{"id":450,"date":"2013-12-17T00:00:18","date_gmt":"2013-12-17T05:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/?p=450"},"modified":"2013-12-16T20:23:22","modified_gmt":"2013-12-17T01:23:22","slug":"thirty-two-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/?p=450","title":{"rendered":"Thirty-two (part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Whoever says that hope springs eternal was a bleeding liar.\u00a0 Hope dies, just like everything else.<\/h3>\n

— attributed to Ryland LeSarte<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

19 Decem, 5249 PD<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhere\u2019s Brendan?\u201d<\/p>\n

Lindsay forced her voice to stay steady, schooled her expression into a pale, cool mask of calm.\u00a0 There were other people here besides just her and Rachel.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t need to see how upset she was, how shaken she was.\u00a0 No one needed to see that.<\/p>\n

His thoughts had gone blank just as she\u2019d reached for him.\u00a0 Once burned, twice shy.\u00a0 The last time this had happened, he\u2019d taken a knife to his implant on the return leg of the trip to rescue her parents.\u00a0 Now, with the ground shivering above and around them, she was worried that it was something even worse this time.<\/p>\n

He hasn\u2019t even fully recovered from what he had to do to himself.\u00a0 Now I can\u2019t touch him and they\u2019re bombing the city and if Brendan\u2019s not with Uncle Adam\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cI sent him after Inspector Winston.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her heart sank.\u00a0 Rachel took her hand, their fingers knitting together.\u00a0 Her aunt squeezed her hand tightly and Lindsay swallowed hard.\u00a0 \u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was headed to the shore,\u201d Adam said.<\/p>\n

Rachel\u2019s eyes narrowed.\u00a0 \u201cGive me the comm,\u201d she mouthed at her niece.<\/p>\n

Lindsay frowned, glancing at the others in the shelter before she handed it over.\u00a0 Kara was here, so was Mugabe and an array of analysts and aides, half a dozen of them.\u00a0 Kara raised a brow and Lindsay shook her head, lips thinning.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t like this.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like any of this.<\/i><\/p>\n

Brendan, where are you?\u00a0 Please, please be okay. I can\u2019t do this alone.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cAdam, spit out whatever\u2019s sticking in your craw,\u201d Rachel snapped as soon as the comm was in her hand.\u00a0 \u201cWhat the hell is going on up there and where\u2019s Brendan?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still trying to figure out who\u2019s bombing us,\u201d Adam fired back.\u00a0 \u201cBrendan was out trying to make sure that the Inspector and Freder made it to safety and we lost track of him when a bomb knocked out part of the power grid.\u00a0 We haven\u2019t been able to raise him on comms since.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lindsay\u2019s stomach dropped and she pushed to her feet.\u00a0 Rachel grabbed her wrist and held her firmly in place.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSomewhere near the Forester\u2019s vineyard.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s all I need to know.<\/i>\u00a0 Lindsay tugged her arm free of her aunt\u2019s grip.\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t just sit here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not safe,\u201d Rachel growled, glaring at her.\u00a0 \u201cYou can\u2019t go up there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWatch me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kara rolled to her feet.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll come with you.\u00a0 You shouldn\u2019t be up there alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou shouldn\u2019t be up there at all!\u201d\u00a0 Adam barked, his voice tinny and small over the comm even though he was shouting.\u00a0 \u201cStay put, we\u2019ll find him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot fast enough, Uncle.\u201d\u00a0 Lindsay headed for the door.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ll be careful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRachel, stop her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lindsay shot her aunt a tight smile and slipped through the heavy blast door, out of safety and into a world that was suddenly full of danger and death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whoever says that hope springs eternal was a bleeding liar.\u00a0 Hope dies, just like everything else. — attributed to Ryland LeSarte 19 Decem, 5249 PD \u201cWhere\u2019s Brendan?\u201d Lindsay forced her voice to stay steady, schooled her expression into a pale, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-two-ashes-to-ashes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p25yjF-7g","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=450"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":451,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450\/revisions\/451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}