Free Hidden Flames by Kennedy Layne Page A

could and probably double that. He still asked, because one of his foster mothers had grilled manners into him until it had become automatic. He hadn’t been a fan of hers, but her lessons had definitely stuck with him.
    “I could have gone another hour or two.” Prue unsnapped the strap of her helmet and let it hang from one of the handlebars. She stretched her arms above her head before resting her hands on her lower back and arching to relieve some of the pressure. “The amount of people thinking they are going to cross into Mexico is unbelievable. It’s as if none of them are heading east like the President advised.”
    “Both directions are nothing but chaos and it’s probably a good thing we’re off the beaten track.” Owen unfastened his sleeping bag and grabbed the bottle of water he’d opened earlier along with an MRE. He set his bags down on the ground around six feet from their bikes, dropping the water and his meal next to where he planned to lay out his bedroll. “Even these back roads are getting clogged and it won’t be long before we’re forced to go farther north.”
    “Toward the ash?” Prue gathered the same items from her bike and joined him, although she made sure that a good yard separated their bags. Owen didn’t comment on the distance she’d put between them. He adjusted his shoulder holster, not about to remove it while he slept, and then folded his frame until he was sitting on his bedroll. They would only be here for a couple of hours anyway and he’d certainly slept in worse conditions than this. Prue hadn’t bothered to put on her cap and her long black hair fell over her shoulder when she joined him. He hid a tired smile, knowing full well she was just as exhausted as he was if she didn’t have that piece of armor in place. “It’s been about twelve hours and it could be upon us at any time depending on the shift of the jet stream.”
    “We’re equipped to ride through the ash,” Owen pointed out, downing the various portions of the MRE, slipping his main meal into the heating sleeve and adding enough water to finish off his first bottle of the day. There’d only been a couple of inches of liquid inside the container anyway. They were being careful about what they consumed, not knowing what was ahead of them. A hot meal now meant hours of energy later. “We have gas masks, those filters you installed, and supplies. We’ll be fine, but I think we should head north by around thirty to sixty miles to stay away from what congestion we can.”
    Prue finished off her wolf cookie and then settled back against her bag, waiting for her main meal to heat through. Once she had finished eating the worst version of spaghetti with meat sauce he was certain that she’d ever encountered, she repacked all her remaining trash in the plastic shell her meal had come in. There were a few extra items that she hadn’t used. He watched as she collected them in a plastic zip-lock baggie for later use. As for the small single use bottle of Tabasco sauce, he should have told her to add that to the main meal to at least give it some flavor. He just shook his head. If he’d mentioned it, she would have never used it anyway.
    “Who were you talking to this morning when we ran into those bikers?” Prue finally stretched out on her bedroll, flipping the outer side over her to keep the mosquitos at bay and then linked her fingers behind her head as she stared up at the sky. It was a cloudy night and the stars couldn’t be seen, which was a shame. Once the ash cloud traveled, they wouldn’t see the moon and stars for a very long time to come. Owen was still pretty wound up and wasn’t able to sleep quite yet, so he remained semi-upright leaning against his pack and appreciative that she wanted to talk as he took inventory of the weapons case. “Your friend, Berke?”
    “No, it was Mav.” Owen thought of his former teammate, currently in Lost Summit, Washington where he and Ernie were trying