Page 31

31. Loose Cannon

Mira

Laying on a big piece of cardboard, I shone the flashlight up at my car’s exhaust pipes and muffler. A little rusty, but no holes. That was good. I dissolved the rust and smoothed out a rough spot with a little piece of steel I’d raided from the motel’s dumpster.

If we were gonna take a long trip tomorrow, I wanted to make sure the old girl was ready for it.

“Hey, Mira, can I ask a favor?”

Hearing Kerry’s voice, I scooted out from under the car. He stood by the wheel well with his hands in his hoodie pockets and, despite the fading light, I saw he wore a frown.

Does he hate asking for favors as much as I do?

“You don’t even have to ask.” I got to my feet and brushed my hands off. “I’ll always owe you one.”

“No, you don’t, but I need you to help me make something. A bird.”

“A bird?”

“Yeah, a metal bird.” He looked down and shuffled his feet. “Travis came up with an idea. If you built a bird outta metal, I could power it up and Gigi could put a sending on it. If it’s made outta metal, it could hold a lotta power and last a long time. At the least, it would head in the right direction. That’s Travis’ theory, anyway, and I’m good to try anything at this point.”

“Hmm. How big were you thinking?” “I don’t know nothing about real birds, but something like these metal ones I seen at the Sanctuary. They were maybe this big,” he held his index fingers six inches apart, “and had bright colors with gold lines. They were called cloy-something. You could look it up on my phone.”

“Cloisonne, maybe?”

“Sounds right.” He shrugged. “But if it found her , she’d know it was from me. At least, pretty sure she would.”

“Clockwork gears, maybe. Like an old-timey pocket watch. Yeah. That could work.” I nodded. “I’ll need to go on a metal run. I already cleaned out the motel’s dumpster of anything good. Think there’s a junkyard around here?”

“I dunno. We could ask at the front desk.”

“Then let’s go.”

“Right now ?” He blinked.

“Well, yeah. We’re leaving tomorrow, remember? Oh, boy! Maybe I could scrounge enough to make you and Rome some armor, too. Breastplates, at least.”

“I don’t think a junkyard is gonna be open after dark.”

“Dude,” I grinned, “if you’re not down with a little breaking and entering, I’m not sure we can be friends.”

Kerry had a bad scar on one side of his face. It stretched from the corner of his lip to his jawline and looked exactly like someone had gotten a hook in his mouth and ripped him wide open. I’d wondered at first if the injury had caused some nerve damage because he only ever half-smiled. Sure, he went from cute to hot in two seconds when he did, but it was sad to think someone had hurt him bad enough to paralyze half his face.

As soon as he heard my words, though, he gave me a full-fledged grin.

No. Definitely no nerve damage. Just one hundred percent gorgeous.

“Mira, I think me and you are gonna be great friends.”

I laughed, then told him he could let the others know we were leaving while I went to the motel office.

“Huh?” His face screwed up. “Let’s just go.”

That gave me pause as the phrase ‘lone wolf’ ran through my head, closely followed by ‘loose cannon.’

Either one fits.

“Uh, half your team got ambushed and you have wounded among the other half.” I flapped my hand. “It’ll worry them if you disappear without warning.”

“Oh.” He shrugged and pulled out his phone. “Hmm. Rome and John are sleeping, and Travis is busy with his research. I guess I’ll call Gigi.”

“Just text her.”

“Can’t. Dunno how.”

How could he not know how to text? My eyebrows flew up, but he was already talking to her, so kept my mouth shut.

I guess if he can’t read well, he can’t write much, either.

I wiped my hands on a rag, tossed it into a nearby garbage can, and had made it almost to the office by the time he fell in step with me.

“She said not to get caught because she ain’t got bail money.”

It was hard to tell if he was being serious or sarcastic. Gigi had warned me he got grumpy if he thought he was being laughed at, so I played it safe and went with serious.

“If we get caught, we deserve to spend a night in the tank.”

That made him snort, and I had to agree with him. We were gonna be great friends.

#

Kerry

We ended up not breaking any laws, which wasn’t nearly as fun. Saying he didn’t know about a junkyard nearby, the clerk at the motel office gave us directions to a building supply store that had late hours.

