24. Roni

Iwoke up alone in the sleeping bag. I wanted to say that I was surprised, but I wasn't. Diego seemed like the early riser type. I looked at my watch; it was eight in the morning. At least he let me sleep in.

I got up and brushed my teeth and did as much hygiene as I dared without an indoor bathroom. Baby wipes and a quick face wash it was. When I emerged from the house, the sun shining above the trees took my breath away. The water in the distance sparkled from the reflection so bright it was nearly blinding. I took only a short moment to enjoy the quiet before I went searching for Diego. I suspected he'd been up before the crack of dawn and by now he was neck deep into something we needed to get done.

He stepped around the side of the house as if my thoughts had summoned him. "Good morning. Have you eaten anything?" He seemed chipper as he wiped his hands on his shirt. Good god, it's a crisp fifty degrees out, and he's shirtless like it's a simmering ninety.

"Good morning. No, I was looking for you. Have you been up long?" Certainly long enough to break a sweat.

"Just a few hours. Long enough to come up with a solid plan." He seemed solid, as if he felt at peace. "Come with me." I followed him around the front of the house and was surprised to see that it looked the same. What was it he wanted to show me?

"What exactly am I looking at?" I hesitated because I didn't want to be insulting, but I really couldn't tell.

"You're looking at a reinforced and secured cabin." His eyebrow raised in question as he fought a smirk. He was pulling my leg. "You can't tell?"

I laughed because at least he wasn't expecting me to see it. "No, you're going to have to walk me through this one."

He took a few steps forward and grabbed my hand. I quickly wiped the smile off my face. He and I needed to talk; I needed to let him know that we either needed to be all in or professional only, because I was going to read too far deep into every moment like this if we didn't.

"You see this pile of leaves? Don't step on it. There's a hole beneath it, and if you step in it, you'll probably break your ankle." He pointed to the second step on the front porch. "And that step, the second board all the way across isn't screwed down. If someone steps at the edge of any of those, the other end will fly up and smack them in the head. The first and third boards are safe." He lightly stepped at the end of the middle board of the offending step, and the two opposite ends lifted off the deck slightly. He quickly lifted his foot, and they fell back into place.

He looked above him, and I followed his line of sight. "You see those windchimes? They're positioned so they'll get smacked by the boards and create a warning sound to alert us of intruders." His fingers smacked the windchimes, which clashed together, breaking the peace of the forest.

"Wow." I was at a loss for words. He was booby trapping the house to make it like a fortress.

"This is just the beginning of what we can do, but we don't have a lot of time, so I needed to get started on the smaller stuff as I work my way up to the more elaborate stuff. We've got a lot of work to do, but I'm sure you want to eat, and maybe bathe?" I looked down at my shirt from yesterday, and my nose crinkled as I caught a whiff of myself. "Don't worry, I don't smell you. I know I could use one myself."

But we don't have a lot of time.The words stressed me out.

I hesitated. "Yeah, I could—but why do I get the idea that you know something I don't? You make it seem like there's a timeline now. What aren't you telling me?"

He nodded. "I spoke with my friend this morning. I'll tell you everything, but let's cover it on our walk down to the river, yeah? I'll grab you something to eat, and you grab the hygiene kits."

I did what he asked and grabbed us clean clothes. I was never more excited for a hike in my life—after all, there was the promise of a bath, even if it was going to be cold. We had a fire to warm up by. I was sick and tired of barely feeling clean after using baby wipes. There was only so much they could do to keep you clean.

I felt the sun kiss my face as we hiked down to the water. The birds were calling to each other. Now that I'd had a good night's sleep in a warm cabin, I was able to actually enjoy the nature around me, and man if it wasn't beautiful. I'd never have any hope of coming across beauty like this in D.C. Sure, there were parklands and woods surrounding the northwestern part of the city, but it had nothing on this…

When we got to the water, Diego walked around for a short while before he confirmed we were alone. We both stripped, and in the full light of day, the action felt way more embarrassing than it had last night. I tried to bury my thoughts and insecurities deep into the back of my head. Diego seemed to like what I had; shouldn't that be enough?

