.”

He doesn’t appear to share my faith, and for some reason it worries me. Like he might know more about our chances than we do.

He clears his throat. Eyes Cole up and down. “Hmm. I’ll give you some unsolicited advice then. Pick up your pace. You need to catch up with them in the next two days because on the third day they’ll get to where they’re going, and then you won’t have even the faintest chance of getting her back.”

“Where are they going?” I ask, my whole body stiffening. “You know?”

“I can guess. By the looks of them. They’ve built up a stronghold. Former drove-types. Wolf packs. Those kinds. They’ve taken over an old hotel up on a mountain. Guard it like a castle now. I’d bet that’s where they’re going. You need to catch up with them before they get there.”

There’s a note of seriousness beyond the conversational lilt in his voice. He’s telling the truth. I can see it. Hear it.

Cole evidently can too. “How do we get there?”

“Keep on down this road for a couple more days and take the turn where the river bends. But you heard me, right? If they get there, you’re out of luck. It would take an army to lay siege to them there.”

“You’re familiar with them then?”

Aidan’s mouth tightens. “I’ve done some business. They’re ugly customers, but in my line of work, you do what you need to do.”

“Maybe you can help us then,” I say.

He lets out an ironic huff. “Uh no, thank you. I have no death wish. I go my own way. I look out for myself. If you’ve got something to trade, I’ll be happy to do a job for you, but sacrifice plays are not my line. I won’t hurt you unless you try to hurt me, but I won’t trade my life for anyone’s.”

He still sounds light, as if he’s taking none of this serious.

He’s intriguing. And I can’t help but be disappointed that he’s unwilling to help us.

With him on our team, we’d have a lot better chance of getting Breanna back.

“Okay,” I say since Cole is clearly not in a conversational mood. “Thanks for the information anyway. Good luck to you.”

“You too.” He starts walking again, turning backward toward us briefly to add, “I guess there are still a few foolish, naive do-gooders around. Who knew?”

* * *

No matter how grumpy Cole is about encountering Aidan, there’s no denying that he gave us invaluable information.

Cole grumbles that there’s no reason to assume we can believe him, but I’m not sure even he thinks that’s true. Aidan told us the truth. His priority is obviously himself, but lying to us would achieve him nothing.

He told us what he knows and then left us to our own devices, exactly as he made clear.

We follow his advice and pick up our pace that afternoon. My adrenaline is kicking in again now that we know there’s even more urgency to our chase.

We should be able to take on the four guys with Breanna right now. But just the two of us will be hard-pressed to storm what amounts to a castle.

So we need to catch up with them before they get there.

We walk a couple of hours after it gets dark, but by now I’m practically limping and even Cole has slowed down. There’s no way in hell I’m going to be the one to suggest we stop, but Cole eventually lets out a low groan. “Okay. That’s all we can do for today.”

“I’m okay.”

“No, you’re not. But even if we could keep going, it won’t do us any good if we overdo it today and can’t move tomorrow. We need to rest. We’ve got to have closed the gap on them a lot today. They will have stopped for the day hours ago. Let’s make camp and eat something and maybe get a few hours of sleep.”

I’m relieved, but I don’t say so. I still don’t want him to think for a minute I’m weak or not up to the challenge.

We eat the rest of the possum he killed yesterday. I wash up in the river that’s still running alongside the highway and then change into his big T-shirt the way I did last night.

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