Page 113 of Double Shot
“Then count on me visiting at least once.” He gave a smile and a salute.
“Dismissed, Corporal.” Roan returned the salute.
Doors slammed and we followed Worthington’s GMC down a winding trail, and then through a gate that he just hammered with the front of his truck. I was certain that the steel guard on the front probably wasn’t even scratched going through the chain link. Sadie leaned into me and let out a massive sigh.
“Rough night?” I asked, sarcastic, but not really digging.
“It’s better now,” she said. Roan shifted gears, working the pedals, and brought us out onto the pavement. Worthington turned north, toward the highway, and we had to turn the opposite direction to head back to where Grant and the mobile command center was. Roan was talking to Grant, and that was when I realized my earpiece was gone. Probably came out when I was boxing with the big guy.
I was going to be fucking dead in the morning from that, and from the rounds the armor stopped. I didnotlook forward to that. As we made the turn, we could see the blaze. The entire front half of the building had collapsed inward, and now almost the entire thing was burning, furiously. The shell of the helicopter was still apparent, but the heat damage was impressive, the rotors had sagged from the heat, and the aluminum skin had buckled, like a melting milk jug. There was a pillar of flame, a storm of sparks and embers that billowed skyward as another large structure collapsed in on itself, and then I could see the trees.
They were wreathed in flames, their few leaves blowing away.
There was something almost artistic about it.
Like it should have been in some pretentious nihilist art film, burning leaves, burning buildings, something about futility or some shit.
I liked my fires and explosions with a good sound score and the heroes walking away at the end. “Kyle?”
“Yeah, Shady?”
“You thinking about that Shady Brook?”
“I am now.” I smiled.
“It’s nice, I think I get it.”
“I’m glad,” I said, not really knowing how to reply to that.
“Kiss me, boy,” she said, her voice cracking as she looked up at me. I did, a brief, soft kiss. We were both a mess, but the moment, it was there.
We drove the rest of the way to the house in silence, and Grant met us at the driveway, gesturing for Roan to follow him, through a gate into the backyard. Made sense, we were in a vehicle associated with the compound, and when the locals starting asking questions, they would see the truck and follow up on it. They would be occupied for a while, that was a hell of a fire, I could see the glow of it from the backyard of the house.
“Body checks, first aid, showers,” Roan said, opening the door of the truck and hopping out like fucking airborne assault. I was slower to get out, and Sadie was no faster.
“We’ll check each other, mate,” I called to Roan and helped Sadie toward the bathroom. “Were you even hit?”
“Not once, mate,” he said. “You take care of her, if you need anything, give a shout. I’ll monitor the situation with Grant, see about breaking some of this gear down. We can go home first thing in the morning.
“Hey!” I looked at him.
“Go ahead,” he said, pausing.
“What did Worthington owe you?”
“A tenner,” he said.
“A fucking tenner?” I asked incredulously.
“Aye, owed me a tenner, lost a bet shooting camel spiders.”
“A ten-pound note?” I echoed.
“That’s what a tenner is, aye.” Roan smiled.
“Fucking Brits,” I muttered, and I could only shake my head in disbelief. He shrugged and waved for us to go on.
Inside the house, I started helping Sadie out of the ruin that was her kit. The shoulder and chest pieces were ruined, the sword cut straps and shredded the ballistic fiber. When I got the chest piece off of her some of the individual dragonscales actually fell out, clattering loudly against the shitty linoleum of the bathroom floor.
