"We ready to go?" The time had flown by.
"We're ready." Roark chuckled. "Are you?"
"We're more than ready," Sawyer said as he headed for Fred. When he got to the horse, he stopped and looked back at Stefan. "Mind if I ride with you?"
"No, of course not." They'd ridden together more than once. It was just a good thing Fred was such a big horse. Stefan walked over to join him. "We should get going. It's going to be light soon."
Stefan grabbed the reins and the saddle horn then swung up onto Fred's back. He glanced down at Sawyer. "Coming?"
Sawyer grinned. "Considering what we just did upstairs, that's kind of a given." He swung up behind Stefan then scooted as close as he could, his arms wrapping around Stefan's waist. For just a moment, his face buried in Stefan's hair.
"Where are we headed?" Roark asked after getting on his horse.
"The Cheyenne Mountain Complex," Sawyer replied as he lifted his head. "I've been using it as a base of operations for the last six months."
"Wasn't Cheyenne Mountain taken out by the mechs when they first invaded?" Roark asked.
"It was," Sawyer replied, "but they abandoned it after they got all the iron out of it. A lot of it is still standing."
"Would any of it be useful to the ADF?"
"Maybe." Sawyer's arms tightened.
Stefan couldn't see his face, but he was pretty sure that question upset Sawyer. "Why don't we just wait until we know what we're up against before bringing the ADF into this, Commander?"
Sawyer needed a safe place he could go to when he needed to hide from the mechs or get away from others. Stefan didn't want to take that away from him.
"Fair enough," Roark replied.
"Thank you, baby," Sawyer whispered as they got underway, as well. "I'm not quite ready to have the ADF back in my life."
"I figured as much."
"Don't get me wrong, I want to help the ADF as much as possible, but in my experience, if sacrificing one person can save a hundred, those in charge tend to see it as an acceptable loss. I don't want to be that one person."
Stefan growled. "No one is going to sacrifice you."
"It's not always a choice we get to make, Stef."
"No, I get that." And he was even more determined that no one would know Sawyer was still alive until they had assurances he wouldn't become some sort of science experiment.
"Are we ready now?" Roark asked. He gave Foster a pointed look when the man didn't get on his horse. "Is there a problem, Foster?"
"I'm going to stick around here and help out," Foster said. "I'll catch up with you guys at Mesa Verde."
Roark lifted an eyebrow.
Foster let out a nervous-sounding chuckle.
"Who is he?" Stefan asked. He understood the gleam in Foster's eyes. He'd had one on his since the day he met Sawyer.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Foster protested. "I just want to help out."
"Right." Stefan chuckled as he flicked his reins and got his horse moving. Like he really believed that. Someone had caught Foster's interest. "Let us know how things work out."
"I'll expect you back at base by the end of the week," Roark said.
"Yes, sir," Foster quickly replied.
