Page 69 of From the Noblest Motives
Counterintuitively, at least in Blaze's mind, this helped Shudder catch himself. He nodded, wiped his face on his T-shirt, and managed to get to the front passenger seat on his own, where Dr. Parma put him to navigate.
Before Blaze could climb in beside Dr. Parma, Damien put a hand on his arm. "Are you all right?"
Shame and adoration twisted inside Blaze's gut in imaginative pasta shapes. He leaned in to offer a soft kiss, though he didn't let it linger in front of the kids. "I'm sorry I got snappy. Just need a couple days… you know."
"I know." No one there was doing well, but out of everyone, Damien understood the days and days of unending worry best. The dark circles under his eyes, the way his sentences had shortened, said it all. "Soon."
For Damien, he managed something close to a smile. "I'll hold you to that."
With gear stowed, the three younger kids piled into the row of seats farthest back, while Hillary took a spot on one side of Dr. Parma behind the driver's seat and Blaze took the other. After a check of the controls, Damien eased the skimmer out of its parking spot and turned toward a larger bay door at the back of the cavern. Probably sensored, since it rolled upward as they approached.
Lights flickered on ahead of them as they flew at a walking pace down a long tunnel, so they weren't coming out anywhere near where they'd gone in. Blaze had to wonder what Dr. Parma's family was guarding against that they took such careful security precautions.
"Damien, the tunnel slopes up toward the end." Dr. Parma leaned forward to speak softly. "We'll be coming out in a field at the edge of the forest facing north. You'll pick up positioning once we're clear."
"All right." Damien didn't ask questions, probably didn't have the capacity for a lot of words just then, but his hands on the controls were steady.
"Once we're in Minnesota, I can find my way with my eyes shut." Shudder looked like not even he believed the grin he tried to hold onto. "Though positioning is nice."
Instructions given, Dr. Parma leaned back in her seat and gave Blaze a sideways glance. "I know you have questions."
"Only a big-ass cargo hauler full of them." Blaze settled back, telling himself he trusted Damien with his life, so he could relax. It wasn't really working yet, but he was determined. The last thing Damien needed right now was Blaze being testy and squirmy over being a passenger. "Let's start with what happened after I spotted the Guild ship."
"I think my heart nearly stopped." Dr. Parma shook her head. "But my first priority was to find out who had taken a gunship without filing a mission brief or a flight plan. Oh, Blaze. He wasn't even clever or covert about it. When I checked the security feeds, there he was, swaggering into the hangar and onto the ship."
"Why use a thumbtack when you can use a pile driver, right?"
One corner of her mouth quirked up, but otherwise she ignored his dig at Sledge. "I think he's reached the point where he feels entitled to do as he pleases as Guild President. He had two other people with him in Guild uniform, though they were more prudent and had hoods up to hide their faces."
"Okay." Blaze realized he was drumming his armrests and rolled his hands into fists. "But that'd probably end up with you telling Sledge he's a naughty boy and to file the right forms and shit, right? Not enough to make you run."
"Until recently, you would have been correct. But since the Fredamine Project, I haven't been certain of any of my officers or any of the Guild members, to be quite honest. It occurred to me that beyond the normal rescue missions, I didn't know what Sledge was doing with his time." She stopped to rub at her eyes, obviously as exhausted as the rest of them. "I've developed data worms for quick mining of Guild Tower's systems. What I found was enormously disturbing."
"Kinda figured."
"Without going into minutia, I tracked where Sledge had frequented over the last six months and with whom he'd spent that time. Access and footage showed him spending an inexplicable amount of time in the research labs—somewhere, I might add, that he'd avoided quite diligently over the years. He had been visiting Dr. Heller."
"That's the one with the editing memory, right?"
She reached over and patted his knee. "I wish you wouldn't do that, dear. It's just us."
"Do what?"
"I know that you know the word is eidetic."
Shudder turned his head, and even his smile was tired. "Blazey's being funny, Doc. He thinks he's funny, at least."
"I know that one. It's called projection." Blaze ignored Shudder's stuck-out tongue and returned his attention to Dr. Parma. "Sorry. Go on."
"Yes, Jericho Heller's talent is her memory, which helps with her research." Dr. Parma paused again, her brow furrowing. "The data worms confirmed that she's been working on and off with Max Noisette, which was my first suspicion, and that her recent research has been on variant-specific drug interactions."
That can't be good. "What… kind of drugs?"
"Ones that enhance, that strengthen, variant talents. At that point, my alarms went off."
"You put it all together?"
Dr. Parma waved a hand in negation. "No, my literal alarms. The data worms are set up to alert me if someone finds them. Dr. Heller found them, and I suspected I was in trouble. So I sent all of my files offsite, packed up, and left the office."
