Chapter 520

Richard drove with steady hands, not too fast, leaving Angela with nothing to do but stare out the window at the rain to pass the time. Suddenly, Richard slammed on the brakes, jolting Angela out of her thoughts. She looked up, stunned for a few seconds—a mudslide had blocked the road back to the base. "You’ve got to be kidding me!" Angela muttered, staring at the scene. It wasn’t a massive disaster, but enough to completely obstruct the road, with some debris even spilling down the slope. Clearing it tonight was out of the question. "What do we do now?" she asked, turning to Richard. "We’ll have to stay in town for the night," he replied, scanning the area for a place to turn the car around. Angela sighed. Just bad luck, she thought. As he maneuvered the car back toward the small town, she silently hoped there’d at least be a hotel. The drive back was another stretch of silence. Angela recalled that the town’s so-called "center" was just a single street—what kind of hotel could possib