"I'm kidding." She laughed. "Come on. Let me show you around the rest of the place, and then I want to show you where you'll actually be spending most of your time."
"I’m all yours." He ran a hand through his hair, catching a couple of knots as he followed her out of one wing and through two mazes of corridors. "I’m going to need a map."
"I know, right?" She stopped at the entrance of a short hallway. "This is the medical bay. We’ve got an exam room, a small OR, but it's really more of a sterile treatment room. We can’t handle more than stitches and maybe a few minor procedures if absolutely necessary, but it’s functional. And we also have two recovery suites." She gestured toward a door with a tilt of her head. "Kane's in there. Wynn and Darwin are probably still with him since we haven't run into them yet. We'll steer clear for now."
He was fine with that. He wasn't ready for Darwin yet.
They passed a small gym—basic equipment, a heavy bag, some mats. Then a storage room with enough supplies to sustain a small unit for months. Then a utility corridor that led to the mechanical guts of the place—generators, water filtration, HVAC systems. That part fascinated him. But the things that kept other things running had always fascinated him.
Whoever had designed this bunker had built it to survive the kind of scenarios most people only read about.
"And this is all owned by a General?"
"Gus bought it years ago," Zadie said. "It had been decommissioned and according to the world, it no longer exists. Kind of like me."
"I really don’t like it when you talk like that."
She jerked her head as if the comment shocked her. "Okay," she said softly.
It wasn't okay, but that was the best he was going to get from her right now.
"Now, on to the war and comms rooms. My two favorite places," she said.
"Any chance there’s a gaming room?"
She burst out laughing. "God, I wish. No, but I have an old system. Offline only. It’s in my room. We can play it tonight."
"I’d like that." That was true. But he also liked the idea of being alone with her in her room, and that thought should’ve caught him so off guard. But it hadn’t. Not after that kiss.
"This is the war room."
There was a long, rectangular table dominating the center, surrounded by chairs. A couple of monitors lined one wall—maps, satellite feeds, data streams that were currently running. A whiteboard on the far wall had notes written in at least three different handwriting styles, some circled, some crossed out, and one that just said DON'T ERASE in block letters.
"This is where the magic happens," Zadie said. "Or the arguments. Depending on the day."
"There's a difference?"
"Not in this group." She curled her fingers around his biceps. "Room next door is my domain."
He stepped inside. "Wow."
There were multiple screens mounted on the wall—some active, some dark. Two desks positioned at angles that allowed clear sightlines to every monitor. Cables routed cleanly along the walls. Although some of the equipment looked salvaged and repurposed, its precise configuration showed him that whoever set this up knew exactly what they were doing.
"Huh. That wasn’t here when I left." She strolled over to one of the desks. "Aww. Look." She held up a piece of paper.
Gideon took it, and his heart dropped to his knees. He recognized Darwin’s handwriting immediately—the precise, slightly left-leaning script of a man who'd spent decades writing medical notes.
Welcome, Gideon.
He stared at the paper. His thumb moved across the ink.
"That's a nice touch," Zadie said quietly.
"Yeah." He set the note on the desk, next to the keyboard. He didn't know what to do with the feeling in his chest, so he ignored it.
He ran his hand along the edge of the monitor. The system was modest but solid. Enough to work with. Enough to start. "Darwin set this up?"
"I’m sure he asked Shepherd who knew what I needed."
