A HALF AN HOUR WENT BY WITHOUT ANY NEW BLASTS. KALE had fallen into a heavy sleep thanks to the meds and we’d moved him to my sister’s sleep chamber. I’d tucked James’ shirt into my satchel where it wouldn’t be discovered. Markus suggested everyone try to get a little shut-eye, and despite the fear of bombs overhead, I’d barely made it to my sleep pad before drifting off. I didn’t know when I’d get the chance to rest again, so I had to make this nap count.
Markus, James, and I sat in the study, while Britta’s whining could be heard all the way from the front room. She was demanding to be released from her restraints. I sat as far from Markus on the bench as I could, while James sat across from us.
“Can’t we tranquilize her again? Maybe use some duct tape?” I begged James. He chuckled, which meant he thought I was kidding.
“How’s the ankle holding up?” James asked Markus. He’d wrapped it and said the sprain seemed minor.
“It’s holding I guess—just hurts like hell. I gotta say I’m a little worried though.” Markus pointed upward where the Consulate was likely preparing a new attack. “We’re all injured to some degree, except for you.” He nodded at James. “It’s only a matter of time before they get down here.”
All I knew for sure about the door was that my father had it made special for the shelter. It looked and felt like some sort of super-metal, but I’d been so young at the time. I only recalled him telling me it would keep us safe. Though it had proven to be quite bomb-resistant, Markus was right. No matter how strong the door might be, it couldn’t hold up forever. If the Consulate managed to either successfully bomb or otherwise compromise the door, they’d get down here. If they got down here, we’d all be toast. Unless …
Markus seemed to read my thoughts. “Look, I know your feelings about the weapons. You’re the only one that can use them, so maybe it would be a good idea to get a bigger gun to use against those burners.”
Several of the guns in containment could take out any Consulate jerk who tried to get down here. Others could take down their whole burner ship. One in particular would take out pretty much everything. The problem?
As soon as I opened up my secret room, it would lose the secret part. Nothing would stop Markus or Kale from taking the whole arsenal. I didn’t know what good it would do them, but maybe they’d guessed it was possible for the Consulate to reprogram the guns. Hell, I worried about that myself. So maybe Kale thought they could still bargain with them. The power of the bombs coming down told me the Consulate was done bargaining.
“I don’t know, Markus. Not that I don’t trust you and all, but, well, I don’t.”
Britta’s screeching started again, a high-pitched whine about her discomfort. I smiled sweetly at Markus, “Can you go deal with her, please?”
Markus stood. “Fine.” He looked at James on the way out. “Can you please talk some sense into her while I’m gone?”
I steeled myself for the lecture about why I should bring out the big guns, so to speak. James watched me, not saying anything. He was no Markus, I’d give him that. I didn’t want to talk about the guns anyway. I wanted to talk more about his sister and ask about the picture. Since I couldn’t ask him that, I wasn’t going to say anything. If he wanted silence, fine. I was done being the conversation starter.
My silence lasted two whole minutes. I totally broke first. “Why aren’t you trying to convince me to get the guns?”
James glanced toward the hallway, like he didn’t want to be overheard. “Because I’m not sure that you should. I don’t think you can trust them.”
Them? “You say that as if you’re not with them, as if you weren’t shooting at me twenty-four hours ago.”
“I didn’t.”
The air went out of my lungs. “What?” I whispered.
He stared down at the ground. “Markus showed us a picture of you back on Caelia, it was on his com device, and—”
“Hold up. Markus has a picture of me? From when?”
James’ eyes briefly met mine before looking away again. “I don’t know. You looked so sad and … anyway, when you came out of this shelter, even though you had the suit on, I kept seeing the girl in the picture. I couldn’t shoot.”
It took a minute before I remembered Markus’ visit right before he left to find Caelia. Markus had pulled his tele-com out of his pocket and aimed it at me. “Smile, Tora, so I have something to remember you by if I don’t make it back.” I hadn’t smiled. “You better make it back. You’re my Plan A for getting outta here,” I’d told him. I hadn’t mentioned Plan B.
