Page 9 of Even If the Sky is Falling
She scanned the supply shelves and stepped out of Griffin’s arms briefly, retrieving a couple of rolled sleeping bags from the bottom shelf. After unrolling and unzipping them, she spread them out on the floor, one on top of the other. She grabbed the pillows and blankets from the cot, dropping them onto her makeshift bed before sitting down in the middle of it, the blanket still wrapped tightly around her body.
Griff raised an eyebrow, amused. “Are we camping? It’s been a long time since I’ve made a fort.”
She grabbed his hand and pulled him down next to her. “Call it what you want. You said the cot would be too noisy.”
With his smoldering orbs locked onto hers, he sat on his knees, rubbing the top of her hand with his thumb. “But I thought you were hungry.”
She nodded, her lips against his as she opened the cocoon of her blanket wide enough to pull him inside, his hands immediately finding their way to her warmth. “I am. For this.”
A quick rap at the door woke Halley. “Yeah?” she yelled through the door as she sat up with a start, the cot squeaking from the shift of weight. At some point, they’d moved off the floor to save their backs from the polished concrete.
“Uh, sorry to interrupt, boss, but I think I’ve got everything all set. We should be coming online in five,” Song called from the other side.
“I’ll be right out,” she responded, carefully swinging her legs over the edge of the cot in an effort to make as little noise as possible.
The cot still shrieked as she moved, and Griff smiled, though his eyes were still closed and his face was partly buried in the pillow. “That was a nice try.”
Halley pulled on her pants. “Well, you’re going to need to get up too. I can’t leave a smiling naked man in the sleeping quarters—the others will have questions.”
Griffin sat up slowly, surveying the room before locking his gaze onto Halley as she slipped on her bra. “What time is it? How long has it been?” The windowless room gave no indication of how much time had elapsed or how long they’d been asleep. He stepped out from under the blankets, naked and solid, his deep brown skin chiseled and glowing.
Halley’s cell phone was almost out of battery, but it flickered to life when she touched the screen. “Oh god. It’s been almost twelve hours, Griff.”
He pulled on his boxers and closed the space between them, gripping her shoulders. “Listen, Halley, if anyone can handle the chief, it’s you. Just get all of the information that you can from the guys, and prepare your report accordingly. He’s going to be on edge, as he should be—he’s been unable to give answers to people like the president for half a day.”
“There’s no reasonable explanation for this, Griff.” She sighed. “My whole career is flashing before my eyes.”
“You have the most reasonable explanation possible.” He dipped his head to kiss her cheek, nudging her with his jaw when she looked up at him questioningly. “Song.”
She expelled a deep breath and nodded. “Song.” She pulled on her sweater and smoothed her hair into a fresh bun, a couple of curly tendrils loose near her temples. “Fuck yeah, let’s do this.”
Griffin finished dressing in record time, and Halley threw the door open, rolling her shoulders down her back and walking down the hall. She donned her best scowl as she returned to the control room. Griffin was a few steps behind her. “Song, where’s my sitrep?” she barked.
“Boss, it took a full eleven hours for the system to reset. Once that was complete, Jake and I were able to rewire the servers both for the warning system and to get the local satellites reconnected. The ADGWS is fully installed, with a test date scheduled for one month from today. Once we flip this switch, the all-clear blasts should sound, and we can get out of here.” Sweat poured from Song’s brow, and Halley was sure he’d need a hydro pack on the flight home. He looked tired but more afraid than anything, his thin frame practically buzzing with nervous energy.
“What about cell phone service?”
“We still anticipate substantial network traffic, but if we can’t get you connected to the chief from here, we should go back to town and call HQ from a landline,” Jake suggested. Light brown stubble pushed through his light brown skin, but his alertness energized Halley.
Halley paced slowly, taking it all in. Song stepped into her path, an anxious look on his face. “Please, Halley, I know that I put the entire mission in jeopardy. I know you guys don’t like when I get assigned to your details, because you think I’m going to screw it up somehow, and you’re probably right. I do care about this job though, so if you can find it in your heart to forgive me and maybe to think of something so that I’m not fired for my mistakes, I promise I’ll be better.”
Halley’s face softened. “I can’t make any promises, Song. Hell, I don’t even know if I’ve got a job after all of this.”
“I may not be the best, and sometimes I make things difficult, but I respect you and I always learn from you. I willnevermake that mistake again.”
Halley tsked. “You’re damn right.”
“What are you going to tell the chief?” Song’s eyes pleaded with her.
She motioned for him to flip the switch, and three sharp blasts immediately sounded outside the station. A second later, her cell phone rang. “The truth.”
“Oakes—” Chief Henry shouted into the phone.
Halley took a deep breath. “Sir, I can explain.” The three blasts complete, she walked outside for quiet, to be away from prying eyes and ears as she gathered her thoughts.
“You’d better have a good explanation, because I am about five seconds away from telling you to turn in your credentials. What is happening over there?” Chief Henry didn’t have to yell to sound intimidating—his voice was a deep growl.
Halley turned toward the front wall of the station, covering her eyes with her hand. “Your nephew happened, sir.”
