“Sure.” Her voice rasped. How embarrassing! But she relaxed and left his fingers on her arm.
“Could you please tell me everything you heard?” he asked.
As Sophia recited, Mitch stiffened. She felt his anxiety vibrate through his touch.
“A mesh bag? Are you sure?” he asked.
“Yes.”
He swore. “And—” his voice cracked “—a 4 a.m. pick up tonight?”
“I don’t know if they meant tonight.”
He covered his eyes with his other hand. “My team won’t be here in time. Maybe we can intercept the vehicle. Is there another road out?”
“The airstrip.”
“What?”
“There’s a landing strip next to the farmhouse.”
Mitch shot to his feet. “I need to get there. Now!”
“What ‘treasures’ are worth risking your life for?”
“Classified. I need a ride—”
“Not until you tell me.”
His hands balled into fists. She scrambled away as he stepped forwards. Mitch stopped and drew in a deep breath. “Those guys are kidnappers. They smuggle young girls to foreign countries. Young girls with special . . . talents. Some, like you, are blind assassins ... I mean—” he quickly corrected himself “—light benders.”
“I don’t believe you. There aren’t many people like me in the world.”
“I think you’d be surprised. Hiding in your cabin all the time, you’re a little out of touch with reality.”
Emotion roughened his voice. “I sent my little sister to a special school after our mother died. She insisted she didn’t belong in there because she could . . . see in the dark. I didn’t believe her, of course. Your condition is rare—”
She interjected, “It’s not a condition.” Then she stopped herself as the picture became clearer. “Your sister is a light bender, isn’t she?”
His fingers raked his damp hair. “The kidnappers think so. But I hadn’t made the connection before meeting you. I was visiting her at the school last night when they jumped us. But I thought she had escaped. She disappeared while I was fighting with Ed’s friend.”
Mitch’s sister was in the mesh bag. Sophia bolted from the couch. “Let’s go.”
Mitch donned the T-shirt and ran to the phone to update his team, careful to keep his flashlight out of her eyes. She dashed out the back to prep her bike. When Mitch joined her she said, “My father’s helmet is in the shed.”
“Any weapons?”
“Hunting rifles.”
“Ammo?”
“In the cabinet in the living room. Take the thirty-thirty and my Winchester.”
“Yours? Oh no. You’re just giving me a ride. After you drop me off, you’re coming back here.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I can see in the dark.”
Although unhappy, Mitch agreed, with conditions. “You are to do exactly what I say. No free styling. Understand?”