CHAPTER 8
Ghost stood at the bottom of the ramp, a perplexed look on his face as he stared in the direction Thor had gone. I touched his arm, and he swung his gaze to me. “Do you know where Thor is going?”
He didn’t understand me, but he knew who I was talking about. After a few phrases in Buri, he shrugged and shook his head.
Frustration consumed me. “Max, do you see him?”
“Yes. He’s moving toward the village. Quite rapidly for someone who is not enhanced, I might add.”
Well, at least Thor wasn’t running away from his people. Only from me. But he wasn’t getting rid of me that easily. I would clean up Dynatec’s mess if it killed both of us.
Making a brief detour to grab the sanitary plans Max had printed out, I jogged toward the village, Ghost one step behind.
Thor wasn’t hard to spot. He stood outside the new building, hands on his hips and a fierce scowl on his gorgeous face. Brownie and Churka were with him, Churka talking a mile a minute, her voice tinged with desperation. They all glanced at me when I approached, then Churka touched Thor’s arm and her tone turned pleading. The only thing I understood was the word Shushanna, repeated several times.
With a snarl, Thor yanked his arm away from her, shot a glare in my direction, and walked into the jungle. My stomach sank all the way to my toes. He was even more upset than I’d first thought, and I didn’t know how to get through to him, to make him understand. I had to try, though. His reaction to that tapestry was too important.
Dusty stood near the doorway of the new building, observing the proceedings, and I took a second to shove the plans into his hand before starting after Thor. I’d only taken two steps when Brownie blocked my path. Considering the mood I was in, this was not a good thing. Brownie and I had tolerated each other after I’d given him the knife, but it was an uneasy peace at best. He wasn’t about to welcome me with open arms, and right now he was feeling distinctly vindicated, as though I’d finally proved him right.
At this point, I didn’t much care if he hated me.
“Move.” My voice came out low and threatening, and I instinctively assumed a loose-jointed fighting stance.
Brownie lowered his chin and shifted his spear to a two-handed grip, holding it point-up across his body, ready to move rapidly in any direction. A menacing rumble came from deep in his chest.
“I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if you don’t get out of my way.” My gaze stayed locked on his, waiting for him to telegraph his intentions as I took another step. Adrenaline flooded my system and my heart pounded in reaction.
But I had forgotten Churka. Before Brownie could move, she threw herself between us, her back to me as she faced him down, her body vibrating from the force of her emotions.
Damn, I’d really wanted to hit someone. However, Churka’s anger was quite impressive. Seeing it was almost worth giving up the chance to pound on Brownie. Especially when it was accompanied by a spate of spitting and snarling that had him looking for the nearest exit.
When she was through shredding him, she turned, patted my arm, and with a final glare at the rapidly retreating Buri, gestured in the direction Thor had gone. It was all the encouragement I needed, and I headed for the jungle at a fast jog.
“Max?”
“He’s approximately two hundred yards beyond the communal kitchen.”
“Is he still moving away from the village?”
“No, he seems to be pacing.”
Exhaling one long breath, I slowed to a walk and tried to calm down. It wasn’t easy. I still had all that excess adrenaline pumping through me from the encounter with Brownie. But I didn’t want to make Thor think I was charging him, either.
Maybe a peace offering was in order. I stopped and searched the jungle around me. There. A gorgeous white flower dangled from a smaller cluster on a nearby tree. Swirls of black and gold made up its veins, the colors running together in the interior. Black and gold. Symbols for me and Thor? Maybe.
By the time I reached him, he’d stopped pacing. He was standing between two trees in a shaft of sunlight that had been filtered to a pale golden hue by the leaves above. Dust motes drifted in the rays, and a mothlike creature danced in and out of the light above his head, a winged attendant to his dilemma.
And there was no doubt he was a man in a quandary. His shoulders were slumped, eyes closed as he lifted both hands to rub his jaw.
