by R S Penney
Anna spun around, making her way up the corridor at a brisk pace. After several years of doing this job, she had begun to notice something weird. In the moments leading up to a major conflict, she was always nervous, always worried that some poor bystander might get hurt. But as soon as she committed herself, that tension became resolve.
The man Gabi had knocked out had been guarding the fourth door on her right. She paused right in front of it, reaching out to jiggle the knob. As expected, it was locked. But that was hardly a problem for a Keeper.
Anna gave a twist, ripping the knob off.
The door swung open with a painful squeal, revealing a bedroom where Keli sat on the mattress with her head down. Beyond her, a window looked out on the backyard, and the glowing floodlights left a bright rectangle on the ceiling.
“What the hell is this?”
Rawlins stepped into view with his cane held in one hand, wincing at the effort of walking. “I said no one was to come up here.” He froze in place when he recognized her. “Oh, bullocks. It's you!”
Anna looked up with a cheeky grin. “Yes, it's me,” she said, eyebrows rising. “And now you're under arrest. We're going to start with charges of kidnapping and then work our way up from there.”
Rawlins rolled up one sleeve to reveal a bracelet on his wrist, one with a blinking red LED. “Are you forgetting something, love?” he asked in that gravelly British accent. “Anything happens to me, and the telepath dies.”
Anna strode into the room without a moment's hesitation. There were only two ways this could play out. Either Ben would be able to circumvent the slaver's collar, or Rawlins would hit Keli with a powerful shock. Either way, it was in her best interest to get that bracelet off him as soon as possible.
Throwing his head back, Rawlins squeezed his eyes shut. Sweat broke out all over his face. “All right then…If that's the way you want it, sweetheart, don't say I didn't warn you when you're scraping deep-fried telepath off the carpet.”
He pushed a button on his bracelet.
Nothing happened.
Before Anna could say a word, Keli stood up and directed a fiery glare at the back of his head. The look in her eyes…Anna had seen it before on the faces of criminals who were about to launch into a murderous rage. “No! Don't!” she pleaded.
Rawlins pressed the heels of his hands to his eye-sockets, screaming at the top of his lungs. He dropped to his knees on the carpet and trembled like a man who had been forced to spend an hour in freezing water. “Stop it!” Anna shouted. “Stop it now! We're not going to kill him!”
Keli narrowed her eyes.
Rawlins doubled over until he was lying prostrate on the floor, squealing in obvious agony. This had to end! No matter what she had suffered, Keli had no right to take a life on a whim.
Anna paced across the room.
She punched the telepath square in the face, forcing her back down onto the bed. Keli covered a bloody nose with one hand, but her focus remained unbroken.
Rawlins spasmed several times before he went suddenly, painfully still. He flopped over onto his side without a sound. When it was over, Anna found herself standing over the other woman in quiet, impotent rage. “That…” she said, “was not acceptable. You can't just go around killing-”
“Sorry to cut this short.”
In her mind's eye, she saw the silhouette of Ben standing in the doorway with one hand braced against the wall. “We won't be able to circumvent the collar for very much longer,” he said. “Someone's going to have to put on that transceiver.”
Anna knelt before the corpse, removing the bracelet from his wrist. The cool metal in her hand made her pause. With this, she could unlock the collar and set Keli free. Her stomach turned just thinking about such a device – no other weapon seemed as vile to her – but if Keli got loose…What might the woman do to escape? Who else might get hurt in the process?
Anna snapped the bracelet onto her wrist.
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and then let it out again. “Ben,” she said, glancing over her shoulder. “Disable the signal. The collar will use my vital signs as the baseline until we get back to the station.”
Keli was watching her with a flat expression, refusing to show even the tiniest hint of emotion. “And you,” Anna said, “Are going to avoid doing anything violent. If I sense even the tiniest whiff of trouble from you, I'll kill you myself.”
