Running Toward Home

by M B Panichi

  “Might be two nights setting charges,” Grey replied. “After I see the containment building, I’ll do some figuring before we decide how we’re going to handle this. I can also bring Mia back with me, so we have one more body.”

  “Mia?”

  Grey grinned. “My wife. She’s a certified demo professional too. We work together.”

  Five minutes later they reached the ladder scaling the outside of the containment building. The cylinder rose four stories to its dome. The maintenance hatch was about three stories up, where the ladder ended in a square, railed platform.

  Shaine watched Morgan gaze uneasily up the ladder. She touched Morgan’s shoulder. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, sure.” Morgan forced a smile.

  Grey swung onto the ladder. “I’m going up. You guys coming?”

  Shaine turned to Morgan.

  Morgan muttered, “It’s not like falling in null gravity.”

  “You don’t have to go up,” Shaine said quietly.

  Morgan took a breath and squared her shoulders. “Like I’m gonna let you have all the fun.”

  Shaine grinned. “You go next, I’ll take the rear.”

  Grey had already slithered up a dozen rungs. Morgan pulled herself up onto the ladder and started climbing. Shaine waited until Morgan had gone up a few rungs, then followed. She called up softly, “Feels pretty stable. I think we’re good. Just watch your step.”

  Grey’s voice floated down. “Little late to think of that, Wendt.”

  “Just keep climbing, Tannis.”

  When they reached the halfway point, Grey paused, turning on the ladder to survey the site with the night vision binoculars. “Security is still just sitting at the main gate.” Grey shook her head and started climbing again. A few minutes later, she pulled herself up onto the metal grate platform, edging aside for Morgan and giving her a hand up. Shaine climbed up and hugged the outside edge. It was a tight fit.

  The maintenance hatch was manually pressure-sealed and secured with a heavy chain and lock. Grey produced a laser cutter from her pack and handed it to Shaine, then shifted so that she hid the light of the cutter from the rent-a-cops.

  Shaine made quick work of the chain. Morgan and Grey pulled it free and looped it around the platform railing. Grey repacked the cutter. Shaine studied the wheel that sealed the hatch, glad it was manual rather than powered. Of course, who knew if they could get it to turn. She said, “Grey, grab a piece of the wheel, and let’s see if we can crank this thing.”

  They strained to turn the wheel, muscles flexing. After a moment, Morgan dropped to her knees between them and took hold of a lower spindle, adding her strength to the effort. It finally gave an inch with a horrible screech that cut sharply through the night.

  They froze. “Fuck!” Shaine hissed.

  Three sets of eyes scanned for movement from the front gate, nearly two kilometers from them. It seemed far away, but the way sound traveled at night, Shaine swore there was no way they wouldn’t have heard. “We need to remember mechanical oil next time,” she muttered.

  Grey said, “Let’s just do it quick and get it over with.”

  Morgan commented, “Heard that one before.”

  Shaine snorted and Grey muffled a laugh.

  They wrenched the wheel, cringing as the metal-on-metal squeal pierced the silence of the night. Finally it released with a hiss of stale, musty air. The three women stilled. Shaine scanned the area near the gate with her night binocs and saw no movement, no lights aimed at them. The security guys didn’t get out of their car, and the headlights remained off.

  Grey muttered, “Those guys are either deaf, sleeping or jamming on some good tunes.”

  “Thank god for rent-a-cops,” Shaine said. “Let’s take a look inside. Morgan, what’s your pad reading?”

  “All clear. Hint of residuals. You’d have to be in there for weeks on end before it even registered in your body.”

  The door creaked and the rusting metal snapped as Shaine pulled the hatch open enough for them to squeeze through. Grey settled the night vision goggles over her eyes again and poked her head inside. “Man, it stinks in here. Step down on your way in. There’s a railing.”

  She stepped through the door and onto the walkway. Shaine followed her in, Morgan behind her, pushing the hatch a little further open. Without night vision goggles it was pitch-black past the immediate circle of moonlight.

  Grey described what she could see. “The walkway goes all the way around. There’s a structure across the center, accessible by the walkway, with a lift. Probably for removing equipment.”

