"Mac." I sat up the book falling away from my chest. "Oh good your awake." Roland stood at the bottom of the bed looking at me. "I'm glad it was me that came to wake you and not the chief"

"Why?" I rubbed my face to wake up more.

"Because you're asleep in Tia's bed." I looked over at Tia as her eyes came open. She lay facing away from me cuddling Burt. She sat up and stroked Burt's head. "How did you get him to go to sleep while he was wound up?"

She looked at me and smiled. "I gave him a book to read. How far did you get Maverick?"

I frowned at her. She was flat when talking to Roland, but when she talked to me her voice was warmer.

"They met the Queen. You failed to mention this creature finding a human they have feelings for."

The smile touched her eyes for the first time and my heart warmed. "I didn't want to give away the plot."

I picked up the book and offered it back to her. She shook her head still giving me a very genuine smile. "You will have much time to finish it, most of what comes next is waiting. Now Roland I assume the builder is waiting for his check?"

Roland nodded giving me an odd look and heading back downstairs. I'm not surprised.. she was warm with him too! Because she's happy?

Tia swung her legs out of the bed and stood. "Why did you write this?"

She walked to a dresser and picked up a hairbrush. "That is my style before the cult. I started writing like that again a few years ago. The need to expose all the cults was gone. It's a great way to feel less alone. When you write a book like that you feel like you're there with them."

She finished brushing her hair and then turned to the stairs. "This is how you've made your money?"

She turned back smiling "Some of it." She glided down the stairs followed by Burt.

I stood walked to the wardrobe and opened it. Started pulling the riot gear out and lying on the bed. One set was mine and the other set was smaller made for a woman. It was Janna's old set. It still looked good.

Sitting on the bed I felt how hopeless this situation was. This is crazy! Plastic shields against bullets! There must be another way. "Maverick?" I looked up to see Tia standing at the top of the stairs. "You looked angry again."

"Not angry. Just trying to figure out if there's another way."

She came closer slowly. "I'd happily listen to anyone with a better idea."

She stopped in front of me and fingered the kit I'd laid out. "I don't have a better idea at the moment." I said.

"Then until you do we will stick to this one." I took her hand and she knelt next to me.

"Tia..." She pressed a finger to my lips hushing me.

Her face held a warmth to it I hadn't seen there before. She was smiling and there was something more.... but what I couldn't put my finger on.

Her mouth opened to say something but just then, Tobin sat up and Tia stood walking to his side as he whimpered. She picked him up and sat on his bed. "Hush Tobin you not awake yet." She stroked his head, rocking him back and forth.

I stood and started to put my gear on. When I turned I saw she was watching me with a small smile. Her eyes trailed up and down my body. "See something you like?" I struggled to make my tone light but she smiled anyway.

"Are you a toy now, ready for me to play with?"

"What?"

She laughed. "You called yourself a thing. I see someone I like." A very high-brow joke. I missed it but instead of mocking she explained. "Not funny?"

I looked at her. Tobin was awake now cuddled into her chest his thumb in his mouth. "It is funny.. I'm just not in the mood."

Her smile faded. "I understand." She stood and came over with Tobin. She sat down next to the gear laid out for her. She picked up the helmet and put it on Tobin's head. "Tobin, do you think Maverick needs a hug?"

Tobin nodded sliding off her lap and running to me. He wrapped his arms around my leg. I bent over him and he let me go, flinching slightly I knelt and hugged him. "Do you feel better now Maverick?" Tia asked.

"I do. Thank you, Tobin. Would you mind going to my brother and check he's wearing his kit properly?" I asked him patting his head.

Tobin nodded thumb still in his mouth, he took the helmet off handing it to me. Then he ran off down the stairs. "He's back to where he was."

Tia shook her head standing to take the helmet from me. "No. He will be quicker to come back to the way he was before he faced the truth."

"Did you know his mother was dead?"

She returned the helmet to the bed. "I suspected it."

"She was found in the same state as Edith." She nodded as if she knew that. "She wasn't killed by this group was she?"

"No."

Anger welled up in me. "You knew who may have killed Edith and this other woman?"

She looked at me face blank. "No." Her flat tone just fanned the flame of anger in me.

"Explain Tia!"

She took a step back. "My husband did that to people when he was betrayed by them, but he said he didn't kill Edith. He was probably responsible for Tobin's mother."

I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down. "I'm sorry Tia."

"Don't be. It's alright for you to be angry at me withholding information. Especially this information."

She's watching me closely to see if I am going to do anything I assume. "I'm not angry at you. I'm just..."

"You wound up about what's going to happen. With a small amount of apprehension over your previous injuries in the line of duty."

