"Yeah, I did," Damali said, tugging on her jeans and talking to Carlos in the bedroom while she dressed.
Carlos blew out a long whistle. "Thetable blew?"
"Yep. Eve wasn't playing." She looked at Carlos with a mischievous smile. "Neither was I, okaaay."
"D... I just wish I could have been the fly on the wall down there when the Light hit. Iknow he didn't bank on you being crazy."
Yonnie dragged himself to the edge of the bed, and put his hand on the last black bottle in the lair. He weakly turned it up to his mouth, and then offered it to Tara. When she couldn't lift her head to even drink, he gently cradled her skull in his palm and raised it, pouring slow sips into her mouth until her cracked, dry lips moistened.
"Baby, I'm sorry. I don't know what got into me," he wheezed. "I couldn't stop."
She greedily drank with her eyes closed, blood running from the corners of her mouth until she choked. "I was almost gone," she gasped.
"I know," he murmured and gathered her into his arms, gently rocking her. "That was too close... I scared my damned self."
A loud knock on the bedroom door made Carlos and Damali look up. He stood and went to it.
"Yo, what's up?" Carlos stared at Damali as she put her baby Isis blade into a hip holster and grabbed her Madame Isis long blade off the dresser. He watched her put her necklace on like a queen and lift her head, ready to battle.
"Storm's over," Big Mike said through the door. "Wind's let up, it ain't raining, and Shabazz said to tell you now's probably a good time to move out."
"Sho' you right," Carlos said. "Two minutes." He looked at Damali. "You good? You ready to roll?" She nodded. "Let's do this."
She glanced out the window and groaned. Carlos had his hand on the doorknob but didn't open it, following her line of vision. "Just what we need. A full moon," she muttered. "Can we just catch a break?"
Carlos yanked the door open and began walking down the hall, trying again to send a signal to Yonnie with his mind. The weak sig�nal that came back at him made him walk faster.
"We got a man injured in Vegas," Carlos said, turning to Damali and looking at Rider. "We can take a small squad, an in-and-out de�tail, now that the sun is going down, but-"
"Go," Damali said. "Rider, Shabazz, and you. Half-hour, and it'll be dusk. Then we all have to move as one unit."
Carlos kissed her quickly and looked at Rider. "We gotchure back, man." What he didn't say was that he was barely able to get an energy pulse back from Tara.
"While the winds are down and the lightning has stopped, and we have a break in the rain, we should take a crew up on the rocks to do the lighthouse move Hubert told you about," Damali said, looking at Marj. "Rather than sitting around and waiting for Special Forces members of the team to report back, we can use that time wisely, and can maybe even get a secure beacon out to Gabrielle."
"You sure you feel up to this?" Marlene said cautiously, her line of vision now locked with Damali.
"Yeah, she's good," Carlos said, as Damali's eyes went to his with respect. "Girlfriend isdefinitely back on the block."
CHAPTER NINE
Check your clips," Damali said to the female contingent of Guardians that were headed out the door toward the jetty of rocks down the beach. "Jose, Mike, Berkfield-you guys are on point and holding down the villa."
"No problem, we got this, D," Jose said.
Mike simply nodded and raised his shoulder cannon.
"You got my wife and daughter with you, darlin', so you know I'm on it," Berkfield said, checking the sightline of his M-16.
"Good." Damali glanced around as she and the female squad turned to leave. "J.L., you keep in contact with the Covenant and keep scanning for anything, and I do meananything, that sounds weird. Any type of electromagnetic disturbances, anything from the government units that are friends, geological-"
"I got it, D," J.L. said in a firm tone.
"Me and Bobby are on tactical sensing." Dan motioned to Bobby and tossed him an assault rifle. "We'll be on the roof, watching your backs, while you ladies do your thing and see if you can get a read on which direction trouble's blowing in from."
"I've only got one question," Bobby said, motioning toward the bloody T-shirt in the sink with his weapon. "What do we do if Hu�bert and his crew show back up? Carlos never said if they were in or out, and neither did you, D."
Damali blew a stray lock up off her forehead in frustration. Bobby was right. With all that had been going on, the issue of what to do with refugee hybrids hadn't been settled. "I don't know," she finally admitted. "When Carlos gets back, we'll do a joint reading on the sit�uation, and let ya know."