10. Chapter 10
“I’m not sure what you’re implying, sir,” Major Ozark said stiffly.
“You abandoned your post while helping an unknown enemy combatant steal top secret files and equipment,” General Wahrberger said. “You are hereby ordered to return to the base and surrender yourself to stand trial for treason.”
“That is a malicious misrepresentation of what happened,” Major Ozark replied. “At no time was I complicit with the removal of either the device or myself from the base.”
“Like I said, you look very healthy for someone who was kidnapped,” the General told her. “If you’re innocent of wrongdoing, you will surrender at the closest base to stand trial. If you run, your guilt will be self-evident. Is that clear, Major?”
She gritted her teeth before she bit out, “Yes, sir. Understood, sir.”
“Very good, I’ll have the Commander notified to watch for you,” he said. The screen went blank when the connection was ended.
“That wasn’t the call you were expecting, was it?” Cooper asked.
“No, it wasn’t,” she said. She looked up at him with a frown. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Did you want me to?”
“I mean, showing up in the background with your disguise off might have made some difference to the ‘helped an unknown enemy assault the top secret base’ assumption.”
“Oh, maybe,” he said. “It could also have been used as proof of collusion with an unknown enemy because you didn’t seem to be afraid of me.”
“I’ve never been afraid of you,” she said.
Cooper reached out and ran his hand down her cheek, and she shivered. “I know.”
Marissa closed her eyes and nuzzled her cheek against his hand. They needed a plan, but she just wanted to enjoy the feel of his hand on her skin. “So, what do we do now? We can’t hide in your ship and I really don’t want to go back to a court martial.”
“Clear your name before we get back?” He stepped into her space and put his other arm around her waist.
“I mean, having you confess to kidnapping seems like the best option, but I don’t want to risk having you arrested and tortured. And there’s still the complication that I don’t look like I’ve struggled much. Which I haven’t, really. I’ve actually enjoyed myself a bit.”
“What if I tie you up and roll you around in the dirt to make it look like you struggled?” he said. “Do you think that would help?”
Marissa laughed and leaned against him. “I don’t know. Maybe. Why am I so comfortable around you? I should be mad as hell but I really just want to cuddle.”
“Ah,” he said. “That might be the pair bond at work. I don’t know how it is with your people but it messes with how my brain processes things.”
“How? Give me an example.”
“Well, part of my training involved controlling my reactions and controlling how others reacted to things. Mostly, it kept me from panicking in new situations and allowed me to control how and when other people panicked. Very handy for infiltration work.”
“Sounds like it,” she agreed.
“Well, when a member of a bonded pair is around the person he’d bonded to, he’s less likely to panic in extreme situations, more likely to think clearly when under attack, and highly unlikely to be able to hurt the person he’s bonded to. Causing them pain isn’t even an option. Part of that is because they can now feel any pain their partner is feeling, but not all of it.”
“You said you can control people’s reactions to things,” she said. “Can you control my reactions? Are you manipulating me?”
Cooper squeezed her tight and kissed the top of her head.
“I am the last person you should ask that,” he said. “I’ve made my career out of manipulating people, both with my mind and just in general.”
“So you are manipulating me.”
“I can’t manipulate your emotions,” he told her. “It was the first thing that tipped me off that you were different. The raging hard on where previously I wasn’t functional in that way was the second. So, no, I’m not using our connection to manipulate you.”
“You’re not using your psychic abilities to manipulate me, you mean, but our connection keeps me calmer and less likely to panic.”
“Correct,” he said.
“Alright,” she said. “I can understand that. And I can’t say I’m hating this. I have concerns but I get the feeling that we won’t be able to do anything about them right now.”
“Why’s that?” Cooper asked.
“Because it’s almost sunset,” she said. “And unless you were planning to sneak out under cover of darkness and sneak me onto the base, trussed up with a ransom note for the thing you stole written in your alien language, I think we’re in for the night. Right?”
He nuzzled his cheek against the top of her head and squeezed her again.
“That’s not the worst idea, actually,” he said. “How do you feel about bondage?”
“Not my kink, but if you want me to tie you up, I’m willing to try,” she told him with a grin.
Cooper laughed and the sound thrilled through her. When was the last time she’d enjoyed somebody’s company this much? She knew part of it was that she couldn’t bring herself to hate him or the way he made her feel. But how much of it was just sheer compatibility?
