Page 71 of Nolan
Bennigan regards me pensively and sighs. “Miss Bennett, it’s more of a husk than a body at this point. I’m sorry. I’m trying to be delicate, but the truth serves everyone better.”
“I know,” I reply. On the outside, I do what I can to appear serene. On the inside, I’m trembling. I don’t want to hear this, but I have to. “All the same, I’d like to be there.”
Bennigan grunts, considering my words. I struggled with even making this request. But I made my decision. My Nolan is gone. And I am going to conduct myself the way any firefighter’s partner would if she lost her man. It doesn’t matter that he’s bionic. I can only hope the chief thinks the same way.
“If you weren’t Apollo’s sister,” he mutters, “I’d likely say no. As it stands, I have a lot of respect for your family.”
“I appreciate that, sir.”
“Okay.” Bennigan shakes his head. “Okay. I assume you already know he’s arriving at the airport today. Three p.m. You can accompany his transport.”
“And my sister-in-law? She can come with me too?”
“I don’t see why not. But I can’t guarantee BioNex will let you in. They’re rather strict about facility access.”
One battle at a time. “Thank you, sir.”
Jessica and I arrive a half hour early to the airport, and the wait is pure torment. I told Jessica she didn’t have to come, that I could handle it. I was worried about stressing her out too much, in her condition. But she insisted, and I’m so grateful to have a sister-in-law like her. People are constantly spilling out of the glass doors, heading to the parking garage or to be picked up by family members. Together, we exit the car, and I do what I can to keep still, when all I want is to pace back and forth.
Then they come out into view. Volunteers, not my brother’s team. Jess identifies them as a few Belmont fighters who had gone to California a couple weeks before and were only just returning.
They’re pushing along a box on wheels with a lid displaying the BioNex logo, which looks like it’s near buckling from the weight. I know without having to be told that it’s Nolan.
My Nolan.
I hurry over the crosswalk, rushing them. “Nolan?—”
The fighters look confused when they see me, and then somewhat offended at my behavior. “Excuse me. Back up, please.”
“She’s his girlfriend,” Jessica interjects, and some of their eyes flicker with recognition when they see her.
“Oh, sorry, Mrs. Bennett, we didn’t know,” says the fireman who initially put himself between me and what I can only describe as Nolan’s corporate coffin. He regards me with apologetic sympathy. “You might not want to look, ma’am.” But I’m already opening the box. I push it to the side and blanch.
Nolan is unrecognizable. His skin, his hair, everything is gone. He looks like an alien, something not of this world. It’s just his blackened steel exoskeleton, and his circuitry is completely burnt out.
“They got to him in time before he lost anything else,” another volunteer offers to me somberly as they close the lid and begin loading him into a large BioNex van. “I’m just glad he didn’t get damaged further in the cargo hold.”
Rage pours through my veins at the very thought of Nolan being cast among the luggage, jostled by turbulence, like he’s little more than a doll. I set my jaw. “They put him with the baggage?”
“New rules. Androids can’t ride passenger, and they certainly can’t ride home, like a fallen hero,” he replies. “I’m sorry.”
I can cause a fuss about that later. “I want to ride with him. Can I?”
The firefighters exchange glances before asking the driver. They wave me in. “Go ahead. But just one.”
I turn to Jessica, who takes my hands and squeezes them. “I’ll call you when I need to get picked up.”
“Okay.” Jessica pulls me into a hug. “Be careful.”
I crawl into the van with him and sit next to his box, opening the lid again and staring at Nolan’s hollow, blackened hands and the remnants of his fingers. I reach out and gently grasp one, gazing at him as we pull away.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “You kept everyone safe. You’re a hero, and they treat you like garbage. I’m so proud of you, Nolan.” Soot covers my finger, angering me further. They couldn’t even bother to wipe him off? “I don’t care if you don’t remember me. Just come back. Just come back.”
I speak to him quietly like that, knowing he’s destroyed. There will be no recovering this body, and there may not be a way to recover him, but I don’t care. After a short drive, we approach BioNex’s laboratories. The van is let through a security checkpoint and a large pair of gates. In the receiving area, the doors are opened, and a pair of young warehouse workers peer at me.
One of them pipes up, clearly not expecting someone to be riding with Nolan’s remains. “Sorry, but you’re not allowed in here?—”
“You can get back to work. I’ll handle this.”
