Page 34 of Rescued

23

CAIMBRIE

I felt like a rat trapped in a cage. All I could do was pace, worrying away at myself. I didn’t know how much time had passed or how fast we were moving. Everything felt like it was standing still around me.

I held off leaving the rear of the ship as long as I could, but eventually I had to break the invisible barrier of the hallway in search of food. I tried to move silently, hoping not to garner any unwanted attention, but also secretly hoping to catch a bit of conversation between the two men if possible. What were they talking about now? Anything to do with me or the other women?

“Hello again,” Nikathy said, making me jump as I prepared a small pouch of food for myself, taking great pains to leave no trace of my presence for Herod to find.

“Hello,” I answered diffidently.

“How are you doing? Do you need anything back there?”

I eyed him suspiciously, trying to detect the motive behind his false niceness.

“I’m fine.”

He cocked his head sideways, giving me a condescending smile. “I’m sorry for Herod. Sometimes he just doesn’t understand the consequences of his actions. I’m sure he never meant for you to get hurt in all this.”

I paused, chewing on Nikathy’s words as I thought of an appropriate response. I settled on the only thing that came to mind. “As I said, I’m fine.”

I brushed past Nikathy, carrying my food with me and ducking my head so I wouldn’t have to look into his dark eyes on my way past. Everything about the man made me want to go invisible.

“You know, I think he really did like you,” he offered as I walked away.

I ignored him. I wasn’t about to get drawn back into things with Herod, and I definitely wasn’t going to do it on Nikathy’s word.

“That’s nice. I thought I liked him, too. It appears we were both mistaken.”

I quickened my step to escape from the man and returned to my hideaway on my bunk. Unless Nikathy had the audacity to follow me back here, there was no reason for us to have any further conversation.

I ate ravenously and quickly returned to my pacing. Before long, I was edging my way back into the hallway and listening for conversation again. All I could hear was Nikathy’s rambling. If he was in conversation with Herod, it was hard to tell. Then, I caught the familiar sound of Herod snoring.

Despite my better judgement, I crawled forward even further, moving along the wall of the hall until I could just see Herod in the co-pilot’s chair. His head was thrown back and his mouth was open, and yet, the way his hair fell over his face made me want to run forward and brush it aside. I wanted to leap into his arms and press my lips to his all over again. But I couldn’t. All I could do was watch as his chest rose and fell, and he adjusted himself in the uncomfortable upright seat, unable to stretch out.

I was sad for him, wishing he had come back to his bunk, even if it was hard to be close to me. It wasn’t right that he was up here, sleeping poorly on account of my presence. I could have gone somewhere else, made myself invisible to him until he fell asleep. And then, perhaps, I would have rolled over and watched him, marveling at the smooth transition of the muscles over his arms, thick bands that twisted with his movements. I would have whispered to him, all the things in my mind, threatening to spill out into the open. I would have unleashed them and set them free so I would never have to think of them again.

I stood there, staring at him until my knees hurt and the wall left an imprint on the flesh of my cheek where I leaned against it. I willed myself to see him anew, to understand him, but every time I thought I was getting close, I retreated into my mind again, remembering that this was over. It had to be placed behind us.

When I was too tired to stand, I lowered myself against the wall, propping my elbows on my knees and listening to Nikathy’s animated chatter, randomly interrupted by whistling or singing, as the mood took him.

At some point, we drew near enough to another port to pick up some radio traffic. I couldn’t make sense of their code, but whatever they were saying seemed to get Nikathy’s attention. He sat up sharply and turned the volume up, and I heard Herod choke and splutter as the sudden noise woke him.

“What’s going on?” he asked sharply, already at attention and scanning the instruments of the cockpit.

“The Patrol’s on the move again,” Nikathy answered. He started to say something else, but then the radio blared again, and both men concentrated on the stream of words, glancing sideways at one another furtively. From where I sat on the floor of the hall, I couldn’t tell what that meant, good or bad. They didn’t even know I was here. I told myself I should get back to my bunk and keep quiet, but with those two on high alert, I couldn’t peel myself away.

“Where do you think they’re headed?” Herod asked wearily, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

“Sounds like another raid. They must have someone cornered to be moving that much machinery. They wouldn’t be wasting that much fuel unless it was a sure thing.”

Whatever was going on, it sounded grim. Except this time, it didn’t appear that either of the smugglers was the target. At least that gave me some relief.

So, apparently it was common knowledge that the Patrol had a fuel-supply problem. Interesting. I listened in, trying to deduce more from the conversation that followed without getting caught. I still didn’t know what this had to do with Nikathy or why the men seemed so concerned, but it was written all over their faces.

“We need to start a radio chain. Anyone we know operating in the area needs to be warned,” Herod said firmly, and then he jumped into action, a blur of decisive activity. Beside him, Nikathy worked effortlessly to steer the ship, listing off names of anyone in their network who might be within radio distance.

There was a palpable shift in the atmosphere. I didn’t want to be left in the dark. I thought of Adreax and Tayla, wondering where they were now and if they might be the target of the Patrol’s sweep. The Patrol certainly had enough reason to go after them. But I couldn’t afford to think like that. If they were caught, it was anyone’s guess what would happen to me. I had to hold out hope that they were coming, and that two days from now, we would all meet up in Divoron exactly as expected.

We moved out of range of the port and the radios fell back into silence, but the air was still abuzz. I straightened and stepped into the cockpit, one hand on my stomach to stifle the queasy feeling.

“How can I help?” I asked quietly.

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