“Gentlemen, you’re both cleared for duty.” The woman turned to Dorian. “Now, is there anything else I can do for you?” She dropped the clipboard to her side, then clasped her hands behind her back, arcing her back a little.
“What’s your name?” Dorian said.
“Naomi. But you can call me anything you like.”
CHAPTER 46
Somewhere off the Java Sea
Kate couldn’t tell if she was awake or asleep. For a moment, she simply floated there in total darkness and dead silence. The only sensation was the soft cloth at her back. She leaned to the side and heard the crackle of the cheap mattress. She must have fallen asleep on the cot in the bomb shelter. She had lost track of time as she and David had waited in the bomb shelter while their pursuers marched back and forth, searching the cottage for what seemed like hours.
Was it safe to get up?
She felt another sensation now: hunger. How long had she slept?
She swung her legs off the tiny bed and planted them on—
“Awww, Jesus!” David’s voice filled the tiny space as he did a sit-up into her legs, then curled up and writhed on the floor.
Kate shifted her weight back to the bed, pawing the floor for a firm foot hold — one that wasn’t somewhere on David’s person. She finally planted her left foot and stood, swatting the air for the string that activated the dangling single-bulb light. Her hand connected with the cord, and she jerked the light on, sending a flash of yellow like lightning into the small space. She squinted and waited, standing on one foot. When she could see, she moved to the corner of the room, away from David who was lying still in a fetal position in the middle of the room.
She had hit him there. God. Why was he in the floor? “We’re not in middle school, you know. You could have shared the bed.”
David grunted as he rolled onto his hands and knees. “Apparently chivalry doesn’t pay.”
“Hey—”
“Forget it. We need to get out of here,” David said as he sat up.
“Are the men—”
“No, left 90 minutes ago, but they may be waiting outside.”
“It’s not safe here. I’m coming—”
“I know. I know.” David held up his hand. He was getting his breath back. “But I have one condition, and it’s non-negotiable.”
Kate stared at him.
“You do what I say, when I say. No questions, no discussion.”
Kate straightened. “I can take orders.”
“Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it. When we’re out there, seconds could matter. If I tell you to leave me or to run, you have to do it. You could be scared and disoriented, but you will have to focus on what I tell you to do.”
“I’m not afraid,” she lied.
“Well, that makes one of us.” David opened a set of double steel doors built into the concrete. “There’s something else.”
“I’m listening,” Kate said, a little defensively.
David looked her up and down. “You can’t wear those clothes. You look almost homeless.” He tossed her some clothes. “Might be a little big.”
Kate perused her new attire — some old blue jeans and a black v-neck t-shirt.
David threw her a gray sweater. “You’ll need this too. It will be cold where we’re going.”
“Which is?”
“I’ll explain on the way.”
Kate started to pull her shirt off but stopped. “Can you, um.”
David smiled. “We’re not in middle school.”
Kate turned her head, trying to decide what to say.
David seemed to remember something. “Oh, right. The scar.” He spun around, knelt, and began sorting through some boxes in the bottom of the cabinet.
“How did you—”
David took out a gun and a few boxes of ammo. “The drugs.”
Kate flushed. What had she said? Done? For some reason the idea terrified her, and she wished desperately that she could remember. “Did I, or we—”
“Relax, outside the gratuitous violence, it was a very PG evening. Is it safe for kids again?”
Kate pulled the shirt on. “And immature soldiers.”
David seemed to ignore the jab. He rose and held a box out to her — another carton meal. Kate read the letters MRE: Meals Ready to Eat. “Hungry?”
Kate eyed the box — bbq chicken with black beans and potatoes. “Not that hungry.”
“Suit yourself.” He peeled the plastic film back, plopped down at the metal desk, and began devouring the cold food with the included spork. He must have only heated the meal yesterday for her sake.
Kate sat on the cot opposite him and pulled on the sneakers he had laid out for her. “Hey, I don’t know if I’ve said it before, but I wanted to… say thank you for…”
David stopped shuffling the papers and forced down the bite he’d been chewing. He didn’t glance back at Kate. “Don’t mention it. Just doing my job.”
Kate tied her shoes. Just doing his job. Why did the answer seem so… unfulfilling?
David shoved the last of the papers in a folder and handed it to her. “This is all I have on the people who took your children. You’ll have time to read it on the way.”