She selected a small café she and Wesley had eaten at few times and sat outside in the sectioned off “patio” section. Ava frequently ate alone on and off over time as Wesley and the others were usually out on an assignment during the week so it did not phase her to sit alone and order dinner. At this hour the café did not seem to be crowded and no one other than the waiter spoke to her. Ava ordered a simple dinner and watched the crowd thin out in the square as time passed. Ava vaguely sensed that she was being watched, however did not see anyone as she looked around her. She brushed it off. After about thirty-five minutes she paid her bill and walked out through the front of the café and back into the square. She did not walk far before a well dressed, brown haired and blue-eyed man casually approached her. Ava stopped suddenly and stared at him, she was not used to being approached by strangers in public. The knowledge that there were several people milling about the Square comforted her. The stranger smiled pleasantly at her as he came to a stop about two feet from her. Ava felt certain she had seen him before somewhere.
“Hello Miss,” the man said cheerfully. Ava said nothing. The man continued, “I thought you looked familiar. You probably don’t remember me, we never officially met on Capri.”
Capri! The name jogged Ava’s memory. Ava had a knack for remembering faces, and she remembered his now. “My name is Bryant,” he revealed.
“Oh yes, I do remember you,” She replied. She did not know what to say to this stranger. Naomi’s description of his relationship with Wesley had left Ava with the feeling that he and the crew did not trust this Bryant. “I’m Ava Amherst,” she divulged.
“It’s nice to meet you, Ava,” he extended his hand out politely towards her. She shook it cordially, feeling that almost imperceptible static electricity sensation she used to feel when she and Wesley touched. This surprised her.
“I’m glad to make your acquaintance,” she replied courteously.
“I remembered your face from when I saw you with Captain Robinson on Capri. I always try to say hello to familiar faces, this world we live in is so isolating at times. The Captain and crew are old friends of mine, and very good people,” he remarked cheerfully as he gazed at Ava intently but in a non-imposing way. This stranger had such a warm, agreeable, manner about him. He seemed very likeable, she thought.
“Yes they are. I am fortunate to have such nice friends.”
“Are you a crew member also?”
“No, they are just my friends. I travel with them occasionally.”
“It must be nice for you to have the opportunity to visit the other stations and see new scenery from time to time.”
“Yes it is.”
“I used to be a crewman on the Andromeda several years ago.”
“Naomi mentioned that to me.”
“What a wonderful ship it is. Captain Robinson does an impeccable job keeping it up. The work that they do is so important to the function of the stations.”
“If you don’t mind my asking, what was it that made you want to leave them?”
“We felt it was best. My wife had recently passed away and it was a difficult time for me,” he replied solemnly, looking at the floor.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It’s all right, it was a long time ago,” he smiled and snapped out of his sadness back to his cordial manner.
“What type of work do you do now, are you working on another ship?”
“No. I went through a career change and I work for the ITO most of the time now as part of their investigations unit.”
“That sounds interesting. What kinds of things do you investigate?”
“Anything and everything. Naturally it’s all classified, and it keeps me on the move a lot from station to station. I was actually hoping to run into the Captain again here on Orionis during my time here. Not as part of my current investigation, of course,” he laughed casually. “I was disappointed to see that the Andromeda was not docked today.”
“If you’d like to leave me with an online address I would be happy to have him contact you when he returns.”
“That’s very kind of you, but I’m sure he and I will see each other again soon enough.”
“Well it was nice meeting you. I’m sorry, but it’s been kind of a long day for me and I must be going.”
“Then I won’t keep you. It was nice talking with you Ms. Amherst. Best of luck to you,” he replied graciously.
“Thank you, have a good evening.”
“Good night.”
Ava continued on through the Square without looking back. She did not worry about being followed by this stranger; she sensed that she was not. What an odd encounter she thought as she exited down the avenue leading to the lift back to Level 4 and to her quarters. Bryant watched Ava leave the square. As soon as she was out of sight he nonchalantly lifted his right hand, the hand he had shaken her hand with, to his nose and inhaled, memorizing her scent. It is so easy to hunt a human; he thought. He lowered his hand, turned and walked quickly towards the lifts to take him to the hangar, eager to leave Orionis. Bryant hated the no-nonsense military like environment that Orionis was known for. Now that he had successfully tracked Wesley’s significant other down, he immediately set out to find someone else, someone who would be much more difficult to find, a man named Xavier. Bryant smiled at the thought of this game, there was nothing he loved more than to hunt and track people down. His proficiency and skills at finding missing persons for the ITO had made him a wealthy man, but this new mission had nothing to do with the ITO. It was simply a matter between him and Wesley.
Ava left work timely on Friday night and met Elaine in the Square. Elaine’s friend Natalie lived on Level 5 and the two women wanted to pick a few things up at Infinity on Level 9 to bring to the party. Natalie had a nice sized apartment and had no problem filling it with people for her party. There were so many people, in fact, that some chose to sit on the floor while others stood against the wall. Natalie and her husband were warm and welcoming people Ava thought. From the looks of their nicely decorated quarters they seemed well to do. Ava did not know anyone other than Elaine, however the people at the party were friendly for the most part. Elaine made the punch and brought Ava a glass.
