CHAPTER 8 #2
* * *
“I love the color. And the little palm in the corner really brings it together. Is it a real palm?” Cora asked.
It was Monday morning, and Lainey had texted her pics of the finished product. “Yes, the hardware store had them on sale. Probably because it’s fall, and it’ll die by winter.”
“Just don’t over water it. You don’t want the roots freezing next to the window. It’ll perk back up come spring,” Cora said.
“I’m glad you like it. It really feels different. I moved the bed to the south wall too.”
“I noticed. It looks great. I’m so happy you did this. You’re picking up the pieces and getting on with it.”
Lainey didn’t respond. She wasn’t sure how to.
“You know what I mean. After losing someone, you don’t necessarily move on, but you learn to move with it. Right?” Cora was trying to explain herself.
Lainey sighed. “Yeah. Moving. I just need to keep moving.” She was ready to change the subject. “Oh, I forgot to tell you. This woman came to the house asking me questions about the fire. It was her uncle, Geoff tried to save.”
“What kind of questions?”
Lainey poured herself a coffee. “She wanted to know if Geoff had told me anything about the fire before he died. I explained, I didn’t know anything. But evidently four-million dollars in coins are missing, and she’s doing her own investigation to find them.”
“Seriously? How does four-million dollars in coins go missing? Did they burn up in the fire?”
“That’s what I thought, but it would have to be pretty hot for silver to melt, and there would be a pile of melted silver, I’d think.”
“That’s strange.”
“I told her about Drink a margarita for me.” Lainey took a sip of her coffee and rolled her eyes at herself.
“Oh, Lain, you have to let that go. You didn’t know.”
“I have. It just came out in the conversation. Anyway, I’ll send you updated pics when I get the new shades up and duvet. They should be delivered today.”
“Awesome. And Robert?”
“What about him?”
“You haven’t mentioned him. What’s going on there?”
“He’s supposed to call me tonight. I was thinking....” Lainey drifted off.
“Thinking?...Yes?”
“Viv is spending the night with Geoff’s sister’s kids this coming Saturday. I was thinking of inviting Robert over for dinner?”
“Yes! Do it.”
“Mmmm...I don’t know. His work schedule will probably keep him from coming. But I haven’t seen him for a while, and we’ve been talking a lot, so...”
“Yes! But you don’t need my permission. You don’t need anybody’s. Go for it!”
“I’m thinking about it, but leaning towards no invite. I gotta go. We’ll talk later.”
“Do it, invite him!”
* * *
“Hummingbird located. I’ve got Hummingbird,” Robert said over his ear comm, confirming to the team he’d found and identified the senator’s daughter.
“Movement on the north side,” the spotter reported. “Use alternate exit point.”
Robert took his knife and cut the ties around Lyla’s hands and feet. He pulled a layer of his dish dash over his head and wrapped it around her naked body. Two other members of his unit scooped up the other two women.
“We need to move now,” Sidewinder said over the comms. He was posted at the top of the stairs. “Who has Hummingbird?” he asked as the unit members, including Robert, came up the dirt stairs.
“Viking does,” Stag Hunter answered.
“Five minutes to get to the extraction point,” Sidewinder reported as they moved to the south side of the house.
A weakened voice from the frail frame he was carrying asked, “Who has Jordan?”
He heard her, but didn’t respond. They still needed to be as stealth as possible. They’d just exited a side door of the compound, and they were crossing a darkened street. He was too busy following Stag Hunter through alleyways and between buildings in the dead of night.
They stopped in a narrow corridor, lined up against a building, awaiting the all clear to cross another street.
She repeated the question, expecting an answer.
Instead of answering, Robert whispered, “Can you walk?” He purposefully ignored her question, but there was no time to address it.
She nodded, and he carefully set her feet down. She gripped the linen cloth wrapped around her. With his M-16 in his right hand, he grasped her skinny arm with his left to lead her on.
“We can’t leave him,” Lyla sobbed and pulled against Robert’s grip.
Sidewinder signaled and ran into the moonlit street, looking down the barrel of his rifle leading the way.
“No,” she squeaked. “We can’t leave him.” She tried to tug her arm away to go back.
Robert yanked her back and got in her face. “He’s gone. He’s dead.” It was harsh, but he didn’t have time to be empathetic. Any minute this hornet’s nest would be kicked, and they’d all be dead if they didn’t get out now.
The look on her face was disbelief and fear.
“If he were alive, we would’ve extracted him too. But he’s not. We checked. He’s gone. We’re all trying to escape with our lives now. I need you with me. I need you alert and to do everything I tell you to do.” He yanked her arm to get her attention. “Nod if you understand.”
With tears welling in her eyes, she nodded.
Robert turned back towards the street, towing her behind him. They followed Sidewinder from an alley crevice to the next dark corner for cover, working their way closer to the extraction vehicles.
Shouting followed by gunfire erupted behind him. Robert felt the searing pain of a bullet graze his deltoid. He couldn’t help grunting when the pain struck him. He yanked Lyla around a corner of a building.
Blood began soaking his sleeve.
“You’re shot!” Lyla said, startled. Her voice raspy.
“Shhh!” he commanded her silence as he tried to focus.
She started sobbing.
He jerked her arm. “You need to be quiet!”
She snorted back snot and nodded, calming herself.
He felt bad, but now was not the time for her to process it all. He needed her to be in fight-or-flight mode like he was. “Listen,” he said sternly.
With the back of her hand, she wiped a tear away and looked up at him.
“You can’t break down. Not now.” He heard his tone and knew it was jarring, but he couldn’t have been more serious.
She needed to get with the program. “Think of your parents and the people who love you. You have to survive for them.” He took a moment and looked her dead in the eye. “You can do this.”
She stared up at him. Shock and fear, all over her face.
“Say, I can do this.” He jerked her arm to snap her out of it. He repeated the command, “Say, I can do this!”
She didn’t respond as fast as he wanted.
He shook her again. “Say it!” he demanded.
“I can do this,” she said, weakly.
“Good, and ... I will survive.”
“I will survive,” she repeated.
“Good.”
“Viking, I’m going to give you cover in two, ready?”
“Ready,” Robert answered.
His eyes shot open at the loud buzzing of his alarm. Would he ever be able to get over running his last mission through his mind? His subconscious relived it, piece by piece, trying to make sense of it, like he could go back in time and change the outcome.