Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
Evelyn woke, once again, in her cabin. She had nodded off with her head on Aiden’s shoulder. No doubt he had floated her body back down to a more comfortable resting place while she slept. Or would that be too hard a task given his level of telekinetic ability?
Did he carry me?
The thought that he cared enough to ensure she didn’t wake, let alone wake with a crick in her neck brought a smile to her face.
A light was blinking on the view screen on the wall.
According to the trip tracker that scrolled across the bottom of the screen, they would be reaching Earth’s orbit in about three hours.
She opened the new message to see that Nannette had scheduled a security meeting starting in twenty minutes.
The others had responded with varying degrees of sarcasm, but everyone would be in attendance.
Evelyn responded with a thumbs up emoji and went to rifle through her freshly laundered purchases to get dressed.
Ten minutes later Evelyn emerged from her cabin dressed in jeans, boots, a tank, and her now ever-present sweater.
Clothes she could run in seemed the most sensible.
She’d braided her hair and spritzed on some of her favorite perfume.
The sweater had amazing anti-bacterial qualities and didn’t actually smell, but she was a little self-conscious of the fact that she hadn’t taken it off except to sleep for several days.
Aiden had slipped a sliced apple and a little bowl of peanut butter into her room, and she happily chomped on chunks of sweet, crisp apple dipped in creamy peanut butter on her way to the meeting.
She licked a dab of stray peanut butter from her finger as she entered the kitchen to dispose of her plate before the meeting.
Nannette sat at the large table, sharpening a knife with a whetstone, her deep blue eyes focused on the blade. An array of weapons was laid out in front of her. She’d also braided her hair, the cinnamon-colored locks twisted into a crown close to her head.
“What is this, a photo shoot for Hot Armed Broads Quarterly?” Evelyn asked, rinsing her plate in the sink. “You look like a survivalist’s wet dream.”
“Knife Nuts Magazine. Hot Armed Broads Quarterly was last month.” Nannette smirked as Evelyn barked out a laugh.
She refocused on the knife in her hand. “It relaxes me to have everything ready to go. It’s important to take good care of your tools, you know.
” She checked the time. “Crap. I got a little over enthusiastic on the knife count. I can finish after the briefing.”
They walked to the lobby together. Aiden had dragged out another huge whiteboard, this one on wheels.
It looked wildly out of place next to the piano.
Nannette immediately went to it and started writing notes.
Evelyn spotted Aiden fussing with the espresso machine while Veselko polished glasses behind the bar.
Tariel sat at the piano bench, picking out a song.
Evelyn couldn’t place it, but it was jazzy and upbeat.
Cairn was watering plants, testing soil, and removing leaves from plants that didn’t meet his standards.
He waved when he saw them and stowed his watering can in a door hidden in the planter he was attending.
Evelyn took a seat with a good view of the whiteboard just as Elenor, Lillian, and Veronique entered the lobby together in a fit of laughter.
They walked to Evelyn’s table and joined her.
She indulged herself in a moment of sadness that her time was coming to an end on the Rising Dawn.
Then she straightened her spine and smiled at the women at her table.
“How are you holding up, dear?” Elenor asked her, patting her hand.
“As well as can be expected when looking into a gaping chasm of uncertainty,” Evelyn said. “I would be a gibbering mess without all your support. Thank you so much. I know you’re just doing your jobs, but you’ve made this trip so, so lovely.”
Lillian sighed. “You have got to stop underestimating yourself. You’re tougher than you give yourself credit for, kiddo. Trust me. I know from strong women.” She grabbed her wife’s hand and kissed it.
Evelyn smiled. She couldn’t help herself. The genuine affection that radiated from Lillian was a warmth that she hadn’t felt from anyone but Aunt Corrie.
“Thanks. I’ll try,” Evelyn said.
An iced latte appeared from behind her. Aiden gave her shoulder a squeeze and headed toward the board. His presence spread another kind of warmth through her body, but this one she couldn’t afford to focus on now.
“Hey, where’s my coffee?” Cairn asked.
“You know how to work the machine,” Aiden said. He tapped the whiteboard. “Nannette has worked out a strategy for the meeting today.”
“First and foremost, we took a vote. If you don’t want to go with Vinnie, we aren’t going to make you,” Nannette said, looking straight into Evelyn’s eyes. “That’s not what we do. Plus, you’re likable.”
