The End of Los Nahuales Who: Torrie Reed, Kevin Clarke, Mina Kulseth, Jane Rusten, NPC Ghouls and the small, sad remains of Los Nahuales. Where: Moving from outside the tunnels to a Los Nahuales safe house in the North Loop. What: The ragtag team of Torrie, Kevin, Mina, Jane, and friends move to end the last of the panther gang once and for all. When: May 3, 2019 - afternoon.
My lines, your lines Don't cross them lines What you like, what I like Why can't we both be right? Attacking, defending Until there's nothing left worth winning Your pride and my pride Don't waste my time I don't wanna fight no more…
Trailing behind Mina’s vehicle on her trusty Harley-Davidson Sportster 883 SuperLow, Jane’s eyes were on the road but her mind was going over all the myriad of ways this whole operation could go tits up. Jane’s cop senses tingled the entire ride over from the Capitol and the more she thought about it, the more wary and worried she had become. The one thing she was sure about, the one thing that kept her from turning around and bringing in the cavalry, was Mina. She knew her friend wouldn’t have brought her into a situation (especially one regarding addicts and potential Los Nahuales gang members) if she had any choice not to. While Jane privately harbored the opinion that Joel would eventually come to understand and even support his daughter’s covert underground trips, Mina had been good enough to trust Jane and Jane was determined to reciprocate until her friend found the right time to tell her father.
Mina slowed to a halt up and Jane pulled up beside her, throwing down her kickstand and parking in a shadowy, hidden corner. With the two of them dressed in plainclothes and their vehicles left in secluded hidden alcove, Jane prayed their transports would still be there when they returned. In the distance, a small group has gathered.
Thankful that the drive over had gone smoothly, Mina joined Jane by her bike and gave her friend a smile. She knew it had taken her a lot to come here. Mina knew that keeping these secrets from her father was a rotten thing to ask of Jane, but in order to do what she knew to be right, she couldn’t let anything or anyone stand in her way. Thankfully Jane had understood, at least enough to comply for now.
“I only know a few of them over there, but KC watches over the addicts too. If you’re ready, I can introduce you,” Mina said, smiling and trying to remain optimistic about all of this.
Jane processed this information before responding. The idea that addicts were fighting for their sobriety in the dirty depths of the underground instead of in the safety of a shelter both saddened and humbled her. The fact that they were forced to hide while terrorists like Los Nahuales and the Hellhounds tooled around Austin like they owned the goddamn place infuriated her. As difficult and daunting as living in the tunnels had to be, Jane had to admire and respect the rangy, ragtag group in the distance and their willingness to fight for their home.
“Yeah,” Jane said, nodding at Mina. She offered up a reassuring half smile. “Let’s do this.”
Jane was still slightly in awe of all the good work Mina had been doing in the tunnels on the sly. It was so compassionate and yet totally ballsy at the same time. Jane didn’t ask where the supplies Mina had been dropping off to the tunnel dwellers had come from and Mina hadn’t said; however, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to connect the memo that had come down from Veronica Frost to Mina’s charitable acts. For Jane, the generous nature behind the act far outweighed the murky legality around the supplies being missing. After checking and rechecking her weapons, Jane nodded to Mina and approached their contacts.
Torrie heard the rumble of a motorcycle engine, and immediately her eyes darted to Kevin, who was gathered with the rest of the Ghouls the both of them had managed to scrape together. It wasn’t that every person in the city that owned a bike was a Hound, but the sound was like nails on a chalkboard to her ears; too often it had been accompanied by bad things.
“These your people?” She asked Kevin when the vehicle and the motorcycle pulled up. The gun at the small of her back was loaded, and she knew she’d need to be careful of her recent injuries, but no way in hell was she going to show that kind of weakness to the people KC trusted, even if they were there to help. “Might as well told them to bring a few trumpets too,” she added, sarcasm in every word.
