Gaby. There’s only Gaby!
“What did he say?” Josh asked.
“They lost the trail at the interstate around Lake Dulcet.”
“What does that mean?”
“They killed some guys he had stationed outside the city. Apparently, they used a machine gun. One of ours, if you can believe it.”
Oh, I can believe it. You don’t know half of the things these ex-Rangers are capable of. If you did, you’d be more scared about tonight.
“So where are they now?” he asked.
“He doesn’t know.”
Josh felt the familiar flurry of annoyance flaring up.
Mason. Goddamn Mason. Simultaneously the most capable man under him, and the most aggravating.
“What about Salvani?” he asked.
“They haven’t seen them,” Sonia said.
“So that means they left the interstate at Lake Dulcet.” He stopped and glanced north, where he imagined the casino town was in the distance. “They could be anywhere by now. Maybe even on their way down here this very moment. How long ago did Mason say he lost them?”
“He couldn’t be sure. He guessed two, maybe three hours ago.”
Goddammit, Mason.
“What do you want me to tell him?” she asked.
“Tell him—” He paused, then shook his head in frustration. “What about Will? Did he reacquire Will after the attack by the Dunbar people? Is he even still alive?”
“He says he’s working on that.”
“What does that mean?”
She shrugged. “He didn’t elaborate.”
Fuck, shit. Goddamn you, Mason!
He could feel Travis watching him closely to his right and Sonia doing the same thing in front of him. A couple of the other soldiers loitering around were also eavesdropping. They were all waiting for him to blow up, to finally reveal the nineteen-year-old kid (because they all thought of him as a kid, despite everything he had done and all the power he wielded) instead of the commander of men he had become since he struck out on his own.
But he was one of the chosen ones, and although Josh was flustered, pissed off, and angry, he reined it all in and tempered down his emotions and didn’t let any of them show.
“Tell him to get his shit together, or he’ll be answering to me,” he said finally.
“Okay,” Sonia said.
Josh continued to the house and climbed up the outer stairs to the second floor with Sonia beside him. He was proud of himself. Despite how badly the day was going (Mason, you worthless piece of shit, you better get it together!), he had maintained his composure and was still on track to finish this whole messy affair with Song Island tonight. By morning, he could move on with the rest of his life with Gaby at his side.
Christ, Sonia smelled good. It was just generic soap, but women always had a way of making the ordinary extraordinary. Then again, for all he knew, Sonia could have put something extra on just for him. He had seen the way she looked and acted around him. She gave out all the signs and was all but begging him to make a move.
But he couldn’t. Not with Gaby out there. Not with Gaby waiting for him.
I’m doing all of this for you, Gaby. I know you won’t understand. Not at first. But one day you’ll finally come around and then we’ll be together. You’ll see.
“Josh,” Sonia was saying.
He stopped on the second-floor patio. “Hmm?”
“You’re gone again.” She frowned. “Gaby must really be something.”
“She is,” he said. She’s the most beautiful girl in the world, he thought, but he didn’t say it out loud. He liked Sonia and didn’t want to hurt her feelings, so he asked instead, “Did you eat yet?”
“Not yet.”
“You should, if you’re going with us tonight.”
“I was waiting for you to come back.”
Gaby. There’s only Gaby.
“I already ate,” he lied. “I need to get some sleep. Wake me up when Mason radios back with news.”
“About Gaby, or just anything?” she asked.
“Anything,” he said, and slipped into the house before she could keep the conversation going.
Around five-thirty, he got good news and bad news.
“Sorry, didn’t know you were still napping,” Sonia said when she entered the bedroom after knocking once on the door.
Fortunately he had lain down and gone to sleep in his clothes. The last thing he needed was to be caught in his underwear by Sonia. It was hard enough keeping his hormones in check around her when he was fully clothed.
He sat up and swung his legs off the bed, then absently flicked at the hardened pieces of dirt his boots had left on the mattress. “It’s okay. What’s up?”
“Mason finally radioed back.”
“What took him so long?”
“He didn’t say.”
Mason. Christ.
“What did he say?” he asked.
“He caught that Will guy,” Sonia said. She had sat down on a chair at the foot of the bed. “It took him a while, and he says it was messy, but he got him again.”
“And he’s still alive?”
“Mostly.”
“‘Mostly’?”
“He said the guy was injured, but that he’s still breathing.”
“I guess that’s all that matters.”
“What’s so special about him, anyway?”
Nothing, except she wants him, and what’s important to her is important to all of us, because she’s the only thing holding back the sea from drowning us all.
“He’s just a guy,” Josh said, standing up and yawning. It was a good nap, and he was glad he had taken it. Tonight was going to take a lot out of him and the more energy he could save up for it, the better. “Anyway, Will’s not our problem now. The island’s the only thing we should be focusing on.”
“Speaking of which, one of the guys watching the other side of the lake just intercepted a vehicle heading toward the bridge.”
“Reinforcements?”
“Looks like it.”
He picked up a canteen from the windowsill and took a sip. “How many?”
“He couldn’t tell for sure. Maybe half a dozen, though he says he thinks some of them were women and children.”
“You said ‘he’?”
“Yeah. Only one of the scouts came back alive. The rest are dead.”
“How the hell did that happen?”
“Apparently the newcomers had a really good shooter with them. He shot the driver of their vehicle from two football fields away, according to the survivor. That forced their vehicle into a ditch, and the crash killed the driver and another guy in the back.”
“Aw, shit,” Josh said.
“What?” Sonia said, eyeing him curiously. “Does that mean something to you?”
“Danny. It has to be Danny.”
“Who’s Danny?”
“He’s an ex-Army Ranger. He’s by far the best shot on the island, and he’s one of the guys Mason was supposed to stop at Route 13.”
“The one that escaped somewhere around Lake Dulcet?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“So that means…”
“Gaby,” Josh nodded. “She has to be with him, which means she’s already on the island right now.”
No wonder he had felt differently when he woke up just a minute ago. He thought it was just the aftereffects of the nap, but there was a strangeness in the air.
Because Gaby was nearby.
He didn’t say that out loud to Sonia. Besides the fact that the other woman was probably a little jealous of Gaby, it might sound a little crazy to tell her that he could feel how the air changed when Gaby was around.