Had he known then what he was going to do? Was he already planning to steal the guns?
“I don’t know, James. It sure seemed like gunfire was coming from every suit out there.” I wanted to believe him but how naive would that make me?
“Oh, I shot all right. The ground, the rocks near you, but not you. I’m a pretty good shot. I knew the others weren’t aiming to kill anyway, so I figured I didn’t need to help.”
Arrogant much? “So you’re saying if you had tried to shoot me, you could have.”
He replied with a shrug. Infuriating, yes. But if what James was saying was true, he’d never tried to hurt me. Yeah, but he let other people try to hurt you.
His eyes gleamed as he studied me. “Of course, if Markus had said what a pain in the ass you could be, I might’ve aimed differently.”
I smirked at him. “You’re pretty funny when you want to be.”
He smiled but his words were heavy. “Thanks. Not much opportunity for funny lately.”
“Where’s your family?” The words flew out of my mouth before I could grab them back. I gulped. “I mean, you mentioned having a sister too.”
“I don’t really like to talk about it.” His eyes hardened.
I ignored the surge of sympathy that welled up. I needed answers, not the silent treatment. “Okay, so then let’s talk about why your things are in the captain’s quarters, shall we?”
James leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, hands clasped in front of him. Against my better judgment, my heart pounded at the close proximity of our bodies. “You ask a lot of questions, you know that?” His eyes drilled into mine. “Okay, I’ll tell you, but then I have a question for you.” He looked down at his hands. “So my sister—”
“Spartacus! Why does my leg feel like someone set it on fire and then pissed on it?”
James smiled at me. “Guess somebody’s pain meds wore off.”
“What’s up with all the names?” I asked.
James laughed. “Oh, that. Kale is one of the hardest core military guys you’ll ever meet. He’s obsessed with ancient military heroes.”
I shook my head. “He uses military names as curse words?”
James nodded and stretched as he walked toward the door. His shirt lifted—a strange jagged scar ran across his lower back. It looked too precise to be an injury. His body couldn’t keep secrets the way his mouth could. Another question for my list if I could get him alone again. He turned around at the door and caught me staring at his back. James tugged his shirt down. He whispered, “Seriously, Tora. Don’t trust them.”
What the hell was I supposed to do with that information? I already knew I couldn’t trust the Consulate, Kale, or Britta. Dad had told me long ago not to trust anyone if anything happened to him. Yet he had trusted Markus, who turned out to be a burner, so putting my trust in James would make me just as dumb. I couldn’t let him get to me no matter how amazing his abs were. Still, that sadness in his eyes—
Another bomb rocked the bunker, and I almost fell out of my seat. I gasped as the lamp in the study crashed to the floor. My father got it at an antique trade market years ago. Lamps hadn’t been used in ages. The one benefit of Earth’s demise was that we got a truckload of solar energy. Special solar cell panels provided all the light any one person could use. We only had two panels, disguised as part of the cactus grove, and we could light this place up like a Christmas cactus if we wanted.
“Everyone doin’ okay?” Markus asked.
I reached the front room and noticed Britta sitting near Markus. Scratch the near part; she was almost in his lap. His hand rested lightly on her cuffed ones. Guess he wasn’t too disturbed by her trying to send me on a one-way ticket out of here.
Kale hobbled in, refusing James’ offers of assistance. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to be bearing weight on it yet—”
“Nonsense. Am I the damn captain of this team or what? I walk when I want to walk. Nobody tells me when the hell to walk.” He grimaced as he hopped to the nearest chair and parked himself in it.
Markus looked over at James. “Is he drunk or something?”
“Nah, just the pain meds can have a similar effect. He’ll probably fall asleep again soon.”
“Dammit! I don’t want any more sleep. I want to get the hell out of here.”
I thought of their ship. It was unlikely that it was even in one piece, so I didn’t think we were going anywhere. I told him so.
