I was certain there’d be any number of gentlemen willing to carry her highness on their backs so she never had to be bothered by gravity. I shut down the catty thoughts and trudged after Tobias. Ulla had been through a lot, things I couldn’t even imagine. I needed to be nice to Mrs. Perfect. After all she was my responsibility. I picked up the pace. Maybe the douche bag at her side needed a reminder to keep his mitts to himself.
Tobias guided her to the passenger door and opened it. “What can you tell us of the attack?”
Her top lip curled back as she surveyed the truck’s interior.
I peeked inside. Okay it was a little dusty, smelled like wet shoes and had luggage and a garbage bag crammed in the back, but it wasn’t too bad. I’d certainly traveled in worse. Of course, I didn’t live in outer space.
“Mrs. Torunn?” Tobias opened the back door of the extended cab, reached inside and dragged out the luggage and garbage bag.
Ulla shuddered and wrapped one arm around her waist while the other pressed against her throat. “The attack? It—it seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere. We saw the lights of the city then the pilot slumped over his seat and Rudd…” She covered her mouth and squeezed her eyes closed. “Rudd…”
The poor woman. I gently stroked her back, offering comfort yet not intruding on her grief. I wanted to tell her she didn’t have to be strong for us or to be ashamed to cry, but I held my peace. People grieved on their own terms. All I could do was be ready when she finally faced her losses. “Let me help you inside.”
Rubbing her nose on the back of her hand, she nodded and shuffled closer to the backseat. “You’re very kind.”
“Can you tell me which direction you were heading when the attack came?” Tobias the douche had the sensitivity of a rock. He tossed the bags into the bed where they landed with a loud thump.
“Does it matter? Rudd is gone…” Climbing into the back, Ulla swiped at eyes. “He promised we would be safe on Earth.”
I accidently stepped on Tobias’s toe as I crawled in after Ulla. Sure, it was his job to find out what happened but he could wait until we were someplace safe. Between the grief and fear, Ulla had all she could do to hold it together.
God knew, my sanity seemed to be unraveling and I hadn’t experienced nearly as much. I patted her hand. It was warm and damp under my palm. “Don’t worry. Tobias will keep you safe.”
Ulla stiffened. “Tobias?” Her brow furrowed as she scooted across the bench seat. “Colonel Tobias Werner?”
Her blue eyes turned glacial while her fingers danced over her broach.
Silently, Tobias reached under the bench seat and pulled out a fleece throw. His face was carefully blank when he handed it to me and shut the doors.
A fissure of unease appeared in my concern. I hoped she didn’t brunt her grief on Tobias. The failure was mine, not his. “Yes. If you’ve heard of him then I’m sure you know how resourceful and capable he is.”
At least, I hoped he was resourceful and capable. I shook out the blanket and laid it over Ulla’s lap. Despite the heat outside, I knew she would be cold. Grief stricken people usually were.
Tobias didn’t meet my eye as he climbed behind the wheel and started the engine.
“But if First World’s Special Forces are involved, they might trade me for the information my husband was supposed to provide.” Ulla frowned at the blanket before bunching it under her hands. “My enemies have already killed my children. That’s why…That’s…”
She drew in a ragged breath and stared out the window at the airport’s hangars.
Humid air streamed from the vents as Tobias turned the trunk on the gravel road leading to the main street.
I stroked Ulla’s hand before tucking the blanket around her legs. The cold air wouldn’t help her shock. “I promise you won’t be traded to your enemies. And don’t worry about the information.”
“Did you find it?” Ulla kicked off the blanket and clasped her hands together. “The information, I mean.”
Bracing one hand against the seat back, I reached for the throw. How could she not be cold? People in shock were always cold.
“Not yet.” Tobias answered before I did. “Your husband was supposed to have sent it ahead of time and tell us where he’d hidden it when he arrived.”
That was a bald-faced lie. I carefully folded the blanket and set in on the seat between us. Had he picked up on something that I had missed?
