“Twenty minutes.”
He took his pack and strapped an automatic over his shoulder. “You take care or Storm and I will be answering to that crazy ass elf.”
Her eyes darted to Angel and back to Fennimore. She smiled. “See you later. And, Fenn, if it’s the other side, you tell that elf that…” She misted up and didn’t finish.
Fennimore put his big hand on her shoulder and shook his head. “Tell him yourself.”
CHAPTER 20
“Harder. Wait. Oh. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow.” Rosie stopped and looked at Glen with concern. He said, “No, baby. More pressure on the penis, but easy with the balls.”
“Oh.”
Rosie could have accessed her parents’ memories and learned a few things about sex. Instantly. But she felt like she owed them privacy where some things were concerned. So she’d decided to figure it out on her own, trial and error, like everybody else, and Glen didn’t seem to mind. It was one area of her life where she wanted all her experience to be her own.
If he was a kiss and tell sort, he would have said that Rosie was a fast learner, eager to please, and so greedy in bed that she was relentless.
Beautiful.
Glen sat with his back against the headboard on the verge of being stroked to permanent nirvana. Rosie’s eyes were lit with wonder, which was a huge turn on. Having her in his bed was a huge turn on. Knowing he was the first to ever touch her was a huge turn on. The fact that she believed she could claim him just by calling dibs, strange as that was, it was also a huge turn on. Really, everything about Rosie from her voice to her smile to her touch had him walking around hard when he needed to have his mind on running Jefferson Unit instead of in his pants. Or hers.
There was so much to do that any time he took for himself felt like slacking, but that didn’t mean he was always going to say no. Who in his ever fucking right mind could say no to Rosie?
Making time for her was a little like a respite in heaven. He was watching her closely as she watched her own hand slide up and down on his cock. He was sure he’d never seen anything more erotic than the expression on her face. There was something about being the object of somebody else’s fascination that jumped his excitement level off the scale. Rosie was full of firsts and records for Glen. Sweetest kiss. Hardest come. Most perfect fit. He should start a list.
Guided by instinct alone, Rosie was leaning forward like she was thinking about touching the tip of her tongue to the slit where precum was glistening. Glen held his breath while every muscle in his body went rigid with agonizing anticipation. As if in slow motion he saw her tongue peak out and reach toward the engorged head, coming closer, closer …
Then bam! Deliverance was standing by the side of the bed occupying the empty space that had been there a moment earlier. “Hey kids.”
Glen’s body jerked involuntarily like he was seizing. He stared at the demon wide-eyed. While his brain tried to process what just happened, his dick deflated to flaccid faster than a balloon with a pin stuck in it.
Rosie, on the other hand, was perfectly calm still holding his, now limp, penis in her hand. She looked up and said, “Grandy. What are you doing here?” as if she’d just run into him at the donut shop.
Glen had opened his mouth to say something along the lines of, “WTF!” when Deliverance answered.
“We may have a line on your pop, precious.”
Rosie dropped Glen’s cock like a hot potato. It slumped over onto his stomach looking sad. It isn’t every day a guy teaching the art of the hand job gets interrupted by the girl’s grandfather. Fortunately for Glen, Rosie’s Grandy had no puritanical notions about sex. None. He took no more notice than he would have if he’d found them together eating ice cream and feeding ducks.
“I don’t want your mother to get her hopes up and be disappointed. I was thinking maybe you should check this one out and sign off. We don’t want to end up with a menagerie of stray Storms to feed.”
Rosie stood up with no apparent self-consciousness about her beautiful body and started to get dressed in a hurry. Being part werewolf, Glen wasn’t as shy about nudity as most, but having Rosie’s grandfather stand over him caused him to pull the covers over himself.
“Good thinking, Gran. Take me there.” She stopped. “Hold on.” She went into the bathroom and was doing something with her hair.
“What are you doing?”
She poked her head out. “If it is him, I want to look okay.”
Glen turned to Deliverance. “Would you mind surrendering the room so I can get dressed with a little privacy? In my own bedroom?”
Deliverance shook his head and turned his back muttering something like, “Humans and their weird ideas. How’s this?”
Glen jumped into his jeans and pulled a tee shirt over his head just as Rosie was coming out of the bathroom. He put his hands on her arms. “You’ve never looked better. If it is him, he’s going to be blown away.”
She offered a little smile, but he could tell she was nervous. “What if it is him?” she whispered.
Glen grinned, “Rosie, going to meet your dad? It’s the biggest thing that’s ever going to happen to you. When he gets back, we’re all going to celebrate together.” Right after he tears me a new one. He kissed her. “Get back to me. One way or the other.”
She nodded, gave him a peck on the lips, walked toward Deliverance, and they were gone.
At the same time they vanished, the giant goose honking alarm went off. At first Glen thought that Deliverance and Rosie popping out had set it off because the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. He scrambled into boots and ran out the door not caring about the bed head.
He was delayed by a few instructors who were quartered on the same floor as the boys and had to convince them to get back into their apartments and stay there. By the time he was free, he was just plain lucky to pick one of the stairwells that was clear. He made it to Sublevel 2 and almost plowed over Fennimore and Angel on their way out of the armory.
