Lara paused after she wiped the blood from Xaver’s
face to check his pupils for signs of brain bleed. It appeared he only had a concussion, but
without a bio scanner she couldn’t be sure.
She had learned basic Med Tech skills working with her parents at the
Blue Summit Clinic and she was a psionic healer. But the Tregan mental shield
prevented her from healing Xaver.
As she looked at his battered face and torso, she
regretted doubting him. If he were a
Tregan agent, why would they torture him like this? Or would they do it to gain
her sympathy? Were that the case, it was working. But why would they?
“Xaver, wake up!” she commanded and shook his
shoulder. She wanted to make sure he
wasn’t slipping into a coma.
He roused groggily and said, “my boot. Meds in my right boot. Can you get them?”
“Sure.” She went to the end of the bunk and pulled off
both boots and found a secret pocket in his right boot. Inside, there were three plastic cards of med
dots---pain meds, antibiotics and healants.
She took them out, opened each package and pressed one med dot from each
to his forearm.
Within minutes of receiving the pain dot, Xaver let
out a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Lara.
The way I feel, I couldn’t even get my boot off.”
“They beat you up pretty good. You must not have given
the right answers.”
“…Gave them the only answers I had…wasn’t good
enough,” he murmured. “So here I am. At
least the drugs are helping.”
“Good. You get some rest. As far as I can see your injuries are more
painful than serious. You should feel
better in a few days with the meds.” He was trying to fight it, but his eyes
lids closed and he drifted into sleep again.
Unable to help herself, Lara reached over and gently
pushed his hair back from his forehead. In her mind she saw him as he looked
before the abuse and felt a twinge of attraction. What was she thinking? How
could she be attracted to a man she wasn’t sure she could trust? Bad idea. And
how could she ever trust him when his mind was completely closed to her?
Lara watched him sleep for a while, then she went back
to the entertainment console. There was nothing else to do until they brought
food again. At least she hoped they
would bring food because she was getting hungry again. Meanwhile, she watched a
couple hours more of holo-dramas.
If Xaver was right, this would be their routine for
the next two months. A sudden thought
made her shudder. What if they decided
to interrogate her in the same violent manner as they had done Xaver? What could they want from her? She couldn’t
tell them what she didn’t know. Or maybe they would wait until they got to
Earth and dissect her like a lab animal to learn all the secrets of her DNA.
She fervently hoped that Xaver was telling the truth
about being a Federation agent. At this
point, he was her only hope of getting out of this mess. Otherwise, she would need to escape on her
own and get word to her honorary Uncle Delmran. That would be all that was
needed to have hundreds of Federation agents on Earth. Delmran wouldn’t wait to get there himself.
Oltarin was six months out.
An auto cart entered the brig about two hours later
bearing food for both Xaver and her. It was similar to what she had eaten
earlier but smelled like different flavors of protein sticks and soup. Again, there were no utensils. She decided to
rouse Xaver because she doubted the Tregans fed him before or after they
tortured him.
“Xaver, they brought food. Are you hungry?”
“Mmmhmmm, but not for that slop.”
“Better eat it anyway,” she told him. “It’s not awful,
just not great.”
Xaver sat up slowly with a grunt of pain as Lara set a
bowl of the thick soup and small plate of protein bars on the table in front of
him. She put her food on the table and
sat in the chair across from him.
“Has the pain subsided any?”
“Some.” He picked up one of the protein bars and took
a bite, chewing carefully with his sore jaws.
“Do you think they will come for me next?” Lara asked
then bit into one of her protein bars.
“Not a chance, baby.
The echelon will have them executed if they hurt you.” Xaver assured
her. “Good thing because without
weapons, I couldn’t protect you from them all.”
“Yeah, it is a good thing. You look like you needed someone to protect
you.” She gave him a teasing smirk.
“I’m pretty good in a fight when not bound hands and
feet and hung from the ceiling. I think they were just bored. Those brutes seemed like they were having a
good time.” He paused to sip some of the
warm soup from his bowl.
“No doubt. My
parents would certainly vouch for that. They always said Tregans were happiest
when they were hurting people.” Lara asserted.
“Don’t lump me into that category. Those beasts were conditioned to be cruel and
ruthless,” he said. “I am only half
Tregan and my mother raised me to be one of the good guys.”
“That remains to be seen.” Lara eyed him skeptically.
“I don’t blame you for doubting me under the
circumstances. I would have tried to prevent your kidnapping, but I wasn’t
allowed groundside at Velran. You think
I look bad now…you don’t question Tregan superiors or offer your opinion unless
asked.”
Lara could believe that.
They finished eating in silence, then Lara returned
the dishes to the autocart which retreated through the doorway as it opened
automatically.
“This is perhaps a delicate subject, but we need to
discuss sleeping arrangements since there is only one bunk,” he said carefully.
She laughed.
“How convenient for you.”
“Well, do you want to sleep on the floor? I don’t.”
“No, and I think it would be painful for you if you
did. We can share. What’s the worst that
can happen?”
“We could get to know each other much better.” He
grinned faintly and winced at the pain it caused his split lip. The light in
his eyes told her he was at least half serious.
She frowned as the possibility sent a frisson of desire reverberating between her female parts. The man was just too sexy for her own good. She
could easily succumb to his charms if he pushed it. But he was probably too sore to make any
moves for at least a few nights.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart. If you’re not willing, you have no worries.”
“That remains to be seen.”
“I guess it does.” He said quietly.
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