Free Radiant Surrender (CSA Case Files Book 6) by Kennedy Layne Page A

in the fact that he was even here, ahead of her. She’d also been preoccupied by how he’d made her feel with just a kiss. Her life was in turmoil and when she would have rejoiced at such a thing, she didn’t have the time at this very moment. Uncle John needed to be told what was going on and somehow, some way, get her parents out of the country. She wasn’t sure she could handle Gavin being angry with her right now. “You don’t get the right to be mad.”
    Gavin lifted a hand and rubbed the back of his neck as if he were dealing with a petulant child instead of a very real woman with very real needs and desires. He’d done this numerous times in the office when she’d make a decision he didn’t agree with. Well, that was tough shit. She didn’t work for him anymore and how he felt about her at the moment shouldn’t matter either. She was now angrier than he was.
    “I’m going into that house, Gavin.” Jessie put her hands on her hips and tilted her head up to that he could see the defiance in her eyes. “With or without you.”
    Sixty seconds later she found herself sitting beside Gavin in his car as they pulled out of the development. She’d crossed her arms in frustration and was staring out the window, thinking of all the things she wanted to scream at him. She’d felt devastated once he’d explained the impossibility of it all. She was helpless to aid her parents in finding some semblance of peace to live out the rest of their lives. Whatever the government thought of them, or even Gavin for that matter, her mother and father had raised her to be a true American. That deserved something rather than a life sentence in a federal prison.
    “Your way isn’t always the right way.” Jessie finally looked at Gavin. His eyes were on the road in front of them and the muscle in his jaw was easily discernable as he made known his own irritation. “And just so you know, that includes your personal life too. I’m more of a woman and less of the innocent child than you want to believe.”

Chapter Eight
    C rest didn’t want to take the chance of driving back to Minneapolis in the middle of the night. It was easier to make out the vehicles and faces on the CCTV surveillance cameras with minimal traffic at night. Potential satellite coverage made their chances even worse. The only option they had was hiding in the rush hour traffic tomorrow morning. He’d thought of various places they could hole up for a few hours without raising any eyebrows. It was a hell of a lot better than thinking about what he’d done back in that neighborhood.
    “Where are we going?”
    Jessie hadn’t really spoken for the last thirty minutes, with the exception of telling him he wasn’t always right. He’d refrained from replying to that. It wouldn’t do to get into another argument. Her heart shaped face had been pointed in the direction of the passenger window, but now her emerald green eyes were focused on him.
    “A friend’s cabin. He’s not there at this time of year.”
    Crest didn’t feel the need to share anything else with her. She’d placed them in a very precarious position and was wasting valuable time that he could be putting into ensuring her freedom. Again he abstained from engaging in that conversation. Having done so would have only increased the tension between them. Had this been a normal workday for him, he would have left the office and called up one of the women who enjoyed his company. His predilection for the lifestyle was a tension reliever, but he wouldn’t go down that path with Jessie because she was a novice and much too young and innocent.
    The silence offered comfort and Crest finally found the back road that he’d been looking for. The moon was bright enough to offer the light he’d needed to drive down these country roads, even without the headlights. The trees had used the spring to grow back their leaves and they made a loosely enclosed tunnel leading down the path to their destination.