Chapter 27
The moment passed, and his heart rate slowed, adrenaline fading to be replaced with a sense of calm and peace. And also bewilderment. Wasn't everything supposed to feel different now? He felt very much the same, but he didn't care.
The only thing Jack saw was Gabi's smiling face in the soft light of the nightstand lamp. And he was dimly aware of her fingertips caressing the back of his neck. “That was very nice,” she murmured.
He closed his eyes, then touched his nose to hers. “Yeah, it was.” He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. “So how does this work now? I sneak out in the middle of the night and forget to call you?”
She giggled.
Jack rolled off her, lying on his back with fingers laced behind his head. He stared up at the ceiling for a long moment. “A lot to think about. Or maybe I just want there to be a lot to think about.”
Gabi sat up, holding the blankets to her chest. She looked over her shoulder, thin strands of long dark hair falling over her back. “I don't think there's all that much to think about. Sometimes it just is what it is.”
“Yeah.”
“You were pretty good for a first time.”
Chuckling softly, Jack grinned and tried to ignore the heat in his face. “Oh…You don't have to humor me.” He pulled the blankets up over himself. “I'm not one of those guys who obsesses about his skill in bed.”
A glance to the side revealed a look of concern on Gabi's face. Somehow, he had said the wrong thing. “I wasn't humoring you,” she murmured. “I just thought you'd like to…You're very gentle. It's nice.”
“Thanks.”
She turned her back on him as she sat on the edge of the mattress. “And you were very much aware of me the whole time,” she added. “Sometimes people don't…What I mean is there have been times when it honestly felt like my partner didn't care who he was sleeping with.”
He turned away from her.
Jack had his cheek pressed to the pillow, his eyes shut tight. “Then those people were morons,” he said. “Because anyone who could look at you and not feel captivated by your presence is clearly lacking brain cells.”
In his mind's eye, he saw her sitting still, her muscles tense as though she thought she might have to defend her very life. He knew what was coming, and his heart sank. “You better go,” Gabi whispered. “It's getting late.”
“No cuddling?”
“I don't want this to go any further.”
Stifling a yawn with his fist, Jack let out a groan. “Are you sure you don't want it to go further?” he asked. “Because we keep having the 'I don't want it to go further' talk, and it keeps going further.”
She let out a shuddering breath.
“In fact, I think we passed 'further' several stations ago,” Jack went on. “And now we're well on our way to Beyondville.”
He gave her a moment to answer, but of course she said nothing. Jack had been through enough of these situations to know that when someone made up their mind to pull away, there was no stopping them. It didn't matter if everything else they said or did screamed “this isn't what I really want,” when people made up their minds to go, they went. No exceptions.
He sat up.
Jack stared down into his lap, trying hard to figure out why he felt so damn awkward. “Don't worry about it, Gabs,” he said, reaching out to gently lay a hand on her shoulder. “I'm gonna go. Spock gets cranky when I leave him alone in the apartment.”
Half a minute later, he had his pants on and was busy buttoning up his white silk shirt at the foot of the bed. So this is what the w
alk of shame felt like. Well, perhaps that didn't start until he actually left her quarters. He didn't really feel ashamed about the sex, but the asking for more…That was a bonehead move.
“Jack.”
When he looked up, she was sitting on the edge of the mattress with the blankets clutched to her chest, watching him over her shoulder. “Stay,” she murmured. “It's your first time, and you should get the whole experience, cuddling included.”
He shut his eyes, then scraped a knuckle across his forehead. “No thanks,” he said, turning away from her. “Like I said, my cat gets pretty damn cranky when I leave him all alone for an entire night.”
“And the real reason you won't stay?”
With a deep breath, Jack looked away and tried to stifle a wince. “Because if I stay, I'm Pressure Guy,” he explained. “I'm the guy who got what he wanted by making you feel guilty.”
“You really don't get it, do you?”
“Enlighten me.”
