by Melissa Frey
Grady was confused. What did Kayla want? It seemed as though something was wrong; he could see the conflict in her eyes. He ran his fingers through his messy hair—he hadn’t exactly had time to smooth it out. He winced. It must look terrible.
Why had Kayla come here? He knew she wasn’t ready to take their relationship any farther right now—and, truthfully, he wasn’t sure he was either. Not that he wasn’t ready to commit to her—every part of him wanted her and no one else, forever—but she deserved better. She deserved someone who would fully commit to her—body, mind, life, and soul—before asking her to give it all away. And he would strive every moment from now on to be that someone. He owed it to her. He owed it to himself.
Kayla needed to know, tonight, that she was safe with him, that there were no expectations. That when the time was right, when they were both ready for that next step, they would be together.
He looked up. Kayla’s back was to him, but he could see her biting her nail as she stared out the partially opened window.
“Kayla?”
She turned, and Grady could see her bottom lip trembling. Something deep inside him knotted up at the expression on her face. He’d never seen Kayla so . . . not in control. It hurt his heart to see her like this.
“Sweetie, it’s okay.” He crossed the room and pulled her into a hug. He kissed the top of her head, then stroked her hair as he’d done just moments before. “You’re safe here.”
Kayla knew Grady’s words were true, could feel the truth in the depths of her soul. And, suddenly, the dam broke. She let herself cry, releasing all the tension and control she’d kept bottled inside. She hadn’t been feeling this at all, and couldn’t figure out where all this was coming from. She felt stupid for even doing it, but she couldn’t stop.
And that was okay. The revelation hit her in that moment, and her sobs began to subside. She could be herself with Grady, could be vulnerable. She’d never had that before. It was an enlightening and freeing experience, and suddenly her tears turned to laughter. She pulled back and looked up at Grady. “Sorry,” she choked out between water-logged laughs, “I’m just a mess tonight.”
Grady smiled at her, a smile so tender she felt her heart expand in her chest. “You’re beautiful.”
Kayla’s laughter tapered off and she wiped at her eyes. Grady handed her a tissue from the box on the end table and she tried to clean up her tear-stained face. Thank God she wasn’t wearing mascara, or she’d really look ridiculous.
Kayla offered a soggy smile. “Can I use your bathroom to clean up a little?”
Grady nodded, staring at her with a smile she’d never seen before. She couldn’t quite be sure what it meant, but she could see an overwhelming love there. Her breath caught for just a second before she headed out of the room.
Kayla washed her face and instantly felt better. Then she kicked herself. What kind of woman comes to a man’s room, uninvited, at night, and kisses him passionately, then just a few minutes later breaks down crying? She really was a mess.
She stared at herself in the mirror. How could she be so presumptuous? She wasn’t ready to sleep with him, she was certain—well, almost certain. She was trying to talk her conscience out of it at the moment.
Stop it, she chastised herself. You’re not ready. And he will understand.
She knew it was true, and loved Grady even more for it. She squared her shoulders, took one last look in the mirror—she looked good, considering—and opened the door.
Grady was on his side, stretched out near the end of the still-made bed, feet hanging off the end, flipping through a back issue of his favorite scientific magazine. He looked up at her entrance, and instantly she noticed a shift in his countenance—almost like . . . joy. She shifted her weight and looked away for a brief second, then straightened and walked over to him, sitting on the bed in front of him. “Whatcha reading?”
Grady closed the magazine. “Nothing important.” He tossed it aside, then sat up. “Can I talk to you?”
Kayla drew in a breath, then had to tell herself to release it. “Sure.” She wished her voice was steadier.
Grady ran his fingers through his hair. “Kayla, I just want you to know . . . I don’t expect anything from you. You—” he stared at the side wall, just above the TV. “You’re welcome to stay here tonight, no expectations.”
Kayla could feel the blank stare on her face, but the muscles in her face weren’t responding.
Grady continued, reaching for her hand and catching her gaze. “You are safe here, like I said. You are safe with me. I won’t ever ask you to do anything you’re not sure about.” He paused, smiling at her. “We’re not ready for that yet.”
