One Call Away (Book One of The Unmatched Records)

Chapter Six

Oliver, Nyssa, and Slade reach the others, Thea's in trouble, and Kara finally gets to strut her stuff!

Here's chapter six!

***

"Don't move," Malcolm told Thea, bending down to look at the landmine. Thea nodded jerkily, and Malcolm examined the mine before looking up. "The trigger's rusted over."

"That . . . that's good, right?" Thea asked shakily. "That's . . . that's a good sign?"

"No, that's really bad news," Curtis shook his head. "That means we can't disarm it."

"Well, somebody needs to do something!" Samantha protested.

"Thea, on the count of three, take your foot off the mine," Malcolm ordered.

"No, that will blow us all up," Felicity shook her head.

"I'm gonna take her place," Malcolm told her.

"That's crazy!" Samantha's jaw dropped.

"Yeah, you're not the first one to call him that," Felicity told her.

"I'll just find a boulder around here or something," Curtis began.

"No, we don't have that kind of time!" Malcolm snapped, turning to Thea. "Thea?"

"No," she shook her head. "OK, no one is doing this, OK?"

"Thea," Kara began.

"OK, OK, it's all right," Malcolm nodded, standing up. "All right." He chuckled slightly. "I forgot how stubborn you could be."

He suddenly threw himself at Thea, and Kara rushed forward to support Thea and at the same time hold Malcolm up. Her eyes widened when she saw Malcolm's foot now on the mine. "Oh, my God!" Felicity shrieked.

Malcolm straightened, catching his balance, then nodded and smiled at Thea. "Thank you for reminding me."

"What the hell are you doing?" Thea's eyes widened.

"I'm gonna take care of them, disarm the mine, and I'll catch up with you," he answered.

"Yeah, and how are you gonna do that with one foot planted on the – ?" Felicity began.

"Because he's not going to," Kara whispered.

Felicity stared at Malcolm in some mixture of horror and awe, and Thea shook her head. "No. OK, if you think that you need to prove something to me, you don't, OK? You proved it!"

"I'm not trying to prove anything," Malcolm shook his head. "From the moment you were born, all I ever wanted was to protect you."

"You don't have to," Thea shook her head. "I didn't ask for you to!"

"A child doesn't have to ask," Malcolm countered.

Tears welled in Thea's eyes, her voice cracking. "Don't do this, OK?"

"You may not think of me as your father, Thea, but you'll always be my daughter," Malcolm told her gently.

Kara's head whipped up. "Look out!"

Malcolm ducked to the side, trusting her, and a second later, a whizzing sound grew louder, until a boomerang smacked into the tree just past Samantha. "All right, go," Malcolm shooed the others away. "Quick, get her out of here. All of you, go!"

"This is insane!" Thea cried, even as Kara and Curtis pulled her away.

"Go!" Malcolm shouted as Harkness and some of Talia's students emerged over the hill.