Page 2 of Broken Warrior
“Hey, buddy.” I sit on the edge of James’s bed and brush his shaggy dark hair from his eyes. “Baby, it’s time to get up.”
Slowly his lids flutter open and those bright blue pools focus on my face. “Is nap time over, Mama?”
“It is.” I force a smile and try to hide my nerves. “And guess what?”
James winces as he pushes himself up in bed and my heart breaks a little more. “What?”
“We’re going on a trip.”
“A trip?”
I nod and take a deep breath. “You remember me telling you about your Auntie Dori? My sister that lives far away?”
My son nods as a hint of a smile pulls at his sleepy face.
“Well, I just got off the phone with her and we’re going to go visit her for a while.”
“Really?” James rubs his eyes and gives me a big grin. “We’re gonna visit Auntie Dori for a long time?”
Forever if I have any say, but I don’t tell him that, not yet. “Yep. We’re gonna go visit her for a real long time and be super happy.”
“Ok, Mommy. Can Fred come?”
“Of course.” I take his spider with a smile. “I’m going to put him in your backpack though so he doesn’t get lost. It’s a long way to Auntie Dori’s house and he needs to be safe.”
“Just like us.”
My chest squeezes, tightens to the point of pain, but I keep smiling. “Just like us, baby. We all need to be safe and Auntie Dori is going to help make that happen.”
A few minutes later, I’ve reapplied the salve to James’s chest, finished packing him a few odds and ends, grabbed my ID, his birth certificate, and some snacks before we’re heading out the door.
“Mommy is going to carry you, ok?” I lift him up onto my hip, James’s little body so exhausted from his horrible night. “We’re walking down to the drugstore then to the bus stop a few blocks away and I don’t want you to be tired.”
“Ok, Mommy.”
Two hours later—about ten miles on foot and three buses—James and I are boarding a small plane just outside of San Diego, both of us tired but hopeful.
“Is Auntie Dori gonna be happy to see us?”
I sigh as I buckle him in, my senses on high alert while we wait for the plane to take off. “She is going to be thrilled, baby. Auntie Dori is our family and she loves us; she’s going to be so excited to see us when we get to Colorado.”
James leans his head on my shoulder and relaxes for the first time in his four short years. “Maybe Auntie Dori will let us stay forever so we can be happy all the time.”
A tear slips down my cheek as I kiss his head. “That sounds like a plan, buddy.”
As long as Gino doesn’t find us first.
PROLOGUE
FIN
I reach overand grab the mirror from the end table, hold it close to my face, and start crushing the rock with my fucking library card. The library card I’ve had since I was old enough to ask for one; the card my dad took me to get when he realized I was more interested in reading than playing outside or anything else he tried to get me into.
Fucking pathetic.
And ironic, really.
An IQ of 181 and it’s being wasted on a piece of shit like me.