At least neither of the two women looked shady by Torrie’s judgment, so there was that.
“That's them,” Kevin confirmed, turning his head so that his eyes met Torrie’s. A slight smirk crossed his face. “I put in a request for trumpets, but I don't know what happened. Must be the marching band’s day off.”
He’d have known the tall blonde with Mina for a cop no matter what, just from the way every instinct he possessed recoiled at the sight of her. He did his best not to show any sign of his reaction, though. After all, he'd requested her presence, and had been promised that -- in this, at least -- she was trustworthy. By the time the pair of women were close enough to greet, Kevin had finished putting up a facade of unconcern. Like he participated in raids with cops every day.
“Hey,” he said, with a nod to both Mina and her friend. “Appreciate you coming.”
“No problem,” Jane grunted, her gaze sliding over the group surrounding them. They were no soldiers but they didn’t need to be; that’s why she was there.
“Good to see you again, KC,” Mina smiled. “This is my friend Jane,” she continued, gesturing towards the woman next to her. “Jane, this is KC. Are we waiting for anyone else?”
Meeting Jane’s eyes, Kevin nodded again to acknowledge the introduction. It occurred to him, suddenly, that odds were pretty good that this cop knew his sister. The thought sent a pang through him. It was a damn good thing Nina couldn’t see him right now.
“Nah, this is everyone,” he replied. There was no need for him to glance around -- he already knew exactly who was present. Hell, he'd invited all of them. “The remaining cats are holed up in a safe house in the North Loop. I ain't got exact numbers on how many are left, but I'd estimate a dozen, tops. I can lead us up there, if you're ready.”
“Everyone that can be fucking useful, at least,” Torrie interjected, then added perfunctorily. “I’m Torrie.” Not because she cared if these women knew her name, but because she felt like extending the effort to be more than just ‘everyone’. Uncrossing her arms, she shooed KC forward with a little smirk.
“Well, get on with it,” she prompted, in a good mood because she could almost taste the eradication of the menace of the cats. It was about time.
Jane gave a perfunctory nod to KC, indicating her readiness. She planned on taking point once they got to where the cats were holed up whether these people liked it or not but until then, she followed the man’s lead. Jane glanced around furtively, her observation and defensive instincts kicking into full gear as they advanced toward the abandoned property. It didn’t matter if she had one year on the force under her belt or one hundred, approaching a tricky situation like this always called for a keeping a cool head and executing quick, decisive action and Jane planned on doing both. But, then again, there was that saying about when we plan, God laughs; Jane had no time for shits and giggles and so she readied herself for whatever could come along.
“Told you I would put up or shut up,” Jane said, not looking at but speaking to the woman who introduced herself as Torrie. She was a bristling, spitfire of a thing but tough as nails from the looks of her. Jane wasn’t sure of the woman remembered their conversation on the freenet, but Jane sure as hell did.
Torrie angled her head towards the cop. The one who’d had Theo’s files. “Once isn’t enough to prove that,” Torrie replied. There wasn’t any hostility in her voice, just the tone of someone who’d been disappointed so much in her life it was hard to take a stranger at their word.
Jane looked at Torrie. She knew that anger; she had been filled with the same raging disappointment in the system once. She may never win Torrie over, or any of them, but Jane knew that this wasn’t about that.
“Well, I’m not going anywhere,” Jane said, glancing to meet Torrie’s eyes. She didn’t pad the statement with a smile, or promises she couldn’t keep. Torrie didn’t deserve that and Jane would never be that sort of person. It was nothing more or less than the truth of her intention and her new acquaintance could do with that whatever the hell she wanted. “So I guess I’ll have plenty of time to prove myself.”
Mina felt entirely out of place in all of this. Her role was being the middleman to introduce the two groups with a common interest, because honestly, she hadn’t no combative skills. Her limbs were long and gangly and weak and if any of those Los Nahuales gang members came at her, she’d be a goner.
