The Tracker's Dilemma: (A Mandrake Company Science Fiction Romance) (11 page)

“Anyone seen that other ship?” Tick asked Private Cooper while debating if he should recruit a few more men to go back with him. He hadn’t seen any other exits from that cave and doubted Mandrake would need twenty people to help him watch Keys surf through the computer database.

“No, Sergeant. You, uhm, can’t sense it?” That wariness lurked beneath the private’s question.

Tick sighed. On second thought, he and Striker ought to be fine. If there were critters out there, he could recruit Hemlock and Gavrikov to walk back with them.

“Hazel, Striker and I are taking a walk.” Tick lifted a hand in parting.

“Seeking time alone together, huh?” she asked.

Tick snorted. Striker was the last person he longed for time alone with.

“Don’t tease me, Hazel,” Striker said, “or I won’t share my strawberries with you.”

“Darn.”

Tick crossed the stream emptying from the pool and headed back the way they had come, setting a quick pace. Even though the rain had lessened, and day was coming, he shouldn’t dawdle. Who knew what Keys had discovered in that computer? It might be a good idea to have Lauren looking over her shoulder sooner rather than later.

He tapped his comm-patch. “Ms. Flipkens?” he asked, expecting to be routed to the correct shuttle.

“Ankari here,” came the answer.

“This is Tick. The captain wants Laur—Dr. Keys to come take a look at something.”

“Ah.”

That ah did not sound promising. He heard Ankari relay the message, but Tick couldn’t quite make out the response. Lauren was probably in her lab.

“My microbiologist suggests that if the captain wishes her to look at something, he should bring it to the shuttle,” Ankari said.

“I’m sure he would, ma’am, but it’s a cave. Those can be a challenge to transport.”

“What does he think I am?” a new voice asked in the distance—Lauren, this time. “A speleologist?”

“A spew-what?” Striker asked, listening from behind Tick.

“Someone who studies caves,” Tick told him. “I’ll explain when I get there, ma’am. Just pack whatever you need to walk a couple of miles and investigate a computer system in an underground greenhouse.”

An argument between Ankari and Lauren started up, but someone cut the comm before he heard all of it.

“Told you,” Striker said. “Kicking and screaming.”

Tick sighed, wishing Mandrake had assigned someone else to this task. He and Lauren had been getting along well—she’d even held his hand, sort of—so he hated to be the villain to her, but if Mandrake wanted a microbiologist, a microbiologist Tick would deliver to him.

Chapter 7

Lauren stood with her arms crossed as Ankari packed a bag of equipment for her. Just because the bats had stopped howling and the mercenaries had been able to return to patrolling the area outside did
not
mean that Lauren wanted to go on a field trip into the jungle. She had only allowed herself to be dragged along down to this hellish moon on the assumption—no, the
promise
—that she would be allowed to stay in the shuttle, in her lab. Her secure, comfortable lab. What could they have possibly found out there that couldn’t be brought back for her to examine? She was a microbiologist. She didn’t look at anything that didn’t require magnification to observe, and it was a foregone conclusion that those mercenaries weren’t excited about something they couldn’t see.

“Shall I toss some sexy panties in here along with your scientific doodads?” Ankari asked. “Since it’s Tick coming to pick you up? Maybe he’ll take you off to a nice cave on the way back, and you’ll change your mind about spending time with him.”

Jamie sniggered from the pilot’s seat.

Lauren frowned. “What
are
you talking about?”

“I don’t think Lauren has sexy panties,” Jamie said.

“My panties are perfectly functional.” Lauren walked forward and snatched the bag away from Ankari. “Stop touching everything. And what
are
you packing? Are those my forceps? What do you expect me to have to do out there?”

“I really don’t know. I just thought I’d help by tossing things from that drawer into your bag.”

“Well, stop helping. I’m not going anywhere. I told you—”

The hatch hissed open. Lauren sighed and turned toward the wet men standing on the ramp, the weak dawn light filtering in around them. Tick and Striker. She opened her mouth to tell them that they had wasted their time coming back for her, but Tick frowned as he looked around the shuttle and spoke first.

“Where are Hemlock and the others?”

“They’re not outside?” Ankari asked. “They’re supposed to be patrolling.”