Gabi trembled with soft laughter, shaking her head in dismay. “You weren't trying to make me feel guilty,” she said, getting to her feet. “You think I wouldn't have sensed it if you did something like that?”
Jack squinted down at the floor. “You probably would have…” he said, nodding to himself. “But that doesn't change the fact that I handled it badly. You say go, I go. That's how it's supposed to work.”
Gabi came up behind him with the blankets wrapped around herself like a dress. “No, that's not how it's supposed to work.” Gently, she laid a hand on his shoulder. “You are not a robot, Jack; you can tell me what you want.”
He turned.
Chewing his lip, Jack let his head hang. “What I want is something you aren't willing to give me,” he whispered. “I'd rather avoid going into the explicit details of what I can't have.”
She laid a hand on his cheek, and Jack closed his eyes, leaning into her touch. “We keep having the 'I don't want to go further' talk,” Gabi murmured. “Yet somehow, we just keep going further.”
She pressed her lips to his in the softest kiss, then pulled away, blinking at him. “It was a good point,” she added. “I want much more from you than a one night stand, Jack, but I'm not sure it can work between us.”
“Mind if I ask why not?”
“Because you're idealistic and reckless and much too young for me. Because you probably don't want the same things I want. Because Justice Keepers don't exactly make for the most stable partners. All that and a dozen other things I'm going to ignore when I ask you to crawl back into my bed.”
“If I do that…I might not want to leave again. You sure that's a risk you want to take?”
She kissed him on the lips. “What do you think?”
A red, disk-shaped robot went speeding down the hallway, leaving a glistening trail of cleanser on the gray floor tiles. The lower decks of Station Twelve were almost devoid of human life; empty gray hallways stretched on without a soul in sight. No people in any event. Simulated intelligences on the other hand…
The transparent hologram of a woman who wore her white hair tied up in a bun hovered in the air, blocking the intersection of two corridors. “This section is off limits to unauthorized personnel.”
Melissa stood in the corridor with her arms folded, frowning down at herself. “I'm aware of that,” she said, moving closer to the hologram. “But I feel I must be lost. Could you direct me back to the concourse?”
The hologram blinked at her. “This is your third attempt to enter a restricted area, Melissa Carlson.” Somehow, despite the thick Leyrian accent, she reminded Melissa of a snooty English woman. “Security has been alerted.”
Melissa looked up with wide eyes, sweat prickling on her forehead. “Security,” she said, backing away from the floating apparition. “There's really no need for that, is there? I just got a little lost.”
“Funny place to get lost, huh?”
A shiver ran down Melissa's spine when she heard the voice of the one person she most wanted to avoid. This was so unfair! God damn Leyrian technology and its knack for keeping tabs on you.
She turned around to find Jena standing in the middle of the corridor in blue jeans and a black t-shirt that revealed a hint of midriff. The look on her face could make stone seem soft. “What's going on here, kid?”
Melissa drew in a shuddering breath, then hung her head in shame. “I came down here to see Raynar,” she said, approaching the other woman. “I know you said not to, but I think you're holding an innocent person, and I think I can prove it if you just give me a chance to talk to him.”
Covering a yawn with one hand, Jena shut her eyes. “My life never gets easier,” she mumbled. “Kid, a security violation like this could lead to your visitor's pass being revoked, and it doesn't look good on the resumé.”
“I know.”
“And you want to come down here anyway?”
Standing her ground was difficult, but Melissa refused to budge. “What is the point of pursuing a career serving justice if I have to violate my ethics just to get my foot in the door?”
“Violate your ethics?”
Melissa set her jaw and held the other woman's gaze. “You've been holding an innocent man,” she said. “I can prove it if you give me the chance.”
“So let's say he really is innocent,” Jena began. “How do you intend to prove it? Anything he shows you could be a lie.”
“I have instincts.”
“Do you now?”
