Chapter 13 #2
“Yes, it was,” Grace said. “Well, we’d better get back to bed. The bread isn’t going to bake itself tomorrow morning.”
Herman nodded.
Clary tried to look as mystified and perplexed as everyone else. Luckily she didn’t have to do it for too long as Diane and Julie arrived with Kyle and a cart. The guards were all taken back to the clinic. Clary was relieved to hear Julie saying that they were all alive, if somewhat beaten up.
It was clear there was nothing to do and nothing more to see, so everyone decided to go home.
Thomas walked Clary back to the boarding house. “I think we’re going to be in a lot of trouble tomorrow.”
“Nah, I’m sure that Lizzy and Troy wanted to build a new elevator,” she said and chuckled. However, becoming serious, she stepped closer to Thomas. “I don’t think they can do much to us. They signed off on the whole thing and it just got out of control. We’ll do what we can to help them rebuild.”
Thomas nodded. “I guess you’re right. At least Luke and his family should be safe. Right?”
She agreed. Then she kissed him again, this time far more chastely, and hurried up to bed.
It was a while before she fell asleep and dreamed of falling structures and flames shooting into the sky, all anchored by Thomas’s arms around her as they stood and watched the chaos.
They met in Andrew’s office, just the five of them. Clary was somewhat surprised to see Mark sitting in one of the visitor’s chairs when she and Thomas entered the office.
Andrew sat behind his desk, and Troy perched on the windowsill to the right of the desk. He looked like a barely contained thundercloud.
“I’ve brought Mark up to speed,” Andrew said. “He’s been trying to find the spy too, and I think adding him to the team would be a great idea.”
“Me too,” Thomas agreed. “He’s a natural detective.” He smiled.
Mark looked at him nervously. “I’m really sorry about your family. I would also consider doing things that weren’t right if that happened to me.” He offered Thomas a hand. “No hard feelings for me almost shooting you in the face?”
Thomas shook his hand firmly. “Absolutely none.”
Mark nodded. “It would have been a lot better if you’d just told us what you’d been planning.”
“Your reactions wouldn’t have come across as genuine if we had,” Andrew said. “It was a small group that knew exactly what was happening.”
Mark didn’t look happy about it, but he stopped protesting.
“You didn’t have to go that far!” Troy hissed at Clary and Thomas.
Thomas was the first to speak. Turning to Troy, he hastily began to explain how everything had started to go wrong, and he hadn’t known what to do. Troy listened and groaned. “That’s why I should have been the one to disable the thing.”
“And if you were caught? Then what? It wouldn’t make any sense for you to demolish your own creation,” Andrew said. “No, it worked out well like this. So now we move on to the next part of the plan: waiting for the spy to make his move.”
“We’ll do anything we can to help you repair the elevator,” Thomas said to Troy.
Troy scoffed. “Oh sure. No thanks. I think I’d rather you were nowhere near it. You seem to be too good at demolishing things.”
The meeting was short. They couldn’t spend too much time in Andrew’s office, what with all the eyes and ears around them. As it was, Mr. Rossi was hovering outside the door, waiting to speak to Andrew. He hardly let them leave the office before he rushed in.
“It’s a complete disaster,” Mr. Rossi said as they closed the door behind them.
Clary felt sorry for Andrew as she and Thomas left him to deal with the bureaucrat.
Mark walked with them down the stairs and out into the sunshine. It was searingly hot, and Clary berated herself for forgetting her hat at the boarding house yet again.
“So …” Mark said, his hands thrust deep in his pockets.
“So,” Thomas said with a smile. “Take care of yourself.”
“Yeah, I will,” Mark said. He was sporting a bandage around his head.
Clary felt really bad about it and decided she would buy him something from Grace’s bakery to make up for how hard she had hit him. Come to think of it, she probably owed the other men too.
Thomas walked with her back to the bridge. “I have to go to work,” he said.
Clary nodded. “Okay. No problem. I should go and see how things are going with Ben. He’s been picking up a lot of my slack.” She smiled and kissed Thomas on the cheek.
He grinned and then headed off to the smelter.
Clary set off across the bridge. Despite their mission being a total disaster, it seemed to have worked out well. Now others would catch the spy, and all would work according to plan.
“Clary.”
“Evelyn,” Clary said, finding her sister waiting for her just on the other side of the bridge.
“I need a job,” Evelyn said with no preamble. “I’m going crazy in the house with Mildred. I mean, she’s wonderful, but being so nice all the time is exhausting. Please, can I come to work on the coaches again?”
Clary couldn’t help but laugh. She put an arm around her sister’s shoulders. “Sure, of course, you can, but you’re going to be riding shotgun with me.”
Evelyn was about to protest, but she seemed to think better of it and nodded.