For the next thirty minutes, O’Neill played tour guide. He identified everything as he drove past—the cafeteria, the base store, the movie theater, the bowling alley, the pool. The entire time, he kept reaching for his phone and checking the screen. He was obviously expecting a call.
“Are we keeping you from something?” Muriel finally asked.
He’d been hanging out with Wolf three days ago. Was he one of the elite warriors on base? Maybe he was needed elsewhere today.
“Wow Mom.” Gracie’s scoff carried a cutting edge. “Way to channel your passive aggressive tendencies. He’s the one who suggested the tour.”
Muriel’s face heated. She turned to O’Neill without meeting his eyes. “I didn’t mean to sound dismissive. It’s just...you keep checking your phone...I wanted to make sure we aren’t interfering with something important.”
After a few seconds of silence, O’Neill grimaced. “Something did come up this morning, and the...situation...is fluid. If that changes, we’ll have to reschedule the tour. But for now, I’m free.”
With that, he went back to playing tour guide and gestured at a recessed building to their left. “And there you have the gym. One of the most popular spots on base. Second only to the shooting range and the obstacle course.”
Gracie’s head appeared between O’Neill and Muriel’s seats. She was staring at the gym. “Is that where you work out?”
“Sometimes.”
“Can we check it out.”
Really?
Surprised, Muriel turned, staring at Gracie like she’d never seen her before. Gracie hated exercising. Working out had been Daniel’s obsession. A wave of grief slammed into her and that gray, internal blizzard flailed. While Daniel had loved working out, constantly weightlifting or jogging, Gracie had hidden inside her room, lost in a book or surfing the net. Her interest in the gym was concerning.
“Not right now,” O’Neill said. “It’s shift-end. The place is packed with warriors stinking up the place. You’d suffocate.”
Gracie laughed and sat back.
“Clinic or lunch?” O’Neill asked, looking at Muriel and then Gracie.
Before Muriel could weigh in on the options, Gracie started talking.
“Can we see the obstacle course? Daniel talked about it all the time.”
“Sure.” O’Neill glanced up and down the road, before guiding the cart into a U-turn.
“Do you train there?” Gracie asked as O’Neill headed back the way they’d come.
“Sometimes. Mostly when storms roll in. There’s plenty of PT opportunities at the foot of the mountain. Jogging in the spring and summer. Cross country skiing or snow shoeing in the winter. Fresh air beats recycled any day.”
Muriel tried to keep her jaw from dropping. Seriously, her daughter, who hated sweating and physical exertion, wanted to visit the gym and obstacle course?
What had happened to the girl she’d raised?
“The course will be packed, too,” O’Neill warned as he guided their vehicle up a series of ramps and then onto another road. “But it’s big enough that even dozens of men won’t stink the place up.”
He slowed as a line of vehicles came into sight and parked beside the last cart. “Most guys grab the elevator and walk over, so with this many vehicles parked outside the course has got to be packed.” He twisted in his seat to look at Gracie. “You sure you want to go in? That many warriors can be ...intimidating.”
“I’ll be okay,” Gracie said stoutly. “They won’t do anything or say anything with you here.”
An odd expression touched O’Neill’s face, but he just slid from the cart without saying anything.
Like the rest of the doors on base, this one was constructed from the same black, spongy material that lined the wall,although it was recessed slightly. The metallic iridescence glittered as the doors slid apart. The space beyond was gigantic—easily the size of six football fields. Which would make the track around the field at least a mile and a half long.
She hadn’t expected something so massive inside a mountain.
“Is that AstroTurf?” she asked, eying the greenery as they walked along the perimeter of the track.
“It is.” O’Neill caught Gracie’s elbow and drew her closer to the wall as a pack of joggers approached. “Grass requires blue and red light, along with water. All of which are difficult to provide in the middle of a mountain.”
