Chapter 31 – Luna
Chapter Thirty-One
Luna
“He’s still down there,” Paco said, as the edge of the world slowly grew brighter.
“I believe you.” True to his word, Nilesh’s crew had gotten here thirty minutes ago, and were hard at work scraping the earth away with backhoes. “But I still need you to go to sleep.”
He pouted at me, fighting it, and somehow in that moment he reminded me of all the little kids I’d had to cajole into bed while I was babysitting growing up—all of them worried something good would happen the second they weren’t there.
“I’ll be here all day, Paco. And so will Zach.
We’ll keep an eye out for you,” I said, gently pushing him back toward the back of the van.
“But do you know what’ll happen to me if we find Jack, and I’ve let something happen to you?
” I asked, then didn’t wait for his answer, I just drew a thumb across my neck and made a strangled noise.
He snorted at that, then got back into the van’s rear cabin. “You’d better let me out of this stupid thing the second it gets dark.”
“I will.”
“Or I’ll rip a door off, so help me God.”
“I hear you. Loud and clear,” I said—and then I saw him spotting Zach over my shoulder and tensed.
I closed my eyes. I was an idiot. How long had it been since Paco had fed? Since that night with the gem—
“Yeah?” Zach said, trotting up and grinning.
“Yeah,” Paco agreed, in a much lower tone, pulling Zach into the back of the van with him like a trapdoor spider before closing the door.
Sounds that started like a scuffle, quickly turned to moans.
“When the van’s a-knocking,” Nilesh said, coming over to tease me.
“Look, your people carry around explosives, my people fuck. Same difference, really,” I said with a grin, as he handed me my third PowerBar of the night.
He grunted. “True,” he said, then grinned at me. “We’ve got some ground-penetrating radar machines coming in.”
“If I never go into an abandoned mine again, it’ll be too soon.” Rosalie had made me come on enough trips with her, to hers.
“Hopefully we can get all this solved before nightfall.”
I tilted my head at him coquettishly. “Because if you find what you want to find, I’ll be helpless and alone with you, in the middle of the Nevadan desert?”
“Mmm, well when you put it like that,” he said, his voice rich with amusement.
Another truck pulled up, hauling more machinery and people—I had no idea how much money the Faithful were committing to this project, but it had to be a lot.
And that was how I realized the truth—right before a busload of heavily armed men pulled up.
“It’s not about finding your girl or my guy, is it?” I said, sobering. “It’s about stopping that thing.”
Nilesh looked at me out of the corner of his eye and didn’t answer. “Top off your coffee?” he asked, reaching for my cup.
I held it tightly and pulled away from him. “No. I’m good.”