by Cheri Lasota
“At least let the XO’s daughter go. She isn’t who Challenge Command wants. I am.”
While the guard was busy giving him a mistrustful glare, the look in Dextra’s eyes caught Solomon’s attention. It said all he needed to know. She was about to try something, and he needed to be ready to act. He gave an imperceptible nod, knowing it would be impossible for him to convince her not to put herself in further danger. Out of his peripheral, he saw Tavian—awkwardly with his hands restrained behind him—preparing to rush the guard.
In one smooth move, Dextra elbowed the guy hard in the stomach and slipped down through his arms. She stumbled forward and fell into Solomon. He pulled her behind him as the guard shouted and flailed around haphazardly with some MMA-style moves, likely realizing he was in a bit of a bind being surrounded closely by three of his adversaries.
Solomon head-butted the guard at the same time Tavian kicked at the back of his knee. After he fell, Solomon finished him off with a slug to the temple.
“Dang, boss. Four guys down? You’re a cyborg.”
“I wish,” was the only response Solomon could muster before he turned his attention to Dextra.
“Are you all right?” He gently touched her chin as he noticed a faint bruise forming on her otherwise flawless cheek.
“I’m fine. He hit me with his elbow when I jumped him.”
“Jesus, you sure did.” Solomon was unable to hide his smile of admiration. “And the elbow to the gut? An inspired choice.”
“Damn right.” Tavian whistled and let loose a grin the size of the Nautilus. “Impressive. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get you out of that. But you didn’t need my help at all.”
Dextra laughed. “Think I’ll get hazard pay for it?” Solomon’s wry half-smile made her punch him playfully in the arm. “Maybe I’ll switch to the Reacher crew if you can guarantee me a raise.”
“Now you’re talking.” Solomon desperately wanted to pull her to him and kiss her until she forgot where she was or even who she was, but this was no picnic in the park, and the cameras along the bulkheads above them recorded their every move. They needed to get moving.
He was starting to feel the effects of the fight in his limbs. He touched at what he knew was going to be a bruise on his forehead, but he didn’t think he had any broken bones or sprains.
Dextra’s smile fell and her expression turned serious. “And you? Are you injured?” she asked, moving closer to inspect his face. She gently touched his forehead and smoothed her cool fingers down his temple to his cheek.
“Nothing serious.” He reassured her with a smile, and then turned to Tavian. “How about you?” Solomon glanced over at his employee. “All your pieces and parts working?”
“Does it look like it?” Tavian twisted around to show Solomon his restrained wrists.
“All right. The last thing we need is this guy waking up. So sit down next to him, and I’ll try to get you unlocked.”
With a great deal of awkwardness, Solomon managed to get the unconscious man’s forefinger up to unlock the Lewie around Tavian’s wrists.
“Please tell me you have more excitement planned ahead.” Tavian immediately jumped up and rubbed at his reddening forearms.
Dextra rolled her eyes. “A man of drama, are you, Mr. Hunt?”
“Of course. This type of situation happens every day of the week for me,” he said, affecting a British spy accent while brushing the dirt and moss from his shoulder.
It was Solomon who rolled his eyes this time. “Sure, it does. And don’t you worry, Tavian. I’m sure we’re just getting started.”
They all took a moment to catch their breath, having run through the grassy and hot Serengeti vivarium without further incident. The silver lining was, of course, that Solomon wouldn’t have to hit the gym compartment later. He’d had quite enough exercise for one day, thank you very much.
Now they stood in the deserted main passageway connecting the massive central vivaria and hydroponics labs with the outer labs along the port side of Deck 10. They were heading to the Astrophysics Lab, which was where the majority of the critical experiments took place. The Astro Lab’s various compartments spanned two decks and curved along 20 meters of the outer bulkhead of the SS Challenge’s hull.
“So I’m thinking we’ll head in the back way through compartment 10M,” Solomon said.
“Don’t worry about it, Boss. I’ve got an ‘in.’”
“A what?” Solomon raised an eyebrow.
Dextra glanced sideways at Solomon. “Should I be worried when he says something like that?”
