Blaze of Glory (14 page)

“But you can’t stay here.” I glanced around the room, the monitors now spraying gibberish in row on row of code. “They’ll blame you for all this. They’ll know you helped us. And I don’t know how kindly they’re going to take to anything right now. Besides, we could use you.”

“I’m sure you could.” The white-haired woman grinned. “But that’s not what happens.”

“I wish you’d pick a tense and stick with it.”

“Me too, dear.” She laughed, moving out of the chair and back to the walker, shuffling her feet along the floor. “Me too.”

Following her into the dimly lit corridor, I watched her slowly walk away from me. “I don’t understand.”

“That computer bay you just destroyed? That’s also the self-destruct sequence.” Jenny turned to face me. “Don’t blame Hunter, he didn’t know. You’ve got about five minutes to evacuate.”

“Five minutes!” Limox appeared behind me, breathless and red in the face. “It’ll take us longer than that to get out of here.”

“Guess you better figure something out, then.” She winked at me then made her way down the hallway.

“What’s with the fruitcake?” he growled as May and Hunter came through the stairwell door.

“Nothing. Everything.” I studied my gloves, seeing the charge emanating off them. “Limox, get on my back and grab that harness, wrap it up over your forearms and keep your hands free. Same with you two. Get in close and grab on.”

“What are you going to do?” Hunter grabbed my right hand as May clutched at my left, a worried look marring the usually peaceful face.

“Rocket out of here.” I glanced over at the woman disappearing into the distance with her slow gait. “Limox, get those hands over my head and give it all you’ve got.”

“Roger.” The firm voice coincided with a burst of heat, so hot I swore I smelled hair burning. I felt him press up against my back—a feeling that would usually have me kicking back like a mad mule, but right now there was nothing about it other than business. “We’re going up, straight up, and there’s no do-overs.”

“May, curl up here.” Hunter stood in front of me and wrapped his arms around my waist. Opening up one hand, he pulled May in closer, a grim smile on his face. “Keep your head down.”

“Ready,” Meltdown announced with a confidence I didn’t know he had.

We rose slowly at first until his palms hit the ceiling above us, dissolving the thin panels and thrusting up into the concrete layer.

“Go!” he screamed in my ear. “Go, go, go!”

We shot through the remaining floors as if they weren’t even there, the melted metal and cement falling around us in chunks and hunks, rebar screaming as the metal shattered. One spar came dangerously close to dinging May in the head, prompting her to burrow even closer into Hunter’s chest. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t envy her just a wee bit.

We exploded through the top of the barn just as the detonation started, the heat singeing the bottom of my sneakers as we kept rising into the air. Finally I got enough control to turn and burn for an empty field not too far from where we had crashed originally, spiraling around to land much like a helicopter would.

Limox gave out a moan as we settled, unwrapping his arms from the harness. “Thanks for the ride, dear, but next time—let’s take our clothes off.”

I felt too good at our escaping certain death to slap him. Right then, at least. Instead I busied myself with extracting May from the death grip she had on both me and Hunter. Prying her free from my left hand, I helped Hunter pull himself away. His thick turtleneck sweater was dotted with minute tears where her nails had gone through to bare skin.

The sound of sirens rose in the distance, near the farm. Hunter nodded. “That’s not good. Usually the Agency doesn’t like to have outsiders anywhere near the property, even if it’s on fire.”

“Well, ain’t no one left alive to complain now, is there?” Limox crossed his arms, looking a bit too smug and more like the supervillain he had portrayed.

“Except for the innocents.” I forced the whirlwind of emotions going around in my mind back into the box. “They didn’t deserve to die.”

May nodded, burying her face in Hunter’s shoulder.

“Let’s take a minute to get it together and then we’ve got to get back to base.” The sun was beginning to peak over our heads. “Hopefully we’ve got reinforcements back home.”

“Because…” Limox prompted, shaking his arms in the air.

“Because we’re going to Pittsburgh next. And kicking alien butt.” I rolled my shoulders, pulling energy from the ground. “We’re not going to let them win.”

The flight back was quiet, more from exhaustion than from a lack of things to say. Limox kept silent as he maintained a healthy distance from me. May mumbled to herself, but stayed calm. Hunter said nothing, sneaking glances at May every now and then. We managed to get back to Toronto without my stomach announcing another midair crisis, which was just as well. I didn’t think I could deal with anything else.

