Free The Travelers: Book One by Sennah Tate Page A

station in a twenty mile radius. He didn’t know what it was about her, but this strange woman brought out his deepest protective instincts. He couldn’t deny the primal urge her had to shield her from all of the bad things in the world. He couldn’t brush aside the irresistible desire he had to wrap his arms around her and soothe her fears. There was no denying his sudden affinity for her, but he was going to try to deny it anyway.
    She sighed, her shoulders falling under what appeared to be an overwhelming weight. Carson felt a tug at his chest, wishing he could lift her burden. But there were more important things right now. He couldn’t allow himself to be distracted.
    “Okay,” she conceded, “we’ll do things your way. What’s your plan?”
    Carson wished he felt more satisfied with his victory; the slump of her shoulders and the hollow expression on her face made him feel guilty for being so harsh with her. He was letting the stress of the situation get to him; he knew he needed to make a concerted effort to keep his temper reigned in with Gemma. She seemed so fragile and delicate.
    Carson cleared his throat, pulling the car back out onto the abandoned road.
    “I have a few friends that may be able to help us.”
    “Oh?”
    “Yeah.”
    Gemma rolled her eyes.
    “If you couldn’t tell, I was fishing for more information there,” she remarked with a hint of playfulness in her tone. The air in the car felt heavy and oppressive, she just wanted to lighten the mood a little bit.
    “Right,” Carson answered, his fingers twisting around the steering wheel belying his cool facade.
    “Well, we’ve all just been friends since grade school. We’ve gone our separate ways, but somehow all ended up back here fairly recently.”
    “And… you think these friends of yours will be able to help us find Izzy?”
    “If anyone can, yeah. I didn’t want to raise any alarms by bringing it up if there was nothing to worry about. Obviously, something’s going on though.”
    Gemma nibbled her bottom lip thoughtfully. On the one hand, she knew that things like this were a job for the police or the national guard; civilians had no place crime fighting. On the other hand, Carson had a point: the police seemed to be pretty ineffective right now. If she wanted to feel safe in her own town and her own home, they needed to figure out what was happening. It seemed like it might be a bit bigger than just Izzy, but Izzy had to be their priority.
    A heavy sigh escaped her lips. No matter what he said, Carson couldn’t do anything to soothe her raging anxiety. She wouldn’t be able to calm down until she saw Isabel safe.
    “Yeah… Don’t they have other things to do though?” She asked. It was one thing for an unemployed teacher to drop everything for a friend; it was reasonable for a brother to put his life on hold for his little sister, but what about his friends? They couldn’t just press pause on their jobs, relationships, and obligations to help him, could they?
    He chuckled, a warm and welcome change to the stony expression he’d been wearing.
    “You’ll understand more when you meet them,” he answered.
    Gemma wasn’t sure that she would, but she agreed to go along with his plans so she kept her mouth shut and let him drive. 

Chapter 8
    Carson pulled into the back of a nondescript brick building, complete with rusted gutters and a fence hanging on by a prayer.
    “This is your office?” Gemma asked, hesitating before she exited the vehicle.
    “In a sense, yeah,” Carson grinned mischievously, a gleam of eagerness in his eyes.
    “Oh… kay,” she replied after a pause. She didn’t get the joke; she felt like she was missing something but she didn’t know what. It was a frustrating feeling; she was out of the loop before she even knew there was a loop.
    Carson casually walked around the side of the four-story building and opened the door that covered the stairs leading into the basement.
    Gemma froze.
    Okay,