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“I don’t understand! Why are you doing this?” My knees shook so hard, I could topple over at any moment.
When Stephanie had ordered me out of the hovercraft, I’d expected her to abandon me in the dunes to starve or to die in a dust storm. But when she climbed out with the blaster, I realized the situation was far more imminent and dire.
“Because Benjamin Bane didn’t follow orders. Now, I have to clean up his mess.” Her eyes were cold, her face devoid of expression. She’d flipped a switch and ceased to be a human being.
“But you work for C-Force!” I still couldn’t believe this was happening. This had to be a bad dream. Any second now, I’d wake up in the way station, curled up against Bane. We’d start the day fresh. This time when Stephanie arrived with the RTC, I wouldn’t get in the vehicle.
“I serve Kathryn Jodane.”
Why would she choose a corrupt politician over C-Force, the most elite military force in the galaxy? “What does she have on you?”
“Shut up! Start walking!” She waved the blaster.
“Don’t do this. You don’t have to do this,” I said.
“Move!” She fired at my feet. The blast kicked up a geyser of sand, leaving a charred, blackened blotch.
The alien! She’d shot the alien. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.
I stumbled through the sand, my mind racing. I had to buy some time.
Time for what? To reason with her? Establish rapport? I thought we’d had rapport! Time for C-Force to fly over the dunes and rescue me? Nobody knew where I was—or that anything was wrong. Time to maybe get a jump on her? I had no chance of tackling and disarming a cyborg!
Was this how my life would end? I pressed a fist to my mouth to choke off a sob of despair.
With only a few more minutes of life, I wasn’t going to rush toward the end, so I dragged my feet, pretending the march was more difficult than it was. Think, think! “You can’t get away with this. Bane saw you. When I don’t arrive in Città, C-Force will know you’re responsible.”
“I’ll be long gone. A flight leaves for Earth in a few hours, and I’ll be on it.”
I’d never see Bane again. How could this be happening?
How could Stephanie have fooled everyone? Close behind me, her shadow dogged my steps. Would she shoot me in the back? Kill me execution style? Force me to kneel with my hands on my head? Did I get a last request?
I spotted some little spurts, and a few small dust devils swirling. If another storm started up, Bane wouldn’t be able to search for me. Who am I kidding? I’ll be dead by the time he realizes Stephanie sent him on a wild goose chase. Stormy or clear, he’ll never find my body in the dunes. I’ll be buried in aliens.
I wondered how many people she’d killed.
Don’t give up hope! Keep her talking. I have to get her to see me as a human being. “How did you know I hadn’t died in the crash?”
“You told me—indirectly, anyway.” Her bark of laughter disabused any notion she could be reasoned with. This woman had no empathy. Had the transformation to cyborg erased her emotions like it had with Bane? His had come back. And he’d always retained his conscience. She had no conscience. To her, I was just a job.
“After Bane staged the explosion, he notified the president the deed had been done, and you were dead. She had no reason to doubt him until you came back to life and messaged Breeze the next morning,” she said. “As her assistant, I screen all unencrypted messages. And quite a few encrypted ones,” she boasted.
I felt sick. All of Bane’s planning...and I’d dashed it all with one well-intentioned message. But nobody could have suspected Stephanie! She was with C-Force!
“Since he had blown up your RTC, I realized you would require transportation to Città. I checked with the RTC garage. I discovered Quint had ordered a replacement hovercraft, and I commandeered it.” She paused. “This is far enough. Turn around.”
Omigodomigod. Slowly, I faced her. My legs nearly buckled at the steely determination on her face.
She extended her arm and pointed the blaster at me.
“No, Stephanie, please don’t...don’t do this...don’t...”
In the blink of an eye, a half dozen dust devils converged into a single spinning tornado flinging stinging sand. I threw my arms up to shield my face. Squinting through my fingers, I spotted the dust devil spinning toward Stephanie. In an instant, she armored up and fired at it.
Go! Go! Go! I scrambled to get away while she shot at the dust devil.
Zzzzz! I smelled burning hair as a blast whizzed by my ear.
Zzzzz! She fired again.
Then the whirling tornado converged on me and lifted me off my feet and into the sky.
