Chapter 12
Wraith dreamed on of the Inbetween. Heard the voices calling her. The crashes of subspace that rolled through like waves on the shore.
There was pain.
There was always pain.
Not from being there. The pain of knowing she would have to leave.
Of knowing that everything she sought was there for the taking. She just couldn’t find it.
A small clatter of stones rolling loose sounded and she was immediately awake. The dream already gone.
She kept still, kept her breath even.
They weren’t alone.
She could hear Helios breathing; either still sleeping or faking it like her.
She hoped it was the latter.
Although the cave was silent, it felt full. There was presence here.
“I know you’re awake,” an all-too-familiar voice said casually.
She heard the Major’s intake of breath, slowly opened her eyes and lifted her head.
There were robed figures on either side of her, but all her attention was on Helios, who was being held by the hair, the razor-sheen of his own monomolecular blade at his throat.
By Shade.
He looked too thin, almost ragged, but there was no weakness in his stance or his hold.
“Sleepy time, babe,” he told her.
A pinprick bit her neck and darkness descended.
Kael struggled against his bonds without noticeable success, unless the painful, raw skin at his wrists and ankles counted.
He somehow thought that it didn’t.
He was trussed up like an animal. The bindings just missing the point of cutting off circulation. Which told him they had done this before.
Probably a lot.
He was lying on his side in a small cell. And it was a cell.
Three by three meters according to his optics. Plascrete rather than plasteel, but thick enough that the use of the slightly weaker material wouldn’t make a difference.
The door was tempered ArmorGlass. The corridor visible beyond it lay in shadows.
Where the hell was he?
The cell had the hallmarks of an old military facility, but there weren’t any this far out. There weren’t even any black sites nearby that he knew of.
Although even his clearance wouldn’t have given him the full list.
But SID tended to favor floating bases in the middle of nowhere to planet-side facilities. Yet another mystery to add to his growing list.
He rolled, inhaled stale dust, and coughed hard enough to see stars.
The question at top of his list burned his brain.
Was it coincidence she’d brought them here?
Could it possibly be?
There hadn’t been the slightest indication that Shade might have survived the war, the way there had been with Spook, Phantom, and Geist.
Yet clearly, he had. And Wraith had just happened to land them not only on the same planet, but within a couple of hours of him? And he’d just happened to find them?
Almost the first thing they teach you in SID is that one coincidence may be happenstance. Two meant investigation. Three meant conspiracy.
Still, he didn’t think their atmospheric burn maneuver was Wraith’s first choice of an exit. She certainly didn’t know where they were, and he believed her on that score.
So, maybe they had been brought here instead.
But how?
Two hours later he still had no answers. He’d pushed himself up to lean against the back corner of the cell, which gave him the best field of view.
He was worried about Wraith.
He’d alternated between being worried that she’d somehow betrayed him and worrying about her; eventually settled on the latter. He didn’t know how much internal damage that damn sonic weapon had done to her. Or what the hell they’d drugged her with.
They hadn’t bothered drugging him. Just tied him up and pulled a foul-smelling bag over his head.
Did they view her as the bigger risk? Or did they have other plans entirely?
“You know, you’re prettier than the picture in your file.”
Kael jerked. He’d heard no one. His optics had picked up no one.
But there was Shade.
Crouching by the ArmorGlass, studying him.
Void take him, that was terrifying.
He let himself settle below the fear, letting it sharpen his awareness without cutting off his faculties.
“Military IDs are like high school portraits—universally terrible,” he said easily.
“Truer words.” Shade settled into a cross-legged sit. Leaned his elbow on his knee, and his chin in his hand.
He’d skipped a lot of meals by the look of him.
He didn’t look as wrecked as Wraith had when he’d freed her. When he’d paroled her.
But the man looked about fifteen kilos underweight.
He hadn’t been large to start with. Now what had been an acrobat’s body was wiry, almost fragile.
But Kael remembered the strength of being held by him. He wouldn’t be foolish enough to underestimate Shade.
“I’ve been wondering something for a while now, Helios.”
The man paused, apparently waiting for Kael to respond. He wondered why he’d put stress on his call sign. Wondered when and where a man like Shade could have seen his file.
“I’d say shoot, but I wouldn’t want you to take it literally.”
Shade laughed. It was a cheerful, almost booming sound. One that didn’t remotely fit him.
“You know, I like you. I didn’t expect to. Light Bringer.”
Kael kept his face neutral only because he refused to show weakness to an enemy.
It had been a very long time since anyone had called him that.
Not nearly long enough.
And the implications were not encouraging.
“I’ve heard that one before. Maybe try for some creativity if you’re going for synonyms.”
“Challenge accepted. But back to my question: why did you release her?”
Did he mean Wraith? Given the circumstances it couldn’t be anyone else.
“I’d tell you, Shade, but then I’d have to kill you. And I’m all tied up at the moment.”
Shade laughed again, slapping his hand on his knee.
“Maybe I’ll let you live long enough to try.”
He stood and pushed a tube of water, a nutri-bar, and Kael’s knife through the small slot in the ArmorGlass.
“I cleaned it for you,” he told Kael as he walked away. “It’s not good for the blade to leave blood on it.”