Spectator

Chapter Thirty: Then

"You're not going out there," Kali said in disbelief. "You're joking."

"Often. It makes things so much more interesting. But yes, some intrepid hero needs to brave the bitter cold and who better than me?"

He'd slid onto the rover while she still stared at him with shock; she barely managed to pull her self together enough to lay a warning hand on the controls. Alright, so she probably couldn't stop him, but she preferred the possibility of it.

"There are others. Alrich. Lee. Me."

"More heroic than me? I don't think so," he said in mock affront. "Besides, I saw the look on your face when I sent you down here. Definitely no glee there."

"I– that's when I thought—"

"That I would cut you loose and sit nice and warm in my gilded throne? That's not really my style. Besides, there's nowhere to sit, and my back was hurting."

"Jae."

"Kali," he parroted with a smirk on his face. "You asked me why I never lead a team. This is why."

"Because you're reckless and self-sacrificing?"

"Something like that. Someone needs to get it done, and I know I will. Now. For good luck."

He might have been sitting, but their height disparity was less than it ever was, and it was an easy feat for him to grab her by the lapels of her jacket and tug her down. She could have resisted; he was firm, not forceful, but she didn't. His mouth pressed solidly against hers, cool and soft and lingered for a few seconds before he finally released her. He winked.

"Be a good girl and close the door behind me "

"I—You come back. Right away. And safe." She was having trouble formulating words, and her stern demand didn't seem very stern at all. She backtracked obediently to the console.

"That's the plan." he said, covering the rest of his face as the garage door opened. It was fierce, and cold—more so than before, but Jae didn't hesitate before turning on his lights and venturing out there in that storm. She closed the door behind him and he was gone.

She nearly ran back to the command center, her lungs threatening to burst. Harriet, Sella and Archie turned at her arrival, but it was Harriet who told her:

"Jae said you were in charge until he returned."

Of course he did. That bastard. She almost didn't feel guilty about turning him out into the snow. Almost.

"Are you tracking him?" She asked Harriet, who had taken her spot. The smaller girl nodded, her eyes wide and nervous. There was a tension in the air that hadn't been there while Jae was present. But she didn't have his same easy humour and skill for constant jokes, and it would be poor imitation to try.

"Yes," Harriet replied. "Still have his signal. He's heading straight to where Laura was last seen."

"She still on comm?" Kali asked Sella, who shook her head.

"Not for a few minutes."

"When she went silent, it was when Jae decided to go down," Harriet said quietly.

They did maintain a watchful eye on the rest of the compound's systems—the main building had just reported an error in their environmental controls, resulting in loss of heat across the structure—but everyone's attention, save for Archie's, was focused mainly on their absent leader.

"Alrich is back," Harriet reported, to which they all heaved a sigh of relief. "He says one of the wheels was acting up, and he's giving it a look."

"That's fine," Kali said succinctly. "Still in contact with Jae?"