by Kris Delake
When asked about her, Skye had said that she had never liked her, but she hadn’t thought about her much until that day on Krell.
Jack finished what research he could. He still hadn’t found everything he had been searching for, but he found enough to make him wary.
He knew he and Skye needed to do some more digging, but he also had one other thing he had to finish. He had promised he would contact Rikki as soon as he had information.
He had already waited a few extra days, mostly because he didn’t want to have any contact traced back to his location. He could just make the contact, and take the risk that nothing would happen, or he could confide in Skye and take the risk that she might veto the contact altogether.
For the first time, he saw the downside of a team.
Still, he figured it wasn’t fair to just contact Rikki without warning Skye.
He waited until they were doing some joint research in the entertainment room.
He swiveled his chair toward her. “Skye,” he said, in his most serious voice.
She raised her head just a little. He recognized the movement. She was preoccupied.
“Skye, this is important.”
She sighed and turned toward him. She wasn’t wearing much—a tank top and some shorts that revealed her toned legs. Her feet were bare.
They had both taken to wearing as little as possible because more often than not, the clothes just came off at the most unexpected times. (Then he smiled to himself. The clothes didn’t just come off. They got removed, often in the heat of a very hot moment.)
“I’m following an unusual trail,” she said. “Can we wait an hour?”
She must have recognized the look on his face and known what he was thinking about.
“Actually,” he said, “I just need to talk with you for a minute.”
She looked just a bit surprised. Then she blinked and frowned, clearly wrenching her mind away from whatever research she had been doing.
“Remember when I told you about Rikki?”
Skye nodded.
“I promised her that I’d let her know about your friend Orlinski as soon as I had information on him. I’ve had information for days, and it’s bugging me—”
“Anything I should know?” Skye said.
“Just that he seems even more honorable than you made him out to be.”
She smiled a little. “You sound disappointed.”
Jack smiled at himself. “I might be. I don’t like the idea of Rikki being involved with someone I don’t know.”
He didn’t like the idea of Rikki being involved with anyone, truth be told. He knew there would never be anyone good enough for her, at least not in his opinion. No matter how straight up the guy was. Or how honorable.
“You’re that close?” Skye asked.
He nodded. “She’s family, remember?”
“I do,” Skye said. “But you should remember that my experience of family isn’t a good one.”
His breath caught. He hadn’t thought of it in those terms.
“I rely on her,” he said by way of explanation. “She relies on me. We saved each other’s lives more than once, first as kids and then as adults. We—”
“You don’t have to justify the relationship,” Skye said.
Was that what he was doing? Maybe. He wanted Skye to understand that his relationship with Rikki was different than his relationship with her. Different in a thousand ways.
Of course, he’d never really used the word relationship out loud with Skye. It was what they had, though. It wasn’t just sexual. It was something more. Something he’d never experienced before.
Which was why he wanted her to understand how he felt about Rikki.
“I need to tell her about him,” Jack said. “And I need to do it as soon as possible.”
“I don’t see why it can’t wait,” Skye said. “If you’re that close to her, the Rovers have to know it. They’ll be waiting for a communication between the two of you.”
“They might,” Jack said. “But they might not. I told you, they’re not always sophisticated.”
“It’s a risk, though,” Skye said.
“Which is why I’m telling you,” Jack said. “I can’t put this off any longer.”
Her lips thinned. His heart was pounding. He could tell from her expression that she knew what else he was talking about. The idyll was almost over.
“We still don’t have a plan,” Skye said. “I’ve been thinking about it. We need to hire someone to go after Heller.”
Jack had thought of that too. But he didn’t want to take such drastic action. Not yet. They still hadn’t finished their research.
“So let’s wait,” Skye said. “I’m sure she won’t mind—”
“She was in a hurry when I talked to her on Krell,” Jack said. “And she looked more upset than I’d ever seen her. I need to talk to her, Skye. I’m being a bad friend right now. She relied on me, and I am failing her.”
Skye stared at him for the longest moment. He could almost see her thought processes. She didn’t quite understand what he was talking about, but she was trying to.
“Is something wrong between her and Misha?” Skye asked.
“I don’t know,” Jack said. “But she doesn’t know their entire history together, and she needs to.”
“Because…?”
He let out a small sigh. Rikki had told him most of her past in confidence. He doubted she would want anyone else to know, particularly another member of the Assassins Guild.
“Because it might make a difference in a few things she does,” Jack said, hoping to leave it at that. “I wasn’t really asking your permission. I wanted you to know that I’ll be contacting her as soon as we can move the ship near the asteroid belt.”
The belt would give them some protection. Their trail would be hard to follow because of the asteroids.
“Then we can go back to what we were doing,” he said.
But something in Skye’s face told him that going back might not be possible. He reviewed what he had said. She had started to frown when he said he wasn’t asking her permission.
