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Her mom rolled over and Elena froze and waited for her to settle again. She looked in the basket again and saw Aidyn’s note at the bottom.
Her fingers shook as she lifted the bright white paper from the bottom of the basket. He’d folded it over once and she opened it, thrilled when she saw his writing.
“Thank you for the note. I hope things are going okay for you up there. I’ve heard shooting and I hope you’re safe. I swiped a couple of Lara’s cookies for you. She makes a good cookie. If there is anything else you need or prefer, please let me know. I’m happy to get things for you to help make your life easier. I enjoy reading your notes and hope we can talk in person soon. – A”
ChapterEleven
Aidyn rolled to his back and looked over where Tate had been standing. “Tate.” He croaked then coughed.
“Over here.”
He turned to his right and saw Tate trying to stand from where he lay on the ground.
Letting out a breath, Aidyn rolled and got to his feet. He stumbled as his body righted itself. His ears rang and the dust floating in the air made visibility difficult.
Tate met him halfway between where they each landed, and they stood silently for a few minutes as they surveyed the damage.
The container directly in front of the explosion took the brunt of the damage. It sat at a tilted angle, the back side of it clearly misshapen.
Tate finally asked, “Are you alright?”
He coughed again, then cleared his throat. “Yeah.” He shook his head and dust flew around him. He was instantly sorry he did that as the coughing started again.
“It’s just the dust. I’m going to the trailer for a bottle of water.”
Tate stumbled along with him. The ringing in his ears began to subside and his heartbeat slowed to almost normal.
The trailer felt like a welcoming home at this point. The light inside helped him to see. He turned to Tate and laughed. “You should see yourself.”
Tate stared at him a moment. “You should see yourself. You look like a giant dust mite.”
He shuffled to the small mirror on the wall above the file cabinet and laughed. There wasn’t a place on him not covered in dust. It was thick on his eyebrows; his hair, even though he’d shaken it outside, still had a coat of dust on it. He looked like an old decoration shoved in the back of an old basement. The only bright thing on his face were his eyes and even they were dirty and bloodshot.
He pulled two bottles of water from the fridge. Handing one to Tate, he cracked his open and slugged down most of it. The cold liquid felt good sliding down his throat. The refreshing ice water sluicing the dust from his throat renewed him.
He took a couple of breaths, then finished the water before grabbing another one from the fridge and tucking it in his back pocket.
He headed back to the door, careful not to leave a terrible dust trail behind him. As he stepped outside, he felt like he could take a deeper breath without coughing. Headlights showed near the gate and he called in to his partner. “Someone’s coming.”
Tate and Aidyn clomped down the metal steps and awaited the approaching vehicle, which turned out to contain Spencer and Henry.
“We heard the explosion and looked at the cameras. Are you two alright?” Spencer called out.
He nodded. “Yeah. We just went in for water and were about to assess the damage now that the dust is settling.”
A police squad drove into the lot and the four of them stood and waited for whoever was in it to stop.
A female cop exited the vehicle and walked toward them.
“Hello. I’m Officer Maria Bradley. Are you alright?”
Tate stepped forward first. “Yes ma’am. I’m Tate Vickers. This is my team, Aidyn Dunbar, Spencer Lawson, and Henry Delany.”
Officer Bradley nodded in greeting then looked around the area. “What happened?”
Tate pointed toward the container. “We were just about to assess the damage. Aidyn and I saw one of the BRR plant an explosive. We had enough time to toss a bolster on it, which deadened the blast a fair amount. But we haven’t gotten a good look at anything yet.”
He and Henry and Spencer worked their way toward the container, watching the ground closely for any debris. He pulled the flashlight off his belt and lit the way, mostly shining on the container. Upon closer inspection, it had been moved about eight inches from its original spot and didn’t look safe anymore. He shone his flashlight on the space between the container and its neighboring container then turned to Spencer and Henry.
