Race the Storm

Chapter 26

"How is it possibly this pretty? This is unreal."

It was their third day roaming around Arches, and Jax knew they would have to leave the area that night or the next morning. Even though their cover was technically "tourists," that didn't mean they could settle here for a week. The longer they stayed in one place, the more likely it would be for PsyOps to figure out where they were.

It was going to be hard dragging Willa away. She seemed so excited every time they came to a new place, and he didn't want to take that joy away from her. But there were other things on the way to where they were going. Or there would be once he decided exactly where that was.

They had been working on that final destination since they had left Vern and Aubrey's house. Neither of them wanted to run forever. Also, it wasn't the life they wanted for their child. They both knew that they wanted to live on the east coast, but they would have to avoid PsyOps, who had a base out there, somewhere in the northern Appalachian mountain range. Jax didn't know the specific location; it was one of those things that PsyOps kept from their soldiers and agents.

Wherever they finally stopped would have to be masked from PsyOps, like how Aubrey kept her and Vern's home off the radar. But doing it on that scale would require both someone who could mask and an intensely powerful power booster. PsyOps had people who could do both, but that would mean breaking out more people. It was possible that Wes would create something electronic to do it, but he would need time and he would also have to be out from under PsyOps' control the whole time he was doing it.

There were a lot of pieces to work out for their future. And right now, Jax simply wanted to enjoy the look on Willa's face as she stared over at the Delicate Arch across a scenic view.

"I wonder what people thought the first time they saw this," she said.

They were sitting on a couple rocks, a few sandwiches and crackers and water bottles spread out between them. It was mid-morning, but they had decided to get in an early lunch. Willa had made them sandwiches the night before; peanut butter and banana. Jax could remember his grandma making those kind of sandwiches for him and his cousins when they were young. They were a little sweet for him, but he wasn't going to refuse something Willa made.

"They were probably just trying to survive," he said.

"I still bet they were shocked," she said, "I bet they thought it was awesome, too. How could they not?"

He picked up a water bottle and put it closer to her hand. "Stay hydrated in the middle of your daydream."

"I'm just saying, being the first to see this ever would be so cool," she said after obediently taking a sip, "Like seeing something a giant made out of clay."

"That's...creative."

Willa laughed. "We can't all see the world completely rationally."

"True, then it would be boring," Jax said, standing up. He held out a hand to her. "Ready for the furnace?"

Willa took his hand, still giggling a little as she stood up. "Into the fiery depths of Arches," she whispered dramatically.

"Something like that..." Jax trailed off, losing his train of thought as he realized how close they were standing, Willa's face still lit by both her joy and the mid-morning sun, while her warm hand was clasped in his. The sun was making her red curls practically glow around her face and all he could think was that they were more fiery than anything else around here.

Willa squeezed his hand and then suddenly dropped it, quickly turning away. Huh. Pinning it down to pregnancy mood swings, Jax focused on leading them back down to the trail and to the reason they'd even stayed at the park this long–they'd gotten permits for the Fiery Furnace the first day they'd gotten here after Willa read about it, but since you had to get them in advance, they'd had to wait until today to actually go.