“I don’t think we need to worry about Taber.” Haylie’s voiced sounded otherworldly.
It was going to take a lot of getting used to, having her being able to sense his thoughts.
“What do you mean?”
“He must have put two and two together somehow. He gave us an excuse to be together tonight, knowing what would happen.”
“I trust him with my life. But Taber has always been a man who believes in the letter of the law, not the spirit. By all rights, he should have reported us to the council.”
Haylie moved against him. “Perhaps he would rather see his friend happy than forced to give everything up?”
Kamran chuckled and kissed the top of her head. “Let’s hope so.”
Another puzzle for another time. His thoughts were quickly consumed by a peaceful slumber. With Haylie in his arms, her thoughts and feelings intertwined with his, he found contentment like he’d never known before.
When the intercom chimed, he hadn’t even realized he’d been asleep. Haylie miraculously hadn’t woken and he took great pains to slip from the bed without waking her.
It only took a moment for him to slip on his tunic and right his hair.
“This is Ambassador Kamran.” His voice was surprisingly smooth despite the exhaustion he was feeling at the moment. If only he could climb back in bed…
When Councilwoman Tia’s face appeared before him, Kamran immediately knew there was trouble. He adjusted his stance so there was no way she’d be able to see his bed, or the fact it wasn’t empty.
88
“Ambassador? I’m sorry to disturb you at such a late hour.” Her voice was strained and held a slight edge.
“No apologies necessary, Councilwoman. What can I do to help?”
“I’m afraid we have a problem. Our envoy to the Ecada home world sent a partial transmission. Only a portion of the message managed to get through to us, which was quite disturbing. I have my opinion as to what this means, but the council wanted to get your opinion as well. You know these beasts better than any of us.”
“Of course, Councilwoman.”
“Oh, and bring me some of that human coffee. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long night.”
“I will.” He smiled.
“Thank you.”
The screen blacked out and Kamran started to scramble.
“What’s wrong?” Haylie’s sleepy voice floated from his bed.
“Nothing to concern yourself with. I have to attend a meeting.”
“Meeting? It’s past midnight…” She pulled back the blanket, revealing her rounded breasts.
He almost fell back into bed with her. Almost.
“I know. Councilwoman Tia thinks we may have a problem. I need to check a transmission that was sent to the council.”
“Do you need help? I can get dressed.”
“It may be nothing. I’ll let you know if it’s something serious. Go back to sleep.”
Haylie’s head flopped back on the pillow. “Okay.”
“Rest. I’ll see you a bit later.”
He assumed the muffled noise emanating from her was her agreement.
It took his eyes several minutes to adjust to the harsh glare of the hallway lighting.
As a result, he didn’t notice Taber right away.
“She’s sleeping. It was a very long day for her in front of the computer.”
His friend had the decency not to laugh. “Would you like me to stay here and wait for her, or accompany you?”
“Please stay with her. I’m on my way to meet with Tia. It would be noticed if you were to accompany me.”
“Be careful tonight, Ambassador. I’ve heard rumors in the past few days. There is something strange taking shape here.”
Kamran felt his stomach tighten. Taber wasn’t an alarmist. “If that’s the case,” he nodded toward the room, “keep close watch.”
“No one will get near her.”
89
The promise of a Briellian protectorate was unbreakable. Taber slipped back into the shadows as Kamran made his way to his meeting.
There were even fewer people around than normal this evening as he made his way to the opposite end of the station. Even the human coffee vendor had disappeared.
Councilwoman Tia would have to suffer without her beverage.
As Kamran turned the corner close to the meeting room Tia opened the door and stood in the opening.
“Thank you for coming as such a late hour, Ambassador.”
Kamran slowed his approach when something caught his attention. A movement from the darkness.
“Is everything all right?”
“A moment, Councilwoman.”
He’d caught sight of someone turn the corner to an adjacent hallway. The human guards who normally held post in this area were absent.
“Hello?” He called and began to make his way toward where the man had gone.
The last thing they needed was trouble from some of the human miners. His short pursuit left him empty-handed and he turned to make his way back to the meeting.
Kamran saw the flash of light as he turned. His brain didn’t register what had happened until the blast of burning air from the explosion threw him to the ground.
90
Haylie bolted from the bed and stood shaking in the room. The smells of burning wire and melting plastic were everywhere. Bile rose in her throat and she swallowed down the sick taste. Why the hell were her ears ringing?
She shook her head several times, trying to clear away the numbing sensation in her neck. That was some dream she’d had. Or else she’d slept funny. Or both. But even as she thought it, she knew it was more than a dream.
The door chime sounded, cutting through the other noises in her head. It took a minute, but she managed to find her jumpsuit and squeeze it back on. Without thinking, she ran to the door and opened it.
“What?”
“Did you check to see who it was before you opened the door?” Taber barked at her.
Her brain kicked into gear. “I forgot I wasn’t home. What’s wrong?”
“There’s been an explosion. The Ambassador—”
Explosion
. She tried to reach out to Kamran using their strange new connection. But she couldn’t. She swallowed a lump in her throat and put her hands on her hips.
“Where is he?”