As I eased into the water with a large handful of body wash, Diego explained to me what he learned on his phone call. The more he talked, the more panicked I felt about what was to come. Soon I wasn't sure if it was the thrill of skinny dipping, the cold water, or my nervousness about the Geneva Project finding us that had my heart racing and stole my breath. I'd swear if my palms were able, they'd be sweating.

All the pieces clicked. We were on borrowed time before they searched the wilderness outside of Anchorage. We were only a full day's hike away from the city. We were lucky if we had a week until they showed up on our doorstep. "So that's the reason you Home Aloned the cabin." That's why it was the first thing he did this morning after getting off the phone. Deep down, the idea of the unknown must have scared him, too. Except he put that energy into something productive, whereas my energy was usually placed into something destructive. There was our core difference.

"Exactly, and there's still a lot more to do. Now that we've seen the cabin in person, I feel there's more we could use in town, but I'm torn. I don't think it's a good idea for you to go back. I want them to forget you entirely—but I don't want to leave you alone."

He did look visibly torn by the decision. He'd been shampooing his hair for the last two minutes, since he broached the subject of the Geneva Project trying to track me down.

"I've got to ask, as nice as this place is," I extended my hands to the side to gesture to our surroundings, "why don't we just keep moving and find a different place to hide out?"

He shook his head. "I've thought about that, but if they have the resources my friend says they do, then it's still a matter of time before they catch up to us." He paused as he dunked his head under the water to wash out his shampoo. "Strategically we need to make a decision that's going to give us the biggest advantage. To me, that's staying here where we can learn the land, scout places to hide or attack from, and we can fortify the cabin, instead of being caught out in the open."

His reasoning made sense, but the idea of hunkering down knowing they were going to find us was terrifying. Now that we had a better idea of what we were up against, an organization who would stop at nothing to get to me, I wouldn't second guess the need to be discreet and hide. I didn't ever want to come face to face with them, ever. If that meant hiding out with Diego for the rest of my life, I could think of worse things.

We needed to divide and conquer to give us our best shot for now. He needed more supplies in town, and I couldn't go. This was my chance to prove to myself that I could do this; I could contribute to our survival out here. "I agree, you need to get more from the city. I need you to teach me how to defend myself before you go. I don't want to be helpless like I was back in my room in the White House." I was dead serious. I didn't want to rely solely on Diego. I wanted to be able to work as a team to keep us both safe. His face was likely plastered all over every newspaper and magazine. He was in shit deep with me.

"I want you to be able to shoot a gun, and I want you to know the best place to run to if you need to escape. If you can do those, you can survive until I come back for you."

I nodded eagerly. I wanted that, a lot. If I had any hope of surviving in Alaska for a while, I needed to know how to properly use a gun. "Can you show me other things, too?" There was so much I needed to learn about the real world, about surviving with next to nothing. Just maybe if I learned them I'd feel closer to Diego's equal, and not some rich girl he was hired to keep out of trouble. Maybe when all was said and done, my dad would see me differently and wouldn't try to map out my life for me.

"Like what?" His eyes roamed my naked body as he asked the question. "I'd say you learned quite a bit last night, wouldn't you?"

I felt my face heat despite the cold water I was waist deep in. "Oh, I certainly did—and I want to learn more of that, trust me. But I think it's a wasted opportunity if I don't learn how to really take care of myself. How will I figure out what I want to do with my life when this is all over if I still can't even be self-sufficient? I know watching a TV show doesn't show me all the skills I need, and I'd rather learn everything from you anyways." I needed to get myself even out of my comfort zone—expand my box and learn how to better operate within those new boundaries. That way if my dad's politics ever put me in danger again, I'd be ready for it.

Diego's eyebrow nearly touched his hairline, as if he hadn't expected that from me. The side smirk that slowly stretched across his face showed me how pleased he was. His eyes sparkled with delight. "I'll teach you anything I know inside the bedroom and out." My face heated again, but I did my best to own it. Diego accepted my eagerness to learn with open arms. It gave me hope for the future, like just maybe I'd make it out of this whole Geneva Project business alive—and just maybe he and I could explore whatever this was between us. Real or fake.

I dipped my head under the water to rinse out the conditioner that my hair desperately needed. When I resurfaced, I caught Diego's slightly panicked expression, tense body, and quick breathing. Then I heard what was the culprit for his reaction, a loud roar, and it came from somewhere behind me.