“Listen—” He targeted Aimee as she was the integral factor in this saga. “I am not the man you need to worry about. My questions differ from the interrogation that you are about to undergo. My questions are simple.”
Frustrated, he held his hand out in appeal. “I just want to know why I’m not dead. What weapon was used to fire at Alfonso? It was not that SIG. And where have you been all this time—New York City, Germany? And why can Raja dive underwater for ten minutes without oxygen, and why does she have bionic hearing?”
An ambivalent chuckle slipped from Aimee’s lips. “He’s starting to sound like JOH.”
“Who is Joe?”
“Never mind.” She shook her head.
Craig made a show of looking at his watch. “It’s me, or them. If you talk to me, I can do my best to deflect them.”
“I have nothing to hide. I did have amnesia. I don’t know what happened.”
“And your second disappearance?” Craig’s eyebrow hefted.
“We traveled to Europe,” she attested with less conviction.
“Aimee,” his tone yielded. “We are the FBI. That story can be shredded. It already has been.”
Trembling, Aimee cast glistening eyes up at Zak in appeal.
“Easy, Zer-shay.” He kissed her forehead. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. You know that.”
“Enough,” Raja declared throatily from behind.
The outburst startled Craig. When he turned around, it was not a despondent woman behind him. This was not a submissive scientist. Instead, Raja’s evergreen eyes flashed in challenge. Her shoulders were drawn back, making her look taller.
“Let me talk to him,” she said to Aimee.
“Raja, no. I’ll—I’ll handle it.”
With a resolved shake of the head, Raja countered, “None of this would have ever happened if I had not taken a swim in that lake. It is my fault, and I will address it.”
Craig’s breath hitched when her eyes swung and narrowed on him.
“Please, Craig. Let’s go outside and speak in private.”
God damn she was beautiful. What the hell type of luck did he have finding himself attracted to someone neck-deep in a mystery that promised a negative outcome?
“Alright,” he nodded and then coughed to correct the awkward pitch in his voice. Glancing down at Alfonso’s chest which rose and fell rhythmically, he added, “Unless you see a change in his condition—for the worse—I want to hold off on calling 911 until Beckett and Saldano arrive. They are going to need to witness this scene exactly as it lies.”
“But—” Aimee’s protest faded.
“The time for hiding things has to come to an end,” he filled in for her.
“Come on,” Craig turned back to Raja and extended his hand in invitation at the front door. Bracing herself, she marched outside ahead of him.
Chapter Ten
Raja made it to the bottom of the porch stairs and then stopped, cocking her head to listen to the subtle hum of the denizens of the yard.
“What is it that you wanted to tell me?”
Her hand lifted to silence him. No one approached. No one was in the area. Satisfied that they were alone, she continued across the packed dirt towards the overgrown lawn.
“Where are we going?” Craig called from behind.
This had to be done. Craig had looked into her eyes like no other man ever had. He had pressed his lips to hers. She had no choice but to seek his trust. She and Zak were strangers in a foreign world, and Aimee could no longer bear this burden alone—no matter how strong she was.
“This way,” Raja motioned.
She led him through the high grass to the garage tucked away on the outskirts of the yard. It was secluded.
“Raja, we don’t have a lot of time. Please help me to protect you.”
Turning at the earnest tone in his voice she felt a chunk of ice in her heart melting. In the sun, Craig’s eyes lit up with radiant gold sparks. She wanted to move in close and follow the trail of those illuminating rays on a celestial path into his soul. But as he said, we don’t have a lot of time.
“In here.” Hauling open the splintered door, she struggled as it caught in the dirt and stuck in place.
Leaving it ajar to allow some light into the shed, she moved deep into the corner to conceal herself.
“Is there something you want to show me in here?” Craig frowned, perusing the rotting shelves and soiled walls.
A pungent scent of oils enveloped her. The smell was pleasant. She drew in a deep breath.
“I feel comfortable in here,” she proclaimed.
Craig crossed his arms and rested his hip against a workbench, watching her from just inside the door. It was hard for her not to stare at the wonderful vista of muscles exposed by his torn shirt. He caught her glance and something in his eyes kindled.
“Are you feeling okay?” she rushed.
“Other than a whopper of a headache—yes.” For a moment he returned her scrutiny and then he cocked an eyebrow. “Are you going to tell me what happened now?”
Even though it was hotter than an incinerator in here, she wrapped her arms around herself, feeling chilled. “I’m afraid,” she confessed.
That brief declaration deflated the man. He stepped forward and his hands gently cupped her arms.
“Before I hear anything, let me say something.”
He waited until curiosity got the best of her and she peeked up.
“It was wrong of me to kiss you like that,” his voice was husky. “I thought I was going to die—and I took liberties that I shouldn’t have.”
Ah. So see, Raja? He wasn’t attracted to you. Now he is filled with regrets.
Mortified, she tucked her head down.
His finger caught her chin and lifted it. “I shouldn’t have taken that liberty,” he added softly, “but I wanted to, Raja.”
