Nguyen seemed to draw back, his expression changing subtly.
“I thought Chief Grimaldi made all gasoline deals personally.”
“I’m making this one,” Orozco said. “You interested? Yes or no?”
Nguyen glanced around the lobby.
“How much are we talking about?”
“All of it,” Orozco said, feeling his pulse thudding in his neck, the words treason and betrayal whispering in his ears. “I’ll take you to our cache and show you the secret of how to get in without killing yourselves. In return, you’ll take Kyle and Star out of the city and keep them safe.”
“No one can promise safety,” Nguyen said. “Not these days.”
“Then you promise to keep them as safe as you can,” Orozco said. “And you pledge Randall to do the same.”
Nguyen hissed thoughtfully between his teeth.
“You know I can’t make a pledge for another,” he reminded Orozco. “But for gasoline, I think he’ll be willing.” He paused. “And for Mad Sergeant Orozco. Very well, it’s a deal. How soon can our new charges be ready?”
“They can be ready very quickly,” Orozco said. “Unfortunately, I still have some preparations to make for them, and I’ll need a couple of hours for that.”
“Which I presume you can’t do while you’re on guard duty.”
“Correct,” Orozco said. “Still, everything should be ready by mid-afternoon.”
Nguyen pursed his lips, studying Orozco’s face. Doubtless wondering whether the promise of free gasoline was worth the price of staying within Grimaldi’s reach for all those extra hours.
“I doubt the early afternoon will be nearly as interesting as the morning has been,” he said at last. “Very well, we’ll stay.”
“Thank you,” Orozco said. “I’ll get it done as quickly as I can.”
“Yes,” Nguyen said. “In the meantime, I trust you won’t mind if we do a little trading elsewhere in the neighborhood?”
Mentally, Orozco threw the man a salute. How to stay out of Grimaldi’s reach while still making the deal with Orozco, in one easy lesson.
“Not at all,” he assured the trader. “Just be back by mid-afternoon.”
The traders were gone by the time Kyle and Star returned with a small bowl of something.
“Breakfast was all gone,” Kyle said as he handed over the bowl. “But she said we could have some of the soup she was working on for dinner.”
“Thanks,” Orozco said, sniffing at the bowl. The soup looked thin, but it smelled pretty good.
“And now you two need to get some sleep. I’m going to have a special assignment for you later this afternoon.”
“What kind of assignment?” Kyle asked.
“The kind that you’ll need to be rested for,” Orozco said evasively. Eventually, of course, he would have to give them the whole truth. But not yet. Not yet. “So get going.”
“Okay.” Touching Star’s arm, Kyle turned and headed toward their sleeping mats.
Orozco lowered himself to the floor against his favorite pillar, settling himself into guard position, already feeling the fresh hole in his life. Kyle and Star were the best and the brightest Moldering Lost Ashes had to offer. They were also the closest thing to friends he still had. A few hundred gallons of gasoline was a small price to pay to buy their safety.
And it wasn’t like the gasoline was going to do anyone in Moldering Lost Ashes any good. Not once the Terminators came through.
Cradling his M16 across his arms, Orozco settled down to watch. And to think.
The building David had found was decrepit, drafty, and made largely from discarded drywall, which meant the place would be pretty uncomfortable in a serious rainstorm.
It had also been recently occupied, Connor noted as the group began unloading and sorting their equipment. Briefly, he wondered what the chances were that the former inhabitants might return and try to reclaim the place. That could be awkward, not to mention noisy.
But aside from that, the place was ideal. It was unobtrusive, it had a back door they could use in an emergency, and it was only four blocks from the Skynet staging area.
“Is this your headquarters?” one of the new people, Leon Iliaki, asked as he gave the place a dubious look.
“No, it’s just a temporary base,” Connor assured him. “We’ll be moving to better quarters in a couple of days.”
“Once we’re there, we’ll start your combat training,” Tunney added as he walked past with an ammo box under each arm.
One of the other newcomers, Callahan, stirred.
“Why wait?” he asked.
Connor eyed him. Usually new recruits needed a day or two to get their bearings. “You want to get started now?” he asked.
“What else are you going to do with us?” Callahan countered. “I mean, unless you’ve got some other work we can do.” He hunched his shoulders uncomfortably. “I don’t like the idea of eating someone else’s food without working for it.”
“Very commendable,” Connor complimented him. “There’s certainly enough work back at our main base. Unfortunately, we’ve got a mission coming up soon, and I can’t spare anyone to escort you back there just now.”
“Is it a mission in this neighborhood?” Leon Iliaki asked.
“The general neighborhood, yes,” Connor confirmed.
Callahan hunched his shoulders again. “Then all the more reason for us to learn as much about fighting as we can,” he said, his voice quavering a little. “This is where our friends are. We need to do whatever we can to help them.”
“Unless you can’t spare anyone for that, either,” Carol Iliaki offered hesitantly. “You seem awfully busy.”
“We are, a bit,” Connor confirmed. “But we’re never too busy to teach people who are ready to learn.”
Callahan glanced at Leon Iliaki, then at Zac, then back at Connor.
“In that case, I guess we’re ready,” he said.
“I am, too,” Carol Iliaki said.
Her husband looked at her in surprise.
“You’re not here to fight,” he protested. “You’re here to sew.”
“I doubt the Terminators will care where I stand in the table of organization,” she reminded him, her eyes on Connor. “Am I correct, Mr. Connor?”
“Your husband’s right about your primary duty,” Connor replied. “But you’re also right in that everyone needs to know at least the basics of combat. Tunney? Over to you.”
“Got it,” Tunney said. “Let me stow these boxes, and I’ll be right with you.”
“He’ll take you in hand,” Connor told the recruits. “Learn well.”
“We will,” Callahan promised. “Thank you.”
Connor nodded and moved off, long experience allowing him to cut through the apparent chaos swirling around him and assess each person and task with a single glance.
Some of the men and women had already completed their work, and while a few of them were taking a moment to rest or grab a quick bite, most were gathering around the table where Tunney had laid out the maps Connor and David had made of the Skynet staging area. Connor’s eyes flicked across that group, then shifted over to the corner where Kate was organizing her medical supplies.
He frowned, studying her more closely. A dark and serious look had settled onto his wife’s face, a look that couldn’t be wholly explained by the magnitude of the task facing them.
Interestingly enough, as Connor again glanced around the room he noted that Barnes had an almost identical look on his face. And Barnes never worried about the jobs Connor took them on.
Which, of course, made it obvious.
Connor waited until Barnes happened to glance in his direction. Then, crooking his finger to the man, Connor headed toward Kate.
She looked up as the two men approached.