"Please," she begged again.I squeezed my left hand harder but it wouldn't obey me."Please," she whispered and her hand came up to take my now limp han...d off her neck.What's going on? I thought. I shook my head to clear it then I turned and walked away. I sat down on a nearby log and I looked up and the sky, the flashed red was still there, bright against the cloudless blue of the heavens."Thank you," she whispered as she sat down beside me.It took a few moments for me to realize it was her. I just took her from you," I said, patting his knee again and watching him squirm."Wow, man. You got some balls doing that to Freddy," Sid said. The compliment was meant well, but it struck me as too little too late."It's something you should have done a long time ago, Sid," I said to him. I gave Freddy another pat on the knee before getting up."Don't let him get by with treating you that way Becky. You deserve better."I went back to take my seat next to Miss Baker. "Sammy, I hope you're not. Had Isabella realized she was expected to meet local royalty from one of the oldest and most sacred Balinese families for whom orchids were a holy trust passed down for generations she would probably been quite intimidated. As it was Issy just assumed, like most naïve Americans, that she was about to meet a fellow orchid “hobbyist” and chat about a common interest as if it were the latest Youtube craze? Innocents abroad abound and they are never cuter or more spectacular in their innocent. You did great, Travis.”“The flashes still caught me by surprise,” I said.“It’s no big deal,” Liz said. “It was only a second or two and you were back on your game.”“It felt like an hour or two,” I admitted.Liz squeezed my hand.“We got two trailers, Boss,” the driver said.Ryan turned around and I did, too – even though I was no one’s boss. Just as in San Diego, there were two motorcycles driving recklessly through the afternoon traffic.“How far until we hit the others?” Ryan asked.“Less than a.