He was in profile to me, so I studied him covertly. I had no idea how to get through to him, to find out why the tapestry had upset him so much. The subject was a little too complicated for the fingers-on-the-temples trick I’d used before. Showing him an image of the tapestry might set him off all over again, and I didn’t want to risk that happening.
The frustration of being unable to communicate almost overwhelmed me again before I got it under control. It was imperative that I come to a decision, and I did it instinctively. Getting back in Thor’s good graces was more important right now than anything else I might discover. Not to me, personally, I assured myself, but to the mission.
Okay, maybe it was a tiny bit important to me. There was no other explanation for this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, or the sudden case of nerves I’d developed. And no explanation for this certainty that there was a lot more at stake here than the mission.
I don’t know if I made a noise, or if he simply sensed my presence, but he dropped his hands and spun to face me. His shoulders went back, body straightening as he wiped all emotion from his expression. It felt as if he’d slammed a mental door in my face, and that hurt. More than it should have, damn it.
“I’m sorry.” I took a tentative step forward, holding out the flower, bombarding him with all the emotions streaking through me. Confusion, regret, humility—that one was a stretch, but I managed—and most of all, the fear that something special had been damaged beyond repair.
He blinked once, his forehead furrowing, but I saw some of the tension leave his muscles as he took the flower.
I moved closer.
“Please, don’t shut me out,” I whispered, flattening my palm against his chest. To my absolute horror, tears misted my eyes. But the sad truth was, no one had ever treated me the way he did, like I belonged, like I was a real person and not a freak created under a molecular microscope. Even with the boss, who had never been anything but kind, my nature was always an issue. Considering the uncertainty of my creation, it had to be.
“I think I know why that tapestry distressed you so much,” I continued. “But it wasn’t intentional, I swear. The Ashwani are your progenitors, aren’t they? I don’t know how your people got here, or when, but you recognized the Ashwani in that tapestry as being the same species as the Buri.”
His eyes shut, and a shudder went through him. Then, in the space of a single breath, his arms closed around me, pulled me tightly to his body. I lost all track of time as we stood there, his cheek resting on my hair, hanging on to each other as though our lives depended on it. And gradually, the buzzing in my head returned. Only then did I realized that it had been with me since the first night I’d encountered Thor outside my hut, low and constant, always in the background. At least, it had been there until Thor spotted the tapestry.
Relief nearly buckled my knees because I had it back, and it was all I could do to keep from soaking him with sobs of joy.
That’s when the truth jumped up and bit me on the ass.
I was falling in love with the big guy.
“Check my hormone level,” I ordered Max as I paced outside the open hatch.
“I’ve already checked it twice, and it was normal both times.”
“It can’t be love,” I wailed aloud. “It’s got to be lust.”
When Thor and I had returned to the village, Dusty was waiting, scratching his head in confusion as he gazed down at the plans I’d shoved into his hand. I’d been fine until Thor released my hand and went into the new building with the other Buri, both of them pouring over the simple drawings.
As I watched him vanish inside, panic had set in. My feet barely touched the ground, I’d headed for Max so fast. It had taken Junior and Ghost completely by surprise, although I expected one or both of them to show up any second now.
“I’m a GEP, Max. Alien Affairs owns my service and loyalty. I have to leave when my job is done. Plus, I learned my lesson with love. There’s never going to be a happily ever after for me. I’m just too damn different.” I reached the end of the trail I was blazing in the grass, spun and marched back in the other direction, mentally cursing Gertz. The man had given me all these built-in needs, and then insured I’d never fulfill them, by making me a freak.
Crigo was sprawled on his side in the shade Max cast, taking halfhearted swipes at my ankles whenever my path brought me within reach. “This simply cannot be happening.” I threw my hands into the air. “Maybe it’s a virus.”
“You’re immune to viruses,” Max pointed out. “Do your palms become sweaty every time you’re near him?”
I rolled my eyes. “Max, its thirty-nine point four degrees Celsius even at night. I sweat all over.”
