Free Yield by Bryan K. Johnson Page A

turn sharply in implied objection. “ When you sleep at the station for four nights a week and are on call for the other three, they don ’ t exactly get much time with you. ”
    “ You heard all that, huh? ” Devin says. “ Thanks for jumping in. ” He stares accusingly back at her. “ Well, if money didn ’ t exist, I ’ d be a much happier bloke, too. But the world just doesn ’ t work that way, love. ”
    Her quiet voice rises impulsively to defend her children. “ They don ’ t see it like that. All our kids see is an empty chair at the dinner table and Dad never home. Explanations are just excuses to them. ”
    Locking his jaw, Devin turns and scans the roadway for something else to talk about. He ’ s become much more perceptive of her various tones over their 16 years of marriage. This particular one never ended well for him.
    The knot in his stomach tightens as they inch closer to PDX. Pre-interview doubts and apprehension have rippled through Devin ’ s mind before, but never like this. I have to get this job, he suddenly realizes. The dread of failure shoots across his body.
    Idyllic postcards full of sun-peppered skyscrapers begin to pan through his nervous mind. We can start over there. We have to … He nods to himself, trying to turn his doubt into a rallying cry. Just keep it together and get through this.
    “ I ’ ll have better hours if I get this job, ” he finally says. Forced optimism toward their new life twinkles in his emerald eyes. Mistakes and guilt fade like candlelight at the end of a darkening tunnel. “ Weekends. Evenings. We can finally take that trip to Disneyland the kids have always wanted. ”
    Katherine looks over at him, trying to tell if he ’ s joking. “ Yeah. When Haley was ten. ” Blinded hope clouds her husband ’ s face. She should have been used to that by now. She did marry a firefighter. But this was more than just hope. It was almost ignoran ce .
    “ What? ” Devin defends. “ Fifteen-year-olds don ’ t like theme parks? ”
    “ Not with their parents, ” Katherine laughs. They slow to 20mph as she pilots through the twisting laps encircling Portland International Airport. “ Northwest, right? ”
    “ Yeah. ”
    She pulls to a stop in front of the airline ’ s busy unloading area. Bags and bodies move all around. The sharp cry of traffic officers echoes back from the arched metal overhangs. Their whistles impose harsh order upon the pedestrians and cars moving through the airport.
    “ Put in a good word for me, ” Devin pleads. His grip hesitates on the cold, silver door handle.
    “ Somewhere, ” Kat says, putting a hand lovingly up to her husband ’ s face, “ way deep down, I think, she knows you ’ re not that bad. At least for an Englishman, that is. ”
    “ Thanks, love, ” he laughs. Devin ’ s breath catches as he looks back at his wife ’ s smiling face. The sunlight glitters through the windows into her rippled blond hair. Almost uncontrollably, his body leans forward to kiss her, his lips lingering longer than usual against hers. Reassurance draws from her as their skin meets. The swirling fears that race through Devin ’ s mind begin to slow.
    “ See you tonight, ” he says, pulling the handle and opening the door to uncertainty. He leans out and stretches his solid frame. Devin smooths down the front of his silver tie and buttons up the navy blue suit coat in preparation for a day of untold promise. With a confident swagger back in his step, the fireman strides toward the spinning panes inside PDX ’ s large, revolving glass entry. He pushes down the urge to take a final backward glance at the woman he loves. Gritting his teeth instead, he looks straight ahead as she merges out into the airport ’ s gathering traffic.
     

Chapter 6
     
     
    7:52 a.m.
    Tracy Thomas ’ s candy-apple Boxster shoots in and out of frayed shadow edges, speeding under the dripping tips of Seattle ’ s skyline. Traffic is grid-locked on most