We found it pretty easy, and Mira picked out a few steel plates she wanted for the armor, then took her time fussing over what she wanted for the bird project. While she was doing that, I wandered around, got lost in a maze of kitchen cabinets, and ended up staring at myself in an aisle of mirrors.

Wow. No wonder everyone was walking on eggshells around me. Even I thought I looked dangerous.

I should shave. And maybe comb my hair. Well, try to tame it down some, anyway. I tried to relax my shoulders. Might help on the surface, but my eyes tell the truth.

When we made it to the register, Mira started to pull out her wallet. I rolled my eyes.

“I got it, Boots.”

She wanted to argue, so I took her elbow and pulled her back, then got out my own wallet. I paid in cash, lugged it all out to the car, and shoved a giant sledgehammer out of the way to make room in the trunk.

“How’re you holding up?” I asked her as she drove us back to the motel.

“Fine.”

“Don’t need to lie. Not to me.”

“How about, ‘I’ll be fine’?”

“Yeah. How’s Gigi holding up?”

“She cries at night, but she’s not freaking out. I think it’s because you aren’t. Same with Travis. They’re taking their cues from you, even if they don’t realize it. I don’t know how you’re holding it together, but it’s helping them to do the same.”

“I ain’t doing it for them.” I rolled my shoulders. “It’s just, no matter how much I wanna burn the world down, I know it won’t help, so I lock everything down tight. At least for now. Fair warning, though, Mira: When I eventually lose it, stay far away from me. I will pay them back a hundredfold for taking what was mine, and I won’t be careful doing it.”

Yeah, I had a feeling the body count was gonna be high on this one before it was done. I almost even cared that a few of my friends might get caught in the fallout, but that concern wouldn’t be enough to rein the tiger back in after I let it out.

We rode in silence for a coupla minutes before she cleared her throat.

“What was the mission you were on when you were ambushed?”

“Why do you wanna know?” I cut my eyes over at her, suddenly suspicious.

“I wonder if the two are connected, that’s all. Gigi told me about the ambush, but not why you were hiking the Appalachian Trail. Do you think the attack was directed at your team because of your mission?”

I’d given Gigi pretty clear directions on how much to say to Mira. I didn’t have anything against her, but with my girl missing, I wasn’t taking any chances.

“We cleaned out some Hellhounds and were following up with how they got there.” I figured that was close enough. “Me, Rome, and Travis were talking, and we’re pretty sure the bad guys didn’t target us specifically. I think it was a snatch and grab. I dunno how they knew we were there, but one day I’ll find out. Then someone’s gonna die.”

A few miles passed, and I could tell she wanted to ask me something else. I figured I could be patient; I didn’t have anything else to do while she drove, anyway.

“So do I really smell bad to R— To you?” she asked after a few miles.

“We can smell your taint, not you , and it smells like your devil. Warriors are born to destroy demons. Guess that’s why we can smell so well. Rome and I nearly threw down when we first met. He had to fight his instincts all the time so he didn’t kill me. Well, try to.”

“Is he going to try to kill me ?” she squeaked.

I snorted. I couldn’t help it.

“No. He’s had a lot of practice and now he can peg your taint smell along with mine and ignore it. Kinda like, if your job is to shovel roadkill, it’s disgusting, but if you do it long enough, you can get used to it. Like Gigi said, don’t worry about it.”

“So I’m roadkill. Nice. Thanks. That visual is all I need to understand.”

“You’re welcome.” I didn’t know if she was joking or not, but thought manners would help either way. “Remember, me and Travis know what you’re going through with the taint, so either of us are here and will listen if you need an ear.”

“I appreciate that. And same for you, Kerry.” She glanced over at me. “Gigi told me about what happened before the ambush, so I know you aren’t in a good space right now. I owe you, so if I can help, tell me.”

“You owe me nothing. And I’ll be okay once I find my angel.” My hands bunched up into fists. “I need her safe, even if she doesn’t—”

My voice dried up and the hum of the tires on the highway filled the silence.

Even if she doesn’t want me anymore.

“Hey, I got a good idea for that bird construct.” Mira was trying to distract me, God love her. “It may take me a while because it’s fine work making those tiny gears, but it’s gonna last long enough to find her, I promise.”

I nodded and stared out into the darkness, hoping she was right.