Silent Dances (51 page)

her mind she heard Scott trying to tell her something, but she ignored it.

She'd
become good at that lately
.
It was time to get over his death.

She leaned against the kitchen counter.
Bruce and Lauren were huddled

at the table
, as
usual
, as
Bruce worked at chee
ri
ng
the despondent woman. Meg would be glad when the CLS ship arrived-Szu-yi wanted

Lauren to have long-term psychological care, perhaps even drug therapy.

The doctor didn't think the tech would ever work
in space again
... or maybe

anywhere
else.

With a sigh,
Meg moved to join Bruce and Lau
re
n at the table
--
when
,
without wa
rn
ing
,
the front door crashed open! Thorn crouched before
them
,
brandishing a weapon
,
as though her thinking about him had

somehow conjured him up
.
Sta
rt
led, Meg dropped her cup and it

bounced wildly
,
splashing hot coffee on her ankles.

250

Lauren screamed
an
d leaped away from the table as Bruce feinted

toward Thorn
,
but then the meteorologist saw the weapon
an
d froze.

"That'
s
ri
ght!
" Thorn
said to him
. "
Don't move
.
Stay ve
ry
still. One
twitch is all the excuse I need."

Meg could see that the young biologist was strung wire
tight. She caught

Szu-yi
'
s eye across the room
.
The doctor had somehow kept her seat

through Thorn
'
s entrance
,
and now sat
ri
gid.

"Laure
n
!" Thorn
barked
. "
I want Bruce tied
.
Get some
cable."

The tech just blinked dazedly.

"
I knew you
'
d be back
,"
Bruce said quietly.

Meg groaned inwardly. This was not time for one of Bruce's moments in

machoism. "Thorn,"
she said softly. "Let's talk ..."

"No time, Meg. Lauren!
Oh, forget it. Szu
-
yi,
you
tie him, or I'll stun him."

He glared at Bruce
. "
Stunning a man
your
age could be dan
gerous.

Your hea
rt
might not take it."

"
Is that the gun you used on Peter
?"
Bruce drawled.

The expression on Thorn'
s face tu
rn
ed deadly
.
Suddenly Lauren

lurched in front of Bruce
,
but the weatherman only pushed her away
. "

Don't
,
darlin'. He's capable of ..."

"Tell her the truth!" Thorn
roared
. "
You were too damned sma
rt
to kill
Peter yourself
,
but Ùncle Brucie
'
fixed it so Peter would never bother
his li
tt
le girl again
.
After I found Peter, you hoped I was close to
cracking
,
so you sent me out to pick up that camera
.
You wanted me

to find Tesa, too."

Lauren collapsed against Bruce,
moaning
.
Bruce stared over her bowed

head at Thorn
,
his brows furrowed.

"
What camera
?"
Dr. Li asked quietly.

Meg couldn't believe Szu-
yi was going to wor
ry
about invento
ry
now
!

She tried to signal the doctor to drop it. "Scott
'
s camera
," Thorn
barked
. "
I don
'
t have time for this
!
Meg! Szu-yi!"

The doctor hurried to the supply cabinet an
d rummaged for cable
.
Meg

spoke softly
, "
Take it easy, Thorn. We'll tie him." Meg gl
an
ced ne
rv
ously at Bruce
,
who was t
ry
ing to comfo
rt
Lau
re
n
,
mumbling to her,
stroking her hair.

"Hurry
!" Thorn dem
an
ded
. "
Your buddy the Falcon's coming for a
visit
,"
he told Bruce
. "
Deborah, too."

"What?"
Meg
re
acted as though she'd been jolted. "Deborah?"

251

"Yeah
,
they
're
coming with a flock of Aquila to tu
rn
us all
into raptor food."
He glared at Bruce
.
"
You
included, you traitor.
Damn it
,
Szu-yi!"

The doctor
waved the cable and approached Bruce. Lau
re
n had

managed to control her sobs
. "
Szu-yi
,
stop," she gasped brokenly
. "

What did you say?" she asked Thorn.

Suddenly the front door opened. Thorn
dropped, swinging his arm toward

it. Lau
re
n lunged at him, pulling Bruce with her.

"NO!" Szu-
yi screamed as Meg hurled herself across the distance
,

tackling Bruce and Lauren both
,
knocking them down
. Thorn
swung

back and fired
.
The shot went over their heads, hi
tt
ing a sound

barrier
,
blasting a hole in it
.
Lau
re
n was struggling with Bruce
,
sc
re
aming to be let go
.
Meg was trying to untangle herself and grab

Lauren
.
Szu-yi was scrambling for cover
.
Then
,
as quickly as it had
begun
,
eve
ry
thing stopped.

A tall figure
entered the shelter
,
clad in a red and white Ripper skin
,
bearing a
Clovis-
point spear decorated with feathers. The shaggy

animal head shadowed the figure
'
s face.

Meg knew immediately that it was Tesa,
and was tremendously grateful to

Taller for his earlier wa
rn
ing.

Tesa pushed back the animal head.

Laure
n let out a moan and sagged against Bruce. "I'm
sorry,"
she

whimpe
re
d
, "so sorry.
I told them, begged them not to kill you
.
But
they
'
d al
re
ady killed Peter
...
Peter ..." She looked at Meg wildly
. "

What happened to Scott and you was an accident
!
I swear! The Falcon

promised ... no one would be hu
rt
."