“I see.” Ulla rubbed her forehead before shivering. Kicking off her sandals, she pulled her legs close to her chest and hugged them tight. “You think he told me where he stashed this information.”
My new tattoo itched. What exactly was going on here? Why was Tobias lying and why wasn’t Ulla behaving like a typical grief-stricken wife? Could humans have changed so much between incarnations?
Tobias braked at the end of the road and waited for two cars to zoom past on Lake Pleasant Parkway. “Fourth Worlders are responsible for the Lights over Phoenix, aren’t they?”
I bit my lip. The lights over Phoenix were real alien encounters? My brain refused to wrap around the thought. Did that mean Roswell and Area 51 actually had something to do with extraterrestrials too?
Ulla nodded before setting her chin on her knees and rocking slightly.
Tobias turned the car onto the parkway before merging onto Carefree Highway. “Since Torunn was responsible for the phantom ships the Arizonans have spotted and he chose this spot to arrive, the UED is betting he sent the information on a light flash, buried under an official communique.”
Ulla inhaled sharply then closed her eyes and shook her head. “He never mentioned having access to a Greastacean tube, but it makes perfect sense. I wonder which facility he sent it to.”
I sat on my hands, tucking the tattoo next to my body. Why would Tobias lie about the information in one breath then practically tell her in the next? “I’m sure if you think about it, the answer will come to you. Since you were closest to him, you probably know, but don’t know that you know.”
Ulla opened her eyes. For a moment she said nothing then she picked up the blanket and ran her hand over the folds. “That is very odd logic. How did you qualify for this job?”
“Just lucky I guess.” Or monumentally unlucky in my case. But I would do my job. I owed her that much. “Why don’t we talk about your expectation of your new life on Earth?”
Ulla yawned and leaned against the door. “Didn’t you get the file? I’m sure Rudd made our requirements very clear.”
“We often think of one thing when we’re a couple and another when we’re single.” More than one ex-boyfriend had accused me of being pigheaded and inflexible. “Perhaps you want something that your husband might not have thought of or… liked very much.”
Like dogs… Or red meat… Or monogamy. I wanted to share a life not the latest antibiotic resistant STD.
“Oh. Yes. I see.” Ulla drew the blanket up to her shoulders. “Rudd and I saw eye-to-eye on so many details.”
Oh no, Ulla and Rudd had been one of those couples—the happy, smiley, we’re-so-in-love kind that held hands in public. Envy licked at my objectivity. Right. Change the subject. “Perhaps you’d like to discuss the kind of work you’d like to do?”
In the front seat, Tobias choked on a cough.
Ulla straightened in her seat. “Work? You expect me to work?”
Uh-oh. Somehow I’d gone seriously awry with my questioning. “I don’t understand.”
“Obviously not.” Ulla picked at a ball of lint on the flannel throw. “Don’t you remember anything from your first year orientation? I am a direct descendent of The Twelve Families.”
Obviously that was supposed to mean something to me, something important judging by her huffy tone. Too bad it did as much to enlighten me as a flashlight with no batteries. Note to self: take one of these orientation classes. I cleared my throat and tried again. Hopefully, I wouldn’t end up with both feet in my mouth.
“I thought since
you knew so much about your husband’s inventions that you had spent time helping him develop them and you’d like to continue that here. On Earth.” I added, in case she thought we were going to send her away.
“Oh. I see.” Ulla fingered her broach for a moment.
Emotions flit across her face—fear, excitement, curiosity and one that came and left before I could identify it.
“I apologize.” She yawned. “I must admit to some fatigue. First, my children are murdered then my husband and the journey here in such a cramped space.”
I blinked. What an odd way to phrase things. Surely she hadn’t put murder on the same level as inconvenience. “Perhaps you should rest.”
“Yes, I think that is best.” Ulla slid her perfectly pedicured toes along the bench toward me.
Balancing on the seat, I hiked my leg over the center console and scrambled into the front of the cab. How could the woman seem so devastated one minute and so cold the next? I collapsed onto the cushion and my hands trembled as I fastened the seatbelt. God, I was so weak and hungry. I peered at the clock through my lashes. Ten minutes to go before another day began. I hope it was calmer than today and less eventful…and had less death threats against my person… and three fewer corpses.
