Surviving Demon Island Part 19

She rolled her eyes and laughed, pus.h.i.+ng at his chest. 'Dumba.s.s.'

The high color on her cheeks made him feel better. h.e.l.l, he felt pretty d.a.m.n good.

But now they had to get back to business. Reconfigure the UV weaponry, give Lou a report on the battle with the demons, and figure out what happened with the other hunters.

Playtime was over. Back to business.

Back to demon hunting.

Too bad he and Gina didn't live in another world, another place where demons didn't exist, where they could have a normal relations.h.i.+p.

Whatever normal was. He'd like to explore a normal life sometime. He hadn't had normal since before Nic disappeared.

Only interludes of it. Like last night.

'Back to work, then,' he said.

'I guess so,' she replied with a reluctant sigh, slinging her rifle over her shoulder and turning to leave the cave.

He grabbed her then, taking in her gasp with his mouth over hers, kissing her deeply, with a longing that surprised the h.e.l.l out of him.

Then he let her go, not sure why he'd done that, knowing d.a.m.n well he shouldn't have. He didn't do emotional s.h.i.+t like that.

But Gina smiled, licked her bottom lip, and nodded, then climbed out of the cave.

Yeah, she understood.

Chapter Fifteen.

W hile Derek was busy giving Lou a report on their failure with the UV weaponry last night, Gina took the opportunity to shower and change clothes. On her way back, she ran into Jake sitting on a secluded shady hill overlooking the beach, furiously scribbling on a notepad. hile Derek was busy giving Lou a report on their failure with the UV weaponry last night, Gina took the opportunity to shower and change clothes. On her way back, she ran into Jake sitting on a secluded shady hill overlooking the beach, furiously scribbling on a notepad.

'What are you doing?' she asked, grabbing a spot on the ground next to him.

He glanced at her, then s.h.i.+fted back to his notepad. 'Taking notes.'

'Obviously,' she said with a smile. 'What kind of notes?'

'Laser notes.'

'We had trouble with the UV last night.'

'I know. I heard Derek telling Lou. That's why I'm making notes.'

She peered over his shoulder to see a few drawings and complex formulas that made absolutely no sense. 'So what is that?'

'It's an idea I have about reconfiguring the lasers.'

'Really? In what way?'

'Make a cutting tool out of the lasers instead of a flash weapon. I have the equipment here to do that. Just need some of Lou's weaponry.'

'A cutting tool?'

He looked up at her again. 'Slice and dice. Cut the demons in half.'

'Yuck. But oooh, I like the sound of that.' It would sure take care of the problem they'd encountered last night. 'How long would it take to build the weapon?'

'Doesn't take any time at all. Just a matter of sending the laser through the mechanism, and the mechanism is easy. The key is whether or not Lou will let me build and try one.'

'I don't see why he wouldn't. Have you talked to him about it?'

'No.'

'Why not?'

'He might say no.'

She rolled her eyes. 'He might say yes. You need to tell him your idea.'

'We'll see.'

Geniuses. She'd never understand them. 'Jake, are you afraid to make the suggestion to Lou?'

'I don't do people very well,' he mumbled, his hair falling over his face.

Shy. The kid was shy. That was kind of cute. 'Would you like me to go with you?'

He jerked his head up, flipping his hair out of the way. 'You'd do that?'

'Sure. I think your idea has merit. Let's see what Lou says.'

'And you can create this laser cutting machine in a day?'

Jake shrugged, pus.h.i.+ng his hair out of his eyes again. 'Yeah. Pretty much. I mean it's easy enough if I have the right tools, and I can create the remote controller easily. I can build it in a day, sure.'

Lou looked over at her, lifting his brows and nodding. 'Interesting.'

'That means we lose weaponry,' Derek said. 'Not sure I like the idea.'

'Only need a couple of the weapons,' Jake said, jamming his hands in his pockets.

'I think it's a fabulous idea,' Gina said. 'And given that the UV light weapons didn't work for us last night, it's worth a try.'

'They didn't work for anyone,' Lou added. 'We're reconfiguring them now. But still, I like your idea, Jake. I do agree with Derek that we can't really afford a shortage of weaponry, but if it's only two, then go for it.'

'Excellent!' Gina was excited about this. 'You need any help, Jake?'

Jake looked at her, wide-eyed. 'Uh, yeah, if you want to.'

'I'd love to be involved in this, to see how you build it and to help you with the testing phase. h.e.l.l, I want to watch you kill demons with it.'

