Hush (The Infected: Ripped to Shreds Book 1) (12 page)

That got a laugh, which was a bit
out of place. It sounded real, anyway.

"Great point. I feel better
now. I was afraid that you'd think I was a bully, setting them up for a beating
like I did."

Cindy couldn't see that one. Not
even a little bit.

"Nope. My very
first
impulse was to go and fight. They were the bullies, we just were the wrong
target." Looking up she made the last turn into the parking lot. The thing
was full, which meant finding a spot as far away from the door as possible.
Naturally.

Still, they got out, dancing over
the mud puddle that they'd parked in, and with only a little chuckling managed
to get to the front door of the place.

Almost playfully Brian let his
shoulder bump into hers.

"Well, so far no one is
attacking. So, is this the best date ever, or what?"

Cin nodded.

"That
is
a selling
point. Let's go in?"

"Let's."

They were seated awfully fast. In
fact, it was clear that the host, or whatever the door guy with the list was
called there, understood who Proxy was. He was in fact, both a bit worried and
pleased at the same time. They had the occasional famous person there, but most
of them were just minor television personalities. The local weatherman coming
in was different than an Infected monster.

Not that the guy was particularly
bigoted. He was just freaked out by Brian, since he had a bit of a reputation.
That being the one where he showed up, and people died. Openly. He killed and
as far as Cindy had heard,
never
apologized for it. People loved it when
murderers were taken down, and while the guy at the door was calling him a
monster, he was thinking of him as
their
monster.

Still, it got them seated, at one
of the
good
tables. The service was nice and quick, too. The food...
Honestly, it was fine, but not worth the nearly hundred dollar per plate that
was being charged. The wine steward tried to pull a fast one too, pretending
that the cost of the wine was included, and not fifteen dollars a glass.

Brian caught on to that, but also
didn't drink anymore. He used to, a bit, but the story unfolded about how he
had to stay sober all the time, since he could be off to fight at any moment.
It was a constant part of his world.

Cin looked at the wine guy, who
was holding a small leather bound list with French names on it. He held it out
like it was just expected that they'd have some.

So she lied.

"I don't drink. Could I have
some water?" Normally she'd have gotten coffee, or even tea, but the man
was trying to con them, on purpose.

Brian nodded.

"My favorite drink. Water.
Could you make that two?" He smiled, picking up a lot of what was going
on, if only inside of himself.

The wine steward stiffened,
blushed a bit, and gave a single nod.

"It will be right up."
It was really clear he wasn't happy about it. That was due to the fact that his
pay came only when he got people to pay for booze. Overpriced grape juice in
the main. Not that it wasn't quality, it
was
. It also had a
three
hundred
percent mark up.

Brian watched the man leave, and
smiled knowingly. What it was he knew didn't show up over his head. What did
was a scanning list of the room around them. All of the exits were arrayed,
along with the best ways to get to them. There was also a running list of who
in the room was gearing up for violence. At that moment, it was no one, which
was good to know.

His words were soft, when he
spoke.

"I was locked in a cell
once, tied up, for five days with no food or water. Ever since then it's really
been my favorite. I mean, I actually
enjoy
it, every time I get to have
some. Bottled, water fountain... Mud puddle, it hardly matters." There was
a bit too much candor in the words, but the story was a lot worse than what he
said was.

He'd nearly died, several times,
all alone.

She ignored that, since it wasn't
what he was trying to get across to her. The point was to make sure she didn't
feel bad about getting water instead of something harder. It was
cute
,
she had to admit. Everyone had a history, but he was willing to risk himself
just so she wouldn't feel bad about things.

So she nodded.

"I like it too. If you can't
drink water, you die. I try to have some every day, myself." She let her
eyes hood a bit, like she was being flirty, or trying too. It got a smile.

"I know! Still, no
accounting for taste. So..." It was clear he was stuck as for what to say
then.

Cindy nodded, reading about his
growing sense of unease. Really, what he wanted was for her to ask a question.
One that wasn't about his work, his previous relationships, or now that he'd
brought it up, about being locked up in a cell. None of those were going to be
great dinner conversation.

"So, Brian... Do you have
any hobbies?" A handy list of things popped up that he might say. They
were pretty boring sounding, since most of the interesting things he did were
about work or training. Not that talking about fighting wasn't going to
interest her, but they could leave that for later. When they were alone.

"Um... Reading? Playing
video games, not that I get to do that much now." He was about to make
some things up, knowing that even watching television, which he barely did, was
better than not having anything.

It was good enough for her.

"I don't really play games.
A few casual games, now and again. I do read a lot. It's pretty much my life,
so, you know,
that
one is good. You like science fiction?" It had
been on his list, so they were able to talk about that through the ordering,
things coming slowly over the next hour.

The funny thing was that Brian
thought of the food as being about like what he was used to. It was good enough
for her, but really, it sounded like he was a bit spoiled that way.

Gourmet food all the time like
that.

Politely, since he didn't want to
insult the people there, who were doing fine, really. He just lived with not
one, but two or three world class chefs. The crew of a cooking show.

Cindy nodded, getting that one.

"Oh! You know the people
from Steinberg and Friends, right? Um... Mark and..." She'd seen the show
a few times, but wasn't that into food all the time, so hadn't memorized them
all or anything. There was the strange hippie seeming guy, the gay one, and the
incest twins. That was how she thought about them, in her head.

Grimacing she shook her head.

