Bret swiveled on his bench as Tillis moved, slowly biting off pieces of the thick bread in his hand. He and Brynja had given each other a nod of recognition at the start, but hadn't said anything more to each other. If they had known each other during the war, as Hana told him Bret had said, then they hadn't been close.
The tension between the two groups had been evident since the start, but it seemed to be ratcheting up.
That wasn't completely bad, Iver thought, as long as he and Hana could run while the two teams fought it out. But Hana didn't look like she could walk right now, let alone run.
He leaned back in his chair and pushed his empty plate away, pulled Hana's barely touched food in front of him and looked around for a knife. The meal was just bread, cheese and fruit, but it was a welcome change from the military fare they'd had up until now.
“I need to cut this up a little more,” he said.
Lia looked over at him, hesitating, and then walked to the table where her team mates were sitting, got a knife, and brought it back to him.
“Make sure he doesn't keep it.” Tillis had sat back down to eat and he leaned forward, elbows on the table. He went back to shoving food into his mouth like he hadn't seen any for a long time.
The trap they'd set for game made a little more sense, now. They had been desperate.
“What animals were you trying to catch with your trap in the valley?” He took the knife from Lia with a nod of thanks. He hadn't seen any big wildlife since he and Hana had slipped out of the lander in the valley, only small mammals and insects, and not many of them, either.
He also hadn't seen any birds.
He should have noticed that sooner. Faldine was known for its birdlife. The colors on most of the birds of prey alone were considered worth a trip to the planet.
The thought caused him to look up, but there was nothing in the sky above.
That was really strange.
“We usually catch drenma, and there's plenty of them where our base is, but it's been slim pickings here. No water birds either, which is what we usually use as a stopgap between getting a medium sized drenma.” She leaned against the table, watching him cut up the fruit, bread and cheese into smaller, bite-sized pieces.
It was the shield around the camp, Iver realized. The animals and birds must be able to sense it, somehow, and it kept them away. If Jake did manage to find the engine and escape with it, that was at least one indicator the VSC could use to find any shielded bases he might set up.
A shout from the ruins had everyone turning in that direction, and Barre stepped out of the arched stone and waved.
Craven appeared from a building and walked over to him.
Iver watched them confer, heads together, and then Craven ran to the wall, hopped over it, and disappeared. Off to tell Jake the news.
“That's bullshit. They haven't found it.” Baxter lifted a cup to his lips with shaking hands, and then turned away from the ruins altogether.
“How do you know?” Tillis challenged.
“Because I've been looking for six months, and I haven't found it yet. You telling me you lot are just going to walk in and discover it in a few hours?”
“Maybe we have something you don't have.” Brynja jutted out a hip.
“Yeah? What?”
She smirked, then turned her attention back to the ruin.
Iver sat up a little straighter as he smoothed his hand over Hana's tangle of wild hair.
He was suddenly sure they did have a way to find it. Brynja looked too smug.
This wasn't just a fishing expedition. Jake hadn't come in on the hope Bret and his people had found something. He had come to take it, whether they'd found it or not.
Hana twisted her head to look at him, and he pushed her plate toward her.
“What do you have that they don't?” he asked Lia, as Hana propped up her head on her hand and took a small piece of fruit delicately between two fingers.
He gave a grunt of approval when she swallowed it and reached for another.
When he looked back at Lia, she was shaking her head. She turned away from him, so as not to meet his gaze.
Hana straightened a little, her gaze on his face.
“All right?” he mouth at her.
She nodded, closed her eyes for a moment, and then pushed slowly to her feet. “Can I have a shower?”
Lia spun back. “What?”
“I think a shower will help me, and some clean water on my foot wouldn't be a bad thing. Can I have one?”
“He can't go with her,” Brynja said, pointing at Iver.
“Who will help her, then?” Iver asked.
“I will.” Lia nodded toward one of the huts, and Hana slid out from the bench, her balance a little off. She glanced over at him, gave him a nod of reassurance, and then hobbled away.
Iver watched her until she disappeared into the hut.
“You left her before. When she got trapped. But seeing you now, the way you look at her, I don't understand why you did.” Brynja was staring at him, arms folded across her chest. “Didn't you realize what had happened to her?”
“Does it matter?” Iver answered.
“I suppose not.” Brynja stared at him a few moments more. “She's too injured to run, and I don't think you'll leave her again.”
As she turned away, Iver's gaze went back to the hut.
It should have dismayed him that Brynja had read him so well, but lucky for him, Hana was not too injured to run. Brynja was right about one thing, though. He wouldn't be leaving her behind again.
Jake had come back from wherever he'd been when Hana emerged from the hut. He and Craven were standing in front of the ruin, talking quietly.
Hana limped her way back to the table where Iver sat waiting, feeling fresh and clean for the first time in days.
She still felt the throb of the shield engine, but somehow, fresh clothes and a shower made all the difference.
She could think clearly again.
“You don't look much better.” Bret commented, a sneer on his face.
His gaze kept going to Craven and Jake, and she saw his hands were trembling as he straightened them, then fisted them, over and over.
