Running Toward Home

by M B Panichi

  Two officers escorted Shaine and Morgan to where the police air cars were parked. One opened a car door and said to Shaine, “You can sit there if you want.”

  Shaine leaned against the car with a groan. If she sat, she’d really start feeling the hurt. “I’ll just stand quietly,” she muttered.

  The officer shrugged. “Your choice. Just don’t try anything stupid.” He and his partner moved a couple steps away from the two women and stood watch over them. His hand rested menacingly close to his firearm.

  Morgan turned to her. “Shaine, are you okay?”

  Shaine grimaced, but nodded. “Hurts like a bitch, but I’ll be fine. The glass is going to need to be picked out.”

  Morgan muttered, “Then they fucking well better get over here and start picking.”

  Shaine gave her a wry grin. It warmed her heart when Morgan got her hackles up on her behalf.

  Morgan warily eyed the officers watching them. “Are they gonna arrest us for getting involved?” she asked.

  Shaine shrugged, winced, and silently cursed the handcuffs. “More likely they just want to know what we saw, what we heard. They’re just playing it safe keeping us cuffed.”

  “I thought they were going to shoot first and ask later. I nearly peed my pants.” Morgan shuddered.

  Shaine wished she could put her arms around Morgan. “I’m sorry you got involved in this, Morg.”

  “I’m okay. It’s not your fault. I followed you.”

  Shaine frowned, not convinced. Morgan said, “At least you weren’t scared out of your wits.”

  Shaine choked out a harsh laugh. “Don’t believe that for a second. Only idiots aren’t scared when a dozen guns are pointed in their face.”

  “Well, there goes my hero worship.”

  Shaine snorted.

  Chapter Seven

  It was nearly four in the morning when Shaine and Morgan returned to the farm. Shaine was thoroughly exhausted. It had been an endless night. The medics had brought her, under guard and still handcuffed, to a triage tent. The damage wasn’t bad. Several shards of glass were removed from her back and shoulder. Three of the larger cuts needed a couple of stitches. The police kept Shaine and Morgan on-site for another four hours, peppering them with questions.

  Shaine didn’t blame Owens, the officer in charge, for his suspicion and caution. Shaine kept calmly to her story. She felt bad that Morgan was also being questioned, but Morgan seemed to be taking the situation in stride.

  Morgan told her that Owens asked if she was “that” Morgan Rahn, Tarm Maruchek’s daughter. She confirmed his suspicions and told him that she was trying to stay out of the limelight. He told her she was doing a lousy job of it. All she could do was laugh. He asked Shaine about Morgan as well. Shaine verified Morgan’s identity, and he didn’t mention it again.

  Eventually, Owens released them, requesting that they remain in the area and be available for additional interviews. Shaine gave him the address of the farm and her personal com code.

  Shaine pulled the Racer into the wide driveway and immediately noted the extra cars and all the lights on in the house. She and Morgan stumped up the porch stairs and into the kitchen, arms around each others’ waists, leaning on each other. Shaine breathed in the wonderful aroma of fresh-brewed coffee.

  Muted voices filtered to them from the entertainment room. She and Morgan walked through to find Shaine’s parents drinking coffee with her sister and brother-in-law, plus Toby, Chelsea and a woman Shaine assumed was Chelsea’s mother. The big vid screen was on, split between two different news feeds. Closed-captions ran along the bottoms of each window.

  “Oh, Shaine! Morgan! You’re finally home!” Jeannette was on her feet in a second, rushing to greet them.

  Shaine grimaced when Jeannette wrapped her into a motherly hug. “Mom, easy, please,” she managed, hearing the crack in her voice when her mom squeezed too hard.

  Jeannette released her instantly, stepping back. “Oh, my God, what happened to you?”

  Everyone surrounded them in a babble of anxious voices and questions. Morgan sagged against the doorframe looking shell-shocked. Shaine managed to sidle over to her and got an arm around her waist again. Morgan leaned against her.

  Shaine finally said, “We’re fine, really. But we need to sit, okay?”

  Leese ordered, “Toby, go get them some coffee and the sandwiches from the fridge.”

