Insatiable (10 page)

“Safe travels and good tidings on your upcoming nuptials.”

Carina choked out a thanks as Daniel steered her up the steps to the entrance to the passenger berths.

She’d held up well, but the strain was beginning to show on her features. Funny thing was, it made her look far more like a regular citizen of the Imperium than she did before. Most of the people he encountered had tired eyes and an air of sadness around them.

“Here we are.” He slid the key card through the slot next to their door, and it blinked green. It wasn’t a large room, but it would serve their purpose. He hoped.

“Why don’t you rest? It’ll be some time before we arrive, and you need to sleep.”

With wide, startled eyes, she looked up at him from where she’d curled up on the small bed. They shimmered with unshed tears, and her mouth had that wobble Abbie’s did when she tried not to cry. Carina looked about one more upset away from weeping, but she held up. He had to give it to her, she held up.

“I don’t know that I can sleep right now. I feel tired, but my mind is racing.”

Something tugged deep in his belly. He knew she must have been devastated, but he was not her nursemaid. He didn’t know how to be, and he wasn’t sure if it would send her rocketing over the edge she was already perilously balanced on.

Usually he came in, grabbed the information or took out the target and got out. He rarely worked with people other than contacts or operatives. This was different.
She
was different. He felt for her, admired her even though he kept telling himself to stop thinking about her at all. She shook him, and he could not afford to feel sorry for her.

She was the enemy until proven otherwise, though he trusted his gut, and his gut told him she was not going to play him false. He wasn’t going to take any chances until he knew more.

He bustled around, trying not to look at her again. Talking to her to pass the time and, he told himself, to keep her calm. She made a small sound, and he turned, unable to ignore her any further.

He looked. And found himself ensnared.

She was so small there, lost. Every part of him wanted to go to her, gather her up and make everything all right. Since that was utterly out of the question, not to mention totally unprofessional, he found himself trying to make her smile. “If you won’t sleep, at least you can eat. Once we get started, I’ll get us some food and something to drink. Are you all right until then? I have some dried fruit in my pack if you need something.”

She blinked. A combination of surprise to be roused from whatever she’d been thinking of and also to clear the tears she’d tried to hide from him. He was torn between handing her a kerchief and pretending not to see it. He was transported back to seventeen standard years old, the first time he’d seen Mariella, the first girl who’d truly stolen his breath.

But he wasn’t that boy, and Carina Fardelle wasn’t some innocent merchant’s daughter either. Though reminding himself of this point wasn’t enough to make him look away from her.

She sat up, tucking her feet beneath her, and it made her look small, something she wasn’t. Fragile even. “I can wait. Thank you. For everything. I know you’re risking your life for me.”

The tug in his belly told him they’d begun the first leg of the trip, passing through the first portal to the next ’Verse. Thank the gods he had something else to do now.

“Comes with the territory. It’s my job. And if you have what you’re supposed to have, you’re risking your life, too.”

She swallowed hard and nodded. “All you have is my word that I do. But we’ve helped you before, so that has to be enough.”

“Fair enough. We can talk more about it later. Are you tired?” Gods, what was he doing repeating himself like a half-wit? She was
his job
! Why was he petting her and asking after her this way?

She exhaled softly, squaring her shoulders. “I don’t know what I am.”

“I have something to help you sleep, if you like.” He told himself he offered because if she slept deeply she’d be easier to control and keep track of as he sat across from her on his bunk.

All that went out of his head when he took in how miserable she looked. “I know this is hard. Leaving your mother behind. But she did this for you. She’s making a sacrifice not only for you but for everyone across the Known Universes. It doesn’t make it easier, I’m sure. But not all parents are as caring as your mother. She’s doing the right thing, as are you. It’s very brave.”

She nodded, blinking quickly to keep the tears back, and he found himself wanting to touch her, to reassure her. Instead, he pushed to his feet and busied himself setting up a few internal alarms in the small room. He needed to work, even just busywork, to keep from his imaginings about her.

With his back to her, he made sure he had his alarm keys and that all his weapons were in place before turning to face her again. “I’ll be back shortly with something to eat, and then you need to rest. Don’t leave the room. Don’t answer the door. If anyone tries to force inside, pull this here.” He pointed to a small string near the doorway. “It’s an alarm, and I’ll come running. Understand?”

Pale, she appeared to have reined in her upset, but it edged all around her.

“I understand.”

“Do you know how to use any weapons at all?”

Her fear morphed into annoyance, and he relaxed. Maybe if he kept her annoyed, he could avoid tears.

“Of course I do. You know what I am, who I am. I’ve been trained extensively since I was very young. Knives and blasters. I’ve got some hand-to-hand experience. If I’m attacked here in this space, a blaster would be useless. Have an extra blade?” She cocked her head in his direction.

Quickly, he pulled a blade from his ankle and handed it to her, still in the sheath. “Here. Don’t cut yourself.”

He left before he found himself wiping the tears off her face or singing her a lullaby. He didn’t stop his smile at her annoyed huff.

 

 

S
he ate the modest meal he brought back and tried not to think beyond that moment. Everything felt wrong, like she was in clothing that didn’t fit. She looked down and realized that was partially true.

Daniel sat on the bunk across from hers and ate efficiently, like it was an assignment, too. She wondered if he ever let go. His go-to personality so far had been an efficient annoyance. And while that was comforting to a certain extent, did he just turn everything else off when he worked? Was he always this way? Did he get mad? Did he laugh? What was he like when he wasn’t on a job?

Once he finished shoveling all that food into his mouth, he wiped his lips and took a deep breath. “I’m going to get some rest. I sleep lightly enough, so please don’t worry about your safety.” He told her this as he moved his cot to block the door. “They’ll have to go through me to get to you. That won’t happen.”

