“Which is why you mustn’t let them see you without clothes anymore. If they do they might do something bad.”
“But why?” Chloé Duplessis asked.
“It’s just the way they are,” David said. “They’re not well, up here.” He tapped the side of his head. “We can feel sorry for them, but even though we’re sorry, we can’t let them hurt us. Do you understand? All of you?”
The children all nodded, but none of them looked happy. Their parents shared their unhappiness, memories from the past elbowing their way back to the front of their minds. What had happened to their safe Haven? Could they ever turn back the clock?
Jake wore sunglasses to ward off the morning sun as it blazed through the massive windows sealing the mouth of the cavern. His assigned position outside of Edward and Carla’s house meant he faced straight into it. Beads of sweat had formed on his forehead. The temperature already felt north of midday to him, so he wasn’t looking forward to the afternoon. He glanced toward the ceiling. With any luck they might turn on the misters soon, although that could make things worse when it jacked up the humidity.
“Good morning, Jake.”
Carla appeared at the front door, clad in shorts and sandals. Jake smothered a grin. Haven’s temperatures had encouraged even Carla into cooler clothes. He avoided more than the briefest of glances, though. He had no intention of getting on the wrong side of Carla Lewis.
She paused and looked at him. “How are you settling in?”
Jake shuffled position. He hadn’t expected Carla to take an interest in him. He’d rather she didn’t.
“Just fine, thank you ma’am.”
“Really? You have everything you need?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Hmmm. I wonder.”
“Ma’am?”
“I wonder if you are finding everything you need here.”
Jake shifted again, uncomfortable now. What did she mean? Why did she care about his needs?
“Did you leave a girlfriend behind, Jake? A wife, even?”
“Er, no ma’am. No one special.”
“I see. Well, I’m sure you’ll find someone in Haven, should that be your wish.” She smiled and started to walk away. Then she stopped, and looked back at him, piercing him with her flinty gray eyes. “Of course, sometimes, we have to take what we want.”
She held her gaze steady for two heartbeats, then resumed walking toward the pavilion.
Jake watched her leave – dispassionate on the outside, turbulent on the inside.
“And you think this will be more effective than our current search plan?” David asked, looking at Nathalie.
Sheldon had cornered David after dinner at the pavilion, and had pitched a new plan for the asteroid hunt, dragging Nathalie into the conversation as he did.
She shrugged. “It makes a certain amount of sense. Our search so far has focused on the inner belt, because we think that’s where most of the risk lies. I still think this, but Sheldon has pointed out we can’t ignore the outer belt. He suggests splitting the observations from the Hope between the two belts – we can use one telescope for the inner belt, and one for the outer. I’m happy with this – we’ve covered a lot of the inner belt over the past fifteen years, and it’s not likely we’ve missed anything important. After all,” she said with a wry smile, “we have found five that are headed our way already.”
Sheldon’s attention swiveled away from Nathalie, back to David. “You see? Nathalie agrees.”
David suppressed a smile. He wondered if Sheldon knew just how transparent his appreciation of Nathalie was, or that John had taken note of it. And damned if Nathalie did anything to switch Sheldon off. He suspected that not only did she enjoy some new male admiration, she had also decided John needed encouragement to appreciate her more.
“OK. Between you I’m sure you know the best way to do this. All I ask is that the focus on asteroid detection continues until we’ve identified all the risks.”
“That will be never,” Nathalie said, raising her voice. “Always we must be vigilant in this system. But we should be able to free up one telescope, in time.”
“Good enough,” David said with a nod. “I’ll leave it to you to implement.”
Nathalie took this as a dismissal and wandered off. Sheldon trailed after, talking nineteen to the dozen about their plans.
John had been standing next to David this whole time, nursing a beer, saying nothing.
“You know, he’s starting to piss me off.”
David pursed his lips. “I suspect Nathalie knows this.”
“Yeah, mate. Me too.”
