“Thank you. And thank you for talking to me.” She glanced at the time and winced in sympathy. Not everyone could forgo sleep. “Get some rest. We’ve got a long trip tomorrow. At least you can sleep on the plane.”
He nodded, looking as though he might fall asleep before she cleared the room. His eyelids started to droop and then blinked open. “Oh, hey. Can you do me a favor? One that has nothing whatsoever to do with…any of this?”
“What is it?” she asked warily.
“You think when we get back home, you could go get your uniform and come over to my place?”
Mae made no effort to hide her surprise at the bizarre topic change. “Why would I do that?”
“Tessa’s got a date today. Er, tomorrow. Whatever. You hang out with me in black while I meet him, scare the hell out of him, and we won’t have anything to worry about.”
A sickening feeling welled up in Mae. “No. Absolutely not.”
“After everything else that’s happened, is it that big a deal?”
“It’s wasteful,” she said, mustering as much scorn as she could to hide her sadness over her ban from wearing the uniform. “I’m not putting on the uniform of the RUNA’s greatest military branch for your own amusement. You should be ashamed for asking.”
He sighed. “You should be ashamed for putting Tessa’s virtue at stake.”
“She’s a good kid. Nothing’s going to happen.”
“I’m not worried about her. Come on, be a team player. Can’t you give me something to work with here?”
Mae considered for several long moments and finally nodded with resignation. “I think I know what I can do.”
CHAPTER 22
THE MISCREANT TERRORIST GIRLS’ REFORM CAMP
Tessa didn’t understand why Mae was around when Dennis came over. Tessa also didn’t understand why Mae chose that particular time to clean her guns.
“So,” Justin said. “Tell me where you guys are going tonight.”
He’d received them in his office, sitting behind the wide oak desk he’d recently acquired. His hands were clasped in front of him, and Dennis stood before him in the way a supplicant might when pleading before a judge. One screen on the desk faced Justin, but a larger one in the wall behind him was viewable to everyone else in the room. It displayed the locked menu for Justin’s work, showing the RUNA’s seal and: Warning: Authorized Personnel Only, Ministry of Internal Security. Maybe other people would’ve found that intimidating, but not Dennis.
That was because he couldn’t take his eyes off Mae. She sat near Justin’s desk, at a round table that had two guns and a knife lying on it. Her legs were folded under her on the chair, and she looked casual in jeans and a pullover. Everything about her was easy and relaxed, except for the fact that she was systematically disassembling each gun, cleaning the parts, and putting them back together. Then she’d repeat the process. Although it was weird, Tessa didn’t find it that alarming, but she reminded herself she was more used to guns than the average Gemman. What she found more disturbing was a bruise and small cut on the side of Mae’s face that were visible whenever she brushed her long hair away.
Mae finished putting together her larger gun for the third time, checking it in such a way that it pointed directly at Dennis. He flinched and backed up, nearly running into Tessa. It took him several moments to realize he’d been addressed and finally turned his wide eyes toward Justin. He gulped.
“Westfield Plaza, sir.”
“Outside or inside?”
“Outside.”
“General seating?”
“Yes.”
“You bringing blankets?”
Mae loaded a cartridge into the other gun with a bit more force than she probably needed. Dennis jumped again.
“Y-yes, sir.”
Justin said nothing right away and simply stared at Dennis in a way that seemed to terrify him more than the guns. Tessa could see lines of fatigue on Justin’s face and was surprised he could be so intimidating. He and Mae had only just gotten back from their recent trip an hour ago, and from the tension between them, things hadn’t gone well.
“How many other people are going?” asked Justin.
“Six.”
“Poppy’s one of them,” said Tessa, feeling a need to help Dennis.
Justin scoffed. “That’s not reassuring. You’re the kid who goes to church, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Are they still preaching that cr—stuff about virtue and pure bodies?”
Dennis nodded eagerly. “Yes, yes. They just had a lecture last week.”
Justin subjected him to more dramatic scrutiny. “Okay. You can go…but I did a background check on you. I know where you live. She’s back by eleven, understand?”
Mae finished putting together a handgun and practiced aiming this one as well.
“Absolutely, sir. Thank you, sir.”
Tessa and Dennis hurried away.
“Wow,” he said once they were en route. “It must be pretty brutal living here.”