by Amelia Jade
His guards relieved two men hauling a debris container, and they held it while Hector swiftly filled it with debris from the walls, the floors, and even the ceiling, which was also being torn down.
“Don’t make us regret this,” one of his guards said as they picked up the big container and hauled it outside, leaving him alone.
“I won’t,” he called, and went right back to shoveling up debris as the next container arrived.
Hector had spent a lot of time doing absolutely nothing over the past thirty-six hours while everyone else had worked. It was time to fix that. He shoveled at a furious rate, ignoring everything as he filled container after container while others continued to bring debris down around him.
Finally, when he began to cough on some dust and couldn’t get it to stop he stood up, arm over his mouth and continued to hack for some time. Eventually someone tapped him on the shoulder and shoved a glass of water at him. He nodded gratefully and sipped at it, letting the clear, refreshing liquid clean his throat out.
“Thanks,” he said, finishing the rest of the water and tossing the flimsy paper into the nearest container.
It was only then that he realized the entire room had stopped and everyone was looking at him. The looks he was getting were mixed. Some contained appreciation for him showing up to help. Others were pure malice, while some were almost completely uninterested.
“I’m sorry that I’ve ruined your vacation,” he said, not sure what else to say.
Several of them smiled. Others glared daggers.
“It wasn’t supposed to happen. I was gone perhaps two minutes at tops. Even if I’d been here, I’m not sure it would have changed much.”
There was a pause.
“Corvin would still be alive though,” he said. “And for that, I’ll have to live with the knowledge that I am responsible for his death.”
There was no response.
“Anyway, I’m sorry.” He bowed his head momentarily, then picked up his shovel and went back to work.
At first nothing happened, and he was forced to carry debris as nobody picked up the nearest bin to empty it. The second bin became filled. As he started to scoop up a pile of debris and walk toward the third bin near the entrance to the lounge, several other shifters started to move as well. They came forward and removed the first bin, and then the second. Another pair brought the third bin toward the pile of debris he was working on.
In the far corner someone took up their crowbar and went back to pulling the roof down. Beside them someone starting working at the wall once more as well. Two others picked up shovels and began to aid in the cleanup. Moments later the stream of bins resumed its flow and the shifters everywhere were pitching in, even the ones who had been trying to kill him with their glares earlier. Hector just nodded to himself and bent to the task of cleaning up the debris as it was created.
An unknown amount of time later, his two guards stood up straight. They had switched to shoveling with him, the trio moving with a purpose across the floor. Now though they came to rigid attention. Hector looked up to see Gray walking across the lounge toward them. They were almost done stripping the room, having worked across to the far side of it, removing floor tile and the drywall from the walls and ceiling.
“What are you doing?” Gray asked.
“Helping make it right,” he said defiantly, sticking out his jaw and practically challenging the other shifter to stop him.
The whole room was watching. They were all still working, but their attention was completely focused on the conversation between the two of them.
One thing we and humans have in common: we love drama.
“I see. I thought you were confined to quarters,” Gray said.
“I was. But that was stupid. This is my fault, so why the hell do I get to sit around and be lazy while all these others are forced to give up their vacation time on my behalf? I sat around for over a day while they worked their asses off. No more,” he stated. “No more.”
Then he bent down and started shoveling debris some more, making good on his words.
Gray stood there for some time, watching.
“Did they find out what caused it yet?”
“No,” Gray replied. “Not yet. They know where it started, but the ‘what’ is taking them longer apparently.”
“I see. Okay.” He went back to work, shoveling a few more loads before uttering “Thanks.”
“For what?”
“Not going apeshit on me for being out here helping.”
Gray sighed. “I didn’t want to confine you in the first place. Neither did Andrew, dammit. But we had to do something, Hec, you know that.”
“I know.”
“We also know you didn’t mean for this to happen.” It sounded like Gray was going to continue along that line, but he stopped and changed topics. “Rachel came by looking for you. She was worried.”
“I know,” he said slowly. “I wanted to communicate with her, to tell her I’m sorry and that I’m okay, but I couldn’t, because someone had taken my phone.”
Gray nodded. “You know her number?”
Surprised at the question he nodded. “Yes, of course.”
“Good. Just make sure you return it then.”
Hector opened his mouth to ask what Gray was talking about, but the other shifter turned to go, and as he did, slipped something into Hector’s pocket. He waited till the other shifter was gone before he patted the side of his pants. A grin spread across his face.
Gray had given him a cell phone.
Chapter Eleven
Rachel
She was starting to lose hope.
The entire day had passed without contact from Hector. The next morning had come and gone, then the following afternoon. It had now been almost forty-eight hours since she’d last seen or heard from him. After getting stonewalled in her attempt to see him at the embassy, she’d come home and waited miserably for him to perhaps call her.
Now she was on her way over to Laura’s house for a group meeting. This was for women who all had run-ins with shifters that seemed positive, but had then evaporated into nothingness. While her possible relationship with Hector wasn’t dead in the water after just two days of no contact, she was starting to wonder. For all she knew, he would never be able to contact her again.