“It’s okay, I promise you,” Elaine remarked as Ava raised an eyebrow.
“Is it spiked with anything?” She asked keeping a serious face. Ava still had trust issues after the incident at the club that one night.
“Only a little alcohol. Seriously though, you’d probably have to drink a gallon to feel it I think, the price of liquor has gone up so high I couldn’t afford to put much in. It’s not like the old days,” she said as she herself took a drink out of her own glass.
“All right.” Ava took a small drink. Elaine was right, you could barely taste it, but it tasted good.
“When’s your boyfriend coming home?”
“Any time now, he said three or four weeks.”
“You must miss him a lot.”
“Yeah. We haven’t been apart for this long since right after I first met him.” She practically had to shout over the loud pounding music someone had blaring.
“My ex-boyfriend worked on one of the ships and was gone quite a bit. It’s tough.”
“So it’s officially over? You aren’t getting back together with him?” Ava inquired.
“No. It’s for the best, I’m a happier person without all of the drama. Someone will come along for me again I’m sure,” Elaine shouted, trying to be heard over the music. Finally someone changed it something slower and softer.
“This is a nice song, the artist has beautiful voice,” Ava observed after a few minutes.
“Yes, he does. I don’t think I’ve heard this group before either, they must be new. Let me find out.”
Elaine went over the person who started the music and asked about the band. She came back over to Ava with the full report.
“They are called ‘Geodesic’ and they are pretty new on the music scene accord
ing to that guy,” Elaine pointed at the man she had just talked to. “He said no one seems to know much about them but that they are currently touring. Maybe if they come to Orionis we could go the concert.”
“That would be fun, I love concerts. Too bad there aren’t that many of them here. Capri hosts at least one a month.”
“When is your man taking you back there?”
“Probably not for a while. Capri has some security issues right now, and I’m not even sure I want to go back for a long time.”
After a few minutes Elaine excused herself to use the restroom, leaving Ava to talk with a few of the people around her. When Elaine returned one of single men at the party tapped her on the shoulder and began talking to her. A little after nine, Ava decided it was time to leave.
“Are you sure you don’t need me to get some people together to walk you home?” Elaine asked.
“It’s only one level up. I’ll be fine, don’t worry. Besides, it looks like that guy you were talking to wants to spend some more time with you,” Ava said with a smile.
“I like him, he seems like a good guy so far.”
“Have fun.”
“Be careful, and call me tomorrow okay.”
“Okay, good night.”
Elaine’s starting to be as protective as Naomi; Ava thought. Ava was the first one to leave the party. She had never been comfortable in large crowds of strangers. She preferred smaller, more intimate groups, like her friends from the Andromeda. As she walked home she kept thinking of the song she had heard that she liked, deciding she would download it later.
Ava was up and about early for a Saturday morning. She returned to Infinity to do more grocery shopping and was just putting away the last few items in her kitchen when her doorbell chimed. Ava wasn’t expecting anyone and it kind of startled her when she heard the sound. She walked over to the security camera and immediately opened the door when she saw who it was.
“Wesley!” She practically jumped on him.
“There’s my Ava.” He lifted her up and twirled her around in a big bear hug and kissed her.
“I can’t believe it, I wasn’t expecting you until next weekend at the earliest.”
“We got in about half an hour ago. How are you? Are you okay? I was so worried about you. I missed you so much.” He touched her face, her hair, then rested his hands on her shoulders.
“I worried about you and missed you too,” Ava laughed. “I’m so glad you are back in one piece.”
“Yes, we are all fine. No worries my love.”
“You look tired Wesley, did they work you hard on Earth II?”
“Very hard,” he smiled. Hating having to lie to her, however he could not disclose the truth to her yet.
“Did you have trouble with any space pirates?”
“Not this time.”
“Come, you must tell me all about your mission, I’d love to hear about it.”
“Of course, and I also want to hear about what you’ve been up to as well. I trust that you and your friend have stayed out of trouble,” He said mockingly.
“Ha ha ha. Yes, contrary to popular belief I can actually survive on my own without starving, fainting, or being victimized,” She joked back.
“I know you can. I just worry about you because I love you so much, . . . if you only knew.” He held her in a long embrace.
“Please tell me you are not leaving again tomorrow.”
“Not tomorrow, but on Monday.”
Ava looked up at him as if to protest then he spoke again. “It’s a quick mission, we’ll only be gone for a few days and we’ll be back again Friday evening.” Wesley wanted to collect a few more parts for the new starship being built on Kyanos. The sooner the ship is up and running, the safer it would be for the people there. At least then they would have a better chance at protecting themselves against Kaden.
Wesley and Ava continued to catch up with each other for a few hours and then Wesley headed back to the ship to check on things while Ava prepared to meet them all for dinner. He returned at six to escort her to the restaurant, a casual place where the group could catch up.
“Ava, we missed you!” Naomi exclaimed as she hugged her.
