Dark Minds (Class 5 Series Book 3) (12 page)

BOOK: Dark Minds (Class 5 Series Book 3)
9.72Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
Chapter 17

C
am woke
to find a drone watching him.

He struggled up onto his elbows, and looked around, saw he was in a med chamber.

“You shot me, then you gave me medical treatment?” His voice was hoarse, and the drone produced a cup of water, holding it out to him in a pincered clamp.

“I did the same before, when I shot you in the hold. So it isn't that surprising.” The answer was smooth, and most definitely the thinking system speaking, not the automatic response of a drone.

Cam gulped down the water, but he didn't feel as thirsty as he thought he would, and then he saw the equipment that had retracted as he sat up. He'd been hydrated and given energy intravenously while he slept. In fact, he felt almost back to normal.

“I wouldn't have thought you wanted me to be at my best.” He slid off the bed as he spoke, was glad to find his legs held his weight just fine.

The drone took the cup from him, filled it and gave it back. “I don't care whether you're at your best or not. I don't care about you at all.”

Cam paused before he took another sip. “So why . . .?”

“Imogen does seem to care.”

Cam had thought, when he'd first met Imogen Peters, that he'd be rescuing her. Not the other way around. “But if I try to say anything more about you to her, you'll shoot me again?”

“No. Say what you like.”

Cam wasn't sure he believed that. Not judging by the icy tone with which it was delivered.

“Where is Imogen?”

The drone was quiet for a long time before Paxe responded at last.

“She is resting a few doors away. She's been asleep for only six hours, but the Tecran are going to try and get a runner onboard this Class 5 shortly, so it's best she wakes up.”

The drone moved out of the med chamber and Cam followed it down the passage to a nearby room.

The door opened, and he stood in the doorway. It was dark inside, and it smelled of spicy cleansing gel and Imogen.

The lights went on full, and he shot a look at the drone.

“Not so bright. Dim it a bit.”

When he looked over at the bed again, Imogen was lying still, watching him, eyes wide with fear, face tense. She hadn't made a sound.

The lights dimmed, and she at last pushed herself up, the covers clutched around what he realized were naked shoulders.

Her neck was long and graceful, and her shoulders and collar bone looked fragile against the smoothness of her skin. Her hair, that smooth fall of a color he couldn't quite describe, a kind of silvery copper, was down rather than pulled back the way it had been yesterday.

“You don't need to be afraid of me.” He tried to keep his voice even, to hide the fury at the Tecran, at the Krik, for giving her good cause for fear.

“I know. I didn't realize it was you and Paxe straight away.” She cleared her throat. “Something is happening?”

“The Tecran are going to board,” Paxe said.

Another drone came up behind Cam, and forced him to step into the room to allow it to pass. It dipped its long arm into its box and lifted out a pile of clothing and some boots. “I got you some clean clothes from the store.”

“Thank you, Paxe.” There was such warmth in her tone, he felt a frisson of fear for her. Paxe was not a sweet, helpful friend, but she sounded like that's what she thought he was. “I'll get dressed, if you would let me . . .” She waved them out of the room with a hand, and the cover slipped just a little, revealing the upper swell of a breast.

Cam went, and the two drones followed him reluctantly. “Is there a place I can shower?”

“Here.” The drone indicated another room, and Cam opened the door and looked inside.

It had probably been one of the doctors' rooms, as it had clearly been inhabited. There were clothes lying over a chair and the bed was unmade. The bathroom at the back looked clean and neat, though.

“Do you need clothes?”

Cam shook his head. His uniform could be held under a water spray and then hung up, and the temperature regulators in the smart fabric would have it dry before he'd finished with his shower.

“Hurry. The Tecran have launched their runner and they'll be here in just over an hour.”

“Why do they think they'll be able to get in?”

The drone, which was moving away, turned back to him. “It doesn't matter, but stay out of the way when they get here. I don't plan to treat them as well as I've treated you, and I don't want you shot by mistake.”

“Because Imogen wouldn't like it?” Cam asked.

In response, the drone moved a little closer, menace in the movement although it was nothing but a box on wheels.

Cam sighed, gave a nod, and stepped back from the doorway, eyes on the drone's lens until the door slid shut.

* * *

T
he lighting
in the Class 5 armory was almost too bright, although Imogen guessed you probably wanted to see exactly what you were grabbing when it came to weapons.

She shifted on the bench beside Captain Kalor, close enough to smell that he had showered and used the same soap she had, and that his own personal scent was warm and deeply pleasant.

His thigh brushed hers accidentally and she didn't move away. It felt good, the casual touch that came with living with others again.

She would not, could not, go back to a cage.

She looked over at him, found he was watching her with an intensity that made her stomach drop, like she was on a thrill ride.

“What?”

He cleared his throat. “Nothing. It's just . . . your existence is remarkable. You are so like the Grih.”

His eyes were an icy blue, a shade or two lighter than her own, with a dark outer ring. She held his gaze, not prepared to look away, to shy from any contact, after being starved of it for so long. “I thought you were from Earth for a moment when I first stepped into the hold.”

He angled toward her, lifted a hand. “May I?”

She stared at him for a beat, gave a slight nod.

He reached out and took a lock of her hair, rubbed it between his fingers.

His eyes, when he lifted them back to hers, were amazed.

“It can't be that different to yours,” she scoffed at him.

“Feel.” He bent his head, and she tentatively slid her fingers into the spiky strands of his hair.

He was right. Where hers was smooth, his was almost sticky it was so rough, clinging to her fingers. With his head bent, his ears were right there, and she couldn't resist running the tip of her finger along the pointy edge.

He jerked back, eyes narrowed.

“Sorry. It's just . . .” She didn't know whether now was the time to talk about elves. “I couldn't help myself.”

