Sea Raptor by John J. Rust

Author:John J. Rust [Rust, John J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severed Press
Published: 2015-09-21T23:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-SEVEN

Despite their short time together, Rastun already knew one thing about Karen.

She was a sound sleeper.

It was just before 1130, when he knew for certain she was asleep, that he slipped out of bed and stepped softly across the floor of their hotel room. Karen didn’t stir at all.

Rastun went into his duffle bag and pulled out a handful of plastic freezer bags, a roll of masking tape and a black Sharpie he got on the return drive from Point Pleasant. He started with Karen’s bathroom kit, pulling out a plastic bottle of hairspray. Rastun unscrewed the cap, poured some of the contents into a bag and sealed it. He put the cap back on the bottle, returned it to the kit and put a piece of masking tape on the bag. He wrote on it, Hair spray. Karen Thatcher. The process continued with deodorant, sunscreen, mouthwash, nail polish, shampoo. Before long, he had well over a dozen bags of toiletry samples.

Rastun got dressed and tread lightly to the door. He opened it slowly and looked back at Karen. She looked so peaceful, so beautiful, just sleeping in their bed.

He smiled and closed the door. They’d known each other for barely three weeks, but so much had happened in those three weeks. Rastun had saved Karen’s life twice, and she had done the same for him. He knew first-hand from his time in Iraq and Afghanistan when one person saves the life of another, a deep, special bond forms between them.

How deep and special was that bond when the person who saved you was the woman you…

Is it too soon to think that way?

He shook off the thought and pulled out his cell phone. It took three rings before Sherlock picked up.

“I got the samples,” Rastun told him.

“Good,” Sherlock replied in a groggy voice. Rastun figured the call had woke him up. “Where can we meet?”

“There’s a little office complex a block north of my hotel.”

“All right. I’ll be there in ten.”

Rastun strode across the parking lot, checking around. Nearly all the windows of the two-story hotel were dark. Either folks had already gone to bed or the rooms were unoccupied. Definitely more of the latter, given the parking lot was only a quarter full.

Man-eating sea monsters tended to be bad for business.

It took a few minutes to reach the office complex, which contained five business spaces, two of them vacant. Rastun picked out a shadowy spot between a lawyer’s office and chiropractor’s place and pressed his back against the wall. Not only did he have a clear view of the parking lot, he also couldn’t be taken from behind. Rastun wondered if he was being overly paranoid.

A little paranoia can keep you alive.

There was a mole in their expedition, working for some unknown person or group. He had every right to feel paranoid.

A car pulled into the parking lot. Rastun’s hand hovered by his holster, then relaxed when he realized the car belonged to Sherlock.

The deputy marshal pulled alongside the walkway.

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