Extinction Threshold by R.D. Brady

Author:R.D. Brady [Brady, R.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-05-31T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 93

PERRY, NEW YORK

Hannah slipped outside the house as Forest was walking up the porch steps. She nudged her chin to the left, and Forest changed direction. The two of them stopped a short distance from Javi’s car.

She turned to Forest. “Well?”

“His car is full of supplies. Food, mainly.”

“Weapons?”

Forest shook his head. “No guns. One long machete, but it’s clean. Nothing that suggests he isn’t who he says he is.”

Before Forest had stepped outside, Hannah had instructed him to check out Javi’s car. She wanted to believe Javi was who he said he was.

It was baby steps, though. He seemed nice enough, and maybe he just was how he appeared: someone looking for just a little company in these dark days. Being out here on your own couldn’t be easy. He’d been nervous when he’d first come inside. As the breakfast had gone on, he’d relaxed more.

At one point, Noah walked over to him and showed him his bear. Javi had given him a big smile, asked his bear’s name, and had a whole little conversation with Noah about him before Noah turned and settled back into his mother’s side.

That little interaction seemed to say a lot about the man.

Finn had kept an eye on Javi, but that was because Hannah had instructed him to. Not once had Finn’s hackles gone up. Not even when they’d first seen Javi at his own cabin.

And while she didn’t have a lot of faith in her own ability to discern good and evil, she did place quite a bit of emphasis on kids’ and dogs’ abilities. They seemed to be able to see through the noise around people and get to the heart of who they were.

“So what do you think?” Forest asked.

“I think he may be who he appears to be. So let’s go enjoy breakfast. I’m pretty sure Dakota saved you a Pop-Tart.”

“Unless Hack ate it,” Forest mumbled before he hurried up the steps and into the house.

As Hannah stepped in, Javi looked over from the couch, in the middle of a sentence. “So, um, I’m heading south. Trying to avoid another upstate winter.”

“Good call,” Hannah said as she joined Dakota and Javi at the kitchen table.

Shelly, who was washing dishes, looked up quickly. “You’re leaving?”

“Well, there’s no set date on my departure.” He paused. “If it’s okay with everyone, I thought maybe I’d make sure you get to your brother’s, and then maybe head out from there.”

As her shoulders dropped with obvious relief, Shelly smiled. “Good, I mean, if it’s not too much of a bother.”

“Not at all,” Javi said.

With yet another smile, Shelly turned back to the dishes. Dropping his voice, Javi turned to Hannah, “Are you okay if I drive with you for a little while? I just want to make sure they get there safe.”

Hannah didn’t answer right away. She was way out of practice at socializing. All the possible ways this was a bad idea rolled through her mind. Then Finn wandered up, resting his head on Javi’s lap with a wag of his tail.

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