Alien Redemption [Clans of Kalquor 06] (43 page)

Sletran shook his head slightly. “More. There have been twenty-two times I woke on the beach or the marketplace with no idea how I got there.”

The elder officer’s brows knit together. “Did you ever wake with blood or injury on your body?”

“No.” Sletran pursed his lips and amended his answer. “Well, small scratches and bruises, but nothing of real note.”

Breft said, “You were on New Bethlehem.”

Something eased in Sletran’s face. “You know. Yes. It was my order that resulted in the massacre.”

Breft looked at him in silence for a moment, considering. Then he turned to Erybet. His tone apologetic, he said, “I'm sorry, Dramok. Unless you can account for your Nobek's whereabouts during his blackouts, I have no choice but to arrest him for suspicion of the Matara murders here on Kalquor.”

A muscle twitched in Erybet’s jaw, but otherwise he showed no reaction. “He will go with you peaceably.”

A big gorilla of an officer pulled a pair of cuffs from his belt. Rachel had a vision of that huge, dreadlocked Nobek beating on a helpless Sletran and couldn’t hold back. She jerked free of a silently weeping Conyod and threw herself between the officers and Sletran.

“No! Leave him alone!”

Sletran’s hands cupped her shoulders and rubbed reassuringly. “Ray-Ray, it's all right.”

In her panic, Rachel’s speech jumped back and forth between Kalquorian and English. She ranted at the officer in charge. “He no hurt Mataras. I know he's innocent. You no hurt Sletran!”

Breft held out a hand, indicating to the dreadlocked officer to wait. He needn’t have bothered. The huge man had halted the instant Rachel had jumped in front of Sletran. He actually looked at her with compassion, as if someone so big and scary could actually feel sorry for her fright.

“Hold a moment, Raxstad.” Breft looked to Erybet. “If I may speak to her, Dramok? I have an Earther Matara of my own, and I know how upset she’d be in her place.”

Erybet nodded, for all the good it did. Rachel wouldn’t let them take her Nobek to be tortured without a fight no matter what any of them said.

Breft got down on one knee before her, letting her look down on him in a pose so nonthreatening that she calmed a little bit. His voice gentle, the officer said, “Matara, as long as Sletran doesn't resist, we have no cause to harm him.”

Tears were beginning to spill once again, but Rachel paid them no heed. Let them imagine she was weak. They would be surprised.

She yelled at him, “You lie! You'll torture him to make him confess things he didn’t do!

You'll beat him to make him say what you want to hear! I know what you cops do!”

Conyod said quietly, “She was in prison on Earth. Her experience doesn’t give her much ability to trust law enforcement.”

Breft winced. “I see. Then I will be completely honest with you, Matara Ray-Ray. Our methods of interrogation can be extreme, but only when the subject resists reasonable means and is found mentally stable. Sletran will be questioned, analyzed, hypnotized, and injected with truth-telling compounds in an effort to get to the facts. Other methods are of last resort.”

Sletran murmured, “Ray-Ray, I can't go on like this. I want to know whether or not I'm guilty.”

Her fists clenched. “You aren't! I know you're not!”

Breft leaned forward, looking her in the eye. “Ray-Ray, my first priority is to keep Mataras unharmed physically and even emotionally when I am able. My dedication to those principles includes you. That means in order to keep from hurting you in any way, I cannot harm Sletran nor allow him to be harmed while he is in my custody.”

Erybet reached to rub his thumb over her cheek, erasing her tears. “It will be all right, my Matara. I would not let them take him without a fight if I thought he was in danger.”

Breft added, “You can trust me with Sletran’s wellbeing. I swear it to you.”

She looked up at Erybet. “There’s no other way?”

He shook his head slowly. “If Sletran is innocent, they will discover it. This is the best way to establish that once and for all.”

She turned to face Sletran and sagged against him, sobbing into his chest. His hands stroked her short curls and he pressed his lips to the top of her head. “I have to do this, my love. As your Nobek, your safety means more than my life. If I am the monster who has been killing all those women–”

Rachel pushed against his chest, making a sound of protest. He cupped her face in his hands to make her look him in the eye. “No Ray-Ray, listen to me. You have to let me go. You have to let me protect my Matara.” He kissed her with passion, unmindful of the strangers in the room. “You have given me a reason to hope again. To live again. Let me see this through to the end.”

