“That’s a very good question, Nobek,” Tudlu said quietly, returning to face the clan. “Are you with us now? Are you willing to submit to a body search?”
Sletran blinked at him. He hunched in shame. “Yes.” He straightened and spread his arms and legs.
When the thorough frisk revealed Sletran had no weapons other than a very small knife tucked in one boot’s inner pouch, Tudlu addressed Erybet. “I’m satisfied for now that this is a case of trauma-induced sleepwalking and that no harm was intended. I’m willing to let this go for that reason, along with having seen the Imperial order of no engagement.”
“No engagement?”
Tudlu gave him a narrowed stare. “Law enforcement is not allowed to kill Sletran without having absolute proof of his intent to harm.”
Erybet and Sletran exchanged a look. “I’m not aware of any such order,” the Dramok said with obvious confusion.
“Registered by Emperor Bevau himself for both you and Nobek Sletran within the past week.” Tudlu cocked an eyebrow at him. “I’m only a security officer, Dramok. I have every right to detain your clan, but I don’t want to tell Emperor Bevau why I had two of his finest placed in holding cells.”
“Thank you.”
“You realize, however, I will have to make a report to Global Security about this incident, due to the problems involving the Mataras. I’m sure they will have questions for your Nobek.”
Erybet nodded heavily. “Of course.”
“I must also inform you that if you or any member of your clan returns to the compound area without prior approval from the compound’s security office, we will have no choice but to assume hostile intentions. Imperial order or not, we will react as if it is a threat, Dramok. Is that understood?”
“Yes.”
“Then you are free to go. Once I hear from Global Security that they have cleared your Nobek of malicious intent, I will be contacting you for the information I need for my report.”
“Thank you.” Erybet sounded more like a man given a death sentence than one who’d dodged major trouble. “You have our contact information?”
“Yes, seeing as how you clanned a Matara who was here.” Tudlu’s eyes narrowed for an instant. He looked at Sletran, who had gone back to hovering protectively near Conyod. “I will arrange for transportation to take you home. I hope you will feel better soon, Nobek Sletran. I trust your clan will see to it you get the help you need before something truly terrible happens.”
“We will,” Conyod said. He aimed his glare at Erybet, but his Dramok didn’t look at him.
True to his word, Tudlu arranged for a security shuttle to take them home. Its lights flashed until it exited the tunnel that led out to the beach, and then the pilot turned them off to avoid attention and further embarrassment to the clan.
Except for the humble thanks Erybet offered as he disembarked, the clan was silent until they got into their home and found a wide awake Rachel waiting for them.
Chapter 16
Rachel stopped her nervous pacing the instant the men crossed the threshold of the greeting room. They also stopped short, seemingly surprised to see her up and waiting for them. Well, what did they expect? That she wouldn’t notice their absence, the comforting warmth that helped her sleep so soundly these days?
She scowled, unable to contain her anger now that she could stop worrying about what had taken them away in the middle of the night. In Kalquorian she demanded, “Where you go?”
Erybet’s devastated expression brought fear stabbing her heart. “Sletran had another episode. We followed him.”
All three were obviously upset. Conyod looked seriously pissed off and Sletran’s expression was as if he’d been sickened to his very soul. Rachel felt more scared than ever.
“What? Where you go?”
Sletran’s head lowered. He peeked at her through the hair that fell forward to cover his face.
“The unclanned Earther Matara complex.”
He whirled on the other two men, his face reddening in sudden anger. His voice was a low roar. “Now we know. I must be the killer. Why else would I be there?”
Conyod turned just as red. He yelled back, “You were not there to kill anyone.”
“Then why? What reason could I possibly have to lurk around where all those Earther women are?”
“I don’t know!” Their faces were only inches away now. Conyod fought for control and managed to speak in a steady tone, though there was still a raw undercurrent to it. “You are not a murderer. You will never convince me of that.”
Rachel’s thoughts were in a whirl. Sletran thought he might be the man killing Mataras?
No, that made no sense, not when he beat himself up so bad for having let New Bethlehem’s slaughter happen.
