“I’m never going to be free of my obligation to you, am I?”
“Baby, you can leave any time your conscience allows it.” Tam paused and ran a finger through the condensation on her cup of beer. “That’s not fair of me. You’ve more than repaid me for the help I gave you. If you want to be free, I won’t stand in your way.” She stood and moved to the rail, where she perched on the corner and turned her gaze on Dane. “But I wish you’d stay, and that goes for the rest of your crew. Even Bones. We’ve got a good team here, and I want you to remain part of it. Not just for what you can do, but because you keep me honest. You challenge me without being insubordinate, and you make me think.”
“I thought I just pissed you off.”
Tam smiled and raised her beer. “Cheers.”
Dane returned the salute. “I’ll think about it.”
“That’s all I ask.” Tam slid down off the rail and gave him a quick hug. “I think somebody else wants to talk to you.” She glanced to the doorway where Jade waited. “Tag. You’re it.”
Jade took up the spot Tam had occupied moments before. She sat there, chewing her lip and not quite meeting Dane’s eye, while Dane finished his beer and tossed the cup in a half-filled garbage bag at his feet.
“I don’t know the right way to say this,” Jade began, “so I’m going to dive in. Just don’t interrupt me, okay?”
Dane nodded. He knew how Jade felt about being interrupted and it was never pretty.
“You don’t want to spend your life fighting the Dominion. You’re more than capable, but that’s not your passion. You’re a treasure hunter at heart. There’s nothing in the world you love more than finding a mystery from the past and solving it. And that’s what drives me, too. We’re perfect for each other. I love to dive and climb and I love Archaeology, maybe more than you do. Yes, we drive each other crazy sometimes, and we even fight, but so what? That’s because we’re passionate. I’ll bet you never fight with Angel.”
Dane was about to correct that misconception when he remembered he’d agreed not to interrupt.
“Let’s do it, Maddock. Let’s spend the rest of our lives solving mysteries and making discoveries. Someone else can dodge bullets. You’ve done your time.” She lapsed into silence, her eyes boring into his. After a suitable pause, he decided it was safe to talk.
“I can’t imagine how Bones would react if I broke up with Angel and brought you on to the crew.”
“That’s not a reason to stay with someone, and you know it. Besides, didn’t Bones just dump your sister? It would be awkward, but we’d get through it. It wouldn’t be the first time he and I were at loggerheads.”
Dane didn’t have an answer. He couldn’t remember ever being so confused.
Jade came and knelt before him. She took his head in her hands and drew his face close to hers. The familiar scent of jasmine was strong in his nostrils and her eyes, deep dark pools, filled his vision.
“I know I’ve said it before,” she whispered, “but it’s time you started doing what you want instead of what you should.”
She kissed him softly and left him alone with his thoughts.
Epilogue
Angel drove her fist into the heavy bag, relishing the solid feel of a blow well struck. She bobbed, doubling her jabs, digging in hooks, and delivering crushing roundhouses and vicious spin kicks. She poured her anger into her workout, attacking as if it, and not Maddock, had wronged her.
Two days! It had been two days since Maddock, Bones, and the others returned from wherever the hell they’d been off to on their last mission to save the world. Since then, all she’d gotten from Maddock were a couple of lame text messages. She wondered if Jade had been a part of the mission, but when she’d asked, Bones had pushed her off the phone, and Avery wasn’t picking up her phone. She’d taken that as a yes.
“Argh!” She slammed her elbow into the bag again and again, imagining Jade’s face and then Maddock’s. Tears welled in her eyes, and she knew she should take a break, but she was out of control. She continued to slam the bag until rough hands pulled her away.
“What the hell are you doing?” Javier, her striking coach, shouted. “What happened to your composure? Your discipline?” Though now in his sixties, Javier retained the strength and fire that fueled a successful boxing career in his younger days. “You are better than this.”
“I know.” Angel jerked away and headed for the locker room. “I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
“You’ve got a fight in one week!” Javier shouted. “Do you think you can clear your head by then, or are we wasting our time?”
Angel stripped her gloves off and gave him the finger with both hands. She didn’t bother with the doorknob, but kicked the door in instead. It wasn’t until she reached the shower that she let the tears flow. How had she messed things up so badly? She’d carried a torch for Maddock for years, and when she finally got him, she let jealousy get in the way. She deserved to lose him.
She turned the hot water all the way up and waited for it to get warm. One at a time, she removed her ankle braces, trunks, and tank top and flung them all against the wall as hard as she could. None was a satisfactory substitute for a heavy bag or someone’s face.
“Need somebody to wash your back?”
“Crap!” Though she still wore compression shorts and a sports bra, she snatched a towel and wrapped herself in it before turning back around. “Maddock! What the hell?”
His eyes, so like the sea on a stormy day, captivated her. She took an involuntary step toward him and then froze. There was something about the way he looked at her that didn’t seem quite right. His jaw was set, his posture rigid, and she saw a hint of uncertainty in his eyes that was so unlike him. He smiled, but it was a small, sad thing.
She wanted to run to him, to wrap her arms around him and cheer him up like she’d done so many times before, but she held back. “Why are you here?”
“Because I can’t get you to talk to me. Texts don’t count, especially the ones you’ve been sending.”
“I suppose that’s fair. So what do you want to talk about?” She wasn’t sure she wanted to know, but she supposed it was better this way. She steeled herself for the worst.
“I couldn’t do this over the phone.” Maddock took a deep breath. “I’ve made some big decisions.”
From the Author
Thank you for coming along with Dane and Bones on another adventure! As always, I’ve played free and loose with a few factual details here and there for the sake of the story, especially Rachel, Nevada, which bears little, if any, resemblance to the actual town. Apologies to anyone who finds my embellishments a distraction.
I want to say a special thank-you to Michael Dunne for his contributions to this book and for his continuing support.
If this is your first Dane and Bones story, and you’d like to read more, please visit me at www.davidwoodweb.com to learn about all of their adventures.
David
About the Author
David Wood is the author of the Dane Maddock Adventures series and several stand-alone works, as well as The Absent Gods fantasy series under his David Debord pseudonym. He enjoys history, Archaeology, mythology, and cryptozoology, and works all of these elements into his adventure fiction.
David co-hosts ThrillerCast, a podcast about reading, writing and publishing in thriller and genre fiction. When not writing, he can be found coaching fast-pitch softball or rooting on the Atlanta Braves. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico with his wife and children. Visit him online at www.davidwoodweb.com.