Sarah nodded and looked up at the helicopter. 'Okay, I'll take it.'
'Wonderful,' Osman said, and gestured broadly with his arms. 'Once again I get to fly to my certain death. It had better be a very large medal, with many ribbons.'
Sarah smiled and took some of the tech manuals from him. She was about to start looking for the fuel hoses when a shadow passed across the mouth of the hangar.
'Hi, Dad,' she said. Dekalb didn't look happy.
'Sarah. I thought we discussed this.' On his shoulder Gary looked like he'd gone to sleep, though Sarah knew better. 'I don't want you in harm's way. So please, just. Just step away from that helicopter.'
'I won't let Ayaan down,' she told him. Maybe if she could just talk him into going back to the house. Maybe if she just lied to him then he wouldn't notice when she left. 'Not when I've come this far already.'
'Fine,' he said, and stepped inside the hangar. 'Then I'll do it.'
It took her a second to realize he was serious. 'Dad, this isn't the time,' she insisted, but he was already climbing inside the helicopter.
Osman dropped what he was doing and came over to stand next to her. Slowly the pilot folded his arms across his chest. 'I know you from old times, dead man,' he said to Dekalb. 'I respect you for what I've seen you do. So I'll ask you nicely to get out of my vehicle.'
'Osman.' Dekalb looked at the pilot as if trying to place him. 'It's been so long. Please, take me to where Ayaan is. I have to dispatch her.'
Heat filled Sarah's throat. Was she about to cry? Somebody had to teach her father a lesson about reality. Somebody needed to point out his folly.
Why did it have to be her?
'Dad,' she said, very, very carefully. 'It's not up to you. This isn't your responsibility. It's mine.'
'I'm your only surviving parent, Sarah.' He wasn't even looking at her. 'You are my responsibility. Your safety.'
Sarah glanced back at Osman but the pilot had nothing for her. He had taught her before to finish off her own liches.
Her father wasn't going to give in without a fight. Clearly he'd decided that this was when he would make his big stand. 'I've lost too much already,' he told her. He glanced at Gary on his shoulder. The skullbug didn't so much as twitch. 'I forbid this. I mean it.'
'Stop this, Dad,' she tried.
'I died for you. I died so you could have some kind of life in Africa. Do you understand what that means? Do you understand what I gave up for you?'
'Please stop,' she whispered.
'I died and then I locked myself away with this freak of nature,' he told her, gesturing at Gary, 'to make the world safer for you. Don't you dare make me throw all that away by getting yourself killed now. Not for some pointless idea of camaraderie with a dead woman. Not after all I've suffered to protect you.'
'Stop,' Sarah said. And surprisingly enough he did. He'd said his piece.
Her turn.
She closed her eyes and tried to remember how she'd felt earlier when she'd looked at him and seen nothing but decay. It gave her a little strength. 'To protect me?' she asked. 'You came here to protect me? How did you protect me, when did you protect me when I was eleven years old and hungry and the Somali government collapsed and we had to run and the ghouls were after us and most of us didn't make it, huh? How were you protecting me when we finally ran out of food, when for three weeks we had nothing whatsoever to eat? We made little cakes out of clay, Dad. We ate clay because it expanded in your stomach and made you feel full. Clay, Dad, I ate dirt I was so hungry.'
He winced visibly but she refused to stop there.