The frustration was beginning to overwhelm her. On some level, she knew Raynar was innocent, but she couldn't put her finger on why. It was a feeling more than anything else, but one she couldn't ignore. Not if she wanted to live with herself. Maybe it was a holdover from her contact with the young telepath's mind.
Either way, she was at her wit's end. In a moment of pique, Melissa threw her hands up and said, “Jena, please! Trust me…”
The other woman looked her up and down, examining her the way she would a dog who had just scampered into the kitchen after running through the mud. It was hopeless! If her best reasoned arguments couldn't make an impression, there was no chance of an emotional plea doing the job.
Jena looked up to squint at the ceiling. “Computer,” she said. “Disable security protocols, authorization Morane Zin-Kala-Tay-Nor.” A slight chirp came from the nearest loud speaker, and the hologram vanished. “Come on.”
Melissa found herself walking behind the other woman, watching Jena make her way up the corridor at a brisk pace. Something about this didn't feel quite right. How had she convinced Jena?
“I don't get it,” Melissa said. “I give you every logical argument I could think of, but it's my outburst that changes your mind?”
Jena froze in her tracks.
She looked back over her shoulder with a tight frown. “You were ready to throw away a promising career to follow your conscience,” she said. “I don't have to agree with you to respect that.”
The door that led into the detention area revealed a large room with a curved desk along the back wall. An older man with curly dark hair that was slowly turning gray sat behind it, drumming his fingers.
He swiveled to face them, then flinched when he saw Jena. “Director Morane,” he said, getting out of his chair. “I wasn't expecting you. Were you hoping to look in on the young telepath?”
Jena closed her eyes, nodding to him. “Yes, I was,” she answered, striding across the room. “My friend and I have a few questions for the boy. Has he been behaving himself since I last looked in on him?”
“Quite well, ma'am.”
“Let us in please.”
Another door in the back wall led to a large corridor with individual cells spaced at even intervals. The bright lights in the ceiling seemed harsh to Melissa, as if they were trying to kill every trace of shadow.
Jena stopped in front of a door on the right, reaching out to press her hand against a palm scanner. There was a soft beep, and then the hissing sound of the cell door sliding ope
n. Melissa braced herself.
Inside, she found what almost looked like a hotel room, complete with round table and a bed on the back wall. There were books on a little shelf and even a tablet to stave off the boredom. A lamp on the nightstand cast soft light on every wall.
Raynar sat on the edge of the bed with hands folded in his lap, his head drooping as if on the edge of sleep. “Planning to finally charge me with something, two-soul?” he asked. “Or did you just come for a chat.”
Melissa looked down at the floor. “We did want to talk,” she said, striding into the cell. “I believe you're innocent, Raynar, and I'd like to help you prove it if you're willing to give me a chance.”
He looked up at her with suspicious eyes, squinting as if he'd never seen a woman before. “I believe you.” With a grunt, he got to his feet. “So how exactly do you plan to vindicate me?”
Well, that was the rub, wasn't it? Every scrap of mental effort she had expended so far had been dedicated to finding a way in here. Now that she had arrived, she wasn't sure how to proceed. That alone left her uneasy. Melissa was the kind of woman who liked to have a plan. But how do you plan for something like this?
Melissa approached him with her hands clasped in front of herself, her head bowed respectfully. “Show me what you know,” she whispered. “Don't tell me; show me. Let me see the truth of it.”
Raynar lifted his chin, watching her for a very long moment. “All right,” he said at last. “If you insist.”
Gently, he touched a finger to her forehead.
She was yanked away from this time and place, her mind flooded with memories that were not her own. Through Raynar's eyes, she saw the dimly-lit living room of his quarters. It was nothing special.
He sat with a tablet in his lap, the screen displaying the text of a book Melissa had never read. With one finger, he scrolled through the pages. His emotions were as clear to her as the noonday sun. The suspicion and fear were fading; he was beginning to feel as though he might be safe here on Station Twelve.
