Kaitlyn O'Connor (14 page)

63

The Hirachi were just too big to go unnoticed.

She lay down when the lights went out, but she lay awake for hours trying to recall everything she could about the pieces she
‟
d worked on for the government, most specifically those she
‟
d known had to be parts of a space craft.

She would
‟
ve felt a lot better if she
‟
d had any idea what race had produced the technology, or races, and if there were any representatives in the space station since that would
‟
ve made her chances a lot better. Unfortunately, she didn
‟
t and since she
‟
d never seen anything but various parts, she didn
‟
t think she could recognize one of their crafts either.

* * * *

Almost a week passed before Kael appeared one night with a collar. Loren had wavered between hope that he would manage to get one and fear for the same reason, because she wasn
‟
t convinced by any means that he could manage it without getting caught.

She almost fainted when he
‟
d glanced around carefully to make certain they weren
‟
t being observed and removed the thing from his loincloth. She
‟
d actually thought when he began fishing that he meant to give her a thrill. She wasn
‟
t disappointed when she saw the collar but she was damned if she could see how he
‟
d managed to hide it when his cock and balls already filled the thing to capacity. She bit her lip when he reached down to rub them unconsciously after he
‟
d passed it through the bars to her.

“This tiny crack here is the cover, I
‟
m sure,” she said, having studied it from end to end.

Turning it, she studied the catch itself. Despite the feeble light, she saw at once that she
‟
d been right about that part anyway. The wires were almost hair like, but she could see they formed a circuit once the collar was fastened. “See these here? These wires form a circuit.” She looked up at the men unhappily. “I wish I
‟
d been wrong, but that
‟
s what it looks like. We aren
‟
t going to be able to get them off without deactivating the collars themselves or whatever he uses to control them.”

She frowned when she
‟
d returned her attention to the cover, trying to wedge her nail in it to pry it open. She gave up after a few tries and turned to study her cell, searching it for anything that might be thin enough to lever the cover off and still strong enough to do the job. “I
‟
m going to need something to take the cover off before I even look at it,” she said apologetically. “I can
‟
t find anything that makes it release. We
‟
ll need something anyway to work on them if I do figure out how to deactivate them.”

Kael held out his hand.

“You should just leave it with me.”

He shook his head. “Too dangerous. Give.”

Releasing a huff of breath, Loren placed it in his palm. Instead of pushing it back into his loincloth, however, he studied the collar frowningly, rubbing is fingers along the metal it was made of. He flicked a look at her. “No work now, yes?”

Loren frowned at him, confused. “I
‟
m not sure what you
‟
re asking.”

“Blow up?”

Her heart clenched. She bit her lip. “I don
‟
t think so. I
‟
m pretty sure it has to be fastened to complete the circuit.”

64

“No know, though?”

“I
‟
m almost positive! That
‟
s as close as I can get without looking at it.”

He nodded. “You go. Stand behind wall.”

“I don
‟
t know if it
‟
s a good idea to try to break it, or even bend it,” she cautioned. “It might destroy the works. They
‟
d have to be tiny to fit in this thing to start with and if it
‟
s broken, I might not be able to tell anything about it.”

He nodded. “Go.”

Anger flickered through her. If he broke it the risk of getting another was going to be higher, but she could see there was no reasoning with him! Stalking across the cell, she got behind the wall even though she didn
‟
t see that it was at all necessary. When she leaned out to take a peek to see how he was doing, she discovered he seemed to be…blowing on it. If that wasn
‟
t totally bizarre, she could see the metal changing color…as if it was heating up! It warped and the cover popped off.

He glanced in her direction and frowned. “No good get dere den stick head out!” he said angrily.

Loren glared back at him. “You don
‟
t honestly think I would
‟
ve let you manhandle it if I thought it would blow up?”

He looked disconcerted, but he held the open collar out to her. She took it, but she was far more interested at the moment in how he
‟
d managed what he had. “What did you do?”

His lips tightened. “Use….” He paused. “Sound.”

“I didn
‟
t….” Loren broke off and grabbed his arm, lifting it to study the fin-like growths on his wrist and elbow. It dawned on her abruptly that they weren
‟
t fin-like. They
were
fins. She met his gaze. “You
‟
re sea people. You live in the sea.”

His gaze flickered over her face. “Matter,
shimone
?”

She felt her heart turn over at the look in his eyes. Lifting his hand to cheek, she rubbed her face against it. “I didn
‟
t mean it that way…honestly. It
‟
s just…On my world there are…uh…animals that live in the sea that can do things with sound.” She was relieved when he didn
‟
t seem to take that badly. “The thing is,” she added with rising excitement, “it
‟
s something very like that that controls these things! What kind of things can you do with the sounds?”

He shrugged. “Make hot, make fire.”

Dakaar struck his chest with his fist. “Make like punch.”

“Kill tings,” Balen said.

Loren gaped at him, struggling not to look as horrified as she felt, but then she
‟
d heard dolphins could produce sound waves powerful enough to kill small fish. They used it to catch food.

That was probably what he
‟
d meant, she told herself.

Dakaar and Kael both glared at him.

