The Last Mission of the Living (The Last Bastion #2)(101)
“I don’t need an excuse. I need to piss a waterfall,” Lindsey answered.
“Anyway, take some time so I can see what I can find out.”
“Why did she tell you, Torran?” Lindsey took her eyes off the door panel and stared into his face.
“She thinks I’m a part of it. The cell must be a sleeper with the members not knowing each other except their primary contact,” Torran replied.
“Solomon?”
“I think so.”
“But why does she think you’re part of it?” Lindsey stared into his dark eyes, fear nibbling at her nerves.
With a sardonic grin, Torran said, “Because I came to rescue you. She thinks it was part of the plan.”
Checking the panel over the door again, Lindsey stood and kissed him lovingly. “Thank you for that.”
“I’ll always come back for you,” Torran vowed, his Scottish brogue thickening.
“Same here.”
The panel over the door went dark, and Lindsey flopped back into the chair as Torran pretended to study the screen in front of them.
Exiting, Franklin pulled several packs of ammo from the locker and walked over to the pile of her equipment. In silence, she started to reload her weapon.
Chapter 29
When Lindsey excused herself to use the sanitation facilities, Torran made a show of pulling a retracting chair out of the wall and collapsing into it. When the OCCUPIED sign flashed on over the door, Franklin sprang into motion.
“We need to hurry,” she said, grabbing her helmet.
Torran sat up straight as Franklin picked up his helmet and set them side-by-side on the console. Accessing the side panels on both, she tugged out a connector and hooked them together. Using her wristlet to access her helmet computer remotely, Franklin started the program transfer.
“I checked the aerial drone while in the sanitary station,” she said in a low voice. “The Scrags around the base are still riled up, but they’re not a danger to us. They’re the only active ones in the area. The drone also checked the stairwell. The mob following us up the escalators is gone. They all fell to their deaths.” She smirked slightly. “Idiot creatures.”
“You accessed your helmet through your wristlet I take it,” Torran said, trying to sound casual.
Franklin stilled for a second, then said, “Yeah. So once the program is uploaded again on your helmet, you’ll be up and running. It’ll sync automatically with the ghost program in your wristlet.”
“Right.” Torran tried to look casual as he swept his hair back from his face and yawned. “Bloody exhausted.”
“I’m going to go ahead and call in while she’s in there. That way they’ll know we’re both on the job.” Franklin activated her wristlet and started to swipe her way through the multiple layers of programs.
Tensing, Torran weighed his options. The second Franklin reported in, he’d be exposed. “Don’t,” he said before he could reconsider.
“Why not?”
“She might come out at any second.”
“Or you might be afraid of what I might discover when I report in.”
“And that, too,” Torran confessed, not seeing the point in lying further. Franklin was on to him.
“So, you’re not with us,” Franklin said, continuing to work on her wristlet.
“Maybe I can be,” Torran suggested.
Franklin smirked. “Right.”
“Tell me what’s going on.”
“Why did you save Lindsey?” Franklin paused in her task.
“I love her,” Torran answered simply.
The woman’s full lips parted in an “O,” then she laughed. “Of course. How did I miss that?” She resumed tapping on the screen of her wristlet.
“Seriously, stop.” Torran stood up sharply. “I want to know why you want Maria Martinez.”
Franklin paused again and raised her dangerously glinting eyes to regard him. “The virus in her veins, of course.”
“Are you doing this for the president?”
“That idiot?” Her laugh was mocking.
“The Constabulary?”
“This is beyond mere politics and military branches,” Franklin retorted, her expression turning sour. “This is about humanity.”
“You want to save it?” Torran lifted his eyebrows. “Because if you do, you have a strange way of showing it by killing off your own squad.”
“We want to save a portion of humanity. The part dedicated to the restoration of the planet and preservation of its ecosystem.”
“You’re Gaia Cult,” Torran said, anger flaring to life. “I see.”
“Gaia Liberation, not cult. Look at this monstrous city. It’s arrogance. It’s avarice! This is what happens when humanity only seeks to preserve itself.” Franklin stared at him in defiance.
“So you find Maria and what? Give the virus she has to only those in the Gaia Cult?”
“There has to be a new Garden of Eden.”
“I thought you wanted everyone dead.”
“We were purging the planet before. Removing the wasted mass of flesh that was choking the very life out of the earth. Now we’ll start to rebuild outside of the walls. I can see from your expression that you’re not impressed.”
Rhiannon Frater's Books
- Rhiannon Frater
- Pretty When She Kills (Pretty When She Dies #2)
- Pretty When She Destroys (Pretty When She Dies #3)
- Pretty When They Collide (Pretty When She Dies 0.5)
- Fighting to Survive (As the World Dies #2)
- Siege (As the World Dies #3)
- The Last Bastion of the Living (The Last Bastion #1)
- The First Days (As the World Dies #1)
- Pretty When She Dies (Pretty When She Dies #1)
- The Living Dead Boy (The Living Dead Boy #1)