Sebastian nodded, face grim. “So we know we can trust Vavi and you.” He looked over at Karr. “Everyone else is suspect.”
Karr looked like he wanted to argue, but eventually he gave a tight nod. “I'll go find Vavi right now. We can keep an eye on what's happening. Let you know when it's safe to come back in.”
Sebastian didn't answer, and Dee wondered if it was because he didn't want to state the obvious. That until the Cores were defeated, there would be no safe time to come back.
She leaned into him a little, loving the way he wasn't shy about showing he liked having her close. Loving it a lot.
“Did you put this lookout here?” Karr asked, and she could see he was uncomfortable with the way Sebastian was holding her, but unwilling to leave just yet.
“Vahn built it. He showed it to me when I stayed with him a few months before he disappeared.” Sebastian went still, and Dee saw why a moment later.
The Core guards were coming back down the pathway, retracing their steps. This time there was one in the lead, one taking up the rear, and two walking side by side in the middle, all with guns raised.
“Not so sure of themselves now?” Dee watched them carefully.
“Maybe they're looking for trouble.” Karr's voice cracked.
Dee leaned forward, trying to get a better look. “Doesn't look like they're finding it.”
Sebastian shook his head. “They probably won't. But the reason they're walking back a bit more cautiously is they've suddenly remembered there are a lot more people in the settlement than they could deal with if there was a coordinated attack. The people have the numbers. The Cores don't send their guards into the settlement because it reminds people of that fact.” He turned to Karr. “Go. Right now. Find out what's going on and let us know.”
Karr nodded and then swung off the platform.
Dee could hear him crashing through the branches in his haste to get to the ground, and then he ran off to the right, angling toward the center of the sprawling informal settlement.
“Do you really think we can trust him?” she asked.
Sebastian looked up at her in surprise. “You think there's a chance we can't?”
She shrugged. “I don't know him as well as you, but there are some serious leaks in your organization, and he's someone in the inner circle.”
“So's Koan.”
Dee sat back, legs crossed, and Fluffy leapt into her lap. “You suspect him?”
“Things he's done have raised a few questions in my mind.” He reached out and took her hand, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles in a back and forth motion she suspected he wasn't really aware of. “Now tell me. What happened?” He scooted forward, until his knees were touching hers, and gently stroked his fingers down her bruised temple again.
“I was grabbed off the street. The guy picked me up and ran with me down a narrow alley and into a room.”
He went absolutely still.
“Fluffy squirmed out of the pack and bit him, and Paka went down like a felled tree.”
“You know his name? That's good.” He said it like a promise.
“No.” She shook her head. “Paka didn't even want to grab me. That was Jamari's idea. And she is truly sorry she chose that route.” Dee thought back to Jamari leaning over Paka on the bed, face white with fear. “Believe me. She's sorry.”
“Jamari? Where do I know that name?”
“She used to captain one of Ruanne's traders. I've met her a couple of times up on the Deck of Felicitos. She recognized me, and wanted to find out what was going on. But she didn't know if she could trust me, so she persuaded Paka to scoop me up. If I hadn't been fighting so hard, I wouldn't have knocked into the door frame, and I would be more or less unharmed.”
Sebastian gave a tight nod, but she didn't think he was feeling any more forgiving.
“She told me the locals have stopped cooperating with the resistance. A few of them have given up some information, and then they've disappeared. Completely gone. Their families think they were killed because whoever in the resistance is working for the Cores doesn't want them to keep handing over good intel.”
“So that's why Frino and Gert were so unwilling to help all of a sudden. They think it'll put a target on their back.” Sebastian blew out a frustrated breath.
“What did Gert say when you met him at headquarters?” She suddenly remembered why he'd had to rush off this morning.
“He was nervous that we'd come after him and his friends. He came to explain and apologize, and he did it all in public, in front of the building we use as our headquarters.”
“He was protecting himself.” She said the words slowly. “He was making it harder for whoever is responsible for the disappearances to target him. By openly admitting you had a grievance against him, and trying to make it up to you, he was hoping to make it difficult to get rid of him without causing more trouble than he was worth.”
Sebastian gave a grim nod. “I'm coming to the same conclusion.”
She looked at his face--worried, and serious--and didn't even try to curb her instinct. “Gert himself could be the leak, you know.” She set Fluffy beside her, and then climbed into his lap, her legs on either side of his hips. “He knew I was with you.”
“He could be.” Sebastian made a sound that was almost a rumbling purr, pulled her in closer and then kissed her neck.
She felt her heart beat faster, felt her nerve endings fire up, and tilted her head back to give him better access, even as she slid her hands down to rub the erection that had sprung up between them.
He groaned, lifting a little into her touch. “Not here. I'm not the only person who knows about this lookout.”
“Hmm.” She shouldn't have started anything, but she wanted to wipe away that grim look, before it sank into his soul. “Where do we go, then?”
“There's a place I know of. It's a little further than I'd like to be from the settlement, but no one knows about it.”
