Forgotten Souls (The Saving Angels 2)

"Do you want to wait in the car?" Mark asked me, with concern laced through his words.

"No, I'm fine. Let's get a little closer and see if I can pick up anything useful."

"Okay, but stay behind me."

Nodding my head, I trailed behind him as he approached the tent cautiously. Peering into the dim interior, we saw that several rows of benches made from wooden planks and cinder blocks lined the center of the tent, while a makeshift pulpit of sorts stood near the far wall. We spotted a handful of people working at a table on the far side of the tent, but obviously unaware of our presence, they never looked our direction.

Mark took a cautious step inside, but pulled back quickly when we heard an engine behind us.

Tuning around, we took a step away from the tent. I gripped Mark's hand tightly in my own as we faced the oncoming vehicle in front of us.

Chapter 7

"Can I help you with something?" A man that looked to be a couple years older than us, covered in tattoos, asked, getting out of the passenger side of the vehicle.

Mark took a casual step in front of me blocking me partially from view.

"Yeah, we got this flyer over at the farmer's market," Mark said, holding up the orange flyer.

I let out a relieved breath that he had remembered to grab it out of the Navigator.

"I see we mixed up the days when we looked at it," Mark added.

"I'd say the times too," The man said with sarcasm lacing his voice.

"Yeah, that too," Mark said laughing to ease the mood, but I could feel the tension flowing off of him.

"Why don't you come back tomorrow," the driver said in a friendlier tone. "Alan's a real visionary," he added, lowering the tailgate of the pickup truck to unload the supplies piled up in the back.

"Sounds good," Mark said mimicking the driver's laid-back manner as he scooted me toward the Navigator. Opening the door for me, he used his hands to propel me into the seat and closed the door behind me in one swift movement, taking me away from any possible threat.

I watched through the window as Mark shook their hands and came around to his side.

"You okay?" He asked, still smiling for their benefit as he put the SUV into drive and pulled out of the dusty lot.

"Yeah," I said, glancing out the rear window. I was relieved to see both men hard at work unloading the truck. It's not like I had expected them to be following us, but seeing them disregarding our visit made me feel much better.

"Did you get anything from them?" he asked.

"Well, I was scared to let their feelings in, but they both had a similar vibe to the girl from the market," I said. "What are we going to do?" I asked after a few minutes.

"First thing we're going to do is sit down with Haniel and the others. This is a prime example of what we were created for."

I nodded my head in agreement, glad that we were both on the same page.

We arrived back home a half an hour later to an empty house. I had to swallow back my disappointment when I realized all my friends were gone. I was anxious to hash out what we had seen and what I had felt with our group.

"Why don't we go for a swim," Mark suggested, picking up on my disappointment. "Our day isn't quite over and we can still make it fun."

"That sounds good," I said, agreeing with him.

I headed to my room to change and put away my treasures. I left the surprises we had purchased for Lynn and Sam on the coffee table on my way to my room with Feline following behind me. I opened one of the bags and tossed the catnip mouse I bought him on the bed and watched as he happily rolled around with it. I laughed as he dragged it under the bed looking loopy. "Great, I'm like your dealer," I said, watching him disappear.

Mark was already in the pool when I joined him on the patio. I stood in the doorway for a moment watching him swim laps across the pool. The muscles in his biceps and shoulders rippled as he pulled his long lean body through the water. My mouth dried watching the water glistening on him. Seeing him in the water half-dressed was enough to make my palms sweat and send my racing heart into overdrive. Sure, over the last few weeks we had done a ton of swimming, but that was with all our friends around. The pool was always crowded and noisy with plenty of splashing.

"You going to join me or are you going to just stand there gawking?" Mark asked, breaking into my reverie.

"Um, I choose stand here and gawk," I said, making him laugh.