by Dena Christy
He searched her face, and couldn’t see any evidence of a lie. She was right, he could and would destroy her. Whether he did or not depended on if she continued to be useful to him. So far Serena hadn’t proven that she could give him what he needed, which was the aliens and Evangeline.
“Where is she going?” She had to know where Evangeline would go if her base of operation was destroyed.
“I don’t know. I have heard nothing from her in a while, but as soon as I know you will know, if you are still determined to follow through on this. Surely you can see that your efforts are futile. There must be a leak in your organization if she knew you were coming, and I would think your efforts would be better concentrated on finding it. Obsessing over Evangeline will not further your career.”
While that may be true, he couldn’t let this go. It was personal now. Evangeline had evaded him for the second time, and not only that, she’d kept the aliens from him too. She needed to pay for it, and he would spend any resource he needed to make certain that she and the aliens were caught.
“Don’t worry about a leak in my organization. You concentrate on finding out where she is and let me know as soon as you know.”
He didn’t wait for a reply as he ended the call. He sat in the car for a long while as he watched his men comb through the wreckage that was once an old factory. Evangeline had covered her tracks thoroughly, and he doubted that there would be anything to be found that would lead them to her.
He looked down at his tablet and took a deep breath. He needed to make another call, and he was not looking forward to it. General Rogers was expecting him to call him with a win, and he’d foolishly boasted to his superior officer that he would bring the aliens in. The general was eager to get the aliens under the military’s control, especially since they’d ambushed three of their men and had made the military look like a joke.
One good thing about this whole fiasco being classified was that the public had no idea what was going on. It would be a disaster if the public, whose control depended on the military’s being able to promote fear among them, learned that all it took was three individuals to thwart them. The government’s ability to control the populous depended on the average citizen’s belief that the military would crush anyone who thought to rebel. If a few aliens could damage them, what could a few thousand individuals do? Roland knew that if he didn’t successfully bring the aliens to heel, he wouldn’t need to worry about being fired. He wouldn’t live long enough for the ink to dry on his order of termination.
Roland scrolled through his contacts until he came to the general’s number. His finger hesitated over the button for a split second. Time to face the music. He only hoped that the general wouldn't lose faith in his ability to get results. His career and his life depended on the general’s continued trust.
Within moments of hitting the call button, the general’s face appeared in his view screen.
“Well Roland, are the aliens well in hand?” The general’s hearty voice boomed out of his communicator’s speaker and Roland’s stomach turned sour.
“About that, sir. The location the aliens were purported to be at has been destroyed.” The easy smile on General Roger’s face fell away, and Roland had nothing to tell him to assure him that he had the situation well in hand.
“Are their bodies among the rubble?”
“No sir. My men are sifting through it now, but I suspect we won’t find any casualties.” Roland resisted the urge to rummage through his glove back for an antacid tablet as the acid in his stomach roiled and burned. Now was not the time to show any weakness. His career depended on him appearing strong and capable.
“What do you think happened?” The general’s voice as deceptively soft, but Roland could see the flush of anger seeping into his commander’s face.
“I think they were tipped off about our coming and fled before we could arrive, destroying the building they were in before they left.” That seemed the most logical sequence of events. Now he had to explain how he was going to correct the problem. If he could prove that he had matters under control, the general would let him continue his hunt for the aliens. “I think there is a leak somewhere among the men who were ordered to come here. Or someone was sloppy with their communications, and the information was accessed by our targets. Either way, the results are the same. I’m going to handle the investigation myself, and I will make sure the guilty party is punished.”
“Do you remember when I told you that I wanted these aliens found and you assured me that you would? I’m not seeing the actions of a winner here Roland. A leak or sloppy communication, or whatever you want to blame should never have developed, and while I commend you for trying to find it, the truth of the matter is I’m not sure you are the one I can rely on to capture the aliens.”
The sound of his career going down the drain echoed in the general’s words. He clenched his jaw for a moment as his mind raced for a way to salvage this. He needed to earn back the general’s trust.
“I’ll find whoever it is sir, and make sure that they are punished as the traitor they are. Please sir, give me one more chance to find the aliens.” He hated the begging tone that had crept into his voice, and he saw a flash of disgust cross the general’s face for a moment before he masked it.
“I’m going to give you one more chance to deal with these invaders. We have been able to get the alien’s ship back online, and it is sending out a beacon. We will use it to lure them out of hiding. Until the leak is found, you are to tell no one. I need someone to lead the men I’ve hand picked to capture them, and unfortunately you’ve had the most exposure to the aliens to know what they are capable of. It is a little late in the game now to bring someone else up to speed. I will tell you that if you fail me again, enforced retirement will be the least of your worries. Their ship is docked at the base in Terronda. I expect you to arrive there and wait for my orders. When it’s time I want you to capture the aliens and bring them to me alive. Don’t fail me again, Roland.”
