And then the bomb had gone off under her car and she’d understood how someday could be never.
She shook her head. Lifting the cutting board, she brought it to the stock pot and slid the entire load of diced carrots and celery into the pot with the back of her knife. Setting both board and knife aside, she liberally sprinkled salt on the veggies and then gave it all a good stir. It smelled lovely.
After another minute, she used another pot she’d filled at the sink to pour water into her stock. Covering the meat bones and vegetables and filling the stock pot to three quarters of the way full, she figured it’d take only a short while for it all to come up to a boil. Then she’d season and add a few more ingredients to finish the soup.
She’d need something else to keep her hands busy. Bread was out of the question because no one had known to buy yeast and she’d not even thought to get a sourdough starter going. That would have taken a week or so.
Tears welled up and she picked up a ladle to stir the soup even though it didn’t need it. Stupid. Her place was back in Seattle, so why be upset about not having the ingredients she needed to make Gabe nice things? And why think about long-term supplies or things like sourdough starter when she didn’t know what her future with him was going to be? Especially if he got his stupid self killed before they ever figured it out?
She couldn’t make a home here because the entire place was transitory, temporary by nature.
But she wasn’t sure she could go back to the home she had, either.
“You’ll be coming with me now.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Maylin’s heart stopped. No way. Couldn’t be.
“Surprised?” Jewel laughed. The sound was low and almost a cackle. Theatrical.
The thought brought some courage back to Maylin, and she forced herself to continue to stir her soup pot, slow and unhurried. “Why are you still here?”
And how? If Jewel got hold of her for Edict, would they use her to bring An-mei back under their control? Maybe. Or revenge. Either way, it’d hurt An-mei...and Gabe.
“Final bit of insurance. Once I saw the squadrons deploy, I figured security on you would be lighter. My gamble paid off. And since I hear our Gabe was successful, you become even more valuable.” Jewel was continuing her villain act. “I know this base as well as any of the idiots here. I was a Centurion.”
And verb tense meant everything in that statement. Maylin glared at Jewel. “But you’re not anymore.”
Jewel shook her head and made a clicking sound with her tongue. “Doesn’t make me any less good at what I do, darlin’.”
“I think it does.” Maylin stuck her chin up. Refused to let Jewel frighten her out of thinking. She needed to get away, call for help.
“What do you know?” Jewel sneered. “You’ve met a handful of them over the course of a week. I’ve blown up three times as many in half the time.”
True. And what was she? A cook. If it’d been her stepmother speaking, she would have squared her shoulders and listed her accomplishments. She was an entrepreneur. She’d never had to ask her parents for money, and she was independent. But against a woman like Jewel, a woman capable of going head-to-head with Gabe, what was Maylin?
Stubborn. Headstrong. Too determined for your own good. Her stepmother’s words came to her at the worst of times. This was not the time to let the woman’s words get her down.
Besides, they were discussing the Centurions. And she could multi-task.
“They do the right thing even when the money isn’t there.” Deliberately not looking at something had never been so hard. “Greed isn’t a handicap for them.”
“How philosophical,” Jewel crooned. “Even a little Zen-sounding. Or some shit like that. You learn that growing up? Or do you have a crazy family uncle who vomits up pieces of wisdom? Maybe one with blond hair and green eyes. Did you ever wonder where you and your sister got them from? She is a geneticist, isn’t she?”
Maylin didn’t rise to the bait. She gave Jewel a serene smile instead. “My father came from northwestern China. There’s a possibility we’re throwbacks to a lost Roman legion. Or, we could be the result of a random combination of genetic factors plus environmental influences. Eye color is a complicated thing.”