I frowned and walked over to her. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

I hugged her. "Read me."

She smiled and gave me a small kiss on my cheek. "You're a lot easier to read than most. You wear your emotions on your sleeve as they say. I like that about you."

I smiled at her. "Now I look like all the others I need to find the chief and make out like I'm leaving."

I put my helmet on and she lowered my visor. "I'll get myself ready for the next part."

She stepped back and I hesitated. "You want me to arrest you but you won't tell me what you're going to do."

"You need to be as surprised as the rest of them."

I sighed looking at the riot gear Tia would wear. I wonder if it will fit under her coat? I wonder if she will take the coat off? I looked at her standing there in that long cote and wondered what she looked like underneath.

She smiled at me and I could see she knew what I'd been thinking from the raised eyebrow and the way her smile broadened.

I quickly headed downstairs. I saw there were lots of men dressed like me milling around in the living room. When the chief saw me he raised his voice. "We are done here move out!"

The men started filing out of the house and I followed them. They gathered bags, and boxes into the vans and started climbing in. I stood outside the van packing the boxes in the back.

"Pigs!" I spun on the driveway to Tia's voice. "You come in here go through everything I own and don't even clean up! Your all fucking pigs!"

I couldn't hide my shock as she staggered on the porch a mostly empty whisky bottle in hand, but she had everyone's attention. Every officer out here stood looking at her.

The chief was also standing there with his mouth open. He shook it off quickly. "Go indoors and sober up Miss Frost."

"You won't listen to me pig! I told you that I'm in danger, I told you who I am." The chief took a step towards her then had to jump back when she threw a book at him. "I'm Gail Tue! Every..." At those words, three of the men near me started towards her weapons coming up. "Brainwashed..." She kept talking even as they advanced on her. "Moron that follows those inbred preachers of false gods, should be..." The men advancing on her were stopped by their colleagues and I marched up to her. "Strung up and..."

When I reached for the bottle I was truly shocked when she hit me with it. I grappled with her surprised by her strength. Finally, I was able to overpower her and she spat at me. It hit me on the visor.

The chief offered me cuffs and I cuffed her, wrestling her into the house. Inside, she stopped fighting me and I let go of her when the chief knocked the door shut with his foot. "What the bloody hell were..."

"Those men are cultists. I'm truly sorry for what I said." She wasn't staggering anymore or slurring.

"What the devil?" The chief said staring.

"I'm sorry chief I had to make it look good. So I decided a drunken display would cause you to cuff me and also let me go." I walked around her and undid the cuffs. "Did I hurt you Maverick?"

"No, you hit my padding only."

The door started to open and Tia swayed. I grabbed her as two more men came in. "Sir we are ready to go."

The chief nodded. "Give us a moment." Tia struggled against me again.

The two left and Roland came out from where he was hiding in the kitchen. "Ready?" The chief said to him. He nodded and put his visor down. "Tobin is in my car. I told him not to move until I told him. You're riding with me." Roland nodded and followed the chief out.

I let go of Tia and she staggered towards the door. "That's it fuck off!" She slammed the door and stood at the panel.

She entered the number and the shutters slid down into place.

She let out a relieved sigh. "Tia, what was that?"

She shook her head looking at the panel. "You don't think I acted like myself when I joined these cults did you?"

"A little bit yer?"

She turned to me. "Well, I didn't. I tried to make a persona that wouldn't stay long in that environment."

I couldn't help my smile. "You would be a perfect undercover cop."

"Not when I flinch every time someone I don't know flailed their arms about." She walked past me and upstairs.

Following her up I opened my mouth to talk but words died on my tongue. She had taken off the ever-present coat she wears, putting it to one side and I finally got a good look at the body I'd felt underneath it. She was slim but what curves she had were the work of years of walking through rough terrain.

She picked up some of the kit and started to strap it on. "Now who's staring." The amusement in her voice drew me to her side.

I took the chestpiece from her hands. She looked up at me with a small smile. After a moment of looking at her, I slipped the chest piece over her head. My hands moved to the straps and tightened them gently. "I can dress myself you know." Her voice was warm and amused.

"Why do you wear that coat all the time?"

She chuckled as I picked up the leg padding and knelt to strap them in place. "I don't like people looking at me like you just did."

I stood strapping the arm padding in place. "I don't think I'd like people looking at you like that either."

She laughed and when I looked her in the eye they were filled with life. The laughter had relit the fire in her more permanently, so her eyes didn't look dead any more.

"It's odd that you look so happy right now."

"I'm happy that this could be over soon, I'm happy you're here with me and I'm happy that you have my back." She put her coat on over the padding.

She started to do it up but I stopped her with a hand over her's. "The whole time I've known you you've been... flat in your emotions. Suddenly with everything that's going on now your... alive."

