“What the hell, Xavier? Are you even trying anymore, or did you give up?”
“I promise you I haven’t changed. I still hate the S.A. Nothing’s different.” Xavier’s chin dipped into his chest. “It really is complicated… I don’t think my mom really knows what’s going on. Dad certainly doesn’t. He had his doubts about them, but never saw it firsthand. The S.A. keeps them— I don’t know… Out of the loop, I guess.”
“I’m not buying it.” She stepped closer to Xavier, and her gloved finger pecked at his chest. “There’s no way they don’t know.”
Xavier swatted her finger away. “My parents would never, never allow any of the bullshit to happen if they knew.”
The conviction in his statement burned Jenny’s ears. I want to believe you, but I can’t right now. You’re hiding something. I just don’t know what it is yet. Drawing in a deep breath, she told him, “You’ll have to prove yourself.”
He turned from her and kicked through the snow with his head down. Matt took to his side. Jenny went to follow, but Grant grabbed her by the arm, holding her there so Xavier could escape for the moment.
“He’s not telling us everything.” Jenny snatched her elbow loose but stayed put.
“He’s not the only one.” Grant’s forehead wrinkled with the rise in his eyebrows. “You’re not say—”
“Hard to trust him when he’s one of them.”
“Hard for him to feel welcome when you treatin’ him like this.”
Jenny didn’t respond.
“This is Xavier we’re talkin’ ‘bout. What’s he got to hide from us?”
“He’s in that uniform.”
“He found his mom and dad. What wouldn’t you do to get your parents back?”
“That might be the point…”
“I can’t believe you’re sayin’ that ‘bout him. I know him, if you don’t, that’s your problem. I know if there’s anything else to tell, he will. Just quit bein’ so hard on him. Let’s focus on gettin’ back to the Depot and sortin’ through this mess later. No sense in fightin’ ourselves. S.A.’s comin’ for us, not Xavier. Can we least agree on that?”
Jenny nodded but kept her eyes forward. “Sure…” Curling Sherman’s lead within her hand a few more times, she took out the slack, placing him closer to her. “Good, boy.” She petted him along his side. Maybe I’m wrong… No way the S.A. knew I was coming for Matt and Grant. Doesn’t even seem like Xavier knew they had been taken in the first place. They didn’t let him know anything.
“If this ain’t the time, sorry, but…” Grant waved his hand in front of Jenny’s face. “You here?”
Her eyes went to his for only a second—“What?”—then returned to her friends’ slow march into the distance.
“Jenny…” Grant raked his teeth across his bottom lip. “Why you have Sherman? Why the hell Danny send you out by yourself?”
She thought for a moment, considering the truth as an answer, but couldn’t bring herself to let it go. “You’ll have to ask him. I can’t explain why he does what he does.”
“That don’t make no sense. Somethin’ bad happen?”
“Not that I know.” The lie slid down the back of her throat, sickening every inch of her body on the way down. Clenching her teeth, she mustered everything inside her to keep her eyes from welling up, but it surfaced anyway. Damn it. Not now. She stormed off. Grant followed, unknowingly walking through her tears.
Chapter Ten
Jenny watched the others, one by one, duck through the lower partition of a shattered glass door into the McDonald’s sitting cater-corner to the Depot. Each step through, each crunch of the glass shards beneath their boots gave Jenny pause. She blocked the entrance from Sherman—“Platz!”—then began scraping the fragments away with her foot. After inspecting the floor to ensure the glass wouldn’t find its way into Sherman’s paws, she called him through, “Hier.”
“He listens really well,” Xavier said, the remark sounding more like a peace offering than an actual statement.
“Yeah.” Jenny nodded, twitching her lips into a hasty smile. “Just take watch here. Matt, take the far door.”
Xavier took post with his rifle at the broken door’s entrance, and Matt moved into position on the far side with the pistol Jenny had given him earlier.
“From in here, we’ll need to make sure the Depot’s still good. If somehow the S.A. got here before us, we’re not gonna want to walk into what’s about to happen.”
“And what’s that?” Grant eyed her.
Damn it… Hastily, Jenny unclipped her canine from the lead, and the two of them fled Grant’s suspicion into the back portion of the restaurant.
They rounded the front counter, Sherman sniffing, pacing around the kitchen, past the abandoned deep fryers, grills, stainless steel counters. Mouse droppings everywhere. Filthy. The back door was locked, and she left it that way. Across from it, an open door—the last thing to check. The manager’s office appeared ransacked. Papers strewn about. A safe broken into. Empty. She backed out, then turning around, stepped right into Grant’s chest.
“Spill it, girlie.” His jaw tense, eyes blazing. “Now.”
“What?” Jenny knew damn well what he meant.
“Two things. What’s the S.A. ‘bout to run into, and why you got Sherman?”
“Not so loud,” Jenny tried, but Matt had already heard—he stood leaning over the front counter. They both stared at her, unblinking. Her eyes went to the ceiling, deciding how to break the news swirling in her mind, but more than anything, she wished to ignore them and focus on what needed to be done rather than all the hurt. Do I just say it? A lump in her throat began to choke her. The truth swelling. She tried to swallow it again but couldn’t. The sorrow on her face forced her friends to hang their heads.
“Jenny…?” Matt asked, starting toward the kitchen, toward her.
“Danny died.” Both words spilled out while Jenny struggled to steel herself against the emotion building inside. Grant said nothing. Matt’s lips curled inward. She brushed past both of them and into the dining area. Their faces would do nothing but soften her.
“How did it happen?” Grant’s voice remained strong as he followed closely behind.
“Griffin too.”
“Griffin and Danny? What the hell happened?”
“The S.A. took you guys away, then…” She paused and shimmied her way into a booth before wiping the condensation from the window with her sleeve. Still refusing to make eye contact with anyone, Jenny quickly brought the binoculars up.
“Jenny, please…” Matt sat in an adjacent booth and rested his hand on her back. “I don’t understand.”
“Who attacked us?” Grant asked. “The S.A. was gone.”
“Griffin—” Lowering the binoculars, Jenny offered a shaky glance back toward them. “It’s fine,” she lied. “All that matters is that Danny and Sherman saved me.” The canine perked up at the mention of his name. “You’re good, boy.” Her chest trembled through a short chuckle.
“What about Griffin? Did he do something?”
“Matt…” she started but couldn’t bring the truth forward. “We just have to move on. It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“The fuck if it doesn’t.” Scrambling to get to his feet, Matt banged his thighs against the booth’s table, knocking a napkin dispenser onto the floor. “What did he do, Jenny? I always noticed how you act around him. Never really talk about him. He did something, didn’t he? What was it?”
Xavier sent a few glances their way, but wisely remained at his post.