He closed his eyes, knowing she was right—she'd outlast him. His exhaustion was bone-deep, and there was something about having another person nearby, someone watching, that loosened the grip he'd been keeping on consciousness for weeks.
Just before sleep pulled him under, he heard her voice, low and almost to herself.
"Goodnight, Flatline."
He didn't respond, but he was still smiling.
Chapter Five
Zadie heard the humming of the chopper before she saw it. A low, rhythmic thud that didn't belong to the wind or the trees or anything else out here. She slowed the SxS and glanced toward the sky.
"What?" Gideon asked.
"We need to take cover." She turned the SxS into the tree line, punched the gas, and dodged around a couple of trees. Her gaze swept over the undergrowth, locating a place sufficiently dense to conceal the vehicle. She killed the engine and grabbed Gideon's arm. "We should get out."
He grabbed his backpack, slung it over one shoulder, and his boots hit the ground. He glanced toward the clouds. The helicopter’s engine grew louder.
She snagged the rifle and followed him into the tree line, crouching behind a cluster of Douglas fir thick enough to swallow them both. "This should be enough coverage to keep us from being detected by thermal imaging."
"Can you tell if it’s the same one as yesterday?" Gideon pinned his shoulders against the trunk, eyes on the sky through the canopy.
"No." She steadied her breathing. "But it doesn't matter. We're not moving until it's gone."
"We checked everything for tracking devices, and I’m completely powered down. Would they know where the bunker is?"
"Doubtful, but they know how we’re traveling. It makes sense to cover this ground in all directions. We just need to wait it out for now."
The chopper passed south, low enough that the trees shuddered. Then it banked, circled wide, and came back along the same line. They were definitely searching, but if they had coordinates, they’d already be dropping from the sky, or coming at them on foot.
Zadie flattened herself against the ground. Gideon did the same, his shoulder touching hers. They stayed like that, silent, for three full passes.
On the fourth, the chopper drifted further south, and the sound thinned.
"Give it five minutes," she whispered.
"I was going to say ten," Gideon said. "I served one tour but never saw combat. However, I’ve done enough training exercises to know that doubling back is a thing."
"More than thing." She shifted her gaze. "You’ve been out how many years?"
"A little over eight," he said. "Four years at the Royal Military College and served five years after that. But most of it was in a fancy computer lab doing research and development. I know my way around a weapon. I’m a decent shot, but my warfare has always been done behind a keyboard."
"I’m not judging." And she wasn’t. Certain aspects of the military weren’t for everyone. She’d had her doubts about herself when she’d first joined, but that lasted two days into bootcamp. It was then she realized she’d found home.
The forest settled around them, filling the space the helicopter had carved out of the silence. Birds first, then wind, then the small sounds of things moving in the underbrush that had nothing to do with people. She’d spent an entire childhood listening to those sounds. It was a little piece of heaven.
"I’ve been meaning to ask you something." Zadie shifted, catching Gideon’s gaze. "The man from the truck. The one who worked under you. You said demolitions and comms, which is an interesting combination. But did you know him from the military as well?"
"No. Didn’t meet him until I was handed the keys to my department and he was standing in my office like he owned it." Gideon turned his attention to the sky. "Have to admit, that was quite the uncomfortable first meeting."
"Why and who is he?"
"Isaac Young," Gideon said. "Senior security analyst. He’d applied for the director position before Finch gave it to me. I didn’t know that, at first. When I asked him why he was in my office, he told me he was to report there. It was the first day for both of us, and he said he was just surprised his new boss was younger and he believed, less experienced. He tried to make a joke of it. We mostly got a long."
"How did you find out he wanted your job? And what did he have to say about it?"
"Darwin told me," Gideon said. "Isaac never really said much about it. But he always had a sideways attitude. He wanted to be everywhere and thought he deserved to be in every conversation and involved in all the decisions. He had the experience. Years of military service. He understood the systems." Gideon shifted, pulling a blade of grass from the ground and running it between his fingers. "But Darwin recruited me specifically for the director position. I wasn’t even looking for a job. I’d left the military and was working for a different company. But Darwin and Finch had a vision for what ETHER could be, and Finch needed someone who could build it from the ground up. Darwin knew my work and knew that I wanted to do something that would help save lives."
"Did Isaac take that personally."