  Shaine smiled thankfully as Jeannette and Kent ushered her and Morgan to the sofa. They gladly settled down with a couple of quilts tucked around them. A few moments later, Toby and Chelsea returned with mugs of coffee and plates full of sandwiches and cookies. Shaine didn’t realize how hungry she was until she smelled the food. Morgan sighed as she sipped the hot coffee.

  Jeannette hovered around them. Shaine took another bite of her turkey sandwich and spoke around it. “Mom, sit down. You’re making me nuts. What have they been saying on the news?”

  Kent and Mike filled them in. The media described a mysterious unarmed woman from the crowd who went up against the gunmen to break up the siege. Someone had taken photos of her and Morgan, handcuffed and talking to the police investigators. Shaine was glad they hadn’t had to fend off any reporters.

  Shaine nodded toward the vid screen. “Have they learned anything yet?”

  Her stepfather said, “Four people dead, nine injured. Seems the gunmen were shooting into the ground or the air a lot of the time. Reporters are speculating the intent was to scare people more than kill them.”

  “I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but using conventional weapons instead of using laser rifles helped them blend in with the sound of the fireworks. Have they figured out yet who Morgan is? Or who I am?”

  Leese said, “I just heard them identify Morgan. They haven’t released your name, but I imagine that’s just a matter of time. Enough people around here still remember you.”

  Shaine sighed. “I should have stayed out of this.”

  Morgan rubbed Shaine’s back. “You saved lives.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s gonna come back and bite our asses. And probably have media here at the farm.”

  Jeannette said flatly, “They are not going to get any cookies.”

  Shaine chuckled.

  Chelsea sniffled. “I just don’t understand why anyone would just start shooting people for no reason.” Tears re-formed in her eyes, already red from crying.

  Toby wrapped his arms around her. “It was a peaceful protest,” he said. “Nobody was hurting anyone, and they just opened fire. It’s insane. They killed Benny Hauser’s brother Natt! How could they do that? What did it accomplish?”

  Shaine studied her nephew. His shoulders slumped and he looked tired and defeated. Both he and Chelsea were pretty sheltered, growing up in the peacefulness of a small town. She’d seen the darker side of humanity. Hell, she’d been the darker side of humanity. But these kids—they were innocents. Whether they realized it or not, what they’d experienced tonight had changed them both.

  * * *

  A couple hours later, Morgan and Shaine finally crawled into bed. The sky showing through the bedroom’s dome had begun to lighten toward dawn. Shaine wrapped her arms around Morgan and tucked Morgan’s head under her chin. Morgan snuggled in close, one arm thrown across Shaine’s stomach. Shaine’s back throbbed where she’d been cut, but it helped just to be lying down. The cool sheets felt good against her fevered skin.

  Shaine murmured, “Long night, huh?”

  “Yeah. This makes it better, though.”

  Shaine smiled. “Feels good to hold you.”

  “Mmmm.” Morgan kissed the bare skin under her cheek.

  They were silent for a long time. Shaine thought Morgan had fallen asleep when Morgan asked, “What are you thinking? I can almost hear the gears grinding up there.”

  “Thinking about tonight. You and I are going to take some heat for this because I jumped in there.”

  “Let ’em talk, Shaine. Can’t make it any w
orse than it is.”

  “I just hope it doesn’t make us a target.”

  “Target?”

  “Yeah. For whoever’s plans I fucked with tonight.”

  “Mmmm. That wouldn’t be good.”

  “No.”

  “I think you worry too much.”

  Shaine kissed Morgan’s head. “Probably.”

  Morgan nibbled at the base of Shaine’s neck. Shaine shivered as Morgan ran a hand up her torso and slid her palm over a hardening nipple. “Worry tomorrow,” Morgan whispered.

  Shaine groaned and shifted under her, finding Morgan’s lips with her own. Yeah, she thought, as Morgan stole her breath, worry tomorrow.

  * * *

  The incessant beeping of Shaine’s comp pad shattered the morning. Shaine groaned as she snaked a hand out from under the covers to grab the pad on the nightstand. She thumbed the touch-screen, muttering an oath as she recognized the incoming com code. Morgan mumbled and ducked her head below the covers.