She moved to stand at Conyod’s side, looking up at the shaking Nobek’s face. “You are good, Sletran. We be alone sometimes. You no hurt me.”
He closed his eyes. Pain sliced a path over his expression. “I would never hurt you, Ray-Ray. You are one of the few good things left to me.”
Erybet touched Sletran’s shoulder. “You have no idea why you went there? None at all?”
Sletran shuddered. “There is only one answer. Erybet, you know you have to turn me in for suspicion. You have to make this stop.”
Erybet closed his eyes. “Global Security has already sent officers to question us before this.
The complex’s security is going to contact them. I have no doubt they’ll be here for you soon.”
Cops were coming for her Nobek? Rachel’s heart stuttered. She grabbed onto Sletran’s arm and clung to him fiercely. “No! You no do wrong. I am sure.”
He managed a semblance of a smile for her. He pulled free of her grasp so he could wrap his arm around her, pulling her tight against his body. “I’m not sure of that, Ray-Ray. But I am glad you have such faith in me, misplaced as it may be.” He gazed at their Dramok. “Erybet, I want to tell them everything when they take me away. I can’t live with this secret any longer.”
Erybet swallowed hard, but the compassion on his face told Rachel how much he cared for Sletran. “Yes, my Nobek. As your Dramok and commanding officer, I release you from our order of silence. I will meet with Emperor Bevau himself and explain my treason.”
Sletran drew in a great breath. Suddenly he relaxed. Relief replaced all the other hectic emotions that had filled his being. “Thank you so much, my Dramok. To have the burden lifted from me is worth any torture I face for my actions.”
Rachel’s heart skipped again. “Torture?”
All three men reacted, their expressions stunned. She barely noticed their stares, hardly registering she’d just spoken in English. Instead, her thoughts were centered on a dark place, a place where she hung chained from the ceiling, where unanswerable questions were shouted, where jeers and insults rang in her ears, where knives cut flesh, where shockwhips seared her nervous system, where fists pounded until her bones broke.
They couldn’t let that happen to Sletran. Not her big, strong, protecting Nobek who laughingly taught her to curse in his language.
She gripped him hard. “No. No torture. I would die before I let them hurt you.” Tears were coursing down her cheeks as she begged a wide-eyed Erybet, “Make him run away. Order him to go somewhere and hide so he’ll be safe!”
Sletran lifted her in his arms, bringing her up so she was face to face with him. He was smiling, his teeth bright in his dark face. “That you dare to speak your language again in my defense … that you care that much that you would overcome the pain you’ve been through …
that you would do this for me … Rachel … my Matara…”
His mouth captured hers, enveloping it in soft, gentle kisses. Now that terror and love had opened her throat letting her speak again, Rachel couldn’t seem to stop the torrent of words that flooded out between his loving possessions. “I love you, Sletran. I know you didn’t do anything wrong. You don’t deserve to be hurt anymore. Please, don’t let
them take you. Please, please, for my sake.”
“Don’t cry, my little Ray-Ray. No tears, sweetness. I’ll be all right. I know for a fact now that I’ll be all right.” He kissed her harder than ever, making her breathless and incapable of further protests for a moment.
The visitor announce buzzed through the room, jerking their lips apart. His voice filled with dread, Erybet called. “Who is it?”
A dark, dangerous voice answered. “Global Security. Open immediately.”
Erybet looked at Sletran. The Nobek nodded and set Rachel back on her feet. She burst into terrified tears, and Conyod pulled her away from Sletran, wrapping her in his arms. He looked as scared as she felt.
Erybet stood at Sletran’s side. His shoulders drawn back and head held high, the Dramok ordered, “Enter.”
The door opened and three Nobeks wearing black formsuits with red and silver insignias on their chests stepped in. The one in front, shorter than everyone but Rachel and exuding absolute authority, stepped right up to Sletran. His hand was on the blade sheathed in his belt. “Nobek Sletran, I assume you know why we're here.”
Sletran looked him in the eye without flinching. “Good day, Officer Breft. You’re here to arrest me.”
Breft raised an eyebrow at him. “Actually, that remains to be seen. Can you explain what you were doing at the unclanned Earther Matara complex?”
