CHAPTER FOUR
Ari
“If we use their communications devices, we can locate the ships tracking us.” I pointed at the screen. “Tommy Sandler, one of Paloma’s husbands, he designed them, and he knows their weaknesses. Even the ships’ captains don’t know the weaknesses the way that Tommy does. So if you enter this code”—I typed in the passcode granting me access to the Sandler comm databases—“then you send your information with the destination coded on the end, the enemy ship will actually send the message for you.”
Sterling crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s brilliant but also incredibly stupid. Why would he put into circulation a communication array with that kind of flaw in it?”
“There is a certain amount of Sandler bravado that, until recently, Tommy suffered from. The general idea was that no one was smarter than they are and that nothing could beat them. That changed. He never anticipated anyone would get this good to be able to crack his code. And, to be honest, if he hadn’t turned on his father to save his brother and then fallen in love with Paloma, we would not have cracked it. Even my uncle Wes hadn’t figured it out.”
Judge cleared his throat. “Betcha I would have figured it out.”
I grinned at him. “I’m sure you would have.”
A beep sounded, and I pulled up the screen. Dr. Ari Bennett stared back at me from the screen. “Diana … how are you doing, honey?”
I didn’t have to turn around to know every one of my husbands had tensed at the use of the word honey. Ari was like that … every woman he meant was “honey” and “baby.” I might have wanted to kick his ass if he hadn’t saved my life when I woke from stasis and wanted to die. His brand of psychiatry wasn’t for everyone, but it had worked for me. From what I understood, he’d saved Paloma, too. He brought down my guard with his easygoing joking and then saw right through every wall I put up.
“Ari.” I waved my finger in the universally understood movement for no. “Now, now, I wouldn’t want to have to tell Dane on you.”
Ari’s way of talking to women was very Sandler Cartel-esque. He was some kind of cousin to the Sandlers. But he’d left Sandler years before anyone else had defected. I’d come to appreciate his friendship. That was, however, all it was.
He grinned. “All right now. So, I heard from Commander Melissa that your husbands are on our side of the galaxy. I assume that’s why they’re all looking at me like they want to kill me. I know that look. I get it from your father and your uncles and, recently, even from my Sandler friends, too. Here is the deal.” His eyes hardened, and he was suddenly all business. “We took a look at the satellites. Whoever is flying that shuttle is good, but we’re better. Using the Sandler ships, I got a better look than they’d wanted us to. It’s one of the elite fighters, meaning you are dealing with a very smart pilot.”
Behind me, Sterling tensed even further. He was going to give himself a headache if he wasn’t careful. He spoke through clenched teeth. “Are we at risk right this second?”
“Not likely.” Ari shook his head. “They seem to be watching you just to watch at the moment. Artemis is an old ship. We don’t believe they know Diana is on it. They’d be much more aggressive if they did. Getting Lady D would still be a coup for them. So they’re tailing you. Who’s on Artemis? Who did we give the ship to? Where did it come from?”
I crossed my arms. Discussing Sandler’s preoccupation with getting “Lady D”—their term for me, not my own—wasn’t my favorite subject. “Recommendation?”
“Your mother wants you to come here. Lugers’ Station. You’re going to pick me up. They’ll expose themselves there. We can take them down on the station, tow the ship. Then onto location Bravo where your family is. Assuming your husbands know how to fire a weapon.”
Before my guys could answer and start a pissing contest, I finished the conversation. “Thanks Ari. See you there.”
“Before I get into how aggravating that man is, can we talk about the rest of it? How much danger are you in?” It shocked me that Lewis spoke first, but the strong set of his jaw indicated how dead serious he was about having this conversation right here and now.
“That’s a complicated topic. On the station, I was pretty safe. If they’d ever been able to get me there, they never would have shoved me through a black hole. The problems with the Station, well the problems as far as Sandler was concerned, was my family was there and it turns out a lot of people who hate Garrison Sandler—like Ari—were also there. No one was taking me. At least not yet. They were starting to make headway. They blew up the promenade a year ago”
Damian nodded. “Okay, then one of us is on you the whole time. Even on the ship. I’m going to make sure every security system is up to par.”
“Right.” Sterling sat down in the Captain’s chair. “In the meantime, I’m going to study how this guy moves. Maybe I can give him the impression we’re amateurish and uninteresting.”
Judge walked backwards toward the door. “I’m going to go look at Artemis’ armor. It’s really good, but I can make it better.”
Cash crooked his finger at me. “Come with me, Boo. Lewis and I want to look at your arm. The Zombie spot. We both woke up thinking about it. Some ideas so you don’t have to keep getting poked every Monday.”
