"She was saying the same thing as Marissa."
"
Bloody hell," Miguel muttered and yawned. "Ok, so now what? We wage a revenge war? I'm all for that."
"Me, too," Rylee said from behind us. I was too focused on Marissa though.
"That's it?" I asked her. "No more to the message?"
She nodded. "There's more, but you're not going to like it."
"More from who? Mrs. Trudy? What does she have to do with all of this anyway?"
"She says they're disappointed that the Specials haven't been used for their purposes."
"Who's they?" I asked, but I already knew. "How?"
"She's found a new purpose now. She said that…Lily is the key. Lily is all we need."
I gulped down my fear and sudden despair at that. I shook my head a firm, 'No'
and then said it out loud for good measure. "No."
"You know she's special," she tried to argue.
"I'm going back to bed," I said and turned to go. I was sick and tired of everyone trying to send my girls away to the enemy. It was bad enough to let Sherry go. Screw them all if they thought for one second I was letting my little blonde angel out of my Keeper sight.
I finished her bowl bath and
scrubbed under her
nails. She was a filthy little girl who played as hard as she did anything else. She examined her nails and nodded her approval before skipping off. I smiled at her, but the task of the day hit me and I stopped smiling.
I went into the kitchen area and dipped Lily a bowl of oatmeal before finding Marissa. I told
her what
I was about to do and then asked if she would watch Lily for me. She nodded without a word and then hugged me. I was little embarrassed. She never hugged me, but she sniffled against my shoulder and said,
"Find her. Bring her back safe, ok?" She looked up, the sincerity making me ache. "We miss our little mama hen around here."
"I will." I glanced Lily's way.
"
I won't come back without Sherry."
Loss slammed into my chest. I knew this could be the last time I saw my Lily again. Marissa nodded so I made my way to Lily. I lifted her from the stool and hugged her to me. "Daddy's got to go on a little trip." I pulled back to see her. "I'll try to be home as soon as I can."
"You gonna find Mommy?" she drawled.
"I'm going to try."
I cleared my throat. "Hey, do you remember what you dreamed about last night?"
She turned her head and thought, her lips twisted. Then she said, "Zebwas and ponies and horsies. Except in my dweam, they were all pink and puwple!"
I laughed and kissed her cheek. "That sounds like a good one."
"I wish I could live there," she
said off handedly. "Even the gw
ass was pink."
I laughed again and set her down on the stool to finish her breakfast.
The dog barked to get her attention and she dipped her finger in oatmeal before letting him lick it off, giggling.
I went to the crates and strapped a stake to my hip and the inside of my boot. I lifted to find Danny and Miguel doing the same thing. I started to ask what they were doing, but I knew.
"You don'
t have to do this," I told them, emotion clogging my throat.
Miguel scoffed. "That little sheila is the reason I'm standing here right now.
She's not all piss and wind! It'd be a bastard of a thing if something happened to her.
She's done nothing but look after me and cook for my sorry arse. I'm coming with you."
"I'm coming, too," Danny said and hel
d up his hand. "And don't start.
"
"I'm not," I said gently. "I'm done trying to get you to listen to me." We
both grinned as
he punched my shoulder.
"I'll come, too," Billings chimed. He rubbed the sling on his arm and scratched under the bandages. "Itches like a mother and I'm bored outta my skull."
"Am I
late to the
tea party?" Jeff joked as
he rounded the corner.
"Not at all,
" I said and threw him a stake. "How's Marissa?"
"Worried." He shrugged as
he sh
eathed the stake in his belt. "She can't see anything about S
herry so it kind of sucks for her. The one person she wants to see, she can't."
"Ditto," I grumbled.
In fact, that gave me a thought.
Baby? I feel a little déjà vu here, but I wanted to tell you we were coming to get you. If you can hear me either hurry so we don't have a wasted trip, or hold
tight. If someone hurt you, I'll…make them pay for that dearly. I love you more than life. Please stay with me and be all right.
I looked to Jeff, who had heard my entire plea to Sherry, and nodded my head. "Let's go
get my girl
."
"Yeah," Danny agreed.
"After you," Jeff said.
"Get a wriggle on!" Miguel barked as we waited by the elevator. We all turned to look at him in confusion. "What?" The doors opened with a ding and he pushed us inside. "It means hurry up. Now come off it, you buggers!"
We all turned
before the doors closed.
Celeste was biting her lip and
waved to Danny. He mouthed something to her and I looked away so I couldn't see what she mouthed back. Marissa was there with Lily on her hip. Even Rylee turned out for the farewell. I waved to my little blonde angel and she waved back before laying her head on Marissa's shoulder.
It was like she understood that no one wanted to do these things, they just had to be done.
"Keep the place clean, why don't ya, ginger?" Miguel goaded. He was rewarded with a finger
gesture that would have made Rylee's
father angry, but she also smiled while she did it. Progress…of sorts.
And then they were gone. The adrenaline pumped into my veins in rapid form and I welcomed the jitters that came. I was ready for action, whatever it may be.
I just wanted to find my Sherry alive.
Come in Gold Leader
Cain
"You are so gonna pay if you don't let me out of this van, pronto
, buddy
."
"We saved your backside back there!" the one driving yelled at me. "And this is how you thank us?"
"I didn't need saving!" I yelled back.
I thought about blasting them with my hands, but I'd blow us all up if I did that.
"And you left my friend back there." I continued to look at the gun that was pointed at me so I didn't do something to make them stop. "Just let me jump out. You don't even have to slow down."
"Not gonna happen," the armed one said. "Maybe you're one of them green backs."
"Green backs?"
"Enforcers!" He sighed like he had a decision to make. "Now we've got to shoot you. You pretended you didn't know what they were. And we
all
know they work for
them
."
"I do know," I told him calmly, "but never called them green backs before. In the military we called green backs Benjamins."
"Benjamins?" he asked.
"See?" I grinned and crossed my arms. "What kind of idiot doesn't know what a Benjamin is?"
"W
hat the heck is he talking about
,
Earl?" he leaned over and asked the driver.
Earl balked and yelled, "No real names!" He slapped the steering wheel with his palms. "
Dang it!
You're supposed to call me
Red Leader, remember?"
Oh, boy. What a bunch of idiots. "Let me guess," I ventured and looked back at the one with the gun. "You're Gold Leader?"
"How did he know?" the driver hissed.
I rolled my eyes and glared at the one holding me hostage. The other one was quiet in the corner. Maybe even asleep. I looked them over. They looked like hell warmed over, eaten on
a little
and then put
back
in the microwave.
They all had a four week beard going, a head that needed a haircut like, months ago, their clothes must've been attacked by moths in their sleep and don't get me started on the smell…
"So," I drawled and leaned back, throwing my legs forward and crossing
them
, getting real comfortable. Or at least looking like that's what I was doing. "You're into killing innocent people, huh? Seems like a stupid move when we
're
all being killed off by the aliens anyway."