“Didn’t see ’em,” Striker said. “Unless they went into the other shuttle to get social with Commander Thatcher.”

“Nobody voluntarily goes to get social with Thatcher,” Tick said. “Except for Lieutenant Calendula, but that’s because she’s braver than the rest of us.”

“I’ll see if they’re in Frog’s shuttle,” Striker said and trotted back down the ramp.

Tick stepped through the hatchway, removed his cap, the fur limp and wet, and smiled at Lauren. “May I escort you into the jungle for a short walk, ma’am?”

“No, you may not.”

His smile grew bleak. “The captain ordered me to get you.”

“The captain can kiss my forceps.”

Tick’s brow furrowed. “Your sister is perusing a computer full of druid data. The captain is concerned that she’s getting information that we should know about but which she’s not going to tell us about.”

“You found a computer out in that?” Lauren frowned at the view screen, at the branches outside dripping moss and water.

“In a cave, yes. Let me show you?”

Ankari nudged Lauren. “He’s offering to show you his cave. I think you should take him up on the offer.”

Lauren was sure that was a sexual innuendo, even if she didn’t understand it. Maybe Tick didn’t either, because his forehead wrinkled, and he said, “Actually, I think it’s Mandrake’s cave. The security system liked him and let him in.”

“In that case, maybe I should be going along,” Ankari said, smiling.

Lauren rolled her eyes. This was not the time for sexual innuendoes or sexual anything. This was the time for avoiding being dragged out into a nefarious jungle full of predators.

Heavy footfalls sounded on the ramp. Striker.

“Thatcher and Frog haven’t seen the others. They’ve been busy trading insults with each other. Well, Thatcher has been quizzing Frog on aerodynamics and flight theory. Frog’s been doing the insulting.”

Tick frowned at Ankari. “They didn’t say they were leaving? They’re supposed to be guarding you.” He looked at Lauren when he said that
you
. Implying that she needed even more guarding than the others? Alas, that might be true.

Ankari tapped her comm-patch. She, Lauren, and Jamie weren’t technically a part of the crew, but Mandrake had issued them all company patches.

“Lieutenant Sparks?” she asked. “Did you decide to go off on an adventure without letting us know about it?”

Several seconds passed without an answer. Lauren shifted uneasily. What trouble had the men found? Her instincts might be overactive when it came to danger, but she trusted there was a reason they had been telling her to stay in the shuttle and not venture out.

“It’s Corporal Hemlock’s adventure, ma’am,” Sparks finally answered, sounding breathless. Animals shrieked in the background. Not the bats, but something else that sounded equally unfriendly. “He said he saw someone spying on the shuttles. He’s leading us into… to… Hell, I don’t know, ma’am. We’ll be back as soon as possible. You’re not in trouble, are you?”

“No, not unless Lauren sticks forceps in my eye when I try to push her out the hatchway.”

Lauren gave Ankari the sour look she deserved. Ankari smiled back at her.

“Look out, you—ouch!”

Ankari’s smile turned to a frown. “Sparks?”

This time, the lieutenant did not answer.

Tick rubbed his face. “We’ve been down here less than two hours, and this mission has already gotten overly complicated.”

“Want me to go out and look for them?” Striker asked.

“I’m the tracker. I should go.” Tick tapped his comm-patch. “Sparks? Hemlock? Gavrikov? Answer me.” He growled. “What’s going on? The storm is over. There shouldn’t be anything interfering with the comms.”

“You going to leave me to carry your scientist back to the captain by myself?” Striker asked.

Lauren scowled at him. “You try to carry me anywhere, and I’ll stab you with an injector full of argenocide.”

“And that is what?”

“A fungicide with side effects that are known to cause a loss of libido and lower sperm count in humans.”

Lauren had simply named the first drug that had popped into her mind—she had ordered some the day before—but was pleased to see the horrified expression that took over Striker’s face. He backed up, hands raised in the air.

“I can track them just fine, Tick,” Striker said. “You stay with your mad scientist. I’ll comm if I run into trouble.”

He didn’t wait for Tick’s approval before jogging down the ramp and disappearing into the trees.

“Yes, I’m sure the captain will appreciate his company splitting up and wandering all over the jungle.” Tick shook his head, chomping agitatedly at his gum. “Split your forces. That’s the natural strategy to use when there’s trouble about.”

