5. Chapter 5
She was here. His mate was here, in his home, almost in his bed!
Well, okay, Major Marissa Ozark was sitting on one of the few chairs that had been designed for something besides working at one of the control stations. And she wasn’t exactly there because she wanted to be. She really didn’t need to know that the bench under the table next to her folded out into a bed. It”s not like he used it for that most of the time, anyway.
Except, she’d walked into his ship under her own power after watching the blast shields shift and unfold to let them in. That was something, right? She hadn’t attacked him again and he hadn’t been forced to use the stabilizer on her. This was progress, right?
If nothing else, that she existed at all was enough for him to reconsider the viability of miracles. Everything else could be worked out. Would be worked out.
“Are you hungry? Thirsty? I’ve got a stock of water bottles and rations if you want anything. Nothing super fancy but we’re hiding in a desert surrounded by people who think hygiene is an abomination. I can work on getting better food I just never expected company.”
“Cooper,” Marissa called from the chair.
“Oh, I grabbed some stuff from the base, too, but it’s not much better. I’ll need to raid a couple of the local markets, I think, if you want something fresh.”
He was nervous. He knew he was nervous and he knew some of it was coming off Marissa but he hadn’t figured out how to block that part yet.
“Cooper, sit down,” she said.
He grabbed a couple bottles of water from the cooler he’d borrowed and turned to his mate. “You never said if you were thirsty,” he said, and held one out to her.
It was colder than he liked, but probably close to what she preferred. His heart had picked up speed since they crossed the threshold to his ship and it was making him uncomfortable.
“I’ll take the water, thank you,” she said. “But you have to sit down and drink it with me. Then we need to talk about what’s going on and what you want from me because I think you’ve got plans that are going to be complicated by having me around.”
She took the bottle of water from him, opened and drank it down without another comment. Humans needed a lot of water. His mental tally of what he had in his ship for her was coming up lacking for a lot of things.
“You say plans like you expect me to have some kind of diabolical plan to take over the planet,” he said with a laugh. “I can assure you, they’re nothing of the kind.”
Marissa shook her head. “You snuck onto a secret base in what is, technically, a war zone to steal an alien device from someone there on a diplomatic mission. And then you used that device to call for a ride home. If you did all of that without a plan, I’m going to have to reassess my assumptions about your intelligence.”
He started pacing. Every instinct he had wanted him to move so he did what he could in the small space. Muscles twitched in his lower back as his body’s memory of limbs he no longer had made him ache with the urge to swing his tail in irritation.
“Okay, first, he wasn’t on the base as part of a diplomatic mission, he was there because shit had gone seriously sideways and then it got weird. Second, I snuck onto two secret bases near a war zone and nobody noticed either time so I think that was pretty good even without a plan.”
“Dammit, Cooper, that’s not what I-”
“And third, I am stranded on an alien planet after something hijacked my guidance system and dumped most of my fuel into space. Of course I’m calling for a ride. I’m just shocked that it only took me six months to find something that would work to make the call.”
He was upset. How was she so calm and he was upset? He never got upset. Not only was getting upset unlikely to help but it was one of the fastest ways he could think of to jeopardize any mission he was a part of.
“And as you were getting away with the alien device, you captured a Marine Major, thus ensuring that your remaining time on this planet is going to be interesting,” she finished for him. “So, if you were going to attempt a painful and difficult suicide, I can’t think of a better way to go about it. If you were trying to lie low until your ride got here, I can guarantee that this is the opposite of a good plan for that.”
Cooper growled. “That wasn’t part of the plan,” he said.
“So why did you do it and what are you going to do next?” She crushed the plastic water bottle between her hands and screwed the lid on.
The crunching sound of the plastic was oddly satisfying and he did the same to the bottle in his hand. Of course, his still had water in it which ended up on the floor of his kitchenette/lounge/work space.
“Dammit,” he cursed. “Stop that.”
“Stop what? Pointing out the flaws in your plan? Asking what you’re going to do about having the very pissed off attention of one of the world’s most advanced militaries on you? Because this is stuff that’s going to be very relevant very soon and you need to think about it.”
