by Jody Klaire
RENEE LOCKED THE doors, hoping to keep the kids calm as they sat in the darkness. The plane was on approach. Her radio was silent and she’d left Aeron and Frei back at the academy. Her heart screamed at her to go and find them. Her logic told her to be calm. Wait. Do her job.
Aeron was right. She trusted that Aeron could do her job. Let her do her job.
Renee looked behind her in the bus. Jed held his sister and Miranda close. Every kid was terrified. She was terrified. The plane sank down. The pale light of the moon bathed each face. The dust had settled. Her heart was anything but. Miroslav gripped hold of Jessie. Ty, Jane, Ryan, Ian, and Leigh-Anne all huddled together. Renee checked her pistol. Checked her radio.
“I don’t see Miss Samson,” Ryan mumbled. “They’ll be here, won’t they?”
The plane glided, graceful like a swan. Landing gear out. It touched down. The roar of the airbrake. What could she say?
“They’ll be here.”
Renee stared at the entrance.
No sign of them.
The plane pulled to a stop. The CIG plane. Relief warred with worry.
“I hope Miss Locks is okay,” Jessie whispered. “Jäger is mean.”
Miroslav pulled her closer. “She’s a hero. She has Aeron with her.”
Jessie nodded up at him.
Renee tried to take comfort from his words.
The plane’s door opened. Steps folded out from the side. Ewan emerged, gun at the ready, with the other CIG agents. One half of the team anyhow. The other half would be waiting to head into Caprock.
“Are they your team, Professor Worthington?” Jed asked. His voice was clear, strong but she could feel how terrified he was.
“Yes.” They would need to be fast. Get the kids on board and take-off. “Just call me Renee.”
Jed smiled and Miranda shook her head at him.
Renee glanced back at the horizon. “Come on . . . hurry up, hurry up.”
Ewan tapped on the door. “Clear.”
CIG agents started hauling the luggage from the bus into the hold of the plane.
Renee opened up the door and nodded to Jed. “Let’s get you to safety.”
The kids got up in rows. Renee watched them off. Miroslav being helped by a couple of agents.
“Where are the others?” Ewan asked.
Renee bit her lip. Jed turned at his question to watch her. She forced herself to smile. “They’ll be here.”
Ewan’s eyes glinted with concern. “Lilia has a team ready to move into the academy as soon as they get the signal from Frei.”
Renee nodded. “Just get ready for take-off.”
Jed lingered. The students, even those not in Aeron’s group, looked to her. “They’ll be here. Go on.”
She glanced at the horizon once more. They needed to hurry.
Her heart wouldn’t quiet. She sighed. She couldn’t leave them behind. She didn’t have it in her. “There a chopper close by?”
Ewan nodded. “Bravo team is going to circle the area.”
“Call them in.”
He frowned. “That’s not—”
“Do it.”
Ewan saluted and hurried off. Jed broke out in a grin. The students nodded their support to her.
Renee bit her lip. Bravo team would have weapons. They may need them.
I DIDN’T MUCH like driving in the dust so I was glad when the air cleared like the storm had blown itself out. It was hard to keep my balance and even harder to see where the road lay. A couple of times Frei had given me a heads up when I was about to stick us off the edge.
“There, on your right.”
I turned, obeying the crackly order in my ear, flashed twice at the guys on the gate and drove us up the dirt road. The plane was already on the ground. The engines whirring. I skidded the bike to a stop and hoisted Frei off it. She slumped against me. I knew she was hurt, wobbly, and dazed but she was alive.
Renee sprinted over to us. “You kiss a wall?”
Frei pulled off her helmet and staggered. I caught her. “She needs to get seen. She’s got a concussion.”
Renee nodded. “Ewan, put Frei on the plane. Get them in the air. Now. I’ll buy you time. Just get them to safety.”
I squinted up at the sky as a chopper roared into view.
Ewan saluted and looked to me. I shook my head. Frei was headed to the base, sure, but I weren’t leaving Renee behind. Never.