Unfortunately we couldn’t take advantage of the darkness so I had to bring us in low and fast, so much so that we skimmed the water on the way in, landing not too far from where I had originally washed up on the lakeshore. May laughed, shaking the water from her pant legs while Limox grumbled about sand in his shoes, and I wondered yet again what I was going to do to save Pittsburgh. Not that it wasn’t a nice city and all, but most of the Alphas had died in New York City, and here I was about to take this crew into battle. The Agency wouldn’t have even put us on a marquee at third billing.

“David? Jessie? We’re back on friendly ground.” I looked up into the morning sky. “Everyone safe and sound.”

“Glad to have you back.” David’s voice was soft and reassuring in my ear. “I assume that mess on the other side of the border was your doing.”

“Maybe.” I didn’t bother hiding a wide smile, knowing it wouldn’t be seen. “What’s the news calling it?”

“Meth lab explosion. Sad thing.” His neutral tone continued. “Strange what you’ll find out there in the farmlands.”

“Horrible.” Walking up the sandy beach, I tapped my ear. “Anyone show up?”

“Well…sort of.”

Hunter looked at me, I looked at May and she looked at Limox, who was busy hopping along with one shoe off, trying to knock out the sand.

“We’ll be there as soon as we can grab a streetcar.” I turned around, trying not to appear sheepish. “Anyone got spare change?”

The ride back was as quiet as the flight. May slumped against Limox, who didn’t seem to mind her company and kept his hands to himself. Hunter sat next to me.

“Jenny didn’t have to stay behind,” I said in a quiet whisper so that the two behind us couldn’t hear.

“But she did.” Hunter scratched his neck. “Remind me to remind May to cut her nails. She’s got a killer grip.”

“She could have come with us. We could have taken her.” I jostled the harness inside my jacket, the mass of nylon cord hidden from plain view. “We had room for one more. And she was light, no more than a hundred pounds, if that. I could have done it.” A small voice in the back of my mind noted that I was rambling and repeating myself but I didn’t pay attention. “We could have carried her here. She wasn’t that heavy. I would have been fine.”

“Yep.” He looked at me with deep, sorrowful eyes that startled me. “But she knew it wasn’t supposed to be that way. She knew the way it was supposed to play out.”

I shook my head. “Don’t you start that crap,” I snapped, not caring if the pair behind us heard. “I’m not in the mood for this sort of shit. If she really wanted to help us, she would have told me how to beat these aliens down and who the fuck was coming to help us.”

“That’s not how she works. Worked.” Hunter turned away, staring out at the downtown streets as we slowly edged along the tracks. People ran between stopped cars to get to the streetcar doors while others pushed their way off the Red Rocket. “I only met her a few times but she had a way of…of getting inside your mind.”

“That’s true,” I admitted, giving an inward shiver at the memory. His left leg pushed against mine suddenly, bringing me around to face him.

“Do you want me to go to Pittsburgh?”

“No.” There wasn’t any way to sugarcoat it. “You’re a liability. No offense, but I don’t think I want to put May under the extra pressure of having to worry about you.”

“Too bad I don’t have a suit like Mike, you mean.” Ouch. He looked out the window, away from me.

“Hey, there were plenty of Guardians playing sidekicks. Why didn’t you apply?”

He jerked a thumb back at the woman behind him and lowered his voice. “Do you know how she got into the program?” Not waiting for my response, Hunter continued. “Her husband was terminal, brain cancer. Decided to both go out in a suicide pact, he put the car in the garage and left it running. Carbon monoxide poisoning. Except she didn’t die.” His voice went even lower, down to a whisper. “She woke up able to do what she does, scramble minds. I was the first agent she saw, and she latched onto me like a mother bear on a lost cub. How could I go into battle alongside her and risk breaking her heart again?”

My mouth opened and closed like I was one of those many goldfish I’d had as a child, at least until the tank turned slimy and green and they’d visited the toilet bowl.

“So while some of you might like having the Guardians fight beside you, don’t forget there are plenty others who either got killed accidentally, on purpose or just plain old refused to get into the game like me.” He returned his gaze to the window. “Our stop’s coming up.”

