The Last Mission of the Living (The Last Bastion #2)(27)

“You won’t see me again,” Vaja said, as though that mattered anymore.

“Good.” Lindsey smiled at her neighbor walking past her entrance. She waved, and the old man tried not to look at her near nudity. He failed miserably.

Vaja heaved his bag over his shoulder and glowered at her. “We could have had the greatest of loves.”

“We had fun for a while. You were reasonably good in bed. You helped me out of a tough situation. But let’s call it what it was. A relationship built on lies. I can’t love someone who lies to me. So get out.”

Hesitating in the doorway, Vaja gazed into her eyes. “I do love you.”

Lindsey stepped back and put her hand over the lock. “I don’t love you.”

With one last sorrowful look, Vaja trudged down the stairwell.

Lindsey shut the door and exhaled. “Asshole.”

After making some coffee and heating up some oatmeal, Lindsey returned to her computers and watched the latest updates pouring in from the news media and her other resources. She was also compiling snippets of information to send to Maria’s wristlet. Though her friend was far away, Lindsey didn’t want her to feel completely disconnected from The Bastion.

Now that Vaja was gone, she accessed the secret program buried in the wristlet’s operating system. There weren’t any new messages, but she had expected as much. The only one that was there was the one she’d received soon after Maria had disappeared. She hadn’t found it for days, too unnerved by the chaos enveloping the city to dare to open the program that might provide connection to her friend. It was a program she’d created for Dwayne to use to speak to Maria while she had been part of the Inferi Boon special ops mission.

Tapping the simple message, Lindsey read it over quickly.

Linds, I love you. Please take care of yourself and remember to look for the good things in life. Make sure The Roses have plenty of business. Tell my mother I love her and I’m sorry. When you finally live outside those damn walls, think of me. Remember me. Know I love you. Forever your friend and sister, Maria.

Blinking back tears, Lindsey closed the message, wishing there had been another, but understood that they had to be very careful. The time stamp on the message indicated it had been sent twenty-four hours after Dwayne had departed the city. Lindsey hoped that meant the couple had safety made it out of the valley. She wanted to believe they were both alive and well somewhere out there in the world.

Lindsey had the day off, so she didn’t need to check the duty roster, but went ahead and did so anyway to check on her friend’s assignments. There was a lot of activity outside of the wall now that the valley was close to being declared uncontaminated. Sometimes, she watched the footage of the massive vehicles destroying old settlements and piling the debris onto the back of trucks for recycling. The act of destruction held a certain amount of fascination for her. Hobbes, Giacomi and Franklin were all on patrol outside the wall near the old hydroelectric plant. Torran was not on the roster for the SWD. He hadn’t been since the day he’d returned from his failed mission.

It was amusing how jealous Vaja had seemed over simple messages from Torran updating her on his debriefs. Vaja had other women, but he’d been jealous of her fellow soldier. The man was ridiculous.

A quick cleanup of her dishes was followed by a shower. Lindsey tugged on some frayed blue jeans, a big brown sweater, an old pair of leather lace-up boots and a heavy black jacket. A cold front had blown in during the night, and it was rather chilly outside. Tucking her long blond hair into two messy fishtail braids that hung over her shoulders, she tugged a floppy dark green wool hat onto her head. Picking up a velvet box, which was the reason for her journey across the city, she tucked it into one of her coat pockets. It felt odd not reaching for her cane when she neared the door, but it was also a relief. A black nylon bag with half her uniforms stashed inside waited for her beside the door. Grabbing it, she let herself out of her flat and secured the locks.

The brisk air and muted sunlight gave the gray city an even more somber mood despite all the people rushing about to their various tasks. The roads tucked between the tall, narrow, nearly featureless buildings were clogged with people of all ages. The only bright spots were the makeshift gardens made out of old plastic containers hung from balcony railings and the laundry hanging on wash lines.

A drone ambled by with yet another message from President Cabot. She hadn’t heard this one yet and partially paid attention while watching two little girls in matching red coats jumping rope in an alleyway. One little girl was dark-skinned with pigtails and the other was blond with braids. For a moment, Lindsey thought of her and Maria, though they’d not known each other until they’d enlisted. The sight of the two little girls looking so happy together brought a smile to Lindsey’s face.

A few blocks down the way, she ventured up a rickety staircase to the building where Maria had once lived. All buildings had entrances on the second floor and were only accessible by retractable stairs. If there was an outbreak, the stairs were pulled up to keep the Scrags from entering. The steps wobbled under her as she ascended. Maria had often complained about them, but apparently nothing had been done to fix them yet. That was the way things worked in The Bastion. But all that was soon to change. At least she hoped so.

Entering the narrow hallways, she followed the heavy scent of chemicals until she reached an open doorway. Inside were two older women Maria had affectionately called The Roses. The married women were both named Rose. One was Rose Bergman, the other Rose Garcia. Lindsey called them Rose B and Rose G. This morning, the two women were busy ironing uniforms at mismatched iron boards. Both wore their hair long and tucked under colorful scarves. Rose B’s was pure silver, while Rose G’s curly hair was dark grey with strands of white. Maria had introduced Lindsey to the two women who did laundry in exchange for credits, food, and appliance repairs. Lindsey always tried to leave a little extra so Rose B could get her herbal remedies and medicines from the Med Center. The Roses usually tried to dissuade her from giving them too much, so she always had to figure out ways to sneak an extra credit or two into their hands.