The Tiger's Mail Order Mate (Paranormal Shifter Romance) by Jade White

boat?” She asked.
    “Yes, but they don’t know why I got it.” He said as he turned towards the mouth of the bay.
    Sonja sat on one of the small benches as the small craft motored though the calm waters between the isolated Pacific island chain. “You know, I was hoping to make a new life here in America. If I had known Russia and the USA were partners in the Crimea deal, I wouldn’t have come here. I might have gone to Canada or something. Guess I’m not that much of a spy after all.”
    “Don’t be too hard on yourself.” Russell comforted her. “We all make mistakes. Just that in our line of work, mistakes usually cost lives, we’re lucky that it’s just our own that’s on the line this time and nothing in the way of collateral damage.”
    “You do have a point. I’m just so tired of being hunted.” She sighed.
    “Well get used to it. I’ll do my best to keep you safe, at least.”
    “You mean we’ll keep each other safe? We’re in this together, you know. I’m not any mere damsel in distress.” Sonja scoffed.
    “True. You are fully capable. We need to work together, that’s for sure. I’ll protect you, and you protect me. There will be times where I can’t really do much of anything. I only have ten boxes of adrenal suppressant, so when those run out, I’m going to need some hands on help in keeping calm.”
    “Hopefully we don’t need to go through all those by the time we get to Brazil.” She said.
    “Same, it’s just trying to steal one of those planes and hope that there is fuel in it and, there are just so many variables.” Russell said. He hoped that they wouldn’t be stuck on one of the smaller islands for very long. The longer they stay in Hawaii, the easier it would be for the Navy to track him down and euthanize him.
     
    *
     
    Russell pulled the boat up alongside a rickety old dock in an isolated cove on the island of Niihau. It was near midnight and Sonja was covered with a wool blanket, snoozing on the bench. He cut the engine and walked down to her. “Hey, we’re here.” He said softly as he shook her awake.
    Sonja yawned and stretched out. “Hey. Since I slept, and you haven’t, when we get to the plane you can let me fly. I’ve done it plenty of times.”
    “That works for me, I’m beat.” Russell pulled out a map of the area. “Alright, the airport isn’t too far from here if we cut through the scrub. Watch out though, there are real nasty wild boars around.”
    “At night?” Sonja said incredulously.
    “If we wake one up, it won’t matter.”
    “Where are we anyway? Sonja asked.
    “Niihau. It’s largely uninhabited except for a few native Hawaiians and the owners, the Robinson’s. They have a private airstrip not too far from here. They keep a couple of private jets here so they can get off the island when they need to, and sometimes they need to medivac an injured local.”
    “Makes sense.” Sonja replied as they jogged along the sandy dune. “How far away is it?”
    “Not far, maybe an hour or two walk from this cove. Oh, be prepared for resistance, just in case. I know we did well at keeping the microphone transmitting but they’ve probably caught on by now and are searching for me.”
    “More than likely, yes. One question,” Sonja interjected.
    “What is it?”
    “What if the planes are gone?”
    Russell scanned the horizon and saw a bunch of twinkling lights slowly growing brighter. “Then we head to Kauai and stow away on that.” He said pointing at the cruise ship in the distance.
    Sonja liked that plan. “Let’s go see if the planes are there first.”
    They trekked through the dry scrub of the sparsely inhabited island. Nothing stirred at that time of night except a few small bats that feasted on the mosquitoes that bred in the stagnant pools that were left behind during the summer drought. The air was cool as the breeze from the North Pacific Ocean softly blew over the nearly barren island.
    “So back to the boat, huh?”