Not only was she useless in this battle, but the tension between her ‘ghoul’ acquaintances and Jane was practically tangible. They obviously didn’t want to be associating, but it was a necessity if they were going to end this with the prax dealers.
“Is there anything I can be doing or should I just try not to get underfoot?” She asked quietly as they began moving towards their destination.
Jane, whose mind had been reeling with strategy and the multitude of ways this whole thing could go to shit, felt her expression soften at Mina’s question.
“You’ve already done the most important part,” Jane reassured her. “Helping these people, connecting with KC, bringing me in. The only thing I need for you to do now is make sure to stay behind me when shit starts going down.” Jane reached out, her fingers brushing against Mina’s arm in an effort to put her friend’s mind at ease. “Leave the rest up to me. I won’t let anything happen to you. Not ever. Okay?”
Mina’s nerves softened as well, and the hint of a smile appeared on her face as she looked over at her friend. “I know you won’t. But I still appreciate you saying it. Thank you, Jane.”
She felt better knowing that someone like Jane was here. If these raiders were as bad as KC said, they were going to need someone with the training and talent that Jane had. Her father would have been a good choice, too, but she still wasn’t convinced that he wouldn’t have locked her in her room and grounded her until she was 90 -- despite the fact that she was a grown woman. Parents were weird like that, and probably even more so since they’d lost her mother when she and Ahna were so young. Her dad couldn’t help but want to protect the daughters he’d raised mostly on his own, even now that they were old enough to take care of themselves.
“It’s a good thing you’re so tall so I can hide behind you,” Mina added, trying to joke despite the very serious nature of their outing.
Jane laughed despite the seriousness of the situation.
“That’s me,” Jane said with a wink. “Able to get stuff of high shelves and shield friends from gunfire. Aren’t you glad I’m around?”
It was easy to fall into this banter with Mina, but Jane knew she had to get her head in the game. They were approaching a derelict structure. Unremarkable in the fact that it looked like every other decrepit and decaying building in Austin, Jane could only chalk up it being their mark but sheer cop’s instinct.
“This it, KC?” Jane called softly to Mina’s contact.
When Jane began to reassure Mina, Kevin had stepped forward to lead the little group toward the destination. Their meeting place had been chosen on purpose, because it made approaching the dealers’ safe house on foot less of a trek, and he knew from watching the place since the explosion that the men inside didn’t have eyes on this street. Him, he would’ve put lookouts in some of the surrounding buildings, but maybe these guys were too fried from the wash to strategize. Better for their raiding party’s purposes anyway.
“This is it,” he confirmed. There was a broken-in door a few down from the safehouse and he ducked inside, gesturing for the others to follow him. Once they were all in, he said, “Now, I don’t have have an exact count on who’s inside, like I mentioned, but what I do know is they ain’t exactly the best and brightest the gang had to offer. They got men on the front, and we can go that way if that’s what y’all want, but there’s a basement entrance here on the side that nobody watches.”
Jane knew these people were noncombatants, and former (or current) addicts to boot, so she bit back the smart ass answer that was on the tip of her tongue and supplied only what was helpful.
“Basement entrance then,” Jane replied resolutely careful to keep her voice down. She addressed the group as simply and as calmly as she was able, given the circumstances. “I’m going to take point. I’m trusting that none of you are going to shoot me in the back or I am telling you right now, I will come back and haunt all your asses.”
Jane was infinitely glad that she had provided both Mina and herself with Kevlar, giving them both a small measure of protection. If things were different, Jane would have provided to the rest of the crew with the same precaution. But, then again, if things were different, she’d be at this raid with her partner, along with her brothers and sisters in blue and not a bunch of scared, shaky civilians. Things had a weird way of working out but Jane was determined to put an end to Los Nahuales’ regime of terror today, no matter what it took.