Solomon tilted his head and studied Tavian. “Normally, yes, but I do believe he’s got something useful up his sleeve this time around.”
“Damn right I do.” Tavian turned to Dextra. “Now, how do I look?”
“Um...” She glanced at Solomon, obviously not sure what Tavian was up to. “Why do you ask?”
“Like, do I look like somebody you’d want to sleep with?”
Solomon glared at him. “Tavian, you do realize Dextra and I...” he couldn’t quite finish the statement or even look Dextra in the eye, because he didn’t actually quite know what to say. What was between them was entirely too new to label.
Tavian laughed. “No, boss, I mean, do I have any blood still on my face? I need to look, well, hot before I head in there.”
Solomon was still entirely too baffled to respond, but Dextra seemed to understand finally. She nodded her head, stuck her forefinger into her mouth to wet it, and began to scrub at the crusted blood spatters still in evidence on his temple and near his lip. She then ran her hands through his longish hair while Solomon grew more uncomfortable by the minute.
“There. Now you’re good enough to sleep with. Some women like the disheveled look.” She smiled at Tavian, who flashed her a megawatt grin.
“Excellent. Now follow my lead.” And with that, Tavian typed a code into the code panel and walked straight into Lab 10E like he owned the joint. To Solomon’s surprise, it was nearly deserted. This lab was mostly filled with low-temp experiment storage containers. However, a lab tech sat at a desk, inputting data into a wall of computers.
They all ducked down behind a workstation, and Tavian peered up over the table to reconnoiter the situation. He leaned back down with the most obnoxious smile on his face. “You stay here. I’ve got this.”
Without another word, he stood up and started walking right toward the lab tech’s desk. Solomon tried to grab at Tavian’s arm, but Dextra shook her head and stayed his hand.
“What the hell is he doing? Only credentialed scientists are allowed in this area of the Astro Lab.”
“Trust me,” Dextra smiled knowingly, “he’ll be able to handle this one.”
“Reina!” Tavian called out loudly.
They heard a squeal turning into a gasp and a thump, as if she whacked him a good one.
“Dammit, Tavian. You scared me.”
“My deepest apologies, Miss McKennet,” he drawled in his best Rhett Butler rendition. “I merely came to visit my little lady.”
“Not now, Tavian. I have too much work to do.”
“Aww, come on. I’ve been stuck down there in engineering for days on end tinkering with that old Cavitran clunker, the memory of my two favorite ladies the only thing to keep me company. Can you blame me?”
Dextra laughed softly. Solomon frowned back at her. What the hell was Tavian up to? That bastard better have a good plan because they were wasting precious time.
“Tav, you are nothing but trouble. I told you the last time you wandered in here during that staff meeting.”
“And the time before that and the time before that. It’s an established fact by now, wouldn’t you say?”
“Yes, I do say. Now go away. I’m right in the middle of logging experiment data.”
“Not experimenting on my little girl, surely?”
“No, it’s George, the turtle. He’s on a new med.”
“Maybe I’ll join yo
u. You know how I love to watch you work.”
“You’re ridiculous, you know that? Go on back there. You can see her for a few minutes. Don’t let her disturb any of the other specimens in there, or I’ll get you spacewalked.”
“Who me? Never.”
Solomon peeked around the corner and caught Tavian’s eye, who nodded them toward the slider of Lab 10F.
“I won’t be long, darlin’,” Tavian cooed to Reina, who gave him a frowning smirk.
“Oh, go see about Frankie, you idiot. I’m sure she’d love to cuddle you. She’s been anxious all day.”
Dextra took up Solomon’s hand. “We’re in,” she whispered. They crawled along the floor, hiding behind counters and cabinets and tables as they followed Tavian through to the next lab.
Once inside the soundproof lab, Tavian flashed Dextra a smug smile. “As you can see, the ladies can’t resist.”
“Yeah, uh huh. Get on with it.” Dextra shoved him forward. “We’re on a tight schedule.”
“Pushy, pushy.” Tavian was obviously enjoying his inexplicable ability to garner female attention. “You’ll have to wait your turn.”
