Read Online Kindred Intentions by Rita Carla Francesca Monticelli - Free Book Online Page B

quiet.” He was whispering with
his mouth near her ear.
    Why should she move? She was feeling so good
there.
    The noise became louder. The helicopter was
exactly over them. Amelia held her breath. She couldn’t say whether it was
because of her fear of being glimpsed from above or from excitement caused by
prolonged contact with him. The aircraft was so close that the trees were
shaken by the air swept by the blades, as if it was a strong wind. At times she
could catch sight of it through the foliage, then it disappeared again. The hatch
was open and a dark silhouette stuck out from the inside. They were so close
that she could see what they were holding. It was a rifle, a precision one with
a gun sight. If they had located them, they could kill them with little effort
from that distance. Their bodies would rot there in the woods for who knew how
long, until a hiker chanced upon them, finding only two human skeletons.
    Amelia was shaken by a shiver, as she released
her breath.
    Mike crossed an arm over her body, placing a
hand on her shoulder and holding her tighter. “Don’t worry.”
    All of a sudden the rain increased. A proper
wall of water formed before them. Looking up was impossible, because their eyes
were flooded by that intense pouring. There was an umpteenth flash, followed by
a roll of thunder. The crackling caused by a million drops impacting the leaves
and branches almost surpassed the din coming from the helicopter’s rotor. It
became more confused. The air vortex could do nothing against the deluge that
seemed able to absorb it. The aircraft’s noise became less intense, until it
faded away beyond their position.
    Emitting a sigh, Amelia allowed herself to
relax.
    But he didn’t let her go immediately. “I don’t
like this story.” He was still whispering, even if there was no reason.
    “What story?”
    “They are heading to the hunting lodge. If
they find it before it gets dark, they could set a trap for us.” He was
speaking normally now. He cleared his throat. “There aren’t any visible
buildings for a range of fifteen miles, to my knowledge.”
    “Just what we needed.”
    Mike loosened his grip on her and made her
turn. He was just a bit taller than her. He looked her in the eye. “We’ll have
to be careful, when we get closer to the lodge.”
    She nodded, trying to focus on being careful,
but in vain. The water flowed on their faces as if they were under a shower;
and there it was, the fantasy of being under a real shower with him, peeking
out at the edge of her thoughts. She felt herself blushing.
    “Let’s go,” he said at last, releasing her.
     
     
    Hours later, the remainder of the twilight was
dimmed by the clouds still covering the sky. They had walked so much that
Amelia’s legs were now on automatic pilot. It seemed to her that the distance
covered was much longer than twelve miles, but she couldn’t say it with any
certainty. What did she know about hiking in the woods? Three times a week,
before going to work, she used to run for five miles, but on the hard and
almost always flat surface of a park’s path, or along the river. Moving on a
bumpy terrain, under pouring rain, often circumventing obstacles, was much more
difficult and strenuous.
    “We’re almost there,” Mike said, in a tone
that sounded encouraging. He looked anything but tired. Perhaps he used to run
every day.
    Amelia withdrew her thoughts from the bizarre
image of the man doing cross country in the middle of the city, jumping over
little walls and challenging cars, and returned her attention to the three
words he’d just pronounced. How did he know they were almost there? Everywhere
looked all the same, all the more now that it was getting dark and, as much as
she tried to check where she placed her feet, that task was becoming more and
more arduous. “Don’t you have a torch or something like that in your magical
rucksack?”
    She heard him smile. Seeing it was almost
impossible. “We’d better