Chapter 23
“They like her, for some reason.” Linao leaned back on the bed, looking at the now-closed door.
Ethan agreed with her, but wondered why she thought so. “What makes you say that?” he asked.
“They push and pull you, they show absolute dislike for me, but she gets space and they don’t hover over her with a laz close to her head. They think she’s safe.” Linao glanced at him. “You must have noticed.”
“Maybe.” He hoped so. Otherwise he would lose his mind a little at what could be happening to her.
“What did they do to Ritter back on the ore runner? They dragged him out of the mess and when he came back in with you, he looked shaken.” Linao was sitting a little straighter now, and Ethan lowered himself onto the bunk.
“They made him put a silver ball in his palm and then take it out.” He couldn’t think of a reason not to tell her.
“They have the silver balls.” She seemed shocked. “They knew about them?”
“They did. They pulled us out of our cell to question us about them, then called Ritter in.” Ethan realized the Caruso may actually not have known specifically about them until they’d gone to the med bay, but he didn’t correct himself.
“They would have found them in the med bay,” Linao said at last. “Of course they would have searched the ship.” She shook her head. “What did Ritter tell them, other than Sylvester wanted them brought to him?”
“That he didn’t think they worked.” Ethan could see she was still furious at Ritter for speaking about Sylvester. The scientist had better hope he never came face to face with her again.
“That’s something, at least.” She blew out a breath and shook her head. “Did they take the silver balls with them when they stole the runner? I was pretty out of it in the loading bay.”
Ethan had seen them carrying the box with the balls in it onto the runner, but whether it had survived the ramming, or whatever had happened, he had no idea. He made a non-committal noise and lay down on the bunk, hands behind his head.
“The Caruso have invested a lot in us. In partnering with us.” Linao spoke almost to herself, and Ethan wondered if she even realized she was speaking aloud. “They’ll be careful with me.”
Ethan wasn’t so sure, but he kept quiet. He hoped for her sake she was right.
The door suddenly opened, and Velda stepped back inside.
He shot to his feet, and the Caruso guard lifted his laz.
“Stay.” He pointed at Ethan, then made a come-here gesture to Linao. “You next.”
Linao stumbled to the doorway, still pretending to be off-center after being shot, although Ethan thought that play might be wearing a little thin.
The door closed behind her and he turned to focus all his attention on Velda. “All right?”
She stepped into his arms, murmured into his ear. “Fine. No problem.” She glanced at the door. “I hope Linao has it as easy.”
“But you don’t think so?” Ethan asked.
She shook her head. “The bulk of their questions were about her, with a few thrown in about the silver balls. They’ll use us in some deal with Aponi, I’m pretty sure, but I don’t think they plan to harm us.”
But she thought there was a chance they’d harm Linao.
The door opened again.
The Caruso guard pointed at Velda, although Ethan had assumed it was his turn, and had stepped forward.
“Her.” The guard jabbed his finger.
Velda sidled around him, her hand brushing his back in a soothing gesture that did not soothe him at all.
Danger, the voices in his head said.
And what can I do about it? he asked back.
They were silent as Velda turned to him as she reached the door, sent him a worried look.
Then the door whisked shut and he turned toward the wall, thinking very seriously about hitting it.
You’ll do too much damage, the voices warned. Let’s not give secrets away.
He forced himself to breathe it out, and to sit back down on the bunk. It was without a doubt the hardest thing he’d ever had to do.
Velda worried about Ethan as she was marched back down the same passage. He looked ready to revolt, and he would only have lost that round, what with a huge laz pointed straight at him.
They would get out of this—she was sure there was a way—but it wouldn’t be by directly assaulting armed guards.
At least he’d reined it in at the last moment.
Which meant she could focus on why she was being taken back for talks, when Linao wasn’t back yet.
She felt a chill raise the hairs on the back of her neck as she considered what that might mean, and what they might be doing to Linao.
Sure, the woman had taunted her and Ethan with death, but she wasn’t Linao, she was better than that, and she didn’t wish anything terrible on the Cores operative.