“We’re going to try to go in and subdue the B team without any casualties, especially on our side. Do not shoot or attack anyone in the safe house unless it is in self defense. I’m sure some of you have vengeance on your minds; I probably would too if I had lost friends and family to these pieces of shit like you have. But, you are not vigilantes and we’re not here to massacre these people. That would make us just as evil and shitty as them.”
Jane appraised the collective, not sure if they’d ever be ready for this. Hell, she wasn’t sure if she was. But she owed these people. She owed the families of the missing tunnel dwellers. She owed Lenore’s memory. And she owed Mina. No, they may not be ready but unfortunately, they had no choice. The time to act was now.
“Come on, let’s go.”
Torrie for her part did her best not to snort through Jane’s speech. It might be the B team they were facing, but she didn’t trust easy, and she didn’t trust that if she hesitated on using deadly force she wouldn’t be the one on the ground in a pool of blood. They might be out of their minds on Prax, but junkies were dangerous creatures. Cat junkies were probably even worse.
“Whatever you say,” she muttered, the very closest she got to an agreement. “If one of them pulls a fucking gun on me I’m putting a hole in them, though.” Just so everyone was clear on where she personally stood. It didn’t have to be a kill shot, but Torrie wasn’t going to let a cat get the upper hand on her. Her pride couldn’t take another message to Sol and Lita. Her ability to trust her own skills couldn’t take another hit like that.
“Good,” Jane said, mentally registering Torrie’s attitude but for once not responding in kind. She couldn’t disagree with the Ghoul’s line of thinking; Jane just didn’t want any more bloodshed than was strictly necessary. “If it’s a matter of us versus them, I’m not asking anyone to step down. I’m just asking everyone to be smart.”
Then, because she was feeling like a smartass she added, “Don’t worry, I’ll ask them really nicely to step off before I do.” The rest of them could label her trouble all they wanted. Jane rolled her eyes but ultimately nodded at this statement; at least she knew where Torrie stood. If it came down to it, the sergeant could trust that anger, trust her quick thinking and fierce loyalty to these people and to the missing Ghoul’s and because of that, Jane could trust Torrie.
It wasn’t exactly the way Kevin would have put it, but Torrie had a point. ‘B team’ or not, these assholes were still dangerous, and sending them in there with the mindset of ‘don’t shoot’ seemed like poor judgment. He glanced at Torrie, then around at the faces of the other people listening to Jane, before finally nodding. No one looked too cocky, or too fidgety. They'd do alright.
“I think we all us know exactly what we’re walking into. Go on, Jane. Greg, take the back?” The scruffy, bearded guy that Kevin spoke to nodded, and the group began to file out of the empty building. Taking a deep breath to exhale loudly, he shook the tension out of his arms, pulled the pistol out of his waistband, and followed.
The room on the other side of the basement door, as Kevin promised, was empty. The next held two men -- gang members, based on the clothing -- but they were so high on wash, lost in hallucinations, that neither stirred as the group went by. A door lay at the far side of the room, and the obvious sounds of people moving came from behind it.
Torrie was back towards the middle of the group, but tried to hear how many voices, if any, were on the other side. Five, maybe six? The Spanish all melted together until even her finely tuned hearing couldn’t devine a difference.
“I’ll open the door if someone covers me,” Torrie stated, her lips barely moving with the sound. She wasn’t looking for danger, but somebody had to step up. Sure, she knew if she hadn’t the cop would have, but Jane was a better shot than them, probably.
She had already moved up through the group until she was hovered only a few feet from the closed door, her eyes flicked up towards KC, the only person in the ragtag ranks they’d pulled together that Torrie really trusted. “Might as well find out if they have any fucking fight in them.”
Meeting her eyes, Kevin nodded. “I got you. Do it,” he replied, saying the words under his breath the way she had. His hands shifted their grip on his handgun. Violence wasn't in his blood, by any means, but he'd be damned if he let Torrie get hurt again on his watch. Jane could lead them in, do her cop thing, but Kevin would keep an eye on his people.