She smiled up at me. "I know what you're thinking but I'm not looking for an end. I'm just opening up to you, and like I said I might finally be free of these people."

Her eyes with life in them glittered with new light. It was breathtaking to witness life come back to someone who had been so devoid of it. I let go of her hands and she did her coat up. "So you're just happy?"

She nodded picking up her helmet. "Come on let's get to the basement and eat before they could turn up." She stood there in front of me waiting for me to move first.

Having her look so happy made me feel both happy and uncomfortable. I looked down into her smiling face a little longer before I took her hand and led her to the stairs. Once we got to where the door was for the basement, I smiled as I encountered the bookshelf that now hid the door. It was much like the others and had already been populated by the books that had been stacked in front of others, making the room look less messy.

Tia stepped forward took one of the books off the shelf and pressed the button that looked like a knot in the wood. She placed the book back as the shelf swung open a little She opened the metal door and I walked in.

I got to the bottom of the stairs and was surprised to see the extent of the work the builders had done. The space was smaller than before but not by much. The walls were covered in plasterboard and two beds were to one side of the room. The other side was a kitchen that had a full-size cooker, fridge freezer, worktop made of sheets of steel, and cupboards. I could even see a larder. They had even cleaned up after themselves as the floor was now wooden instead of concrete, and was clean. The beds were made and looked comfortable.

Tia joined me at the bottom of the stairs and I was shocked when she slid a barrier in place across the bottom of the staircase. It slid out of the wall and was a big metal thing with a sliding door in it at eye level.

"This is impressive."

Tia nodded as she walked to the kitchen. "The guy works wonders, of cause it cost me a lot to have so many men get it this far so quickly."

"Where's the screen?"

Tia flicked a switch in the kitchen and a screen came down from the ceiling. It was larger than it had been. It flickered on and the video skipped between each different view.

Tia turned from what she was making to see my reaction. "This is one of the reasons I'm happy. I feel a lot better about us holding out in here than I did before."

"So do I. It's a vast improvement and a lot more comfortable." I sat on one of the folding chairs watching the cameras.

After she was done she brought me a sandwich and some tea. She took her own and sat on the bed with a book. "You don't have to watch it. We have perimeter alarms."

I looked at her over my shoulder. She held her book in one hand and her teacup in the other. The pose looked well practised like she'd done it a lot over her life.

"So what do I do?"

She looked at me over her book. "You could sit there watching that screen slowly winding yourself up, or you could try to relax."

"Relax? We are waiting to have a shootout with a group of murderous cultists!"

She smiled. "You will give yourself a heart attack if you keep going like that." Again her voice was warm and her smile lit up her eyes with life.

What is it giving her that spark and why now? She's finally letting herself feel happy again and it's at a time she's likely to end up dead. There's something immensely sad about this. "Alright, you win."

I stood, carrying my food and drink to the other bed. Burt looked up at me from it. "Move over Burt." Burt grumbled and laid his head back.

"He says no find your own bed." I turned to Tia who was grinning while reading her book.

I walked around the other side of the bed she lay on and she moved her plate to her lap. "You two are conspiring against me."

"We might be." She looked amused as she read her book.

I sat next to her eating my sandwich in a grumpy silence. When I'd finished I watched the screen until Tia put a book on my lap. I looked over at her and she was still reading. Burt had rolled over so his back was facing us snoring. The book was the one she had let me read before. Now I had it again I was looking at the cover. It was a hand-drawn image and the book looked like it was bound with string. "Tia... did you make this book yourself?"

She lowered her book. "Yes, I found a book on bookbinding and tried it out. Then I printed off the pages I'd written and tried my hand at binding them. It took several tries."

Her words from before floated on the edge of my hearing. I have many interests. "I see... do you know much about plumbing?" I chuckled at her puzzled expression.

"I have read a few books on plumbing when my sink was blocked." That made me laugh. "Why would that make you laugh?"

"A conversation I had with Rolland. I think it's one of those you would have to have been there moments."

She smiled and shook her head at me. "I will have to ask him then." As she spoke she lifted her book again.

"You will probably get the same reaction."

I picked up the book and found the page I'd left off. "Then maybe when this is all over with you will share the joke."

"As long as you don't mind it being at your expense."

She looked at me from over her book a small smile on her lips. "One of those jokes then." I raised the book so she couldn't see me any more.

I fidgeted under her stare. She tutted and when I peaked over the book she was reading hers again with that same small smile. I looked back at the page I had been reading. Questions bubbled up in my mind as I stared at the words that meant nothing to me just then. After a while, the words drew me into the story and the world around me become less impotent.