Kale laughed long and hard. Yeah, he sounded drunk. “They didn’t drop the bombs on the ship, I guaran-fucking-tee it. Tora hit their wing so they’ll save our ship in case they need it. But they won’t get far.” He started laughing again, then reached in his pocket and pulled out a small metallic object. It looked like a machine part.
Britta’s eyes widened. She was probably wondering if her fearless leader had totally lost his mind. She looked ridiculous, but I had to admit, I wondered the same thing myself.
“What is that, Kale?” asked James in the gentle tone one uses to talk to a child. His gravelly voice soothed me and I wasn’t even the one freaking out.
“Just a little thing my ship can’t fly without—the fuel converter. Those burners aren’t goin’ anywhere in our ship.” He chuckled a minute, then dropped his head on the table and started snoring.
Markus laughed. “Wow. Nice meds there, James.” He cleared his throat, and pulled his hand back from Britta’s. “So, in light of what’s going on here, don’t you think we should take off Britta’s cuffs? She’s promised to be a good girl.”
Britta scowled at me. Nothing about her looked remotely good. I fought to keep my temper, but it never allowed itself to be kept for long. “Markus, I realize this pint-sized burner raises the flag on your flagpole so to speak, but no way in hell is she getting out of those. She’d just attack me again.”
“I didn’t attack you.” She spat the words at me. “Well, okay, I did, but it wasn’t like I tried to kill you or anything.”
Right. Because leaving me in a locked coffin for the Consulate was a total act of kindness.
“Please, these cuffs are killing me.” Her tone changed to that of a petulant child.
I couldn’t help laughing. “Yeah, like I wouldn’t know how that feels, right?”
“Fine, I’m … I’m … sorry.” Britta almost choked on the last word. It had to be the first apology she’d given in her life. She did look miserable though.
I looked to James, but he deferred to me. “It’s your call.” He stared at Britta. “But Britta, I’ll take you down myself if you try to sabotage the plan again. You didn’t follow orders and that’s punishable by death. You of all people should know that.”
A long look passed between them, one I didn’t understand.
“Fine,” Britta said. “But he doesn’t seem capable of giving orders right now, so that makes you in charge.”
“Only until he wakes up, which should be in less than an hour. What do you say, Tora?”
James’ deference surprised me. He was certainly trying to make the case that I could trust him. It was a shame I didn’t have an ounce of trust to spare. I wondered if the “punishable by death” thing would apply if I told Kale about James not shooting at me earlier. If so, he trusted me more than I would have if I were him.
“You can release her.” A small surge of pleasure ran through me at having power over Britta. A taste of her own medicine.
James pushed the electronic release button, and Markus removed her cuffs. Britta rubbed her wrists vigorously, like she’d been confined for weeks in a dark dungeon, instead of an hour on the couch.
We sipped water, trying to be civil to one another while rotating door patrol and bracing as each round of bombs dropped. Kale finally woke up, swearing up one side and down the other.
“Sorry, sir, no more pain meds. We need you.”
“Zulu! What’s a man gotta do to get good medical help these days?” Kale bitched and moaned but James refused to give him any more meds. Markus handed Kale a water bottle instead, which Kale promptly threw against the wall. Thank God the lid was still on it; wasting water was unheard of. I’d never seen a man have a temper tantrum before, but he finally calmed down after realizing he wasn’t getting any more painkillers.
Kale took a long chug from the water bottle Britta had retrieved from the floor. “So, did you figure out a game plan in my absence?” he asked.
Looks passed back and forth among everyone. No one wanted to be the one to say there was no game plan.
James addressed him. “Sir—”
“Yes, we have a plan,” I interrupted. All heads swiveled to me. James had a questioning look in his eyes, like he was still trying to warn me. I might not be able to trust the rest of them and I might later regret my decision, but part of me must have decided to trust him. The words rushed out before I could stop them. “I’m getting the guns.”