  Morgan asked, “At some point, wouldn’t this have been a completely sealed structure?”

  “Probably before they shut it down and pulled all the nuclear materials out,” Shaine said. “Can you see down at all?”

  “Too dark.” Grey started walking around. “I want to see if that center structure is intact.”

  Morgan chewed her lip. “Seems like we’ll need an awful lot of firepower to do any real damage in here.”

  Grey’s footsteps echoed softly in the musty air as she followed the walkway around. Her voice was quiet as it came back to them. “It’ll take a good amount of explosives, but placed correctly, we can take advantage of weak points in the structure to do the most amount of damage. As long as we don’t need to bring the structures down completely to make them unusable and unstable.”

  Shaine watched Grey disappear into the blackness, trying to monitor her movement by listening to the shuffling of her boots on the concrete walkway. After a couple minutes, she heard the dull ring of boots on metal grating.

  Shaine called quietly, “What are you seeing?”

  “Too dark to see much. I’m on the catwalk. There’s a pulley system here they must’ve used to bring equipment up. No cable or anything though. I’d say they had heavy machinery doing all the work. Too dark to see into the hole. Coming back over.”

  A couple of minutes later, she joined them at the door in the small wedge of light from the open hatch. Shaine asked, “You have what you need?”

  “Yes. All we’re going to get tonight, in any case.”

  Shaine glanced at her chron. “Good. Let’s get the hell out of here, then.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Shaine and Morgan saw Grey off early the next morning. She promised to return in two days with all her equipment and her wife. Turning back toward the farm, Shaine gestured toward the near fields. “Let’s take a walk.”

  They crossed the clearing where the cars were parked, walked past the barn and then along the fence circling the nearest cow field. She caught Morgan’s hand and twined their fingers together. “You doing okay, Morg?”

  “Sure, why?”

  Shaine shrugged. “Just checking. Lots going on, you know?”

  “Charri sent a note. She said things have settled down a lot at home. They haven’t seen any press hanging around work or by my apartment building. Dad says they haven’t bothered him, either. Maybe they’re finally getting tired of me.”

  “Hope so. After this is done we can go back, if you want.”

  Morgan nodded, but said nothing.

  Shaine studied her profile. “What are you thinking?”

  “Even if we go back, it’s going to be different.”

  “Probably.”

  “I know it’s weird, but I don’t know if I’m ready to go back yet.”

  “We can stay here as long as you want. There’s no rush.”

  “I know.”

  Shaine stopped, easing Morgan into a tight embrace, nuzzling her hair, trying with everything in her to let Morgan know that she was safe, that she’d do anything to have Morgan be okay. Morgan relaxed into her body, arms tight around Shaine’s waist, face buried into Shaine’s chest. “I love you, Morgan.”

  Morgan’s grip tightened convulsively. “Thank you,” she mumbled. “Thank you. I love you too.”

  Shaine wasn’t sure what the thank yous were about, but she continued to
hold her lover tightly, rubbing her back, hoping it would help. She sensed Morgan was struggling to maintain her composure, but wasn’t certain why. She supposed it came down to too much change and not enough time to deal with it. Hell, she wasn’t sure what they should do, either. She just knew she wanted to be with Morgan. It wasn’t even a question. Whatever Morgan decided, she would be at her side.

  Shaine still had questions of her own, though. When they returned to Moon Base, would she return to her job as a mechanic? Or was she destined to remain in the thick of intrigue? Maybe she could simply be Morgan’s full-time bodyguard. She had a feeling she’d get bored as hell just doing mechanic work day after day. It’d been a good thing at first, a change she needed to stop the escalating ease with which violence came to her. The last couple of assignments from Rogan had shaken her. It was one thing to kill in cold blood as a sharpshooter in the EG, taking orders from the government in the interest of the greater good. It was another to be asked to do the same for corporate profit. She still wondered if Maruchek was aware of all of the things Rogan asked her to do.

