Page 69 of Ace

The sky grew lighter, and that was a blessing for all involved. But none of the hope that most sunrises brought could reach his anxious heart. Gianna’s father’s words burned through him. He had promised the man she would be safe. He’d promised his own father she would be safe. He wanted more than anything for the woman he loved to be safe, and yet, he had no idea where she was at the moment. He puffed out a breath. And wasn’t that always the way with her? She’d asked him to be her co, and he’d let her walk away.

He shook his head. He’d had a job to do.

There was no way around it, they were a nightmare waiting to happen, the two of them. And he couldn’t stand to be apart from her.

He went back toward the children’s home and headed for the kitchen. At last he found Rosamie leaning back against a tree, running hands over her face. She looked to be taking a break.

He approached. “Oh, Rosamie.”

Her head jerked up, and when she saw him, her face crumpled and she ran into his arms. “Oh, forgive me. But it has been so difficult. I’m so happy to see someone else who can help.”

He held her, grateful for this wonderful woman who’d been Gianna’s friend. “I’m here.” He held her as long as he could to give her some comfort before he couldn’t wait any longer. “Where is Gianna?”

She went still and then looked up into his face. “You don’t know?”

He shook his head. “What happened? When’s the last time you saw her?”

She rehearsed her moments with Gianna. “I know she went down by those warehouses. She sent my cousin up here to me with all the people you see here. There are more just outside our village. From the looks of it, she was successful in clearing people out in time.” Her eyes widened.

“But not herself.”

“Don’t say that. We don’t know. I haven’t seen her. But she could be trying to put the fire out. We don’t know.” She looked away. “We don’t know.”

“I agree. I’ll go see what can be done. But the danger might not be over. Tell the people to stay sheltered as long as they can. I wish I came with more food.”

“We are okay. Your fishing method has helped, and the people are motivated to catch some.” She nodded. “We will have enough because we have to.”

He squeezed her shoulder. “Thank you, Rosamie.” As he walked away, he called back. “There is hope. After this bombing, there is reason to think everything will improve or at least go back to normal.”

“I hope so.”

He hoped so too. He’d never hoped for something so much in his life, because that would mean that Gianna was well, and that they could maybe try again.

Chapter 25

Gianna opened her eyes, her cheek lying in the cool mud of the early morning. Her hands were tucked beneath her. A good amount of rubble, wood fragments, thick branches, and other things lay on top of her legs. But she could wiggle her toes. That was a good sign. She hadn’t tried to move, except her chin and neck ,which seemed to work well enough.

As her brain cleared bit by bit, she put together pieces from the explosion. She had just convinced the last store owner to head north with his family. As soon as the backs of his knees were no longer visible in the brush, the first blast had sounded behind her. She’d been thrown but was not hurt. People had run past her, the remaining civilians making their way as far from the place as possible. The Mantukese soldiers had also run past. And the area had cleared of just about everyone.

She had made her way toward the explosion to see if there were any injured she could attend to or aid in leaving. And that’s when the second explosion had gone off. It had been on the other side of the warehouse, but she’d felt the heat of it hit her like a wall, and she was thrown again.

She shifted. The weight on her legs was so heavy it didn’t allow for movement. She tried to sit up, but as she was mostly on her stomach, a shift in her legs would be required.

She couldn’t see the warehouse from where she lay. And the sky was now light enough that she couldn’t tell if it was still burning. She had no way of knowing the damage or anything else about the explosion. No one had come by since she opened her eyes, and she heard nothing but the typical noises of the island. The animal and bird life were still active. Something about that comforted her.

Her legs felt jammed together and weighed upon, but she tried kicking out and away and was rewarded with a few inches of space. “Yes!”

She struggled and kicked and pushed against the wreckage until the places where she rubbed against the dirt and wood felt raw. But she had a little more room in which to move, enough that she could turn onto her side and fold her body toward the weight. She lifted a two-by-four and shifted it off her leg.

Even though there was so much more to move, even though it was a rather small accomplishment, she felt such a surge of victory that she felt like singing. And it energized her to reach down and grab another board. None of the rubble was hot. Had she been lying there for hours and hours?

She was able to clear enough debris that her hips and upper thighs were free, but not quite her knees. She stretched to reach more, but she was exhausted. She closed her eyes for a second. The crackling sounds of a fire reached her ears. Was she imagining them? She smelled no smoke. But she heard something. She closed her eyes to try and hear better, but the sounds of birds blocked it out. With any luck, there was no fire.

Now that her brain was clear, she started to feel more urgent about getting out of the area as soon as possible. Though she hadn’t heard evidence of a single other human, she had no idea what other attacks were in mind or if they’d stopped. She had not seen any Mantukese soldiers after the first batch had left the area. And she didn’t know if all the weapons had been destroyed or if others might explode from the heat or fire of the first. And she desperately wanted to get in touch with Dex.

News of the blast was surely out all over the world. Had the United States bombed the facility? What was the second blast? She tried to shift her legs again but cried out from the soreness. Then she straightened out and laid her face back in the dirt. She needed to rest. As soon as she could, she would work up her energy to try again.

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