The Martian Lie

Chapter 10

Chapter 10 – If Love Were Enough – Callie & Richard

We pile into the driverless vehicle that Herrera is in. He had watch duty. If none of us came back, he was supposed to take the ride home and let Jordan know we hadn't been successful. Richard and I squeeze into the back, leaving room for Sienna and Davis when they return. Davis is prowling the exterior; who knows if Sienna will make it out. Maybe Roark will even woo her back to his side. Either way, we have completed our mission.

We should have killed him.

I scold myself for it now, even as I understand that neither of us could have ever done it. Now he has the chance to regroup. Do something else. It's like a cop who shot a violent criminal in the leg and walked away, rather than the chest or even handcuffing him.

"So... How'd it go?" Asks Herrera. He sounds edgy, the innocuous question awkward under the circumstances. I keep staring out the window and let Richard take this one.

"We got the Malaria. Roark is still in there, with Sienna."

"You left her in there with that man?" He asks incredulously.

I do wonder why we did that, looking back. I guess we were just giddy with the euphoria of mission accomplished and we wanted to get away from the almost-murder we committed.

"They had unfinished business," He says, simply.

Herrera doesn't respond. He's a preacher, after all. Aside from the sermons, they make their career mostly of listening.

Davis comes toward the vehicle to check in with Herrera. He does a double take when he sees us in the back seat.

"Done already?"

"Yep, easy job." Richard says simply. I squeeze into him so David can join us. He places a hand on my leg and squeezes my knee. I flutter.

"Where's Sienna?" Davis says, accusatorily. Annoyed nobody is talking.

"Inside." Explains Herrera.

"What do you mean, inside? Does she need help?"

"They don't think so. Said she had to talk to Roark." He jerks a thumb back at me and Richard.

"What the hell? You left her in there with that man?" His words echo Herrera's, and I start to think our successful mission isn't so successful.

Davis makes a move to get back out of the vehicle, probably to go in and right our wrongs. He is striding toward the hangar when we see Sienna come out.

"Are you alright?" He calls. There is an edge to his voice that seems more worried than he would have been had it been Herrera or I left behind.

"Yep!" She sounds happy.

He waits for her to join him and has her climb in the back, his hand on the small of hers. He fits better in the front, he's pretty large.

Once everyone is in, Herrera tells the car to head back to the Spencer home. The route computes and tells us we have 45 minutes of drive time, minus stops, cramped in the vehicle.

"So, is he dead?" Davis asks after a few minutes.

I'm actually not sure what the answer will be, because Sienna may have done what we could not. Perhaps a mistress has a level of anger that, added to a desire for world domination that must be stopped in her paramour, that let her be successful.

"Nope." She says flatly. "I couldn't do it."

"We couldn't either." States Richard.

I offer up my metaphor from earlier, about the cop who only shot the criminal in the leg, not the chest. Richard squeezes my knee again and smiles.