He cocked his head to one side, the movement incredibly alien, and watched her with that unfathomable stare.

The drone, which stood sentinel beside her, made a humming sound, and she broke away with relief when it projected an image onto the door of the armory.

An image of the Tecran arriving in the launch bay.

Their runner had landed, and the ramp lowered, but they were obviously very uncertain of their welcome, because their movements were cautious in the extreme.

“You're using one of the drones as a lens feed? Aren't you scared they'll shoot it?” she asked Paxe. When the drone that had collected her and the captain and brought them to the ship's armory had remained inside with them, she'd been relieved. It meant they would still be able to speak to Paxe.

For him to give them a view of the action was even better, easing the sense of powerlessness she'd felt since they'd been shut in here.

“No. I had the drones place the damaged drone you saw in the kitchen against one of the walls. It looks as if it's already been destroyed, but the lens works well enough.”

“Sneaky,” she said with a grin and Kalor gave her a sidelong look. He didn't look happy.

“Problem?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “It's good strategy.”

He looked stressed, and she wondered what the protocol was for him in a situation like this, as a Grihan officer. He had no resources, and if he wasn't exactly a captive, he was at least at Paxe's mercy.

But for her, he could have been far away with his team.

“I really am sorry about hurting you and Pren, you know. That you missed getting away with your crew.” She'd said it before, but they'd both been distracted at the time. “When you snuck up behind me . . .”

“The mistake was ours.” His leg brushed hers again and he went still. “We didn't realize you were armed and we didn't want to make any noise, in case there were other Krik nearby. Pren thought to touch your arm, and let you know to keep quiet. Given the circumstances, we should have realized how that would have seemed to you, with us coming from behind.”

She saw he meant it——his face serious, with no hint of anger in his eyes——and she smiled in relief. “Thanks. That's gracious of you.”

The smile he returned was the first she'd seen from him, and there was a wry amusement in his eyes. “Don't feel guilty. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.”

“Stuck on a murderous Class 5 with an alien?” She raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

“At the center of a major incident between the Grih and the Tecran,” he countered. “As a Battle Center officer, I should be here, and as a UC investigator, the scope of my mission includes protecting you.”

She looked over at him. “You didn't even know who I was.”

He inclined his head. “True, we thought we were going to find and protect Fiona Russell, but you're included in that protection. I wouldn't have left you here anyway, and the United Council cruiser we came on was much safer leaving, so no matter what happened, this is where I'd be.”

“But Pren would have stayed with you. And maybe Diot.”

He thinned his lips, then nodded, that wry look still in his eyes. “Because this is Grihan territory, it's routine for the UC to appoint a Grihan to lead the investigative team. But we're investigating the charge that the Garmman were holding Fiona Russell captive, so they appointed Vraen as my second.”

“And he thought he should be leading you?” She'd sensed a deep resentment in the Garmman.

He lifted his head in surprise. “Yes. How did you know that?”

“I could see he thought he should be in charge. You know he's the reason they left you here? He ordered the pilot crew to leave over the objections of your other colleagues.”

Kalor shrugged. “I think he did the right thing, getting everyone to safety.”

She huffed out a laugh. “And just coincidentally, he's now in control of the team.”

Kalor grinned. “That would have been a nice bonus for him. But Diot, Pren, and Olan are not his biggest fans, so I don't think he can get up to much.”

It was reassuring, really, that there was politics, one-upmanship and internal game playing no matter where you went in the universe.

She realized they were still staring at each other, a grin on both their faces, and by the look of it, Kalor realized it, too.

He drew back a little and then turned to the projection, and skin tingling, so did she.

But the Tecran were still searching the launch bay and looking over the Krik vessels mixed in among the Class 5's own runners. They seemed excited about one of them, but Imogen couldn't see an obvious reason.

They watched the feed in silence.

“Why the armory?” Kalor suddenly asked. He practically seethed with banked energy now, although he sat perfectly still, hands in fists on his thighs. She'd have thought him relaxed, except she could see the whites of his knuckles.

Paxe didn't respond, either because he'd left the drone in auto mode or he didn't want to share his secrets with Kalor.

But to hell with that. Kalor deserved to know that they were at least safe in here. “I'm guessing it's because he can lock the door and they can't force him to open it.” She spoke slowly, giving Paxe a chance to tell her to keep quiet.

Kalor stood, the move explosive.

One moment he was sitting beside her, the next, he loomed over the bench, fingers tapping the empty holster strapped to his thigh.

She flinched, and he went still again, widening his stance to what she guessed was an at-ease position to calm her. He was just so big. Everything about him was honed, the physicality of him filling the space, crowding it.

“How do you know the Tecran can't get in here?” He tried to speak gently, but the natural roughness of his voice made it sound like he was whispering sweet nothings to her.

She tried to shrug, but she didn't know if she pulled the nonchalance off. “Paxe can protect himself, the Tecran wrote that into the system themselves. If they got into the armory, they could do the Class 5 and him harm, so he's able to stop them doing that.”

“The same way he was able to break free when they tried to fit the self-destruct.” Kalor looked over at the drone. Hesitated. “Paxe told me I can say what I like to you. Does that mean he's told you what he is? What's going on?”

She realized he was wondering if Paxe was going to shoot him again.

“He's told me what he is. But as to what's going on? I still have no idea.” She held his gaze. “If you can tell me that, I'd be in your debt.”

Other books

The Killing Club by Angela Dracup
Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie
The Dream of My Return by Horacio Castellanos Moya
Duck Season Death by June Wright
The Touch of Death by John Creasey
Judgment at Proteus by Timothy Zahn
Bone Rider by J. Fally
A Splendid Little War by Derek Robinson