Page 58 of Tempting Jupiter
“If they were, they’d have darted me from the door.” A threat rumbled at the edge of his words.
They couldn’t take him. Even now, he could best them. She’d known that. She needed him to give himself up. “Understand one thing—it had to beyou. There wasn’t any other choice.”
His eyes narrowed and then his chin dipped so subtly she might have missed it, if she hadn’t been studying his face like a navigation chart. She wasn’t giving them Seneca. That was all that mattered to him.
She looked up to Morgan’s man. “He’s going to cooperate. And you’re going to honor my bargain with Morgan.”
“Right. He won’t be harmed. Just as Morgan promised.” His steady unflinching agreement reassured her less than she would have hoped.
With a thought, she used her implant to send Toolman’s account number to Morgan’s man. She’d used it plenty of times before and Ibor stood close enough that she had no trouble hacking the com unit he was carrying.
“I just sent you the account number. Go find a booth. Wait until I signal. When my contact’s here you’ll pay him directly.”
“Yes ma’am.” He said it, sounding agreeable. But the man behind him stepped forward and slapped Jupiter’s shoulder with the hypo-injector. Jupiter never jumped. Never made a sound. He’d been expecting it and he’d let it happen. She hadn’t. She’d hoped for a moment more to explain herself. It had been foolish. It didn’t matter. When you betrayed someone, it never helped to make excuses. Besides, he wasn’t hers. Never had been. So why did it hurt so damned much?
Jupiter slipped into unconsciousness and Ibor slid into the booth beside him, pushing him against the wall. It wouldn’t do for the whole restaurant to notice a man falling unconscious onto the bench seat.
“I’ll just sit here with you, keep you company until your contact arrives.” With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the other thug. “My friend will wait outside.”
Feeona pasted a smile on her face. “Sure. Why the hell not?” Her sense of control was slipping away, replaced by self-loathing and a burning rage at the universe.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Petro-5
EarthAllianceBetaSector
2210.160
Watching Morgan’s men carry Jupiter away was the hardest thing Feeona had ever done. It was no comfort that she had guarantees he’d be safe and well treated. There was an empty ache inside her that wouldn’t go away. Retrieving the kids Toolman had smuggled out of the factory had been bittersweet. She was glad to see them, alive and whole. Most were weak and frail, but the life she would deliver them to would help them grow strong. They’d breathe fresh air and have all the farm fresh food they could eat. She hadn’t been able to save the girl that had shared her blanket with her during her first winter at the factory. Or the boy that had kept quiet when he saw her stealing a piece of a ration bar from one of the guards. She could never lift the weight of their deaths from her soul, but these kids would not add to that burden. They would not be left to die.
Feeona looked over her shoulder to make sure all of the kids were staying close as she led them through the forest to the clearing where she’d landed theHawley. She’d coached them all using the same rules, almost the same words she’d used every other time.
“Angel.” A small voice whispered.
Feeona held up a fist in the sign for stop and all the little feet came to a halt. Feeona squatted down to the wisp of a girl who’d called to her. It was the first time any of them had spoken without being asked a question. “What is it, sweetheart?”
“I need…” The girl pressed her lips together and shifted her eyes away.
“It’s okay. You won’t get in trouble. You can tell me. You need…” Feeona pushed a sweaty clump of hair from the girl’s face.
The brown haired, brown skinned boy beside her stepped closer. “She needs to piss,” he whispered. “Wouldn’t go when Toolman told us to. She was scared.”
There was no malice in his tone. He was matter of fact. Practical. It was a good trait for a factory kid and probably accounted for his relatively good health. He’d probably learned fast to take from the dead—extra layers of clothes or blankets that the dead had no need of. That’s what had kept her going. She noticed the girl had put her small hand in the boy’s and he’d taken it as if it was a long habit.
“Do you think you can do it in the bushes, honey?”
She nodded.
“Okay. We’ll wait here. Be quick and don’t go far.”
The girl nodded again then ran off into the bushes. Fee squatted down next to the boy. “What’s your name?”
“Toby.”
She liked that he’d given her a real name and not his factory designation. It was a good sign. Most of the kids lost their identity in that place, but those usually weren’t the ones Toolman brought her. It might seem cruel to someone else that they only helped the strongest kids, but she couldn’t afford to give a chance to a kid that might never recover from their experiences in the factory.
“Toby, when we get to my ship, I want all of you kids to stay hidden in the underbrush until I have a chance to talk to the man that’s waiting there. Can you keep an eye on them for me? Make sure none of them run off?”
