BREAKING POINT



Alex and Jan traveled until it was too dark to see. They rolled the blankets out and huddled together in the cold mountain air. Alex propped the flashlight against his pack, and they ate tuna and crackers by the soft light, washing it down with spring water from the canteen. After eating, Alex leaned over and kissed Jan. Her cheeks were wet with tears. She had been crying silently in the dark. “I know it’s bad, honey,” Alex began.

Jan put a finger to his lips. “I’m not crying about all of this. It’s because of Robert. He was such a nice guy and his family doesn’t even know.”

Alex felt a growing anger when he thought about how Robert had been murdered. “Don’t worry, we’ll get out of all of this and make the bastards pay.”

“Why did they have to kill him?”

It’s got to be something illegal. Maybe they’re running drugs or guns. They’re the ones that tampered with the fuel line. What I can’t figure is that some of them spoke Russian. What are Russians doing here?” He finished telling her about their encounter at the dock.

“Oh my God,” she said. “They wanted us out of the way from the very start.”

“That’s right; they must have been really surprised when we showed up at the dock.”