What he was doing was obvious. He was going through our extensive library of old holovids, looking for anything that might give us a clue as to whether or not I was truly falling in love with Thor. Not only were the vids good entertainment, they served as our main reference on the life and times of Naturals. I had little personal experience with Naturals, having been raised in a crèche. And since leaving the crèche I’d spent 60 percent of my time with only Max and Crigo for company. The other 40 percent had been spent with alien species, so that was no help.
“Good point,” he said. “Would you die for him?”
“Of course. It’s my job to save him and his people. I’d die for any of them. I wouldn’t enjoy it, but I’d do it.”
You could almost hear his awesome brain shuffling info. “Do you have an insatiable craving for turnips?”
I plowed to a stop, almost stepping on Crigo’s extended paw. “Turnips?”
“Gone With the Wind.”
My eyes closed in exasperation, and I dropped my forehead to my hands, not sure whether to laugh or cry. “Max, the turnips didn’t have anything to do with Scarlett being in love with Rhett.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
My pacing resumed when another thought occurred to me. “You aren’t recording this, are you?”
There was a split second of silence, then in a small voice, “End recording.”
Hands on my hips, I turned to glare at the ship. “Don’t you dare send that to the archives. The boss would haul me in for a full psych exam.”
“I’m sorry, Kiera. You know everything goes straight to the ship’s log.”
“Great. Absolutely wonderful. That’s all I needed to really make my day.”
My mutterings were interrupted when Junior staggered out of the jungle, sweat dripping from his chin, his chest rising and falling in hard gasps. He shot me an accusatory look, then collapsed full-length in the shade near Crigo. A contingent of dragon birds had followed him. They settled on Max’s hull and promptly fell to scolding me for leaving them behind. It seemed every time I turned around lately the beautiful little creatures were there.
“Okay, Kiera,” I coached myself. “Deep breath. You’ve handled things a lot worse than this. People fall in and out of love all the time. Goddess knows you’ve proved that. It doesn’t have to be permanent. I’ll simply think of it as a temporary affliction, like…like…”
“Insanity?” Max prompted.
“Right.” I nodded vigorously. “Like temporary insanity. That’s a perfectly acceptable defense. And worrying about it isn’t going to help, so I’ll just concentrate on my job.” I glanced across the lake toward the Dynatec encampment.
“Did you contact Claudia Karle yet?”
“Yes. She sounded worried. But all she said was to tell you she has the day after tomorrow off, and will be happy to meet you that evening.”
“Good. Anything from the boss?”
“The original report from the exploration team that discovered Orpheus Two came in. And Dr. Daniels said to inform you that he has three of his best investigators working to uncover information on Quilla Dorn. He’ll let you know what they find.”
“Anything unusual about the exploration report?”
“Two things, actually. First, they only counted twenty Buri, all males. But then, they weren’t really doing an in-depth study, and it’s possible they simply didn’t see the others.”
“Either that, or the others were in hiding. There’s a ton of caves in the mountains. Okay, what’s the second thing?”
“According to Dr. Daniels, of the original five-man team, four are deceased, and the fifth has vanished.”
“Natural deaths?” I started up the ramp.
“Accidental.”
The boss wouldn’t have included that tidbit if he hadn’t thought it was suspicious. I agreed with him. Having one or two deaths over a ten-cycle span might be expected, but an entire crew individually wiped out? It stretched believability to the breaking point.
“I’ll take my remote terminal and look the report over later today. Goddess knows, as much sunlight as there is on this planet, it should be easy to keep charged. Anything else that comes in, you can send to me directly.”
I picked up the palm-sized terminal, slipped it into my pocket, and headed back to the village, trying to convince myself that I could maintain my relationship with Thor without endangering the very fabric of my existence.
The rest of the day dragged along at the speed of mud, and Thor seemed to go out of his way to keep my attention centered on him. “Lust,” I chanted for the hundredth time as he casually hoisted a block to another Buri on top of the building, muscles flexing and relaxing with each movement. “Its just lust. If I ever sleep with him, I’ll be back to normal.”