Kayla’s heart thumped in her chest. She knew exactly what he was talking about without him having to spell it out. He was echoing her thoughts of thirty seconds ago, exactly.
She still couldn’t seem to find her voice, though, so she just nodded.
Grady lifted his hand to rest on her cheek. Kayla’s eyes fell closed briefly at his touch. When she opened them, all she saw was Grady. She gazed into his deep sapphire blue eyes and could see all the love there, but now she saw something else, something she’d never seen directed at her, from anyone. She saw respect there, and adoration. Grady was the kind of man she’d always wanted, but never believed existed. Yet here he was, right in front of her. And hers.
Kayla leaned close to him, and finally found her voice. “Thank you, Grady.” She smiled and lightly kissed his cheek. “I love you.”
Grady smiled, and pulled her to his side. “I love you, Kayla, more than you know.”
She couldn’t contain her elation at his words, and a smile stretched across her face. Grady leaned even closer to her, stopping only an inch short of a kiss. His lips brushed hers gently, sending sparks up and down her spine, out to her fingertips, down to her toes. Then, before she could catch a breath, he kissed her with a burning desire that had been building for an eternity.
When they resurfaced who-knows-how-many minutes later, Kayla couldn’t stop smiling. That was fun. And that was an understatement. She felt like she did in middle school, with her first love. When no one was so preoccupied with sex that they could just enjoy being together. Innocent. And freeing.
She stared at Grady, who was now lying peacefully on his side, staring back at her. She’d commandeered one of his pillows and was enjoying just lying there on top of the still-made bed, being close to the man she loved. She scooted a little closer to him and he reached for her, stroking her side. She involuntarily shivered at his touch. “Are you cold?”
Kayla shook her head, but Grady was already reaching for a sweatshirt. “Maybe I turned the A/C up too high.”
Kayla shook her head again, but accepted his sweatshirt, draping it over her shoulder. It smelled like him, which made her smile. “Thanks.”
Grady turned to lie on his back. “Come here.”
Kayla moved toward him and laid her head on his shoulder, then stared up at the ceiling with him. Staring at the ceiling was much better with Grady’s arm wrapped around her, hearing his heart beat in his chest. “This is nice.” Another understatement.
She felt Grady nod then kiss her hair. “Yes, very.” He pulled her a little closer; she wouldn’t have thought that possible, which pleased her greatly.
They laid there in silence for what could’ve been hours. Then, when sleep wouldn’t come—surprise, surprise—Kayla raised one finger and began making lazy figures in the air. Grady chuckled beside her. “What are you doing?”
She twisted her head to the side to look at him, her arm stopping in mid-air. “I’m tracing the lines on the ceiling tiles.” She resumed staring at the ceiling and her arm moved once again. “Can’t sleep.”
She could somehow feel Grady’s grin. “Me neither.” Then she saw his finger raise and start tracing the lines, too. She smiled, and it stretched across her face. They must really be a ridiculous-looking pair.
Then she froze.
CHAPTER 27
Lines
Grady felt Kayla tense up beside him.“What is it?”
Kayla bolted upright, and Grady could see lines creasing her forehead. “Where’s your map?”
“What?” Grady rose up on his elbows. What was she talking about?
Kayla was already halfway off the bed. “A map. I need a world map.”
Grady sat up and reached inside the bag that was sitting next to him on the floor. “Here. Will this work?” He opened the map and smoothed it out on the bed.
Kayla scooted next to him and leaned over the map, her hair falling down the side of her face before she tucked it behind her ear. She nodded. “Yes, thanks.” She fell silent as she scanned the map, and Grady watched her face intently. “Grady . . .” her voice trailed off, then suddenly her eyes widened.
“What, Kayla? What is it?”
She jumped up and started refolding the map. “Come on. We need to go talk to Mandy and Justin.”