“How are you doing?” Tobias adjusted his rearview mirror before turning to look at me.
I rolled my head on my shoulders and felt the vertebrae pop. “I’m pretty sure Ulla’s in shock.” The rocking motion of the car teased the tension from my body. Only a gnawing hunger kept me from succumbing to the lassitude. “It’s what’s stopping her from providing useful information about the attack. Hopefully, she’ll remember something pertinent in the morning.”
Tobias remained silent. But approaching cars lit his set features.
Now what bug crawled up his behind and died? I covered a yawn and shook the fatigue from my thoughts. “Do you really think they killed her children?”
“Fourth isn’t very forgiving with their own, especially when they make a mistake. Mrs. Torunn’s blood lines include six of the First families, but her husband was second tier, second class. The children would have been considered disposable.”
Disposable? Caste systems were one thing, but to throw away children… To end their lives because of the parent’s mistake. My fatigue burned away like a fog at down. I didn’t want that kind of government here.
Tobias glanced in the rear view mirror before focusing on the road ahead. “Torunn had brains and ambition, and that may have alienated some very powerful people. I’m sure the sheer number of his successes challenged the ruling class’s notions and shook their belief in eugenics.”
“Eugenics?”
“God divides up the people and relegates them according to class. The more superior you are, the higher the class you were born into.”
“That’s a convenient belief.” Surely not everyone bought into that? I partially closed my air conditioning vents.
“And self-fulfilling too. The lower classes suffer malnutrition, have poorer hygiene and have virtually no opportunity for an education.” Tobias adjusted his rearview mirror again. “In many of their worlds, the First Families practice selective breeding to get better workers.”
Good God that’s worse than prostitution. I stiffened in outrage. How had these people even left Earth and why did their subjects put up with it? “That’s barbaric.”
Tobias shrugged. “You never answered my question.”
“I didn’t?” A migraine crawled at the base of my skull. Maybe I should try to catch a few zzz’s while Tobias drove. “What did you ask?”
“How are you doing?”
Me? He’d asked about me? “I’m tired and hungry, mostly hungry. I think that’s why I have a headache.”
“We’ll pick up some food on the way to the hotel.” Tobias pushed the phone button on the rearview mirror and beeping filled the cab as the satellite dialed.
“Hotel?” I would kill for a hot shower and food, not necessarily in that order
“I want you and Mrs. Torunn to stay there while I change cars and pick up supplies.” He reached across the cab and set his hand on mine. “Will you do that for me?”
My heart skipped a few beats. Tobias trusted me. I don’t know what I had done to deserve it, but I would definitely take advantage of it. “Of course.”
“Good.”
“Dante’s restaurant.” Static crackled alongside the man’s sleepy voice. “How may I help you today?”
***
Standing next to the truck, I stared at the run-down hotel forming a ‘u’ around us. Behind me, cars and trucks slowed to pick up the prostitutes plying their trade. The scent of oregano, garlic, melted cheese and pepperoni from the box in my hands couldn’t quite overcome the odor of poverty and desperation. “I think this is the kind of place that rents by the hour not the night.”
Tobias lifted our bags from the back of the truck and set his hand on my back. “It’s just temporary.”
Ulla slipped out of the truck’s back seat. Her mouth dropped open for a moment then her eyes narrowed. She pinned me with a hostile stare. “What is this place?”
Right. This was my job as steward. I slapped on a smile and tried not to crush the pizza box in my hands. “A temporary refuge until Tobias can secure us a safe house. And look, we have food.”
I raised the box in her direction.
Ulla wrinkled her nose and reared back. A rat scampered across the rutted parking lot and she shivered. “I don’t think I can eat.”
“Please, I think you should at least try to get a bite down.” I was so hungry I might eat the box and the pizza. “You might feel better.”
