Fallout (19 page)

He had just reached the edge of the containment structure when his phone buzzed on his belt. Frowning, he brought the robot to a stop and pulled out the phone.

Don’t forget to compensate for the changing center of balance when you go up or down an incline. Miss you already.

Sambit smiled.
Thanks for the reminder. I needed it.

“Sorry about that,” he said to Lyrica. “Let’s see if we can get this guy inside. I’m not Derek, but he taught me a thing or two while he was here.”

His phone buzzed again, but he ignored it this time. It was probably Derek chiding him for not saying he missed Derek too. He did miss the other man, but he didn’t need to encourage him. He was incorrigible enough as it was. Instead he focused on adjusting the position of the robot’s various appendages to keep the center of balance in the right place as the robot moved.

“You’re pretty good at this,” Lyrica said. “I’m impressed.”

“Derek’s a good teacher.”

“Does A&M need a robotics professor?” Lyrica teased.

“Even if they did, Derek would be crazy to leave NASA to teach robotics instead of working on the cutting edge of the field,” Sambit said with a shake of his head.

His phone buzzed again.

“Answer him,” Lyrica said. “He’s going to keep texting you until you do.”

Sambit scowled at her as he pulled his phone out again.

You didn’t say you miss me too.

He scrolled down to the second text.

You do miss me, don’t you?

“Go on, tell him you miss him,” Lyrica prodded.

“How do you know I miss him?” Sambit asked.

“Believe me, I know,” Lyrica insisted.

“Fine,” Sambit said with a huff.
Yes, I miss you, but don’t let it go to your head. I miss Fido more.

Bastard. Just for that I won’t send you a picture of him in his new house when we get there.

“You shouldn’t bait him,” Lyrica said over his shoulder. “He might decide not to help us.”

“Are you reading my texts?” Sambit demanded. “Some things are private.”

“You flirting with Derek? Please. You two couldn’t have been any more obvious.”

“What do you mean?” Sambit asked warily.

“You’re attracted to him, he’s attracted to you,” Lyrica said. “You’re both unattached as far as I know. There’s no harm in acting on that attraction.”

“We didn’t—that is—”

“Methinks you doth protest too much,” Lyrica interrupted.

“That isn’t how the quote goes,” Sambit corrected automatically.

“Not the point,” Lyrica said. “I don’t care if you flirt with him. I think it’s great that something positive could come out of this snafu. Just don’t let Tucker catch you doing it.”

“You’re the one who told me to text him back!”

“I didn’t say don’t text him back. I didn’t even say don’t text him when Tucker’s around because you’ve got plenty of valid reasons to text him. I said don’t let Tucker catch you flirting. Your smile reading those texts would have given you away for sure if he’d been in here. Nobody smiles that way while they’re working.”

“What way?” Sambit asked.

“Half charmed, half annoyed, and totally in love.”

“I’m not in love with him,” Sambit insisted. He couldn’t be. He’d only known Derek a week. There was no way he could fall in love in that timeframe, even with the extenuating circumstances.

“Mmmhmm,” Lyrica said. “Think what you want. Now, if you’re done flirting with your boyfriend, we have work to do.”

Sambit huffed softly and turned his attention back to the computer screen. Lyrica was full of it. There was no other explanation. He wasn’t even sure he liked Derek half the time. He was
not
in love with the man.

He managed to keep the robot from flipping over as it worked its way into the secondary containment area. The readings on the Geiger counter were definitely lower than they had been when Derek had taken Number Five into the area, but they were still higher than they should have been.

“So what now?” Sambit asked.

“I guess it depends on whether we look at this as proof that the boron solution is working or whether we look at it as proof that we still have a problem.”

“Assuming our deductions about the cause of the radioactivity are correct, we’ll always have a problem,” Sambit said. “The issue is controlling the symptoms of the problem sufficiently that we can get people in there to decommission the reactor, and these readings suggest we’re doing that successfully.”

