He drove on in silence and finally let out a sigh. “Mason then. We have to at least leave him out of this.”
“No,” I said quickly. “I’m not separating myself from him.”
“I can’t do this with an infant to watch, Tara. You have to understand that.”
“I’ll watch him.”
“Then I’ll have to watch you, too.”
“I can’t leave him,” I said. “I just can’t. I have to make sure he’s safe.”
“I wouldn’t suggest this if I didn’t think it was safe.”
“You thought my parents would be safe too, didn’t you?”
I regretted that as soon as I said it. His eyes narrowed and he looked out over the road, not saying anything for a bit.
“Mason is my son,” he said finally. “I’m not taking chances with his life or with yours. You have a choice: You either stay at Lindy’s with Mason, or you leave Mason and come with me.”
He said it so simply, but I could tell that there was an angry edge underneath his words. I knew that he wasn’t going to let me do exactly what I wanted and that fighting him was going to be useless. It pissed me off, and I wanted to struggle, but that wouldn’t get me anywhere.
Emory had made up his mind, and he wasn’t the type of man to change it easily.
“Fine,” I said finally. “I’ll leave Mason with Lindy.”
“Okay.” He turned back toward driving.
I wanted to scream at him in that moment. I felt like he was forcing me to tear off my own arm, but I also understood why he needed this from me. If I was going to insist on coming along when he didn’t want me to, I was going to have to prove that I could follow directions.
And besides, he was right. We couldn’t be worried about Mason while finding and fighting terrorists. Leaving Mason with someone, even Lindy, sounded pretty damn horrible to me, but I couldn’t argue with his logic.
We continued driving in silence. I wanted to pick up Mason and hold him, but I also knew I should let him sleep. He needed it, especially with the ear infection. The antibiotics seemed to be working already, and he was taking the medicine pretty easily, but I didn’t want to mess with that.
I looked out the window, my stomach a knot of worry. But I was determined to stick this through, to help Emory, to save my parents.
I wasn’t backing down, not from this, not ever.
Chapter 26
Emory
I watched from a distance, my arms crossed, as Tara talked with a young, pretty girl. I assumed it was Lindy, though obviously I couldn’t be sure since I’d never actually met her before.
Travis was out scouting around us, making sure nobody was following, but I wasn’t worried about that. I had a powerful gut feeling about this, the first true gut feeling I’d gotten since everything had started. I finally felt like I understood what Omar was doing and where this was all going.
Tara hated dropping Mason off with Lindy, but it was the safest thing for him. Nobody knew Lindy; nobody knew she was even slightly a part of this. But if we kept Mason with us, he would be dragged into the heart of everything, potentially right into the center of a nuclear meltdown.
Tara passed Mason off to Lindy and gave her his bags and things. Lindy looked worried and maybe a little confused, but she clearly had agreed to watch Mason. I didn’t know what Tara was telling her, but I assumed it was some convincing lie.
Maybe she was saying she and I were going on some trip together. Lindy probably thought she was crazy and that Tara was going on some weeklong fuck fest with me, which was definitely better than the truth: that we were going to hunt down some terrorists and stop an attack.
Tara finally finished, kissed Mason goodbye, and tore herself away. I could see the hurt plain as day on her face, but I knew she understood why this was the right call. Mason would be safer this way, and we wouldn’t have to worry about him as we finished this. It was only going to be for a few days at most, and Lindy apparently was good with Mason.
I was impressed all over again by Tara’s strength. She was keeping herself going against all odds. I’d thought for sure she would stay behind with Mason, but she was clearly determined to see this through.
I knew I shouldn’t have let her come with us, but I also knew that I was way too close to this. I was giving in to that, admitting to myself that I wanted her to come along. I wasn’t sure how she could help or if it would even be safe for her to stay with me, but I couldn’t fucking help myself.
The thought of doing this without her felt empty. She was the reason for it all, and I wanted her nearby. Fuck if that wasn’t a very, very stupid reason for dragging a civilian along on a serious mission, but there it fucking was.