A roughness to his tone captivated her. In this garage the brilliant rays in his eyes were gone and only the promise of intoxicating shadows remained.
“Every second I spent with you,” he continued, “I became more and more intrigued—and more tempted. I wanted to touch you, and yes—so help me God, I wanted to kiss you. It was wrong. I am a professional. You are part of an investigation.” His hands slid up, cupping her face and then reaching further to lace his fingers into her hair. “But I’m not going to die—and I still want to kiss you.”
Raja’s throat closed. Her glance dropped to his lips. They were full, and a slight part between them tickled her with the warmth of his breath. Wrong. He said it was wrong for him to want to kiss her. It was all wrong. And yet she bleated a sound of need until the torture stopped and his mouth connected with hers.
Space—the endless galaxies—distance meant nothing when he kissed her. Knowledge she worked so hard to achieve drained from her brain and left only an instinctual need to burrow closer to him. She had to get closer. Sensing this, his arms dropped to wind around her back and draw her in tight, all the while brushing his lips across hers again and again until she felt that were it not for his embrace, she would defy physics and spill into a puddle at their feet. Still, the need to get closer ate at her soul. Her hands looped behind his neck, her wrists linking so that she could draw his head down further. The embrace constricted.
And then it stopped.
Her chest heaved. So did Craig’s. She could feel the solid thump of his heart against her collarbone.
“I have to stop,” he whispered hoarsely. “I have to talk to you.”
Raja touched her lips. They felt so alien. Hah. Her first joke—and no one would ever hear it.
“I’ve never been kissed before,” she whispered absently.
Setting her back a step, Craig dipped his head to peer into her eyes.
“I don’t believe that,” he chuckled. “A beautiful woman like you. You must be beating off the guys.”
“No. Never.” She stared at his mouth.
“Surely in high school—college—
”
“No. Never.”
Craig’s smile fell. “Alright, maybe you were in a convent, and you’ve never been kissed like that before, but there’s always family...your parents.”
“No, my family perished aboard the Horus shortly after I was born. I never knew my parents. I was raised by a host of people—”
No amount of shadows could conceal Craig’s expression. Bewilderment. Stark curiosity. Empathy. But the passion, the carnal heat of just seconds ago, was gone.
“You were an orphan?” he observed quietly.
“Yes.” Her shoulders slumped. She took a step back and he did not stop her.
“I admire orphans.”
What?
“You do?” Her voice squeaked. No one admires orphans.
“They are survivors. They learn skills at an early age that most adults can never master. They are educated in mind and soul—that’s not something everyone can claim.”
Yes. She was educated in mind and soul. Schooled in academics on the Horus and indoctrinated in life by sheer grit and determination.
“I am not crazy,” she declared, some of the fight coming back into her.
“Did I say that you were?”
“You will.”
Craig broke that gap and reached for her hand. The connection almost proved her undoing.
“Why are you being nice to me?” she croaked.
Waiting for his response, she tried to regulate her breath.
“Because I like you, dammit.” Tormented, Craig reached for the back of his head. “And I know that I have to switch that off and resume my role, but I want you to know that the kiss was real.”
And just like that, he validated his threat and resumed his role, his entire demeanor reeking of authority.
“Raja. What is going on here? Was Aimee kidnapped by Diego? Did she work for him? What just happened inside that house? Please, please,” he relented ever so slightly, “give me something or else they’re going to come here and take you somewhere that I can’t look out for you.”
That was a chilling thought. She understood the law, and people of the law. People of the law failed sometimes. They failed by letting Salvan go free.
“No.” An insect buzzed near her ear. Cursed creatures. “Aimee was not kidnapped by Diego.”
“But she was kidnapped. It was in the testimony when she finally returned five years later.”
I am sorry, Aimee. I should have never come. It is all going to unravel now.
“She was kidnapped, yes.” The words wrenched from her. “One could claim it was a stellar mistake.”
“So she was an accidental kidnapping?” He tried to extract more.
“Umm, that is what Salvan would have had us believe, but we all know that he targeted her.”
Craig patted his back pocket, flustered when he realized that his pad was still on the dining room table.
Don’t worry, Craig, Raja thought. I’m sure you’ll remember this word-for-word.
Why was this so hard? Other planets accepted extraterrestrial visitors without this obstinate disbelief.
“Who is Salvan?”
“Salvan,” she took a deep breath, “is a scientist I used to work with. He took Aimee from those woods hoping to find a cure to the virus that plagued us.”
“Us?”
“The people of Anthum. The virus nearly wiped everyone out, including my parents, my family. Only the few remaining survivors were permitted onto the Horus, and even those were not safe from the disease. It struck again. If Salvan’s intentions were truly for the greater good of the Anthumians, that would have been respectable. But, Salvan’s motivations were always for the greater good of Salvan.”
The memory of that smug icy glare made her cringe.
Craig’s prolonged silence drew her from her thoughts. It hurt to see the beginning stages of doubt carve stark lines around his mouth, but she plodded on.
“We all intervened to make sure Aimee stayed safe, but Salvan did get a hold of her once. It was—it was all such a nightmare at that time.”