“Not that we’d hand over an asshole with no questions asked,” Veselko quipped from behind the bar. “We do have standards.”
Everyone nodded. Evelyn let go of a kernel of anxiety that had been brewing. She had hoped that the crew wouldn’t just abandon her to her fate. She hadn’t really thought they would, but to have it confirmed gave her a sense of relief she hadn’t known she’d needed desperately.
“Much appreciated,” she said. She took a sip of her latte. Creamy, sweet, acidic perfection danced in her mouth.
“The drop point is in the middle of a residential neighborhood in Summerlin. It appears to be a single family home in a community that butts up against the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.”
Evelyn choked on her latte, and Veronique immediately thumped her on the back. Drops of coffee flew across the table as Evelyn gasped for air.
“Easy, there. We all like you breathing,” Veronique said. She grabbed a stack of napkins from the bar and put them on the table.
“Summerlin, Nevada?” Evelyn sputtered. “We’re going to Vegas?” She felt a chill shiver down her spine.
“Are you familiar with Las Vegas, dear?” Elenor asked, wiping down the table with a napkin.
“The better question is ‘How familiar are you with Las Vegas?’” Tariel said from the piano bench.
Evelyn took a napkin and wiped her mouth. “I used to live in Summerlin. Red Rocks was a great location to shuttle in a small craft before Earth joined the GPC.” She recited her old address.
Nannette nodded, her brow furrowed. “That’s the place.”
Evelyn caught Aiden’s eye. She’d yet to see this grim a look on his face. His entire demeanor had iced over in the past few moments, body tensed and ready for action.
“Well, that settles that. You’re absolutely going in armed,” Nannette said. She seemed to pull a knife from thin air and shoved it at Evelyn. “Boot. Now.”
Evelyn reached down and dragged the hem of her jeans up to shove the sheathed knife into her boot. She smoothed the fabric and sat up, reaching for her coffee again.
“Is there anything unique about the property that you can tell us?” Nannette went back to the board, uncapping the marker.
“No. It’s just a normal house with convenient access to a place to sneak a ship in.
Couple of bedrooms. Bathrooms. Garage. But it’s been there for over a hundred years at this point.
Who knows if the house is even still there.
It could’ve been demoed. Or the inside could’ve been remodeled with a . . . panic room or something.”
She was proud that she’d caught herself before she used the phrase “torture chamber.” Tensions were already way too high in the lobby.
“Okay then. While this is shocking news, it doesn’t change my initial plan all that much. I was leaning toward talking you into carrying a weapon, anyway,” Nannette said.
Evelyn nodded and traced patterns in the condensation on her glass as Nannette gave the crew their marching orders.
It touched something in Evelyn’s chest to see how seriously everyone took their assignments.
The initial air of lighthearted necessity that had hung over the group had vanished with her coffee-sputtering revelation.
Clarifying questions were asked, backup plans were made.
Weapons were distributed. Nannette dismissed them all with an hour to go.
Not knowing what to do with the staggering quantity of goodwill that was emanating from the crew, Evelyn went back to the observation deck and practiced drawing the knife from her boot while she let her mind wander.
She’d known these people for a handful of days.
They owed her nothing, yet they were planning to risk their lives to keep her safe from whatever nefarious plan the mysterious Vinnie had in store for her.
Could she ever repay them? Even just for the kindness of the past few days?
If things went wrong, Evelyn didn’t know how she could ever possibly make restitution. Or live with the guilt.
There was no point in borrowing trouble.
There was plenty of it sitting around.
Earth grew closer. The gorgeous swirls of white clouds covering the deep blue oceans and rich green and brown swaths of land had always given Evelyn a deep sense of peace.
On Earth she wasn’t a princess; she wasn’t a disappointment or a failure or a problem to be solved; she wasn’t an annoying little sister, a youngest child to shoehorn into place. She was just Evelyn.
Approaching the planet had always been a balm to her nerves, but now the sight of it was as foreboding as that meeting with Emil and her father all those years ago.
If she focused hard enough, she could still smell the harsh aftershave the brute had worn, feel the wood of the negotiating table under her fingertips as they danced across the table.
She shoved the knife into its sheath and headed back down the stairs. She’d woolgathered long enough. Time to face the music.