“Now?” Grady countered with an automatic glance at the bedside clock. Almost eleven thirty. Wow, they were in here for longer than he thought. Those were a good couple of hours . . .
Kayla’s voice halted his reverie in its tracks. “Yes.” She held the newly refolded map in one hand and reached for his with the other. He took it without question as she pulled him toward the door.
“They might be asleep.”
Kayla shrugged but flashed him a smile as she opened the door. “Well, we’ll just have to wake them up. This can’t wait.”
Mandy was halfway through a fashion magazine when she heard the knock on the door. Justin was preoccupied with whatever shoot-‘em-up movie was on TV, so Mandy walked around the bed to get the door. She shot him an annoyed look as she walked between him and the set. He simply kept staring as if he had been able to see right through her. She rolled her eyes and opened the door.
Her exasperation with Justin vanished as soon as she saw her friends’ faces. “Kayla? Grady? What are you doing here?”
Justin looked up at them from his position at the head of the bed. “Hey, guys. What’s up? Is something wrong?”
“No, not really.” Kayla moved past Mandy and laid her map out on the table near the door. Mandy came up right behind her, knowing better than to doubt Kayla when she was like this.
“What did you see?” Grady asked from her right.
The map was finally smoothed out, displaying a rendering of both North and South America. Kayla stood up, crossing her arms in satisfaction. “There.”
Justin, who’d given up on his enthralling movie to join the party, spoke up. “Where?”
Mandy looked up at her from her position at Kayla’s immediate left as she hunched over the map on the table. “What are we looking for?”
“No one sees it?” Kayla asked.
Grady gazed intently at the map. “No, I . . .” he cut off abruptly. “Wait . . .”
Kayla flashed a smile. “Yeah.”
Grady whistled through his teeth, sinking slowly to a nearby chair. “I don’t believe it.”
“What?” Mandy asked.
“Look, here.” Kayla jabbed a finger at Belize, where they had all met. “This is Lamanai, approximately.” She lifted her finger off the map and pointed again, this time at Alaska. “This is where the first book was found, at Denali.” Then, moving slowly, she dragged her finger from Alaska to Yellowstone. “And the second book—here, where we are now.” She stopped briefly at their current location, then continued the line down toward Lamanai.
Mandy gasped. Justin’s jaw dropped. Kayla and Grady just grinned at each other.
“Now you see it?” Kayla queried, still smiling.
Justin’s words came out intermittently detached. He dropped to the edge of the bed, his eyes never leaving the map. “I . . . can’t . . . it . . . doesn’t . . . incredible. I . . . I . . .”
“Wow,” was all that Mandy could say. She couldn’t think of anything else.
Grady reached for the pen sitting on the bedside table. He circled the Alaska site, the Yellowstone site, and the Lamanai site. Then he drew a line between all three, a straight line connecting all three sites.
Mandy finally got out another word. “Amazing.”
Kayla nodded. “Yeah.”
Justin was the first to come out of his stupor. “So what does this mean? Besides the fact that it’s a little . . . creepy.”
Mandy answered. “It’s too blatant to be coincidence.”
Grady and Kayla nodded in unison, then Grady glanced up at Kayla. “It is. Which means that—”
Kayla finished his thought. “—we know where to find the next location.”
Belize Rainforest, Mercenary Camp
“Na-um, are you sure about this?” Holun trailed behind his superior as the latter spun crazily through the interior of his hut, haphazardly stuffing a small canvas bag with essential items from around his home. From what Holun could tell, Na-um planned to be gone awhile.
Na-um simply grunted.
Holun kept going. “I mean, have you really thought this through? Are you positive you have to go to these extremes?”
Na-um abruptly stopped what he was doing with a loud sigh. He whirled around to meet Holun face to face. “Yes.” With his abrupt one-word response delivered, he started to turn back around to continue his packing.
Holun wouldn’t back down. “But . . .”
Na-um whipped his head around once again, this time stopping only inches from the tip of Holun’s nose. “Holun!” He paused to take a breath, chest heaving dangerously. When he spoke again, his voice came more calmly, but through his teeth. “I know what you are trying to do, but I have made up my mind. This is the only way to stop the Secret from being revealed.”