For some reason, construction on the building had swung into high gear. All the Buri not busy with other jobs were now focused on completing the edifice. At the rate they were going, it would be done sometime tomorrow, and my curiosity was killing me. Twice now I’d tried to go in and look the place over, and both times Thor had stopped me from entering. Even trickery didn’t succeed in getting me inside. When I’d calmly picked up a block and strolled nonchalantly toward the door, Thor had just as calmly taken it away from me and gently pushed me to one side. It didn’t help that he smiled each time, or that several of the females went into giggling fits whenever he blocked my entrance. Easy for them to laugh. They weren’t the one being kept out. It was really getting on my nerves.
Nose in the air, I retired to my quarters to pout and work with the remote terminal. Unfortunately, its solar panels needed direct sunlight to stay charged, so I ended up outside, leaning back against the wall of my building. Which meant Thor was always in my line of sight.
When I realized I was staring at him again, and he was staring back, his gaze hot, I hastily lowered my eyes to the information projected in front of me. The original report from the exploration team was huge, and most of it I’d seen before. To save time, I’d had Max separate the parts that hadn’t appeared in the report we’d received. As I scrolled through them for the third time, I shook my head.
“This doesn’t make any sense, Max. Why would they leave out the metallurgic and mineral findings? They had to know we’d check those ourselves as soon as we arrived.”
“The readings for both are quite a bit higher than what’s normally found on a planet. Especially the iron, zinc, sodium and aluminum. There’s even a larger-than-usual amount of silicon dioxide. The planet is riddled with it.”
I chewed that over for a second. Silicon dioxide was a fancy term for quartz, and while quartz crystals were pretty, their abundance made them cheaper than dirt.
“What about the metals? Is there enough to make Orpheus Two a viable mining operation?”
“Not really.” Max sounded a little preoccupied. “It would be easier and more profitable to mine asteroids, where there are greater amounts of these metals and minerals, and less obstacles to overcome.”
I rubbed my forehead and scrolled further down the list. “Okay, what about the rays the sun is emitting? For a yellow star, there seems to be a pretty wide spectrum. More gamma, more beta, and way more ultraviolet. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it was newly created. But that’s impossible. Everything I’ve seen on this planet indicates it’s been around a long time.”
“Instead of taking each fact separately, maybe we should be looking at them as a whole.”
“What do you mean?” I stretched to ease tight muscles in my back.
“You’re right about the sun. It is a relatively new star. I did an analysis when we first arrived.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It didn’t seem relevant to the mission.”
“Okay, so it’s a young star. What about the planet’s age?”
“It does appear older than its sun. The very diversity of plant life indicates a time span long enough for species to branch away from each other. Billions of cycles, instead of the millions the sun has existed.”
There was only one logical explanation. “So, the planet must have been a wanderer that was captured by this star’s gravitational field when it came too close.”
“Exactly.” We both ruminated a second before he spoke again. “Do you remember Messier 64?”
“The star system that resulted when two galaxies collided?”
“Yes. The collision left M64 with some rather bizarre internal motion. All of its stars are rotating in the usual clockwise manner, but it has a dark band of gas on its outer edge that rotates in the opposite direction. This is believed to be the remnants of the satellite galaxy that was destroyed when the two collided. And where the oppositely rotating gases meet, new stars are being formed.”
I raised my hand, palm up. “And this is important to us because…?”
“There are indications that a similar event occurred to the galaxy Orpheus is a part of.”
Brownie caught my attention for a second. He was talking and gesturing angrily at three other Buri he’d waylaid leaving the new building, but I was too caught up in this new theory to worry about it. “So, hypothetically, this planet could have been part of one of the galaxies, and lost its star in the collision. Then, when Orpheus was formed, it became part of the new solar system.”
“Can you imagine what the planet’s surface underwent when its star collided with another?”