  Shaine accepted the call and grunted into the mic. “Yeah?” She double-checked to make sure the video send was off. Rogan didn’t need any thrills.

  The security chief’s less than happy tone boomed through the small speaker, “You know, Wendt, you’re not making things any simpler by playing the hero.”

  Shaine sighed. According to the chron on the nightstand, they’d only been asleep for four hours. It was too fucking early to be having this conversation. She said flatly, “I wasn’t going to sit back and watch people die.”

  “No. You wouldn’t, would you?”

  Shaine felt Morgan snicker under the covers. She yawned and asked, “Who’s behind the shootings?” She assumed that he already had his people looking into things, probably had Kyle Ellerand hacking into the local police database. Since she and Morgan had been involved, Rogan was probably all over it, at least to the extent that it might affect them.

  Rogan said, “I don’t know who’s behind it and it’s not my problem so I really don’t care. My problem is that you were supposed to keep Morgan out of the spotlight, and it would appear the spotlight found her again.”

  Morgan popped her head out from under the quilt and said, “If you think I was going to sit back and hide when Shaine might have needed backup, you’re dumber than I thought.”

  “You realize your father is having a fit about this? How are we supposed to insulate you if you refuse to stay hidden?”

  Morgan yawned and curled up again.

  Rogan continued, “Should I assume this is the end of the situation?”

  Shaine said, “I don’t know that you should assume anything at this point.”

  “Don’t get involved in this, Wendt. It’s nothing to do with us.”

  “I don’t plan on getting involved,” she said evenly.

  “Stay out of it.”

  “Yeah, yeah. You worry too much, Rogan.”

  “You give me reason to,” he snapped, and ended the call.

  Shaine looked up at raindrops splattering against the glass panels, blurring the view of a gray, overcast sky. Rogan wasn’t going to look into the situation. He didn’t care. Bastard. She cared. And this wasn’t over. Not just yet.

  But it was still too fucking early for this. She returned the comp pad to the nightstand and squirmed down under the covers, wrapping herself around Morgan’s warmth with a sigh. She kissed Morgan’s dark head. She didn’t know if she’d be able to fall back to sleep, but there was no sense in getting up early if it was going to rain.

  Chapter Eight

  Morgan could only describe the day as gray. Gloomy clouds hung low in the sky. The pouring rain washed out the scenery past the barns. She sat on the porch swing and watched the rain. It pattered steadily on the roof, falling in heavy sheets off the porch eaves and collecting in muddy puddles in the driveway. The air felt damp and clammy.

  Morgan cuddled into an oversized sweatshirt she’d found in Shaine’s closet. She tucked her feet beneath her, pulling the jacket down over her legs and huddling under the soft fleece.

  The rain fascinated her. The dampness made her shiver. Moon Base was so dry. Water was carefully rationed. The small park at the center of Moon Base had grass specially developed to require very little moisture. All the plants were drought-resistant. Shower facilities were sonic and used very limited amounts of water.

  To see so much water falling from the sky amazed her and she couldn’t stop watching it. So many things that Shaine and her family took for granted, she considered wondrous. It made her feel as though she’d lived her life in a sterile cage. She’d seen all these things in vids—rain and hot sunshine and horses and puddles and mud. But the experience was so much more than she’d imagined. When it shone, the sun warmed her through to her bones. Animals snorted and barked and were warm and furry and so much bigger than she’d thought they’d be. Hoss the horse had stiff, coarse fur that lay flat against his muscular body. George’s fur was soft and thick and wild and fluffy and he shed constantly. The animals all had their own odor. The dirt was warm where the sun baked it and cool when she dug down. The air was always moving, even when there was no wind, and there were so many different smells.

  She was accustomed to the scrubbed, flat taste of Moon Base air and the scent of too many people too close. Body odor and perfume and sweat mingled with the processed restaurant food aromas of many different ethnicities and the sharp tang of grease and oil and machinery. Some days the air-scrubbers worked more efficiently than others.

