As they packed up, Medness said, “Oh, and, Jeremy?”
“Yes?” Jeremy asked.
“Check out a video camera for Monday afternoon.”
Jeremy frowned, “Are you thinking that we’ll be able to visualize the reaction somehow?” That seemed unlikely since everything would be happening inside the Stade chamber.
Medness smiled, “Surely the world needs to visualize your reaction when we reach positive energy doesn’t it?”
Jeremy gave him a big grin, “You think we’re going to do it?!”
Medness shrugged, “Well, perhaps you’d better check it out for a month… Or, maybe two months.”
***
Kaem pulled open Staze’s door and stumped in, his right elbow and wrist flexed up, and his right leg held stiff so he had to swing it out to the side to get it past his left one. His left lip drooped.
Ryan gaped as he opened the next door and clumsily started making his way across the room to the table he usually sat at. He saw Arya bolt to her feet, a stricken look of horror on her face. Lee and Dez started his way. Gunnar stared a moment, then he too started toward Kaem.
Dez spoke first, “What happened?” Then sounding suspicious, “Your dad said you were doing fine.”
Lee said, “Kaem!” in a panicked tone as she rushed up and took his arm. He tried to shake her off, thinking he now understood why a lot of disabled people didn’t want to be helped.
Dez barked, “Kaem Seba, cut that shit out!”
Out of his peripheral vision, Kaem could see people looking at Dez in horror.
He straightened up and grinned at Dez. “I think you might’ve been the only one I didn’t fool.”
A combined gasp and sigh of relief went around the room.
Lee punched his shoulder hard enough it hurt. He raised his eyebrows at her, “I thought you didn’t believe in violence?!”
Arya sat back down and turned away toward her computer. Another failed joke to Arya, Kaem thought sadly.
But then everyone else was surrounding him and welcoming him back. To cheers, he said he was buying everyone lunch from Dimitri’s.
Lee told him what a horrible person he was.
He thought she was probably joking.
Kind of.
A little bit…
Gunnar claimed it was actually pretty funny. But not as funny as Kaem looked with the big goose egg on the side of his head.
Others kept coming by to wish him well.
When the crowd had faded away, Dez sat down next to him and said, “You’re an ass, you know?”
He nodded.
Her eyes went across the room to Arya, staring at her computer and pretending to work. “You really should apologize to Arya. She’s been looking depressed. And she’s occasionally burst into tears while you’ve been gone. She’s been claiming her emotions are out of control over a family matter, but everyone feels pretty sure she’s worried about you.”
It’s nice to hear Arya cares about me. But does the fact that Dez is telling me about it mean I don’t have a chance with Dez? Kaem wondered. To Dez, he said, “I will apologize to her. It’s only the ten-thousandth joke I’ve played on her that she didn’t think was funny. I am sorry.”
Dez put her hands on the arms of the chair preparatory to rising, but Kaem said, “Wait.”
She settled.
“I owe you a huge debt for pulling my ass out of the fire the other night,” Kaem said.
“Your ass isn’t that heavy.”
Kaem blinked, not sure what she was saying. He laughed when he got it, “You’re talking about when you pulled me out of the burning car.” He got serious. “Thanks for that… and for all you did dealing with those guys. One of the cops stopped in to tell me about it. Sounds as if, without you, I would’ve been toast, metaphorically as well as literally.”
She frowned, “The car wouldn’t have even been on fire if it wasn’t for me.”
“No, but then they would’ve taken us the rest of the way to the basement at their place. There they would’ve started torturing me to tell them what they wanted to hear.”
“Did the police find their hideout?’
“If you can call a place that isn’t at all hidden a hideout, yes.” He lifted an eyebrow, “And if you’re wondering whether it looked like people had been tortured in the basement in the past, the answer to that’s also yes. People who’ve probably never been seen again.”
Dez grimaced. “Did they get our stazer back?”
“They did. But they only caught a few of the gang. The big boss probably wasn’t one of them, so if you’re wondering whether they might come after us again, no one knows. I wouldn’t bet against it. I think they’re probably kinda pissed.”
“I’d better make some progress on our Stade jackets then.”
Kaem chuckled, “Did you know I was wearing a Mark 1 Stade jacket that night? I even wondered if I could get the guy to shoot me and hope the ricochet would bounce off into him and make him back off. I like to think I decided the risk-benefit ratio wasn’t good, but really, I was just too damned chicken. Apparently, a lot more frightened than you were.”
“Oh, no,” she said, eyes wide and shaking her head. “That’s not possible. I was scared shitless.”
He crinkled his eyes and said, “I think you’re just trying to make me feel better, but thanks. I, uh, think I owe you another dinner. Unless the events the first time I took you out have permanently put you off your feed?”
“No,” she said with a grin. “Most exciting date I’ve ever been on. I’ll look forward to it.”
After she got up and went back to her table, Kaem got up and went to Arya’s.
Sitting down, he waited. He saw her glance over at him
