Page 68 of From the Noblest Motives
As they walked, Shudder kept repeating to himself,It's not far, it's not far, it's not far, though he was drenched in sweat within a few hundred yards and incredibly grateful that Damien had given him something to lean on. Honestly, the sun hadn't moved much when they reached an overgrown clearing with a rambling old farmhouse at the far end, so it couldn't have been far at all. It just felt like it to Shudder's leg.
At one of the front windows, a curtain twitched. The grandniece had been watching for them. Slowly, subtly at first, clouds began to gather above them.
Dr. Parma glanced up. "We should hurry a bit."
They didn't head toward the house but toward a tumble of stones to the left and slightly behind the visible structures. The site must have had security cameras, since the moment Dr. Parma reached the granite pile, the stones slid aside to reveal a concrete staircase leading down.
Thunder rumbled nearby, and the wind picked up, the clouds suddenly blocking the sun. Everyone else was starting down the stairs. Shudder clenched his jaw and tried to pick up his pace.
"McKenzie, you idiot," Blaze growled, suddenly beside him. It was a testament to how hard he was concentrating on walking that he hadn't heard Blaze stomp over.
"I'm not up to wit fencing right now, and I'm doing the best I can. Why am I an idiot today?"
"Askfor help when you need it, damn it." The words were irritated, but the arm that slid around Shudder's waist was gentle, and Blaze ended up taking most of his weight as he hustled them to the tunnel entrance and down the stairs.
The stones slid shut again just as the first fat raindrops hit the grass.
14
REDOUBT REDUX
Blaze had expected a small cave with some old heap that the family had left to molder underground. Instead, after a short tunnel and a palm-locked door that opened for Dr. Parma, they found themselves in a cavern with several sleek, modern vehicles.
He gave himself a second to drool over the Fioro truck with the ten-foot bed and extra-powerful maglev. The thing could practically fly. There were a couple of quick little single-person runabouts, too. And then there was thebus.
Ten-passenger skimmer. Polyceramic-reinforced undercarriage. The Sunroad S-10 claimed a zero-to-two-hundred-kph time of four seconds and a guide-wire system that felt like part of the pilot's own fingertips.
"Don't drool, hon," Shudder murmured. "I don't have a napkin on me."
"Shut up," Blaze said out of the corner of his mouth, then raised his voice. "Doc? Mind if I take her out?"
"I'd rather Damien pilot us out. He's quite good with skimmers." Dr. Parma's voice held a world of sympathy, but it stung.
Don't be a jerk. He's a better pilot. You know it. Knock it off.
"All right." Damien didn't move, fixing Dr. Parma with the Damien stare. "Where are we going?"
Blaze let out a bark of laughter. "Give our Twitch a prize. There's the ten-billion-dollar question."
Shudder elbowed Blaze in the side, maybe a little harder than he needed to. "I thought it was obvious. We head for the redoubt."
"Shudder…" Dr. Parma frowned at him. "Wouldn't we be putting your people in danger that way? Your home?"
"I'm open to other suggestions, but I don't see another choice right now." In the unhappy silence, Shudder spread his hands and continued. "Look, it's hidden. It's fortified. I have a small army there of talented young people to defend it. And it's self-sufficient by now, so it's a more long-term solution than, say, dropping in on someone's mom."
"Speaking of, have you called your mom?" Blaze nudged him back, carefully.
"Ah, no." Shudder's gaze dropped to his shoes. "I don't have a secure line to her since they took my phone."
"Fuck me." Blaze wrapped Shudder up tight, disturbed to feel him shaking. "Sorry. Shit. Don't listen to me."
A crack had appeared in Damien's stone expression.Thatwas definitely a worried frown. "I agree." He shook his head with an exasperated sound. "With Shudder. It's the best option we have left." Another pause while he frowned toward Shudder again. "And Shudder needs to go home."
For some reason, this made Shudder burst into tears. Blaze held him tighter, feeling helpless and angry—because Shudder was upset, because Blaze was hot, tired, and worried, so he snarled more than he meant to. "Fine. Everyone load up. Let's get the fuck going."
It wasn't even something that he needed to say, since Dr. Parma had opened the doors already and was directing the kids where to put their packs and bags of supplies. But it made Blaze feel better to growl at the situation in general.
Damien came to take the things Blaze was still carrying and stopped to cup Shudder's face in his hands, murmuring, "It's all right. We're all here. You should cry if you need to."
