The Sergeant looked at Caleb with an expression that could only mean “better you than me” and almost smiled, but he caught himself. He didn’t want to join Caleb in the busy work that was clearly assigned to the disgraced soldier because of his recent mistakes. Why else would the General pick Caleb for the job?
Kate closed the lid, hoping that they could get it to the pickup and out of sight quick enough to pop the lid up slightly. She was sure that the storage locker was airtight, and there wouldn’t be but a few minutes of oxygen in the box before Lucy started having issues.
The Sergeant stepped forward to take Kate’s side while Caleb held the other side, but Kate scowled at him.
“Do I look delicate to you, Sergeant?” she asked gruffly.
“No, General,” the man said, then turned quickly and all but fled before he pissed Kate off again.
They put the locker in the bed of the truck, shoving it up against the cab and then securing it quickly before getting in.
Kate drove, going around the chopper and out of sight while Caleb opened the small sliding window in the back of the truck’s cab. He leaned out and unlocked the container, helping Lucy out through the window, the lid of the container ensuring that anyone that happened to be looking that way would only see the top of the lid before Caleb closed it. There would be no visual on Lucy from anywhere but the side view of the truck, and with the heavily tinted windows, there was little chance that anyone would be able to see into the vehicle without the special binoculars that hung around Lucy’s neck.
“You forgot to leave those in the chopper,” Kate said, almost laughing.
“Leave these? Are you kidding? You missed my birthday by two days. I think you should give these to me as a belated gift.”
Kate laughed again, and even Caleb found the childish declaration amusing. She shrugged, and Lucy gave a tiny squeal of delight. There weren’t many binoculars like that issued, but no one would question Kate about only having one pair on the chopper they had just left, instead of the two pairs that should have been onboard. And the joy on Lucy’s face was worth it.
Caleb reached through the window and latched the container tight, then closed the window as Kate took off, flying down the tarmac and heading for the on-base housing in the distance.
“Do we have a plan?” Caleb asked.
“Right now, the plan is taking these rations to your house.”
“My house? Why not yours?”
“Because if anyone comes looking for me, I don’t want to be there with Lucy. Pearce is going to tell his wife to wait until tomorrow at dinner, but if they change their minds, I don’t want them coming upon us in my house. If we’re at your place, it will buy us some time if we hear Marine One coming.”
“My house isn’t exactly ready for visitors.”
“We’re hiding, not vacationing. Besides, it’s only overnight until we can figure out how to get her out of here.”
“There’s no plan for that?” he asked with a wry smile.
“Not yet,” Kate admitted. “But I’ll think of something. I have a little under twenty-four hours to figure it out and get her out of here.”
“I don’t want to leave,” Lucy said. “I want to see New Hope.”
Kate gave her a look that curbed her rebelliousness almost instantly.
“Now is not the time,” Kate said. “You said yourself that whoever that woman is, she’s a dragon and she’s angry. She’s been holding herself back from shifting for a while if she’s struggling that much to keep herself under control. There’s no telling who she is or what she has planned, but I would be willing to bet that I’m supposed to protect you from her.”
“How can you be sure?” Lucy wanted to know.
“I can feel it,” Kate said. “I’m not sure how I know, but when I say the words out loud, it feels right. That woman can’t know who you are and that you’re here. We have to get you out of New Hope, even if I have to travel with you on foot all the way back home.”
Lucy groaned.
“If only I could fly,” she said.
“You can’t fly yet?” Kate asked, though she hadn’t even thought about the child being a dragon until Lucy had mentioned it herself.
“You don’t get your wings until you’re almost done with puberty. Right now, I can’t do much, and even using my scales is hit or miss. There isn’t much that I can control right now, and Dad said that it would take months before I could shift at will.”
Kate nodded her understanding.
“Well, since you can’t fly, unless I can find a way to get a chopper out of here and a really good explanation why I’m leaving a day early, we’re going to have to make the trip on foot.”
“If you can get me somewhere high enough, I can fly most of the way home,” Lucy said excitedly.
“I thought you couldn’t fly,” Kate said, giving her the side eye as she turned off the tarmac and headed toward Caleb’s house. “What are you, like a flying squirrel until you get your wings?”
Lucy giggled.
“Almost. This suit helps me fly.”
Kate pulled into Caleb’s garage when he opened it with the fob on his keyring, then waited until they had parked to turn and look at the child.
“Let me see that suit,” Kate said, really looking at what Lucy was wearing for the first time.
Lucy got out of the car behind Kate and followed her into the kitchen through the garage, standing in the middle of the tile room and turning slowly so that Kate could get a good look at the suit.
Kate pointed to several points on the suit, and Lucy walked her through the purpose of each gadget. From the tailfin between her ankles to help slow her down and steer, to the little holes in her gloves that could shoot the anti-shifter serum into the belly of an unsuspecting dragon, Lucy gave Kate a quick tour of the suit and even showed Kate how the wings worked and how her fighting staff was hidden completely on her back and almost invisible until she pulled it out.
“This is incredible,” Kate said as she and Caleb circled Lucy slowly and took it all in. “Where did you get this from?”
“Anna made it.”
“Your mother?” Kate asked, shocked. “Isn’t she from Aldeia?”