“When did the two of you even get to talk about it?” I walked toward them. If they wanted to make my shots stop, they could have at it.
Lewis took my hand, squeezing my fingers. “In the hallway. On the walk here.”
The whole ten seconds they’d been together?
Ten minutes later, I was seated in a chair in the medical lab. A bright light shined down on my arm. They both stared at the unhealed spot on my arm while the computer read out data.
I cleared my throat. “This is very reminiscent. The first day I woke, Lewis shined a light in my eyes.”
Cash raised his eyes to look at me and raised his eyebrows. “Sshh. We’re thinking”
I closed my mouth. For about half a second. “Since when do you need quiet to think?”
“Since we’re talking about you and your skin and I’m not going to screw it up,” Lewis answered for Cash. “So hush, Doll. And let me see what the hell your uncle did to save you that I could never have done.” He touched the skin lightly with his hand, running his finger over it. I looked away. There was nothing worse than my area of dead skin.
“Ah.” I took a deep breath, looking down at the floor. “My uncle used your formulas, the ones that temporarily brought back the hands on the Zombies. It has to be constantly administered.”
Lewis tapped my chin and made me look to meet his eyes. “It does. I agree. But not with all those shots.”
Cash rocked back on his feet. “You’re thinking constant IV?”
“Bingo.”
I didn’t follow them at all. “Will it hurt? Whatever you’re proposing?”
“No.” They both answered at the same time.
“Give us a day to get it ready,” Cash finally finished. “You may never have to deal with another shot again, at least not there.”
I took a deep breath. No more shots into that part of my skin? Ever? “I keep thinking I might wake up and you’ll all be gone. This will be a dream. I wake on the station. I’ll meet my parents on the ship, and you’ll still be over there on the other side of the universe having a life without me.”
My statement earned me a hug from both of them at the same time. It was Lewis who spoke. “There would have been no life. Just endless years. And we’re real. If you need another night like last night we can do that again to prove it again.”
I grinned into his shoulder while Cash rubbed my back. “Another night like last night and I might never walk again.”
Cash snorted. “Then we did our job right. All right, look, I’m on this now. I need to get it started. I’ve got to make the pump. Micro design. I’m going to talk to Judge.”
He had a bounce to his step. I almost laughed. Cash got really excited by micro design. It had to be my least favorite part of keeping up a ship. I much preferred the ability to use my hands and to be able to see with my own eyes what I worked on.
Lewis hadn’t let go of me yet, and since I was sure there were a million small things for me to fix on Artemis, I moved out of his arms gently. Judge was great but he didn’t care about the small systems. Of course he’d had years on Artemis. Maybe he’d kept it really clean.
“Years ago, before I went to Evander.” Lewis’ voice was low. I raised my eyes to look him in the eyes. “When I lived in the house for the unwanted on Ochoa.”
I hated thinking about his early years, when he’d been found wandering around on the streets. He’d been alone as a toddler. He’d never recalled a single thing about his family or what had happened to him. If he hadn’t been brilliant, his future would have been something quite different.
I kissed his neck. “Go on.”
“I was a kid. Too young to think about things like love and marriage. Besides, it’s very clear to any street kid on Ochoa that there isn’t a woman waiting for him.” His voice shook and he looked away. “Well, you’re a miracle from across the universe. When I was about five, I followed this couple down the street. They were holding hands. She laughed at something he said. I thought she was beautiful. I wanted her to take me home and be my mother. Of course, they never saw me or paid attention. Street rats were all over Ochoa.”
I pressed my head against his chest to stop myself from crying. He was here. He hadn’t died on the street as a child. “Why are you thinking about her now?”
“You said you thought you were going to wake up and be alone. I wake every morning and wonder if I’m still on that street, desperate for someone to love me. Doll, if I ever love you too hard, too much, or I need you more than you can tolerate, please tell me. I lived for a few months in a universe where you were dead. I can’t do that again. Okay? Am I—”
I kissed him on the mouth, stopping him mid-sentence. I don’t know how I knew he needed it, but he did. Lewis didn’t press for more, which was good because I wasn’t certain I could actually follow through on anything heavier than kissing. I hadn’t rested very much, and I was sore in places I hadn’t known I could be.
But Lewis was warm, he was here, he was mine, and he needed me. Finally, he stopped, running his hands down my arms gently. “When I meet your Uncle Dane, I’m going to offer to do anything he wants for the rest of my life. A big, giant thank you.”
“He’ll wave his hand in the air. Not because he wouldn’t care about your gratitude, but because he’s moved on to his next project. His brain moves like that. He either obsesses or he lets it go. I’m okay. He’s let it go.”
