by Mason, Jolie
The cold smile Caden sent him was an unnecessary provocation, he knew, and yet, it made him feel better. It was time to acknowledge there were a lot of caveman instincts at play here. After the other man left, Caden felt some of the pressure lift, like his brain might be able to function again.
He half turned back toward Ari. “Shouldn’t that guy be minding the store at the array?”
“We aren’t a military ship, Caden. I leave who I want where I want. Ra’dan is more than capable. He needs to learn.”
“You wanted that one here?” He nodded toward the now vacant door. Venom spilling from the words that one.
She schooled her face into an impassive facade of calm. “I chose to have a friend with me, yes. Just what are you implying?”
“Not a damn thing, Ari. I asked outright.”
Medical staff chose that moment to bring their son back into the room, forcing the battle to disengage. Ari crept forward resting her hand on Jace’s head and running it over his hair. All her attention centered on her son. Ari loved fiercely, and it wasn’t the first time since he’d found out about the boy he’d wondered how she’d given him up.
Moments later, a doctor appeared in blue medical gear. He was tall and rather rugged looking with a trim beard, though obviously an academic, judging by his introduction and manner. Ari kept her eyes on Jace and barely listened as he explained the tests, so Caden paid as much attention as he could. The damage Jace had taken to his spine when he flew across the room was extensive. The blast had caused severe injury to several internal organs, and he’d been hooked up to a hack extension in an attempt to give the brain a chance to naturally disconnect from the implant connections that were still intact. It was a new procedure, very experimental. It was clear the doctor held out little hope.
“Mr. Carnes, we have a room for you for the night. We’d like to get the internal injuries taken care of right away. I’d like to get the transplant started. Once we’ve grafted on the artificial bone, we can use your marrow to rebuild the broken parts of his back. It’s a relatively new procedure to rebuild a human spine, no guarantees. The cloned kidney can be replaced at the same time. Hopefully, we can heal his body enough that his neurological system can recover more quickly.”
“Is the room nearby? I don’t want to be far from my son.”
“We anticipated that. The room is next to this one.” The doctor gestured to the left of the room. “Just find a nurse when you’re ready.”
Then the doctor was gone, and Caden stretched a hand out to Ari’s long hair swinging behind her like a rope. His fingers played in the dark strands, while she barely looked away from Jace.
“He was ridiculously fearless, you know. As a baby, and later. He climbed everything that wasn’t fenced in. He studied the world. Nothing off limits. He’s never changed.”
Caden cleared his throat of the emotion choking him. “How long were you with him?”
“He was six when I left. We’d started the implanted memories at four. I didn’t want him to cry for his mother when...” She sobbed into her hand. “When I realized how hard it was going to be to watch him accept someone else as his family. I couldn’t stay and act like the good aunt. It was too hard. It interfered with the memory retention as well. He would slip into old habits. Call me mommy.”
He pressed his right eye as it teared. She wouldn’t see him unless she turned around. He fought to keep his voice steady. “Is Arden coming?”
She shook her head. “He was hurt, shot. And, I think he’s giving us space with Jace. Arden wants to tell him.”
“Why?” It would have been impossible to disguise the surprise in his voice.
“He says Jace misses me, but he doesn’t know what he misses so it’s unhealthy, according to my brother. Arden thinks he wanted to go into space to be close to me. It was his idea to bring Jace on the Bell. Well, it was a compromise really. Jace was going to go off world somehow. Arden wanted him with me.”
“Do you think he’s right that he misses you?”
She moved her forefinger along Jace’s face. “I don’t know. He was so little when I left.”
Caden watched her drop her hand, pull it back; almost as if she didn’t want to take liberties or she didn’t think she had the right. Every line of her body remained tense as she curled protectively into herself, and away from her son. He felt it again, that isolation that surrounded her.
He sighed heavily. “The doctor said he wouldn’t wake up very soon. I’m going to get signed in for the tests and get some sleep. Will your friend be back for you?” He tried to keep the acid from his tone, he would swear to it, but somehow it slipped out. The hope that he’d had for them withered a little more with each realization that she’d lied to him, hidden the most important thing that ever was from him, and he couldn’t really be justifiably angry because she might have been right. And yet, some part of him still bounced between grief and anger.
She turned her head sideways, avoiding his gaze. Something made her choose to ignore his remark. “He knows I can find my own way. I’ll go soon,” she said it as though reassuring him.
“I didn’t mean it that way”, he said.
“I know how you meant it.” She didn’t say anything else for a long moment. “I’m not fighting with you. We’ve both got some room for righteous fury. It’s fine. I’ve just had more time to suppress mine.”
He stood with his back to her and facing the door that led out to the nurse’s station. “I’m not so stupid I don’t realize there is nothing righteous about my fury. Just give me time, Valah.”
He heard the small sound she made behind him, but he couldn’t comfort her. He forced himself to walk out of the room, promising himself he would get this together very soon. Hopefully, before he destroyed any shot he had with her.
*****#*****
Jace lay very still in the post-operative isolation ward of the trauma unit. Ari stood outside the cold glass watching his chest rise and fall. She’d been doing the same thing for hours now.