Solomon shook his head. “So where is this long lost part, Tavian?” His voice was more stern than he intended. “And who is this woman you keep talking about?”
“Tsk, tsk. Wait for it. You’re about to realize my schnauzer saved us all.”
“Your what?” Solomon looked thoroughly perplexed. Dextra smiled at his ignorance, and he had to admit he suddenly felt like a complete moron. Tavian exchanging a smirk with Dextra didn’t help the situation.
The squeal of a dog echoed loudly through the lab, shrill and sharp. They rounded the cage of an iguana, and finally glimpsed a fluffy, bearded salt-and-pepper miniature schnauzer wagging her little backside in sheer ecstasy at seeing her master.
“Ah,” Solomon said, his smile crooked. “This must be the elusive Miss Frankie.”
“Well, of course she is. Aren’t you, baby?” Tavian said in a mock-motherly voice. He had completely transformed from the debonair womanizer to a proud papa absolutely ecstatic at seeing his dog again. It was a disconcerting switch from the usual tattooed grease monkey Solomon was used to seeing hanging around the Cav Chamber, elbow deep in complex machinery.
“How’s my little pumpkinhead?” Tavian lifted her out of the cage and kissed her flopping ear and nuzzled her neck.
Frankie squealed in delight as she wiggled in Tavian’s arms and licked his face. The smile on Dextra’s face was worth it to Solomon as she tried to pet the wriggling, bearded head. He had to admit, the scruffy looking dog was making him grin a bit too.
“This is what you brought us all the way over here to see?” Solomon finally said. “Where’s the part?”
Tavian frowned good-naturedly. “Well, he’s no fun, is he, pumpkin? Five more minutes in your presence, and he’ll be eating out of your paw. Just you wait, Frankie.” He kissed her, and then let her run wild throughout the lab, terrorizing the other caged animals.
“All right, all right. I’m a genius, really. The part is in... er... Well, I take it back. I probably should have put it where it wouldn’t get dog poop on it.”
“What?” Solomon pushed Tavian out of the way so he could see. And he wished he could unsee it. As Tavian lifted it out of the cage, he saw smeared dog feces covered one side of the part they needed to get the Cav up and running again.
“Damn,” Solomon muttered. “You’re going to get that cleaned off, yeah?”
“Not in here.” Tavian covered it with some plastic sheathing he found in a drawer, and set it on a counter while he rummaged around for a bag to put it in. “Here’s hoping nobody asks about the smell on my way back to the Engineering Sector.”
“If they know you, they won’t think anything of it,” Solomon said.
“Is this thing even going to work again?” Dextra asked.
Tavian studied the level of poo on the part and nodded. “Yeah, it’s doable. Give me half an hour back in the chamber, and I’ll have your Cav Drive right as rain.”
“All right. Get it done. The Cav’s got to be working perfectly by the time I’m finished with the kid.”
“Got it, boss.” Tavian clucked his tongue at Frankie, who had ceased torturing the rabbit in the far corner and came racing back to her master, short tail wagging.
“Isn’t she a sweetheart?” Tavian asked Dextra.
She started to nod before Solomon interrupted.
“Yeah, yeah. She’s a cute dog. Put her back in her cage so we can get going.”
“He’s no fun, is he, honey? Pay him no mind. You’ll get extra treats from Miss Reina today. I’ll make sure of it, pumpkin.” Tavian kissed Frankie’s ears, ruffled her beard, and placed her inside her cage again, which made her growl good-naturedly and lick her chops. Apparently, the word treat was amenable to the little rascal.
“I’ll need to go back through Lab 10E again,” Tavian said.
“So you can say goodbye to your sweetheart, Reina?” Dextra said, getting her digs in.
“Among other things...” Tavian suppressed a laugh and playfully nudged Dextra’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Miss Justice, my heart belongs to you.”
“Bet you say that to all the girls.”
“Taking the fifth on that one.”
“Smart fellow.”