"Remind me to never be
around a telepath that knows them? My nicknames for them are
not
all
that positive. I liked the show all right, it was funny."

Brian nodded then, looking
earnest.

"Mark Steinberg, Warren,
Kerry, and Denis. Sometimes Scott is on the show, too. Prime?"

She snapped her fingers.

"Right. The funny looking
one. He has pretty eyes though. I mean,
I
like purple well enough."
She saw the trap instantly, so kept going, as if she meant what she said, which
was just true. "He's your son, right? Bridget's father? It was a time
travel thing, I heard?"

Brian went still, but nodded
after a moment, not that worried that she was making fun of his family a bit.
The man was gold colored, and had violet eyes. It stood out. Not that he wasn't
good looking, too. Nearly too perfect, which wasn't a thing she loved, most
days. It
also
wasn't an idea to hold against anyone. No, he was just trying
to put together how to tell her about all of that. The time travel, since a lot
of it had kind of been bad, in a lot of ways. Some of it not so much, at the
time.

Later it was soured for him.
Finding out that you were being used the whole time by your greatest enemy
could do that, she guessed.

Cin waved a bit. It was a
meaningless thing to her, so to cover for him, she made a face and leaned in.

"Is he nice? Scott? That
would have to be hard, having a son that's older than you are."

"You know it. All I can
really do there is try to be there for him. Luckily we were friends before
that. Imagine if we'd hated each other? I get along with most people,
thankfully. Yep. Back at the base they call me 'Happy-Li'." It wasn't
true, but it was a horrible pun, which he didn't react to on purpose.

"Better than
some
things they could call you. Not much, but a
little
. Sauerkraut breath
would
be worse. So would smelly. No one wants that as a nickname, do they?"

It wasn't great humor, but she
got her chuckle, and then they got to decide if they were having dessert or
not. She shook her head, and wrinkled her nose at him.

"Let's not? We can get a
gallon of ice cream and some toppings at the store, and take it back to my
place? That's my best line, since I can't offer you a drink." Well,
coffee, but that was hardly romantic.

Brian nodded.

"All right. Let me settle up
here?" That took a while. It was nearly like they didn't want them to
leave. Actually, they were so slow in letting them get the bill that Proxy was
starting to get edgy by the time it finally came. He started looking around,
trying to work out where the attack was going to come from.

It would have seemed paranoid, if
not for the night before.

Looking around Cindy was able to
work it out however, reading what the various workers were thinking. One of
them had called in a friend who wanted to be a paparazzi, and they were trying
to let the man ambush them on the way out.

She looked at her mark and made a
face, then whispered.

"Cameramen incoming. Friend
of the guy that works the door. He isn't planning anything other than that.
Just pictures. Here... Hey! Check.
Now
!" She made sure her blue
eyes flashed, like she was going to hurt someone. It did get a response. That
was the check, and the payment was made fast. Brian tipped anyway, and went
large on it, wanting to not be named as being cheap in the news the next day.

Then, moving fast, they dashed to
the car. Walking, but
quickly
. That let them avoid the would be camera
jockey totally. She couldn't find anyone hiding behind a car or anything like
that. Not until the man jumped out, waving a video camera like a fool.

Proxy moved at him so fast it was
hard for her to track. Like a cat pouncing on a mouse. The man went wide eyed,
as she called out.

"Camera!" It wasn't
what she'd
wanted
to say, which was, "wait, he doesn't have a gun,
just a camera." It was better than screaming duck, and surprisingly got
the high strung fighter to stop dead. About a foot from the camera. With a gun
pointed at it in a steady, dangerous looking stance. Like a cop in a movie.

After half a second he pulled it
up, and turned, looking around.

"Oops. Maybe you shouldn't
jump out at people like that?" He was talking to the man, who nodded
rapidly, but was still getting the whole scene, if the little red light meant
anything.

She didn't wait, getting in her
car, and calling out, like they were on a military mission, rather than a date.
It was kind of fun.

"Get in! Rally at the
fallback rendezvous! Call off the strike team.
Call off the strike team
!"
She pretended to hold her right ear, like she was talking to someone. The look
on the young white guys face was priceless. Especially after Brian turned and
dashed to the car, and hopped in.

Then stuck his head out of the window.

"Run! Just in case we can't
stop them in time! Go!"

The man did, yelping as he did.
Then, carefully, and calmly, Cin pulled out of the parking lot. Peeling out
would have been more dramatic, but there was no real need for it now. The
problem had fled.

Looking over at him, she tilted
her head, going for coquettish.

"So, Safeway? Ice cream and
cake? I think we've earned it."

"Sounds good." He was
still wired, as in for real. It was part of his training. Anything odd could be
part of an attack, or a trap. So he couldn't help but act like a paranoid at
that moment.

To that end, and wanting him to
like her, she drove them in a large circle, before heading to the store.

"Is anyone following
us?" Cindy wanted to smirk, but fought it. Turning to look into the night,
Proxy turned to her and then back again.

"Yes. We have two followers.
The black sedan in the other lane, and the large silver van. We have to assume
that they have us blocked in ahead, or will soon. Our best plan is to spread
them out. I don't suppose that you'd be willing to speed a bit?"

As it turned out, she
was
.

Not that it helped a lot. The
people behind them sped up, trying to keep pace with them. There were other
cars on the road too, so she had to swerve a bit and focus hard. That... Got
all of the words coming from Brian to vanish.