To Be A Hero

Chapter 62: Confident

By the time I get back to Abel, Sam's waiting for me at the gates. He's grinning from ear to ear, and I run to him. When I reach him, I grab both sides of his face and pull his lips to mine. Our teeth clack together awkwardly and a bit painfully, and our noses bump together a few times, but I can hardly bring myself to care. I've never been this happy about a failed mission ever!

I pull back, smiling like an idiot at him. "You amazing, wonderful, awesome, brilliant, amazing, perfect man!"

He laughs. "You said amazing twice."

"Doubly amazing!" I kiss him again, and I don't think I've ever felt this happy in my life. I pull away, breathless and happy and also... really sweaty, now that I think about it. I take a step back, slightly embarrassed. "Sorry. Probably should have done that after I showered."

"You can do it again after you shower if you want," He says with a shrug, which causes me laugh.

"When are we leaving? We're not waiting until morning, are we?"

He shakes his head. "No, we'll be leaving in a few hours. I think we'll be leaving at two AM. Janine told me to tell you to wash up and rest up. It's going be a long night. It'll take us a few hours to get there though, even in the van."

I blink. "Wait, when you say 'we', do you mean...?"

"Well, I'm coming with you. I know where it is and it's not like I could tell you where to go from here anyway. I mean, you barely got five miles from Abel before the transmission cut off today. Whatever Sigrid's using is effective. I have to go with you."

"Who's all going?"

"Me, you, Janine and Maxine."

I nod, not knowing how I should feel about that. "Okay. And where is Janine now? I'm sure she'll want to take a look at the transmitter I found. I haven't heard anything from it for awhile. Sigrid might've found out Bakari doesn't have it and cut coms. But still it might be worth looking at, and if Janine wants, I can try to get in again. I know the access codes."

"Yeah, how do you know those?"

"It's Comansys tech. When I saw it, I remembered Moonchild telling me something about it. She let me see her notes. There was some coding there. I didn't think much of it when I first saw it, but I don't get random memories coming back to me for nothing." I shrug, giving him a half smile, trying not to think about how long it took for me to think up that lie.

"Well, Janine is talking to New Canton right now. They're going to be the ones to cause a distraction for us so we can get out. So, you might want to clean up and get well rested since-"

"Nadia!" I gasp. "Is she okay? I heard it when they shot her! She lied about the bike! A-And I wanted to go back for her, I really did, but I knew I couldn't and-please tell me she isn't gonna die."

Sam shakes his head. "No, no, she's not-she's gonna make it. Thankfully some New Canton runners found her and brought her back in time. She'll survive, but..."

Icy tendrils of dread worm their way into my chest, my heart. "But...?"

"Maxine said the bullet hit the base of her spine. She-she-Nadia's still unconscious. They had to preform surgery, so it'll be awhile before she comes to, but Maxine said... she said Nadia's most likely going to be paralyzed from the waist down."

I let out a shaky breath, my chest suddenly aching. Oh, poor Nadia.

I should've shot Bakari. It wouldn't have made Nadia any better, but I think I'd feel a little better. She risked her life to get me to him, and he was working for Sigrid all along.