Jack pulled her away from the glass by the elbow. “Ari, you have a comm message. Luca just sent it down from orbit. It was dated a standard day ago.”
Shaking her head, she cleared her thoughts a little. “A message”, she said.
“Luca says it’s from Starfall.”
“Adrick?”
That had Ari’s attention. Adrick Srurman ran the mining facility and kept a massive shipping operation, import/export, one of the few out on the rim. Ari ran regular routes to carry his finished product to the interior. They’d known each other a long time, but he didn’t just comm her. The refinery manager usually handled the business. She and Adrick usually had a meal while she was in system, maybe a drink. Neither of them were great talkers, but his sweet wife talked enough for the both of them.
She pulled out her handset and found a quiet corner to tap into the audio, then she played the vid message. The balding Adrick filled the screen. She noticed two things immediately, his nerves and his fake smile. Rick was one of the most sincere, authentic people she’d ever met. He never faked a thing.
“Ari, It’s been a good long while, but I may have some business to throw your way. I know you’ve got that big project you’re working on, but good transport is hard to find, my girl. See if you can’t comm me in a few days and let me know if you can take on a load or two. Something,.. . ah. . . delicate, as a favor to me.”
There it ended, and Ari tapped a screen control with more force than necessary. “Something wrong?”, Smith asked.
“Something’s wrong”, she answered. “We need to get a scout out to Starfall.”
Jack laughed without humor. “Okay, but we’re fresh out this week.”
“We know someone who isn’t”. She looked at her second who shook his head. “Gotta be done. That message wasn’t right. It was almost as if someone was standing over him, watching what he said. My big project? The search for Arden?”
Jack nodded once. “Could be. It was pretty big news.”
“I’m gonna comm him back. Just say I’m interested.”
“You realize this isn’t our area, right?” Jack put his big hands on his hips sternly. “We’re not detectives.”
“No, but if these are the guys who took my brother and nearly killed my son, I’m in the mood to find them.”
He laughed, “And?”
“And then I’m in the mood to try and kill the bastards. You want to sit this out?”
“Hush”, he said reproachfully. “I go where you go. You know that.”
She wanted to tell him he didn’t have to come, and that she could handle it on her own. One thing she knew about Jack, he could get very touchy about her independent streak. He took it personally, as a rejection of friendship, so she kept her mouth shut and learned to be grateful.
The second comm was just as weird as the first one. Adrick sat at his desk clearly nervous. She didn’t dare comment on it at all, lest whoever was putting him up to the call catch on that she was already wise.
“Rick, whatcha got for me?”
“Don’t know if you’ll want this or not, but I heard you had a spot of trouble over that way with an old friend. We had a big outfit pass through here with some salvage that I think might belong to your friend on Taarken.”
“What makes you think it’s Carnes goods?”
“Well, unless he sold it off and didn’t tell anybody, it’s registered goods.”
She smiled, “Well, there’s that. What did they sell you?”
“Pretty basic stuff, all new. A plasma cutter, some fuel cells. Thing is, I was hoping you could come get this junk and talk to Carnes for me. I’m not looking to do a stretch for receiving stolen cargo. Damn warehouse manager got behind and processed the sale before running the registry check.”
“Rick, I’ll back you up. It may take me a couple days to get there. We’ve had a medical emergency here. As soon as that gets better, I’ll be by to get your stolen cargo.”
Adrick wasn’t faking the sincere relief with which he told her, “Girl, you don’t know how much I appreciate this.”
“Just get that manager to tell us anything about this outfit he can remember, and we’ll call it even.”
She disconnected the public terminal and sat back in the hard chair. “That’s an ambush”, she said, without looking away from the screen.
“Yep”, Jack said behind her.
“Wonder what in hell they want me for?”
“Not a lot of possibilities there.” His voice above her sounded grim.
Ari couldn’t take anymore tension. She leaned her head straight back to look up at him. “You saying I’m not pretty enough?”
He barked a laugh. “I wouldn’t dare, woman.”
“So, you think they want to even a score or get information?”
“Why should they limit themselves? They can get both, if they get you. Assuming Carnes is their target. Still, your relationship with Carnes wasn’t exactly public knowledge, so that leaves some interesting questions.”
She nodded. “I agree. They have to know way too much about little old me, don’t they? Where I trade. Who my friends are. Who I’ve slept with twelve years ago. That’s not on an advert anywhere I’ve seen.”
“Makes ya wonder if they knew whose ship they were taking, and exactly which pilot.”
“You’re thinking they’re coming after the family.” She looked up at Jack’s steely glare, and saw his agreement with the statement that wasn’t a question. They were thinking exactly the same thing. “Well, then, the family’s coming for them now. Let’s see how they like it.”
She pushed out of the chair and shut the terminal off with one finger. As they walked back along the corridor to the trauma unit, she told Jack to stay in the waiting area. Caden would already be a bear. She didn’t need to throw fuel on that fire.