She rested her forehead on his shoulder, blew out a frustrated breath. “Then let's go.”
Chapter 23
She was like the golden light that spilled over the planet each morning.
Sebastian watched Dee as she carefully made her way through the forest, following the tiny track he'd put them on, and knew without her, he'd be in a far darker place.
Her hair was tied in a tail high on her head, and tendrils stuck to her neck in the steamy heat. She'd pushed the long sleeves of her black shirt up her arms and every now and then, pulled it away from her body.
“I hope we're close.” She looked over her shoulder, and he forced himself to concentrate on where they were.
“Not far.” He could still feel her hands on him, could still taste the salty sweet of her skin. They couldn't get there soon enough.
The comm set buzzed in his pocket, and he reached out to grab her shoulder to stop her moving ahead.
“Yes,” he said, unwilling to identify himself, in case Karr or Vavi were no longer the ones in control of the comm unit.
“It's Vavi. The Cores sent a message. They've got Lucia.”
He could barely hear her, and he didn't know if that was because of where she was calling from, or because they'd moved too far away from the settlement.
“What did you say?”
“They've taken Lucia.” She sounded like she was breathing heavily. “They say they'll kill her if Dee doesn't give herself up.”
Sebastian didn't know if the static was from the comm set, or his ears.
“Did you hear me, Seb?” Her voice cracked. “They'll kill her.”
“How did you get the message?” He made his lips move.
“They gave it to one of our informants who works as a cleaner in the Tree. Someone outed her to them, and they told her not to come back once she'd passed on the news.”
The world seemed to slow, and get colder. “They give a time limit? A place?”
Dee was watching him, head cocked to one side as she tried to work out
the conversation.
The conversation about her being part of a hostage swap.
Rage descended on him for a long beat, and he had to clear his throat. “Repeat that.”
“They want her to step into the Tree lobby tomorrow morning or they'll dump Lucia's body outside the Dar Raca gate.”
He took a deep, deliberate breath. “Who knows this?”
“Everyone at headquarters.” Vavi blew out a breath. “Seb, people here don't know Dee. They'll sell her out in a heartbeat to get Lucia back. Some may already have done it.”
“Karr?”
She was silent for so long, he wondered if they'd lost the connection.
“I don't know,” she said at last. “He's been friends with Lucia for a long time. He'd give Dee up without thinking twice.”
“Where's Karr now?” Might as well know.
“He went to the Tree. Said he wanted to see if he could find where they may be holding her.”
Sebastian closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. “Did he take back up?”
“No.” She sounded worried.
Which was logical. Because from the Cores perspective, two hostages were always better than one.
Or maybe Karr was going there to tell them what he knew about Dee's whereabouts.
“Tell him to get in touch when he gets back.”
“I will.” The line crackled a bit more. “Where are you, Sebastian?”
Sebastian cut off the call. Then he dropped the comm set onto the ground and stamped on it.
He looked up, found Dee watching him with wide eyes.
“See a rock anywhere?”
She turned, stepped off the path, and came back with two.
He put the comm set on one, smashed it with the second one.
“Trouble?”
He laughed, a mirthless, bitter sound. “You could say that.”
“Someone sell you out?” There was a well of sympathy in her tone.
“You've been there?”
She nodded. “Two of our people were taken by the Cores. Tortured and killed, and their bodies left outside one of Leo's warehouses as a message. We thought the Cores got inside information on who to take.”
He picked up the broken comm set and stepped off the path, heading north.
She followed behind him without a single question. Above them, high in the branches, birds called to each other, and he could see the flash of bright yellow and red.
“You find out who it was?” he asked at last.
“Yes.”
There was something hard in her voice now.
“You can't just leave it at that.”
“It was someone Finkle and I hired. One of the security team.”
“I take it he's no longer a problem.”
She gave a snort. “Leo and Sofie took him down. From the sounds of it, Sofie stopped him, Leo ended him.”
“Why did he do it?” He knew he was stringing this out, but he'd rather not think about the traitors in his own team right now.
“Garmen is a Breakaway planet. Why do you think he did it?”
Sebastian sighed. “Money.”
He caught a glimpse of what he'd been looking for.
“Oh.” From the surprise and interest in Dee's voice, she'd seen it, too.
Sebastian pushed through the last of the thick foliage, and held it back for Dee to join him on the thin strip bare of all vegetation.
The hum of the track was so low, you could only hear it when you were almost on it, and even then, it was more like a vibration in your bones than something you actually heard.
The pillars holding the track up were at least a story and a half high. The hum swelled, Sebastian wound his arm back, and as a hover, piled with supplies, ran past, he threw the comm set up to it.
It made a ting as it landed inside, and then the hum settled to a quieter level as the vehicle disappeared toward Dar Raca.
When he turned, he saw Dee watching him with eyes that told him she knew something was very wrong.
“We're not that far from where I was originally taking us. Do you mind if we don't talk about it for a bit?”
She hesitated, then nodded. She stepped back the way they'd come, holding the foliage back for him this time, and he felt a surge of gratitude to her, just to have some time to think.