“I thought we were a team,” she said.
“We are. But we are individuals as well, and I have an obligation to Rikki.”
“It could risk your life,” Skye said.
He nodded. “Friends do that sometimes. You have, with me.”
She let out a small sigh. “What’ll happen if you continue to wait?”
“That’s what I don’t know,” he said. “Rikki has her own life. But she relies on me for information. She makes judgment calls because of it.”
Skye leaned back for a moment, then shook her head. “In life and in work. You’re the information guy.”
“You’re an information person too,” Jack said.
“Only I’ve never had the kind of friend who needed information from me,” she said. She thought for a moment, then said, “It’s important to you.”
“Yes,” Jack said.
“You made it sound like it was more important to her,” Skye said. “Don’t risk your life on something you don’t think important.”
It was good advice. He knew that. “I’ll keep the conversation short,” he said.
“I know,” she said. “I hope that’s going to be enough.”
Chapter 43
Skye gave Jack privacy. She left the entertainment area and wandered, feeling lost. At first she wondered if she were jealous, but she couldn’t be, right? She didn’t have a real relationship with Jack.
Although she had no idea what she should call these past several days. A vacation? A momentary lapse of judgment?
It didn’t feel like a lapse of judgment.
She walked into the galley and made some coffee. Then she took out one of the self-baking cookies she had ordered. They prepared themselves when the stash got low, and the stash had gotten low several times. She hadn’t paid attention to her exercise regime or to her diet during this trip.
Of course, she had gotten a lot of exercise. Just not the type she expected.
She almost smiled, and with that near-smile came the explanation for that lost feeling. When Jack talked to Rikki, this trip was officially over. The privacy, the sense of being alone in a vast universe, the way that Skye and Jack had pretended they were the only two humans of consequence anywhere was over.
Real life had intruded again, and with real life came real problems.
And thoughts of how real relationships worked.
She bit into that cookie, tasting molasses, chocolate, and sugar. It didn’t satisfy like it had before. The coffee was done as well, so she had some.
She couldn’t check if Jack was done because he had a special communicator that allowed Rikki to contact him, and he carried it with him at all times. He hadn’t lost it, even in the chaos of leaving Krell.
He called it the CFA—the Communicator for the Assassinator—which spoke of a fondness between Jack and Rikki that Skye didn’t entirely understand.
She was beginning to realize that in keeping herself from friendships, she had kept herself from a lot of warmth, a lot of closeness, and a lot of silly jokes.
She glanced at the time. Jack had said it wouldn’t take long. Then he would probably return to work. He hadn’t asked for privacy either, although she’d given it to him.
And she did want to know how the discussion went, because it would have a bearing on what the two of them would do next.
She grabbed another cup of coffee, put a few cookies on a plate, and carried it all back to the entertainment center.
The door was open, and Jack was talking. She stopped, about to turn around, when he nodded her in.
He had attached the small communicator to the wall. He was sitting in front of it. He beckoned Skye with a hand that wasn’t visible to the tiny woman on the screen.
Skye stayed out of visual range as she set the coffee and cookies down.
“You know, Rik,” he was saying, “he seems legit, but I have the sudden urge to kick his ass.”
Skye stiffened. Did brothers and close friends respond that way? She knew that lovers did.
“Jealous?” the small image on the screen asked. Her voice sounded tiny and far away. Yet Skye could hear the fondness, and the comfortable banter in it.
“Hell, no,” Jack said quickly. “You know what I mean. It’s just that he better treat you right. A man has to protect his family and you’re all I got.”
Skye wondered if that last was for her. Jack didn’t look at her as he said it, but his hand was out as if he were waiting for her to take it.
She wasn’t going to get close. This was a private conversation, and she felt awkward enough as it was.
“I promise I’ll be careful,” Rikki was saying.
“You better.” Jack glanced at Skye. Outside of the visual range of the communicator he held up a single finger, clearly asking her to wait. It wouldn’t be long now.
He opened his mouth, and Skye could tell that he was about to sign off. Then Rikki said, “Jack? One more question.”
He leaned back. Something in Rikki’s tone didn’t sound right. Skye didn’t know her and even she could hear it.
“Yeah?” he said.
“You hear any rumblings about the Guild? About someone trying to bring it down?”
Skye suppressed a gasp. She wouldn’t have thought Misha was involved in anything. Why would someone like Rikki know about problems at the Guild?
Skye was about to gesture to Jack to ask if she could communicate with Rikki when Jack said testily, “What’s he got you into?”
And the moment was lost. Skye wouldn’t confide in anyone using that tone either. Still, she thought maybe she could salvage it by asking Jack if she could talk.
“He hasn’t gotten me into anything,” Rikki said.
Skye gestured so that Jack could see her. Skye pointed at herself, then raised her eyebrows, asking if she could talk.