The asteroid belts of Tau Ceti, although containing a high number of small celestial bodies, couldn’t be called densely packed. The huge volume of space they occupied meant millions of kilometers separated them on average.
Now and then, though, the complex dance of gravity brought two of them together. The chance of a collision remained small, but one object’s gravity could exert a slight influence on another’s. And so it happened that an insignificant lump of mineral ores covered in dirty snow met another inner belt asteroid, a larger one over two hundred kilometers in diameter. The small one, only seven hundred meters across, didn’t have a name or even a designation. Its orbit shifted as it passed. A minor deflection, but enough to send it on a course that, four years later, caused it to pass by the planet Messier, seventh from the star, with a mass five times that of Earth. This encounter bent the trajectory of the little asteroid by ten degrees and catapulted it into the inner system.
In less than a year, its new trajectory would intersect with Serendipity.
If the Hope’s second telescope had still been watching the inner belt, it would have detected the asteroid. But it wasn’t. It now followed Sheldon Owen’s new search plan and scanned the outer belt.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Joyce rushed.
They didn’t worry about lateness outside of school or apprentice work, but today an epic capture-the-flag paintball tourney would take place in the wild lands. The new kids inflated the team sizes to eight each way, and she didn’t want to miss out.
As usual, she and Vasily would hunt together. He had reminded her over and over, don’t be late, we need you there. But Veronika had kept her longer today, working on medicals for the new arrivals.
Her feet pumped the ground like a sprinter’s as she headed for the bridge, her long straight hair rippling behind her. The new houses came into view, and she grinned as she spotted the three-meter-wide lane separating the double row of two-story units. The lane pointed at the bridge like her own personal shortcut, and she steered straight for it.
She was halfway down the lane when a man stepped into the exit and stopped. Joyce pulled up. She recognized him – the man called Jake who had embarrassed her at the welcome lunch, the day the newcomers arrived. He made her feel uneasy, and she couldn’t avoid him by going forward. She turned back the way she’d come. That’s when she discovered another man, blocking the lane behind her. Joyce had nowhere to go.
They sauntered toward her. Jake’s smile sent a shiver down Joyce’s spine. She didn’t know how, but she sensed he meant to harm her. She looked behind her and bit her lip, not knowing which direction to go.
“Well, lookit, Rob, if it ain’t little Joyce Ng. How’re you doin’ sugar?”
Joyce didn’t reply. Her father’s voice rang in her ears, telling her never to be alone with the newcomers. She eyed the gap between Jake and the walls of the houses either side of the lane, trying to decide if she could run past him.
“I think she’s ignoring me, don’t you Rob?”
Joyce heard a snigger behind her and felt her stomach lurch. She darted to the left of Jake and tried to squeeze past, but he reached and grabbed her with casual ease. He stifled her involuntary scream with a strong hand clamped around her mouth like a vice. She bucked and struggled, but couldn’t break free. The other man, the one Jake had called Rob, leered at her.
“She needs to
learn some manners, Jake.”
“Oh, now now, Roberto. You’ve frightened her, is all. Don’t worry, Joyce, we don’t want to hurt you.”
Joyce’s eyes grew as wide as a frightened doe’s.
“Oh no,” Roberto said, still leering. “We don’t want to hurt you,” he repeated as he walked closer. “You see, Joyce, we kinda like you.”
He reached out a hand and touched her left breast. Joyce gave a yelp of shock and convulsed away from Roberto’s touch, escaping the hand Jake still held clamped over her mouth long enough to allow a short scream to escape.
Roberto’s leer changed into a hard expression. He reached out again, lower this time.
“Let her go!”
Roberto froze, straightened, and turned to snatch a glance behind him.
Sabine Pope strode down the lane, all hell and fury. “I said, let her go!”
Sabine had been sitting on her favored rock, the one that gave her a great view of the park and the housing estate, when a movement caught her eye and she’d turned to see Joyce running past like a fleet-footed gazelle.