“Aeron—”
“I ain’t leaving you. Quit whining and show me how to get in the stupid thing.”
CIG guys hurried up from the gate. The men from the chopper ran over to us.
They handed Renee and I helmets and then ran up the steps and boarded the plane. The doors shut and the plane started to move.
I glanced at Renee who set her jaw as I climbed into the chopper and buckled myself in.
“Lorelei, Black, what are you doing?” Frei was slurring but she was mad.
“Covering your ass,” Renee shot back. She eased us into the air. “Hold on,” she whispered my way and flew us in the direction of a load of dust getting kicked up.
We had a lot of company.
I looked back at the plane heading down the runway.
“It’s taxiing,” I called to her.
She pressed the stick in front of her and gunfire erupted from the front of the chopper. It rattled my teeth.
We soared over as trucks and cars split apart with her assault. One rolled.
Gunfire pulsed back our way.
Renee responded with another blast. She whipped us out of the way as something loud weee-ed past my side.
“RPGs?” She scowled. “Two can play at that game.” She turned us. My stomach lurched.
Something next to me fizzed, detached itself, and flew at them as Renee swung us to the right.
Bam.
I held on. I could see the plane lifting off. “It’s nearly there.”
Renee pulled us around and fired at a truck heading in the plane’s direction. The side of it buckled. She swept us left, away from the returning gunfire.
“It’s up!” I shouted like I was excited, terrified, crazy, or maybe all three. “It’s in the air.”
“We’re free of the ground, Black, now get out of there before any more arrive.” Frei was slurring still but sounded half-ready to throttle us and half relieved.
I met Renee’s eyes, and she grinned. “Let’s see how fast she can fly.”
I grinned back, more because we were zooming away from the angry ants on the ground. “I’m glad you’re having fun,” I mumbled, my insides rolling.
“We just saved children, shut down a trafficking school, and . . . I got to fire my guns.” She was smiling wider than I’d seen in a while. “That’s a great day at the office.”
“You still had to wine and dine Owens,” I muttered. She needed pickle juice thrown at her too.
“Sleeping draughts are a girl’s best friend.” She winked at me. “And you should know she wasn’t my type anyway.”
“She wasn’t?” I was thankful that there were no more signs of whooshing or crackling gunfire from below. I’d had enough excitement.
“You saw her guns . . . you know me. I like big guns.”
I could see a twinkle in her eyes and laughed as the light dinged on in my head. “Yeah, her muscles were pathetic.”
“They have nothing on yours.” She laughed.
I gripped on as she swept us to change the flight path.
“I’m not quite sure if anyone could beat you,” she said with a grin.
That made me smile from ear-to-ear. I didn’t know why, but I had tears in my eyes too. I think all the excitement had made me smushy. “You think so?”
She nodded. “Who else would love my cooking as much as you?”
My stomach rumbled. Enough that we heard it over the rotor blade. Renee chuckled and flashed me a smile. “You and that stomach of yours, Lorelei, you and that stomach.”
Chapter 57
RENEE FLE
W US to a military base and the personnel drove us to the nearest town. When we got there I was pretty keen on breakfast ’cause I was now running on fumes.
Renee checked us into a motel and we headed to the diner for something to ease my grumbling stomach. I wasn’t sure what the waitress thought of us. Renee was covered in a layer of dust, her shirt ripped to reveal a black lace bra. Her knees were muddy and she had a purple cheek and dried blood on her jaw.
I was in suit pants and a shirt, the sleeve on my arm had ripped off at one point. One side of my boot had been scuffed beyond recognition.
The waitress seemed pretty unfazed and took our order. Either it was too early for her to care or she’d seen a lot of weird folk.
“So what happens now?” I asked. I was sure CIG would have some kind of protocol.
“While Ursula gets treated, the only thing left for us to do is to make it back to base.” She studied her menu. “I thought we could head to Oppidum.”
I didn’t know how far that was but it sounded like a road trip. I loved the idea. I rubbed my hand over my face, stifling a yawn. “I meant with the kids.”