I could, barely. It was nothing short of a miracle that even one seed or spore had survived. Anything above ground would have been incinerated instantly. “Horrific,” I responded.
“Which leads me to my next theory concerning what Dynatec may be after. Silicone dioxide is quartz. The minerals and metals found on Orpheus Two would make different-colored quartz. But more importantly, there’s a type of quartz that’s formed under intense heat and pressure. It’s called coesite, and it forms so quickly that it doesn’t have time to construct the usual crystal formation found in normal quartz. When you consider the extreme heat and pressure Orpheus Two was under, added to the radiation from the collision, what we may have here is a new type of quartz.”
He paused for a second. “It could also explain how some of the plant life survived. The first wave of the blast would have blown the atmosphere away and possibly driven seeds and spores deep into the ground or into caves. Then the heat would have liquefied the silicone dioxide, and there’s enough of it that most of the planet would have been covered. After the collision, with no atmosphere and no sun to heat it, the cooldown would have been fast. Then as the coesite quartz cooled and cracked, the seeds that were deeply buried and protected were released, and stayed dormant until the planet was captured by the Orpheus system’s sun.”
I straightened abruptly, a tingle of suppressed excitement quivering in my chest, and sent the image in front of me to the very end of the document.
And there it was, staring up at me from the information Max had gathered. Not one, but two crew members, both now deceased, had inventoried quartz samples on the manifest, neither of which was mentioned in the report Dynatec had sent Alien Affairs.
“Eureka!” I leaped to my feet and grabbed Junior, who had stuck to me like we were chemically bonded since I’d outrun him earlier that day. “I found it,” I yelled, bouncing on my toes.
He cast a rather desperate look in Thor’s direction, and I realized two things simultaneously. All the Buri were gaping at me, and I’d had no response from Max. To Junior’s obvious relief, I released him.
“Max?”
“Kiera, I think we have a problem.”
All my muscles went taut, my senses heightened to the point where I could detect Junior’s heart thumping away beneath his well-muscled chest. Max wasn’t an alarmist. If he thought we had a problem, we had one. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Frisk. He’s sneaking around your Quonset hut. I think he may have tried the back door of the living section.”
“Has he approached you?”
“Not yet, but he keeps looking in this direction. My static shields are up and the hatch is closed, so he can’t get near me. That’s not the problem. Crigo is stalking him, and he looks very serious. I don’t think he’s playing, Kiera.”
Adrenaline flooded my body. There were times when Crigo seemed to be endowed with psychic radar when it came to a human’s intentions. He didn’t disobey my orders often, but on the occasions he had, I’d always discovered later that he was right. And while I, personally, would be thrilled to get rid of Frisk, the boss would frown on turning him into prey before we discovered what Dynatec was up to.
Junior whimpered as I took off at a dead run, but I didn’t dare slow down. Foliage whipped by in a green-hued blur, leaves and branches reaching out to slap at me as my feet kicked up clods of damp vegetation from the jungle floor. “Can you stop him?”
“Not without chancing permanent neural damage. Rock cats are extremely sensitive to stunners. I could fire in front of him, but Frisk is armed. If I draw attention to Crigo, the captain might kill him.”
“If you have to stun anyone, stun Frisk. But wait until there’s no choice left.”
There was no need to tell Max I was on my way. He knew, so I saved my breath for running. Thank the Goddess I hadn’t changed back into a kechic. Even for a fast healer like me, charging through a jungle half naked is no fun.
The distance from my hut to the village usually took fifteen minutes at a normal walk. I made it in three, dodging trees and leaping over bushes in the twilight gloom beneath the canopy. From all around me came the frenzied clicking and whistles of dragon birds and other life forms, disturbed by my dash through their territory.
“Location,” I snapped as I neared the edge of the clearing.
“Frisk is to the left of the hut, center way, facing me. Crigo is at the edge of the jungle, five yards behind Frisk. The angle of attack will be northeast to southwest.”