“My men are looking for him, don’t worry. I need to see that you get back to your room safely.”
Haylie’s mind kicked into security mode. A loud dismissive grunt escaped her, as she pushed past him and she stalked down the hall. “Like hell. I need to get to the scene.”
It only took Taber a moment to catch her. “Ms. Bond, you can’t do that. Humans shouldn’t be in this section of the station at this time of night. It would raise suspicions if people saw you leave here.”
She didn’t pause. “A few hours ago, you didn’t seem to have a problem with it.”
“A few hours ago, most of the station wasn’t on high alert. Many have been injured or killed. I need to get you to safety and get back to the scene quickly.” As he spoke, Taber moved Haylie down the hall.
But once she got into the junction of the corridor, Haylie stopped. She didn’t need Taber to tell her where Kamran was. A large crowd of people were being held back from a corridor on the other side of the bazaar. Large blast doors had been secured preventing further onlookers from getting close to the crime scene. At least something was working properly.
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“I’m the security chief on this station. And while the Briel people are your main priority, this station’s wellbeing is mine. It would look strange if I wasn’t there.”
He lightly touched her arm. Not enough to stop her, but simply to catch her attention. “I promised him I’d keep you safe.”
“You should have promised to keep him safe!” she snapped.
Much to his credit, Taber didn’t back down.
“I promised,” he said simply.
She wanted to scream at him, but Haylie knew it wasn’t his fault. When she really looked at him, she could see the worry and concern for his friend. His conflicting emotions between wanting to keep his promise and needing to find Kamran. Haylie knew exactly how he felt.
“Fine, you can keep me safe at the explosion site.” When he didn’t move, she added, “How would you feel if someone wouldn’t let you do your job?”
He stared at her long and hard before releasing her arm.
The two proceeded through the throng of people. Many patrons from the bars two corridors down were standing around with their drinks, trying to catch a glimpse of the carnage.
Sick bastards!
Haylie had to push and yell at people to make a path large enough for them to pass. It was only once she was on the other side that the horror of the scene hit her.
She knew there was supposed to be a large meeting room at the end of the corridor.
Instead, blasted metal and acrylic plastic were strewn about the hallway. Blast marks scorched the once-gray walls, leaving the telltale signs of where the bomb had gone off.
In some sort of perverted way, the design it left could be considered beautiful if it wasn’t the harbinger of the current destruction. Haylie tried to force herself to look at the scene analytically and keep to the professional detachment she’d cultivated over years of experience. This wasn’t her first bombing and not the messiest by far. But as she moved deeper into the destruction her heart began to race.
Once again, the stench of burning wire struck her. The room’s fire suppression system had kicked in and quickly doused the fire in thick foam. What fire it hadn’t been able to stop, the emergency personnel did. Now all that was left was to sift through the pieces and try to figure out what was what.
An explosion of sparks from a live wire cascaded down over her from the ceiling and Taber quickly yanked her out of the way. Dread squeezed the air from her. No one could have survived this. The force of the blast had ripped the metal piping from the ceiling. It now dangled from weakened cables, dangerously close to the rescue personnel. She turned to see bodies or parts of bodies being brought out from what was left of the conference room.
“The medics have only been here a short time. They wouldn’t have found everyone yet.” Taber ground out angrily. She felt his frustration.
92
“I only see Briel security. Where the hell are my people?” Haylie moved to the computer panel in the hallway and hooked into the security grid. Thankfully, it hadn’t been damaged. “All security personnel, report to junction 43-B. This is not a drill.” The claxon immediately began to sound, creating another flurry of activity.
Haylie didn’t wait. She shut down her emotions and waded into the carnage.
Mentally, she went through the procedure manual, trying to think of only the basics.
Look for anything that might resemble a bomb. A lot can be learned about the maker from examining the device. Look for a point of origin. Where the device was placed can give an indication of size. She turned back to the blast marks on the wall and tried to trace them back. Her vision blurred and she realized tears filled her eyes. She brushed them away and prayed no one noticed.
Maybe he wasn’t in here.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she prayed and prayed hard that he wasn’t.
Eight disheveled human guards finally arrived, some of them still half dressed in EV suits. The oldest, a woman in her thirties, spoke. “Sorry, Chief. Ten of us were dispatched to a disturbance out at the mine. It turned out to be a false alarm, but it took us a while to get back.”
Haylie’s temper flashed. Who the hell was messing with her crew? “And the others?”
“They’ve just gotten off a double shift.”
“They need to rest, then. With the Briel here, we should be able to handle things for now.” Haylie proceeded to give orders, spreading her people as thin as they could go.
“Haylie!”
Sara’s voice caught her attention. When her friend reached her, Haylie could see she was covered in soot and blood.
“You’re not bleeding, are you?” Haylie asked in a flash. She couldn’t handle it if Sara had been hurt by this too.
“No. This,” she indicated her stained suit, “isn’t mine. Are
you
okay?”
Haylie felt her insides quiver, but she’d never let her concern outwardly show. “I’m fine, but Kamran is missing.”
Sara’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, hon. I’m sorry.”
“He’s not dead. I’d know if he was. But he’s hurt somewhere.”
