Chapter 16. Author's note - I have only the excuse of being hellishly busy at work for not updating. Forgive me, please. You are all so lovely and so encouraging and I really appreciate all the nice comments and votes. Keep on being awesome! Thanks for reading!
Nightingale did not even know she had fallen asleep until she woke some time later with the sun shining through the cockpit's windshield. She stretched and rolled her head, trying to work out the kink that had temporarily immobilized her neck.
She was still sitting in the copilot's chair, but someone had covered her with a blanket. She blinked slowly as her eyes adjusted to the brightness. As she stared out the window, she could see that the hovercraft was parked inside a cavernous hangar, and that the hangar doors were open to let the sun stream in.
It must have been the early hours of morning, since the sunlight that illuminated the shadows of the space hung low on the horizon, deep orange and not very warm.
Nightingale shrugged the blanket off her shoulders and then shivered. She was cold. She got up and left the cockpit. Finding the other compartment empty of either her team or the Britannic team, she went out the open doors and into the hangar.
She found both teams assembled in the hangar. Tables had been assembled next to the hovercraft and most were sitting around them, drinking coffee and eating what Nightingale assumed was breakfast.
It was very quiet - conversation was muted and barely made a sound. Nightingale, rubbing her eyes, made for a mostly-empty table, steering clear of the table packed with Britannic agents.
"Good morning, Gale," said Pierce. He was rubbing his eyes and looking exhausted. Nicholas, looking very much the same, shuffled over so she could sit next to him. She perched next to him, her upper arm touching his, glad of his warmth.
"Morning, boys," she said. She watched as David and Caroline, who were standing a little further off by the entrance of the hangar, turned to silhouettes by the orange sunlight. "What time is it?"
"Six am local time," Pierce responded. Nicholas grunted, apparently too tired to form even a single coherent word, let alone a sentence. "We landed about an hour ago."
Nightingale nodded. She was still cold, and drew her arms tightly around her body.
Pierce, who was watching her shudder, uncapped a thermos and poured her a cup of coffee. He pushed it her way and Nightingale took it in both hands, greedy for the warmth of the metal cup.
"Amartya wanted to wake you up, but David said to let you sleep," said Pierce.
"Nearly took his fucking head off, too," said Nicholas, finally managing to speak. Then he lapsed back into silence with a grunt. Nightingale, without speaking, handed Nicholas the thermos of coffee, and he took it with another grunt. Both Pierce and Nightingale watched as he unscrewed the lid, lifted it to his mouth, and chugged the boiling contents in one go.
"Tired, Nick?" said Nightingale, lightly sarcastic.
"Fuck off, Gale," said Nicholas, and smiled.
"Hey, she got less sleep than you, Nick. You kept all of us awake with your snoring," muttered Pierce.
Nightingale closed her eyes and listened with pleasure to their gentle, low-voiced bickering. She wondered if she could drift off to sleep again, but her thoughts of Victor Trevor, and of becoming an Inamorata, circled her mind like vultures.
"You know when we're going to get going?" asked Nightingale, opening her eyes.
Pierce nodded. "In about an hour. You and Amartya will go after us. We'll head out in the main hovercraft and set up a good command position. Then you and Amartya will go directly to the triumvirate's position."
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Immortality
Science Fiction(The sequel to Inamorata) Death has long been a subject that preys upon Nightingale's mind. Her life has never been a safe one, not with her past in the bordello and her occupation as a government agent. Death has always been close to her; she used...
