Hush (The Infected: Ripped to Shreds Book 1) (11 page)

Especially since it was clear
that he understood a lot more about what it had to mean than not. He seriously
just didn't
care
.

The rest of the people were all
worried more or less. A few actually didn't believe her. They weren't asking
for proof either. They just thought she was trying to get attention. In all, no
one seemed ready to shoot her over it, or asked for her to be fired. It meant
that, by two they managed to get the place into good order, and even though a
few lonely people came in to get large stacks of books for the long weekend,
they were all out by five-thirty.

Everyone even came by to chat
with her. As if trying
extra
hard to make it known that they weren't
bigoted. Even knowing them all pretty well, having read up on each of them over
time, it was a bit surprising. A year before half of them would have been
secretly plotting to have her ousted. Politely, but no one even seemed to be
heading in that direction. Even Glenda was pretty much good with the whole
thing by the time they all left.

Feeling pleased, she climbed into
her little yellow car, and drove off into the night. The weather was even nice
now. The road had dried during the day, and while there were clouds, she
thought, the air was just chilly, not freezing. The only thing that was a
little off was that Wally had lingered to talk to Tamara. She wasn't the best
looking girl in the world, but she was cute in the right light, and was clearly
being influenced by what Cin had said earlier about the man. Better than that,
Wallace Clarkson caught the thread, and was running with it. No one really wanted
to be alone over the holidays, so it might just work out.

That was good. She didn't care
that much, but if they were both happy, that would mean they weren't focused on
her for the next week. It couldn't have gone better if she'd planned it that
way. Considering she'd really just been trying to make the other women feel bad
for dissing her work buddy, that was a great outcome.

She dressed in her one remaining
nice skirt, since it was a date night, and made a point of shaving her legs,
and everything else, that night. Not that she was planning to have sex with
Proxy, but she had to admit, it was a great way to get a guy to like her. Not
having a relationship she wasn't on the pill, so that could limit things, as
far as what they could do later.

At six she looked up Brian's
data, feeling surprised when it actually swung into place in front of her. He
didn't know if he was supposed to get in touch with her or not. It made sense,
but that hadn't been worked out, so she got his cell number from the screen
looking thing in front of her, and called him directly.

It surprised her a bit when he
picked up on the first ring.

"Brian Yi. What's the
situation?" It was cold, efficient sounding and very adult. He was at
least no older than she was. A year younger, she realized, looking up his birth
date. Sixteen months. She didn't have to figure that out, it was just there,
written in his info. In green. That was strange, but showed up instantly.

"Cin here. About the date?
We didn't make plans to get together, so I decided to call."

There was an inhalation, then a
soft chuckle.

"Right. This is my secure
IPB line. Only about twenty people have it, and when they call it isn't
normally as pleasant. I have reservations at Del Casa Taco? You're good with
that, right?" He was joking. The tone gave him away.

So she nodded, and smiled before
speaking.

"Sounds great. Should I meet
you there? I'll drive. I know where you're staying. Call it fifteen
minutes?"

"Oh? Um, great! See you
then." There was an obvious pause, as if he didn't know if he was really
supposed to get off the phone or not. It was the kind of thing that people got
caught up in. A social rule that wasn't spoken or even written down anywhere,
but no one wanted to risk being rude by hanging up first.

"See you in a few. On my way
now." Cindy tabbed off, walking already.

Standing there with the phone to
her ear wasn't going to get the job done, she knew. That was a bit of a danger
for her in all of this. To her this whole thing, being around Brian at all, was
just to get inside the investigation into her own killings. So far that hadn't
come up, even inside of his own story, but that was fine. The thing there was
that she couldn't treat a date like a job. Not if she didn't want him to pick
up on the fact that she had an alternative motive in being there.

She considered the whole thing as
she got to her car, and drove to the hotel. It was downtown, or just off of it,
and had a nice big parking lot with an actual covered area to pull into. Even
though they hadn't planned out a place to meet, she knew to drive up to the
front. He was standing right there, after all. Dressed up for a real date this
time.

Actually, he looked
good
.

His lean form was dressed up in all
black. It was a nice suit, that hugged him at the waist, with a deep red shirt
on underneath it. His short hair was always tidy, kept that way to prevent it
being pulled in a fight. That was a great idea, Cin knew, but not a thing that
she could get away with. Proxy had a reason for it that was known and public.
He killed people for a living. Ones that were going to take out others, most of
the time, so it only made sense to almost everyone that he lived in a way that
was ready to fight.

His shoes were shiny however. Not
running shoes, in particular. As she pulled up, the text over his head
explained that part. They were soft soled, and built for him specially. He
could, at need, run in them, or do almost anything else.

The sound of her tires stopping
got him to look over at her, as she drove up in front of the building. The idea
that he hadn't realized she was pulling up was a bit planned on his part. The
man was hyper aware of everything around him, all the time. Then, he wasn't
pretending he wasn't himself with her, just trying not to seem insane.

Cindy smiled, and waved. Two of
them were working that number, so she could let it go. She
could
have
anyway, if it had been a real date. As it was, the data point was a needed one.
A thing she could use to survive.

Brian came to the car as she
opened the door for him, reaching across to the passenger's side to let him in.

"Hey, you!" There was
an attempt to make her voice bright and cheery. It was close enough that Brian
didn't pick up on her stress level.

"Hi! Um, Do you know where
the Davenport is?" He said it softly, as if it wasn't a big deal.

