Super

Chapter 71: Settlements

"So, what did you think?" Casey asked, her voice next to Lex's ear.

Shaking her head, Lex turned from her previous pose of staring out the window, watching miles of sparkling ocean slide by. She turned to Casey and said, "I'm sorry, I missed the first part of what you said."

Casey laughed in response. "I'm not surprised! You're looking out there like you've never seen the sea before."

Lex grinned, still trying to break free of her thoughts. "Well, it has been a long time since I could enjoy it."

"About the concerts in Boston," Casey began again. "What did you think? I told you they'd be a big deal. Riss said she'd been seeing a lot of interest on our websites."

"They were everything you promised," Lex admitted with a smile.

"Everyone seemed quite enthusiastic," Rolf added, leaning forward from where he sat next to Lex so that he could see Casey.

Lex continued smiling as the three of them talked about the next concert dates and when their supplier would be able to send them more CDs, which they'd sold out of at their last show. Although her eyes kept straying to the window, she tried to forget their heading as long as she could.

They'd fallen silent again by the time the sea and forest drew back to show a town small enough that the intersection at the main streets only had a blinking yellow light. Glancing at the wood-sided houses, their shingles worn grey by the constant beating from wind and spray, Lex cataloged a struggling fishing village in the few seconds before the scenery changed to ocean and trees once more.

By the time they'd neared their destination enough to stop, she noted that the ocean had lost its sparkle. Although a few more hours of daylight remained, the sun had fallen behind a bank of clouds on the horizon and so the light had become murkier as the moments passed. The silence had also given way to a loud discussion on board the bus.

"No, you will not be coming with the advance team," Lex repeated, glaring at Lakshmi now. "As you've told me, you only have a year of combat training. Everyone here, even the people on the second team, have had more than that. You would be a liability in the first team, and we'd likely waste any advantage we have in trying to look after you. You will be staying here with the second team, and you will follow their instructions."

"Be reasonable," Lakshmi replied in a cool tone, her arms folded across her chest. "I only want to come along to see what's going on in this town-"

"I am being reasonable!" Lex exclaimed as she cut into the woman's speech. "If the intelligence we have is right, there may be an entire town full of people that we need to come up against down there, so having you along would be the worst possible thing we could do! I have every intention of making it home again in one piece, and I am not going to be sent to jail here in the states for getting a government agent captured, or worse!"

To Lex's surprise, Lakshmi didn't reply. "All right then," Lex added. "You stay here as part of the backup team. You should be hearing from us with instructions within two hours after we leave. If you don't hear from us in that time, the second team will proceed to the overlook where Victor will try to find out what's going on. If it looks like we're in trouble, like we've been killed or captured, you will withdraw and call for more backup. Understood?"

Lakshmi said nothing, appearing to be trying to glare a hole in the floor below them, but Victor spoke up, looking up from his examination of some type of gun in his hands. "Understood."

Nodding once, Lex turned and got off the bus, then waited for the rest of the advance team to follow. After Rolf, Lou, Casey, Lily and Kate disembarked, they moved off down the road in a loose cluster, trying their best to avoid the potholes that seemed to have taken over much of its surface.