“We’re not sure if we can get a second one,” he murmured, “but we do have a better bed coming now than just that mat on the floor.” He started up the truck, then waited until she was buckled in to back out of the lot. “Do you know where you want to go?”
“Yes.” She named two storefronts.
“Good enough, as long as you know how to get there.”
“Well, GPS does,” she quipped, “and he happens to be my friend.”
At that, he laughed and followed directions, getting to the first storefront within about fifteen minutes.
“Let’s hope they still have fresh bread,” she muttered.
“Hey, it’s not that late.”
“It’s late enough for Paris.” She hopped out and walked into the store, while he sat and watched.
They hadn’t been followed, and, as far as he could tell, nobody was tracking them. But it would be pretty obvious if they kept any truck parked at the open car park. A multilevel vehicle lot was on the other side. He was thinking about doing long-term parking there and moving it around, switching up vehicles too. Anything that was a routine more than three days was too much.
They didn’t want to attract attention, and, while vehicles permanently parked at the warehouses weren’t unusual, because there were lots of others, new ones would be. Coming and going periodically may or may not attract attention; he wasn’t sure. It currently was the best they could do on a short-term basis, but something better for the long haul would have to happen soon.
He knew that Levi was tracking down something that was workable for them long-term. Terk was by far more sensitive to energies on electricity than Damon was. He could work from anywhere, but then he didn’t have the range that Terk did. And Damon hadn’t really put his abilities to any kind of use yet. Mostly because of the pain involved, since he knew that he only had half of his normal capability, if that.
Half. He’d never been half anything in his life, but now he was at half power, half use, and it made him feel like he was useless and a failure. But he had to shake off that feeling and do what he could do. When he thought about it rationally, he knew that even with only half, or none of those special abilities, he was a better and more capable man than most.
He watched as she came out of the store, carrying two bags, one stuffed with several loaves of bread. She hopped into the truck with a big fat smile on her face, as the aroma of fresh-baked bread filled the cab.
“God, that smells good,” he muttered. He turned on the engine, quickly backed out of the parking lot, and asked, “Now where?”
Then she directed him to the second location. Once again, he sat inside while she dove into the storefront, only to return ten to fifteen minutes later with another two bags.
He looked at the food, shook his head. “You do know that you have enough food here for a dozen people.”
“Or three of us who are hungry and can make three meals of this,” she declared. “Now we can go home again.”
She even said home in a natural tone of voice. He wondered at that but kept on going and drove back to the warehouse lot. He dropped her off and explained, “I’ll park across the street.”
Then he pulled the truck back around and buried it in the multilevel parking lot just down the way. He walked back, then loped across the more or less empty parking lot of the warehouse units. The entrance to theirs was slightly out of the way, and that was a good thing. Even now, he wandered about, as if he were looking to purchase a storage locker or rent one. He checked the place out, looking to see what was different from the last couple days. Honestly it looked all the same, as if the vehicles were in long-term parking too.
Finally letting himself back inside again, he heard Terk and Tasha chattering cheerfully. Tasha was happily slicing a baguette into big, long angled slices and buttering them, while Terk was slicing up different cheeses and meats.
Damon’s stomach immediately growled.
She looked over at him, smiled. “Oh, so you are hungry after all. Aren’t you the one who thought I got enough for a dozen people? Listening to your stomach complain, I’m not certain we’ll have enough for you.”
He grinned, loving the fact that they were back to a more effortless and friendly tone, although she had rarely teased him as she did with the rest of the team. As he looked down at all the sliced finger foods, he reached over and grabbed something. When he took a look at the bigger selection of meat and cheeses, the smaller groupings of more perishable fruits, he realized she’d provided a small feast. He quickly loaded up with ham and a couple different cheeses on his two slices of bread and sat down on the nearby chair and munched away. “Nothing quite like fresh bread.”
Then she opened a bag and brought out still-warm croissants.
His eyebrows shot up. “I didn’t realize you got those too.”
And she pointed at a couple round loaves as well.
“I guess we’re good for the day then.” He chuckled.
“We are.” She gently broke apart a tender croissant, flakes of buttery pastry falling onto the bag she had pulled it from. “And it’s warm,” she crowed in delight. She had two.
While Damon watched, he realized there would be a shortage soon if he didn’t grab his own, so he snatched up two himself. “Terk, you better get some, before she eats it all.”
They all shared a laugh and bantered a bit as they ate. By the time they finished, and Damon sat here with a cup of coffee, he felt some of the stress and tension inside him waning.
“We haven’t done too badly for the first twenty-four hours.” Damon looked over at Terk. A shadow crossed his face. “Unless you have any news to add?”
“No, we’ve done not bad,” Terk admitted. “We have communications up and running. We have another security company attached and helping. We’re doing searches on prior adversaries and other potential threats. We have our own team members all under lock and guard.” He nodded. “And we’re here, with the three of us at least functioning, more or less.”
“I wish Mera were here.” Tasha sighed. “It would make my job easier.”
“I didn’t get the impression she would be ready for that for a while,” Terk murmured.
Tasha shook her head. “I know. And, when I think of the fact that Wilson will never be ready, I can’t really complain, can I?”
“It’s the nature of the human being,” he noted. “We complain, even though we know better and can’t change it.”
“Why is that?”
“I think because we want something different than what we’ve got. And it doesn’t matter because we will remember Wilson for the crazy cheerful and incredibly efficient person he was.” Terk paused. “And hope to God his family remembers him with a smile,” he murmured.
“I hope so. Letting them know would be terrible. He didn’t deserve this,” she muttered. “Neither did Mera.”
“Neither did the rest of the team,” Damon reminded her. “But this is where we’re at.”
“And where exactly is that?” she asked. “Now that we’re set up, who are we trying to locate first?”
“My vote is whoever killed Wilson,” Terk said instantly. “And he will lead us to the next step.”