Free Hero for Hire by Margaret Madigan Page B

Rafe. You go get Gwyn.”
    My heart exploded with pride for his courage, but my gut twisted at the thought of leaving them there.
    I left the window, stepping right up to Miriam, toe to toe.
    “If you harm either of them, I’ll make sure you pay for it. Don’t torment them, don’t torture them, don’t lay a fucking hand on them,” I said, poking her in the shoulder to emphasize each word. “Are we clear?”
    “As long as you deliver Gwyn, these boys will be returned to you completely unharmed. I’m a woman of my word,” she said.
    “So I’ve heard,” I said, climbing on the chair and pulling myself out the window. I leaned back in, catching a last glimpse of the boys. “Just be sure you actually keep your word this time.”
     

 
    Chapter 5
     
    “We need more firepower.”
    Doc glowered at me, as if I’d been arguing with him. I hadn’t. We’d returned to the mansion some time ago and were still debriefing at the kitchen table with the rest of the boys. Doc and I were in agreement that our little excursion to my lab had almost ended very badly for us. It had definitely ended badly for the half dozen Infected I’d mowed down with my Land Rover while escaping.
    “That had to be cool,” Rusty said.
    “Yeah, wish I’d seen it,” Rocky said.
    I set down the precious mug of coffee I’d been cradling.
    “It was horrifying,” I said, shaking my head.
    “Next time more of us will go. With more weapons,” Doc said.
    “Maybe we should wait a couple days. But eventually I’ll have to find a way to get my things if I hope to keep working on a cure.”
    He didn’t offer any response, apparently still reliving today’s debacle, so I reached over to touch his shoulder. “Thank you for coming along to help me. I appreciate it, even if we didn’t get far.”
    “I hope Rafe’s having better luck than we did.”
    He glanced out the window into the blackness beyond. There was no real reason for us to be worried. Rafe wasn’t due back for a while yet, but with the day we’d had, their safety was on everyone’s minds.
    Doc straightened on his stool. “Okay, tell me what you needed from the lab, exactly. If we can’t get back in, we might be able to replace the bare necessities by foraging elsewhere.”
    I tilted my head, closing my eyes to think. “Well, as force of habit, I brought my current journal with me. I carry it with me everywhere. My personal things don’t matter too much. The really important items are the lab equipment. Much of my research is still sitting in the lab, too, but I can’t do anything without some of that equipment.”
    I opened my eyes and glanced over at Doc, who grunted before he responded.
    “Right. That’s good news. What I need you to do is make a list of the equipment you have to have, and another list of equipment you’d like to have. Can you draw?”
    I blinked. “Um, yes, I suppose.”
    “Good. Draw an illustration complete with proportional measurements for each piece so whoever’s foraging can look for what you need.”
    “I can do that, if you’ll get me paper and a pen.”
    Roger hurried out of the room. He returned a couple of minutes later with a yellow tablet and pen. Apparently I had been upgraded from using the back of paper scraps. I went to work making lists. Once the lists were done, I drew illustrations of the equipment while Doc and Ricky worked on dinner. The rest of the boys drifted off to finish their chores.
    After a while, my thumb cramped so I dropped the pen. While I stretched, I asked Doc a question that had been nagging me since I’d first arrived at the mansion.
    “Doc, how did Rafe end up collecting orphans?”
    Doc looked up from chopping onion. He smiled, the expression softening the hard planes of his face.
    “Rufus was the first he brought home, shortly after we moved here. He was just a little guy, no more than four years old.”
    “And his name wasn’t Rufus either,” Ricky chimed in.
    “Right,” Doc continued. “But he