“So let’s present them to Tucker and see what he’ll authorize us to do next.”

S
AMBIT
’
S
last text left a smile on Derek’s face that lasted until the Army Humvee reached Houston and headed south toward Pearland. Derek had seen enough on the helicopter ride into Bay City to know the damage was significant, but he’d been so focused on the situation at the power plant that he hadn’t dwelled on it. Now he had no choice but to face the utter devastation wrought by the storm. Only one house in three appeared unscathed, but he’d seen enough flooding to know that many of them could have foundation damage that wouldn’t be visible to the naked eye. As they drove down Highway 288, the destruction got even worse, entire groups of homes flattened by the storm. He was sick to his stomach by the time they turned off at Broadway and worked their way deeper into town. The floodwaters had receded, but he saw little sign of life beyond that. Debris littered the usually immaculate streets; the manicured trees and shrubs were missing limbs or torn up by their roots. The brick walls around the exteriors of the neighborhoods seemed to have held up fairly well, but the roofs on the houses inside the walls were missing more often than not. Overlying it all was the stench of decay.

“You sure you don’t want me to take you somewhere else?” the soldier driving the vehicle asked. “I don’t know how safe it would even be for you to stay here.”

“I don’t have anywhere else to go,” Derek said. “My family is all the way up by Texarkana, and I can’t get the dog there on my bike. I’ll be fine. I stocked up to weather the storm, and there’s no way the city’s just going to die because of this. People will come back, and it’ll get better. Just like New Orleans after Katrina hit. It took time and a lot of work, but it’ll happen here too.”

“If you’re sure,” the man said, sounding skeptical still. “I’ve got orders to take you wherever you want to go, so if this is where you want to be, I’m not going to argue.”

“It’s just around the corner,” Derek said, pointing to the street that led into his neighborhood.

His subdivision seemed slightly less beaten up than the areas closer to the freeway, but that could have been wishful thinking. The soldier stopped in front of Derek’s house, easily identifiable by the fact that it wasn’t falling down. “Do you need a hand with your gear?”

“No, but thank you,” Derek said, climbing out of the truck and helping Fido down. He shook the soldier’s hand. “I appreciate the lift.”

“I’m going to let the National Guard unit in the area know you’re here,” the soldier said. “They can come by and check on you periodically, make sure you have everything you need and that no one’s bothering you and all.”

“Thanks,” Derek said one more time before whistling for Fido, who was sniffing his way around the yard. “Yes, I know, boy. It stinks.”

The humidity had to be at ninety-eight percent again and the temperature well over ninety given the way he was already sweating, even with the wind from the open windows in the Humvee. The stench from the floodwaters and the rotting vegetation was nearly overwhelming. He only hoped his generator was still running because if his house smelled this bad, he was going to have to figure out how to hold Fido and ride his motorcycle at the same time.

“Let’s go inside, okay? It’ll be better there.”

Fido followed him up the sidewalk, the concrete slabs that had been underwater out of place because of the dirt shifting underneath them. “The fucking HOA is going to make me replace the entire sidewalk, aren’t they?” he asked the dog. “I guess that’s better than having to replace the entire house.”

The interior of the house was blissfully cool and odor-free when Derek opened the back door and let himself and Fido inside. He stroked the dog’s ears a few times, then pulled out his phone again.

I made it home safe. It’s even worse than I thought. Can I come live in College Station?

He hit Send and went into the kitchen to find a bowl for Fido. Sambit would reply or not eventually, but in the meantime, Derek had other things he had to take care of.

Half an hour later, as Derek was climbing out of the shower, his phone beeped to indicate he’d received a text.

I have a spare bedroom, but it’s full of boxes. It’s yours if you clear it out.

Who are you and what have you done with my Sam?

Sambit’s reply thrilled Derek, but it was out of character, making him fear the answer was in jest rather than serious. Then there was the matter of living in the spare bedroom instead of sharing Sambit’s room, but he figured that would last all of about ten minutes.