“No, stop broadcasting your emotions at me. It makes it hard to think!”
“I’m not broadcasting anything!”
“Yes, you are! Knock it off!”
They were shouting at each other and Cooper realized between deep breaths that they were trying to deflect other emotions into anger.
Marissa was scared. The strong, professional Major Ozark might have been trying to find his weaknesses, but beneath all of it, she was terrified.
So was he.
Because everything she’d said was true and he was suddenly responsible for keeping both of them alive.
He needed a plan. An actual plan that they could both be part of and not just his vague attempt to try and fit in with the locals.
“What do you want?” he asked.
She blinked at him and he knew she wasn’t expecting this approach.
“Isn’t that supposed to be my question?”
“I think I’ve been pretty clear with my overall mission statement. I want to know how it fits in with your personal one. We’re going to be here a while so I thought I might be able to help. So, what is it? Own a farm? Read a hundred books in a year? Go to space in a giant egg? Seriously, I’m willing to help, you just have to tell me what you want.”
She laughed and he grinned. That was the sound that soothed his soul. Whatever else he did, he was going to do his best to keep making her laugh.
“I never thought about going to space in a giant egg but you do seem to have the equipment for that,” she said. “Right now, my stated purpose is to escape and go home. Until I’m able to accomplish that, I would like to learn more about my captor and his people. And what he or they know about what happened to Captain LaGrange.”
“Ah, I should probably do something about the escaping part,” he said and turned to the closest control panel. A quick press on the button started the process to close the blast shields. It also folded a bunch of his work equipment back into the walls, but he didn’t think he’d need it for a while.
The top of the ship closed over them like a high arched dome and everything above his head became translucent.
“How is it still so bright?” she asked.
“I have it set to preserve as much natural light as I can,” he said. “It helps me keep track of time. So, now that there is absolutely no chance of you escaping without my permission, what would you like to do next? I’ll warn you, I’m still pretty light on supplies but I can pick some fresh food up soon.”
“What do you mean by soon? We’re in the middle of the desert.”
“Well, for values of middle, really. We’re actually in the beginnings of the mountains so there’s caves and stuff nearby.”
“Are you planning to forage for stuff in the caves or something?”
“Oh, no, there are people living in the caves. Not officially insurgents, but they’re not exactly nice people, either. So in a day or two I’ll go and borrow one of their vehicles and get what we need from town.”
“What about the truck you stole from the base?”
“It’s not exactly inconspicuous,” he said.
“So you’re going to give it back?”
He gave her a look and knew she’d only asked to be funny.
“I’ll leave them a note with the GPS coordinates that will be delivered after I leave.”
“When do you expect that to be?”
The question made him uncomfortable and he didn’t really want to think about it. He’d have to soon but it could wait. And he could swear he”d already answered this question.
“I don’t know yet. I’m waiting to hear back. It could be a while.”
“What’s a while?”
“A couple days, possible weeks, months on the outside.”
“You will not last keeping me captive for months,” she told him. “I seriously doubt you’ll manage weeks. Possibly days. We’re not far enough away and you haven’t made any demands to allow for my safe return yet.”
“I don’t have any demands,” he said. Well, he did, but his first was that he be allowed to keep her and take her with him when he left. He didn’t think she’d want to hear that just yet, though.
“Then they’re going to assume torture and murder rather than ransom and come after you with everything they’ve got.” She smiled but it was a grim facsimile of the one she”d shown him earlier. ”You don”t get to kidnap a Marine and not pay for it.”
Chills ran down Cooper’s spine and the grim smile on her face told him she knew exactly how nervous he was.
“I’ll just have to convince you to help me, then,” he said. The cheerfulness in his voice was forced, and he didn’t think either of them were fooled.
“I don’t think that’s likely but you’re welcome to try,” she said. “Who knows, you might just be able to convince me to have you captured instead of killed. Well, as long as I’m consulted. They might not ask my opinion.”
“Right, well, until they come bursting through my door to find you, we’ll work on something else, shall we? Like this strange desire you have to become a farmer. I wouldn’t have thought you’d want to do that but since you seem to like to dig, I think it’s a great place for you to start.”
Marissa laughed again.