Page 56 of If I Were Wind
“More or less.”
“What do you mean?”
“It means that you ask too many questions.” He brushed his knuckles on my cheeks, and I forgot to be annoyed.
A dishevelled and pale Miss Hammond welcomed us into the office. No smile curved her lips. She must have stayed up all night, if the dark bruises around her eyes were any indication. Her gaze only brightened for a split second when she saw Roy.
“Glad to see our condottiero up and about,” she said, shuffling the pile of documents on her desk. “We were worried.”
“You look tired,” Roy said, showing another uncharacteristic display of concern for others. Did me healing him change something inside him? Or was it the near-death experience?
Like Bruce, shock and surprise caused her mouth to gape. Then she lifted a shoulder. “It’s been a long night. I only wish it’d been more productive, and less horrifying.” Her voice cracked.
“I’d like to see the commander.” Roy glanced at Allen’s closed door from where loud voices sounded.
Miss Hammond slouched on her chair and rubbed her temple. “Everyone wants to see him, but I’m sure he’ll want to see you too. Wait a moment and I’ll tell him you’re here.” She disappeared into the office.
We loitered in the waiting room as indistinct shouts thundered from Allen’s office. Two uniformed men rushed out of the room and past us, slamming the door behind them.
I jolted. The explosion had left me a little sensitive to loud noises. “Who are they?”
“Trouble,” Roy muttered under his breath.
Commander Allen himself opened the door of his office. Neck reddened, veins throbbing in his temples, and dark-circled eyes—he looked terrible. His features softened a fraction when he eyed Roy. “Come inside.”
As Miss Hammond exited the office, I slipped inside after Roy, although, technically speaking, I had no reason to be here. Roy and I didn’t work together anymore. We weren’t even partners. But I took advantage of the shock of the moment, curious to hear what Allen had to say.
“Glad to see you recovered from your injuries,” Allen said, loosening the starched collar of his uniform. He limped around his desk to sit down on his chair. “I heard they were quite serious.”
Roy glanced at me. “Kristin took good care of me.”
A heated flush reached my cheeks. Taking good care of him had meant kissing every inch of his body. Hardly an unpleasant deed. I took a chair and fiddled with my hands.
Allen nodded absentmindedly. Thank goodness he didn’t focus on me, or he would see my flushed face.
“What’s the situation, sir?” Roy asked, grimacing as he sat in front of the desk.
The commander wiped his forehead with a handkerchief. “Forty-seven people are dead. Another thirty are seriously injured. Some of them aren’t expected to survive. Burns are the major problem.” He waved a hand towards the mill. “Whatever bloody fuel they keep in the mill is more flammable than petrol. It did more damage than the bomb itself. The bastard who did this knew where to place the explosive. The device itself wasn’t anything particularly powerful, but the explosion, in the right place, started a chain reaction and amplified the damage.” He sighed. “I won’t hide that we’re in our darkest hour.”
I clamped my hands over my mouth. So many people died. Roy stiffened as well.
“The mill sustained severe damage and is currently inactive. No one knows when it’ll be operational again.” A pained frown creased Allen’s brow. “This year’s harvest is gone.”
“Harvest?” I asked in a whisper.
“The beasts that were growing inside the mill,” Roy said. “They’re dead.”
They called us harvest. A harsh breath rasped out of my mouth. I wondered if Allen counted the dead beasts among the victims. “Sir, do you mean that all those babies are dead?” I expected him to glower. Instead, he gave a helpless nod of his head.
“I don’t know at which stage of development the beasts were. Not fully formed babies, otherwise they wouldn’t have been in the mill.”
I squeezed my lips together to not make any further comment. But then again, we were considered tools at the government’s disposal, not humans. Allen didn’t care.
Roy reached out and held my hand for a moment, compassion in his expression. But he was also silently telling me to let the subject drop. Whatever. It wasn’t the right moment. I got that.
The outrage left a bitter taste in my mouth as Allen continued. “We have no evidence that someone broke into the park. Hell, we have no evidence that an outsider entered the mill. Someone has betrayed us. Someone we wouldn’t suspect.”
Which meant anyone.