Jane stood at the ready and, after a quick look to make sure Mina was safely covered, nodded. With KC covering and Jane poised to enter first, she signaled Torrie, who opened the door. Jane didn’t hesitate; she threw herself through the door, the rest of the group hot on her heels. Jane couldn’t immediately count how many potential hostiles were peppered throughout the room but she could see they were skinny, scared, but most importantly, armed.
“Nobody move!” Jane shouted, firearm sweeping between the remaining Los Nahuales. KC had been right; the element of surprise clearly had worked in Jane and the group’s favor. “Get on the ground and put your hands behind your head! Get on the ground and put your hands behind your head!”
The cats, though armed, obviously weren’t fighters. Three of the six Jane could see obeyed Jane’s directive immediately. They dropped their weapons, put their hands in the air, and fell to their knees. They seemed resigned and, although Jane could have been reading into it, almost relieved to not have to stand guard any longer. The remaining three looked squirrelly and unsure and Jane, sensing the heightened sense of fear rippling through the air, remained steady and firm.
“You are outmanned and outgunned,” Jane tried to reason. With three out of the six down on the ground, Jane could see there was a lone figure huddled in the corner. A surviving Ghoul. Jane’s gaze flicked to KC and she inclined her head to the shivering woman. She couldn’t risk one of the standing cats to grab her and take her hostage. KC nodded in a return and began to carefully shift in the woman’s direction. Two of the standing cats looked at one another; they were more frightened than frenzied and Jane could see they were contemplating laying down their arms. The third, the only one who could look Jane in the eye, the only one who looked calm amidst the chaos, stood tall.
“Los Nahuales nunca morirán,” the man intoned hollowly, and lifted his gun. Jane acted on instinct; she fired her service pistol, hitting the man twice in the shoulder. His two compatriots, sprayed with blood, fell to the ground.
Torrie flinched at the gunshot, as the noise echoed in the small-ish space. She was just inside the doorway, prepared to retaliate if any of the cats made it necessary, but Kevin had been right, there wasn’t any fight in them. Even the one that Jane shot seemed like he’d only been grandstanding. Torrie moved further into the room, noticed the body curled knees to chest in the corner, but came to stop just a few steps behind and to Jane’s left.
“Restraints?” she asked the cop and took the zip ties that Jane offered, handing a few off to others before she started with the cat nearest to her.
While the others were busy securing the gang members, Kevin knelt by the woman in the corner and spoke to her quietly. He knew her on sight, but even living among the other tunnel dwellers, where personal hygiene was often the first thing to go, she never looked as bad as she did now. Bruises and cigarette burns marked both her arms and legs, just a drop in the bucket of how she’d been mistreated while in the care of Los Nahuales, and for a moment he had to fight back the impulse to go kick a couple of those jaguar assholes in the head where they lay.
“Cally says there should be two more up watching the front door,” Kevin reported, looking up to see how the others were faring. Jane, having tied up the man she had shot and given instructions for one of KC’s people to keep pressure on the wound, stood, wiping her bloody hands on her pants.
“I’ll get ‘em,” she offered, snagging another one of their group for backup as a precaution before leaving the room.
“Guess they know we’re here now, but I don’t think there was any way to avoid that.” The observation was as much to himself as anyone else, but then Kevin raised his voice, eyes scanning the room. “Can you come sit with her, Mina?”
Mina had never planned to be a part of the fight. It wasn’t something she was trained for and she didn’t have the survivor’s strength or instincts that those living in the tunnels did. To put it plainly: she waited in a corner while everyone else did the heavy lifting. But she was hyper alert of everything going on and when KC spoke her name, she immediately was by his side.
“Of course,” she agreed, then knelt down next to the woman and gave her a gentle smile. Mina wasn’t surprised that the woman seemed skittish after the ordeal she’d been put through here. Seeing someone in pain never got easier, even after all these years. “I’m very sorry you’ve been treated this way. Once we get out of here I can get you some water and food.”
