Jet #3
He nodded, continuing to watch Kirk. The big man was sweating and seemed restless.
“Don’t worry,” I quietly told Elliott. “We’re well-hidden.”
Kirk looked at me. “Why are you two out this way? And how come you’re in here with him?”
His clipped, interrogatory tone set me on edge. “We were looking for a runaway goat. He didn’t want to be alone.”
Kirk looked up at the ceiling. “I wonder if those two are gone by now. I want to get out of here.”
“Well, you’ll have to wait for the Code Green message.”
“No shit,” he muttered.
I could tell that every word out of Kirk’s mouth made Elliott more uncomfortable.
Silence settled over the room for several moments until Kirk suddenly slapped his hand on the floor in frustration, making Elliott jump and scoot even closer to me.
“Fuck, Kirk, what the hell? Can’t you see you’re scaring him?” I scolded my colleague.
Turning to Elliott, who was visibly shaking, I said soothingly, “Everything’s okay. We’ll be out of here soon.”
“What’s wrong? Why is he freaking out like that?” Kirk asked irritably. He eyed the ladder as though he might get up and leave.
I wanted to move closer to Elliott but knew that would probably make him even more upset.
Ignoring Kirk, I continued talking to the frightened omega in a calm voice.
“Listen, Elliott. Everything’s okay. Nobody will find you or any of your friends.
These bunkers are well-hidden. If we suspect they’re coming, we can go through the tunnel and come out at the neighbor’s. That’s what they were built for.”
Elliott swallowed and nodded, but his breath continued to come in quick pants, like the little dog I used to own would do during a storm.
“What the fuck?” Kirk muttered, glancing at him and then at the ladder again.
“Shut up, will you? I like you better when you never talk.” I wanted to get up and punch him. It’s no wonder someone broke his nose. The asshole was making everything worse.
“Who are you to tell me to shut up?” Kirk leaned forward, and I moved to get up, but Elliott grabbed my arm. When I looked at him, his eyes were huge and dark in his pale face.
“Please don’t fight,” he said between pants.
I settled back and looked at Kirk. “We’ll talk about this later.”
“Count on it,” Kirk said.
Elliott lowered his head, hiding his face. Gradually, he stopped hyperventilating, although his body continued to quake sporadically.
After what seemed like forever, all three of our phones made a sound of notification.
“Thank fuck,” Kirk said. “Code Green.” He moved to the ladder and swiftly climbed up. Seconds later, sunlight poured into the enclosure.
I stood, keeping my head down, and, without thinking, offered Elliott a hand up.
I was surprised when he took it, letting me tug him to his feet before dropping my hand like it burned him.
I extinguished the lantern and followed him up the ladder before carefully replacing the lid to the enclosure.
Kirk was already on the other side of the fence, striding toward the barn.
“Thank you,” Elliott said quietly.
“For what?” I asked.
“For not getting into a fight with him. I-I…He just scares me because he’s big. I wouldn’t have been able to handle it if you two got in a physical fight.”
“I’m sorry I engaged with him at all. I was just pissed he was upsetting you.”
When Elliott and I got close to the ranch, Camp, Zeke, Joel, Kirk, Eric, and Anson were standing in front of the barn, talking.
“So, that was the real thing?” I asked when we joined them, Elliott moving to stand between Zeke and Camp, who put his arm around Elliott’s shoulders.
Anson nodded. “Yep.”
Eric looked rattled. “Two cars. Three government officials—betas—showed up at the door with a warrant to search the place. When we heard from Nova’s sister, Nova and Laura took the kids to the bunker behind the house and went in with them, so they were safely hidden and the Code Red went out.
I told the government guys that I was the only one home.
Four guys from the second car asked Anson to take them from building to building while I escorted the original three through the house, where they checked closets and even knocked on walls, looking for secret openings, I guess. ” Eric looked at Anson.
“They had me unlock every building to let them go inside, always asking who lived in them. I went by the plan and told them we had hands that stayed seasonally and that you had family living here,” Anson said.
“Kirk said two guys got out at the end of the driveway before the cars continued,” I told them, meeting Kirk’s eyes. He nodded.
Elliott looked at me and said, “Jet, I need to check if Pickles went back to the goat pen.”
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s go.”
Pickles wasn’t in the pen, but he was close by eating weeds. When we got him back where he was supposed to be, I turned to Elliott.
“How come you gave that one a regular name,” I pointed to Steve, then at the goat we’d been chasing, “but this one’s called Pickles?”
“Steve looks like a neighbor I used to have,” Elliott explained.
“Oh, okay.”
Yeah. That was adorable.