Sara gave her head a shake, “What do you mean?”
“Later. Right now we need to find him.”
“We will,” Sara said and gave Haylie a squeeze.
Sara was called away by one of the doctors, leaving Haylie to search on her own.
The scene was devastating, and Haylie knew there was little hope of finding anyone alive. The bodies pulled from the room were twisted and disfigured. She wouldn’t recognize Kamran’s body if he was in there. It wasn’t until she was halfway to the meeting room that she saw the adjoining hallway. The destruction carried down there 93
as well, bits of the wall had fallen, blocking most of the hall. She was about to walk past, to deal with the mess a bit later when something that didn’t look quite right caught her attention. She squinted trying to force her eyes to adjust to the dim light. Suddenly she realized what she was seeing.
A leg.
“Medic!” she yelled as she bolted through the destruction. It took her a minute to climb over the heated beam that blocked her passage. Her hands burned as she leveraged herself over the hot metal. When she landed she was suddenly overwhelmed by what she saw.
Kamran was lying unconscious on the cold marble floor. Metal and plastic covered parts of his body. Somehow she managed to pull a heavy metal sheet from his chest.
She dropped to her knees, placed her cheek above his mouth and looked at his chest.
Haylie held her breath and watched, praying to see his chest rise, to feel the slightest tickle of breath against her skin. Her entire world focused down, her eyes searching for the slightest hint of life. Finally, a light caress of air against her and the slightest movement sent her heart soaring. She cried out with relief before she was shoved out of the way by a medic, who moved to Kamran and slid a plastic mask over his mouth and nose.
Haylie choked back the tears when she saw a light fog condense along the inside of the mask.
Sara was at her side. “Haylie, hon, you have to move.”
“I told you he was fine,” she said, barely recognizing her own voice.
“Yes, yes, you did. But you have to go now.”
“I had to find him.” Her voice was shaky and she was forced to swallow several times.
“And you did. But there are other people who need your help now. I’ll make sure you can see him later in the med bay.” With a firm grasp, Sara led Haylie from the crowd before taking off to get Kamran to the med bay. Haylie tried to reach out to him again but she was met with a black haze, blocking their connection. One of her men called to her yanking her attention back to the carnage before her. She dove into the mess with more determination than before.
The next few hours flew by for Haylie. She tried to turn off her mind and concentrate on the scene in front of her. Sara and the medical team drifted back and forth over the next few hours with the remains of the victims, finding no other survivors. Haylie started to follow at one point, wanting to see if there was any news about Kamran but was caught by her team. She had her own investigation to conduct.
Personal feelings would have to wait.
The remainder of her security staff arrived after getting word of what had happened. As a group they began to wading through the rubble of the meeting room, picking out clues to what had happened.
“Chief?” It was the female lieutenant from earlier.
94
“Yes, Sweeney?”
“We’ve found parts of the bomb, but it’s going to be a nightmare to find the rest in this mess.”
The woman looked exhausted. Haylie felt drained. Shit, how long had they been at it? A quick glance at the rest of her team and she saw they weren’t the only two.
“This is crazy. Things are going to get missed.” Haylie’s head hurt. God, she hoped Kamran was okay.
Sweeny smiled and lightly squeezed Haylie’s arm. “We’ll get the job done. Not a great first few days for you, Chief.”
Had it only been two days? Haylie sighed. “I’d like to say I’ve had worse starts, but I’d be lying.”
“We appreciate you being out here with the rest of us,” the other woman nodded and was joined by a few others.
As much as she wanted to find the people responsible for hurting Kamran, she couldn’t put her team’s wellbeing at risk. They’d all had enough.
“I need two volunteers to stay on and keep watch over the area. Nothing but guard duty,” Haylie announced. Every face turned with a glimmer of hope at the prospect of sleep.
“We can look after that, Ms. Bond.” It was Taber.
She wanted to immediately jump at the offer, knowing it would mean her people would have the first opportunity for a real break in days. But there was too much at stake to accept it blindly.
“This is a human investigation. I know your people were the targets, but I want to ensure an impartial inquiry.” Haylie was a good judge of character. But she still didn’t know what to make of her Briel counterpart. “I don’t want anything to jeopardize this, Taber. Least of all the suggestion of Briel tampering with the crime scene.”
“You know we would never do that.”
“I do. But whoever did this must have supporters on the station. Let’s not fuel their suspicions.”
“Chief, I can stay with them.” One of her team spoke up.
“Are you sure, Ryans?” She felt silent relief.
“Yes, ma’am. I have been off shift for a while now. I’ll stay with the Briel guards.”
“Excellent. Everyone else, this is a direct order to go to bed. Those on Delta shift, I expect to see you back here at oh-seven-hundred. Alpha shift, you man your normal posts. Any questions?”
“What happened?”
Haylie spun to see Administrator Donaldson standing in the doorway. His eyes were wide, like a child who’s woken too soon and doesn’t know where he is.
“Administrator, you shouldn’t be here. It’s not safe.”
95
“What happened?” His voice was soft, trembling. It sounded nothing like the man who’d grilled her earlier that day.