Lewis hoisted me up until I sat on the medical table. “Well, I’ll never let it go that you’re okay.”
I kissed his nose. “You’re sweet.”
“So, let me ask you about Ari.”
I winced. I’d really hoped we weren’t going to have to discuss this, at least not yet. “What about him?”
He raised his eyebrows. “Diana.”
I nodded. Okay, he wasn’t going to let me play dumb on this. “When I woke, it was bad. I felt like hell. Stasis …” How was I to describe how horrific I had felt opening my eyes?
“Sucks. Stasis sucks. I know. I’ve been through it, twice.”
Of course he had. No one would know better than the guys on this ship how it felt to wake from being drugged into a sleep that, for all intents and purposes, paused time for a possibly unending amount of years.
Lewis continued. “Diana, keep talking. Don’t stop.”
“When I got over feeling sick, I became horrified by the paler skin taking up space on my already pale self, and I freaked out. Took about twenty-minutes for me to go completely berserk.”
He raised his eyebrows before he traced the side of my cheek. “Stopped talking?”
“I wish. I actually couldn’t stop. I was saying everything and anything I could to everyone. I had really choice things to say to my family.” I looked down. They weren’t moments I was proud of. “I think I believed if I could get everything I had to say out there, then I could go.”
He drummed his fingers on the medicine table. “Go where?”
“You’re really going to pick at this one, aren’t you?”
“When it comes to you, I am fixated.” He didn’t move, staying still. When I first met Lewis, he’d refused to keep eye contact with me all the time. Clearly, he didn’t have that problem anymore because he stared me down as though he had nowhere to be and wasn’t going to give an inch on this.
I kissed the tip of his chin. “I wasn’t exactly rational. I wasn’t talking about death. I felt like I could get on a ship and float until I didn’t exist anymore. Doesn’t make sense. I can see it now. Couldn’t see a thing then. Ari came. He … helped me. Some medicine. Some talking to me. Not like a doctor. He couldn’t be that and deal with my parents the way he had to. But we drank a lot of coffee. I know a lot about his dad. He’s my friend.”
Lewis exhaled loudly. “The rebellion-leading doctor of psychiatry who calls you ‘honey’ and saved your life.”
I placed my hands on his chest. “He’s not in love with me. I’m not his type. I only have room in my heart for the five of you. It would be easier on all of us if you liked him.”
“If you tell me he saved your life, then he’s my new best friend. One of the people I have to thank for today.”
Sterling poked his head in. “Diana, do you have the coordinates for the station? And I want you to look at something for me. Will you? When Lewis is done with you?”
“I’m never done with her.” Lewis kissed me hard on the lips. “But you can have her. Tomorrow, I’m operating on her.”
Sterling scrunched his nose. “Yuck. Do you have to?”
“Like I’d do it if I had any other choice. I’m not going to let our girl suffer with the constant need for injections.” He shook his head. “Get out of here before I can’t let you leave. You’re addictive.”
I jumped off the table, squeezing Lewis’ arm when I passed him. He grinned at me, and then Sterling took my hand in his. A girl could get used to being embraced all the time again. I leaned on Sterling’s arm while we walked the short distance.
“What do you want me to look at?”
“I have some questions about the black hole. I want you to explain a reading I saw.”
I kissed his arm. “If I can.”
I entered in the coordinates of the station, and Artemis revved to life, ready for her new destination. Sterling watched the screen. I could practically see his brain working. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had the whole galaxy charted in the next two days.
Finally, he turned to me. “I’m sorry. I got lost for a second. There is a lot of stuff I need to know to keep you safe on this side of the galaxy.”
With light fingers, I stroked his back. “Maybe it’s my turn to keep you safe.”
“Because I did such a bad job the first time you don’t trust me to do it?” He raised his hand to stop me from speaking and shook his head. “Don’t say it. I know what you’ll say. I know you don’t blame me. I will never get over it. End of story. I’ll keep you safe. That’s my pleasure.”
I took a deep breath. The other guys could be moved, could be persuaded, but Sterling was like a wall when he wanted to be. I imagined he always had to be. Lewis had lived on the streets and then in a horrible orphanage because his family had either abandoned him or been killed. Sterling had been born after being created and grown in a lab to be the perfect soldier. That didn’t make him need love any less than Lewis.
They were two lost souls, but now they were mine. “What did you want me to look at?”
His back was stiff. “Have I pissed you off, sweet baby?”
“You never make me mad, Sterling. Sometimes you make me sad. I love you tremendously.”
He blinked rapidly, letting out a loud breath. “Don’t be sad. Not when, for the first time in my life, I can actually see happiness.”