Craven's people didn't look much happier, even though theoretically they should have been overjoyed. They had taken the camp and they seemed to have found the engine.
But Bret and his crew had them on edge.
It was very obvious that even with the extra SALs they'd taken from Bret's team, the situation hung on a knife's edge.
All it would take was for one person to attack, and things would go sideways, fast.
Luki hadn't appeared once, so Hana guessed he was still in the medbay, but Kyle looked like he could probably do a lot of damage before he was taken down, if he had a mind to.
And it looked like all of them had a mind to.
The idea that Craven had taken the engine from under their noses was clearly unbearable.
She sat back down beside Iver and he turned toward her, swinging one leg over the bench, and she gave a sigh of relief as she leaned back against his chest. His arm came around her, anchoring her to him.
“I never heard you were in a relationship, Sugotti,” Grimms said, tapping a finger to her lips as she looked over at them. “Then again, we can't get comms here.”
Hana looked up at her, surprised.
“It isn't because you don't get comms,” Lia said, latching on to a neutral topic with what sounded like relief. “We do get comms at our camp and I didn't hear about it either.”
“Who cares?” Tillis asked.
“He's head-of-planet, and he's got himself a partner. There's been speculation for months as to why he was alone at all those planetary functions and now we know.” Grimms lifted her eyebrows at Tillis, making her contempt for him clear.
“You were seeing her that whole time in secret?” Lia asked into the silence that followed.
Hana could feel Iver tense behind her.
“No.�
�� His answer was curt.
“What he means is he was trying to get my interest that whole time. Hard to do if you're taking other women to planetary functions.” Her voice came out a little husky, a little raw.
She had the feeling she was balancing the peace with gossip.
Jeera leaned forward on her elbows from her place between Bret and Vras. “And did it work?”
“As you can see.” Hana fluttered a hand and Iver's grip on her waist tightened.
“You look familiar.” Brynja watched her, face thoughtful. “I've seen you somewhere before. I didn't notice it earlier, but now you're cleaned up and look a little less ragged . . . I know I recognize you.”
“She's ex-military. Got to be.” Roj, who'd been quietly eating at the same table as Tillis, looked up from his empty plate. “Why else would she be so unwilling to say who she is? Besides, even sick you can tell she's always alert. It's clear.”
“Is that so?” Brynja asked. “You fought for the VSC in the war?”
Hana kept her face blank.
“Yes.” Bryjna took a step closer. “You did.” She spoke slowly. “I remember now. I saw you.”
Hana cocked her head to the side. Looked at Brynja again. She didn't recognize her at all. “I don't think so.”
“I did see you. I was captured in the second year of the war. Rounded up, and then they flew us to containment. You . . .” Brynja stared at her, then shook her head. “I can't remember what you were doing, but I never forget a face.”
The sound of a runner, screaming down the valley at top speed, cut off the speculation in Brynja's eyes, and everyone turned and looked up.
A Dynastra was coming toward them, low enough to be clear in every detail.
Hana reached out and grabbed Iver's hand, getting to her feet in the same motion.
“It's going to--” She ran out of words as it reached the camp, hit the dead zone, and the engine shut off.
For a moment--it felt longer--no one spoke or reacted in the sudden silence, and then the runner was past them, dropping fast.
A beat later it disappeared from sight, into the river.
A plume of water and soil shot up and the ground beneath their feet shuddered.
“What was that?” Jake ran out of the admin building, and Lia took a step back from him.
“A runner.”
Jake stared at her, confused. “Where is it?”
“In the river.” Roj rose to his feet. “It hit the shield over the camp, the engine died, and it crashed.”
Jake flinched. “Shit. Watch the prisoners.” As he ran toward toward the wall, a thin wisp of white smoke drifted across the blue sky and Hana heard Jake swear again as he ran.
“What happens now?” Brynja asked, looking between Roj and Lia.
Neither responded, and Craven came running out of the ruin.
“What's going on? Did the runner land?”
“It landed, all right.” Lia pointed toward the river as Jake leaped over the wall and disappeared down the path.
“We're fucked.” Roj hunched his shoulders.
“Everyone, back to the huts.” Tillis pushed away from the table he was sitting at, a SAL pointed at Iver. “Now. Quick.”
Bret's people got to their feet reluctantly, and then Kyle made a sudden move, leaping toward Tillis.
Tillis shot him and the big guard went down hard.
Everyone stared at him.
Tillis motioned with his SAL. “I've taken out your biggest threat, and I'll do it to anyone else who even looks at me wrong. You got it?”
Bret crouched beside Kyle and carefully rolled him onto his back. “We got it.”
Grimms took his feet and Baxter took Kyle's other side, and they lifted him, moving back to the huts.
“You, too, Sugotti.”
Tillis was including her in that, too, Hana had no doubt.
They followed Bret and his team into the hut and Brynja shut the door behind them.
Luki was lying on the floor against the far wall, his eyes closed. It shocked Hana. She'd thought he was in the medbay. Another man, one she thought she recognized as having been supported over the river by Jeera the day before, lay beside him, although he was awake. Vras, the medic who'd treated her, walked over and crouched between both men, checking them.
