Chapter Thirty-Two
on the drill field in a single line. Most were at attention. A few had put up a shield of defiance between themselves and their fail-safe.
Nine anomalies hadn’t returned. Kalver was somewhere on Javery, destroying Saricean troops and aiding the resistance. Six were still on the way, four weren’t reporting in, two had been killed in action since they left Caruth, and one was missing.
Missing, not dead. He wouldn’t list Ash as KIA. Not until they found her body.
He was supposed to say something to them, something reassuring like the Coalition would be fine, telepathy wasn’t that big a threat, they weren’t at risk of detainment.
All of it was a lie. He was there to evaluate their mental health, and if the collapsing Coalition seemed to negatively affect them, he was to report them to I-Comm. They would be taken off active duty and referred to psychiatric care.
He’d excelled at evaluating anomalies’ mental states. He’d trained three classes of cadets, and even before the loyalty training was implemented, he’d never had an anomaly snap. He made sure the weak dropped out.
“Sir.”
He looked at Cartor, the man who had spoken.
“An instructor replaced you,” he said. “We haven’t seen any of his anomalies.”
Anomalies were observant, and Cartor liked to solve puzzles. He liked to think. It wasn’t a surprise that he’d connect the rumors.
“No,” Rykus said. “You haven’t. Keep it to yourselves.”
“Yes, sir.”
The immediate response gave him pause. He wasn’t used to dealing with the rest of his loyalty-trained anomalies. He was used to dealing with Ash, who resisted every suggestion he gave her.
His chest hurt more than his reconstructed leg.
He couldn’t do this.
“Report to the barracks.” He turned his back on the men and walked away, trying his best not to lose his composure in front of them.
“They’ve been here three days,” Tersa said via his voice-link. “You have an obligation to talk to them. They need reassurance, and you are the best person to provide it.”
“I’m not a psychologist. Get someone else to do it.” He ended the call, took off the voice-link, and tossed it on the nightstand.
He didn’t know how long he lay there, staring at the slats of the bunk above his. One hour. Three. Every minute was interminable. Ever since Ash came back into his life, he’d been terrified he’d lose her. He’d seen her injured and lifeless too many times and had imagined a hundred other ways she could die. But he hadn’t thought about the aftermath. He hadn’t thought about the emptiness and how that space could never again be filled.
He pressed his fist to his forehead. He needed to move. Katie wanted him at physical therapy today. If he didn’t get out of bed, she’d show up with all three instructors and drag him out.
He slid his bare feet to the floor.
His comm-cuff vibrated, and something sparked in his chest.
The spark went cold. It was Tersa again.
He silenced the call and rested his forehead on his clasped hands. For half a second, he’d seen Ash’s name on his cuff, not Tersa’s. He caught glimpses of her face on base. Sometimes he was so sure he’d seen her he followed the person only to find that they were support staff or a doctor or some visitor to the base.
Reality was worse than his nightmares. Ash had been hurting, and he hadn’t been able to help.
Numbly, he made his bed, dressed, then grabbed his cane and limped to the hallway.
They’d given him a room in the medical ward. He didn’t have to share it yet, but more anomalies arrived every day. They would need somewhere to put them. He should leave the base—he should probably leave Caruth—but without finding Ash’s body…
He couldn’t do it.
He limped down a set of stairs. The rehabilitation center was on the far side of the ward. Getting to it should have counted as his therapy. Before he was halfway there, sweat plastered his shirt to his back and chest.
He spotted a bench by the entrance and was about to drop onto it when he heard voices from inside the center.
“—listened to her die,” Katie said. “He’s been through enough. He doesn’t need to know.”
“Doesn’t need to know what?” He limped inside the room. Katie stood with Arek and Keen. She looked to the ceiling, then sighed.
“They found Valt’s body,” she said.
He gripped his cane. “Where?”
“A cabin outside Prenek City.”
Rykus turned and started back down the hall.
“Rykus.” Katie grabbed his arm. “Let the investigators do their job. You don’t need to go.”
He shook free and kept limping.
“They’re checking hospitals. They’re searching the surrounding area and questioning everyone. What else can you do? You can barely walk.”
He launched his cane into the wall. “I can be there.”
The cabin sat at the edge of Shellver Forest. It wasn’t structurally sound. The investigators protested when he limped inside until he threatened to break their legs.
He couldn’t tell if the cabin’s ceiling was beginning to collapse due to the bullets that shredded the walls or if it had been collapsing before then. The windows were shattered. Furniture was dust covered and riddled with holes and debris.
He made his way to the back corner. They’d removed Valt’s body. He’d seen images before arriving though. Valt had been slumped over beside the wall. He’d been shot multiple times, but a single bullet had blown a hole through the center of his head in almost exactly the same spot where Trevast had been hit.
There had been a lot of blood. Not all of it had been Valt’s. The investigators couldn’t identify the second individual’s—Ash’s DNA profile had been removed from most databases—but like the five bodies they’d found outside the cabin, there had been an anomaly in the genetic code.
Ash had been there. She’d sat on the floor, leaning against a broken table. She’d probably been staring at Valt while she talked to him. Had that been before or after she put a bullet in his brain?
And where was she now? One of Rohn’s current anomalies wasn’t accounted for. It didn’t make sense for him to carry Ash away though. They had her surrounded. They wanted her dead.
Had they killed her? There weren’t any signs that she’d crawled away.
The cabin creaked and shifted. One of the investigators called his name.
He made his way back to the door. They would demolish the place tomorrow if it didn’t fall down before then.
When he stepped outside, the investigator looked relieved. Undoubtedly, he didn’t want to be held responsible for the hero of Gaeles Minor’s untimely demise.
“Please.” The investigator motioned toward the shuttle that had brought him there. He limped toward it, his gaze sweeping the ground, looking for missed evidence in the fading light.
He reached for the transport’s support handle and used it to help pull himself inside. Mentally and physically exhausted, he limped to his seat by the opposite window, sank into it, and closed his eyes.
It wasn’t false hope. Ash was alive. They just had to find each other again.
The rumble of the shuttle’s engine almost disguised the vibration of his comm-cuff. He looked at the screen, read the words Contact Unknown.
It’s not false hope, he assured himself.
Several seconds passed. Finally he accepted the call.
“Commander Rykus,” Tahn said pleasantly. “I believe I have something you want.”