Page 66 of Fire
That was also when he noticed thatJake, for maybe the first time in Tobias’s experience, was driving exactly at the speed limit.
Tobias laughed, a harsh sharp sound, and Jake jumped, making the car jerk on the highway like a skittish horse.
“Jesus, Toby,” Jake snapped. “Are you... are you laughing?”
“You’re driving the speed limit,” Tobias said, half chortling.
Jake glanced at him again with a mix of irritation and worry. “I mean, yeah. I don’t want to... you know, draw attention.”
His hands were at fucking ten and two, and Tobias was having a hard time keeping the semihysterical laughter in his chest. It was ridiculous that Jake, who habitually drove five over even when they were trying to keep a low profile after a hunt that left something on fire, would choosenowto start sticking to the letter of the law. Tobias found that incredibly, painfully funny, but he knew that if he broke now he wouldn’t be able to put himself together again by the time Jake needed him.
Tobias drew a deep lungful of air to stifle the rest of the laughter, then said as soberly as he could, “We’re about to commit an act of domestic terrorism on a secure government facility full of all types of monsters. Based on a plan we put together with an informant we don’t completely trust and a man we trust completely but who thinks we’re out of our collective minds. And it looks like we’ve got a body in the back. So, yeah, I guess I see where you’re coming from.”
Jake’s mouth quirked. “At least it’s just C-4?”
“Yeah. Just C-4.”
They drove in silence for another ten minutes, Tobias’s shoulders occasionally shaking, though even he couldn’t tell whether it was from laughter or a panic attack trying to fight its way out. But he was so far beyond panic that he couldn’t predict if he would be hyper-alert or in a stupor when they arrived. Tobias could only hope that instinct would kick in when they pulled into the Freak Camp parking lot, or he was going to get both of them killed.Just as Leon Hawthorne had once warned Tobias he would.
“Hey, Toby. You okay?”
Tobias drew another shaky breath. He kept forgetting to breathe, even though it felt like all he was doing was thinking about breathing. “Jake, that’s a really stupid question. Right up there with ‘Do you want to stay with Roger while I go attack the camp?’Reallystupid. So do me a favor and don’t ask it again until we’re out.”
Jake smiled, though the line of his mouth wavered. Tobias both hated and was grateful for how that made him feel better. At least Jake wasn’t going in hot and reckless. Tobias didn’t necessarily want him to be terrified, but in this situation, in this moment? Maybe a little terror was a good thing.
The rest of the drive took a little over an hour and a half. Fifteen miles out, they left the road to approach from the rear and pull up to one particular section of the wall. As Tobias got out and pulled out the first bundle of C-4, it occurred to him that he would never see those front doors in person. At least not if everything went according to plan.
“Something not wired right?” Jake asked over his shoulder.
Tobias almost dropped the explosive, which could have been a bad end for both of them. “No, it looks fine. Blasting caps and triggers are all set.” He knelt to fasten the package to the wall and checked the corners, making sure it was secure. He glanced at the camera that was clearly facing toward them as he did. Either Alice was going to come through for them, or they were both fucked before this began. “It’s funny, you know,” he said conversationally. “You promised me you’d shoot me before you would ever bring me back to Freak Camp.”
He had Jake in the corner of his eye, so he saw him flinch, his jaw tighten, his hands clench on the second load of explosives. Tobias could remember when those small gestures would have conveyed that he was going to get hit. He could remember when he would have wanted Jake to hit him, because he thought a beating was the best of the options available.
When rape, a bullet, abandonment, and Freak Camp had all been on the table, a couple of punches had seemed like nothing. And now he was going to walk back into hell with this man by his side.
Jake took a breath. “Tobias, I would never...”
“Yeah, not exactly the same thing,” Tobias interrupted. “But still, seems to violate the letter of the promise. You better make it up to me. Salads, for a start. Nothing but salads for weeks.”
Jake crossed the space between them and pulled him up and into his arms. They were as solid and warm and grounding as they always had been, and Tobias clung to him for dear life.
“I would never leave you in that place,” Jake said, emotion thick in his voice. “We’re going in together, to end it together. I swear to you, Tobias, this isn’t me being a selfish bastard, or just angry or, fuck, it’s about...” He stopped, pulling away to search the desert like it would give him the word he needed. “Revenge,” he finished.
“Revenge.” Tobias chuckled. His laughter didn’t sound as crazy as it had the last time. Jake met his eye and grinned too. “Sounds stupid when you say it like that.”
“Yeah. I know.” Jake looked a little sick. Then his face hardened, inner pain and exhaustion making him look so much older than his twenty-six years. “Let’s get this done.”
Tobias closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. “Yeah, let’s get this done.”But it would be nice to know I’ll get you back when this is over, if we make it out alive.
Instead of voicing any more of the destructive thoughts that would just trip them up during this insane plan, Tobias followed Jake back to the Honda and laid his hand on Jake’s knee as they drove around to the service entrance.
Alice had given them the codes to get inside without anyone asking questions. Jake punched them in while Tobias watched the heavy steel doors swing in. When the doors ground to a halt, they drove slowly through.
Unlike the relatively neat visitor parking lot, with its faded yellow lines and cracked asphalt, the service entrance was gray gravel. No potholes that would interfere with the loading and unloading of the black ASC vans and supply trucks, but nothing fancy either. Neither of them had ever been in this end of the camp, at least that they could remember. Tobias might have come here in a black van the very first time, but he had no recollection.
He’d always known he would come back to this place. A huge part of himself, a part that he tried to fight down for Jake’s sake, would always believe that this was where he belonged: in hell, with the other freaks. In his nightmares, this was where Jake turned, smiled at him, and said,This is where I leave you, Toby. It’s been fun.This was where his world fell apart.
Two battered cars were already parked in the area, so they weren’t able to pull the Honda quite as close to the door as they had hoped.
