“Come on in,” Dalton said, immediately concerned.“Are you okay, ma’am?”he asked.
“Yes, thank you,” Qi replied.
GG stepped aside to let their visitors in, then closed and locked the door.They removed their muddy snow boots without needing to be asked.“I’ll put the water on to boil,” she said.
“Thanks,” Qiana said in gratitude, then removed her mask.
GG did a double take, then shook her head.“I hate it when I meet someone who is more beautiful than I am,” she joked.
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, darlin’,” Dalton said.“But you sure are pretty, ma’am,” he added.
“So I’ve been told,” the surgeon said with a sigh.
“Come and sit by the fire where it’s warm,” the cowboy offered.
Qiana looked around the spacious old building.They’d set up some battery-operated lamps around the blazing fire in a metal drum.The rest of the place was dark.“Grace is dying to find some skates and visit this place,” she said with a fond smile at the teen’s youthful exuberance.
“So Wynter said,” Dalton said.“I’m Dalton Ashton, by the way.This is GG.”
“It’s good to meet some of our allies,” Kochab said, shaking the human’s hand.“Wynter has told us a lot about Ms.Gold.”
“You’re new, though, Mr.Ashton,” Qi said, taking a seat on the battered faux leather couch.Kochab opted to sit on one of the office chairs so GG would be able to sit in comfort.
GG boiled water on the hotplate as Dalt told them both a bit about himself.She carried a thermos of coffee and four plastic mugs back with her.He was just finishing telling them that he’d arrived in Central Park just in time to see the soldier chasing her.
“Then this big, strong cowboy blasted that frozen guard into a million chunks,” GG said in a fake breathy voice, fluttering her eyelashes.“Then we hightailed it out of Manhattan before Rahab and his goons could find us.”
“It’s kind of romantic that your ex came all the way from Montana to save your life,” Qiana said with a grin.“It’s like something out of this alien warrior romance series we’ve all been reading.”
“You’re reading it, too?”GG asked in surprise.“I found copies of that series in the apartment Wynter was being kept in.I read a few of the books to her while she was recovering.I got hooked on them, but I had to leave them behind when we escaped.”
“I’m sure Grace will let you borrow one of our copies,” Kochab said.“We have two complete series.”
“Wynter said Grace has some copies,” GG said.“Tell her I promise I’ll look after them well.”
“I’ll talk to her about it when I get up tomorrow,” Qi vowed.
Koach took a sip of the steaming coffee GG poured into a mug and handed to him.“We have a warning for you,” he said, turning grave.
Dalt also turned serious.“What’s it about?”
“A human sniper is on the loose in Manhattan,” the knight said.“We’ve found nine of his victims so far, but we haven’t been able to hunt him down.”
“That’s just great,” GG said as she sank down onto the couch after handing them all a drink.“Now we’ve got something else to worry about.”
“Thanks for the heads up,” Dalton said.“I need to visit Pastor Hogan and give him one of the walky-talkies Amaros gave us so we can stay in touch.”
“We could drop it off for you,” Qiana offered.
“I promised the preacher I’d drop by from time to time,” the rancher said.“But I appreciate your offer, ma’am.”
“Dalt’s smart enough to stay under cover so he won’t get his head blown off,” GG said.“But I hope this guy can take down some of the soldiers for us.”
“That’s what we were hoping, too,” Qi said in agreement.“I doubt we’ll be that lucky, though.I have a feeling this person is one of Chaos’ agents.”
“Anarchy does like to throw a spanner in the works from time to time,” her mate said in a musing tone.“The sooner we take the sniper down, the easier we can all rest.”
They stayed long enough to drink their coffee before searching for more victims who needed to be healed.
