“Louise, you can tell me.” He leaned toward her, encroaching further on her personal space, with a face composed with calm reassurance.
“Rest assured, Mr. Thoms, if my husband ever deliberately raised his hand against me it would be his body I’d be burying in this shallow hole.” She didn’t even blink, because that part was the truth. “Was that everything?”
The man grinned more broadly than before and slapped the palms of his hands against his knees. He rose to his feet. “All right.”
“Thank you for letting me know.”
“My pleasure, Mrs. Elliot.” He left, carefully moving through the jungle. Not making so much noise now.
She opened the communiqué. It had been keyed to her fingerprint, so no one else had seen its contents. The words didn’t make sense at first. Or her mind didn’t want them to.
A summation of Adam’s army service scrolled across the screen. Her husband was quite accomplished—impressively so. There were even medals and commendations. Adam had been a war hero, amongst other things. The record had been labeled top secret. At the bottom sat a bold red demand from the DA for her to board the next shuttle leaving Esther. Not so surprising. Her husband would be just about their worst nightmare in terms of secrecy.
All the strength leached from her. She sank onto the ground. Adam. Con’s death had broken her heart but this seemed different, somehow, sharper. Which made no sense, because she’d been with Con for years before he’d changed into someone she no longer knew. This was Adam of the eight-day marriage, and it hurt. It really fucking hurt.
So they both had secrets. He hadn’t been just a grunt in the army. Not even a little. He probably already knew she was lying. With his training, of course he knew. She had to leave. Right now.
A big, fat tear landed splat on her com screen, distorting the DA’s demand. Louise scrubbed at her face and took a deep breath. Stupid. What was the point in tears?
Her marriage was over.
“What do you mean she’s been secured?” Adam hollered.
Bon gazed back impassively, didn’t even flinch when Adam bared his teeth in his face.
“I’m sorry. I can’t get you access to her at this point,” replied Bon.
“Fuck!”
“Calm down. We need to think this through.” The chief leaned against the big desk squeezed into his cupboard of an office off the main hangar. The temperature was better than outside, but not by much. Everyone still wore their gray corp thermal suits. Barely quitting time and his life had just been turned upside down. Again.
The door slid open and Taka stepped through. Outside, the wind howled with the incoming storm. Sleet crashed down through the wide bay doors. “What’s going on?”
“Louise requested internment with security until the next ship leaves tomorrow.”
“Why?” Taka looked right at him, face set.
Adam growled again in frustration. She’d refused to let him leave the bed. There was no way this was about his damn nightmare. “I don’t know. We were doing okay.”
“Actually, we’ve been looking into her background. And so far we’re being stonewalled by someone high-level.” The chief tapped a foot against the ground. “Which is interesting.”
“You were right about her name. Louise’s file barely exists past five years ago. Very sketchy.” Bon cracked his neck and dropped his big body into a chair. The metal legs creaked in protest at the sudden weight. “Her eyes…”
“What about them?” Adam asked. He couldn’t sit, so he paced back and forth. Not that he could get far, but it helped. She had lovely dark eyes, his wife. And if she thought she was not going to be his wife, she’d find herself very much mistaken.
“Dark brown, aren’t they?” asked Bon.
Adam nodded.
“You can pigment eyes, but they’ve only managed a dark brown so far. The technology isn’t that advanced.” Bon’s finger tapped on his knee. “And her hair…she the same all over?”
“What?”
The chief cleared his throat. “I believe Bon is trying to discreetly ask if her * hair differs from the shade of hair on her head.”
“She’s bare.”
“Nice. I mean, right. Okay.” Nathan took a wary step backward. “Sorry—it’s been a while. Back to business.”
“Her name is fake and most likely her eye color too,” said Bon.
“You think she’s on the run?” asked Taka.
Bon’s finger-tapping hastened. “Yeah. But from whom?”
“What did she say?” Adam demanded, recommencing his pacing. He had energy to burn. Someone keeping him from his wife? Not fucking likely.
“Not a lot—she didn’t need to with the bruise on her face,” said Bon. “She’s still denying you gave it to her, for what it’s worth. Citing irreconcilable differences. Christiana’s all over her trying to mediate the situation.”
The chief sniggered. Well, he could. It wasn’t his fucking marriage on the line.
“All right.” Nathan stood tall and crossed his arms. “She got a communiqué earlier from Earth. We can safely assume it set this off. We need to know what was in it and we need her real ID. Pronto.”
“On it.” Bon rose and tipped his chin to Adam before leaving.