Rachel didn’t want to. Everything in her screamed to hold onto Sletran, to keep the officers from taking him. But he wanted to go. Even if it meant torture, she could tell her Nobek wanted to settle the matter once and for all.

Erupting into fresh sobs, she nodded. Reluctantly, she allowed Conyod and Erybet to pull her away.

Breft was on his feet once more and nodded to the biggest officer. Raxstad bowed to Rachel before approaching Sletran once more with the handcuffs. “Nobek, lie on the floor face down with your arms behind you.”

Sletran did as he was told. Rachel had to turn away when Raxstad and the other Nobek named Lidon held him helpless, one man’s knee between Sletran’s shoulder blades and the other’s knee planted against his lower back. She buried her face against her Dramok and Imdiko, holding fistfuls of their formsuits in her grip.

Erybet’s chest rumbled against her ear. “Where shall we go?”

Breft said, “Global Security's main headquarters. You can follow us there. I'll com ahead for your docking and visiting clearance.”

“Thank you.”

Rachel dared to look back when Raxstad said, “Get your knees up under you, Sletran. There you are.” He and Lidon helped the now cuffed Sletran to his feet.

Rachel knew their solicitude was probably for her benefit, that they’d never treat a suspected murderer with such politeness. She hoped it wasn’t window dressing that would fall into brutality the instant they had Sletran out of her sight.

Raxstad and Lidon began to lead Sletran away. The limping Nobek looked at her as they went to the door and said, “'The greatest measure of a man is how he is loved by others.' If your love is any indication, perhaps your Nobek will be soon returned to you.”

Sletran also looked at her as he entered the transport. He smiled at her encouragingly. Breft bowed to her and got in the transport with the rest.

“We ask you to hurry to the dock so we can be on our way.”

With that, the door closed, shutting off Rachel’s view of her still smiling Sletran. Her legs shook beneath her, threatening to spill her to the floor.

Before she could fall in her agony, Erybet picked her up and sped her to the sleeping room.

Conyod was right behind him and opened the closet, grabbing a dress while Erybet flung off her robe.

“Let’s get you dressed quickly, Ray-Ray. I don’t want them leaving without us.”

She never spared a second for her hair or worrying about how bed-rumpled she might look.

In seconds, she had the dress on and was shoving her feet into a pair of slippers. Her chest felt as if it yawned wide, a big empty hole planted in the middle of it. She knew she wouldn't feel right until she saw Sletran again, safe and unharmed.

* * * *

Upon reaching Global Security’s headquarters, Breft led Erybet, Conyod, and Rachel to his office while the other two officers took Sletran to be processed. What Rachel saw of Global Security was clean, utilitarian hallways and offices, with mostly Nobek men to-ing and fro-ing with purpose. They carried themselves with pride, and almost no one dawdled for gossip as far as she could see. Every one of the officers dipped their heads to her in quick respect as they passed by.

It was still a police station, for all intents and purposes. Just before they reached Breft’s office, the hallway they traveled opened up into a large space. There, five officers had three men held helpless in hovercuffs on their wrists and ankles. Everyone in that group including the officers looked battered, as if they’d either been in a crash or one hell of a fight. Rachel was betting on the fight option. The captured men’s wrists were connected behind their backs, and their feet hovered several inches off the floor. They all stood at a long desk where, from Rachel’s limited knowledge of Kalquorian, she discerned their personal information was gathered and inputted into computers.

It looked nothing like the police station in which Rachel had been booked, processed, and scanned, but she knew this was the alien version of that. The small hairs on the back of her neck rose.

She remained on edge until they reached Breft’s office. Though she could still see

‘booking’ or whatever they called it here, Breft’s private workspace was not quite as intimidating as the rest of the place. The clear surface of his desk was tidy. Only the flat rectangle of a computer lay there. Over it floated a vid covered with the hieroglyphics that served as the Kalquorian written language. Raised seats, six of them, were arranged in a semi-circle on one side of the desk, while a hover chair floated on the other. A padded bench lined one wall. Vids directly behind Breft’s chair showed numerous shield-like icons with inscriptions floating over them. Rachel guessed they might be awards and commendations.