The general’s face winked out and Roland sank back in his seat. He’d been given a stay of execution, and he knew that this was absolutely his last chance. If he failed again, he wouldn't have to worry about retiring, because the general would make certain that he was dead. He wouldn't founder this time. He would capture the aliens, and he would deal with Evangeline, and his career would be assured. He would come out on top, anything else was not an option.
Evie swallowed to get the sour taste out of her mouth as she stared out the window of the van. All gone. In an instant and forever, everything she’d taken years to build was gone. The time, money and devotion she’d put into that place had been blown to smithereens, and she’d had every intention of going up with it. She could fool herself into thinking that she would have escaped as soon as she deleted the last record, but if Cynric hadn’t pulled her out of the building, she would not have. What was she going to do now? That bunker was her safety, her vocation and her home. She had nothing except the clothes on her back, the special hair sticks holding her hair up and the shoes on her feet.
She couldn’t even bear to watch it happen. As the vibrations of it shook the van, she’d stared straight ahead and tried to picture a happy safe place for herself, but her happy safe place was imploding behind her. The precariousness of her life was not lost on her. She was in the business of helping forge new lives, and now she had nothing with which to forge a new life herself. Everything had been tied up in that compound. That she had no choice but to destroy it did little to offer her any comfort.
As she sat there, staring out the window, with her palms facing up in her lap, a warm hand wrapped around one of hers. The hand was large, rough and male, and she didn’t need to look to know it was Cynric’s. She supposed she should be grateful to him for pulling her out of the building. In time she might very well be, but for now she couldn’t feel much of anything. She was cocooned in a cushion of numbness, and she wasn’t sure she ever wanted to get out of it. It was safe he
re in a bubble that little could penetrate.
She let him hold her hand, but she did not look at him and did not speak. The scenery whizzed past her outside the van’s window as they escaped Leemore Station. She had no idea where they were going and it didn’t matter. All she wanted when they got to their destination was a bed she could curl up on and block out everything else. More than anything she wanted a place to hide and lick her wounds.
“Are you all right?” Cynric’s voice was a low rumble beside her, and while she normally found it soothing, this time it intruded and jabbed at the bubble she’d built around herself. Maybe if she ignored it, maybe if she stared out the window she wouldn’t have to talk. She wouldn’t have to acknowledge out loud what had happened back there.
Despite the bubble, despite the numbness, the answer to his question was no. She was not all right. And she didn’t know if she would ever be again. The wound was too new, too raw to feel like she would ever start healing, so no she was not all right. But she couldn’t bring herself to say it to him.
Her hand remained limp when he drew it upwards and rested it against the hard muscles of his chest. She could feel the beat of his heart under the back of her hand. Its strong beat should offer comfort, should offer reassurance that things would work out but it didn’t. She couldn’t focus on the future, she couldn’t focus on where they needed to go from here. That was too big, too far away. She needed to focus on the next minute, on breathing for the next minute.
“Evie, will you not speak?” There was that rumble again. He didn’t seem to want to sit in the quiet. She turned her eyes away from the window, to look around her surroundings for the first time. She and Cynric were on the seats at the very back of the van. Synn, Miranda, Ryce and Collette were in the seats ahead, and Rebecca was in the driver’s seat. The van looked the same as it always did, her friends and their lovers look the same. Was she the only one who felt different, who felt profoundly changed by what had happened?
She turned back to the window. Looking at the world go by was the safest. She didn’t have to think, didn’t have to feel when she looked out the window. She could pretend that they were out for a drive and not running for their lives.
“You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to.” He gave her hand a squeeze, and hers remained limp inside his. She didn’t want to talk, and at least he realized that. Talking would burst the bubble, and the pain would come flooding in. How would she cope with it? As much as she wanted to pretend it wouldn’t happen, reality would set in. It would only be pushed aside for so long.
“How is she doing?” Miranda’s voice came from in front of her, and she imagined her turning to Cynric, with a concerned look on her face. She wanted to paste a smile on her face, to assure her friends that she was fine. She wanted to weep and rail and gnash her teeth and assure them that she wasn’t. She couldn’t do any of it. She couldn’t make herself move, she couldn’t make herself weep, she could do nothing but watch the world go by outside the window.
Cynric said nothing in return, but she felt a slight movement from him. Maybe he was shaking his head, maybe he was communicating his thoughts with the expressions on his face.
His hand stroked up and down the skin on the back of her hand. It did nothing to penetrate the numbness, did nothing to pierce the bubble. She couldn’t even squeeze his hand in acknowledgement.
A tremor went through her, and she pushed it down. Her body wanted to react, wanted to process what had happened, but her brain liked feeling nothing. Nothing was safe, nothing didn’t hurt. A lump rose up in her throat, and she swallowed hard. If she kept swallowing, it would go away. It would dissolve and wouldn’t clog her eyes with tears.