To find a way out of this.
He led the way, and it seemed the roof of the hut he was looking for came up sooner than he was ready for.
The sound of water grew louder as they got closer, and he gave a grunt of approval as he turned the last corner and stepped into the clearing. There had obviously been enough rain deeper in the forest to keep the waterfall flowing.
“Oh, yes please.” Dee crowded behind him, and then pushed past, carefully setting down her pack and Fluffy, and then pulling her shirt off.
She bent, unclipped her boots, and then wriggled out of her pants, leaving them in a pile. She walked naked up to the river bank, stepping into the shallow pool that curved around the dilapidated hut. She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled, then walked across to duck down under the low waterfall that cascaded over the rocks on the opposite side.
She gave a tiny squeak as the water hit her, and he guessed it was a bit colder than she'd thought it would be.
She eventually dropped into a crouch, so that the water poured over her head as well, tilting her head back so it hit her face.
By the time she pushed her hair back and stepped away, wading through the shin high water back to the bank, he had had the sense to get out of his own clothes.
She trailed a hand down his arm as he passed her, then stood watching him as he had watched her.
It made him harder than he ever remembered being.
When he had rubbed the sweat off himself, and turned back, he found she'd perched herself on a smooth rock a little way upstream, lying back on her elbows.
“I checked. There's no decent bed in that hut.”
He walked toward her. “That's disappointing. But this will do just fine.”
It had been more than just fine.
It had been wild, and fast, and urgent.
Dee stretched, liking the feel of Sebastian's wet, taut skin against hers. She didn't want to break the mood. Didn't want to end this moment, but . . .
“What's the problem?”
He sucked in a breath. Closed his eyes.
She waited him out.
It was bad, whatever it was. He had made love to her like she was about to be ripped from his arms.
“They took Lucia.”
She thought back to Lucia of the solemn face, and no bullshit. She had seemed to be the closest team member to Sebastian when they'd taken Dee hostage on the Verden. “For what reason?”
“To swap for another hostage.”
He could barely say the words.
And it became as crystal clear as the water flowing around her. “To swap for me.”
“Yes.” Sebastian sat up, taking her with him. He lifted her, arranging her on his lap, and she leaned forward to rest her head against his shoulder.
His big hands settled on her back, rubbed up and down.
“So, they picked Lucia at random, or because she's your closest friend?”
He stiffened. “My closest friend?”
“Well, isn't she?” She leaned back to look him in the eye.
“I hadn't thought of it, but . . . yes.” He narrowed his eyes. “We worked together for years on the pipelines. I'd trust her before I trusted anyone else.”
“So they conveniently get rid of your closest ally and the one person you'd most likely trade for your new lover in one neat step.”
He stared at her. “Whoever gave the Cores that bit of inside information had better be enjoying whatever they got for it, because they won't be enjoying it for long.”
She didn't respond.
“Hey.” He gripped her shoulders and shook her gently. “Hey! There is no way I'm giving you up to them. No way.”
S
he let out a slow breath. “So what's the plan?”
“I'll go back. Tell them you were picked up by the Bodivas warship that's coming for you. I can't give up what I don't have. Whoever gave Lucia's name to the Cores did it because they see her as a weak spot for me, but she's worth nothing if I don't have what they're looking for.”
“If she's worth nothing, they won't simply give her back.” He must know this as well as she did. “They'll kill her first.”
In her experience, the Cores never passed up on an opportunity to remind the gen-pop that they couldn't win. Without constant reinforcement, they might just forget and do something risky.
Like remember they were many and the Cores were few.
“I can't give you up. I don't have a right to, anyway.” He gestured to his pack, lying on the river bank. “This isn't your battle. I dragged you into it, and I'll get you out. I've got a location device in my pack. You take it, hike as far as you can, and then in a day's time, activate it for an hour or so. If I haven't given the frequency to your friends on Garmen by then, wait another day, activate it again.”
The sun had set swiftly, painting the sky with oranges and reds so deep and vivid, Dee lifted her head and tipped it back to take it all in. The cool blues, lavenders and pinks of Garmen were beautiful in their own way, but this was bold and striking. Gorgeous beyond words.
The air had cooled, too, just enough to make her perfectly comfortable in her own skin.
“What are you thinking?” Sebastian was watching her with his dark eyes, thick eyelashes clumped together from the water, and she felt her heart lurch in her chest.
“That this is a beautiful place.”
Something crashed through bushes on the other side of the stream and then hooted, the sound so loud and aggressive Dee froze, her gaze snapping to the quivering undergrowth.
“A fintel.” Sebastian turned to look as well, but she relaxed a little at his calm demeanor, even as she caught a glimpse of a mottled brown and green coat, and then heard another ear-splitting hoot.
“They're rare.” Sebastian's lips twisted with regret. “Or at least, around the settlement in Dar Raca they are. With jobs and money so scarce, they've been hunted out.”
Breakeven Page 15
