Page 121 of The Unlikely Pair
“We still have each other,” I repeat.
Toby's gaze drifts to the forest around us. As he stares at the pine trees, something in his expression changes, a subtle shift from despair to contemplation.
His brow furrows in thought. “You’re right. We still have each other. And those men have never had to face what we’ve gone through in the last few weeks.”
“No, they haven’t.”
“So maybe we’re thinking about this the wrong way,” Toby says slowly.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, right from the start, we’ve been trying to escape them, right?”
“Yes. That is correct.”
“Well, maybe it’s time to change our strategy.” A slow, predatory smile spreads across Toby’s face as he meets my gaze. “Maybe this time we should start hunting them back.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Toby
“What do you mean, hunt them back?”
I shrug. “I mean, right now, they’re in our backyard, aren’t they? We know this forest. They don’t. Instead of fleeing and not knowing if they are chasing us, now is our chance to get the upper hand.”
Harry’s eyes glitter. “You think two of us could take out three of them? They’ve got guns.”
“I’m not saying we do it with might. We do it with stealth,” I say. “We’re politicians, remember? Crafty and underhanded tactics are our specialty.”
“Well, you’ve just described the Labour caucus, but us Conservatives are made from a different ilk.”
I arch an eyebrow. “What? Even more slimy and untrustworthy?”
Harry chooses not to engage in another round of political sledging, which is probably a good call.
“They have guns,” he points out instead.
“All we need is to overtake their method of communication and disable them from coming after us.”
“You make it sound simple,” Harry says.
I shrug. “We can keep it as simple as we want it to be. Let’s do a stock take of what we actually have to work with.”
It doesn’t take long to do an inventory because it’s a rather pitiful list.
I feel a ridiculous pang of loss at the thought of all our other possessions reduced to ashes in the cabin.
“I’m mourning the loss of the survival kit,” I say to Harry. “It’s been with us since the beginning. I feel like Tom Hanks in the filmCastaway. Remember how he named his volleyball?”
“I guess I should be thankful you didn’t start talking to the survival kit,” Harry says.
“Given you are my only company out here, it’s almost a miracle I didn’t start speaking to inanimate objects.”
Harry reaches out and pulls me to him.
“Can inanimate objects do everything I do to you?” he murmurs in my ear.
“I don’t know. Once again, I haven’t tried all the sex toys out there, so I can’t tell you if there’s a Harry substit?—”
