Page 7 of Twilight Tactics

“You’ve hurt yourself,” Ollie said.

“It’s nothing. Just squeezed the key too tight.”

“It’s your way to stay focused, not let yourself think about other things, isn’t it?”

Elena’s breath caught and Sully went still. “Um—I didn’tmean to. It was an accident.” But shedidhave her coping mechanisms. Not that she needed to air that dirty laundry.

“Sometimes,” Ollie said, “I add numbers up in my head. Hard numbers. It helps clear my mind of everything else and makes stuff fade into the background.”

Elena walked to the teen who’d seen too much. Who’d learned too young how to cope with those things. “I could teach you other ways,” she said. “Maybe not better, but possibly. If you wanted. I mean if it’s okay with Sully and Piper ... er ... Agent Whitaker.”

Ollie’s eyes widened, and Piper, who’d stepped up behind the girl, made a sound that might have been a protest, then said, “Piper’s fine.”

Sully’s quiet “thank you” made Elena realize she might have crossed a line she wasn’t aware was there. Well, if so, whatever. She straightened, nodded to the others, and headed out the door. She was halfway back to the barn, desperately trying to keep past memories, feelings, and fears at bay, when she heard footsteps behind her.

“Elena, wait.”

She looked back to see Sully gaining on her. She tried to push the memories of her family’s compound from her head. Along with everything she’d been programmed to believe—and later had to unlearn. She took a steadying breath. “Yes?” Thank goodness the word came out low and calm.

He stopped next to her, eyes kind. Concerned. Compassionate. “You mentioned some ways to help Ollie. Did someone teach them to you?”

She huffed. “That’s what you want to know?”

He shrugged. “Yes.”

“Then no. No one taught me. I had to figure a lot of things out alone.” She met his gaze. “But that’s why I’m here now. So others don’t have to do the same.”

“I see.”

“Do you?” He probably did and that made her want to squirm. “I’ve got stuff to take care of,” she said. “A class to finish tomorrow, so I need to make sure I’m prepared.” She was, but it never hurt to double-check. “Talk to you later.”

She hurried into the barn where her students had put all the pieces of the still. Just being in the barn and planning what she was going to do tomorrow grounded her. She had a solar still to finish building so she could demonstrate it. Simple. Practical. And one more tool in her belt of those kinds of survival skills.

The other kind—the ones Ollie needed—would come later. For now, she just had to ignore the way Mr. Big Shot FBI Special Agent Collin Sullivan seemed to see right through her carefully constructed walls.

And pray she hadn’t made a huge mistake by giving him even a glimpse of what lay behind them.

2

Ollie sat on the strange bed of yet another strange bedroom and stared at the strange wall opposite her. She was so tired of strange and different. However, the terror that stayed with her constantly had eased a fraction despite the attack they’d just escaped.

She’d lived in fight-or-flight mode for so long that she should be used to it by now.

But she wasn’t.

Was it wrong that she just wanted to feel safe? To belong somewhere and have someone love her? And not because that someone was getting a paycheck for letting her live with them? To come home to a bedroom that didn’t feel like she should sign the visitors’ log?

She knew there were good foster homes. Some even amazing. She’d heard the stories from other foster kids she’d gone to school with. She’d just never been one who got to experience that.

She pulled her legs up, wrapped her arms around her shins, and rested her head on her knees.Why do you hateme,God?And why was she talking to someone she wasn’t sure was even real?

Ollie rose and grabbed a packet of meds from the side pocket of her backpack, glanced at her watch, then swallowed a pill dry. She pondered the dresser against the opposite wall and sighed before tucking her bag of belongings next to the bed. There’d be no unpacking—not if she wanted to keep her stuff when they had to leave in a hurry.

And they’d have to leave, so she’d just keep to herself and hope it took more than twenty-four hours for the bad guys to find them.

Because she had no doubt theywouldfind them.

Sully stoodatthe windowand looked out over the property. He’d grown up coming here and had come back as often as possible. He had thirty-three years’ worth of memories and loved the land, but most especially the peace and quiet that came with it.