“Cover Frisk. I’ll handle Crigo.”
The light gradually brightened without the leaves to block the sun’s last rays, and I spotted Crigo the instant I cleared the trees. He was crouched low to the ground, ears flattened and lips curled back to expose wicked-looking teeth. His powerful hindquarters were bunched, his intent amber gaze locked on Frisk.
My brain had just registered the scenario when he sprang. I went into overdrive and time slowed to a crawl as I launched myself at Crigo. His tightly muscled body expanded as he rose into the air. Reached with his front paws, claws visibly extended.
I slammed into him at the very apex of his leap, a mere second before he reached Frisk, the hot scent of pissed-off rock cat assailing my nostrils. Part of my consciousness noted Frisk turning, pulling out his laser. And then our momentum carried us into him, knocked the gun from his hand and sent it flying.
All three of us crashed into the side of the hut. I heard a loud crack, then time resumed its normal pace and I was busy trying to contain a spitting, snarling rock cat. It wasn’t easy, but at least he recognized me and retracted his claws.
When the dust cleared, Crigo and I were facing each other, his tail lashing in annoyance and frustration as he glared at me. I glared right back, hands on my hips as I drew in a deep cleansing breath. “Go cool off,” I told him. “I’ll handle it.”
With a final sneer in Frisk’s direction, he turned his back and started grooming his paws.
Frisk was climbing to his feet, so the crack I’d heard must not have been bone. I positioned myself between him and his laser before I spoke. “Want to explain what you’re doing sneaking around my hut?”
“Looking for you.” He dusted off his clothing, avoiding a wet spot on the pocket adorning his right leg.
“Oh?” I didn’t believe him for a minute. Unless he was a lot more stupid than I knew him to be, he was well aware that I now resided at the Buri village.
“Someone saw you here earlier. I thought maybe I’d catch you before you left.”
I crossed my arms. “Now, what could we possibly have to talk about, Frisk? I told you the day I arrived, you’ll have my report when I’ve concluded my investigation.”
“That’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about.” He glanced at Crigo and I could feel a combination of fear and anger erupt before he looked back at me. “Dynatec would like to buy your indenture from Alien Affairs. Our company is always looking for new talent, and you’re one of the best.”
My interest immediately skyrocketed. No one had ever tried to bribe me before. It proved how desperate Dynatec was to hang on to this planet. “You know Alien Affairs won’t sell a GEP’s indenture.”
“No, but they’ll let you buy your freedom.” He glanced nervously at Crigo. “Dynatec will provide the funds, and in return you’ll sign a contract to work for them until you pay the loan off. Plus, they’re willing to pay you a handsome salary above the cost of your indenture.”
“Is that how you acquired Redfield?”
His eyes narrowed. “Something similar.”
I pretended to think it over. A tactic like this could stall the investigation drastically. Alien Affairs would have to send another agent, and that someone would have to be brought up to snuff on what was happening. They also might not be as thorough as I was, especially since the two-month time limit that started the second I landed would still be in effect. Just to see how he’d react, I voiced part of my thoughts to Frisk.
“If a new agent is brought in, they’ll have to cover the same ground I’ve gone over, and do it faster. Remember, the time limit is nearly half over.”
“Dynatec is willing to accept a slight delay while a new agent is briefed,” he responded.
I just bet they were. And while they waited, maybe they could kill off a few more Buri. “Max, are you monitoring his vital signs?”
“Yes.”
Good. It was time for a little digging. “Sorry, Frisk, but I’m not interested. I like my job. It can be real exciting. Why, in the next few days, I’m going to be doing all kinds of mining. Never know what you’ll find on a new planet.”
“His blood pressure just spiked,” Max whispered in my ear.
Bingo. I was definitely on the right track.
“I thought your job was to investigate the Buri.” He did his best to keep his expression clear, but his eyes gave him away. He was worried.