It’s Sambit, not Sam, and I’m not yours.

That’s my Sam, stubborn to the end. What does your dosimeter say?

It took a few minutes before Sambit replied.

.25. The same as yesterday.

Derek frowned at the phone for a moment.
Send me a picture of it.

What?

You heard me. Send me a picture of the dosimeter reading.

A few minutes later, a picture showed up on his phone with a .25 Gy reading on the dosimeter. All he could see was the readout, though. He flipped through his contacts and texted Lyrica.
What is Sam’s dosimeter reading?

.25. Do you not trust your own boyfriend?

Not where that’s concerned. Does he have a headache?

Why are you asking Lyrica questions about me? Ask me if you want the answers.

Then tell me the truth
, Derek texted back.

I told you AND I sent the picture. What else do you want?

Derek wanted Sambit there with him safely away from the power plant, or if he couldn’t have that, then he at least wanted Sambit in College Station. Since he could have neither of those for the moment, he settled for texting back.
Does your head hurt tonight?

No, you left. There’s no one around to give me a headache.

That’s cold, Sam. That’s really cold.

Sambit didn’t reply for several minutes.

I’m sorry. That was inappropriate. Yes, my head hurts. I wish you were here. I’d take a backrub tonight.

Take a hot shower instead and think of me. I built it for you.

Sambit didn’t reply to that, but Derek didn’t really expect him to. Sambit had pretty much always backed away from any kind of declaration. Derek could let it go for now. He couldn’t do anything other than text or e-mail, or maybe call occasionally, until Sambit made it out of there anyway.

He let Fido out so he could explore the backyard and dug through the cabinets for something for dinner.

Chapter 13

D
EREK
made it almost to lunch the next day before the need to touch base with Sambit became overwhelming. He grabbed his phone, intending to send off a witty, flirtatious text, but he stopped before he did more than program Sambit’s number as the text recipient. He wasn’t feeling witty and flirtatious. He was feeling edgy, gritty, angry almost. He could pretend easily enough. He knew how to put on a mask and hide his emotions behind a wall of casual insouciance that nothing could ruffle, but Sambit already knew that side of him. If he wanted more than he’d had with past boyfriends, he had to offer more, and Sambit wouldn’t take that first step, not when he still thought Derek’s interest wouldn’t last. Derek would have to take the first step and be the one to show Sambit his cards.

He booted up his laptop while he made a sandwich for lunch, then sat down to compose an e-mail. He could call, but it was still working hours for Sambit. More importantly, on the phone, Derek would be doubly exposed. Once for bringing down the wall around his emotions and twice for doing it without the filter of the written word. He wasn’t sure he was quite ready for that yet. He’d have to get there eventually if he really wanted Sambit in his life, but it could wait another day or two.

Hi, Sam,

I hope you don’t mind the e-mail instead of texts, but I had too much to say to break it into short little bursts. I’ll text later to check on your head.

It’s been rough being home. My generator is still working, fortunately, so I have power, but that’s about all. The water from the tap smells so bad I almost don’t want to take a shower (so I held my nose and thought of you last night). Floodwater must have gotten in the system at some point. The whole area reeks of it. I took Fido for a walk this morning and couldn’t go more than about two steps without him stopping to smell something else.

It’s bad here. Not just the contaminated water (and yes, I have bottled water to drink. I’m not going to get sick), but the downed trees and branches, telephone poles cracked in half, roads buckled… it’s miserable. We found a couple of drowned animals as we were walking. They might have been dogs that got trapped by the rising flood and couldn’t get to higher ground, but between the scavengers and just decomposition, it’s impossible to tell now. I’m kind of ashamed to say it, but I lost my breakfast when we found the first one. We finished our walk and I spent more than a few minutes patting Fido when we got home. That could have been him out there. And yes, I know, I didn’t know him before the storm so I wouldn’t know to care if it had been him, but I care now, and that changes everything.