Page 87 of Strangers She Knows

Max checked her pulse in her neck. Kellen checked it in her wrist.

“She’s asleep. Maybe that’s what she needs.” Max sounded more hopeful than sure.

Kellen grasped his hand. “What are we going to do?”

He looked out at the black shiny glass window, streaked with rain. “The storm should lessen…soon. As soon as it’s light, we’ll take the boat. We’ll take Rae to the mainland.”

“You’lltake the boat.You’lltake her to the mainland.”

“Kellen, I can’t leave you here withher. With Mara.”

“You’ve got to get Rae to a hospital, and you can’t do that if I’m along. Even if the storm gets better, the seas are going to be massive. To get Rae to the California coast, you’ll need the motor and the sail.” Kellen was calm, matter-of-fact. “You can’t have both if I’m with you, weighing down the boat.”

Kellen could see Max struggling; he wanted to change this, fix this, make it different.

“I wonder how long she’s been on the island? I wonder if the Conkles knew?”

“Dylan knew.”

Kellen thought about how damaged Dylan had been. “Yes. Mara got her claws into him. She gave him something that drove him mad and to murder.”

Max’s gaze shifted to Rae, circled into a fetal position on her bed, so still she might be dead. Luna was curled into her, holding her with a paw across her hips. Max put his hand over his damp eyes. “We can’t let the drugs take her.”

“You’re right, we can’t.” She hugged him, felt his frustration. “Max, I’m healthy. I’m strong. I’m angry. I can take on Mara and make her sorry.”

His chest rose and fell. Abruptly, he loosened her arms. “Wait here.” He left with purpose.

Compulsively, she leaned over Rae, checked for her breathing, smoothed her hair off her forehead. “We’re going to take care of you, baby,” she whispered.

Max returned with a Smith and Wesson M&P Bodyguard pistol held lightly in his right hand, a nylon holster hanging on his arm. “When I took Dylan in, I radioed ahead to Rafe Di Luca. He brought it for me.” He checked the safety, then offered her the butt of the weapon. “You won’t be completely without defense.”

Kellen wrapped the fingers of her right hand around it. She had been a soldier. She had carried a pistol, aimed a pistol, shot a pistol. The weight, the cool metal, the scent of gun oil settled into her memories, familiar and necessary.

Max said, “As you always point out, a pistol is only good for a short distance. It’s loaded.”

She looked up and smiled. “My fingers aren’t one hundred percent. But even so, I’m more in control of a weapon than most people could ever be.”

He nodded. “That’s what I figured.” As he helped her strap on the holster, he said, “Before dawn, we’ll carry Rae down to the dock.”

“To the SkinnySail?”

“Yes. To the SkinnySail.”

“What if Mara sabotaged it?”

“Then we’ll think of another way.” Max didn’t sound worried. “But Mara doesn’t think small. She wants to make the big statement. Shoot up the helicopter. Terrify us.”

Max knew Mara better than Kellen did.

“Rae and I will leave on the SkinnySail. We’ll avoid Mara. Then you’re on your own. You can fight. You can beat her.”

She slid the pistol into the holster.

He took her not quite one hundred percent hand in both of his and looked into her eyes. “She’ll cheat.”

“All’s fair in love and war, Max. This is a battle.” She allowed her fingers to curl as if they were still far gone into atrophy. “Mara doesn’t need to know how well this hand can work.”

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