I put my hand atop his as I got to my feet. “I’m sorry. I’m still a little raw here.”

Hunter nodded. “Mike always thought you had a lot of potential just waiting to come out.”

We shuffled through the crowd to the back doors, waiting for the streetcar to come to a slow, swaying stop. “Mike said a lot of things,” I replied. “I wish he had said a lot more.”

“He did care a lot for you, you know,” Hunter said in a low whisper. “He told me so.”

My head snapped around so quickly I was sure I heard something snap. “Yeah. He was a good guy. He took care of me.”

“You realize this is all it is, right?” Mike rolled away from me and got up, grabbing his track pants. I enjoyed the view for a few seconds before responding, pulling the sheets and blankets back to my side of the bed.

“Just tell me it’s not something the Agency has you doing, part of your
official duties
.” I tried to make it sound light and pithy, but we both knew the question had to be asked.

He spun around, returning to sit on the mattress beside me. “That’s a funny question to ask.”

“Look…” I swallowed hard, the lethargy in my bones threatening to shut me down before I got this out. “I get that it’s your job to keep me happy, and if that means giving me a quickie every now and then, I can deal with that. But just let me know if I should be leaving a tip on the nightstand or if it’s—”

His body-crushing hug cut off any other words before I could get them out.

“Sure it’s my job to keep you happy—I won’t lie to you about that,” he whispered in my ear, rocking back and forth. “But I do care about you, Jo. I don’t think I can call it love, and I don’t want to make promises to you that I can’t keep, but let’s just run with what we have now, ’kay?”

I closed my eyes tightly, wishing once again that I had turned left instead of right on that night, so long ago, and had avoided that punk with the brick.

“I need a beer.” Limox brushed past me through the bookstore front door, pushing through a few startled customers who were digging in the bargain bin. “Hope they’ve got something upstairs stronger than milk.”

May’s face brightened as soon as she spotted David standing behind the counter. She made her way around the barrier and walked into his comforting hug, burying her face in his thick brown cardigan. I heard something between a sigh and a sob break free from May and turned away, giving them as much privacy as I could.

“I’ll be upstairs as well.” Hunter smiled. “Let me see what I can scrounge up for something resembling brunch.” He walked by the nonfiction section, grabbing a hardcover on the Second World War on the way. “Ooh, John Keegan.”

“Jessie’s upstairs with our new friend,” David murmured. “We’ll be up soon.” He began to rub May’s back, whispering to her.

I nodded, leaving the two seniors alone. The steps seemed a lot longer than they had been only a few hours ago.

“Hey.” Jessie nodded towards me, turning slightly in the chair. His fingers never left the keyboard, still tapping out a regular rhythm. “He’s on the couch. Or she is. I’m not sure which.”

The white cat sprawling on the couch opened one lazy eye, the long tail twitching as the feline stared at me. I looked at Jessie who shrugged and turned back to the monitor.

“It showed up with a note attached that said for you to talk to her. Him. It.” He passed over the piece of paper. “Cat scratched at the front door, David let it in. Damned thing sheds like a mother, however.”

The note was written with a black marker, the ink bleeding through to the other side of the thin paper. There were only two sentences, but that was all it took.

Talk to the cat. Tell me who you are.

There had to be an easier way to make a living. And save the world.

Chapter Twelve

I sat beside the white feline who reacted to my presence by stretching its paws and toes then getting up and walking into my lap. It leaned forward, almost touching its petite nose to mine before settling down with a loud growly purr.

“Right.” I drew a deep breath. “I’m Jo Tanis, nicknamed Surf.”

The trill got louder.

“I’ve got more supers here, you might have heard of them. Mayday, she’s a woman, and Meltdown—he’s one of the villains. We really can’t be fussy right now. Oh, and a Guardian. But he’s cool; he’s on our side. He came with May.” The cat raised one velvet paw and began to wash her ear. “We just got back from one of the Agency’s bases, made sure they can’t pull our plugs. So that’s a good thing.” I smiled, feeling less foolish. “So no matter what we’ll be safe. You’ll be safe.”

A voice came up the steps. “Thank you.”

I got to my feet. The white cat sprang away and down the stairway into the bookstore.