She glanced at a painting – a real painting and not a vid – hanging on the wall to her right as she settled in one of the chairs between Conyod and Erybet. It showed a forest with rainbow-hued leaves. A tree on one side had a rope or cord or something of the sort tied to it. The painting was gorgeous, almost lifelike enough that Rachel felt she could step into it. It also seemed fraught with hidden meaning. Rachel’s eyes kept going to that rope, one end trailing across the soft soiled forest floor and knotted into a loop. She wondered what, or who, had been tied to the tree.

Even more interesting to her was the vid still photo on the wall to her left. A gorgeous redhead smiled from the portrait, and she held two children on her lap. A boy and girl, looking to be the same age of perhaps two or three years, laughed at whoever had taken the picture.

Their glossy curls were dark with auburn highlights, and their eyes were pure Kalquorian purple in their bronze faces.

Rachel wondered how the children she might have with her clan would look. She wondered if Sletran would have the chance to be the father of those children, or if he’d be locked away from her forever.

She asked Breft, who had settled into his hover chair, “Your family?”

He looked at the vid, and his tight expression softened. “Yes. I am very fortunate with my Matara and children. They are wonderful.”

The hint of a smile that played around his lips made Rachel feel a little better about him. He didn’t seem like someone who would torture a person just to hear them scream.

He turned back to them and his demeanor was that of polite business. “Let's talk about what's going to happen at this point. Maybe it will set your minds at ease.”

Erybet drew a shuddering breath. “Thank you. I appreciate the kindness.”

“Not at all.” Breft eyed him carefully. “You and Sletran have been my prime suspects for a few days now. Much of the evidence we've found points to your clan.” He looked over at Conyod. “Imdiko, when was the last time Sletran was around your family's home or your stables?”

Conyod started at the question. “Four days ago. Why?”

“The last Matara we found, the one on the beach, had kestarsh hairs on her. That was three days ago.”

Conyod’s face went pale as death, and for an instant, Rachel thought he might faint. She jumped to her feet. “No!” English failed her at that point, leaving her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. She was forced to speak in halting Kalquorian. “Sletran no do it!”

Erybet and Conyod both stood and put their arms around her. They gently forced her to sit back down.

While Conyod petted her and murmured soft reassurances, Erybet flicked his gaze towards Breft. “My apologies, Officer.” He sounded anything but apologetic.

Breft sighed unhappily. “None are required. This is upsetting news, and I expect for you all to have emotional reactions.”

He bowed his head and considered. “We’re going to run DNA tests on Sletran. We have the killer’s profile, but nothing to match it to. Doing all this will take a few hours. Meanwhile, we are going to keep his arrest as quiet as possible for as long as we can. Suspicion Sletran could be the killer would incite some to make an attempt on his life. If his involvement in the New Bethlehem matter comes to light, we could have a full-scale riot on our hands.”

Erybet said, “He wants it made public. He wants Kalquor to know he gave the command.”

Breft shook his head. “You know he will likely be killed, no matter how well we guard him.

Even if DNA results exonerate him of the murders here, there are still too many who want justice for those women and children on New Bethlehem.”

Erybet rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. To Rachel, he looked like he’d suddenly aged ten years. “I know his involvement going public will get him attacked. The secrecy is destroying him though. Me too, though not quite as fast or as spectacularly.” He sighed. “After all, I gave him the go ahead to destroy that building. I'm as much to blame as he is. We must tell our story.”

“You'll be courtmartialed you know. You are under orders.”

The Dramok snorted. “That is the least of my worries.” Dismissing Breft, he turned to Rachel and Conyod. “You were right, my Imdiko. About everything. I'm sorry, Ray-Ray. I shouldn't have clanned you. You didn’t deserve to be dragged into this.”

Conyod’s arm lay across Rachel’s shoulders. It lifted slightly as he reached to squeeze Erybet’s arm. Rachel took the Dramok’s hand and she squeezed too. English was still getting stuck in her throat, so she told him in Kalquorian, “You are good man. You do what is right. I am proud to be your Matara.”