“Hear anything out there?” he asked Bane.
“No. I'm not going to be as much help as I was before. I can't see anything. There are no lenses out here. And after I took control of those two hovers, they'll know I'm helping you. They'll be more careful, more difficult to catch out.”
“We wouldn't have made it this far without you.” Lucy would have probably been caught before he'd even managed to get to her. “How long have you known about her?”
“I was told there was a possibility she was here before I left with the Urna. But I was reluctant to say anything. If I was wrong, that would have been bad for everyone.”
“True,” Dray acknowledged. “The UC would have wondered if you were stirring up trouble against the Tecran, and the Tecran would have felt even more persecuted than they already do.”
“And if one of the UC team told the wrong Tecran, and she was somewhere on Tecra and alive, it could have been her death sentence.”
Dray sucked in a breath, because he hadn't thought of that possibility, but it was the cold, hard truth.
“How did you know?” He shifted, leaning against the window as the fog grew thicker. “Who told you she might exist at all?”
“Paxe was the one who took her. He told Oris about her just before he self-destructed. It was his way to atone. He knew the Tecran had buried all mention of her, and he wanted to do something to help her before he died.”
Dray said nothing as he absorbed that.
Paxe had died rather than be chained by the Tecran, and his destruction had brought the Tecran's plans to a sudden end. Left with no Class 5s under their control, their plans had collapsed, and they'd had no choice but to come to the United Council as supplicants wanting forgiveness, rather than as triumphant victors who could force the other members of the council into subjugation.
The whole thing still had the power to catch at his throat, as anger and disgust warred for prominence.
“This is going to hit the United Council hard. They went relatively easy on the Tecran because everyone thought they'd come clean about the Earth women. To find out they haven't . . .” There was no way to soften this blow. Keeping quiet about Lucy Harris was such an act of bad faith, he didn't know if some in the UC would be able to accept the current treaty where all the Tecran lost was their sovereignty for five years.
“Yes.” There was a depth of satisfaction to Bane's voice.
Dray shrugged it off. Bane had more right than most to feel aggrieved when it came to the Tecran.
The fog pressed up against the windows and suddenly feeling hemmed in, blind, he pushed away from the window. “I'm going to walk around outside.”
“I'll keep listening for any chatter,” Bane said.
Dray gave a hum of agreement and then ran lightly down the stairs. He looked in on Lucy before he slipped out and was struck anew by her hair.
It exploded over the arm of the couch she lay on, gold burnished brown spirals that he wanted to touch.
He had studied the three known Earth women, everyone in the five UC territories had, but it hadn't prepared him for being in the same room as one in person.
She was vital, her dark eyes piercingly intelligent.
It was one thing to be told the Earth women were advanced sentients, but another to see the truth of that right in front of his eyes.
He recalled the warmth of her pressed against his back as they'd raced away from Fa'allen on the hover, the way she'd rested her cheek against his shoulder blade, and the fire in her eyes when she'd spun from the windows and challenged him earlier.
He had said far less than he wanted to in that confrontation, afraid his sudden, inappropriate arousal would somehow make itself obvious.
With a rueful shake of his head, he ran his hands through his hair and backed out of the room, the sight of Lucy's long, dark lashes resting on the curve of her cheek a little too enticing for his peace of mind.
The wind blew through the open-ended garage with a high-pitched whistle that annoyed him. He wouldn't hear anyone approach over the sound, but he guessed they wouldn't hear him, either.
He made his way around the back of the house, looking left to the other two houses perched on the cliff top.
He heard a faint clink from the closest one, and going suddenly still, he stood in the swirling fog and listened.
Cautiously, he pulled his shockgun from its holster and then moved down the hard-packed path between the houses for a little way until he could slip around the side of the neighboring house over grass slick with dew from the fog.
He turned the corner to the front of the house, the side that faced the ocean. The eerie sucking sound of the sea at the bottom of the cliff, deadened by the thick fog, couldn't hide the unmistakeable whine of a shockgun.
He dropped to the ground, crouching as he lifted his own weapon up.
The flash of purple reflected strangely off the fog and he sensed the flare just above him, where his head had been a moment before.
The blunt black barrel of a weapon appeared out of the swirling cloud and then the Tecran soldier holding it materialized.
They looked at each other, both with weapons raised, for a long beat.
“There are too many of us, put down your weapon.” The soldier didn't move or take his eyes off Dray, and just when Dray was going to call him a liar, two other soldiers stepped out of the fog, one on either side of him.
Reluctantly he lowered his weapon and then set it on the ground.
The soldier closest to him, a woman all in black, with no insignia, scooped it up. “What do we do with him?”
“We can't leave him here.” The soldier who'd first shot at him said. “He's apparently a Grihan UC team leader. Which means we have to think long and hard before we kill him.”
The third soldier looked across at the speaker. “Why?”
“Because the UC might very well take serious exception to that.”
“Like they won't already take exception to the Earth woman,” the third soldier answered back.