Renee cricked her neck to the side and let out a sigh of relief when it cracked. “They’ll get checked out in our medical facility and then debriefed before being placed into a protection program.”
“Is that safe?”
Renee met my eyes. She looked pretty beat herself. “You think we’d do it if it wasn’t?”
“What about Miroslav?” I was worried about him. “What if they all get separated?”
“They won’t.” She reached across the table and took my hand. “They’ll be just fine now.”
I picked up my menu and keys clattered onto the work top. “Hey, somebody must have left them.” I motioned to the waitress. “These ain’t ours.”
“Sure they are.” The lady looked at me like I was dumb. “Some guy in a suit dropped them off and said they were for a giant and dusty.” She gave us a cheeky smile. “You two fit that and then some.”
I couldn’t argue with that. Renee looked dusty to the point she was three shades darker all over.
“Aeron, how do you cope with feeling so much all the time?” Renee rubbed a hand over her brow. “The waitress has aching feet. My feet hurt enough by themselves without me having her pain too.”
I smiled at the lady as she delivered our food. “Sometimes if you don’t block it out, it gets overwhelming. You can be a bit . . . unstable then.”
“So how do you?”
I leaned over and clasped the necklace glinting at me in the morning sun. “Armor. It kinda helps if you believe.”
“I do . . .” She bit her lip. “I mean . . . in theory . . .”
I could see her battling her logic as she watched me rub my thumb over the necklace.
“Maybe a bit . . .” She met my eyes and sighed. “Sometimes . . . It’s not easy.”
I smiled. “Then you got to work on visualizing it.”
“Will you teach me?” She gave me a shy smile. “It’s just that I have this because you helped me and I think it’s so I can learn how to see more of what’s in front of me.”
Having Renee ask me to share something with her felt like a warm hug after all the uncertainty I’d felt. “Sure you don’t mind sharing?”
She smiled. “With you, never . . . well . . . in theory.”
I chuckled and tucked into my bacon. “Good, ’cause I’d love to.”
Chapter 58
RENEE AND I pretty much slept walked from the diner to our motel room and it was only when the next morning came that either of us stirred.
The phone in the room rang somewhere in the distance and Renee sent it clattering to the floor.
“Hello?” I opened my eyes at her groggy tone and stretched out my back with a yawn.
“What . . . no . . . we fell asleep. Are you okay?” She turned to look at me. Her hair jutted out at funny angles and made me chuckle.
“Ursula,” she whispered. “Her head is fine. They are all there safe.”
I frowned at the clock. “Don’t they keep people under observation for head injuries for a while?”
Renee rubbed her eyes. “They got back yesterday morning.” She sighed. “Aeron, we slept for a whole day.”
It went some way to explaining why my back was so cricked. “Are the kids okay?”
Renee repeated my question as I pulled myself up. I took a shower, happy to hear Renee’s tones in the background, her accent, the one I loved. She felt calmer, more open than she had since back in Oppidum. It felt good. It felt good to know the students were all okay.
I went searching for towels and found clothes. “She left us stuff,” I told Renee, peeking out of the bathroom.
New stuff. Cool.
“All the students are fine,” she said, smiling at me. “They are being given a thorough medical. Doctor Andrews is keeping them all under observation so you’ll be able to see them before they leave.”
She replaced the handset and rolled out of bed. I still had dirt in my ear as I cleaned it out with the towel. I peeked at Renee, still covered in layers of it. She’d be finding it for a while.
“Haven’t slept that well since my birthday,” she mumbled. Then she met my eyes, cleared her throat, and turned around.
I frowned. “What?”
She motioned to me, not looking.
I looked down at myself and shrugged. “What, it ain’t my fault they make towels for short people.”
She cleared her throat once more. “Yes . . . well . . .”
I cocked my head and laughed as she headed to the bathroom, her eyes shut in protest. “An’ there was me thinking you appreciated guns.”