'I'll bet you like those robot war shows on television,' Derek said to her.

'As a matter of fact, I do.'

Derek laughed. 'You two go enjoy yourselves, then.'

She did. Thoroughly. Building something with her hands wasn't something she often got to do. Jake really involved her in the process, and while she didn't understand everything, because G.o.d knows the kid was light-years ahead of her, she had a fundamental understanding of what he was doing. They worked all that day and into the night. Gina even got to stay behind as one of the guards for Lou while everyone else went out hunting. Gina and Dalton stood guard mostly while Jake worked, but she watched Jake.

He was fast. Scary fast. The remote control part she understood, but the whole laser array was out of her realm of understanding. She tried to ask him questions, but he might as well have been speaking Klingon to her.

When she wasn't watching Jake, she was watching Lou track demons and hunter activity. Derek and the others had managed to rerig the UV laser array, broadening and expanding the field. Of course it tested out as a stronger kill, but the only true test would be tonight. Gina had been torn between hanging out with Jake while he built the cutting laser and heading into the jungle to test the reconfigured UV weapon.

In the end, her geeky curiosity over the laser had won out. Derek didn't seem to mind, just shrugged and reworked the teams for tonight. He was probably happy not to have to drag her along with him.

Okay, so she hoped he missed her. A little.

Give it up, Gina. Other than s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g you, he's primarily interested in hunting demons. You're not his girlfriend or any permanent attachment in his life. You're a fellow demon hunter and occasional s.e.x partner. So get over yourself.

To keep from obsessing about it, she turned to Lou. 'How are they doing out there?'

'Holding on. All teams are engaged.' He looked up at her. 'That's all I can really tell you right now.'

'Thanks.' So no word yet on how the adjusted weaponry would work.

'I think the laser's ready for a quick test,' Jake said.

'Seriously?'

'Yeah.'

Gina looked to Lou. 'Be my guest.'

'What's the range, Jake?'

'Close is best. Say twenty-five feet.'

Gina scanned the area lit by torches. 'How about that tree limb right at the entrance to the jungle? That's about twenty-five feet.'

'It'll do.' He took the remote, which looked a lot like one of the devices used to manipulate a radio-controlled toy. After a quick flip of a side switch, the device lit up and began a soft whirring noise.

'It's supposed to do that, right?' she asked.

'Yeah. Don't worry.'

She had been the recipient of too many high school chemistry cla.s.s experiments gone wrong to believe that one. 'Uh, I'll try. I'll just a.s.sume you know what you're doing.'

He laughed. 'Just step a little behind me in case this thing explodes.'

He didn't have to say that twice. She moved back and held her breath while he aimed the handheld remote laser pointer in the direction of the branch attachment to the trunk. Once he had it in position, he pressed the b.u.t.ton on the remote and a bright flash of light cut across the limb. It flamed for a second, then fell off the tree and crashed to the ground.

'Yes!' Gina jumped up in the air and threw her arms around Jake. 'It works! It works!'

When she pulled back, Jake had turned beet red, but had the widest grin she'd ever seen. Gina pivoted and turned to Lou. 'Did you see it?'

Lou was smiling. 'I did. Well done, Jake. A very useful weapon.'

'Thanks.'

She couldn't wait for them to try it out.

Derek wasn't in the mood to argue.

And obviously Gina wasn't in the mood to see reason.

'You don't fight on Jake's team. You fight on mine,' Derek said the next night when it was time to get ready.

'I understand that,' Gina argued. 'But I've been helping Jake since the inception of the laser. I would think you'd make allowances just this once. I want to go with him when he test-fires this thing.'

'And he needs to be with experienced hunters who can back him up.'

She blew out a breath of frustration. 'Then put another hunter with us. Put two. You can go, too. I don't care. I just want to be there.'

They stood on the beach face-to-face like Old West gunfighters preparing to draw. The other hunters were waiting, their rifles poised over their shoulders.

'Just keep things the way they are.'

'I'm going with Jake.'

'No, you're not.'

'Yeah, I am. What are you going to do, shackle me to your ankle and drag me along with you into the jungle?'

'Don't make this difficult, Gina. It's important you understand one thing. I'm in charge of the hunters. I know what's best for all the teams. And your job as a hunter is to take direction from me. You're with me and Linc and Ryder tonight, and that's the way it is.'

'This is important to me. I need to go with Jake. I want to be there.'

He heard the silent plea in her voice, knew she was asking him based on their personal relations.h.i.+p.