?After that, I guess what needs doing is going to be clear one way or the other,? said Steve. ?Don?t worry. I wouldn?t have gone into security if I didn?t know how to keep my mouth shut.?
?Thanks.?
?Don?t mention it.? Steve smiled, briefly. I smiled back.
?George, c?mon!? Shaun called, already a good four or five yards from the car. ?I want to get out of this damn monkey suit!?
?Coming!? I shouted, muttering, ?Jesus,? before I turned to follow him back to the trailers.
Rick walked with us as far as the van; then he turned left, toward his trailer, while we turned right, toward ours. ?He?s a good guy,? said Shaun, pressing his thumb against the lock on the trailer door. It clicked open, confirming Shaun?s right to enter. ?A little old-fashioned, but still a good guy. I?m glad we got the chance to work with him.?
?You think he?ll stay on after we all get home?? I started rummaging through the mass of clothing on the beds and floor, looking for the cotton shirt and jeans I?d been wearing earlier.
?He can write his own ticket after this campaign, but yeah, I think he may stick around.? Shaun was already halfway out of his formal wear, shedding it with the ease of long practice. ?He knows he can work with us.?
?Good.?
I was doing up the last of the buttons on my shirt when I heard the shouting. Shaun and I exchanged a wide-eyed, shocked look before we both went running for the trailer door. I made it out half a beat ahead of him, just in time to see a shell-shocked-looking Rick come staggering up the path with Lois cradled against his chest. I didn?t have to be a veterinarian to know that something was horribly wrong with his cat. No living animal has a neck that bends that way or hangs that limply in its owner?s arms.
?Rick???
He stopped in his tracks, staring at me, the body of his cat still clutched against his chest. I ran the last fifteen feet between us, and Shaun ran close behind me. That was probably the part they didn?t figure on: those fifteen feet.
Those fifteen stupid little feet saved our lives.
?What happened?? I asked, putting out a hand, as if there were a damn thing I could do. Seen this close, it was even more obvious that the cat had been dead for a while. Her eyes were open and glazed, staring blankly off at nothing.
?She was just? I got back to the trailer and I almost tripped on her.? For the first time, I realized Rick was still wearing his formal clothes. He hadn?t even had time to change. ?She was just inside the doorway. I think? even after they hurt her, I think she tried to get away.? Tears running down his cheeks. I?m not sure he was even aware of them. ?I think she was trying to come and find me. She was just a little cat, Georgia. Why would anyone do this to such a little cat??
Shaun stiffened. ?She was inside? Are you sure this wasn?t natural causes??
?Since when do natural causes break your neck?? asked Rick, in a tone that would have been reasonable if he hadn?t been crying so hard.
?We should go to the van.?
I frowned. ?Shaun???
?I?m serious. We can talk about this in the van, but we should go there. Right now.?
?Just let me get my gun,? I said, and started to turn toward the trailer. Shaun grabbed my elbow, yanking me back. I stumbled.
The trailer exploded with a concussive bang, like an engine misfiring.
The first bang was followed by a second and larger bang, echoed in the distance as another trailer?probably Rick?s?went up in a ball of blue-and-orange flame. Not that there was much time to make estimates about where the blast was coming from. Shaun still had my arm and he was running, dragging me in his wake as he rushed toward the van. Rick ran after us, clutching Lois?s body to his chest, all of us bathed in the angry orange glare of the blast. Someone was trying to kill us. At this point, I didn?t even have to wonder who. Tate knew we knew. There was no reason for him to play nice anymore.
Once he was sure I?d keep running, Shaun let go of me, dropping back as he tried to cover our retreat toward the van. I quashed the urge to worry about him, keeping my focus on the running. Shaun could take care of himself. I had to believe that or I?d never be able to believe anything else. Rick was running like a man in a dream, Lois bouncing limply in his arms with every step. And I just ran.
Something pricked my left biceps when we were about halfway to the van. I ignored it and kept going, more focused on getting to cover than on swatting at some mosquito with shit for timing. No one?s ever been able to tell the insects of the world that they shouldn?t interrupt the big dramatic moments, and so they keep on doing it. That?s probably a good thing. If drama kept the bugs away, most people would never emotionally mature past the age of seventeen.