The harder she tried to get rid of it, the bigger it got. It moved up, made her jaw ache and prickled in her eyes. She blinked as fast as she could, but it wouldn’t stop the process her body was starting. She opened her eyes wide as she stared out the window, as if that would keep her eyes from filling, as if it would keep the tears from spilling down her cheeks. One blink was all it took, and it was like someone had taken a blade to her bubble and ripped it open with a violent slash. Pain slammed through her, and she curled the hand he wasn’t holding into a fist, raised up and put it to her mouth. She latched onto her flesh with her teeth, and bit down to keep the cry of anguish building inside her from escaping.
It came through anyway, as a quiet sob. She hoped no one heard it, she was falling apart, and she wanted to be alone in her grief. There was nothing that would offer her comfort.
Cynric made a noise beside her, and she knew it was foolish to hope that he was oblivious to what was going on. There was still a chance that she could shore up her walls, repair her bubble, and shove the pain away in a corner. If he didn’t speak, if he made no move to offer comfort, there was still a chance that the numbness would come back, would spare her from drowning in the clamor of despair rising up inside her.
She should have known that he could not sit quietly beside her while she suffered. He was not that kind of man. He was a leader, and if someone was hurt, he did what he could to help.
“Evie.” Her name was a concerned murmur coming from deep inside him, and it only made the tears come faster, made the sobs push harder against the flesh of her fist. She dug her teeth into the flesh at the base of her index finger, but it was no good. The numbness would not return. The bubble had burst and her pain poured out of her body.
He let go of her hand, and one arm went under her legs and the other went around her back. She felt herself rising off the seat as he lifted her out of where she sat and onto his lap. She didn’t struggle, didn’t push herself away from him. As the wall of protection she’d built inside herself crumbled, he offered her safety. She took her fist out of her mouth, put her arms around his body, and let the grief spill over.
Her sobs ripped from her body as the agony of losing everything she’d worked for, everything she’d built being destroyed with one push of a button, finally hit her. What was she going to do now? How could she come back from nothing? It was all still too raw, too fresh for her to know if she could do anything but get through this moment.
The press of his body against hers, the slow motion of his hands moving up and down her back didn’t offer the answers she was looking for. It offered comfort and safety. As he held her silently, it was almost as if he was taking her grief inside himself, holding it for her until she could process it and move on. He absorbed every emotion spilling out of her with a steadiness that comforted her more than words ever could.
He did not try to talk, as if he knew that what she needed was not words, but the strength his body offered. He was an anchor in the chaotic storm raging inside of her and she clung to him as she tried to make sense of what had happened. In the back of her mind, a whisper nagged at her that it wasn’t good to cling to him so hard. He could be taken away too, but she ignored it and shoved that little voice back in the far recesses of her mind.
She needed him, needed what he was offering her. If she was going to make it through the next minute, the next hour, she needed something to hold on to, and right now that something was him.
Chapter Seven
Evie finally sagged against him, and Cynric held her close as her breath sighed out of her. The steady, even rhythm of her breathing told him that she slept while he held her, and he reckoned that sleep was the best thing for her right now. Her psyche needed to heal, and it would find the strength necessary to repair itself in sleep. He’d felt the pain ripping through her in every sob, and the sound of each one only cemented the guilt eating a hole inside him. It didn’t take a genius to figure out why the military had come for her now.
“Is she going to be okay?” Collette turned in the seat to face him, and he could see the concern written on her face. Everyone in the van was quiet as each of them tried to absorb what had happened in their own way. They’d come very close to destruction, to capture, and he was sure that once they got to their destination that his men would
hold their women a little closer tonight.
“I don’t know. She’s sleeping for now, and it’s for the best. We’ll just leave her be until we get where we are going.” Cynric glanced down at Evie and smoothed away the dark hair that had escaped out of the bun on the top of her head and clung to her wet cheeks. Her brow puckered for a moment, and she made a small sound. After a few seconds her face smoothed out and her breath came out in a sigh.
“Where are we going?” Miranda directed her question to Rebecca, who’d been sitting silently in the front of the van. She must be suffering as well since her life had been wrapped up in the compound as much as Evie’s had. Her face was pale and pinched, but other than that, it didn’t look like she was as devastated as Evie.
“We need a safe place to go to regroup. I have such a place. It’s grim and doesn’t have much by way of necessities, but it’s warm, dry and off the grid.”
It didn’t matter how grim the place was, as long as it was safe and defendable, that’s all that mattered. They’d been able to get their weapons out and a few meager possessions. Staying safe was the priority, and if the place Rebecca had for them did that, then he was in her debt.
Her calm during this situation was to her credit, and he admired how she’d kept a cool head enough to think of where they could go. They needed to get away from the military breathing down their necks while they made plans to get off this planet. The urgency of the need to escape was not lost to him. The military had found them once, they could find them again. It would tempt fate to stick around here any longer than necessary.
He didn’t know how or why it had happened, but what he knew was that it was his fault that everything Evie had built had been destroyed. His rescue, as grateful as he was that it had happened, had been one challenge too much for the planet’s military. He should have known that they would retaliate in one way or another for the humiliation they’d dealt them. The attack on the three soldiers when they’d gone to Ryce’s pod had only added to it.