“They don't know about her. Or, if they've heard something, they don't have definite proof.” The woman tucked Dray's shockgun into the back of her pants. “They most definitely know about him. They sent him here.”
“Well, we aren't going to make a decision right now. Let's get moving.” The first soldier moved back a fraction, to let Dray up, and he stood slowly, mind racing as he considered and discarded various escape scenarios.
“Where's Lucy?”
“We have her safe.” There was no smile, no enjoyment in the Tecran's eyes. “Guess we're bringing you along.”
At least there was that. As long as they were kept together, he could help her.
“Earpiece,” the soldier said, palm out, and reluctantly, Dray pulled it out of his ear and dropped it onto the Tecran's outstretched hand.
It was no more than he'd expect, though. Earpieces and weapons were the first things to be taken.
At least Bane would have heard enough to work out what was happening.
The soldier dropped the earpiece and ground it under his heel, then kicked it off the cliff.
“Where are you taking us?” He needed to find out as much as he could. If the Tecran didn't immediately realize Lucy had an earpiece of her own, they could feed more information to Bane.
The soldiers ignored him, keeping their silence as they herded him toward the house.
They didn't talk among themselves, and he couldn't hear any other voices, although as soon as he reached the garage, he saw there were four double hovers parked beside the one Bane had stolen for them.
And then he wiped a hand across his eyes.
The hover. It was identical to the other four.
It had been one of the military's own hovers, not a private one, that Bane had taken over for them. They must have tracked it. He should have wondered why a civilian was on a hover to begin with, let alone why he had a weapon on him. He should have wondered why he hadn't been more surprised to be in the
middle of a shockgun fight.
They might as well have sent the Tecrans an invitation.
The soldier glanced at him, saw the direction of his gaze. “Yes, you weren't hard to find. You took that from one of our scouts.” He smirked.
The soldier who had been walking behind him, shockgun almost touching his back, shoved him toward one of the hovers. “Hands behind you.”
He stood with his hands back as they secured him with restraints.
“Climb on.” The soldier pushed him, and he kept his balance with difficulty. He looked at the seat and saw a hoop had been attached to the back. He stepped up onto the runner board and swung his leg over and as soon as he'd settled into place, the soldier jerked his arms back even more and secured his hands with restraints to the hoop.
He'd have to use every muscle to keep his balance and stay on without straining his arms.
When the soldier finished tying him up, he moved forward with a smirk. “Just so you don't get any ideas.”
Dray looked back, face blank. If they thought making him physically uncomfortable would rob him of the ability to have ideas, they were mistaken. He had ideas. Lots of them.
Chapter 21
Lucy woke with a start, confused for a moment as to where the warning shouted at her had come from.
A shockgun was shoved in her face, and as she pulled herself upright with shaking arms, she looked wildly about the darkened room, and blinked at the three figures surrounding her.
A sense of utter desolation gripped her as she swung her legs off the couch and put her head in her hands.
She had really savored the last two days of freedom.
“Too late?” Bane whispered. And she realized it had been Bane shouting at her, through her earpiece.
“Time to go,” one of the Tecran soldiers said over the top of him.
“Before you take me, can I have some water?” That should be answer enough for Bane. She suddenly remembered Dray. “Where is--?”
“Caught,” Bane told her. “I've lost contact.”
“Your Grihan friend?” The same soldier asked, and there was a hint of glee in his tone. “Neutralized.”
Either Dray had done something personally to these soldiers, or there was some longstanding animosity between the Tecran and the Grih.
They were practically chortling at his capture.
She stood on legs that were still a little wobbly, and then, ignoring the soldiers, shuffled through to the kitchen, her blanket still wrapped around her.
She got some water and stood looking out the small kitchen window at the fog while she sipped it, her back to the soldiers.
She sensed a startled surprise from all three at her actions, and she wondered how long it would last before they got a little more assertive.
“You've had your water, now let's go.”
She turned slowly, drawing it out. “I need my--” One of the soldiers held up her bag, her cloak and her shoes.
She held out her hands for both, but was only handed her shoes. She pulled them on and when she straightened, one of the soldiers gripped her upper arm.
“Time's wasting.”
“Wait.” The one who'd had the shockgun in her face earlier grabbed her face with both hands, held her still. “Check for an earpiece.”
The one holding her arm found it and clawed it out, catching the skin of her ear with a sharp nail. He looked at it with a strange mix of fear and anger.
“Who's on the other end?”
She was going to refuse to say, when she saw he wasn't asking her.
The other two looked uncomfortable.
“Maybe it's--”
“Doesn't matter.” The soldier put it on the ground and crushed it beneath his boot. “Whoever it was, it doesn't matter any more.”
The other two didn't seem quite as convinced.
A shout from outside seemed to galvanize them.
The one who'd taken out the earpiece grabbed her arm again and shoved her ahead of him out the door.
Four new hovers sat next to the one Bane had stolen for them, and Dray was tied to one, his hands behind his back.