Craig’s hand rose to interrupt.
“I’m pretty good at geography,” he said. “I’ve been trying to place your accent. It is very subtle. But I don’t know a city, state, country or sovereignty named Anthum.”
“Mmmm.” Here it goes. “It is a planet. It’s the second planet in the Reegah system. It was my parents’ home. All I’ve seen are images from a JOH. I spent my whole life aboard the Horus—well, that is until I came here two days ago.”
* * *
Craig clasped his chest. “Oh boy. This is certainly worse than I expected. Maybe it’s the blood loss.”
“Aimee said that if anyone on this planet found out about us, we would be locked up. Either in a mental asylum or a military bunker deep beneath, umm—” She tapped a finger against her chin.
“Arizona?” he offered with a quirk of the lips.
“Yes!” She snapped. “That was it.”
His humor dissolved.
“Go on, Raja. Keep going.”
He didn’t believe her and it took the zeal from his eyes. She wanted that zeal back. She had to convince him.
“It takes five of your planet’s rotations for our ship to return to your solar system.”
“The five years that Aimee was missing,” he stated mildly.
“Right. During that time our virus resurfaced. It spread throughout the ship, threatening annihilation. I contracted it as well.”
The terror of that experience far exceeded anything she was experiencing here. Death had been all around her. Even in the mirror.
“By accident,” she continued, “we discovered that Aimee’s saliva contained a component that reversed the effect of the virus. She basically saved us from extinction.”
“With a little bit of spit?” It was not sarcasm. Everything he uttered now was monotone. Lifeless.
“I was able to create a serum from a little bit of her saliva, yes.”
Again, that phantom quirk of his lips. “I do believe that you’re an intelligent scientist.”
But he believes nothing else, she thought dejectedly.
“So when your ships’ five years were up, it just dropped Aimee off back here?”
Miffed now, Raja crossed her arms. “Yes.”
“Don’t get mad, Raja,” Craig soothed. “I want to understand what is going on with you— with all of you.” Taking a glimpse outside, he continued, “So then Aimee went to school, but she disappeared again. It would be easy enough to determine that she went missing for another five years simply by checking her taxes.”
“Aimee fell in love with a warrior from the Horus. She went back up there to be with him.”
“Zach?”
“Yes.”
“And five years later she returned and brought both of you with her? How do you fit into the equation?”
I don’t.
“I’m her friend. They are both the closest I have to family.”
Craig scraped a hand over his face and rubbed at his eyes. “What did you shoot Alfonso with?”
“Zak’s star laser.”
A bemused nod, and then he asked, “Will you show me this star laser?”
“Of course.”
“And the wild silver outfit I first saw you in?”
“The uniform of the Horus.”
When Craig dropped his palm from his face, she saw it all in his eyes. Disbelief and anguish—a formula to make pain coil in her stomach.
“You don’t believe a word, I’m saying,” she challenged.
“Raja, please. I’m trying. It’s been a hell of a day. I’ve been shot. I want to understand—”
Burning tendrils of defeat wormed to the top of her head. “That’s right,” she nearly shouted. “You were shot.” She jabbed his bare chest. “Right there. A gaping hole that gushed blood—arterial blood, and it would have killed you in a matter of minutes.”
Shock widened Craig’s eyes with each stab of her finger.
Fueled by anger, defense, and an emotion she could not pinpoint, she grabbed the pruning shears off the workbench. With the slightest hesitation, she stabbed the blade into her right bicep, careful to locate the meatiest part of the muscle.
“Raja! What the fu—” Craig surged forward, ripping the shears from her hand, while reaching for her shoulders to support her and ease her to the ground.
“Baby, why did you do that?” he cried.
Blood spurt from the wound, as he grappled with his shirt, removing it with one arm to fasten it around her bicep.
“Don’t you understand?” His voice was hoarse. “No matter what, I want to know more about you. I want—” He pulled the material away. “Christ, Raja, why?” he cried out as blood spilled onto the dirt floor.
Withdrawing from his grasp, Raja surged to her feet.
“Because, dammit, I am from another world, and although I’m not some superhuman, I’m a damn good chemist.”
With that she extracted the vial from her belt, yanked the cloth from her wound and poured the clear ointment on her gushing laceration. Conscious of her heart thumping in her ear, she did feel a wave of nausea overtake her. It was not a lethal wound. It was just for demonstrational purposes. But it was producing a lot of blood, and this time when Craig’s rugged arms encircled her she accepted their support.
“Oh Raja, why? You didn’t have to do this.” He fumbled for his cell phone, but realized it was still in the house.
Reaching beneath her legs, he looped an arm around her back and lifted her to his chest. “Easy,” he whispered into her hair. “I will get you help.”
This haven was like basking in a warm pool. Weightless in a man’s arms—Craig’s arms. Craig’s strong chest. Craig’s urgent whispers against her hair. Already the blood flow had tempered and only a small amount stained the neck she clung to as he carefully shifted her through the garage door and started towards the house at a brisk pace.
Beyond : Series Bundle (9781311505637) Page 54
