Page 54 of Agent Zero
No, I’m not going to let that one go.She did stare out the windshield, however, the wipers marking steady time.“What kind of infection?”
“I’m trying to drive.”
“What kind of infection, Reese?”
He eased the car down an exit, a snowplow rearing in front of them and sliding away, heading majestically for what looked like a ditch.Miraculously, the huge machine labored and chugged over a bridge that looked built of stone matchsticks, and a gorge opened up to either side.Fortunately, Reese turned off on another reasonably well-scraped road, creeping around a long slow curve that was probably a lot of fun when it wasn’t snowing so heavily.His mouth thinned a little.“I will tell you everything you want to know when we get to the cabin.For right now, just let me work.Please.”
You didn’t mention “infection” before.“Are you contagious?”
“What?Of course not, you think they’d let me live offbase if I was?Holly, please.”
At least he didn’t sound too irritated.Now she had a little more information, too.Infection.Little buggers.He changes the subject whenever it comes up, whatever they did to him.You don’t walk again after your spine gets broken, but he can go through metal detectors.
It was like quizzing Phillip, trying to put together symptoms and coming up with a diagnosis.
Was Reese sick?He seemed pretty healthy.Except maybe emotionally, but she was one to talk, right?As a coping mechanism, isolating herself hadn’t worked very well at all.People kept creeping in, even when you built yourself a nice thick snail-shell.
She decided to try another tack.“What do I smell like?”
“Hmm?Oh.It changes.When I’m hungry, it’s food.When I’m not, it’s other things.But always good.You smell...good.”
“Like food?”Well, yeah, working in a diner will do that to you.
“Not just any food.You know cravings, right?”He eased off the gas, letting inertia slow the car.“They hit, and all you can think of is how you want, oh, maybe a slice of pie.Cherry pie, not any other kind, you know?”
“I smell like cherry pie?”
“No, you smell like...”Reese feathered the brake as the car glided around a corner.The houses spaced themselves farther and farther apart, barns and barbed-wire fences hunching against the cold.It was amazing how soon city fell away.Maybe they just built towns smaller this far west.
Keep him talking, Holly.“How many identities do you have?”
“A few.”
“How many is a few?”
He goosed the accelerator as they started to slide, chains making a hissing rasp.The car righted itself, as if it had never meant to stumble.“Enough to keep you safe, but I do need you to let me drive.”
It was more than she’d had before.Holly gazed out her window.The infinite sky that meant snow was changing, shading by degrees into a dull beaten-iron pall.It looked nasty.
Enough to keep you safe.He kept saying things like that.It was enough to make a woman feel charitable.
Waking up this morning, finding his arm around her while the rest of him stretched out on top of the covers, realizing just how strong he was and that he hadn’t, well,doneanything.He’d even still had his shoes on, for God’s sake.
The only time I feel real is when I’m looking at you.
How could someone so competent be so inwardly shy and clumsy?Of course, if he had grown up in institutions, he was probably lacking a lot of Real Life Experience.She probably had enough for both of them, though.Who was really the naive one here?
The houses became dots at the end of long driveways, the barns more ramshackle.The road worsened, and they crept onto a two-lane highway behind another snowplow, its hazards lighting the windshield with flashing amber.It wasn’t even noon yet, but the light was failing, that gray pall was moving in swift and hard.There was nothing to stop the storm but mountains bunching up in the distance, and it occurred to her that maybe he’d been making for this place all along.
“Were you heading here from the beginning?”
“I chose this route because it had options along the way, and this weather’s been threatening for a couple days now.We’re going to get over the border, just not as soon as I’d hoped.This is the next best thing.”
“Are you sure?”After all, you are the expert here.Her nose itched, and she was heartily tired of fast food.
“Absolutely.”Reese sounded very definite, so she tried to relax.The radio burbled softly, an AM weather station giving passionless reports with a list of unfamiliar place-names.He touched the volume knob, turning it up just a little, and Holly took a deep breath.
There was, really, nothing else she could do.
