Madison

She leaned back, almost glaring at the computer screen. Her look hadn’t changed in hours, though the reasoning for it had shifted. At first Madison had been angry about the time-lock on the files, and being forced to wait to unlock it. But then the timer had expired, and she’d easily made her way into the data on the stick. Data that Raven had composed.

Or started to.

“What’s on the branch?” Kean asked, flopping down into the seat next to her.

She frowned at the way the chair barely moved, despite his perceived careless sitting manner. “Why act like you don’t care when you sit, if you’re going to actually hold back?” she asked.

“Because flopping down is fun, and helps give off an aura of calmness and lack of caring that can throw other people off,” he explained.

“I see.” She didn’t.

“So, the twig, what’s on it?”

Madison glared at him as he continued to incorrectly refer to the USB stick. “Are you really trying to goad me right now?’ she asked carefully. “’Cause I promise you, it’s not the time for jokes.”

Kean sat up straight, looking serious. “Why, what did you find?”

She shoved the laptop at him so that he could read it himself, but she summarized it verbally. “Raven had gotten word of an Institute base outside of Longhorne. He pinpointed the supposed location, and went to check it out. Whatever it was, he found something important.”

“How do you know?’ Kean asked, eyes flicking from left to right as he read the text file.

“Because he didn’t get to finish his report before the Institute’s agents came after him. He had to hide the stick before they got him.”

“So we don’t know where this place is?” he asked unhappily.

“No, we know where it is,” she said. “Thankfully. He included that as the first thing. But it cuts off midsentence when he begins to talk about what he found there. There’s no actual information to help us.”

Kean frowned.

“We’re going into the field again, are we?”

“Literally and figuratively,” she said.

He looked at her questioningly.

“The base is apparently set in the middle of a big field, surrounded by the forest, an hour or so north of Longhorne.”

Kean grinned. “Sweet, true field work.”

“Don’t get too excited,” she cautioned. “We have no idea what we’re going to find out there.” She pushed the laptop lid closed. “Grab your gear. We’ll leave when you’re ready.”

“Okay,” he said, remaining still.

Madison frowned. “Go get your gear.”

“I have all my gear,” he replied. “This is all that I have,” he said, gesturing at the white shirt, black tactical pants and brown boots he wore. “My Green Bearet uniform. Recruit, uniform,” he added lamely, gesturing to the markings on the sleeve of the shirt. He frowned. “Maybe I should buy new clothing at some point. This stuff is holding up well, but the underwear and socks aren’t dealing with daily washings all that well,” he said with a smile.

Madison just shook her head. “Maybe we’ll stop, get you something a little more...inconspicuous. White in the woods is…well, there’s a reason only troops in science-fiction movies wear white uniforms while operating in the woods.”

Kean frowned, obviously not getting the reference.

“What? Gah, you shifters need to get out more. Visit some forest moons or something. Seriously? You’ve never heard of the forest moon of End—”

Kean rolled his eyes and stood up, interrupting her. “No, I haven’t. Now, can we get going?”

Madison sighed, over-exaggerating it. “We’re going to have to fix that at some point. But you make a good point. Sporting goods store, then out to track down this base.”

Kean shook his head as he slipped on his boots and held the door open for her. “There’s no actual need to get me new clothing,” he told her.

“Uh, yeah. Remember, white, the forest moon of—?”

Kean’s finger pressed against her lips. “That’s enough. Stop trying to make lame jokes with very little material to work with, and start thinking. I know you’re excited that we have something to go on now, but think, Madison.”

They hurried down the forest path, her at a slight jog, Kean just striding along calmly next to her, matching her pace with ease.

“What am I thinking about?” she asked.

“This base, it’s in a field surrounded by forest, right?”

“Uh-huh,” she said, as if that part should have been obvious.

“Okay, and you have me,” he said, his voice mimicking hers, treating her as if she were a child who needed things explained extra simply. “And yet you’re worried I’ll stand out?”

“Little bit,” she said as they went down a small hill, her white SUV parked ahead of them. “You know, white uniform and all.”

“Madison,” Kean said firmly. “What am I?”

“Uhh, you’re one of the Koche brothers, a shifter from Cadia who—” Her voice died. “Oh, right. A shifter.”

Kean pantomimed roaring and flinging his arms around like they were paws. “Yeah, big ol’ bear, kinda looks normal in a forest. Remember that part?”

“Yeah yeah,” she said, hopping into the vehicle. “So I wasn’t thinking, okay?”

“Time to get your head in the game,” he said simply. “You’re going to send me out to do this reconnaissance for you.”

Her head snapped around to focus on him as he made it a statement of intent, not a debate.

“No,” she replied. “Absolutely not.”

He shrugged. “Maddy, I can cover more ground than you can. I can move faster than you can. I can blend in better than you can. I can see farther, and with more accuracy than you can. I also can identify various scents, which you can’t. In addition, if I do get caught, I have a two-thousand pound rampaging beast to get me out of trouble. You don’t.”

Kean returned her stare without flinching. “There is exactly zero reason why you should accompany me. I will do the recon, then give you the information. You make a decision from there.”

She began to shake her head, but he held up a finger. “It’s time to start trusting me, Maddy.”

Glaring at him didn’t seem to do anything. Kean just sat in the passenger seat, his back resting against the door as he stayed turned to face her. “Being angry over it isn’t going to make my points any less true. All it’s going to do is waste time. Time that Raven might not have.”

“That’s not fair,” she complained. “You can’t use that against me.”

Kean shrugged. “I’m not using it. You are. You’re refusing to trust that I can carry this out. But Maddy, you need to stop trying to micromanage everything. You need to let your subordinates, or in my case your peers, do their jobs. Jobs that they know how to do. You can’t be everywhere at once.”

She grimaced. He was right, of course. She was trying to do everything herself, and it was getting perilously close to disaster. In the wild woods, Kean would be able to do what was necessary far swifter and with greater accuracy than she could. He was right though; she didn’t like it, and didn’t want to accept it.

Which of course made it all the worse because he was right. Therefore Madison was wrong.

“Why do you keep calling me Maddy?” she asked, changing subjects.

“It seemed natural,” he said, as if that made all the sense in the world.

“Oh. I see.”

“Would you like me to stop?”

“No,” she whispered, punching the button to fire up the ignition. “Please don’t. I…I kinda like it.”

It was informal. Slang. Almost like a nickname. But the best part of it all was that it was friendly.

Maddy hadn’t had a friend in a long time. Friendship required trust, and she had that in short supply. Maybe she could learn to trust Kean though. That would be nice. She would like to have him as a…friend.

Yes, a friend. Just a friend. Who you make out with, and take your top off for. Friend is definitely the correct word for that sort of situation.

Definitely the right word.