Adam looked at Red, and Red looked at Adam, and by silent consent they decided Red would do the talking.
“Why do you want to know?” Red said.
She could sense Adam’s silent groan, could practically feel the words emanating from his brain to hers.
Why can’t you just answer the man’s question, Red? Why do you always have to be smart?
And of course her response to that would be, You had to know I would be like this.
Tall frowned at her. “What’s your name, young lady?”
“And I say again, why do you want to know?”
“I don’t think much of your manners,” Tall said.
“And I don’t think very much of yours,” Red said. “You’re holding guns on us when we’ve done nothing wrong. You’re demanding information without giving any. If you want to have a polite conversation you need to rethink your methods.”
“Red,” Adam said, but very low, almost just a breath.
She didn’t know why she felt bolder now than she had a moment before, but it was probably because she felt the soldiers with rifles wouldn’t fire in the presence of their superior officer without an order.
And because Tall was trying to find out who they were and where they came from, it was unlikely that he would have them shot for no particular reason. So she’d relaxed a little—not her guard, but her terror of dying in a hail of bullets. And once she relaxed, her natural inclination to push back against authority came to the fore.
Tall looked at her for what felt like a million years but was really only a few seconds. She stared right back and let him see that she wasn’t playing around.
Now, in a movie the next thing to happen would be shouts and threats and then one of these big old soldiers would shoulder his rifle and drag me off in one direction and Adam in the other and we would be tossed in dirty cells with no water until we talked.
But it wasn’t a movie, and Tall was a human being even if he did look like a walking stereotype with his grizzled hair and severe expression. And that was why Red was surprised when he ordered all of the men away except Taller. The corporal who’d initially found them gave Red and Adam a doubtful look, but his CO shook his head and told him to go so he went, too.
Red didn’t know what was going on outside but there was a lot of activity. She heard vehicles driving up and down the street and lots of shouting.
“Stand up, young lady,” Tall said, and gestured to Adam. “And you, too. What are you, brother and sister?”
“Yeah,” Adam said.
Red twisted her mouth, because she didn’t see any reason for Tall to know that. But it had probably been an automatic response from Adam. She pulled her right foot forward so she could brace on it and then put both hands on her knee and pushed off until she got her prosthetic foot safely underneath her.
Tall caught the flash of metal at her ankle and said, “What happened? Accident?”
“Clearly,” Red said.
Tall gave a short laugh. “Suspicious little thing, aren’t you?”
“Yes, she is,” Adam said.
Red gave her brother a sidelong look that was meant to convey Shut the hell up, but he didn’t get the message.
“Well, you are,” Adam said. “Suspicious of everyone and everything.”
“I can’t say I blame you. It’s safer to be suspicious of everyone, especially now,” Tall said, and for a moment he seemed less Intimidating Military Guy and more Tired of Everything Guy.
That little flash of vulnerability made Red feel sorry for him, just for a half a second, because probably he was getting told to do XYZ by someone who ranked higher than him and that person was getting told by someone who ranked higher than him and so on and so on.
Although Red didn’t know who might be handing down orders from On High anymore. Was the president even still