“Oh, it is. But if the Buri aren’t dying out, we’ll need to know what types of resources they have available for future Federation trade.”
“You don’t really believe the Buri are going to survive, do you?” He started to put his hands in his pockets, changed his mind, and propped them on his hips. “Come on, Smith. There are only a handful of them left, and only one child.”
“Funny thing about that.” I bared my teeth in a smile.
“One of the females is pregnant, and I can’t find a single reason, medically speaking, why they shouldn’t continue to procreate very nicely. Is there something you’d like to share with me as to why you don’t think they will?”
“I’m no scientist. But just because a female is pregnant doesn’t mean she’ll have a viable infant.”
“Kiera,” Max spoke softly. “There is a seventy-six percent probability that the liquid staining Frisk’s leg is a fast-acting poison.”
A chill went through me. If someone really wanted to do me in stealthily, a fast-acting poison was the way to go. Even my souped-up body couldn’t work quickly enough to save me from its effects. Slip it into the cafftea reservoir on my food preparation unit, and it would be over before I knew what hit me. Which explained why Frisk had tried my door, and why Crigo had disobeyed my orders. Guess I owed the cat an apology. Again.
I gestured toward his pants. “Looks like you had an accident.”
He looked down as though he’d only then noticed the wet spot. “Oh, yeah. Almost forgot. When Redfield found out I was coming to speak with you, he asked me to bring you a sample of some weird plant he’s been studying. Guess it broke when I hit your hut. I better get back to our camp and change. No telling what was in the stuff.” He lowered his hands. “Keep our offer in mind, Smith. It could be the best career move you’ve ever made.”
I watched Frisk walk away and wondered if Dorn knew what he was up to, or if he’d acted on his own. He gave Crigo a wide berth, pausing only to scoop up his laser before heading toward the Dynatec camp. As excuses went, the one the captain had offered was pretty good.
“Max?”
“He was lying.”
“Yeah, I thought so.”
“And Second Lieutenant Karle reported in right before Frisk showed up.”
I hadn’t expected to hear from Claudia again until we met for dinner on her day off, so the fact that she’d contacted Max surprised me. “What did she say?”
“First, she thinks she may be onto something but isn’t sure what yet. She’ll keep trying. And second, Dr. Redfield asked her to pass on a message. He apologizes for what happened in the jungle the day he showed you the black flower and hopes you didn’t misunderstand his intent. He needs to speak with you desperately, but either Frisk or Dorn is always watching him.”
“Okay.” The communication from Redfield was worrisome. It meant Dorn and Frisk no longer trusted him, and that he was in danger. Unfortunately, the laws concerning GEPs and their indenture holders were complicated. I couldn’t march into Dynatec’s camp and drag him out even though I might want to. In a court of law that could be considered coercion of testimony. To make any charges of indenture abuse against Frisk stick, the doctor needed to find a way to ditch his followers and come to me so he could legally request sanctuary. “Keep an eye on him, and if it looks like he’s ever out alone, let me know. I can at least try to put myself in his path.”
Crigo still had his back to me, but he’d stopped grooming to watch Frisk leave the area. I went to him and knelt. “Thank you. You may have saved my life. But I couldn’t let you kill him yet. I’m making you a promise, though. If it ever becomes necessary, he’s yours.”
He licked his lips, his amber eyes glowing with anticipation, and I could swear he grinned. I had a feeling that in Crigo’s book, Frisk’s termination was already deemed necessary.
“You can’t have him until I say so,” I warned. “Next time you think he’s up to something, come get me.”
His ears went back and he lifted his nose with an air of hauteur before he focused on something over my shoulder. I shifted to see what he was looking at, and abruptly lurched to my feet.
Eight Buri, all armed with those evilly sharp spears, were arrayed in a semicircle at the edge of the jungle. Thor stood in the middle, a two-handed grip on his weapon, glaring daggers at me.
I lifted one hand in a tiny wave, and gave him a weak smile. “Hi. Looking for me?”