A towel smacked me in the face.
AN HOUR LATER we got fed in the diner by the same waitress. While we waited for food, I stared at the keys I still had from our first visit.
I had on a leather jacket, jeans, boots, and a t-shirt so it was more than likely a bike. Renee had on a similar outfit, which made her look so cool that I couldn’t stop staring at her.
“Quit it, dimwit,” she shot at me with a smile.
“You rock bike clothes,” I mumbled, finishing off my food.
She pushed the crispy bits of bacon onto my plate. “You too but the purple is staying until it heals itself.”
I sighed. She knew me too well. “You think Kevin will be alright?”
Renee shrugged, leaning her good cheek on her fist. She ran her fingers over the cup in front of her. “I don’t know. Frei never said much about her life with Huber.”
“She kicked Jäger’s butt.” I smiled at Renee, the sun warmed her complexion, her eyes soft in the light. “I hope he’s in custody some place.”
“No trace of him or Harrison but you’ll be glad to know Owens is in custody.” She smiled at me with a dopey expression on her face.
I scowled. “Told you I didn’t like her.”
She squeezed my hand, her aura fuzzy and calm. “Good thing I trusted you then.”
I smiled. She had and it meant a lot.
“How come you got Jed involved in spying on her?” I was pleased he showed promise, albeit in being sneaky.
“I caught him spying on me. I taught him how to do it properly.” She smiled and I leaned on my fist. I’d seen how faded her aura had been in St. Jude’s and how much she’d struggled. There was energy in her eyes now, electricity, life. Her aura looked stronger, happier and I couldn’t help but enjoy soaking her in.
“Light show?” she asked with a smile that made her energy dance.
“Yeah, I missed seeing it. I kinda missed you.” I cleared my throat, feeling mushy. I focused on my food, trying not to get all misty eyed.
She squeezed my hand again. I got a flash of her watching me play on her birthday. “I missed you too.”
When we’d eaten our fill, we headed out to the parking lot. Renee led me over to a large cruiser. The passenger seat behind was all decked out like a comfy armchair.
�
��At least she got something right,” Renee muttered, pulling two helmets from under the seat. “Guess it’s only fair as I got to fly.”
I checked the levels and ran through all the other checks to familiarize myself with the controls.
“You realize this is Ursula’s way of saying happy birthday to me, right?” Renee took a seat and relaxed into it. “Let’s go home. Mrs. Squirrel is going to love this seat to curl up on.”
I grinned. Explained why she hadn’t said anything to Renee before. More so, I liked that Renee thought of Nan’s cabin as home too. “Wonder how she’s getting on.”
I started the bike and drove us, a bit unsteadily at first, out onto the highway. I relished the simple joy of chauffeuring Renee back to Oppidum.
The sun was already high in the sky and the ride gave us some much needed breeze.
“Aeron, how did you know . . . I mean . . . how do you sift through all the feelings to figure out how to read people?” Her voice was crackly in the headset but it was her voice, her accent and that felt like treasure in itself.
“It took time. I still can’t read what’s going on in your head.”
“Trust me, that’s a good thing.” She placed her hand on my shoulder. “You know I could feel Owens wasn’t right just like you said. Never once did she logically give me cause to doubt her, I just knew.”
I smiled. Renee not-so-Black-and-white. It felt good to hear her counting on the instincts inside.
“Your heart doesn’t need teaching, that’s why,” I said as we hit the open road. I hoped she could hear me over the crackling. I opened the throttle and Renee whooped in delight.
“The feelings were . . . are . . . they felt so accurate, so vivid.”
It felt good to hear her open up. “Your heart is your greatest ally, that’s what Nan always used to say to me.” Sometimes it weren’t the taught skills but the natural instinct that guided us to the truth. That was even more important when dealing with people who had a lot of things going on in their hearts and heads.
My heart always told me that Renee cared, no matter what, even when my head was too busy listening to the evidence presented. I needed to listen to it a lot more. Love never fails, I just needed to remember that.