“Slow down, rookie. We’re carrying explosives,” Fenn said.
“Sorry.”
Elora looked up when she saw Glen. “Well, that’s unanimous. All twenty-four. Glen, this operation is militarized until the threat has passed. I need you to turn command over to me.”
Glen didn’t hesitate. “It’s yours.”
Elora looked at the rest of the boys. “Are you going to do what I say?”
Falcon said, “Not if it involves waiting this out in cupboards.”
She stared at the resolve on Falcon’s face for about three seconds.
“Glen, give them weapons and as many clips as they can stuff in pockets. They’re all familiar with the Centerfires. Give Falcon a SIG. Give Jvorsten a Braum.
“DO NOT SHOOT EACH OTHER OR I WILL GROUND YOU. PERSONALLY.
“Glen, Monq is bunkered in Fire Testing with Helm. I need you to take Blackie and put him in there. I knew he wouldn’t go with Monq so I didn’t even try it. He can’t be in a closed building with live fire. What the…?” Glen turned around to see a stream of civilians standing out in the hall. “For crying out loud, people. Can’t anybody in this operation just do what they’re told?!?
“Glen, give me your belt.”
He didn’t hesitate to take off his belt and give it to her. While she was talking she was looping it through Blackie’s collar, to rig a makeshift leash.
“Form a detail. Take six other trainees. Get these people and this dog to Fire Testing and lock it down.” She handed the leash to Glen. “Put them in there and seal the door. If you have to.” She gave him a look. “Carefully.”
She gave him a small square of C5 and he nodded.
“And,” she pulled him close and whispered, “If you can get some of these younger boys to get inside with them, do it. Rally point is the Hub. If you come across those Z Team bastards, tell them I’m in command and, if they don’t submit to my authority, I’m hauling their carcasses to Edinburgh Trials when this is over.”
“You got it. Be careful.
”
“Yep.”
Glen took Bo and Blackie and five of the younger boys and instructed them to bring the civvies. “Listen up folks. Stay tight and no dawdling. Bo and I bring up the rear.”
Glen sent two of the fourteen-year-olds ahead, weapons drawn, to make sure the way was clear and told the three thirteen-year-olds to keep the people moving.
Elora felt a rumbling vibration in the floor and figured Angel and Fennimore must have found purchase on one of the targets. “I could use a little good news,” she muttered to herself.
“Lady Laiken?”
She turned to see seventeen too-young faces looking at her expectantly. Each wore a resolute expression and she knew she had no hope of getting them to stand down. Looking them over, she noted the irrefutable evidence that Black Swan knights might be influenced and tempered, but they were not made. They were born.
“You’re in, but only if you wear vests and helmets.” There was some grumbling about the helmets. “Grouse all you want. Those are my terms. Non-negotiable.
“Six knights and seven trainees are deployed. We’re support. Work together. Grab as many weapons as you can carry, but only the ones that you have T4 clearance to use. Throw everything that’s not nailed down into the vault before I reseal it.
“Multitasking. Hear me talk while you suit up and secure the room. We have to split up and work in teams and that means we’ll be out of contact once we leave this level. We basically have to go guerilla on the intruders.
“I want to be very clear about this. These men are here for me. To assassinate me. If you go down to S3 and wait it out, I think you’ll be okay. It’s not your fight.”
The boys were very quiet and didn’t look happy. Kris Falcon finally said, “Teachers think we don’t pay attention, but we do. If they’re here for one of us, then it’s our fight. You’re one of us, aren’t you?”
She smiled. “Indeed I am. At this moment, proud to say so.” She stood on one of the benches in the middle of the room and raised her voice.
“I wish I could be with each and every one of you, each and every minute, but that would just put you in more danger. The best I can do is tell you to pick a partner you can trust. Stay out of the aliens’ sight. If you have a shot that you can take without endangering yourself or any of us, take it. If you don’t have a clear shot, stay under cover and wait until you do. They may be wearing Shieldo. Aim for the head or the groin.” She noticed the boys wince when she said the word ‘groin’. “No time to be squeamish, people. You can disable a man fast with an expando in the dick and keep him alive for questioning. The Order has a lot invested in you. Don’t squander that investment.
“Remember, they’re here for me. That means stay far, far away from me at all times.
“Before you go, I need someone who can get to the intercom undetected. Like through the A/C ducts. Have we got anybody like that?”
“Spaz can do it,” Wakey said.
“Spaz?”
Wakey smiled sheepishly. “It’s, um, what we call Chorzak. He does it all the time.”
Someone pushed the little fourteen-year-old forward.
“Does what all the time?”
“Crawls around and listens to what’s going on. He knows everything.”
The implication of what “everything” entailed was clear in the boy's undertone. Elora jerked her head toward Spaz. He had the decency to blush, but at the same time, couldn't completely suppress a smile.
"Shame on you, um, you don’t mind being called Spaz?”
“No ma’am.”
“Alright, well, shame on you, Spaz. That is very un-knightlike behavior."
"Yes, ma'am."