He turned to look at her as they stepped out the house, and she could see the cold light of fury burning in his eyes.
Then she saw who was standing near him.
“Virn.” She tilted back her head. “So I was right about you.”
“What are you talking about?” The security guard from the facility had a sneer on his face.
She noticed from the corner of her eye Dray's surprised reaction to the interaction.
“Did you feel anything when you killed Dr. Cantin and Dr. Rool? Or was it just another day at the office for you?”
“Not a single day in that place was anything other than a very boring means to an end.” Virn gave a hand signal, and the Tecran gripping her arm released her and hauled her hands behind her to secure them.
“Right. You were just waiting for the perfect time to burn it all to the ground.” She remembered the bloom of the explosion as she'd raced the hover along the cliff face.
“That part was a pleasure, that's for sure. But no, I was there to make sure no one got too friendly with you, or decided to let you out.”
“Sorry to tell you this, but if that was your one job, you failed.”
He looked like he was going to strike her, but then reined himself in, waved his hand at her. “This doesn't look like failure to me, Earth girl.”
The soldier finished tying her hands and shoved her forward.
“Sure it does,” she said with a smile. “The UC know I exist now, for a start, and I've had time to talk to some of the good citizens of Fa'allen.” Her smile deepened. “How do you like those street protests?”
The look he shot her promised violence. “You talk a big game for someone whose existence is very inconvenient to me and my friends.”
She scoffed. “Your superior officers, more like. I don't think they're your friends.”
“Baiting me? That's not wise.”
But she saw the look in his eyes, knew her blow had landed a direct hit. He was nothing more than cannon fodder and he knew it.
She shrugged. “Either you'll kill me, or you won't. But it won't be because of anything I've said or done to you.” She flicked her gaze up and down him with disdain. “It'll be because your handlers ordered you to do it.”
She caught Dray's eye, and he gave her a tiny shake of his head, his features grim.
She resisted the urge to shake hers back, because Virn was watching her too closely.
She'd played this game too many times. Backing down, tiptoeing around, hadn't helped her. She'd taken that road when she'd first regained consciousness at the facility, but it hadn't gotten her anywhere. The only way she'd made any progress, had been allowed to play games with the scientists, have more freedom of movement in the windowless rooms and corridors, was because she'd pushed Virn and his sidekicks relentlessly. She created a them versus us dynamic between the guards and the scientists who were studying her. The more unreasonably she'd made Virn and his cohorts behave, the more sympathetic to her the doctors had become.
“So, where have you been ordered to take us?” she asked.
Virn's nostrils, two thin slits beside his beaky mouth, flared. “In case it wasn't obvious to you, you're my prisoner, and I don't answer to you.”
She shrugged again, in an arrogant, dismissive way she hoped drove him batshit crazy.
“Get her on a hover and let's go,” he snapped to the soldier who'd tied her up.
The Tecran shoved her at the nearest hover and then gripped her waist, tried to lift her up, and had to let her drop to the ground. She was no lightweight compared to them.
She debated whether to smirk at him over her shoulder but before she could, she felt the dig of a shockgun in her back.
“Get on.”
She took her time, because with her hands tied behind her she couldn't pull herself up, but eventually she was seated.
H
er arms were yanked roughly down and tied to a hoop attached to the back, just like they'd done to Dray.
He was watching her from his seat at the back of one of the hovers, gaze intense.
She sent him a half-smile as a soldier climbed in front of her and started the hover, and as they lifted up, he nodded back in response.
Virn had turned on the hover she and Dray had ridden from Fa'allen and pointed it out to the sea. He stood back as it flew forward and then fell down the cliff.
At a sound of surprise from one of his team, Virn shrugged. “Just in case the UC have a way to track it. They hacked into it to steal it, after all.”
There was silence for a moment, and Lucy felt her interest sharpen at the quick look two of the soldiers shared with each other.
They were scared about who'd been on the other end of her earpiece, scared about who had hacked the hover's systems.
Then Virn got on his hover, started it up and they turned away from the cliffs. Virn's hover was swallowed by the fog, and it seemed as if she and her driver were alone. Even the sound of the engines was gobbled up.
But she wasn't alone. Not this time.
Behind her somewhere was Dray. And above her was Bane.
And that was more than she'd had before.
Much more.
Chapter 22
The place the Tecran took them to was just outside Fa'allen, not on the coast, but high on an inland hill. The facility was built low to the ground, although Dray noticed they couldn't help themselves and had incorporated one three-story tower into the design.
He could tell from the guard set-up as they came in that they didn't have a lot of people here, that they were stretched.
They were either keeping it tight deliberately, or there weren't that many willing to get mixed up in a plan that had to be the far side of desperate.
Whoever was covering their asses had co-opted some people, but those people were clearly underlings, as Lucy had so harshly pointed out to Virn earlier.
The soldiers herding them in to the facility hadn't been the ones who decided to steal her from Earth and keep her locked up and hidden on Tecra.
Dark Matters (Class 5 Series Book 4) Page 12