Page 4 of Even If the Sky is Falling
“And yes, I would take Luna with me. She already has a care package in the basement, just in case.” Nova clicked her tongue at her older sister. “You’re lucky I love you, you know.”
Halley rolled her eyes lovingly. “I love you too. Fingers crossed that I’m on my way home tonight.”
“Just be safe, Hal. We’ll be here.”
Halley disconnected the call to find Griff standing right behind her. She jumped at the sight of him. “Jesus.”
“Sorry, did I scare you?”
She glared in response.
“Right. Was that Nova? How’s my Luna-Toons?” His voice light, Griffin offered that easy smile that often made Halley want to punch him.
“YourLuna?” she scoffed. While she got Luna two years before Griffin even came into the picture, Luna took an immediate liking to him, often acting like she preferred Griffin over Halley. Of course, Griff never let her forget it.
“Luna would have stayed with me if given the chance, you know.”
Halley scowled. “Right. The only way your exit would have been a bigger dick move would have been if you broke my heartandstole my cat. Fuck outta here, Griff.”
He grimaced. “Come on, Halley. I thought we were past that now. Aren’t we friends?”
She grabbed her go bag from the trunk. “No, Griff. You decided you were past this and you left. I still have screen shots of that lovely text you sent me to let me know.”
“Okay, I admit, I didn’t handle it the best,” he ventured, his hands spread wide in front of him as if to surrender.
“No, you didn’t handle it at all, Griff, but now really isn’t the time to get into this.” She stared hard into his eyes, jerking a thumb toward the station. “Are we clear or what?”
He blew out a sharp breath as his shoulders dropped and his back hunched a little. The image made Halley picture a deflating balloon. “Clear.”
Halley patted the doors of the SUV with the palm of her hand twice, keeping her eye on Griff. She projected her tone from her chest, intent on giving orders only once. “Alright, team. Let’s get set up. I would prefer not to have to overnight out here, so make moves.”
Song and Glenn climbed out of the truck, wary of the other two staring each other down. Song’s bag of beer clanking at his hip as he grabbed a duffel of equipment.
Halley’s head snapped in his direction. “Willy, the beer can wait, man. Get set up.”
Song nodded. “I got it, boss. Just trying to be efficient and make as few trips as possible.” He didn’t put down the beer, but he did grab a second piece of equipment and struggled to carry it all into the station behind Jake, who handled twice the amount of gear. Jake would bite his tongue, but Halley sensed his annoyance. His clenched jaw was his tell—the more it flexed, the closer he was to going off the rails.
Halley threw up her hands in frustration, making quick eye contact with Griffin as he scowled after Song. “He never listens,” she whispered, “but he is the one that isalwaysguaranteed to fuck up. Peanut-butter-fucking-stout.”
“Just calm down, Hal—” He scratched at the back of his neck.
“No, Griff. Literally, anyone else would be out on their ass by now. It’s just because his uncle is who he is that we deal with all of his bullshit.”
Griffin waited for a beat. “You’re right, but stressing about this isn’t going to make you feel any better. Keep him in line, let’s get the job done and we can get the hell out of here. Mission first, right?”
Halley sucked in a breath, hating that he was right. Hands on her hips, she dropped her head, closed her eyes and nodded, taking in a couple of deep breaths.
“Come on, let’s get to work.” He nudged her arm with his elbow before picking up the remaining equipment.
She trudged in behind him, the station a long hallway of rooms with digital locks. Halley pulled her NASA credentials from a retractable lanyard and held the badge against the electronic pad, unlocking the largest room of the station. The long wall had thick glass windows looking into the control room from the hallway; the room was set up with stadium-style seating facing a huge multiscreen-in-screen monitor. Glenn stepped inside, followed by Song, and they immediately began to unpack laptops, cords, hard drives and other materials that would help them hardwire the warning system for the entire country to headquarters and their local satellites.
Halley continued down the hall, familiarizing herself with the layout of the station. Lavatories, a lunch room and several single-occupancy bunks were farther down the hall. There was also a communications room directly next to the control room along with several supply cabinets with emergency equipment. “There are enough MREs to feed a team for a year,” she murmured.
Griffin grinned. “I’m partial to the chili.”
Halley turned green just thinking about it. Hearing a large thud and a yelp, she and Griff exchanged a look and doubled back to the control room. “Everybody okay in here? Song? What the—”
Jake was on the far side of the room connecting cables to the servers, his jaw flexing actively as he cut his eyes in Song’s direction. Willy had a bucket of ice in his hand and was limping on one foot, but he signaled with his free hand that there was nothing to worry about. “Okay in here, boss. I just dropped some equipment on my foot while I was making room for—”
