Our Home is Nowhere (The Borrowed Land, Book 1) Read Free Page B

to be somewhere close to the North, close to Jen and all the smuggling jobs that presented themselves. Now he was left with only one option: relocation. Once he and Fin had pulled off Tesh’s latest job, he could cash in on Tesh’s offer of sanctuary, if such a thing existed. Ben had heard the news from the south; he could read the signs. Give Townes another month and he would have that city under his thumb.
    Before leaving his home, he shoved some clothes into a duffle bag, then went outside to siphon all the gas out of the man’s truck and pilfer what he could from the reeking cab. Slinging his rifle over his back and sliding the shotgun into the ATV’s side holster, he took one last sad look at his mobile home. It resembled a scene from a movie: the lone abandoned truck, the dimly lit mobile home split in half by the grainy porch light, the dead man inside whose discarded body would grow moist and foul in his own blood and urine. Ben was tired of being constantly on the move, but it seemed he had little choice in the matter. He slammed the ATV into gear and tore off into the night.
     
    .........
     
    Bang!
    Ben’s fist slammed against the door, buckling the wood inward.
    Bang!
    He glanced back, half-expecting more of Townes’s assassins to emerge from the dark trees, intent on finishing the job they had started.
    Bang!
    Eventually the door swung open. Fin stood on the threshold with a baseball bat held high in the air, ready to bash in the trespasser’s skull. He lowered the bat when he saw it was Ben. ‘What the hell are you doin’ here?’
    Missy’s face, contorted into an angry grimace, appeared in the background. She rocked the baby slowly, lulling it back to sleep. ‘Do you know what time it is?’ she growled in a fearsome wolf-mother’s voice.
    ‘I’m sorry ’bout the hour,’ Ben said, leaning past Fin to see her better. She huffed, shook her head, and went back to tending the whimpering baby. Then he spoke quietly to Fin. ‘Townes knows I’m here.’
    Fin’s tired face turned grave. ‘How?’ It had been on their first job, years ago, that Ben had told Fin about what had happened in Slushland—how he had found himself at the top of Townes’s hit list for refusing to kill a man. Townes’s reasoning didn’t make sense to anyone who had never met him. He was hunting Ben, his best childhood friend, for something any normal person would have forgotten about years ago. But not Townes. He was vindictive, incapable of forgiving and forgetting.
    ‘I don’t know how, but he found me. There was a guy waitin’ at my place.’
    ‘And?’ Fin asked softly.
    ‘I took care of him.’
    ‘Get in. Quickly.’
    Ben stepped past Fin who shut and dead-bolted the door behind them. From her armchair where she was cradling the child Missy looked up. ‘What’s happening?’ she whispered, obvious anger lining her voice.
    Fin knelt beside her and brushed hair from the baby’s forehead. ‘Ben’s gonna stay the night. Milford’s not safe for him right now.’
    Missy stared daggers at Ben. ‘Of course! He’s got his hooks in you for the North job. Why shouldn’t he take the last night I have with you too.’
    ‘This ain’t how I wanted it either,’ Ben said. ‘I brought you some venison. It’s fresh.’
    ‘How very thoughtful of you.’ Her voice dripped sarcasm as she rose from the chair with the baby tucked in her arms. ‘We’re going to sleep. Finley, you can show your guest to the couch.’
    Missy swept out of the room, trailing tension behind her as she went. Fin watched her leave, then turned to Ben. ‘She wasn’t happy that I said I’d do the job. No matter how many times I tell her it’s nothin’ but a quick snatch’n’grab, she still won’t buy it.’
    Ben considered telling Fin to forget about the job, that it wasn’t worth putting his life at risk, but his own desire to see Jen and Timothy, even for just a few minutes, kept him quiet. It might be his only chance to see Timothy,