But Rikki was continuing. “It’s just—I can’t talk with you about it over any kind of net. But I was thinking, you know, with the Rovers—”
“I have nothing to do with them,” Jack said curtly. “I have to go, Rik.”
He had completely misunderstood the gesture. He severed the connection and turned to Skye.
“What?” he said.
“I wanted to talk with her,” Skye said.
Jack shook his head. “It wouldn’t have done any good. I know Rikki. That last was about something she was finding. She says that Orlinski didn’t get her involved in anything, and I believe her.”
Skye handed him the coffee. “I do too. But maybe they had information we don’t.”
“Rikki thought she was being monitored, and you and I are worried about being monitored. I don’t think it would have been appropriate to talk with her about it just now.”
“You should contact her again,” Skye said.
Jack stood, then slipped the CFA off the wall and into his pocket as if he worried that Skye would try to override him.
“Have you thought,” he said, “that they’re already getting to her?”
“Who is ‘they’?” Skye asked.
“The Rovers. She’s asking questions about them and the Guild. What made her put that together?”
“Maybe you did,” Skye said. “She thinks you’re still part of the Rovers.”
“Not after that,” he said. He sighed, then sipped the coffee. “Thanks for this.”
“I think you should contact her again,” Skye said.
He shook his head. “It sounds like she and Orlinski are working things out. I just gave them an excuse not to leave wherever they are for a few days.”
He said that as if it were important.
“And?” Skye asked.
“And I think we’ve got to finish this,” he said.
“Finish what, exactly?” she asked.
“We have to get Heller off my back and we need to figure out what’s going on at the Guild.”
“From here?” Skye asked.
He looked at her, and the look was sad. “No,” he said. “I think it’s time to go back.”
Chapter 44
She had known he would say that after talking to Rikki. Skye just wasn’t prepared for how it made her feel.
Her breath caught, and the disappointment made her stomach ache. But she kept her expression impassive. She didn’t want him to know how startled she was by her own reaction.
“I think we need to meld our research into some kind of chart,” he said. “I think that might give us hints as to what’s going on. Then we might be able to figure out who to talk to at the Guild.”
She nodded. He used the same methods she did, organized, responsible, double checking everything. She still thought it odd that they were so compatible. She had thought before she met him that she—and her methods—were unique to her.
“Then we’d best get at it,” she said.
He caught her hand, almost making her spill her coffee. “I’m sorry, Skye. I don’t want to go back.”
She almost said, Then don’t. But she didn’t. They’d had that conversation. She knew what he was saying. He was saying he was sorry he had to go back.
And she understood that. She really did.
“It had to come to an end sometime, didn’t it?” she asked. She tried not to sound bitter. She hoped she wasn’t sounding bitter. She felt sad too.
“I… hope not,” he said. “I mean, this has to end, but we can still…”
He trailed off. She waited. Still what? Sleep together? Be together? Become partners in detection and rove the universe searching for information?
She didn’t say any of that.
Instead, she leaned over and kissed him on top of his head. He looked startled. She would wager hardly anyone had ever done that to him.
“We’ll worry about what we can still do when we’re done doing this,” she said. “We have more steps before we’re done with any of this. We’re not even sure…
”
She didn’t want to finish that sentence, so Jack finished it for her.
“…that I’ll survive it,” he said.
She laughed without humor. “I meant to say that we would survive it,” she said.
“I’m going to make sure you survive,” he said. “You can count on that.”
But they both knew that she couldn’t. No one controlled the future. And no one controlled people like the Rovers.
But she pretended to agree with him. And then they got back to work.
Chapter 45
They had found different things on their research, things they hadn’t told each other until they sat at the large gaming table in the entertainment area, the tabletop divided into a dozen screens, each with information flowing across it.
Jack used one main screen in the center to chart all the information. Skye hated to admit that he was better at charting than she was. Faster, better organized, with all kinds of additions that clarified things instead of making them more confusing.
He sat in front of the chart, adding to it as she added information. She wandered around the table, glancing at screens. She also maintained one other screen toward the far end of the table, and that screen scanned for connections that neither Jack nor Skye had seen.
That screen found the thing that nearly made Jack crazy. Apparently Liora Olliver had once been involved with Misha Orlinski.
Jack wanted to let Rikki know right away, but Skye stopped him. Skye normally didn’t pay attention to other people’s relationships, but she remembered that one. Misha and Liora were mismatched from the beginning. Liora had lorded it over all of the other women that she had been involved with him, and Misha apparently hadn’t noticed.
When he did, or when something else happened, something Skye did not know want to know about ever (she believed other people’s relationships should be private—extremely private), then he broke up with Liora.
The breakup had been so ugly that Skye avoided both of them. Misha, because Liora stalked him and made nasty comments to any woman who was near him, and Liora because—well, because she had become so very bitter.
