“And what?”
He tipped his head back toward the helicopter. “Are you coming back?”
She followed his gaze. “Maybe,” she said. “I don’t know. I was talking with John last night. He thinks they might want the suit to stay with them. If it stays, I stay.”
St. George’s forehead wrinkled at the news.
“He’s not sure,” she added. “From what I gather the military’s spread so thin they’ll probably ask most of us to keep doing what we’ve been doing out here. You might be stuck with me.”
He smiled. “It hasn’t been that bad so far.”
“You haven’t been paying attention then,” she said. Her eyes snapped to the soldiers as they took the crate from Lee and Cesar. “Hey,” she called out. “Be gentle! That helmet cost more than that helicopter.”
St. George laughed.
“Hey,” said Smith. He walked over to them. Captain Freedom loomed behind him. “Did I miss something funny?”
They shook their heads.
“So,” Smith continued, “it looks like everything’s moving along. Did you guys decide who’s coming with us?”
“I shall be accompanying you back to Yuma,” said Stealth. She’d appeared behind them in the shadows. “Your Colonel Shelly and I have much to discuss.”
Smith nodded. “Excellent. I’m glad to have you with us.”
“I am not with you yet,” said Stealth. “That is one of the points we shall be discussing. I dislike the idea of removing one of our most powerful assets from the Mount.”
“The colonel isn’t about to leave you with weak defenses, ma’am,” said Freedom. “We’ll work something out.”
Smith turned his gaze to St. George. “I wish you were coming with us.”
“We’ve got a run scheduled for this afternoon,” said the hero. “We’re going down into Larchmont to clean out a bunch of the fruit trees people had in their yards. I’ll go with them and catch up with you later tonight.”
Freedom glanced over at the scavengers loading a truck on the far side of the garden. “You’re making the civilians search for supplies, sir?”
“We are not making them do anything,” said Stealth.
“You’re at no risk,” the officer said to St. George. “Wouldn’t it make more sense for you to go alone?”
He looked up at Freedom and gave a faint smile. “It would if there was some way for me to bring four or five hundred pounds of fruit back on my own,” he said. “It’s not like I can throw it all in a few grocery bags and carry two in each arm.”
“I was led to believe you could carry at least three in each arm, sir.” Freedom’s expression didn’t change, but there was a faint glimmer in his eye as he said it.
“Believe me,” said St. George, “no one goes out who doesn’t want to and we minimize risks wherever we can.”
“So they’d like you to believe.”
Christian stood a few feet away with her fists on her hips. Danielle recognized it as Gorgon’s sheriff pose. The councilwoman ignored the heroes and spoke directly to Smith. “These people have endangered our lives again and again and refused to give us any voice in how we govern our lives here. It’s been a fascist dictatorship, and I wanted to make sure the proper authorities knew about it.”
St. George caught most of the sigh before it slipped out, but a wisp of smoke spiraled up from his nostrils. Danielle’s hands clenched into fists. Stealth grew very still, which he knew was a bad sign.
Smith stepped forward and pulled Christian’s hand into his. “Agent Smith, Department of Homeland Security,” he said. “I’m helping the Army out as a government liaison. You must be one of the local community leaders. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
She returned the handshake after a moment of awkwardness and straightened up even more as she processed the torrent of words. “Christian Nguyen. I’ve been elected by a majority here to speak for the people of the Mount.”
“A majority of the people in your districts doesn’t mean the majority of the people here,” scoffed Danielle.
“Since your overlords refuse to hold democratic elections, we all have to make do,” said the older woman.
“I’m very sorry to hear you’ve been having problems,” said Smith. He led her a few steps away from the heroes. “We expected to hear about some problems when we encountered survivors, but we’ll be wanting a full account of everything that’s been going on for the past few years.”
“I’ll be glad to give one,” she said. “Under oath, even.”
“I’m sure that won’t be necessary.”
She shot a suspicious glance back at the heroes. “I just want to make sure it’s clear who’s been doing what.”