“No.”
The officers exchanged looks. Rachel swiped at the wetness on her cheeks. She had to be strong for her Nobek. She felt pride at his stoicism, but inside she quaked at what these big, dangerous cops could do to him.
One stepped forward to Breft’s side. He looked a little older than the rest, and he limped.
He frowned deeply. “How many of these episodes have there been?”
Erybet answered that one. “That we know of? Half a dozen, perhaps.”
Sletran shook his head slightly. “More. There have been twenty-two times I woke on the beach or the marketplace with no idea how I got there.”
The elder officer’s brows knit together. “Did you ever wake with blood or injury on your body?”
“No.” Sletran pursed his lips and amended his answer. “Well, small scratches and bruises, but nothing of real note.”
Breft said, “You were on New Bethlehem.”
Something eased in Sletran’s face. “You know. Yes. It was my order that resulted in the massacre.”
Breft looked at him in silence for a moment, considering. Then he turned to Erybet. His tone apologetic, he said, “I'm sorry, Dramok. Unless you can account for your Nobek's whereabouts during his blackouts, I have no choice but to arrest him for suspicion of the Matara murders here on Kalquor.”
A muscle twitched in Erybet’s jaw, but otherwise he showed no reaction. “He will go with you peaceably.”
A big gorilla of an officer pulled a pair of cuffs from his belt. Rachel had a vision of that huge, dreadlocked Nobek beating on a helpless Sletran and couldn’t hold back. She jerked free of a silently weeping Conyod and threw herself between the officers and Sletran.
“No! Leave him alone!”
Sletran’s hands cupped her shoulders and rubbed reassuringly. “Ray-Ray, it's all right.”
In her panic, Rachel’s speech jumped back and forth between Kalquorian and English. She ranted at the officer in charge. “He no hurt Mataras. I know he's innocent. You no hurt Sletran!”
Breft held out a hand, indicating to the dreadlocked officer to wait. He needn’t have bothered. The huge man had halted the instant Rachel had jumped in front of Sletran. He actually looked at her with compassion, as if someone so big and scary could actually feel sorry for her fright.
“Hold a moment, Raxstad.” Breft looked to Erybet. “If I may speak to her, Dramok? I have an Earther Matara of my own, and I know how upset she’d be in her place.”
Erybet nodded, for all the good it did. Rachel wouldn’t let them take her Nobek to be tortured without a fight no matter what any of them said.
Breft got down on one knee before her, letting her look down on him in a pose so nonthreatening that she calmed a little bit. His voice gentle, the officer said, “Matara, as long as Sletran doesn't resist, we have no cause to harm him.”
Tears were beginning to spill once again, but Rachel paid them no heed. Let them imagine she was weak. They would be surprised.
She yelled at him, “You lie! You'll torture him to make him confess things he didn’t do!
You'll beat him to make him say what you want to hear! I know what you cops do!”
Conyod said quietly, “She was in prison on Earth. Her experience doesn’t give her much ability to trust law enforcement.”
Breft winced. “I see. Then I will be completely honest with you, Matara Ray-Ray. Our methods of interrogation can be extreme, but only when the subject resists reasonable means and is found mentally stable. Sletran will be questioned, analyzed, hypnotized, and injected with truth-telling compounds in an effort to get to the facts. Other methods are of last resort.”
Sletran murmured, “Ray-Ray, I can't go on like this. I want to know whether or not I'm guilty.”
Her fists clenched. “You aren't! I know you're not!”
Breft leaned forward, looking her in the eye. “Ray-Ray, my first priority is to keep Mataras unharmed physically and even emotionally when I am able. My dedication to those principles includes you. That means in order to keep from hurting you in any way, I cannot harm Sletran nor allow him to be harmed while he is in my custody.”
Erybet reached to rub his thumb over her cheek, erasing her tears. “It will be all right, my Matara. I would not let them take him without a fight if I thought he was in danger.”
Breft added, “You can trust me with Sletran’s wellbeing. I swear it to you.”
She looked up at Erybet. “There’s no other way?”
