Hand her over and we'll forget this ever happened. You can go back to rotting out here in peace. Ethan met his eyes. And if I don't? Then you're harboring an enemy combatant, and I'll treat you like one.
The silence stretched. One of Vance's men shifted in his saddle, the leather creaking. You've got until sundown tomorrow, Vance said. After that, I'm coming back with more men and less patience. He turned his horse.
Think carefully, Cross. You've already lost everything once. Don't make me take what's left. The riders disappeared over the ridge. Ethan stood there staring after them, his heart pounding.
Behind him, Ayla stepped out of the barn. You should have let them take me. Probably. Why didn't you? Ethan picked up his hammer.
Because I'm tired of running. That night they sat by the fire outside the house. Ayla cooked some kind of stew over the flames, the smell sharp and unfamiliar. Ethan watched her work, her movements efficient and practiced. Vance isn't bluffing, Ethan said.
He'll come back. And when he does, he'll burn this place to the ground. Then we fight. There's six of them, maybe more. Then we fight smart.
Ethan shook his head. You don't know what you're asking. I know exactly what I am asking, and I know what you are afraid of. She looked at him across the fire. You think if you fight again, you will become what you were, a killer, a weapon.
I was never a weapon. I was just a soldier. And now? Ethan stared into the flames. Now I'm nothing.
You are wrong. Ayla's voice was quiet, but firm. You are a man who chooses to protect when it would be easier to abandon. That is not nothing. That is everything.
Ethan didn't answer. Teach me, Ayla said. Teach me to fight. Teach me to survive. And when they come, we will stand together.
Ethan looked at her, this fierce, stubborn woman who had walked into his life like a storm and refused to leave. He thought about Vance, about the past, about the blood he'd tried so hard to wash from his hands. And then he thought about the alternative, running, again. He was so damn tired of running. 90 Days, Ethan said finally.