“Absolute fucking crap.”
“No argument.”
“I want to punch somebody right about now.”
“Not it,” said Rick.
“I punch back,” said Steve. He sounded a little amused.
“Just have patience,” said George. “This is all going to be over soon. One way or another, I guess we’re finishing things tonight.”
I gave her a sidelong look. “Let’s pick one way, okay? I don’t like another.”
“That’s okay.” George smiled a little, trying to be reassuring. “Neither do I.”
She was fidgeting in the way that meant she didn’t want to say anything else. I put a hand on her knee, and we drove the rest of the way in silence. We were greeted at the Center gates by a barrage of blood tests, all of which checked out clean before Steve drove on to the motor pool and parked the car.
I was the first one out, and started walking briskly away. I heard George get out behind me.
“Don’t say anything, please,” she said, to Steve. “I’m meeting with the senator tonight, when he gets back from his dinner. After that—”
“After that, I guess what needs doing is going to be clear one way or the other,” said Steve. “Don’t worry. I wouldn’t have gone into security if I didn’t know how to keep my mouth shut.”
“Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.”
I was already a good four or five yards from the car. I turned, walking backward as I called, “George, c’mon! I want to get out of this damn monkey suit!”
“Coming!” she shouted, and muttered something I was probably better off not hearing before she turned to follow me. Steve waved. I waved back.
Rick walked with us until we reached the van. Then he turned left, heading for his trailer.
We turned right, heading for ours. The silence was getting to be too much for me—I’m not George, I
can’t do quiet for long periods of time. “He’s a good guy,” I said, as I pressed my thumb against the lock.
It clicked open. “A little old-fashioned, but still a good guy. I’m glad we got the chance to work with him.”
“You think he’ll stay on after we all get home?” George squeezed past me to start rummaging through the clothes covering the beds and floor.
“He can write his own ticket after this campaign, but yeah, I think he may stick around.” I was already halfway out of my formal wear. She pulled her shirt off over her head. I smiled a little. “He knows he can work with us.”
“Good.”
We were back in street clothes when we heard the shouting. We exchanged a wide-eyed look before we went running for the door. George was two steps ahead of me as we left the trailer, and saw a stunned-looking Rick come staggering up the path. Lois was cradled against his chest.
I’ve seen a lot of road kill in my day. I know a dead cat when I see one. So did George; she sucked in a sharp breath, calling, “Rick…?”
He stopped where he was, staring at us. George ran the last fifteen feet, and I ran close behind her. Fifteen feet. That’s all it took to change everything.
Those fifteen stupid little feet saved our lives.
“What happened?” George reached toward the cat, like there was a chance she could do something. I managed not to grab her arm and pull her away. Stupid as it may sound, I suddenly didn’t want her playing with dead things.
“She was just… I got back to the trailer, and I almost tripped on her.” Rick was still wearing his formal clothes. He hadn’t even had the time to change. “She was just inside the doorway. I think… even after they hurt her, I think she tried to get away.” He started to cry. “I think she was trying to come and find me. She was just a little cat, Georgia. Why would anyone do this to such a little cat?”
Then his words hit me. I stiffened. “She was inside? Are you sure this wasn’t natural causes?”
“Since when do natural causes break your neck?” asked Rick.
“We should go to the van.” The hair on the back of my neck was standing on end, and I suddenly felt very exposed.
George frowned at me. “Shaun—?”
“I’m serious. We can talk about this in the van, but we should go there. Right now.”
“Just let me get my gun.” George turned toward the trailer.
I didn’t think: I just knew I didn’t want her near that trailer. I grabbed her elbow, yanking her back. She stumbled into me, and a split second later, the trailer exploded with the characteristic concussive bang of packed C4. A second, larger bang followed the first as the rest of the explosives went off, and there was a third explosion in the distance as another trailer—probably Rick’s—went up.
Fuck this, I thought, and took off running, dragging George with me. I didn’t know whether Rick was following us, and I didn’t care. I was getting her to safety. Fuck everybody else.
My first impulse was to run ahead and make sure the ground was clear. George knew where we were going, and she knew enough to keep running without me hauling her. I forced the thought away. I was staying with her, and we were going to get out of this. Together.
We were still running when something hit me in the arm, hard enough to break the skin. It was a lucky shot; they should have hit the Kevlar, and the fact that they hadn’t meant that someone had damn good aim. I glanced to the side, just long enough to see the hollow plastic dart sticking out of me. My throat went dry. I forced my eyes back to the front, and kept on running.
“Shaun?” George must have felt my steps falter.
That wasn’t important. All that mattered was getting her safely inside. “Get the doors!” I shouted, and pushed her away from me, toward the van. She stumbled as she ran, then evened out, and sprinted the last twenty feet. She grabbed the handles on the van’s rear doors, pressing her forefingers against the reader pads. There was a click as the onboard testing system ran her blood and prints, confirming that she was both uninfected and an authorized driver before the locks released.
“Rick! Shaun! Come on!” She pulled the doors open and climbed up into the back of the van, turning to offer us her hands.
Rick ran toward her. He finally seemed to realize that he was carrying Lois, because he dropped the cat’s body in order to take George’s hand and let her pull him up to safety.
I kept running until I was about ten feet away. Then I slowed, stopping just out of reach. I wasn’t in a hurry anymore. I didn’t need to be.
George blinked, a line appearing between her eyebrows as she frowned in confusion. “Shaun? Stop fucking around. Get in the van.”
“No can do, George. I’m sorry.” I turned to show her the dart protruding from my arm. A patch of red had appeared around it, like a warning. I was bleeding. And I wasn’t stupid, no matter what I tried to make people believe; I’d seen those darts before. I knew what they meant.
George paled. “No. It’s… it’s not that. It’s a tranquilizer. It’s harmless. Get in the van. At least let us run tests. At least…”
“You know better.” I smiled at her, despite the growing ache in my chest. She was safe. She was in the van. She’d be able to drive away, and get the hell out of this whole situation. “Don’t play dumb, George. You’re no good at it. You’ll just make us both look bad.”
Rick’s face appeared next to hers as he leaned back out of the van. His eyes widened when he saw my arm. “Oh, hell.”
“My thoughts exactly.” My smile faded as I straightened up. “Get me a shotgun, and some ammo. Don’t hand them to me—toss them out the back. We’re about to be in a bad situation, and I’ll hold it off for as long as I can.”
“Shaun.” George’s voice was barely a whisper. “Please. This isn’t funny.”
“You’re the one who says the truth is all that matters, Georgia,” I said, as gently as I could, under the
