***
“Shit!”
Georgianna leapt away from the shattered glass as it bounced across the floor. Sitting on the side of the bed, she groaned and flopped backwards.
Keiran grinned as he leaned over, picking up another wheat beer and dangling it over her head. She glanced at him and reluctantly accepted it.
“The drink ain’t gonna calm you down if you keep throwing it around like that,” Wrench said, swigging a mouthful of his own beer.
“I don’t want to calm down.”
“Well, can you throw empty bottles instead?” Keiran asked, patting her on the head. “Some of us might still want to drink those.”
“He won’t help!” she screeched, launching herself back up off the bed. Placing the new bottle down, she crouched in the middle of the small shack and began gathering up the bigger shards of glass.
“We hear you, girl. The marshall’s a bastard.”
The glance Keiran threw in Wrench’s direction at his words was surprised but thoughtful.
“He’s one of our own. We should be helping,” he added.
Georgianna placed the shards of glass on the upturned crate next to the bed. She stared down at the men lounging on the bed, and frowned. Them saying that Beck was being unreasonable was all well and good, but unless they could find a way to convince the marshall to change his mind, they wouldn’t be able to do anything. Even freeing Nyah was looking less likely. Would she be willing to leave without the Belsa held with her?
“Look, Casey not being on side is a setback, but it wasn’t like he was all giddy to help in the first place,” Keiran said dismissively.
“We only have one absorber.”
“So we find another one,” Keiran answered.
“It’ll take longer.”
“Move faster,” Wrench replied.
Georgianna wasn’t sure that they were taking her seriously. How was it that they weren’t more worried? Their plan had just fallen flat. Beck refusing to help had devastated her. She’d been so sure that he would say yes, that he would be keen to save a Belsa, one of his own. She couldn’t go back to Nyah and say that they couldn’t help the unknown man.
Wrench and Keiran had debated the identity of the Belsa, but they’d lost so many, both to the compound and the ground, that names and fates became muddled together.
“Who will I get to help Taye?” she asked finally.
“Are we not good enough anymore?” Keiran asked.
“Beck said I couldn’t drag any Belsa into it.”
Keiran and Wrench exchanged an amused glance.
“Good thing we offered then, isn’t it?”