As she rounded the corner into his room, she heard him on his comm with some poor unsuspecting office minion. “Tell them to get that data cracked. My son almost died for that, and I want to know exactly what was worth his life.” There was a reply, and the ping sound of disconnect before something flew across the room to break against the wall; A vase with obscenely bright, yellow flowers. She watched the water trail down the hospital wall, even as the nurse rushed in behind her. Ari put a hand on the woman’s arm and shook her head, indicating she would handle it. The young nurse nodded with relief that someone else could see to the crazy patient.
Ari drew in a deep breath, crossed her arms and stepped around the wall. One thing she wouldn’t do was patronize the idiot. He knew he was being an ass. It was time for him to own it.
“Hmm. Better get maintenance up here. It appears you have a problem with your flowers.”
He tossed her a look that was the equivalent of a growl. Yep, Bear, she thought.
She returned his glare.
“I’m busy, Ari”, he said.
“I’m not”, she answered, sitting down beside the bed. “Hey, I just got a comm from a friend in Starfall.”
“And you felt the need to run and tell me?”
“It was about you. Oh, that got your attention, didn’t it? He says he got some of your stolen goods and can I come and take them back for you.”
She leaned back in the hospital chair and smiled at him with no trace of humor.
“He says?”
“Yeah, he’s looking more than a little upset about it, acting nervous. I’ve told him I’m coming.”
“They are stolen goods, Ari. Bound to make him nervous.”
“It wasn’t that kind of nervous. This was a threatened kind of nervous.”
Caden pushed himself up in bed carefully. “So, you think it’s a trap?”
“Of course, it’s a trap. What else would it be?”
“And you’re planning on going anyway?”
“Can’t catch a mouse without a little cheese”, she said.
“You think our pirates are the mouse. Who are you in this scenario then?”
She smiled playfully and raised both hands above her head. “Cheese!”
He rolled his eyes at her. “You aren’t going anywhere until I’m ready to go with you.”
Now, it was her turn to roll her eyes. “You aren’t the boss of me, Caden.”
“Very mature.”
“I think so. I’m an independent woman making my own choices. Even dressed myself this morning.”
“Ari, these guys aren’t mice. They’re criminals.”
“I know”, she sighed. “That’s why I came here, to ask if you could send a scout before I get anyone else involved.”
“We already scouted Starfall and found nothing.”
“We missed something because something is rotten in Starfall. I know this guy. It’s a great cover story for somebody else, but not for him. There is no way in the Universe he accidentally bought stolen goods. He is a fanatic about keeping his nose clean. It’s why I use him.”
“Okay, pretend we scout it and find nothing. What then?”
“Then I go pick up your stuff.”
“No”, he said simply.
She whirled a finger in the air as she said, “Did you miss the part where you aren’t the boss? Because I thought I was pretty thorough there.”
“Stop being a child about this.”
“No!” She leaned forward so he could see clearly her anger and frustration. “These pigs obviously want me or you or both. They obviously know just where to find me and everyone I love. If I don’t go to them, do you think they won’t be here to get me in the near future? Who’s being the child? I want these bastards to pay, and I’m not waiting around for them to kill someone else I love to get to us. You want to come, fine, but don’t delude yourself that you have any say in my choices.”
“It’s pretty clear that your choices are the only ones that count.” He threw her his own resentful stare. It just pissed her off that he looked so damn masculine doing it.
“You want to go down that road for old times? We can do i
t. Just once more, and then I’m done, Caden.”
“Another pronouncement from the queen? I should just get over it.”
“I didn’t say that. I’m saying that it was horrible, and I hated it. I’m saying there are regrets by the hundreds, but there were no good decisions because you were gone. I did what I had to do. Nobody won that war, Caden. Me, least of all.”
“You think I don’t know that?” He ran a hand over his head, frustrated and tired. “Just, why didn’t you trust me?”
She sat quietly for a moment. “I don’t know for certain. Maybe because events back here went from bad to worse in a blink. Maybe because I thought your father might be right about me. Maybe, a million reasons that had nothing to do with you and everything to do with being a slum rat.”
He swung his legs off the bed with a minute wince. “How could you have been that insecure?”
“Wake up. I’m still that insecure. It is a reality that everyone has a societal place, and only a fool doesn’t recognize there are consequences stepping out of it. You grew up in wealth, insulated from the reality because you had value to the whole damn planet. People like us have no value. We disappear by the dozens every day because of that simple equation.”
“You had value to me!” He was more than angry. Caden’s fury bounced off the sterile walls.
“Somehow, I didn’t know that, Caden. I’m sorry, but I didn’t know. I hoped, but I wasn’t sure.”
Caden tried to stand stiffly. Ari stood quickly to stop him with her hands on his shoulders. “They said you need a few days.”
His hands gripped her arms. “How could you not know? Every plan I’ve made since the day I met you has been for us. Even after I knew you weren’t coming back to me. I couldn’t stop working for you, thinking about you. I wondered if you were safe every day.”
She smiled sadly. “I followed you in the news. It was one of my weaknesses; the incurable need to know where you were and what you were doing.”
He rested his head in the hollow of her neck, breathing out loudly. “I’m weary, Ari. So very tired, and you’re here.”