“I don’t think Hemlock and Gavrikov even have their comm units on,” Ankari said with a frown. She tapped her patch again. “Viktor? We’re having a little drama out here. Do you still need Lauren? Do you have any men that can help with a, uhm—”

“Bunch of idiots that ran off on their own,” Tick finished.

They waited a few seconds, but Mandrake didn’t answer, either.

“Wonderful,” Tick muttered.

“Maybe the storm is worse between us and the ship,” Ankari said. “The signals go through the
Albatross
, right? We had trouble with communications the last time we were down here too.”

“I remember,” Tick said, though he looked toward the view screen, not convinced. The rain continued to lessen, the sky growing brighter. “Lauren, will you come with me, please? We’ll go check on your sister and the captain in person. I hope she didn’t push some button that caused trouble.”

“I’d say that she would never cause trouble, but that would be a lie,” Lauren said.

“I believe you.” He offered her his arm.

She gazed toward the drizzle dripping from the top of the open hatchway. If someone was skulking around out there, was there any guarantee that she would be safer here with Ankari and Jamie than she would be out there with Tick? They could keep the hatch locked, but if another ship came, the craft might be an easy target, especially with its vibrant pink paint. On the other hand, animals could find them out there. Hungry animals with large teeth.

“I’ll keep you safe,” Tick said quietly, as if he understood her internal debate.

Who knew, maybe he did. She looked into his eyes, not that comfortable with the notion. Still, he had that easy-going manner, even when he was agitated and macerating his poor piece of gum to death. It was hard to feel uncomfortable around a man wearing a fur hat with a tail.

“Fine.” Lauren took her bag from Ankari. “Let me get a couple of things.”

“Not that fungicide, I hope.” His eyebrows twitched.

“I didn’t pack that,” Ankari said. “I don’t think.”

“No, but it’s a mystery as to why you think I’ll need a—” Lauren plucked a clunky five-pound tool out of her bag with a frown, “—portable scanning tunneling microscope in a cave.”

“I figured you’d want to be prepared.”

“For atomic curiosities?”

“You never know.”

“You don’t have any idea what that tool does, do you?” Tick asked Ankari.

“Not really.” She smiled at him and patted Lauren on the shoulder. “Have her back by ten. No shenanigans.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Lauren shook her head. Shenanigans from Tick were the least of her concerns. Ankari’s smile faded as she turned away from them, tapping her comm-patch, trying again to catch the captain. Nobody answered.

• • • • •

Tick was relieved when the roar of the waterfall reached his ears. He walked with his laser rifle cradled in his arms and constantly looked back to check on Lauren. Normally, he would be certain he could handle any wildlife the moon might throw at him, but too many strange occurrences were happening. He couldn’t help but wonder if that other ship had remained in the vicinity and was doing something to scramble their communications. He supposed it was possible the forcefield had covered the entrance of the cave again and that it was dampening the signal for the captain’s comm-patch. But that wouldn’t have affected Hemlock and the others. With every step Tick moved away from those men, he felt guiltier for leaving the tracking to Striker. Was getting Lauren to that computer as important as making sure the crew wasn’t in trouble?

“The animals seem quieter in this end of the canyon,” Lauren said.

It was the first thing she’d said since they left the shuttle. She had been keeping up with him without complaint, but he’d glimpsed her flinching now and then at some noise or another, and peering warily into the foliage. If the narrow trail would have permitted it, and if
she
would have permitted it, he would happily have walked arm-in-arm with her, making her feel secure.

“Naturally,” Tick said, letting more of his backwoods drawl into his voice. “I’m using my redoubtable mercenary fearsomeness to keep them away.”

Judging by the way Lauren’s mouth twisted, she wasn’t overly soothed.

“Also, half of the company is waiting around the waterfall up ahead, and we killed a bunch of those giant bats, so the critters probably aren’t in the mood to loiter in the area.” Half the company was an exaggeration, but Tick looked forward to reuniting with the large squadron of men. Even if some of them had been looking at him as if he were a companion to the devil, he would take some comfort from the numbers. The animals didn’t worry him, but if Hemlock
had
seen someone skulking in the trees, that might only be the tip of the iceberg.