I turn around to face her. “Yes, they have a lock on her location. Hopefully, we will have some good news in a couple of hours.”
She sighs and nods, but doesn’t look at me.
“We should grab some supplies before we hit the cabin,” Case says, interrupting the silence her mood change has brought on. “Is there anything you like to eat or don’t like, as the case may be?”
She shakes her head, her voice hollow. “I don’t have any dietary restrictions. I try to eat healthy, but I’ll pretty much eat anything you give me.”
Fuck my brain. Even with her mood shift, I can’t seem to keep my mind out of the gutter, and the idea of her parting her lips for anything I give her makes me hard.
“We have canned food and non-perishables at the cabin. I’m sure we can make do for tonight until we can grab fresh produce and other healthy shit in the morning,” Case says, oblivious to my thoughts.
She nods, her expression far away and deep in thought, and then, like a flipped switch, her entire demeanor changes. She lights up, a wide smile spreading her lips, her eyes bright as she turns and faces me. “Healthy shit? You make it sound so appetizing.”
Part of our training as PsySpecOps is to analyze behaviors and look for underlining motivators in a person’s actions. Epi can turn it on with a snap of a finger, something I’m sure she learned how to do in her childhood, and I doubt she even knows she does it.
“Porter is actually an excellent cook,” Case says, shoving a thumb in my direction.
I smile but say nothing, my eyes taking in every little nuance of her attitude shift.
“Sounds yummy.” She licks her lips and locks gazes with me, her eyebrows twitching as she expects a response for me. I give her none. She sticks her bottom lip out and shrugs. “Do you think will get there soon? I really have to pee.”
“We’re about fifteen minutes out. Can you hold it?”
“Yeah.”
Seventeen minutes later, I’ve performed a perimeter check of the cabin before going inside and checking all the rooms. I then run outside to throw the switch to the main power at the pole, turning on all the lights before signaling the all-clear to Case.
Epi runs inside to use the facilities while Case and I grab our bags and tactical gear, dumping them in the living room.
“Anything from Lee yet?” I ask Case, who shakes his head.
“I guess I’ll see what there is to eat. He’ll be stuck with leftovers.”
“Worst case, he can eat an MRE.”
“What’s an MRE?” Epi bounces down the stairs two at a time.
“It stands for Meal, Ready to Eat. It’s the lightweight, portable rations we’d keep on us when on deployment, where there weren’t drive-thrus, mess halls, or five-star restaurants.”
“They last forever, so we always store them along with our other non-perishables.”
She takes a seat at the island, placing her face in her hands. “Were the three of you in the military together, too?”
“Yep.”
“Wow. So how long have you known each other?”
“Since we joined at eighteen.”
“And you’ve been together ever since?”
“Yeah.” I put cans of green chilis, canned chicken, cream of chicken soup, spices and rice on the island. “We need water.”
Case nods, running out the door to turn on the pump. At the same time, I turn on the faucet, waiting for water to run clear.
She purses her lips and motions to the food. “Mmmm. Fancy.”
I shrug. “It’ll fill our belly for the night.”