Every
one in the shelter stared
,
immobile
,
while Lauren sobbed.

She looked into Bruce'
s face
. "
It was our big chance, Uncle Bruce
,
our
big st
ri
ke
.
They were going to take it all away from us over a bunch of
damned
birds
.
The Falcon
,
and Deb ... they
...
said if we worked it
ri
ght
,
we'd all benefit
...
I just had to put in some equipment
,
transmit some
data, be his contact
...
no big deal ..."

She touched Bruce'
s cheek
. "
I knew if I didn't, there'd be no cities

named after you ... we
'
d never get another chance
like Trinity
. We

couldn
'
t let them take it away." She looked back at Tesa
. "
But they
said no one would get hu
rt.
The Falcon promised
.
Just a bunch of

damned birds
.
I'm so sorry, Tesa,
re
ally, so, so sor
ry
you died
...
and
Peter
,
God, oh, Peter ..."

252

She dissolved into sobs
an
d hiccups
an
d incohe
re
nt babbling. Bruce
patted her hair. He gl
an
ced dazedly at Tesa
,
but then turned to Thorn
.

"
I didn
'
t know about that camera, Thorn. Lau
re
n told me about it. I
re
membered we'd discussed them, that you
'
d said they didn
'
t work ...

Lau
re
n suggested I ask you to
re
trieve the camera
,
so I could t
ry an
d
catch you in that lie. You were p
rett
y glib about it
.
I just knew that
you"--he paused
-' `
you we
re re
sponsible for eve
ry
thing that had
happened
.
Lau
re
n
...
ag
re
ed with me, encouraged me to believe
that
."
He stared at Thorn
,
as though he couldn
'
t think of
an
ything
else to say.

Thorn'
s weapon hung by his side
.
He gazed at Lau
re
n, shock
an
d
disgust mingling on his face.

Szu-yi was
still kneeling under her computer table
,
her eyes ne
rv
ously
da
rt
ing f
ro
m Lau
re
n to the apparition that was Tesa. Meg grappled
with the multiple
re
velations that had been
flung out in these las
t few
minutes
.
The pain she
'
d felt when Deborah had fought her decision to
call the CLS on behalf of the Grus w
as
nothing to the
an
ger
an
d
betrayal she felt toward that wom
an
now
.
But that failed
re
lationship
was the le
as
t of
it.

She glared at Lau
re
n
as
Bruce helped her to her feet, her hea
rt
feeling
as though it would explode in fu
ry
. Befo
re
she
re
alized what she w
as
doing, Meg stalked over to the computer tech
an
d yanked her from the

safe
ty
of B
ru
ce
'
s arms.
"You
killed Scott!"
she growled at the limp wom
an,
shaking her violently.
"You!
You did it. You
killed
him, you killed Dan
cer,
an
d Black Feather
an
d the one hund
re
d fo
rt
y
-
th
re
e intelligent
beings that made up his flock
.
And you killed
Peter. Suka!
Why didn'
t
you just
stab
him when he lay sleeping next to you!"

Laure
n st
ru
ggled to cover her ears
,
then B
ru
ce
an
d Thorn pulled the
two women apa
rt
. Meg sagged as she released Lauren,
an
d nearly fell
against Thorn
.
He gave her a
ro
ugh hug.
"
You all
ri
ght
?"
he asked.

The old woman
took a shudde
ry
breath
. "
Yeah
.
Fine." She gl
an
ced at
Lau
re
n sobbing in B
ru
ce
'
s arms
an
d felt nothing, just
an
aching ti
re
dness
.
Oh, Scott
,
what a mess
!
she thought.

"Can
I t
ru
st you to h
an
dle this
?" Thorn
h
an
ded her a weapon.

She man
aged to focus on it. "Whe
re
'd
you get
this?" He smiled grimly.

"It's 'borrowed.'
C
an
you h
an
dle it?"

253

Meg took it and checked its settings, range, and power pak.

She hadn't handled anything like this in years, but it felt comfortable in her

palm. "Sure, I can handle it."

Thorn walked over to Szu-yi, handing her one of the palmsized devices as

she continued to huddle under the table. "This is a weapon!" the doctor

protested. She touched the small device as though it were a dead skunk.

"This is completely
against ..."
She lifted her eyes to see everyone
staring
at her in exasperation.

"These people are coming to
kill
us," Meg said calmly. "We can't let them destroy everything we've worked for! Scott would never forgive us."

The doctor nodded numbly.

Thorn approached Tesa. "Did you make your deal?" Meg looked at them

questioningly.

"I don't know," Tesa signed. "Rain said she'd talk to her people, but she couldn't make any promises. I can't predict what they'll do. We have to

assume we're on our own. Taller, Weaver, and Sailor are getting the flock to

go to the woods to hide. Only the escort will remain."

"You did the best you could," Thorn consoled her. "Better than I thought possible ... you're
here!"

He handed Tesa a weapon, but she waved it away, lifting
her spear
. "
I'll
be all right."

Thorn looked at her wearily. "You are the
most
...
contrary
woman!" She just grinned weakly.