“I missed all of you too. It was really lonely here without you all.”
“I don’t think we’ll have any lengthy missions like that for a while.”
“That’s good to hear,” Ava replied as the group was lead to their table in the back.
After the group had settled down and placed their orders for dinner Wesley, holding Ava’s hand under the table, asked her more questions about what she had done in their time apart.
“Well, I mostly just worked a lot.”
“Sounds like what we did,” Andre joked.
“Oh, Elaine and I went to a party last night and we heard some music from a great new band.”
“I love finding out about new music, what was the band called?” Naomi chimed in.
“Geodesic. The lead singer has a great voice.”
“I’ll have to check them out.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you,” Ava said turning back to Wesley. “I ran into your former crewmember the other night.”
The entire group fell silent, the smiles fading off of their faces. “What?” Wesley asked suddenly very serious.
“You know, Bryant, the man you were talking to on Capri.”
Wesley and the others exchanged surprised glances at each other. “Ava, when did this happen?” he asked, concerned.
“Thursday night. I was in the Square heading home from work and he came up to me and introduced himself.”
“He just came up to you out of the blue?” Naomi asked, puzzled.
“Yes, he said that he recognized me from that time we were on Capri and wanted to say hello.”
“Tell us everything that he said Ava.” Wesley instructed.
“Is something wrong?”
“No Ava, we are just not on the best of terms with him that’s all,” Naomi remarked.
Everyone at the table listened intently, occasionally glancing at each other, as Ava re-told her encounter with Bryant, including mentioning that she shook his hand.
“I think I spoke with him for less than two minutes, it really was very brief.”
“And he didn’t ask you any other personal questions, or about your relationship with me?”
“No, he just wanted to know if I was a crewmember or not. He seems like a pleasant man. I thought it was weird though; that he was hoping to run into you, but not willing to leave an address for you to contact him.”
“Well, I wouldn’t worry about this. However, if you should ever see him again and I’m not around, don’t talk to him. Just get yourself to a safe place,” Wesley advised.
“Why? Is he dangerous?”
“That’s just it, we don’t know. It’s better to be safe than sorry,” Naomi added.
Ava sensed her friends disapproval over her random encounter with Bryant. Her appetite practically disappeared as she began to feel uneasy about the stranger.
Dinner arrived and Wesley changed the subject. He did not want Ava to worry about Bryant and spoil the evening. Bryant was now his problem to worry about. After dinner the group split up. Ava and Wesley went back to his place to spend some time alone together while the crew went back to the ship. Although they did not let Ava see it, they were extremely alarmed about this visit from Bryant. They sensed that time was running out. They now knew they needed to ensure Kyanos’ safety by destroying Kaden as soon as possible. Only then could they bring Ava there, and they needed to do that before Bryant could complete whatever it was that he was up to.
The next morning Wesley went back to the ship to talk and discuss the next step with the others. They were already waiting for him in the common room when he arrived.
“Good morning,” he greeted the crew. Everyone returned the salutation. Andre spoke next.
“Well that was an interesting turn of events last night.”
“I think it’s pretty clear what Bryant intends to do,” Wesley remarked.
“You don’t know that for sure Wesley, maybe he’s just messing with you,” Naomi suggested.
“Come on, the man hates me with a fiery vengeance because of what happened to his wife. He blamed me for her death, remember?”
“It wasn’t your fault, somewhere deep down inside he knows that,” she responded.
“Bryant is the most skilled bounty hunter in the galaxy. Now that he’s touched Ava, felt her energy, smelled her, heard her voice . . . he’ll be able to find her anywhere.” Wesley sighed deeply and shook his head, his voice reflected his aggravation.
“Ava’s going to be all right Wesley. Clearly he had no intentions to harm her, otherwise he would have done it. He knew we weren’t here,” Andre added.
“Precisely! Now he has the means to track her. That’s all he wanted and he got it. It’s me that he wants to suffer and he knows that there is no deeper pain than to be separated from the one you love. He’s figured out that Ava is mine. Sooner or later he’s going to find Xavier and lead him to her, or if he has trouble convincing him, he’ll find a way to take her to him, most likely by whatever means necessary.”
“There’s a lot of ‘ifs’ there Wesley. While it does seem that is what Bryant intends, he still has to find Xavier. That’s a monumental task in and of itself. It’s a miracle we found him when we needed him ten years ago, remember? Bryant doesn’t know Xavier like we do. Xavier likes to be left alone. He’s like you.” Naomi smiled. “He only trusts his ‘family’ circle and we know he always uses different aliases when he does surface in public. Even you can’t track him. I’ll bet we’ve crossed paths with him several times over the last ten years and not have even known it,” Naomi suggested.
“That’s right. Besides, since we know what Bryant’s trying to do we can take precautions to see that it doesn’t happen. He doesn’t know about Kyanos. I think you should just take Ava there now and then worry about Kaden,” Justin advised.
“No, it’s still too dangerous. I need more time. I can’t just take Ava away from her home and her job. I know I have to tell her the truth soon, but I’m just not ready yet.”
The Solar Wind Page 16
