Page 29 of Buck & Mari
That voice sounded familiar.
“Mari! You’re here!”
Buck sat back on the table’s edge, stretching out his legs before crossing one over the other.
The calm he’d managed to gain from the shooting simulation was gone in a moment.
He was on edge, listening intently.
“How is everything?” He heard the soft scrape of something against the counter beside Nani. An indignant meow told him it was likely the cat carrier. “What’s got everyone on edge?”
Nani’s voice was a little muffled when she spoke and Buck wondered if she’d put her hand over the bottom of the phone handset.
“There’s a… at the base.”
“Base?” More noise. “What base?”
“KBay.”
“What about Heath? Uh... Buck? Derringer?”
“He’s stuck at the base.” Nani’s voice wasn’t muffled anymore. “Oh! I have him on the phone. Excuse me.”
“Mister Derringer? Sorry! Mari and Ebi just came in and I… I forgot that you were still on the phone.”
“Not a problem, Nani. Thanks for calling to check on me.”
“I’ll let your therapist know that you’re unable to come in. Take care, okay?”
“Thanks. I will.”
“Okay. Oh! Would you like to reschedule? We have some open spots later in the afternoon.”
His mind was working overtime.
Buck looked up at the clock on the wall.
“What times?”
He listened while Nani went through a handful of times for a make-up appointment. When she was done, she paused. “But you probably don’t know when you’ll be able to get off the base.”
He nodded and replied out loud. “Yeah. Sorry. I can’t take up a spot. There’s no way to know when the lockdown will be lifted.”
Buck felt a rush of anger, impotent anger at that.
Being a man of action, sitting on the edge of a table waiting for someone else to neutralize danger felt like crap.
“Okay. Well, call us when you can get off of the base. We’ll try to fit you in.”
“Thanks. I will.”
Someone spoke near the phone, and he heard a bit of noise before he heard a new voice.
“Heath?”
He smiled and closed his eyes for a moment.
His emotions settling.