This wasn’t exactly the case with the others of the group as far as she was aware. But Rachel wanted to see how her situation compared to the others, and also perhaps help them be aware of just how fragile even the potential “good” relationships could be. Plus she just wanted to be with friends, and none of her other groups were actually scheduled to meet that day.
The weather seemed to be a reflection of her mood, she decided, while walking over to Laura’s unit. The sky had clouded over and the temperature had dropped noticeably, to the point where she was wearing pants and not shorts. It hadn’t quite gotten to jacket weather, but it wasn’t far off from it either. There wasn’t much in the way of warm weather left now, and autumn would be arriving shortly.
At least it hadn’t rained. Yet.
Rachel checked her cell phone once more as she reached Laura’s place, but it still showed no missed notifications.
Give it up, he’s not going to call you. It’s over, move on.
So far she’d been ignoring those words, in favor of making no decision at all on Hector. But each hour that passed made it harder and harder for her to shove them aside, as it became clearer to her that maybe he just wasn’t interested.
With a sigh she shoved the phone back into her pocket and headed up the walk to Laura’s place. She could see people moving about inside, and a smile finally graced her mouth as she realized just how much she’d been looking forward to seeing people today. Company was what she needed if she couldn’t spend time with Hector.
Her hand was lifting to knock on the door when a bird began to sing from her pocket.
Rachel’s hand dove into her pocket and pulled the phone free, fumbling
with the button to answer it. She almost missed the call because she couldn’t get her shaking fingers to operate.
“Hello?” she said in a rush, holding the phone to her ear and unconsciously sucking in a breath.
The door opened in front of her. Someone must have seen her arriving and come to open it out of politeness.
“Hi,” came a familiar melodious tenor voice. One she’d been aching to hear.
“Hector?!” she exclaimed in both excitement and surprise. “Is that you?”
She thought about stepping inside, but a figure blocked the doorway. Rachel looked up to see Laura standing in the doorway. By now everyone knew about Rachel and Hector, so her friend was well aware of what was going on. She waggled a finger at Rachel and then stepped back inside, closing the door with a wink.
“Yes, it’s me.”
“Oh my God, I’ve been so worried about you!” she said, the words just sort of tumbling out. “Are you okay? They said you were in trouble, but they wouldn’t let me see you and I’ve tried to call you so many times but it just goes right to your answering machine. By the way, you may have a couple of messages from me, and it’s now full, so I couldn’t leave more, and I texted you a bunch too, but you didn’t respond.” She paused to inhale. “Where have you been?” she said, the last word coming out in a half-gasp.
“Um, in trouble,” he said.
Rachel pulled the phone away from her ear and gave it a wry look that she knew Hector couldn’t see. “You don’t say.”
“Yeah. Um, I’m not even supposed to be talking to you now, to be honest. So keep your voice down please, just so it doesn’t carry. Everyone on this end has super-duper hearing.”
Right.
“Okay,” she said, her voice more subdued now. “But you need to tell me what happened!”
“You know I was on duty after our date the other night, right?”
“Yes, that’s why you had to leave.”
“Exactly. Well, I was on duty. The front doors were open to allow a breeze in. I heard voices arguing outside—loudly, a male and a female. It didn’t sound good. I went to check it out. As I stepped outside, the guy hits the girl. I go after him, but he gets away. I come back to the embassy perhaps two minutes later, and the entire thing is ablaze. Two minutes.” He paused, and she let him take his time. “Someone died, Rach, while I was supposed to be there to prevent this sort of thing from happening. Someone lost their life because I left my post.”
“For two minutes!” she said, forgetting to keep her voice down at first, then dropping it in volume. “That’s bullshit. I can’t believe they’re holding you to blame for that. Even if you’d been there, there wasn’t likely much you could have done.”
“I could have saved Corvin,” he replied gently, using the name of the shifter she assumed had perished in the flames. “Andrew didn’t want to punish me, but he had no choice, Rach. So now I’m confined to quarters for who knows how long.”
There was a long silence where neither of them said anything.
“Well, considering the circumstances, I guess I forgive you for ditching me on our date and not calling me.”
There was a half-snort half-cough noise over the phone as Hector covered up his laughter.
“I’m glad,” he replied at last, his voice bubbling with humor. “I really do apologize, but this is the soonest I could call. Gray actually snuck me a cell phone. It’s the only way I’ve been able to.”
“Gray snuck it to you?” she asked in surprise. “He stonewalled me when I came by, though he wasn’t as rude about it as Marlene.”
“Marlene?” Hector asked. Then he chuckled. “Oh, you mean Martin.”
“Yeah, Marla,” she said deadpan. “Real dick.”
“He’s new, he’s just trying to fit in. He’s a good guy though, Rachel. I think we just need to introduce him to one of your friends.”
“I dunno about that. He’s going to have to apologize to me first at a minimum.”
Hector hmm’d and then agreed. “You’ll see though.”
“I guess. But for now, I’m more concerned about you. Am I ever going to see you again?”
