Page 46 of Song of Lorelei

Setting Nireed on her feet with a grunt, Lorelei opened the rear passenger door and instructed the siren to brace herself against it, promising she’d help her inside after shedding a layer. Looping her arms through the open window, Nireed clung tighter than barnacles on a ship hull, making the metal creak even in her weakened state.

“Easy,” Lorelei warned breathlessly, shucking her blazer into the front seat. “Don’t break our means of escape.”

Nireed loosened her grip, cheeks pink. “Sorry, Shorewalker.”

Swiping sweaty strands of hair away from her eyes, and tucking them behind her ears, his fiancée continued, “It’s okay. Now, I’ll give you a boost, but you’re going to want to step here.” She pointed to the step rails. “Then grab that handle above your head and pull yourself up onto the seat.”

The cautious way Nireed peeled away from the door maintaining at least three points of contact, made the whole endeavor look more like rock scrambling than entering a vehicle.

Nireed was half in, half out of the truck, with Lorelei boosting her hips, and Lila and Will stacking coolers outside the back door, when cheerful whistling made them all freeze.

A middle-aged man wearing grease-smudged coveralls turned the corner, toting a toolbox in one hand and jangling a key ring in another. The name “Glenn” was embroidered across his shirt pocket in neat, white lettering. No one moved in inch, each of them gripped by a panic-induced delusion that if they remained still maybe he wouldn’t notice.

But Glenn stopped, whistling cut short. Swiveling his head from the lab’s open backdoor to the siren half hanging out of Killian’s truck and dripping aquarium water everywhere, his expression grew serious.

A beat passed. Then two.

“Nice day to go for a swim, yeah?” Glenn asked after a time, surprising Killian with his jovial tone.

It was a brisk fall day in Maine. Not even the lake water would be warm enough.

“Um, yeah,” Lorelei agreed. “Great day for a swim.”

Glenn nodded once, and although his serious expression didn’t change, tiny hints of a smile crept in at the edges. “Be safe out there,” was all he said before walking away, whistling the classic cartoonish tune of “nothing to see here!”

“I might’ve shit myself a little.” Will laughed, lifting one of the virophage coolers and duck-walking it over to the truck.

Nose scrunched with distaste, Lila replied, “Better hope not, or you’re riding in the bed. No one wants to sit next to your stinky ass.”

Will’s gait smoothed out. “Skid free, baby.”

Lila rolled her eyes.

“Kind of nice not having to use my song on someone,” Lorelei added, getting Nireed settled inside and buckling her in. “Restores my faith in humanity a little.”

Once Nireed was situated, Lorelei ran to help Lila and Will with the virophages, forming an assembly line from the back door to Killian’s truck bed. Between the three of them, the coolers were loaded in, strapped down, and tarped over within minutes.

“Let’s get out of here before we have anymore unwanted visitors,” Killian called out.

Lorelei ran to the front passenger seat, Lila and Will to the back. As soon as they all piled inside and closed the doors, Killian hit the gas. A little too hard. A collection of oofs, ows, and one hiss rose all around him as his comrades lurched forward from the sudden change in inertia, knocking limbs into each other and various parts of the interior. Despite having planned this get-in-the-car-and-floor-it getaway ahead of time, none of them seemed to have been ready for it.

He apologized.

“I’m gonna feel that one in the morning,” Lila teased, rotating her shoulder. “But well worth it. I mean is it truly a heist experience if you don’t burn some rubber at the end?”

Half the people in this vehicle were pushing forty, and while that wasn’t by any means close to old, he supposed they were maybe getting too “old” for these kinds of Hollywood movie dramatics.

Sitting back with a huff of laughter, and buckling her seatbelt, Lorelei cheered. “We did it!”

Branson whooped, pumping his fist into the air. “Operation Badass Babes for the win!”

“It’s ‘Bitches’, Will. We changed it,” Lorelei laughed as she reached around her seat to dole out high-fives.

In his rearview mirror, Killian watched Lila show Nireed how to join in. “Not too hard,” she said, arching her brow, all while holding out her hand for Nireed to slap it. The siren looked bewildered, but she clapped her hand on top.

“It’s not over yet,” Killian cautioned, but he couldn’t help but smile, too. The hardest part was behind them.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Lorelei rub her elbow and wince. “You okay?”

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