She grinned at his play. “Yes, you do, honey.”

He plucked at his front breast pocket. “I have to say though that I’ve only dreamed about getting men out of one of these. Never once did I consider how to put one on.” He made a face at her. “However, I now totally understand that warrior gait they all have.”

“How so?”

He reached around and tugged at his pant leg. “This stiff fabric crawls into dark places it shouldn’t… if you know what I mean, and after our thong conversation a few weeks ago, I know that you do. Dreadful really. I don’t comprehend how they stand it and fight. Then again, it’s probably what incites them. Nothing about this drab uniform is comfortable. I would fight, too, if forced to wear it. If for no other reason than to get my butt out of it.” He gestured to the blaster at his side. “And this thing only shoots light beams. I was afraid to even attempt to grab a real one. My luck, I’d blow off my leg. Or at least a toe. Probably the one I need for balance. Or worse yet, another part of my anatomy that I’d miss even more.”

She laughed again at his dissertation. He carried on in a way that strangely reminded her of Annalise. But in his borrowed uniform, no one would ever guess that he was gay. Not that many people ever did. It was actually quite comical to watch women come on to him in his restaurant.

“Just look like your normal self and you’ll be fine… but don’t reach for the toy.”

Ture put the safety strap over the toy blaster. “I will do my best for you. Now, what exactly are we doing?”

“The impossible.”

“Good.” He wrinkled his nose. “I haven’t done that in a while. I can definitely use an exercise in futility. How considerate of you to think of me.”

She let out an amused “heh” at him. “By the way, if we live through this, there’s someone I have to introduce you to.”

Ture cocked one haughty eyebrow. “If he’s your delicious, but highly insane lover, I think I’ll pass. I so don’t want to deal with that kind of drama. Thank you very much.”

“Not Darling. You would like him though, I promise.”

He made a noise of profound disagreement.

Biting her lip, she debated the sanity of doing this… again. The last few days had been agonizing as she went back and forth on whether or not she should even think about attempting to contact her soldiers who seemed hell-bent on ending their world.

Talk about insanity… Whoever their new leader was, he wasn’t thinking clearly. And he definitely hadn’t considered the repercussions for his actions.

You can’t run now, Z. You’re doing this for Darling.

She couldn’t let herself forget that.

Please, let this work. She didn’t know of another way out.

With a breath for courage, she led Ture away from the restaurant’s ruins and down three blocks until she reached the “secret” entrance for the Resistance offices. To an outside observer, it appeared to be a law office. And there were actually lawyers who subleased offices from them. But if you went to the back lifts from the street level, and punched in the right code, it would take you deep into the basement where they worked.