Page 35 of Rescued

24

HEROD

Caimbrie’s voice cut through my focus like a hot knife, jarring me out of my emergency protocols. She stood there in the doorway, looking around at all the equipment, and I thought she was hopelessly lost. But before I could say anything, Nikathy pointed to a bank of consoles.

“Watch the radar for any signs of the Patrol. We know where the main body of the raid is at, but it would be foolish to think they don’t have stealth ships circling the area.”

To my surprise, Caimbrie fell into the seat and went straight to work, pulling the headset over her ears and flipping switches like a professional. “How am I supposed to detect a stealth ship?” she shot back at him.

“Energy fields,” he answered simply.

Her face lit up with understanding. Without any further guidance, she turned her attention to the task he assigned her and started pressing buttons and flipping switches. Despite seeing her working the fuel lines, it had never occurred to me until this moment that she might be able to handle anything I threw at her.

I had underestimated her. I felt ridiculously stupid, and everything within me wanted to go to her and apologize, at the very least. But I couldn’t. She was busy. I was busy.

I tugged my attention away from the confident way she called out reports to Nikathy, her hand sweeping across the console as she adjusted the instruments between scans. I had a job to do, and it wouldn’t do to get us all killed while I sat here dumbfounded and speechless.

“How’s the radio chain going? Got anything yet?”

I started, trying to remember where I’d left off in my transmissions.

“Nothing yet,” I muttered, turning the dial and getting ready for the next round of calls to go out. I couldn’t stop until I got someone on the other end. Someone out there had to know where the Patrol was headed.

I adjusted my headset and turned up the volume, blocking out all the sound around me so I could focus. My whole world came down to the little transmitter in front of me and the call numbers I punched in sequentially between each repetition of my warning. When I was done trying to call all the local ships on my list, I decided to try Adreax. He needed to know what was going on, and I wanted to make absolutely sure that he was not in danger.

“Please tell me you’re not calling to complain about the girl again?” Adreax answered, a trace of humor in his voice. But when he saw my face on his video screen, his smile drooped and his eyes went hard. “What is it?”

“The Patrol is on the move. They’re going on a raid. I don’t know where you are at the moment, but you need to make sure you’re well out of their path.”

Time seemed to stand still as Adreax’s face grew serious and thoughtful. I waited for his response, hoping that we might change our meeting place or postpone it until this was over. Then again, maybe we could move up the meeting so I could get Caimbrie to safety before I went to see what this was all about. I didn’t know what I wanted, or what options we had, but I felt a pressing need to do something.

I was fighting the insurmountable urge to grab Caimbrie by the shoulders and pull her into a kiss. I wanted to drag her out of this chaos and back to the bunks, and I wanted to run my hands all over her body again, tangling my fingers in her hair. I wanted her so badly I could feel my body burning with desire. I had to create a barrier between us, and the only way to do that was getting her to Adreax immediately. A barrier of a few hundred thousand miles should be sufficient.

“A raid? It’s been a long time since they’ve done something so drastic. Who are they after?”

Of all the people I knew in the skies these days, Adreax and Tayla were the most tuned in to the Patrol’s movements. They should have known something, but I could tell from Adreax’s voice that this was all news to him.

“I was hoping you would know,” I said faintly, unable to hide the concern in my tone. “You need to be careful, Dre. I don’t want this getting ugly.”

“What was their last known position? How many are we talking about?”

I looked over my shoulder at the main view panel where Nikathy was tracking the Patrol’s movements. I read the coordinates off to Adreax and quickly estimated the number of identifiable ships in view.

“More than a dozen fighters with their big rigs. Caimbrie thinks there’s about half a dozen stealth ships in the vicinity as well, maybe more. They’re going all out on this one.”

“Caimbrie?” Adreax asked in confusion.

“Yeah. Did you know she’s some kind of expert in fuel cells? And energy fields?” I asked, as if I hadn’t just discovered this minutes ago myself.

Adreax shook his head, but I saw the smile returning to his face. “I’m glad to see the two of you are getting along now,” he remarked.

I felt a pang of guilt at the lighthearted suggestion. We weren’t getting along. In fact, we had never been less friendly. It was only by chance that we were getting to know one another now, and it was far too late.

The ship jerked hard to one side as Nikathy made a correction. I glared at him over my shoulder, and he gave me an apologetic shrug, but I was still connected to Adreax.

“Anyway, sounds like the Patrol is headed straight past us. If this run is as big as you say it is, Tayla should have it on her screen soon. We’ll stay in touch. If anything happens, we’ll come up with a contingency plan. Stay safe.”

“You too.”

I ended the call and pulled the headset off, weary to my core. It was almost impossible to imagine that a few days prior I had been headed for a short vacation. I kind of resented Adreax for dragging me into all this. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be caught up in this mess, and I certainly wouldn’t be having second thoughts about the woman sitting six feet behind me.

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