“I know that you think so, Na-um, but there has to be another way. This—it’s too violent! I cannot, will not, commit such violent acts. On anyone.” Holun stared Na-um straight in the eye, hoping his defiance would successfully underscore his insistence.
Na-um sighed, placing his hand on the boy’s shoulder. Holun fidgeted a little—he couldn’t quite help it. “And I won’t ask you to. You will accompany me in the training and on the mission, but you will not be directly involved.”
“Na-um!” Holun yelled in a final, no-holds-barred effort as Na-um turned away. “This is unspeakable!”
But Na-um was already headed for the exit. Before he threw the canvas flap aside, Holun heard him mutter under his breath: “This is war. And in war there are casualties.”
The Parkside Motel, Bozeman, Montana
“You’re gonna have to explain that.”
Kayla, still hunched over the map, glanced over at Justin out of the corner of her eye before answering him. “We know where to look to find the next location.”
Justin folded his arms across his chest. “And where is that?”
Grady stepped in, tracing the line on the map with his finger. “See? This line contains all three locations we’ve found so far—well, the two with the books and Lamanai, where this all began. Granted, it’s not exact, but it’s too close to be a coincidence. So the next location is probably—almost has to be—somewhere on this line.” He straightened but kept his eyes on the map.
Mandy leaned in. “Okay . . . but where?” She traced her own finger slowly southeast from Alaska.
Kayla pulled Grady to the side while Mandy and Justin perused the map. “Grady, this line tells us basically where to look for the next location, but where exactly? That line covers a lot of ground.”
Grady bit his bottom lip, hesitating before he answered. “Hmm. Well, think about it. Denali—high elevation, extreme cold, wind—and Yellowstone—one of the largest, if not the largest, supervolcanoes in the world . . .”
“Okay, right,” Kayla interrupted. “So Denali, high winds, cold . . . that signifies air?” Grady nodded, so she continued. “One of the world’s biggest volcanoes—that signifies fire.” That one wasn’t a question.
Grady finished the thought for her. “S
o we’re looking for a pretty large and significant body of water. A river or a lake, almost certainly, like you saw in Justin’s book. But something important, well-known. Or perhaps something with the earth, maybe mounds of earth—large mountains?” He glanced toward the table and sighed. “No, you saw a river in Justin’s book. We should be looking for that.”
Kayla nodded as they stared at each other for a brief second before their eyes widened simultaneously. They bolted for the map. Mandy jumped out of the way; Kayla deftly ignored the questions she saw in her friend’s eyes.
Kayla traced the line Grady’d made with her finger, starting first at Alaska and moving southeast very slowly. She glared intently at every spot her finger touched, scrutinizing the map for any large river or lake. Her finger traced past the Canadian coast . . . perhaps the ocean? She quickly discarded the notion. It didn’t feel right—they weren’t looking for the ocean. The ocean wasn’t a river or lake; it didn’t fit.
She traced all the way down to Belize, to Lamanai, and still hadn’t found anything that captured her attention. She sighed, removing her hand. She backed up and slumped into a nearby chair, discouraged.
Grady moved into her former place. She was still able to view the map from this angle, but she leaned forward to get a better view. What was he doing?
Soon she couldn’t stand the waiting any longer. She stood up and drew close to him, eyeing his every movement. Justin and Mandy’s eyes were trained on him as well as he continued his examination.
Grady leaned down and pointed at Lamanai. Kayla could clearly see what she was learning was his “thinking” look emblazoned on his face. She knew better than to interrupt him when he had that look.
Grady left his finger on Lamanai for a full minute as he scanned the rest of the map.
Kayla could tell the instant he had found what he was looking for. His eyes ceased their aimless scanning, focusing instead on one spot on the map. He very slowly—excruciatingly slowly, in Kayla’s opinion—dragged his finger further down the map, continuing southeast from Lamanai at the same angle as the rest of the line.