Without realizing it, Solomon had butted in between them and walked over toward the lab’s slider. Frankly, he didn’t quite like watching this woman flirting with anyone, much less his most notoriously womanizing employee.
“If the tech seems like she wants to come back in here for any reason, detain her, Tavian. We need to figure out a good time to make our escape. I don’t want her to even get a hint we were here. This lab is far too close to the Astro Lab. If they suspect we’re in this area, they’ll do a thorough search, and I need a fair amount of time to suit up.”
“Got it. Want me to really distract her? Give me three minutes, and she’ll be oblivious to any other creature on Earth or above it.”
Dextra glared at him, and he flashed her a lopsided grin.
“Get to it,” Solomon said gruffly.
“Just remember, I took one for the team today,” Tavian said. “Well, my schnauzer did, anyway.”
“Something tells me this won’t be an overly taxing burden. I’ll give you a pay raise. How about that?”
“There are so many things wrong with this conversation, I don’t even know where to begin.” Dextra shook her head and gave Frankie one final pet through the cage bars.
“Normally we Reachers do play by the rules.” Solomon lifted his bandaged hand up to remind her of his recent torture session. “But not today.”
Dextra begrudgingly nodded.
“Well, milady Dextra, it was a pleasure meeting you. Hope we meet again under less trying circumstances.”
“Indeed,” Dextra said.
Tavian headed through the lab’s slider door with the Cav part but glanced back. “Bye-bye, pumpkin-face. Love you, honey.”
He actually blew his dog a kiss and slipped out the slider. If someone had told Solomon this morning he’d be pulling a priceless propulsion system part out of the poop-caked cage of a schnauzer owned by a womanizing Cavitran Drive engineer who was about to make out with a lab technician in order to save the Reachers from an apocalyptic Earth, he would have had a good laugh. But there it was.
He glanced over at Dextra.
“How on earth did that guy make the cut during your hiring process?” she asked.
Solomon smiled. “I didn’t say the Reachers weren’t eccentric. They’re all basically a bunch of misfits with giant brains. When you think outside the box, you tend to be a little... off.”
“Ah.”
“But they are a loyal bunch.”
“I can see that. And frankly, I’m not used to seeing it.”
“You’ve been hanging around Challenge Command too long.”
“I’ve been hanging around this ship
too long.”
“True. New Eden can’t come soon enough.”
“Do you think we’ll actually make it?” she asked, and he could feel the uncertainty in her voice. “Do you think we’ll survive the wormhole?”
“Sure. Don’t you know? In all the greatest hero-conquers-all stories, you never kill off the dog. It’s a sacrilege apparently. And look”—he stuck his finger into Frankie’s cage who proceeded to lick his finger—“Frankie, here, is quite obviously thriving.”
“Or was just very happy to see her master.”
“You seem to like Tavian too.” He hadn’t meant to say it. And he felt like an idiot for being so obvious about.
“Sol,” she said, her hand rising to touch his shoulder, “Tavian’s... not you.”
That set Solomon’s eyebrows to rising and his thoughts to racing. For the first time, she had used Vida’s old nickname for him. Vida had called him that ever since their university days together, after she had told him she had a thing for him but before he had a thing for her. Of course, by then it was all too late because she had started seeing Kasen Vokos, and the rest was history.
Solomon frowned a bit, not sure if Dextra was serious but hoping she was.
“When this is all over, I think you should take me on a proper date,” she said coolly.
“Done,” Solomon said without hesitation. He attempted to hide the foolish grin threatening to break out on his face with a subtle smile instead. “Well, if I’m still alive at that point.”
“No promises, then.” Dextra bit her lip, which drove him mad with desire.
“No promises.” Solomon pressed her up against a supply cabinet and kissed her until she felt his promise anyway.
“We’re agreed, then,” Dextra said, when she could speak again.
“My God, woman. You are driving me crazy.”
“The feeling is mutual.” Dextra laughed and straightened her cap more tightly over her A-line shaped hair.
He let her go, then, and rolled away so he stood beside her, his back to the same cabinet, breathing hard. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I would take you right here on the floor of this laboratory if I thought I had the time for it.”