She’d seen Jake Cooper nearby; it had put her on edge. She didn’t trust him – she knew his type all too well. She decided to watch out for Joyce.
As the girl headed toward the lane, Sabine saw one of Harper’s security guards raise his hand and speak into it. He lowered it again and began to follow Joyce.
In a flash, Sabine hit the ground running. She heard Joyce’s stifled scream and didn’t slow down as she rounded the corner of the lane. Sizing up the situation in a heartbeat, she almost exploded with rage when she understood their intent. How dare these animals even think of touching such an innocent? A young girl who could have no inkling of the brand of evil these scum traded in.
Sabine knew she had no chance of fighting big, hard men like them. But she had to save Joyce, and she had speed and surprise on her side.
“Let her go!” she screamed. The swarthy security guard assaulting Joyce started to turn.
She thundered on. The world slowed down. Jake turned, his feet mired in clay.
“I said let her go!”
She arrived like a hurricane. The swarthy one didn’t have time to think, let alone react, before she fetched him a savage kick, hard between his legs.
That crazy tattooed bitch ran up out of nowhere and kicked Roberto’s balls up between his ears, just as things got interesting.
Jake’s eyes narrowed as he shifted modes and focused on a new threat.
He tossed the girl against the side of the nearest house and went to deal with the crazy bitch. She saw him come, and moved to meet him, launching another kick at him.
Immediately, she knew she’d made a mistake. The sure-fire get out of jail card when fighting a man would not work this time. It only worked once.
Jake caught her ankle in one big, meaty hand and pulled her in, clamping the other around her thigh, just above the knee.
She cried out as a muscle in her supporting leg tore.
“Stupid bitch,” Jake sneered. “You’re gonna pay for that.” He looked at her like a cat watches a cornered mouse. Sabine’s eyes drifted to Joyce, struggling to regain her feet.
“Run!” she screamed. “Run!”
Joyce’s eyes grew wide like a startled animal’s, and she took to her heels, leaving Sabine alone with Jake and Roberto.
Jake looked around, then turned back to Sabine.
“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “She’ll keep. And next time, you won’t be there to help her.”
He twisted Sabine’s leg and she winced in pain.
“This is for Roberto,” he said, and exploded into movement, launching a fluid kick that caught her hard, right between the legs. The force launched her off her feet and she flew several meters backward, landing with a jolt and smacking her head against the ground.
Sabine couldn’t feel anything at first. Then an awful, tearing pain spiked into her from the base of her abdomen and she gasped as her stunned brain reconnected with her nerves.
By this time, Roberto was on his feet, his face a boiling maelstrom of rage. His hands clenched and unclenched as he advanced on Sabine.
Her feet skittered on the pavement as she tried to get away, but he struck like a cobra. He grabbed the top of her right arm and wrenched her off the ground, following with a straight right-hand punch to the face.
Sabine heard a sickly crack as her nose broke and an abrupt thud as she hit the ground again, but somehow it seemed to come from far, far away. She lay there, stunned, as Roberto stood over her, breathing hard.
“Bitch!”
Jake walked over, a sneer plastered on his face.
“You fancy some tattooed ass, Roberto?”
Roberto looked at him, face contorted with rage.
“That is, if you’re up to it.” He looked at Roberto’s crotch.
Roberto breathed twice, hard. “Fuck you, Jake.”
He turned to look at Sabine, who moaned, her face a bloody mess. He spat and looked at Jake.
“Flip her over.”
He reached for his belt.
Simon Greene had also seen Joyce run into the lane. He saw Roberto speak into his comm and follow her, and he saw the tattooed woman, Sabine, run after him.
It didn’t take long to put two and two together and arrive at the answer: trouble.
He turned to Raoul Savard, his fellow guard. “Get the others.”
Raoul nodded and trotted off toward Edward’s office.
Simon turned and followed Roberto.