“Not my kink either, actually,” he said. “We’ll have to figure out how to do it together. What kind of ransom note do you think will work?”
“Hmm, I’ll have to think about it,” she said. “Because you want to be clear that you’re willing to give the thing back but you’re willing to keep or destroy it if you don’t get what you want. You’ll have to think about what you want, too.”
“Well, that’s easy enough. I want you.”
“They’re not going to trade an alien device for a human,” Marissa said.
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“I don’t know, it seems like they’ve traded an alien device for several humans, with an option to export more.”
“That wasn’t a trade,” Marissa protested. “They wanted to be there anyway and the communications thing helped them negotiate with the rest of us easier.”
“They might have volunteered, but your government still traded people for a thing. I think I might stand a chance of getting what I really want from this. Maybe I should ask for money, too, or land? Land might be doable.”
“Give me the girl, a million dollars and the dirt my ship is sitting on? Something like that?”
“I think I might be asking for too little. We’ll have to think about it. Are you hungry?”
The change in topic startled her. Marissa took a step back and Cooper let his arms fall from around her. “Oh, I am, actually. I hadn’t thought about food for a while but we haven’t actually eaten today, have we?”
“I certainly haven’t,” he said. “I skipped breakfast to deal with the GPS and the car, and then I had to grab you and run. Did I kidnap you before breakfast?”
She shook her head. “I managed breakfast, but you grabbed me before lunch. We should probably eat.”
Cooper nodded and turned toward the control panel in the kitchenette area. “Make yourself comfortable. I’ll hydrate some rations,” he said.
Marissa looked around and pulled out the chair she’d been sitting in earlier. It was her first chance to actually study the interior of the ship. It was laid out about like the inside of a yurt she’d seen her grandfather build once, with dividers between areas that came out of a central pole.
The outside doors opened into the kitchenette area, with a bench seat that curved along the pole and connected to both dividers, a long table in front of it and two chairs that could be slid under the table with their backs to the wall. Cabinets covered the bottom part of the wall opposite up to counter height. Sleek black control panels sat on top of the cabinets and up the wall until they ended in a bank of screens that went up into what would have been the second story on a human home.
She’d already seen him control the doors from the panels over the cabinets. Now, she watched in fascination as he removed several packets from beneath them and turn one of the control panels into a heating element. One packet unfolded to become a pot that he poured almost an entire bottle of water into and a side popped off into some kind of spoon.
It took more will than she’d expected to look away from him cooking to see more of the ship. She’d already found the bathroom with facilities that emptied into the center of the ship and she suspected his bedroom was through the same divider. The divider she’d been leaning on earlier had an opening that she thought lead to a larger control center. She could see more monitors and what looked like a really comfortable chair.
“I don’t have a lot of spices with me,” Cooper said apologetically. “I’ve been eating out, if you’ll pardon the expression, but these should be edible. Particularly when compared to your MREs.”
Marissa turned her attention back to him and smiled. “I’m sure it will be fine. Do I want to ask what these are?”
“Protein Dinner number three,” he said. “I honestly don’t know what they’re made out of but you should be able to digest them.”
“Do you have other types of dinners? Is there a veggie dinner four, or something?”
“You know, I was issued a bunch of the veggie dinners but there was some kind of mix up and they got left behind when I took off and I ended up with someone else’s protein packs. Damnedest thing, that.”
“Sure,” Marissa laughed. “Clerical error, probably.”
“Probably,” Cooper said with a grin. “It’s for the best, though, the veggies just don’t agree with me. I’ll stick with the protein.”
The fork sticking out of her meal had three tines and a slightly odd shape to the handle but it was obviously a fork and Cooper was holding his the way she was used to so she followed his example and dug in.
She couldn’t tell what color the meat had been originally but the sauce was a vibrant purple with green flecks in it. The texture reminded her of a lamb curry she’d had when she was stationed in India but the spices were nothing she’d ever experienced. Marissa only realized she was moaning her appreciation when Cooper dropped his fork on the table.
Obviously, she’d distracted him more than she’d meant to.
“Do you like it?” he asked once he’d recovered.
“I do,” she said. “And you said these are rations?”
“Oh, yes, better than most but still preserved and packaged to last for years.”
Before Marissa could respond, Cooper’s phone rang next to her hand.