“They’re dead,” the girl whispered, grabbing Mina’s hand. It was a lifeline, a connection to the real world, something real and tangible and true to hold on to when she had been surrounded by nothing but death.
“All my friends. They killed them all. They’re all dead. All of them. Every. Single. One,” the last of the missing addicts mumbled, releasing Mina’s hand to hug herself. She rocked back and forth, waiting for the nightmare to end. She wasn’t sure it ever would.
In the front room, the two cats standing guard threw their hands up without a fight. They were shaken and starved; hardly the soldiers Jane had encountered when the Los Nahuales tooled around Austin like nothing could touch them. She and her Ghoul counterpart hogtied the men and once they’d been incapacitated, Jane took a second to heave a deep sigh. She should feel victorious; this was a huge win for Austin. Looking around this filthy hovel, to the fallen gang members, to the addicts turned vigilantes, all Jane felt was sadness. She crouched down, picking through the debris strewn about the room, her innate cop senses reaching out to find meaning and motive in all this anger and fear. She was careful to avoid the obvious drug paraphernalia, instead finding items that would have meant something to someone once. A handmade scarf, a raggedy teddy bear with worn fur, a war medal, a journal with pages upon pages of entries, a pair of wedding rings. Jane closed her eyes, feeling the inevitable truth in her very bones. She knew it had been a fool’s hope to find the missing tunnel dwellers alive, but she had wished so damn hard for it all the same. She stood and with her temporary partner’s help, brusquely ushered the two prisoners into the main room with the rest of their pathetic comrades.
“I don’t think we’re going to find any of the people you were hoping to find,” Jane said hollowly to the collective. She didn’t want to meet their eyes, their accusing looks, but she did. She owed them that. “I’m sorry.”
Torrie nodded, internally building some distance from the disappointment. Her hope had been small, but it’d been there, and to know they’d been too late felt like failure. She shouldn’t have cared in the first place. Caring only seemed to backfire on her.
“It is what it is,” Torrie replied.
Kevin swore under his breath, his head dropping forward as his shoulders slumped in defeat. The odds had always been against them, but the news was still hard to hear. Losing people, even acquaintances, never got any easier. “At least we know, now.”
Jane cleared her throat, trying to break up the lump that had somehow formed there. With all of the cats subdued, there was only one thing left to do.
“Alright,” Jane said, her eyes flicking from KC, to Torrie, to the rest of the below-grounders, and finally to Mina. “I need to call this in. Anyone who doesn’t want to be here when the fuzz arrive, I suggest you make tracks.”
Jane’s words got Torrie moving, with one look at KC and the other Ghouls, she nodded towards the back door. “We can cut through the neighborhoods, avoid the obvious ways the APD will come.” Avoid getting picked up on suspicion, even though she trusted Jane to cover their tracks, surprisingly.
Mina knew that she had to make a hasty exit. If her dad knew she had anything to do with any of this, she’d never hear the end of it. Giving Cally’s hand a sympathetic squeeze, she stood up and took a few steps over to KC. “Take the bag in the hallway. There’s water and a little food. Also--” her voice lowered slightly, “--I wouldn’t be surprised if Cally experiences some post traumatic stress symptoms. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to come next, but if you have any concerns, please message me.”
“Thanks, Mina. Couldn’t have done this without you.” Kevin shoved his hands into his pockets, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. With the whole messy chapter of the jaguar gang brought to a close, he probably ought to be feeling relief, but it was restlessness that coursed through him. Like a wind-up toy, waiting for its clockwork engine to spin down. “Be careful getting back, alright?”
After giving KC a nod and one last weak smile, she walked over to Jane, the same weary look on her face. “Thank you, for everything. I’ll see you back home?” Of course Jane would have a lot of work to do in processing all of the raiders, but hopefully she would emerge from the paper work at some point.
