Evie and Manus raced in. Evie threw her arms around Dash. Manus paused to put another suppressed round into what was left of Rispel’s head, then wrapped his arms around both Dash and Evie. He looked toward the teahouse, tears running down his face. From where Manus stood he couldn’t see Dox, but Dox could of course see him. Manus nodded his head. Wiped his cheeks. And then mouthed the words thank you.
chapter
eighty-seven
RAIN
A half hour later, they were all in the horse trailer, parked in the far corner of one of the lots at a place called El Corte de Madera Creek Preserve, an enormous outdoor space seemingly popular with hikers, bicyclists, and horseback riders. Delilah and Larison were already waiting there in the Porsche when the rest of them arrived, and Rain had a feeling Delilah had finally gotten to drive it the way he knew she wanted to on the mountain switchbacks that led to the preserve.
Evie, who was driving the truck, parked in the second-to-last space at the end of the lot. Delilah pulled the Porsche around next to it, so that it was concealed by the trailer on one side and the towering trees of a pine forest on the other. The trailer was congruent here, but Rain was concerned that at some point Larry the guard might describe the Porsche to the police. Still, Rain had explained to Grimble that the less the police knew, the more likely it was that the world—aka Sekigahara—would be left in peace.
“You might want to make sure the guards understand that, too,” Rain had said. “And even pay them a bonus for a job well done.”
Kanezaki placed a satellite hotspot near a window, and Maya and Evie worked on Grimble’s laptop. A lot of it was technical, but everyone understood the purpose: have Grimble’s cloud decoders choose their own impossible-to-guess passcodes, leaving the system technically intact but functionally useless.
There was a lot of backslapping in the small space, as there always was after a successful mission with no losses. Dash was watching Maya and Evie at work, seemingly fascinated by their easy camaraderie. He was a resilient kid, tough and smart. And maybe a little too fascinated by all the derring-do he had just witnessed, and been part of. But Rain supposed everyone has a destiny.
Dox waved to get Dash’s attention. “How are you doing there, son?”
Dash came out from behind Evie and Maya, and Manus adjusted his position so he could see Dox’s face, too.
Dash said, “I’m good,” simultaneously signing so Manus could follow both sides of the conversation.
“I could be wrong about this,” Dox said, “but did you say something to Rispel back there?”
Dash nodded. “I said, ‘I told you I wasn’t scared of you.’”
Dox laughed and ruffled Dash’s hair. “You’re going to be fine, son. You’re strong, and your folks are, too.”
Dash put his arm around Manus’s waist and beamed. “They’re all right,” he said, and Dox laughed again.
Evie moved from behind the laptop to the other side of Dash and put her arm around him. “If there’s ever anything you need,” she said to Dox, “Anything we can do. Anything. You tell us.” She looked at Rain and said, “That means you, too.”
Rain nodded an acknowledgment. He understood Evie’s sentiment. But he didn’t want or expect anything. He was relieved it had all worked out. And that it was over.
Dox, unsurprisingly, was less reticent. “You don’t owe me a thing,” he said. “And even if you did, old Marvin here already paid me.” He looked at Marvin and smiled. “I might have to acquire one of those Cold Steel Espadas. Though I doubt anybody could deploy it as effectively as you.”
Manus held out a hand. They shook.
Diaz was stroking Margarita, who seemed a little nervous at all these people who had invaded her trailer. Or maybe it was the gunshots she had heard earlier.