Beloved Stranger: Gaian Series, Book 5 (15 page)

He could hardly believe Sonja’s enjoyment over the incident at Delta Residence. The more he learned about his wife, the more he realized there was a lot more to discover. He wanted to know the real her, the woman he’d seen this afternoon, grinning as she’d disabled a man with a stunner.

So far he’d seen her make an excellent meal from scraps in his pantry, break through security that the most skilled thief would have trouble with, and take down an opponent half again her size. Add that to the way she made love, with all of her heart in it, and Roan knew he’d met a woman who far exceeded his wildest dreams.

A meek, pliant and happy little wife she was never going to be. And he loved her for that.

That thought sent a surge of fear through him. Was it possible he’d fallen in love with his wife so soon? It would be bad enough if he merely liked her when she dissolved their marriage in two days. But if he loved her, losing her would be devastating.

He’d hoped that if there was no reason for her sisters to leave he might be able to persuade her to stay, if only to be with them. But things had changed.

Roan had thought he knew what the company was doing with respect to the wives. He’d known that some of the women had arrived under suspicious circumstances, but Sonja’s story had told him just how wrong what was happening with the marriage meets was.

Then he’d told himself that the women at least had good lives with the men they married, and it sounded like Suna’s marriage had been happy. But she should never be forced back into another marriage meet after her husband died. It was unfair and sheer greed on the company’s part, and he couldn’t let it happen.

Suna had to be rescued and taken from Ares Five, and that meant Sonja would need to go with her.

For a brief moment, Roan thought about leaving with her and wondered if she’d let him come. It was possible she wouldn’t. But even if she did allow it, did he want to leave and abandon everything he’d worked for? Could he break the promise he’d made his father and mother to return to Gaia after serving his full term? What kind of man would that make him?

Not a man he wanted to be. He needed to keep his promise to his family at all costs. If only it wasn’t going to cost him the one woman he could love.

Fortunately they had more urgent problems to prevent him from dwelling too much on his suddenly bleak future. They had to find Suna first, and Allan hadn’t been able to get a lead on her in spite of his searching.

Roan told Allan what Sulla had said about Suna’s disappearance almost six months ago. The other man nodded. “At least I know when to look now. You must have taken care of Miles’s effects after he died.”

“I’m sure there wasn’t anything about a wife.”

“True, but it would tell us where they lived. If we know the apartment, then we can probably find where they moved her.”

Sonja beat Roan in asking the question. “How do you figure that?”

Allan smiled. “It’s simple. All of Miles’s belongings were packed up and shipped off planet. But Suna would have had possessions too, and the company wouldn’t have wanted those to arrive on Gaia for Miles’s family to ask questions about. So they must have packed her stuff and sent it to wherever she is now.”

He pointed to the screen of the datastore he had linked into Roan’s machine. “All goods movements are recorded, even within the residences. We find all shipments with the origin of that apartment and look for their destinations.”

“The furniture and such would have been sent back to the company,” Roan pointed out. He turned to Sonja, who seemed puzzled, and explained, “Prisoners get a simple apartment and furnishings but can rent better stuff if they want.”

“Like you have,” Sonja said.

“I like my comforts,” he admitted. He’d lived long enough with prison issue until he had been able to afford better. “Anyway, from what Sulla said, Suna and Miles had upgraded furnishings.”

“The company may have allowed Suna to keep most of that to make her more comfortable. That kind of shipment should be easy to track.” Allan went to work with the keypad, entering dates and names. “I’ve found the apartment number where they were living when Miles died. Now to track the shipments.” He went through the list. “Here is the one to Gaia. That one you were signature on, Roan.”

Allan concentrated again and finally let out a whoop. “Found it. Shipment of furniture, clothes and other items to Omega Residence, one of the smaller apartments, so it is likely a single.”

Sonja smiled. “So when do we go get her?”

Roan traded glances with Allan and sighed. “Unfortunately we don’t. Omega Residence is strictly off-limits to prisoners or even anyone in the prison authority. Only people who work for the company are allowed there.”

“Then why is Suna there?”

“Because it’s the only place the company could put her where she’d be safe until they could put her into a marriage meet. There aren’t any unmarried men there, just couples and unmarried women, and they are the only ones allowed to go there.”

“We’re a married couple.”

“But we don’t work for the company and my tag would show that.” Roan rubbed his arm where the tracking tag was buried. “I couldn’t get a shuttle capsule to take me there.”

Allan broke in. “We could maybe use a maintenance shaft like we do with the smuggling.”

Roan almost groaned aloud. He didn’t want to discuss his illicit business with Sonja.

She, of course, appeared even more interested. “How so?”

Allan either missed his warning look or chose to ignore it. “Roan uses the maintenance shafts that lead down to the mines to smuggle goods in and out. There are several in every bubble but most are locked and guarded. Roan knows which ones aren’t.”

“The result of long study and a little bit of computer hacking.” Roan decided if she knew this much he might as well tell her the rest.

“Allan works in the prison data processing center and uses his access to help me keep the company and prison computers unaware of the shafts we use. One of the advantages of the two systems is that it is possible to make the company believe the prison is maintaining a shaft while the prison thinks the company is responsible. That way no one keeps track, and the shafts are left alone. I can use them to take shipments in and out and no one notices.”

Sonja looked impressed. “That’s brilliant.”

Another bit of strangeness about his wife. She actually seemed to like that he bent the rules. “Thanks. Trouble is, we can’t use the Omega Residence maintenance shafts because all those shafts are purely under the company’s control. They know a shaft is a means of getting in and out of a bubble, and they guard the ones in Omega Residence well.”