Jane forced herself to meet Mina’s eyes. The last thing her friend should be doing is thanking her. She hadn’t saved anyone, hadn’t stopped these maniacs from killing those innocent people but she nodded anyway. What else could she do?
“Don’t mention it,” Jane grunted. Her gaze lingered on Mina’s face until it was too much to bear and quickly looked away. “I’ll spin by your place later just to see with my own eyes you’re good after I get out from under the mountain of paperwork I’m bound to run into. Just...call me when you get back so I know you got home safely.”
“Okay, I will,” Mina agreed, then took one last look around the room, saddened by the state that humanity could fall to, but firm in the belief that they’d still done some good today. While tragic that these men had chosen this lifestyle, at least those living down in the tunnels would be safer now. A brief wave later, she exited the building and made her way back to her car to make the journey home.
Some of the pack started filing out, which Jane took as her cue to call in the cavalry. She hit the precinct’s number on speed dial and gave the operator her location, asked for backup, and relaid a fabricated story that would satisfy most (if not all) of her colleague’s questions. She ended the call and was surprised to still see KC lingering behind.
“You sticking around to be deputized, KC?” Jane asked, her tone gruff but not unkind.
Hanging back like this with APD already called in was probably a stupid idea, but Kevin only wanted a minute or two, just long enough to do something that was probably even stupider. Still standing with his hands in his pockets, the same as he had been since the others left and before Jane turned around, he shrugged a little in response to her question.
“I just wanted to say thanks. I know you’re putting your ass on the line.” Kevin wet his lips nervously. Jane let out a grunt and gave a shrug, as if to say it was nothing. It hadn’t been nothing, far from it, but KC didn’t owe her shit, let alone thanks. There was a moment here where he could have walked away and left it at that. What urged him on was the knowledge of how many people had probably been killed at the hands of the men trussed up around them, and thinking about just how short a lifespan most people could expect these days. It would at least give him a little peace to know about Nina.
“And I wanted to ask -- there’s a lawyer I used to know, who I thought might be up at the Capitol. I wondered if maybe you heard anything about her. Clarke? She used to be a public defender.”
That surprised Jane.
“Nina Clarke,” Jane said with an unexpected bark of laughter. “Hot? Classy? Has a gigantic stick up her really stellar-looking ass? Yeah, I know her. She’s sort of a friend of a friend. Why? She get you out of a scrape a time or two?”
“That sounds like her.” Kevin ducked his head, letting out a chuckle. Weird to hear his big sister described in those terms, but he was grateful that Nina had made enough of an impression on Jane to be remembered. Some of the tension eased out of him, and he nodded. “More than a couple of scrapes, yeah. I’m glad to hear she’s doing alright.”
Mindful of the fact that the safe house was just about to be descended on by a whole bunch of APD, Kevin knew his time was running out. He took a step back and then another, eyes flickering toward the exit. “I better head out. No offense, but I ain’t exactly anxious to meet your coworkers.”
Jane nodded; she couldn’t blame him for wanting to scram before the fuzz showed. She found his inquiry odd but not to the point where she wanted to wax poetic about Nina Clarke to a relative stranger to fulfill her curiosity. She filed the conversation in the back of her mind to go over and dissect at a later time, maybe when she wasn’t mentally preparing to shovel on a heap of lies and bullshit on her superior officers.
“S’all good,” she replied with a jerk of her head toward the door. “Catch ya on the flip side.”
Slipping out of the room, Kevin paused just long enough to grab the bag Mina had left for him, before following the rest of his fellow tunnel dwellers out of the safe house.
Alone now, save for her captives, Jane was finally able to let out a wavering sigh of relief without fear of looking weak or shaken. The faint sound of sirens approaching was once music to her ears; now, it sounded more like a harbinger of terrible things to come. It wasn’t right; none of it was but the times, and Jane herself, were changing. Jane took a deep breath, stood tall, and waited to face the music.