Cindy had to keep herself from
whistling in appreciation.

"Damn. Here I was getting
all ready for a taco platter. I
do
know where it is, of course."
Everyone did. It was the most expensive place in town.

Then, she'd
asked
for
something impressive.

Brian smiled at her. It was more
of a smirk than anything. A bit cocky seeming, really. The words over his head
did let her know that he could afford it. Apparently being an IPB operative
could pay well, at times. So she didn't have to feel bad, or worry that he was
going to stick her with the bill at the end of the night. He even had his
wallet with him. His mind triple checked that, feeling the shape in his inside
jacket pocket.

He also felt the small knife that
was strapped to his right thigh, which could be reached through his pants
pocket, which wasn't real. There was a handgun in a holster on his back, too.

She nodded, and smiled a bit
larger, responding to all of this. No one had ever stated that Proxy was a
safe
date. The very idea was ridiculous. This wasn't a real get together, however,
so she could roll with it. Even if it had been, him being ready to kill people
kind of turned her on. Even if it was her he ended up going for.

"Buckle up. I'll have us
there in... Ten minutes?"

Brian didn't have a watch, but
nodded, knowing the time. Exactly.

"The reservation is for
seven-thirty. We have a bit of time."

That was good, it turned out,
since it would give her a moment to adjust to the whole thing. The one where
Brian was thinking of this as a real date. It was clear, and she'd known that
was the case the whole time, but for some reason it was different, seeing him
close up. Outwardly he was relaxed, but there was tension underneath that. Real
concern that he was going to move too fast, or too slow, and mess everything
up. Again. Even as he knew, inside that none of his failures in relationships
were truly his fault. He'd been set up for what had happened, by a strategist
that was so good that she'd nearly taken over the entire world.

That was something interesting,
really. The press had said that it was a big deal, but the fighting, the small
wars and riots that had broken out all over the country had seemed intense, but
not like they were that important. Bad, but not like the goal was anything
except death and property damage by some disgruntled haters.

From the story she was getting,
and trying to ignore as she drove, it had really been close. Coming down to
Proxy having to break reality a bit in order to stop a single person, an old
woman. One that had already won.

No one had told her
that
in the news.

Brian looked at the side of her
face, as they stopped at a red light.

"So, research librarian... That
sounds fun." Then he stopped and made a slightly pained face. "Do you
still work there?" His voice dropped to a near whisper, as if getting that
it might be a big deal if she'd just lost her job.

That got her to smile and mean
it, tense or not.

"I
do
. Amazingly
enough. I just walked in and told everyone that I'm Infected and what I can do.
They barely
care
. A third of them think that I'm faking it to get
attention. Ben, one of my co-workers, knows about Wally and me, but
he's
keeping his mouth shut about it. I mean, he just isn't concerned. Glenda is a
bit freaked out, but she get's the idea that if I haven't shot her with my eye
beams yet, I probably won't."

That got a sudden relaxation from
Brian. It was a visible thing, even from the corner of her eye.

"Good. That... Isn't how it
always goes. Sometimes. Hopefully it means that things are getting better? A
year ago I probably would have had to fight your boss hand to hand before
fleeing into the night. This is better." Then he stopped and shook his
head. "Or
not
. You could probably take her, in a fight."

That was almost certain, even if
the woman was a hundred pounds heavier than she was, or more. It was seventy-eight
pounds of extra fat, which didn't actually help that much in a real fight. If
her boss exercised at all, it wasn't done that often, or hard enough.

"
Possibly
. Plus, I
can outrun her for certain. I practice that."

Laughing a little, Proxy actually
winked at her.

"Good plan. I do that, too.
I can't tell you how many times running away saved my life. If you get a choice
in a fight, that tends to be the best plan."

She glanced at him, but got her
eyes back to the road without veering too much. Looking forward, Cin cleared
her throat. It was a mannerism that was fake, and reminded her of her father. A
bolt of anger ripped through her at that, which intellectually she knew was just
wrong. She hated the man.
Now
. Which wasn't fair. He'd been there for
her, coddled her when she was young,
and
paid for college. There had
never been any beatings, and no inappropriate touching. He wasn't even cold
hearted or mean in particular. Even she got that the real problems they had
between them had all been her. Really, she thought she was supposed to dislike
him, but really just didn't feel much toward him at all.

The feeling was still there, saying
she should, pushing at her. Part of her Infection, she didn't doubt.

Recovering, she pasted a grin on
her face.

"So, that thing last night?
We should have just left? We could have, you know that right? Snuck out the
back, or something?"

Instead of justifying what had
happened, he nodded at her. After about half a minute, a time that was too long
really, he took a deep breath.

"Yeah. We should have. I'm
not wild about hate groups, and planning to kill me and my friends is a hot
button for me. I know, on some level, that if we hadn't been there nothing would
have happened. So it was my fault. I
know
that."

Cindy didn't have to read him to
understand he meant it. She also got the idea. No one wanted to run all the
time. Her
own
nature was to fight first. Looking at the road, she made
the final turn to get to the restaurant.

Her voice was friendly enough,
she thought.

"That's so hard to do. To
just leave, and let the bullies and bad people run all over you. I know it was
what we should have done too, but... Well, what if it had just been me? Or
Wally? Yeah, they came out because of Bridget, because Impulse is famous now...
What if it was just some innocent kid out on a date? One that looked like her? Would
they have gone after them like that? This way we can at least pretend we're
stopping things like that."