The Last Bastion of the Living (The Last Bastion #1)(79)

Lindsey thumbed it open, read a few lines and turned wide eyes in his direction.

He calmly sipped his tea and gave her the briefest of nods.

“Can I have mine to go?” she asked, pivoting around.

One of the two cooks looked up from the hot stove and nodded.

“Should I come by later?” Dwayne took a sip of his tea, his eyes following the drone.

“Not yet. When I have something solid, I’ll let you know,” Lindsey answered as her lunch was set down in front of her wrapped in paper. She snatched her meal and was gone.

He was just finishing his tea after swallowing the last bit of his meal when Dwayne saw a flash of navy out of the corner of his eye. Turning, he saw the shrewd black eyes of the commandant staring at him. Her ebony skin was slightly beaded with sweat. He glanced around for her usual entourage. There was none in sight. It appeared she had walked alone through the city, a surprising move on her part.

“I didn’t know you came here for lunch,” Dwayne said at last.

“You weren’t in your office. Your assistant told me where you were,” the commandant answered. She sat in the same stool Lindsey had perched on earlier and set her elbow on the counter. She stared at him openly and thoughtfully.

“I was hungry,” Dwayne answered with a shrug.

“Can I have your name?” Sarah asked, her tired, wrinkled face neutral of any emotion, but her eyes slightly widened at the sight of the woman who was a regular on the news vids.

“I didn’t leave off my ration,” the commandant answered.

“I can only offer a vegetarian dish then,” Sarah informed her. Sweat trailed down her face and she clutched her tongs in a shaking hand.

“That’s fine. Make it extra spicy,” the commandant replied, pushing a credit across the counter to Sarah. Without irony, she said to Dwayne, “A penny for your thoughts, Castellan Reichardt.”

Dwayne shifted his weight on his creaky stool and regarded her thoughtfully. “On which matter?”

“The mission outside the walls,” she answered.

“It’s a massive success for the SWD,” Dwayne said with the shrug of his shoulders. “If the news vids are to be believed.”

“Exactly,” the commandant said pointedly.

“How much do you know about their operation?”

She lifted one shoulder. “Enough.”

“We transferred some of our best soldiers to the SWD a few months ago,” Dwayne said, deciding to push a little.

The commandant arched her eyebrow.

“The special ops out there are our people, aren’t they?”

There was the tiniest inclination of her chin.

“But SWD is getting all the credit.”

Again, the barest of nods.

“And you don’t like this.”

“I play the game we all participate in.” It was hard to hear her over the chatter of all the people around them and the sizzling of the oil in the big skillets on the stove.

“What do you want from me?”

In a voice that was barely audible, she said, “Your help.”

Dwayne inclined his head toward her. He could see the anger, frustration, and fear in her eyes. “I’m doing as you ask. You’ve seen my reports.”

“This is on another matter.” Her eyes met his in an almost defiant way.

Dwayne sensed she was taking a risk just by broaching the unknown subject with him, even if her words were chosen in such a way that people outside their world wouldn’t understand the true meaning.

“You have an uncanny knack of being one step ahead of me,” she continued at a discreet volume. “In the past I have wondered how this happens, but my inquiries always came up short. Maybe you’re a man of hidden talents, or hidden methods. Or maybe you’re just that intuitive. Whatever the case, you always seem to know what you...shouldn’t.” She tilted her head slightly. “Continue this practice.”

Dwayne sat back, folded his arms over his chest, and stared at her.

Commandant Pierce dismissed him with a look and turned her full attention to watching the cooks finish preparing her meal. He was clearly free to go. Dwayne gave her a slight nod that he knew she could see out of the corner of her eye, and slid off his stool.

He strode away into the crowd.



*



The carrier was not significantly damaged considering the amount of time it had been abandoned and left to the wrath of the Inferi Scourge. A few of the antennas were snapped off and a few of the outside compartments had been pried open, but otherwise the damage was minimal. Maria was impressed by the efficiency of the security system. Scourge bodies were piled up around the vehicle.

“Home sweet home,” Denman joked as he walked alongside her.

“Doesn’t look bad considering,” Cormier said from behind them. She jogged ahead a few paces to get a closer view. The driver of the carrier flashed a grin their way. “This vehicle is so bad ass. I want to live in it when this is all done.”

“We should go joy riding,” Mikado suggested with a grin at Cruz.

Cruz returned the smile, lightly nudging him with her elbow.

“With the numbers down in this area, we could use the blades on the plow to kill the rest of the Scrags,” McKinney suggested. His boyish grin was charming when it appeared on his face.