Chapter 19.2

I felt my jaw drop and looked at Nick. "Are you crazy?" I asked. "Most of that gear is in shambles and I can't repair everything. I'm specifically trained on 'bots. Armor for people isn't my strong suit."

"There are people back at the camp who can fix the gear, but the door codes are changed often. We have the door codes for today and tomorrow but without a military badge we can't get through, so we need you. However Vicki and I feel it's putting you at unnecessary risk because the hack can easily be preprogrammed or we could simply steal an access swipe. But no, for whatever reason you have to be there on site with us. It's not like Kai. I don't know what's gotten into him."

"Nothing's gotten into me, get ready to move, no armor tonight," Kai snarled storming out of the room.

I looked back to the room to see Vicki on the verge of tears. I ran over to her, going to take her in my arms. She held her hand up and shook her head. "Don't touch me right now," she said. "Just do what Kai said, I can't be here right now."

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Tonight, it's you, Nick and Kai," she said. "I can't be trusted for some reason. So, I'll be blowing off steam in that place we said we always wanted to visit down here in the slums."

She blew out past me, anger radiating off her in waves. I went to follow her and Nick grabbed my wrist shaking his head. "Just...do what she says," he sighed. "She'll blow off her anger somewhere and will be here tomorrow. They get like this sometimes, just don't worry about it. She always comes back."

I watched her retreating form and sighed. I wanted to run after her and try to calm her down but Nick would catch me before I could get to her. Everything she had on her plate, all of that pent up anger and guilt, I knew it weighed on her. All of it is because of me. She's like this because I wasn't arrested that night. If I hadn't fallen in love with her...Otto wouldn't have tried to kill me and she wouldn't blame herself. I glanced at Nick and then the door, then back at Nick only to see him staring at me with a disappointed look on his face.

"Don't even think about it," he warned. He handed me my gear bag and looked down. "Just get through tonight and everything will be fine in the morning."

I nodded and started going through the bag for the non-armor components. Pulling out the small tablet, I checked the various pre-programmed hacks and brought several to the forefront for easy access. A pouch of cables went onto my belt and Nick handed me a pistol and ammo clips. I reached out hesitantly and he pressed the firearm into my hand,

"You'll want them," he said.

I nodded and clipped it to the opposite side of my wires.

"Do you need your webbing?" he asked.

"Uh..." I looked down at the collapsed tablet, the two thin strips of metal easy enough to stuff into a pocket, though rather uncomfortable. "I don't think so, do you have a thigh sleeve?"

He rooted around in a bag and tossed me the sleeve for the tablet. I tightened the straps about my leg and slipped the device in. I went to hook my tech goggles into the tablet when I remembered I hadn't seen them in a month. I reached up to feel the empty space around my neck where they usually hung and my fingers curled around empty space.

"My goggles," I whimpered.

"Oh, yeah, your friend said these were on your desk when you were arrested," Nick said. He pulled out a belt filled with small tools and my goggles. "She figured you'd want them back."

I took my things from Nick and felt the tears welling up in my eyes. "Nick, please, did you make sure Carly can't be traced back to this?" I asked.

"She was pounding on my door hysterical saying that you had been arrested, I calmed her down, thanked her for the heads up and caught her a cab. The next day she showed up with your stuff and I did the same thing. She doesn't know," Nick said.

"You're sure?" I asked.

"When Vicki gets back you can ask for her confirmation," he said.

"Okay," I nodded and Nick threw a black cloth at me. I caught it and looked at him. "What's this?"

"A shemagh, you won't have a helm or mask to cover your face and we don't want to get captured," Nick said. "Do you know how to put it on?"

I shook my head and he took it from me. He tied it around my head quickly and pulled the fabric down until it hooked underneath my chin. "When I tell you to, pull that up over your mouth and nose and then put your goggles on. That will cover enough of your face."

I nodded and Kai entered the room. He threw a rifle and empty duffle bags at Nick. "Time to go," he said.