He reached into a pocket and handed her a pill. “To help you sleep. Let go and let me do the worrying.”

Consternation rippled through her. Why did he have to be so nice just when she’d worked up all that annoyance at him for being so aloof? At least it kept the tears away, and maybe he planned it that way.

She took it from his palm and swallowed before she could overthink it. She needed to trust him, and he was right; rest would be integral if she meant to keep her wits about her.

He turned and stripped out of his shirt, boots and pants. Well, now she hoped the pill didn’t work too fast, because this would be too good to miss. Until he stopped at his undershirt and long underwear.

Was he really going to just stop at that? Stingy. Probably just to spite her. She might have felt a little better if she caught sight of the beauty of his body. Not that she’d been thinking of the glimpse she’d received earlier that day. Constantly.

With a stifled laugh, she finished her meal, though it tasted like nothing. She shoved the energy into her body and carefully put the wrappings into the refuse chute.

He burrowed under a blanket and turned his back to her, facing the door. She’d seen how he tucked a weapon next to the cot and still wore a knife or two. Her fear lessened enough that she didn’t feel like clenching her fists every moment.

“You should sleep, Rina,” he murmured, using her fake name. “You’ll need the energy, and we have a long way to go yet.”

She sat heavily, managing to toe her boots off and slide beneath the blankets. She left her clothes on for warmth and a sense of control. The pill began to work, edging away her angst and bringing weight to her limbs. She let go, trusting him to stand between her and any threat that came at her.

Just knowing that warmed her and let her accept the sleep she needed so much.

D
aniel came awake as the static on the frequency he’d been monitoring cut out and terse orders began to filter through. He got dressed quickly and moved the cot closer to hers. He set more alarms and eased himself out into the hall, listening carefully. He hated to leave her, but she was resting, and it was safer to go alone.

The transport’s hum had lessened, and Daniel knew they’d entered the outermost edge of the portal, preparing to arrive in the destination ’Verse. At the end of their hallway, he slipped into a communications room, the kind used by traveling businesspeople to keep up with comms from home without the high cost of a personal comm capable of cross-’Verse transmissions.

Though Daniel had such a personal comm, he needed to access the transport’s communications system to tap into the locked channels. He could do so at this node. A quick jamming of the door panel and some magic with one of his electronic toys, and he was in. The orders on the less secured channel were exactly what he thought, a minor shadow of what the secure channel held. Carina’s absence had been reported, and every ship stopping at every portal was to be boarded.

Accessing the evacuation routes noted in a ship’s map, Daniel managed to plot out three ways to get off the transport should they run into trouble. And hoped for the best. He’d figured a higher troop presence into his original plans. He’d expect Fardelle to send troops out to search transports and most likely a total sweep of all buildings in Caelinus. The time they had before they’d discovered her missing gave him an edge, got them farther out. The area Fardelle would have to search would be so great it wouldn’t be possible, especially early on, to thoroughly search every transport. It didn’t solve all their problems, but it gave them more room to avoid detection. He needed to explain to her that it would be far more dangerous from that moment on.

He arranged for several contingencies via coded message to his team, undid his work and quickly returned to their berth.

For the second time in as many days, Carina found herself awakened by Daniel standing above her, his fingers against her lips. Once she relaxed, he leaned down to whisper in her ear.

“We’re nearly finished with the arrival process. Within a short time, they’ll make the announcement that we’ve arrived in Philos. We’ll be exiting here. Imperium troops are waiting at the decks to enter the other end of the ship.”

The transport’s captain announced their arrival as fear flushed through her system, leaving her woozy. She willed herself to get up, and she did it, scrambling to get into her boots.

He already held her pack, which she took without a word.

“Do you still have the weapon?”

A quick check in her bag confirmed that she did, so she nodded.

He took her hand and squeezed it, the harsh mask he wore softened. “Focus on details. On the small mechanics of the larger things you do. Break it down, and don’t give yourself any reason to think about anything but what you need to. That’s how I hold it together sometimes.”

It surprised her, but she grasped on to his advice like a shield.

Letting go of her hand, he turned toward the door. “I need you absolutely calm. Keep the weapon with you at all times, but don’t use it unless I order it so or I’m not there to give that order and it’s live-or-die time. They have no reason to believe they’re looking for you and me; let’s not give them one.”

Calm? She wouldn’t be. None of the people on this vessel would be if troops had boarded. That’s not how it worked in the Imperium. People feared authority.

She shook her head and pretended her knees weren’t weak. “Everyone out there will be jittery. If we act calm, we will make a target of ourselves. Troops being here would mean people would be taken away.”

He paused. “That’s an excellent point. You’re absolutely correct. You’re afraid, and that’s normal for Rina. Be calm inside as you wear your fear appropriately, yes?”

Warmed by that small praise, she buttoned her cape but left the hood down until they got outside.

“Shall we go then, Sister?” he asked, opening their cabin door and stepping into the hall.

She followed, and he stuck to her carefully as they made their way through the knot of people moving toward the exits. The troops were behind them somewhere; she felt that as he hurried her out. She sent up silent prayers that they’d escape without anyone on the vessel being involved or getting hurt.

Even the slightly acrid air of Philos filled her with joy as they stepped onto the platform. She followed him, trusting he’d know what to do. Hoping he did.

The muddy streets were filled with police and military. Her fear didn’t have to be feigned. He stuck to side streets and alleys, she was sure to avoid detection. The noise from soldiers entering buildings and of doors being pounded on began to well all around them.

“Hold there.”

Daniel froze, bringing them both to a stop. A soldier stepped fully into their path from where he’d exited a building just ahead.

“Where are your papers?” The soldier looked them both over carefully. Carina hoped he’d have some sort of explanation as to why they’d exited the transport three ’Verses early.