“Ever? Yes, absolutely. I just don’t know when yet.”
“Oh. Well, okay. That’s better than never. Is it going to be soon?” she asked hopefully.
Hector hesitated. She thought he was about to say no, but then he spoke again, and his voice had grown hard. “Yes. Yes I will see you soon. Tonight. But it’s going to be late.”
“You’re not going to get in trouble, are you?” she asked, hesitant to agree to a secret meetup that might result in more issues for him.
“No.”
She didn’t believe him for a second, but the desire to see him was overwhelming her instincts, and so Rachel heard herself agree to see him, despite what she knew was the smart thing to do.
“I’ll see you then,” he said before hanging up, leaving her to stand outside the door to her friend’s place.
The door opened just as she slipped the cell phone away, still pulling herself back together after processing all the news about what had been keeping Hector away. It was a lot to take in, and the sudden rush of energy to her limbs when he’d said he was coming to see her had only amplified the situation. Rachel felt like she was sitting on a bed of pins and needles, completely unsure of what to do.
“How did that go?” Laura asked as she walked inside.
“Um, it was okay,” she replied, trying to hide the smile on her face.
She must have failed, because Laura turned to the other women inside and shouted over their varied conversations. “Rachel’s talking to Hector again!”
All of the women broke out into cheers and rushed her, asking her what was going on, what had happened, why she’d forgiven him, had they decided when they were going to see each other next, and so on. The deluge of questions quickly overwhelmed her senses, but she appreciated the happiness that they all seemed to be exuding in regard to her situation. Every one of them wanted her to be happy, and it showed.
“Thank you,” she said, waving them off. “It’s complicated. I’ll tell you more once I can, out of respect for Hector.” She hesitated, then plunged ahead. “But I can tell you he’s coming over. Tonight.”
The reaction to the last word was priceless.
Chapter Twelve
Hector
He was committed now.
It likely wasn’t the smartest thing he’d ever said. Telling Rachel that he would try to come see her that night would have been a much better thing to do. Especially considering he had exactly zero idea how he was going to accomplish his theoretical plan of sneaking out of his quarters to go see her. It was a kink in the plan. A big kink.
“You’re an idiot.”
He didn’t speak loudly, but the sound reverberated around his little bathroom anyway, acting like a reminder he didn’t want. With a grimace he finished shaving, cleaning the razor and putting it back in its tray while he washed his face. The last several days’ worth of stubble had been irritating the piss out of him, but now he was all clean again.
He was going to have to go out the window. It was the only logical way. Although Gray had slipped him the phone, and neither he nor Andrew had said anything about him pitching in with the repair efforts, that hadn’t been enough to rid him of his guards. Once he’d realized that, Hector had begun to grow irritated with Andrew.
He understood his boss was only doing what he felt he had to, so that he could show his superiors that discipline was being maintained, but Hector knew better. Relieving him of duty was punishment enough. The confinement to quarters was a shot to his honor. Hector would no sooner run away from the situation than he would purposefully cause it. The guards just added insult to injury.
All of which meant that his desire to see Rachel was seriously impeded by the fact that Andrew hadn’t trusted him. Now, if he couldn’t manage to avoid getting caught, Andrew would have an actual reason not to trust him as well. Whereas if he’d ju
st trusted him from the start, Hector wouldn’t have had to sneak around. It was a shitty spot to be in, and he wished it were any other way. But it wasn’t, and he needed to see Rachel.
Throwing on a black shirt to complement his pants and boots, he took one last glance at the door.
“Sorry boys,” he said softly to the guards, knowing that if they decided to do a spot check on him at some point, they would get in trouble. It wasn’t their fault, and they didn’t deserve it, but he wasn’t about to let that slow him down.
Moving to the window, he slid it open, feeling the rush of summer air come in. It was starting to get cooler at night, but he barely felt the difference. Working quietly, he removed the screen and set it inside. Peering out, he took scope of the layout of the roof. This was the first time he’d ever had to worry about sneaking out of his own room, so he’d never bothered to actually look at the layout.
It wasn’t pretty.
The drop wasn’t the issue. The embassy was only two stories high. Hector could simply jump and be just fine. It was the sound of his landing that would impede him. Three hundred pounds of shifter doesn’t land very quietly. The embassy still had an air of smoke to it, though that was now being mixed with the ever-present plaster dust, and as such many of the residents kept their windows open to take advantage of the fresh air.
He could hang from his fingertips and drop; that would hopefully be silent enough. But that was about his only option. There was no ledge or anything that he could use to help him either.
“Well shit.”
Quickly slipping off his boots, he tied the laces together and hung them over his neck before climbing out the window. He lowered himself as far as he could after ensuring that no one was watching. Then with a breath and a quick prayer, he let himself drop to the ground below. His socks barely made a noise as he crouched to absorb the impact and quickly darted across the open grounds to the storage shed where he’d first been told to wait. The door was unlocked and silently slid open. Once inside he put his boots back on, took some calming breaths, and prepared to move out into the city beyond.