“When this is over, I’m going to see to it that Monq outfits the ducts with a mild electric current.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Always leave yourself an escape. Rally point at the Hub. If you can’t get there, then stay away. Primary goal is to stay alive. Everything else is secondary. Go.”
The room cleared in a hurry. She felt another rumble under her feet.
“Spaz.” She stumbled on the word because she was having trouble getting past calling him that. “I need you to get to the media room. Get on the mic and say this. ‘I just saw Elora Laiken heading for the bottom level.’ You got that?” He nodded. “If you can’t get to media, or if the area is busy, go to Plan B. There’s always something else we can do and you need to live to spy another day.”
He gave a boyish smile and a little salute. He climbed up on the lockers and took the A/C panel off with expert speed. She watched his tennis shoes disappear into the duct. When she turned around, there were still two kids standing there. Kris and Wakey.
Her eyes went to the vault. There were no more vests or helmets.
“Shieldos and helmets are gone. We need to get you to someplace safe and fast.”
“That’s not on our agenda,” Wakey said.
“Pardon?”
“We’re shadowing you.”
Elora’s face softened and her heart just melted as she looked between the two of them. “Thanks for the offer, guys, but nobody can be anywhere near me until this is over. Being next to me right now? It’s more than dangerous. It’s practically suicide, especially without equipment.
“Let’s try to get to S1. When we’re there, we split up. Got me?”
Kris answered just to show solidarity with Wakey. “We understand you, but we’re not doing that. We’re staying with you. The Order can afford to lose us. We’re trainees. You’re another story.”
“What happened to, ‘I take orders from her?’”
When Kris Falcon ducked his head and grinned, it changed his face dramatically.
What a little heartbreaker he’s going to be. If I can keep him alive.
They heard the sounds of live fire coming from one of the stairwells, followed by another rumble underfoot. “All out of debate time.”
Elora pulled her snub nose Cuefire, the one that Storm had picked out for her, and started for the stairwell with Falcon and Wakenmann close behind.
CHAPTER 21
Storm had a couple of hours before he needed to be at the bar. He was walking around China Town, looking at odd things in windows that were supposedly edible. He stopped in front of the Hoang Jewelry. There was a jade necklace in the window that caught his attention. It was a darker, richer green than any he’d ever seen. So close to the color of his witch’s eyes. Not emeralds, but close.
He noticed movement and looked up to see a tiny, smiling woman motioning for him to come in. His typical response to proprietors’ invitations to shop was to shake his head, smile politely, and keep walking. And that’s what he did. He walked for about ten feet, then turned around and went straight into the store.
He pointed at the necklace in the window. “That one. How much?”
The little woman pulled it from the display and motioned for him to hold out his hand. She draped the necklace over his hand and forearm and then turned over the price tag so he could read it. The petite merchant smiled and half-bowed as she watched Storm’s reaction to the feel of the cool smooth stones on his skin. It was as if the piece wanted to attach itself mystically. And he had to have it. Two thousand four hundred fifty.
Storm laughed out loud. By the time they added taxes it would come close to the extra he’d won at poker. Easy come. Easy go.
“Hold it for me.” He handed it to her. “I’ll be back in twenty minutes.”
He left the store smiling and jogged back to the bar to get the money. Impulsive buys were so out of character for Storm that the purchase of the necklace would be a first for him, if he went through with it. But there wasn’t really a question in his mind. He was going to go through with it.
That was the first time in a long time that he didn’t feel like he was spinning wheels. He was showing the Fates that he was so positive he was going home that he was buying his wife a souvenir from another dimension. He was going to buy that necklace and, by gods
, he was going to see Litha wear it. He could picture how it would look lying on that scrumptious skin she inherited from the sex demon. In his fantasy, he could imagine the green of the jade complementing her eyes so that they looked like the green lava pools she said she would take him to see.
So he tore through the bar, grabbed his money from its hiding place, and jogged back to the jeweler. The petite Asian woman smiled and bowed as she encased the necklace in a black velvet box and fastened the clasp. She put it in in a gold bag, tied a shuck string, and told him to be sure and come again.
She’d been standing on the other side of the street for a while. She watched him go into the jewelry store and was waiting for him to come out. For all she knew there were countless versions of Storm in similar realities to Loti Dimension, but that was irrelevant. She didn’t need to play twenty questions to know that the man inside that jewelry store was her father. All the minutes and hours that she’d wished for that moment that would put her family back together again. Then it was at hand and all she could do was stand there trying to decide what she would say to him.
Hi. I know you don’t recognize me, but I’m the daughter who should be learning to roll over in her crib. How are you?
Storm left enjoying the feel of the weight in his hand and, for the first time since he had been lost, he felt found. He was going home.
He lifted his head and looked across the street. It felt like something was pulling his attention, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. The sidewalks were teeming with people hurrying back to offices after lunch. Nothing special. No reason for that fine honed instinct of his to engage, just a crowd of people awash in a riot of diversity.
Then he did see something out of the ordinary- one person, a girl, who wasn’t carried along with the pedestrian current. She was standing perfectly still on the other side of the street looking in his direction while the pedestrian traffic parted around her. Maybe she wasn’t just looking in his direction. Maybe she was looking at him. Watching. Him.
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