Hiro ducked out of The Getaway’s cabin and took in a deep breath of the cool evening air. Thank you, God. This was a huge answer to prayer. Massive. Coop hadn’t lost his conscience—silenced it. But it seemed to be speaking to him now.
Yet she still didn’t feel as relieved as she thought she would. Maybe it was the thought of talking to her mom or going to the police. But that is exactly what she’d wanted to do for days now. Was it Frank? She idly rubbed her dad’s star hanging at her throat and tested the thought. Tried it on. No … Frank was going to be okay. She knew it.
It had to be Coop. She felt a definite heaviness the instant she thought of him. Gordy, on the other hand, looked like he could float off the deck. Like he could vault over the boat’s rail and land on his feet in the yard below.
The way Hiro saw it, Gordy had been through a lot in the last few days. He never said it, but she knew. He’d put himself in the middle—working both sides to try to bring the three of them together again.
The three of them. Again the heaviness. Would it be the same? How could she ever trust Coop again? Even now, she felt he was holding back. Hiding something.
Coop joined them on deck just as Gordy climbed over the side.
“Hiro, can I ask you something?” Coop took a step closer and smiled. The smile looked stiff. Plastic. Like he wanted to look casual but wasn’t feeling that way at all.
Hiro paused.
“What’s it like … when you get that feeling?”
A chill swept over her. How could she describe it? “It’s a sense of doom.” Like walking down a dark street and knowing someone or something is following. She felt her dad’s shield. “Sometimes it is so strong it feels like the room is getting smaller or darker. Like you know something terrible is going to happen and there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop it.”
He nodded. “Is that how it felt just before you heard about your dad?”
She felt the tears well up. She didn’t want to cry now. “Yeah.”
“And the other night, at Frank’s … before the robbery?”
“Exactly.” But she didn’t want to go back there. Not now. She didn’t feel strong enough.
“That is spooky,” Gordy said.
She swung one leg over the rail and started down toward him.
“Hiro.” Coop called her name just barely loud enough for her to hear.
She stopped and looked at his face.
“Got any feelings like that now?”
She shook her head, and the heaviness in her heart seemed more pronounced. “Maybe just a sense that we’re running out of time.”