No one said anything, and in the silence, they all heard Jake shouting, the words indistinct.
“Well, at least they destroyed their own runner.” Grimms leaned against the wall and then slid down it to sit with her knees bent.
“That's true.” Bret nodded. “They aren't going anywhere for now.”
“They could take the lander.” Baxter sounded defeated.
Everyone thought about that for a moment, and then slowly sat down as well.
“Maybe they'll send for another runner.” Fraen rummaged in a bag and pulled out some water, took a sip.
“That was a Dynastra. There aren't that many of them, and I don't think you can easily get one. Isn't that so, Sugotti?”
Bret looked over at Iver.
“No. I can only guess Lancaster helped them get that one.”
“Fucking Lancaster.” Jeera turned narrowed eyes on Bret. “He was playing both sides.”
“Three sides,” Iver reminded them. “I thought he was a friend and a colleague.”
Outside, there was the sound of running, more shouting.
“How many of them are out there?” Bret asked suddenly.
“Jake, Craven, Tillis, Barre, Roj, Lia and Brynja.” Fraen counted them off on his fingers.
“There's another woman,” Hana said. “She was with Craven when they ambushed your lander.”
Fraen nodded slowly. “Yes. I haven't seen her here in the camp.”
“I never saw Roj in the valley when they ambushed you. But he's here now. Makes you wonder how many of them there really are.” Like Hana, Iver was still on his feet, leaning against the wall beside the door.
“Is he right?” Bret asked Fraen.
The driver nodded. “Yes. Impossible to say how many there are. My guess is not too much more than what we've seen, though. They were trapping for food out there, so they didn't have the supplies to sustain a lot of people.”
Bret nodded. “Right, so beware, people. There could be a cordon around the camp, or at least someone watching where we go if we manage to get out of here.”
“We can hardly run.” Jeera nodded toward Kyle, Luki and the third man lying on the ground.
“We can take the lander and get out,” Bret said.
Before anyone could comment, there was an argument near the ruin.
Hana could hear raised voices, and knew if her upgrade was working, she'd have been able to make out the actual conversation.
The shouting stopped, and for a long while no one spoke and they heard nothing from outside.
Eventually, she slid down the wall herself, and Iver followed her, looping an arm over her shoulder.
She was half dozing against his side when it felt as if her skin caught on fire.
She convulsed, twisting away from Iver to retch to the side, her whole body shaking.
“What's wrong with her?”
She put her hands out, bowing her head between them as she struggled to get control. She felt Iver's hands on her, holding her up, and gritted her teeth against the waves of nausea.
Slowly the fire in her blood abated and she slid back onto her heels.
She rose up, Iver rising with her, keeping an arm around her for support. When she was steady on her feet, she walked to the small bathroom to one side to rinse out her mouth and splash some water on her face.
When she came out, Iver was looking at her, and she gave a tiny nod.
“What just happened?” Bret watched her suspiciously.
She glanced at Iver again, wondering if she should tell them the engine was disconnected. That Jake and Craven had managed to find it and somehow switch it off.
But she didn't have a good reason to explain how sh
e knew.
It wasn't as though she was free of the magfield--it was still Faldine, after all--but it was not nearly as strong as it had been before. She could feel her body humming.
“I said--” Bret took a step forward, and she raised a hand, palm out.
“Shh.” She moved to the door, listening.
“What the--?” Bret's voice rose.
“She said keep quiet.” Iver's voice was a low rumble behind her as he cut the camp leader off.
“There's no one outside the hut.” Hana turned to look at them. “They're either down by the river, helping the people in the crashed runner, or they're in the ruin, getting the engine out of its hiding place. No one is watching us.”
She stepped toward the door. Opened it.
The whole camp looked deserted.
“She's right.” Grimms pushed past her and stepped into the open.
Jeera followed her, and then Bret, the three of them fanning out.
Hana followed behind them, Iver on her heels.
“What's going on?” Bret swung around, staring at her. “How did you know there was no one here?”
“I have good hearing.” Hana turned away from him, stepped close to Iver. “What now?” she whispered.
“Speak up.” Bret was suddenly right next to them.
“What does it matter what they're doing? We're free and we can take the lander,” Jeera said. “Let's go.”
“She said they had the engine. How do you know that?”
“They already told us they found it, and why else would they leave us unguarded?” Hana shrugged. “Their two priorities are getting out of here and taking the engine, and they're spread too thin to do either well and also watch us. That's what the argument was about a little while ago. There was a fight about resources.”
“Come on, Bret. Let's get Luki and the others and leave.” Grimms tugged at his arm.
Bret shook her off. “I'm damned if I'm letting that bastard get my engine. We've been here for months looking for it. I'm not walking away.”
Baxter was out of the hut now, too, and his focus was on the ruin. “I agree. I've got a SAL in my room and we've got other weapons lying around. Let's take this camp back.”
Grimms looked from one to the other. Gave a slow nod.
High Flyer (Verdant String) Page 19