He shook his head slowly. “If Sletran is innocent, they will discover it. This is the best way to establish that once and for all.”
She turned to face Sletran and sagged against him, sobbing into his chest. His hands stroked her short curls and he pressed his lips to the top of her head. “I have to do this, my love. As your Nobek, your safety means more than my life. If I am the monster who has been killing all those women–”
Rachel pushed against his chest, making a sound of protest. He cupped her face in his hands to make her look him in the eye. “No Ray-Ray, listen to me. You have to let me go. You have to let me protect my Matara.” He kissed her with passion, unmindful of the strangers in the room. “You have given me a reason to hope again. To live again. Let me see this through to the end.”
Rachel didn’t want to. Everything in her screamed to hold onto Sletran, to keep the officers from taking him. But he wanted to go. Even if it meant torture, she could tell her Nobek wanted to settle the matter once and for all.
Erupting into fresh sobs, she nodded. Reluctantly, she allowed Conyod and Erybet to pull her away.
Breft was on his feet once more and nodded to the biggest officer. Raxstad bowed to Rachel before approaching Sletran once more with the handcuffs. “Nobek, lie on the floor face down with your arms behind you.”
Sletran did as he was told. Rachel had to turn away when Raxstad and the other Nobek named Lidon held him helpless, one man’s knee between Sletran’s shoulder blades and the other’s knee planted against his lower back. She buried her face against her Dramok and Imdiko, holding fistfuls of their formsuits in her grip.
Erybet’s chest rumbled against her ear. “Where shall we go?”
Breft said, “Global Security's main headquarters. You can follow us there. I'll com ahead for your docking and visiting clearance.”
“Thank you.”
Rachel dared to look back when Raxstad said, “Get your knees up under you, Sletran. There you are.” He and Lidon helped the now cuffed Sletran to his feet.
Rachel knew their solicitude was probably for her benefit, that they’d never treat a suspected murderer with such po
liteness. She hoped it wasn’t window dressing that would fall into brutality the instant they had Sletran out of her sight.
Raxstad and Lidon began to lead Sletran away. The limping Nobek looked at her as they went to the door and said, “'The greatest measure of a man is how he is loved by others.' If your love is any indication, perhaps your Nobek will be soon returned to you.”
Sletran also looked at her as he entered the transport. He smiled at her encouragingly. Breft bowed to her and got in the transport with the rest.
“We ask you to hurry to the dock so we can be on our way.”
With that, the door closed, shutting off Rachel’s view of her still smiling Sletran. Her legs shook beneath her, threatening to spill her to the floor.
Before she could fall in her agony, Erybet picked her up and sped her to the sleeping room.
Conyod was right behind him and opened the closet, grabbing a dress while Erybet flung off her robe.
“Let’s get you dressed quickly, Ray-Ray. I don’t want them leaving without us.”
She never spared a second for her hair or worrying about how bed-rumpled she might look.
In seconds, she had the dress on and was shoving her feet into a pair of slippers. Her chest felt as if it yawned wide, a big empty hole planted in the middle of it. She knew she wouldn't feel right until she saw Sletran again, safe and unharmed.
* * * *
Upon reaching Global Security’s headquarters, Breft led Erybet, Conyod, and Rachel to his office while the other two officers took Sletran to be processed. What Rachel saw of Global Security was clean, utilitarian hallways and offices, with mostly Nobek men to-ing and fro-ing with purpose. They carried themselves with pride, and almost no one dawdled for gossip as far as she could see. Every one of the officers dipped their heads to her in quick respect as they passed by.
It was still a police station, for all intents and purposes. Just before they reached Breft’s office, the hallway they traveled opened up into a large space. There, five officers had three men held helpless in hovercuffs on their wrists and ankles. Everyone in that group including the officers looked battered, as if they’d either been in a crash or one hell of a fight. Rachel was betting on the fight option. The captured men’s wrists were connected behind their backs, and their feet hovered several inches off the floor. They all stood at a long desk where, from Rachel’s limited knowledge of Kalquorian, she discerned their personal information was gathered and inputted into computers.
Alien Redemption [Clans of Kalquor 06] Page 33