  On Earth the air was endless. And there wasn’t a dome over her head. She’d look up, half expecting to see the sky through weathered glassteel. Having experienced Earth, she knew it would be stifling to go back to Moon Base. But she missed her dad and her friends, especially Charri.

  She powered up the comp pad she’d brought out on the porch and connected to the net. Almost immediately, Charri’s avatar popped up on her screen. The pink and magenta jungle cat with violet eyes growled at her and Morgan grinned. Glancing at the time, she did the math and figured it was close to twenty-two-hundred hours on Moon Base. Charri would be getting ready to work third shift. She initiated her own avatar, a silvery green dragon, and greeted Charri in text mode.

  Morgan: Hey, Char!

  Charri: Morg!! Miss you!

  Morgan: Miss u 2! How are things going up there?

  Charri: Same old. Work. Sleep. Work some more. Quiet without u here. Ben’s band is playing this weekend at Club Tranquility.

  Morgan: Wish I was there. Hug Ben for me?

  Charri: I will. How are you? How is Shaine’s family? How is the farm?

  Morgan: I’m good. The family is really nice. I rode a horse!

  Charri: That is so excellent! You and Shaine getting along okay?

  Morgan: We’re good. Real good.

  Charri: When r u coming home?

  Morgan: No idea. We haven’t talked about it. Waiting to see what happens.

  Charri: I really miss ya.

  Morgan: Miss u 2. Feels like I’ve been gone forever. Have you seen my dad?

  Charri: I haven’t seen him, no. You haven’t missed anything here, that’s for sure.

  Morgan: I need to call him. I feel bad leaving him up there.

  Charri: Your dad is okay. He wants you to be happy. He’s got lots of friends. You know he keeps busy. He’ll be fine.

  Morgan: I still worry.

  Charri: I can stop by tomorrow and see him, let you know how he is.

  Morgan: Thanks.

  Charri: I gotta go. Time to head to work. Talk later?

  Morgan: I’ll be around.

  Charri’s avatar blinked out of existence. Morgan sighed and closed down her own avatar. There wasn’t anyone else she wanted to talk to, though see could see that a few of her other friends were online.

  In the last month, she’d been away from her dad and her friends more than she’d been in her whole life. She wasn’t homesick, exactly, but she felt guilty leaving her dad. She hadn’t lived with him in over ten ye
ars, but she still saw him at least a couple times a week. It’d just been the two of them since she was twelve years old, when her mom died.

  She felt responsible for him, as though she should be around in case he needed her. She felt guilty and selfish that she was running away from the reporters stalking her on Moon Base and that she was enjoying her time with Shaine. She set the comp pad down beside her and stared out toward the fields, wondering how long the rain would last. And how long she and Shaine would be gone from home.

  * * *

  Shaine relaxed into the gentle massage Morgan gave her neck. Morgan leaned over her shoulder, peering at the computer terminal on the desk in Shaine’s room. Shaine smiled at the feel of Morgan’s warm breath in her ear.

  “Finding anything interesting?” Morgan asked.

  Shaine wondered how such an innocent question could sound so sexy. Morgan’s strong fingers worked the muscles at the base of her neck and shoulders. Shaine almost purred. After a few moments, Morgan prompted, “Well?”

  Shaine blinked. “Oh.” She grinned. “Not really. Just background history.”

  Morgan kept up her shoulder massage and kissed the top of Shaine’s head. “You’ll come up with something,” she said.

  Shaine sighed. “I hope so.”

  Morgan kissed her cheek. “I’m gonna see if Charri’s on the net,” she said, and moved back to her spot on the bed, curled up in a blanket with her comp pad. Shaine smiled and turned back to the terminal.

  The rain had continued into the afternoon. Shaine decided it was a good time to start researching the nuclear power plant and the company that was trying to put it back into production. What she’d found so far about Global Geo Systems wasn’t earth-shattering, or anything she didn’t already know.

  Most interesting was that Mann-Maru had acquired GGS nearly twenty years ago, though GGS operated as an independent subsidiary. It struck her as odd because Mann-Maru was one of the few companies that had sided with the environmental groups lobbying vocally against GGS bringing old nuclear plants back online.