“It
‟
s ok,” she said dismissively, turning her attention at last to studying the works of the collar. To her relief, she discovered it was actually a pretty simple device. There was a tiny circuit chip in it that controlled everything—including the charge. “I think this is the explosive charge.” She pointed to it with her pinky, taking care not to touch it and then looked up at them.

“How accurately can you direct the sound waves?”

65

Again Kael shrugged. “Close, very much—far away, not so much.”

Loren nodded. “The machine that Lecur has directs a beam—like the sound you can make—probably all over this area. Actually, it
‟
s probably all over the building, like a shield. Once the circuit is completed by fastening the collar, it can
‟
t be broken as long as the „shield
‟
is up without setting off the explosive charge. I think, if you could destroy this chip, that it would break the circuit without blowing up. I don
‟
t know of any way to test it, though, except to activate it.” Frustration filled her. “If I had tools, I could remove the charge and test it.

Otherwise, I can
‟
t tell for sure one way or the other.”

Kael frowned. “Is enough charge blow head off?”

Loren stared at it skeptically. “Explosives aren
‟
t my field, but I
‟
m going to guess, based on what you
‟
ve heard and the fact that it
‟
s there at all, that it would majorly fuck you up if it went off, even if it didn
‟
t kill you. I don
‟
t think it would
be
there if it wouldn
‟
t.”

Kael nodded, frowning thoughtfully. “Explode under water?”

She considered it. “I don
‟
t honestly know. I don
‟
t see why it wouldn
‟
t, though. The cover obviously fits tightly enough to keep water out.”

“Make less noise, though, yes?”

Loren blinked at him. “No! I know what you
‟
re thinking, but it
‟
s too dangerous, Kael! When it blows up, it
‟
ll blow this metal up and shrapnel will fly in every direction!”

Kael snatched it from her. “Try not blow up.”

“Oh god! Don
‟
t put it there!” she gasped when he shoved it into his loincloth again.

She saw his eyes were gleaming with amusement when she looked up at him. “No blow off nice ting.” He shrugged and nudged his head at his companions. “Dakaar and Balen still hab one.

Me I hab tongue.” He waved it at her.

She couldn
‟
t help but smile. “That isn
‟
t funny! I like that nice thing!”

He grinned at her. “I like, too. „Specially like put in Lau-ren
‟
s tup.”

Loren wanted him to put it in her tup, too! Her smile faded. “Just be careful.”

She watched them leave in dismay, wondering if she should
‟
ve tried to talk him out of trying anything at all, wishing she hadn
‟
t been so caught up in the possibility that he had a „built in
‟

tool to disable the damned things that she
‟
d actually considered what it meant if he tried it and it didn
‟
t work.

She was too on edge to sleep, fearing any moment that an explosion would rip through the basement. Finally exhaustion got the better of her, though, and she dropped off. The anxiety returned the moment she woke up, but she knew she was just going to have to contain herself to discover if they
‟
d successfully tried it or decided it was too dangerous to attempt.

She looked at them expectantly when they arrived at her cell door the following night. They grinned at her. Loren flew to the door in excitement. “It worked?” she asked in an excited whisper.

“Yes. Work. No blow anyting off.”

“Thank god! I couldn
‟
t sleep last night for worrying about it.” She paused to calm her racing heart. “We
‟
re going to have to try one that
‟
s already been activated to be sure.”

“Am sure,” Kael responded. “Break Dakaar
‟
s and Balen
‟
s. Dakaar break mine.”

Loren gaped at him in horror. “Oh my god! You didn
‟
t!”

66

The three men exchanged a look of surprise. “Did,” Dakaar assured her. “Still have head.”

“I
would
have had nightmares if I
‟
d known you were going to do that!” Loren said crossly.

Kael
‟
s brows. “Good ting no know, yes?”

She glared at him. “No it isn
‟
t!” she hissed at him. “If it hadn
‟
t worked, you
‟
d be dead!”

He caught her and dragged her against the bars, bending down to try to nuzzle her through the bars. “
Shimone
be sad?”

She popped his shoulder angrily. “Of course I
‟
d be sad,” she said tightly and then abruptly felt close to tears. “I don
‟
t want anything to happen to you!”

Amusement flickered in his eyes, but he sobered quickly. “No want anyting happen to mine
shimone
, either,” he said. “Need do dis ting. No udder way.”

He was right and she knew it. Despite everything that had happened to her, though, she wasn
‟
t accustomed to life or death situations. It was hard to accept that they had to risk death just have a chance at life—because
this
certainly wasn
‟
t life. She nodded, straining to reach him to soothe the sting from her slap with a kiss. He looked bemused, but didn
‟
t ask her how she thought a kiss would take the sting away.

“What next?” she asked him.

“More kisses first,” he murmured.

As much as she enjoyed kissing them, it was a huge disappointment that that was all she could get. She was tempted to suggest oral sex, but she wasn
‟
t certain she could bring them all off without making it look suspicious that they lingered so long and they couldn
‟
t afford to arouse any kind of suspicions.

She moved back to Kael when she
‟
d made the rounds, looking up at him expectantly. He shook his head at her. “Next part harder. Take time.”