The door to the same room she’d been in before opened up, and there was Linao, sitting on the chair she hadn’t used for her own interview, looking pissed off.
And this didn’t look like an interview, she realized, which is exactly what her little meeting had been. This was an interrogation.
“She says you can confirm the identity of who was in our ship before it was destroyed.” Mr. Black came straight to the point.
Velda blinked. “The Caruson soldier who seemed to be in charge on the Cores ore runner showed me an image of a woman inside what looked like a cargo ship, and asked me if I knew who the person was.”
“When was this?” Uniform asked.
“Just before we boarded the small runner.” She had assumed the guard had received the image from the warship, had been in communication with them about it, but if that was true, perhaps he hadn’t had time to relay the outcome of the questioning. And now he was either dead or dying.
“And were you able to?” Mr. Black asked.
“Yes. It was very upsetting to me, because I think I know the person, and I understand the ship was destroyed moments later, so, if it is my friend, she is likely dead.” Velda hadn’t even had time to process that yet. Too much was happening all at once.
“Who do you think it was?” Mr. Black asked.
“A Special Forces consultant, Wren Thorakis.” Velda hoped there was some mistake. Any life lost was a tragedy, but if it was Wren in that ship, she hoped there was a chance she hadn’t died in the explosion.
“What is her role?” Uniform asked. “How would she have come to be on our ship?”
Velda shook her head. “I have no idea. She’s an artifacts consultant, and she only just transferred to Demeter.
She hadn’t been in the Special Forces unit for more than a few days when that image was taken.
” That was all true, but Velda knew there was more to Wren than met the eye.
Still, she really didn’t know how she could have been inside that Caruson ship.
It was a mystery. And maybe it just wasn’t her at all.
Her gaze clashed with Linao’s, and Linao lifted her brows in a way that said she knew Velda was bullshitting, and suddenly a light went on in Velda’s head.
Wren Thorakis had found an ancestral wreck on Ytla.
The Cores had found one on Garmen.
There was something . . . extra . . . about Wren. Something she hadn’t been able to put her finger on.
Would someone think the same after meeting her, now, too?
After meeting Ethan?
Because it suddenly occurred to her that the reason Wren had been able to survive being chased by a violent cult in a massive storm on Ytla might be the same as her own newfound difference.
Wren had come across some silver balls.
She wondered suddenly if the silver balls could change someone’s appearance at will.
She dropped her gaze from Linao, turning to look at Uniform.
He was leaning against the wall, but his gaze was on Linao, not her.
Which was a relief.
Mr. Black was standing near Linao, arms crossed over his chest.
“I told you,” Linao said, tipped her head back to look at Mr. Black. “I was in prison when your ship was destroyed. I had nothing to do with it.”
“So you admit you’re Linao, now?” Mr. Black asked. “Because before, you told our people you weren’t her.”
“Fine.” Linao blew out a breath. “I lied, because I’d been told you were gunning for me. It was self-protection.”
“Who told you that?” Uniform asked.
“The crew onboard the Cores ship.” Linao sounded bitter. “They said it was mentioned when they contacted your lot about delivering the ore.”
The two Caruson shared a look, and Velda guessed whoever had spoken out of turn would feel the consequences.
Linao seemed happy, even eager, to admit to her identity now, and Velda recalled what Ethan had said before the Caruson had come to fetch her again.
That Linao thought coming clean might be of more use to her in getting her free, in the name of the alliance between the Cores and the Caruso, than not.
There was a ping of sound from the door, and Mr. Black turned, face a mask of annoyance, and called out.
A guard murmured something in Caruson, and both Black and Uniform straightened up.
Black answered back, and then turned to Velda. “You can go back to the cell.”
Linao stirred in her seat, but Black turned back to her. “Not you. Your father is calling. I’m sure he’ll want to speak to you.”
Her father?
Velda pondered that as she was walked back down the passage. Could that be the mysterious Sylvester? The reason why Linao always caught every break going?
No wonder the Caruso had decided it was worth it to hang onto her.
Linao was the perfect hostage.