Roan looked over at Sonja. “There are too many unmarried women there for them to take chances with prisoners breaking into Omega and attaching to them.”

Allan shook his head. “I’d forgotten about that. You’re right, we can’t get to her that way.”

Sonja’s eyes narrowed in irritation. “So how
do
we get to her?”

“I’m afraid we don’t, unless we can come up with a good excuse to get her out of that bubble.”

The three of them sat thoughtfully for a moment. Roan couldn’t see any way around the problem.

Finally Allan spoke up. “There is one way to get her out. Have her attend a marriage meet and then steal her away before she gets there.”

Roan shook his head. “It’s too soon. They’d wait at least six months before sending her to a meet to make sure someone attaches.” That would work for him, though. If Sonja had to wait a month she’d have to stay married to him. Even if she left, he’d surely be able to claim her later.

She seemed to know what he was thinking. “I have people waiting for me at the spaceport, but they can’t be here as long as a month.”

“With a ship?” Roan had wondered how she was planning to leave.

“A freighter. Partners of mine, sort of.” Sonja looked like she didn’t want to explain that last remark. “They’ll leave in less than a week.”

Allan grinned. “You misunderstood me. I didn’t say wait for them to set her up. We’ll break into the company computer and set her up ourselves for a marriage meet.”

Sonja jumped on the idea. “It means getting back into a company computer. Should we try for another clinic?”

Allan shook his head. “I don’t think those computers would have the proper access. We may have to get into one of the company offices or even find a company p-tab instead.” He started to pack up his datastore. “I’ll have to think about it for a little bit.”

Sonja’s face fell. “There is something else, you know.”

“What’s that?” Roan asked.

“Once we get her free, we’ll need a way to get her to the spaceport.”

Roan nodded. “I was thinking about that. We might use the smuggling route.”

Sonja turned to him. “How would that work?”

Roan was going to answer, but a knock on the door interrupted him. Roan looked at Allan, who moved quietly to the bedroom and shut the door.

Sonja watched as Roan checked the security screen. He indicated to her to be silent, pasted a cheerful smile on his face and opened the door.

“Barnat, Earny. What can I do for you?”

Chapter Thirteen

Sonja watched Roan invite the prison guards she’d encountered last night into the apartment. They stood comfortably in the room as if they were old friends, and she remembered that Roan had promised to “make things up to them” for not arresting her for being out after curfew.

But when Roan brought that up, the two men shook their heads.

“That’s all right,” Barnat said. “We know you’re good for it. We’re here about something else. You’ve got trouble headed your way.”

Roan’s smile slipped away. “How is that?”

“One of the company goons was in our office this afternoon, a guy named Oran Wilcan. He was trying to get our cooperation in arresting you,” Barnat said.

“As if that would ever happen,” Earny said dryly, and both men chuckled.

“Arrest me for what?”

“Assaulting a company officer.” Barnat looked amused. “The goon happened to be moving a little stiffly. I don’t suppose you had any trouble at the marriage meet last night.”

“And if I did?” Roan said cautiously.

“Did you start the fight?”

Roan shook his head. “You know me better than that.”

The other men relaxed, and Barnat nodded. “Yeah, we do. You wouldn’t start a fight in a marriage meet, and I say if the goon started it, then the goon got what he deserved.”

Sonja jumped in. “The other man drew a knife. Roan got cut, but he still put the other man down, and he was unarmed.”

Earny grinned. “I’d expect nothing less. Your man is quite the scrapper.”

He turned to Roan. “Don’t worry about things with us, or the rest of the Beta Residence squad. We aren’t going to do anything. But I wanted you to know what was happening. Since you have a new wife and all, you might want to stay close to home for a little while. I know you’re officially off work because of your marriage, but perhaps you should also take a vacation from any of your unofficial activities. For the next few days, at least.”

Sonja realized that Barnat and Earny also knew about Roan’s smuggling operations and were probably on the payroll. A surge of pride swept through her at how thorough her husband was.

Roan seemed less than pleased. “Am I under house arrest?”

“Nothing like that. It’s just that we can protect you if you stay in Beta Residence but can’t guarantee anything in the other bubbles.”

Roan shook his head. “I’ll keep that in mind. And I appreciate the warning. Just a minute.”

He disappeared for a moment to the back room and returned with a couple of wrapped packages.

“Just a little thank you,” he said when the two men tried halfheartedly to refuse the gifts.

He ushered them out, promising to keep them informed if he needed to leave the bubble. Sonja got the distinct feeling they might even volunteer to go along as bodyguards if he’d let them.

Allan stuck his head out of the bedroom as soon as the guards were gone. “Do you think you can trust them?”

“I’ve always been able to before. That was two bottles of my best whiskey, imported all the way from Earth, so I know I have their loyalty for a couple of days, at least.”

“I think they’d be loyal anyway,” Sonja said. “They like you. Certainly more than they do Oran Wilcan.”

Roan looked at her strangely. “You might be right. In any case I’m glad they let me know. It sounds like Mr. Wilcan intends to be a bigger problem than I thought.”

“So what do we do about him?”

“If it comes down to it, there are ways to deal with him,” Allan said, and Sonja thought he and Roan looked grim as he said it.

It sounded like while neither Roan nor Allan would be happy to take Wilcan out permanently, they would if they had to. She knew that Gaians had a problem with killing, even if the death was deserved.

She could have told them that if it came to that, she would be happy to kill Wilcan. The man threatened her safety and that of the people helping her free her sister. Given the chance, she’d happily cut his throat. She said nothing since she didn’t think Roan or Allan would appreciate her telling them that.