  If she were sucked back into Rogan’s security group, there would be a line drawn that she would not cross. Unless Morgan’s safety was involved. Then all bets were off. As they had been when she’d taken out Tyr Charun, the man who’d tried to murder Morgan when he discovered she was Tarm Maruchek’s daughter.

  She kissed the top of Morgan’s head, combing her fingers through the soft black strands. In the end, it was about Morgan. After some time, Morgan finally pulled away, keeping hold of one of Shaine’s hands and leaning against her side. “Let’s walk, okay?”

  Shaine acquiesced and they continued slowly along the narrow foot trail. Morgan slid her arm around Shaine’s waist, and Shaine kept an arm around Morgan’s shoulders. It made it harder to walk, but they both seemed to need the contact.

  They walked in comfortable silence, turning back toward the house when they reached the end of the first section of fencing.

  Morgan asked, “Do you really think this plan with Grey is going to work?”

  “We’ll make it work. Grey is good. So is Mia. I want the whole situation over with and this is the fastest way to finish it.”

  “Provided we don’t get caught.”

  “We won’t get caught.” Shaine squeezed Morgan’s shoulders. “But if you want to stay back, that’s okay, Morg. I don’t want to force you into going along.”

  “No, I’m in. But how can you be so sure?”

  “Practically speaking, they have no security. This is a cakewalk compared to some of the stuff Grey and I have done in terms of getting in and out undetected. Then there’s the part where it’s so ludicrous, nobody is going to even imagine that it’d happen, so they’re not looking for it. Right now, they’re worrying about the attack on the protest. Somebody blowing the crap out of the power plant isn’t even on their radar.”

  Morgan nodded, accepting the explanations. They came up over the rise closest to the farmhouse. Morgan pointed. “Hey, that’s Toby’s air bike, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah, it is. Let’s go see what he’s up to.”

  * * *

  Toby had come for dinner because Leese was out of town on business. She’d told him and his dad that if they wanted to eat, they may as well eat at the farm. Left to their own devices, the two men would likely starve. Shaine was happy to have her nephew around to harass. Toby gave back as good as he got. He even turned his boisterous teasing onto Morgan.

  Shaine, Morgan and Toby set the table and helped bring the food out before taking their seats. Conversation started before eating and continued through the meal. Morgan passed the bowl of mashed potatoes down to Toby. He scooped a sizable pile onto his plate then reached for the gravy boat. “Oh, yeah, I forgot—my friend Billy said that they’re planning another protest for the day after tomorrow. A bunch of the council members and some project people from GGS are going to the power plant site. I guess there’s going to be press and stuff. They’re going into the old administration building.”

  Jeannette asked, “What are they going to do there?”

  Toby shrugged. “The message I got said it was supposed to be some kind of media thing. Like just for promotion or something.” He stuffed a forkful of meat and potatoes into his mouth and talked through it. “They want protesters at the front gate to meet the press and the company representatives.”

  Jeannette scolded, “Toby, your mother didn’t raise you with those kinds of manners.”

  He swallowed and grinned sheepishly. “Sorry, Grandma.”

  Shaine snickered. Toby glared at her. Shaine said, “Seriously, I hope you aren’t planning on being there, Toby.”

  “Why not? Our whole group is going.”

  Jeannette raised a brow. “After what happened at the park? I agree with Shaine. You shouldn’t be going there.”

  Toby huffed impatiently. “They’re not going to do the same thing twice. Besides, it’s not like it’s a big deal. This will just be maybe thirty of us with signs in front of the entrance gates in the middle of the day.” He looked across the table to his father and grandfather for support. “You agree with me, right?”

  Kent Ichiro held up his hands, staying out of it.

  Mike frowned. “I’d rather have you stay away from there.”

  “I’m not a child.”

  “No, you’re not. And the choice, ultimately, is yours. But my advice to you is to stay out of it.”

  Toby shook his head. “You guys really think they’re going to send gunmen in broad daylight? Seriously?”

  Shaine said, “Doesn’t need to be gunmen.”

  “You’re paranoid, Shaine.”

