Page 17 of Desert Wind

“I don’t know,” said Ace, shaking his head, looking at Code and Sly. “We don’t know. What we do know is that this all feels very, very wrong. I think we need to make sure that Antoine and Luc are really close. Maybe not even in hiding any longer.”

“What are they doing today?” asked Ian.

“They’re going to her childhood home if it’s still there. It was a small modular home, not quite a mobile home but similar.”

“Have them stay close just in case. Nash has skills that none of us have,” said Ghost.

“Yeah, but he’s in the desert. Not exactly a hotbed of water resources to help him,” said Code. Ian stared at the group as Sly whispered to his co-workers. Code looked at Ian and Ghost. “We have a problem.”

“Fuck.”

“There. There it is,” said Jenna, pointing to the nearly crumbling home.

Nash was so shocked by what he saw he almost gasped aloud. The rusted metal building barely stood. Weeds, trees, debris, and other materials were scattered around the yard, clearly no one taking care of the place. The question was, why was it still standing?

The neighborhood had grown up around it, now filled with lovely ranch-style homes, playgrounds, and a school just down the block.

“Wow, it’s changed so much,” she frowned. “I guess this is the first time you’ve ever seen my home.”

“It is,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I knew I was one of the poor kids, but I didn’t think much about it back then. I had a few girlfriends that would come over now and then, but honestly, I didn’t do a lot of things with other girls. You were the only person that I knew who I didn’t want to see all of this.”

“Jenna, I wouldn’t have cared,” he said, reaching across the console, his fingers touching hers. She didn’t jerk away, which, in his eyes, was an improvement.

“Why wouldn’t they have torn this down?” she asked. “Look how lovely this neighborhood is. Surely, someone would have taken this down and bought the land. If nothing else, it’s worth something.”

“It’s a great question,” he said, opening the door. “Stay behind me, okay?” She nodded, more than willing to let him discover the snakes or scorpions first.

Testing the door, Nash was surprised to find it unlocked. That only made his protective senses rise again, worried that there could be vagrants, drug users, anyone on the inside.Pushing the door open, the stifling Arizona heat blasted them in the face.

Adjusting their eyes to the darkness, he pulled on the cord of the blinds at the front window and was greeted by forty-year-old furniture covered in dust. There was at least one roof leak, giving off the smell of dampness and mildew, possibly mold.

“We need to open the back door so there’s air coming through here,” he said. “I don’t want you to get sick from anything in here.”

“You would get sick as well, Nash.” She looked around and shook her head. “It’s so sad to see this.”

“Memories can be tough,” he said.

“It’s not that. Minus the smell and the dirt, it looks exactly the same. Nothing has been moved or changed since the day that I left. I didn’t realize how poor we were.”

“Nash? I think you need to get out of there. I’m picking up on security cameras in that house. Why would there be fucking security cameras in that piece of shit?”

“We have to go,” said Nash, reaching for her hand. He didn’t care if she tried to pull away. He wasn’t going to let her go.

“Why? Wait! Nash, I want to check out the other rooms,” she said, pulling on him.

“No! Jenna, there are cameras in this place. Someone had security cameras in a fifty-year-old manufactured home that’s falling apart. Why? Why the fuck would that be?”

“I-I don’t know,” she said, looking around.

“Let’s go.”

She willingly followed him out of the home, only to see another SUV parked at the end of the driveway. He was more than happy to see that it was Antoine and Luc.

“Go,” said Luc. “There are two cars coming into the neighborhood. Go!”

Nash took off toward the back side of the neighborhood, leaving Antoine and Luc behind him. When they were safely back on the main roads, he kept checking his rear-view mirror, then got the all-clear from Luc.

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