“I don’t think so.” Ulla’s voice frosted more than an arctic breeze. “Where am I to stay in this abode?”
“We’re in room twelve.” Tobias led the way across the pitted parking lot. Plastic bags, discarded cups, cigarette butts and more than a few used condoms gathered in the puddles.
I turned to follow but stopped. Ulla hadn’t moved. What was the woman waiting for? Didn’t she realize how exposed she was out here? “Do you need any help?”
Ulla smoothed her long blond hair and sighed. “I suppose I have to get used to doing for myself.”
I smiled. Positive thinking must be the rage in the galaxy. “You might find a certain satisfaction in doing things for yourself.”
“Yes. Yes I think you’re right.” Ulla sashayed passed me. “Oh Colonel, I do have a question.”
I stared at the open truck. Self-closing doors must also be plentiful in the galaxy. Shaking my head, I strode to the truck and used my hip to push it shut, then rushed to the hotel room.
Pausing on the threshold, I glanced around. Holy Toledo and I had thought the outside was bad. The mattress of the double bed sagged in the center, green floral wall paper peeled from the yellowed walls, and a path wore down the low pile of the blue carpet.
Tobias dropped the bags near a battered chair and lopsided round table in by the window overlooking the parking lot. His shoulder brushed the lamp hanging by a chain over the scarred table.
Ulla crushed a cockroach under her shiny teal pump and smoothed the hem of her skirt. “I don’t suppose you know where I might attend my personal needs.”
Tobias steadied the swaying lamp. “I believe there is a bathroom through that door.”
He pointed to the sole door at the back of the room.
“Thank you.” Ulla’s smile didn’t reach her eyes as she tiptoed over the worn carpet to the back of the room.
I kicked the door shut behind me then set the box on the table. In the silence, I could hear the sound of squeaking springs, grunts and a ‘you like it dirty, don’t you.’
Color dotted Tobias’s cheeks as he opened the lid of the box. “I think perhaps I should wait until morning to do my errands.”
Something banged against the wall in syncopated rhythm. I bit my lip to keep from laughing. Poor Tobias. For a man who dropped sexual innuendo bombs often
, he seemed embarrassed by the act. How would he react when he met my mom and dad and spare dad? My parents were firm believers in polyamory and had taught me all about the need for prostitution, even though they’d never paid for it themselves.
“Nonsense.” Using a napkin, I blotted at the extra grease on a slice of pizza. “The sooner we get Ulla settled in her new house the quicker she should start adjusting to life on Earth.”
Balling up my napkin, I set it on the table and picked up my piece of pepperoni pizza. The warm dough molded to my fingers as I stuffed the tip of the slice into my mouth. Cheese, spice and the tang of tomato exploded across my taste buds. “Hmmm.”
Tobias folded his slice in half length-wise. “I don’t trust her.”
“Why?” I covered my mouth with my free hand so I could chew and talk. “Because she hasn’t cried? Sometimes the grief is so much that you can’t let it out. Don’t worry. I actually have some experience in dealing with this. We’ll be fine. I won’t let you down.”
Using the back of his hand, Tobias wiped a dribble of grease from his chin and swallowed. “I don’t think you will, Rae.”
“Then go. The sooner we get that information decoded, the happier I’ll be.” I nodded my head toward my tattoo.
He selected another slice from the box. “I shouldn’t be gone more than an hour.”
My stomach rumbled as I counted the pieces left. Half a pie plus one slice. I could eat all that and still be hungry. “Should I save some of this for you?”
“No.” He folded the second piece in half and reached for the door handle. “You eat it.”
Excellent! Wonderful! Forty minutes into the new day and I was off to a great start. “You don’t have to tell me twice.”
“Rae.” Tobias paused half in the room and half out. “Watch yourself.”
“I will.” I strode to the door. “Promise.”
Tobias opened his mouth then shut it with a click.
Closing and locking the door behind him, I took another bite of pizza and winced as a large pepperoni slapped me in chin. Aw snap. Hissing through the food in my mouth, I stuffed in the errant topping inside and reached for a napkin.
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