“Maybe.”
“You sent God knows how many men and women to their deaths in the mines, you’ve probably given orders that have killed thousands without blinking an eye. But faced with a few bodies and you go all squeamish.”
She was right, in a way. He’d always killed from a distance. Even when he’d been a fighter pilot on Earth. But dead was dead, whether it was under your nose or a million miles away.
“Take responsibility, Callum.”
His anger flared. “You have no idea of the responsibility I take every day. You don’t think I know that my decisions can lead to deaths? But they also sometimes lead to life. Not every order I make gets people killed.” He’d actually done some good in his time as Leader, but he was past defending himself, because the truth was he had done things that were indefensible. He hoped the good outweighed the bad, but he was in no way sure.
“Okay,” Jon said, returning to the bridge. “We’re done, and we’re out of here.”
Callum glanced away from Tannis and saw that the others were standing by the door. Rico came forward, and he’d come down from the high a little, though he still looked twitchy.
He stalked over, wrapped his arms around Tannis, and hugged her. She stiffened in his arms—Callum reckoned she wasn’t really one for hugs—then she relaxed and returned the gesture. When she stepped back, she looked vaguely embarrassed.
“Come home,” Rico said. He turned to Callum. “You keep her safe, or we’ll be looking for you.”
He nodded. “I will.”
Skylar smiled. “Hey, when we see you again, I’ll be able to get inside your head,” she said to Tannis.
“You’ll keep out of my freaking head,” she replied.
“Good luck,” Jon said. “Call if you need us.”
Tannis nodded. “We’ll see you at the rendezvous. It should be no more than three days.”
“We’ll be there. Don’t be late!” Rico swung around and headed out the door. At the last minute, he paused, dug his silver flask out of his pocket, and tossed it to her. “To keep you company.”
Then they were gone. Leaving her alone with Callum and Venna.
Chapter Sixteen
Tannis watched them go with a vague feeling of unease. It was that old, everything-is-changing feeling that had plagued her for the last few weeks, maybe longer. Probably since Skylar had come aboard with her offer of work.
She felt the change in vibration under her feet as the shuttle fired up. There was no turning back now.
Venna stood just inside the doorway. Tannis still couldn’t look at the other woman without a feeling of betrayal, which was crazy. While she hadn’t forgiven Callum, she could see past it. At least Callum was honest. He wouldn’t go around offering little children chocolate if he meant to do horrible things to them.
Tannis stalked toward her and stood staring down at the woman. She did bear a strong resemblance to an angel—all blond curls and big violet eyes.
“Why the fuck did you give me chocolate?”
Those enormous eyes stretched even wider. Venna tried to edge away, but came up against the curved wall of the bridge and visibly jumped. Her gaze darted to Callum, who had followed Tannis over. “Callum, get her away from me.”
“I just want to know why,” Tannis ground out.
“She gave you chocolate? When?”
“Nearly thirty years ago. She came to the research center, and she handed out chocolate to the children, and I want to know why the fuck she did that when she was responsible for us being there.” She looked from one to the other of them. “I thought she was a goddamn angel. She was the first person in that place to show any kindness, and I want to know the fuck why.”
Venna opened her mouth. “I…” She trailed off, licked her lips.
“Venna likes to be liked,” Callum said. “It’s a weakness.”
“Jesus,” Tannis snarled.
“She could come there and see you, but only if you didn’t hate her to her face. She can’t take it. She likes to think she’s a nice person, and the only way she can make believe that is if other people think she’s nice.”
“I am nice.” Venna finally found her voice.
“No, you’re not, but you’re good at your job.”
Tannis was overcome by weariness as the adrenaline from the fight drained from her system. She turned away. There was no such thing as angels anyway; she’d always known that.
Glancing over her shoulder, she spoke to Callum. “You want to fly this thing?”
“Hell, yeah.”