  She shrugged. “I’m also older and more experienced than you. Take it however you want.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Jeannette stopped Shaine and Morgan the next morning as they came downstairs on their way out the door to take a walk. “Shaine, honey, I need you to run into town for me,” she said.

  Shaine stopped. Morgan pulled up beside her, recognizing Shaine’s flash of concern. Now that Morgan’s cover was blown, they’d discussed not going out in public unless they really needed to. Because of the media’s continued interest in Morgan, Shaine felt that there was still a threat.

  Morgan pointed out that they hadn’t had any reporters at the farm. Shaine was fairly certain it was because Maruchek had put covert security around the farm to keep outsiders out. She hadn’t seen anyone, and Rogan hadn’t discussed it with her, but she would have put money on it. Probably they had all the incoming com lines bugged. Though she’d called Grey on an encrypted line, it was a Mann-Maru encryption on her com, so they could have listened in easily enough. Especially if it’d been Ellerand doing the spying for them. All the intrigue made Morgan’s head swim. Were they ever really alone?

  Shaine put a smile on her face. “Sure, Mom. What do you need?”

  Jeannette pointed to a small pile of letters and flat packages. “That paperwork for the farm needs to get to the lawyers today. I need to take Grandma Richards to the clinic, so I can’t take them over.”

  “Sure, we can run those into town for you. Over to Justin and Justin, right?”

  Jeannette nodded. “Yes. Thank you, Shaine. Grandma just called. Her stomach is acting up again and Grace can’t take her.” She was already gathering her bag and jacket and heading toward the door. She stopped to give both women a hug and disappeared in a whirlwind of fluttering energy.

  Morgan glanced at Shaine. “Change of plans, huh?”

  “Yeah. Lemme get my stuff. We’ll take the Racer.”

  Shaine ran up to her room and returned wearing a long-sleeved camouflage shirt that hung untucked over her tank top and cargo shorts. Morgan couldn’t help but appreciate the view until Shaine opened the shirt to show a small laser pistol in a snug shoulder holster.

  Morgan frowned. Shaine wouldn’t wear a gun if there wasn’t a real threat. Right? She swallowed, feeling slightly nauseous. “You really think
you’re going to need that?”

  Shaine covered the gun again. “Probably not. But I’d rather have it and not need it.”

  “It makes me nervous.”

  Shaine took Morgan’s hands in hers. Morgan was always surprised at the warmth of Shaine’s skin and the strength behind her gentle grip. “I’ll do everything I can to keep both of us safe,” Shaine said seriously.

  “I know that.”

  Shaine gave her hands a squeeze.

  Morgan concentrated on the feel of Shaine’s hands holding hers, on the strength and sureness in her voice. She wanted to trust Shaine. She didn’t want to be afraid. And she sure as hell wasn’t going to let Shaine go into town without her. She squeezed back. “Okay,” she said. “Let’s go.”

  Shaine smiled and slid an arm around Morgan’s shoulder. “Sooner we leave, sooner we get back,” she said.

  Despite her misgivings, Morgan enjoyed the ride. They drove past University Park and into what seemed to Morgan to be a picture-perfect small town. Most of the houses lining the road appeared to have been built decades ago, but seemed neat and tidy.

  Shaine pointed as they passed a corner convenience store. “The school I went to is just down that way.”

  Morgan got a glimpse of a tree-lined lane with houses on either side. They continued down the main street. There were businesses on both sides and a handful of people walked along the street. Cement flowerpots at every corner and in the middle of the blocks overflowed with vibrant yellow and pink flowers. Shaine pulled into an open street space. “The lawyers are just a block down,” she said. She grabbed Jeannette’s envelopes and got out of the car.

  Morgan popped open the passenger door. They had parked outside a candy shop. The smell of chocolate and caramel corn made Morgan’s mouth water.

  Shaine came around the car and took Morgan’s hand. She nodded toward the candy store window. “You wanna stop in on our way back?”

  Morgan grinned. “Definitely!”

  They made their way quickly to the lawyer’s office and delivered the papers then headed back to the candy shop. The bell on the door rang as they walked in. The woman behind the counter smiled. “Welcome to Cathy’s Candy,” she greeted them.