Elation caught Jake like a wave and lifted him toward his idea of heaven. Part of him still resented the lost opportunity with the girl, but this promised to be interesting. He didn’t go for broads like Sabine Pope, but what the hell, he wasn’t the sort to look a gift horse in the mouth.
He grabbed her by the thighs and flipped her onto her front, as Roberto had demanded, hooked his hands around the waistband of her shorts and pulled, hard. The buttons at the front let go with a sharp pop and he got them down to her knees on the first pull.
Jake whistled. Don’t that beat all? Her ass really is tattooed.
He opened his mouth to tell Roberto what to do next, when a shout came from behind.
“That’s enough!”
His head jerked up, and he sneered when he saw that do-good asshole Simon running toward them, his expression leaving no doubt as to his intent. Fuck him.
Jake stood up, ignoring Roberto as he regarded Sabine with an odd, glazed look in his eyes. “You don’t wanna be here, Greene,” he said. “You oughta find some other place to be if you wanna stay healthy.”
“Not gonna happen, Jake. Now get the hell out of here.”
Simon looked behind Jake and Roberto and raised his eyebrows.
Jake turned. The other three security guards had stepped into the lane.
If looks could kill, Simon would’ve dropped dead from the hate pouring from Jake’s eyes. Instead, he stepped aside, inviting Jake to pass.
Jake didn’t break eye contact as he walked past, followed by Roberto. “Watch your back, asshole.”
“What happened?” Veronica asked, taking in the scene with a glance. Four of Edward’s security guards had turned up at the clinic, Sabine draped in the arms of one of them like a giant rag doll.
“An assault,” Simon replied. “She’s hurt, knocked unconscious.”
Veronika led the way to a hospital bed. “Put her here.”
Simon laid her on the bed as if she were made of glass, and stepped back. His face wore a collage of mixed emotions – worry, anxiety, shame.
Veronika checked her pulse and pulled back one eyelid, shining a light into her eye, then pulled the scanner arm over the bed.
“What happened?” she asked again.
“Two men assaulted her,” Simon said. He looked down. “We put a stop to it and brought her here.”
“Did they rape her?”
Simon shifted on his feet. “No. We prevented that. Just.”
&
nbsp; Veronika looked at him with the beginnings of approval and nodded. The scanner chimed and she examined the results.
“Concussion, a broken nose. Contusions and bruising to the upper torso, and –” She sucked in a breath when she saw what came next. She shot a sharp glance at Simon. “You’re sure you got there in time?”
He nodded. “Positive.”
“They did something else, then. There’s extensive soft tissue damage in the genital area, and internal bleeding.”
Simon looked ill, and the other men studied the floor.
“Who did this?” Veronika asked. Silence fell, and then understanding dawned. “It was one of your own, wasn’t it?”
The drop of a pin would have echoed. Simon nodded. “Yes, miss. They’ve shamed all of us.”
Veronika softened for a moment, then set her jaw. “OK. This is what you will do. I want someone to get one of the doctors who came with you on the Inspiration – Doctor Ramirez, if you can find her.” Silvia Ramirez had gynecology experience and Veronika knew she would be of particular help right now.
“You –” she pointed at one of the others, “Find David Miller and tell him what has happened. You two – go see your boss and make sure whoever did this is contained.”
The relief on their faces at being given something to do, some action that could help atone for what had happened, would’ve been comic under any other circumstance. Simon turned back before leaving. “Will she be OK?” he asked, his face still troubled.
“We’ll see. The sooner Doctor Ramirez gets here, the sooner we’ll know.”
Grace looked up when Joyce stumbled through the front door and ran to her room. The door slammed.
“Joyce?” she called, frowning. “Joyce, what’s wrong?”
She walked down the hall and knocked on her door.
“Joyce? Can I come in?”
She heard the sound of a subdued sob. She pressed her lips together and opened the door. Someone had upset her daughter. When she found out who, they’d better watch out.
The Seasoning Page 13
