Elena

The treaty signing is taking place in the Embassy. The ambassador will remain here with his team of diplomats to ensure that the treaty provisions are met. Once everything is finished, I’ll be on my way home.

Even though we’re so close to making everything official, I can’t shake the feeling that something isn’t right. I know there is something going on with the treaty but without help from a Suthune, I can’t figure out some of the codes. Not that I’d be able to stop the signing at this point anyway, but I sure as hell can keep the people informed so they know what’s going on and what we are agreeing to. From what I can tell, we claim to be giving Kosmora money in exchange for resources, but that doesn’t explain the list of names located on that file.

It’s hard to know who to trust.

The gates are open and the Suthune party is entering. It’s a little surprising that there are so many guards surrounding the diplomats. But, we have guards surrounding the gates as well as flanking our diplomats and spread out throughout the grounds. The significance of the occasion finally sinks in when I see how much security is present. Coming together as allies with a foreign planet is a huge deal. A flicker of pride swells in my chest that I was chosen to represent Earth at such a momentous moment, regardless of what anyone else might think.

I begin snapping pictures at the gate when the Suthune enter. I try to capture glimpses of the crowds outside of the gates as well as the guards and officials taking part in the ceremony. The sun is bright with only a few scatterings of clouds in the sky. History is about to be made.

I’m at the back of the group, one of the last that will enter the building. There are still a few more rows of guards entering through the gates when I feel a hand grip my arm. I turn and look up into the familiar stormy eyes that made my heart skip a beat last night. Today, however, I’m alarmed.

“What are you doing here?” I ask. He quickly shushes me. My heart starts beating a mile a minute. His grip on my arm sends pulses of electricity through me but also, something is going on.

“You need to come with me,” he says, whispering in my ear.

“What? This is the reason I am here in the first place,” I say, motioning toward the building where all of the diplomats are entering.

“I will explain everything, just give me five minutes.”

“I’ll give you one. Tell me quickly, I have to go.” Everyone continues to make their way toward the entrance of the Embassy. The ambassadors stop on the top step and turn to wave at the crowd. Ignoring Bane for the time being, I begin snapping pictures. After a minute, they turn and walk into the building. “There’s no time right now,” I tell Bane. “I have to go.”

He doesn’t let go of my arm and I can tell he’s about to argue. Before he has a chance to say anything, there’s a loud pop followed by a hissing sound. The guards start yelling orders as the courtyard fills with smoke. Bane grabs onto me and starts to run toward the gates, pulling me along after him. The guards stationed here don’t know whether to close the gates or keep them open so we’re able to get out. Bane is quickly moving me through the crowd of people outside the gates when there’s a loud explosion behind us. The people in the crowd scream and start running as the ground beneath us begins to shake.

The tremor knocks me off of my feet and I’m worried that Bane and I will be separated when he turns back, grabs me with his other hand as well and practically carries me through the mass of people. We’ve only gone a few more steps when another thunderous explosion hits, throwing us both off balance.

Bane wraps his arms around me as we fall, cushioning the blow. Before I can catch my breath again, we’re up and moving.

“Where are we going?” I say, shouting to him to be heard above all of the screams and yelling.

“Just keep following me,” he says, pulling me along behind him. For a while we’re moving in a sea of frantic people. But Bane is taking us somewhere deep in the Dune Colony and eventually the others have all dispersed. When I turn around to see how far away we are, there is smoke rising in the sky, darkening the once bright day.

Wherever he has led me to now, it is much gloomier. Random strangers lurk in decrepit old doorways of rundown buildings.

“Where are we?” I ask when he pulls me into one of those buildings. I can hear someone yelling behind one of the doors. At another door I see someone peeking out at us through the crack in the door as we walk by.

Bane stops at the next door, unlocks it and steps inside. Hesitantly, I follow.

It’s dark inside, a curtain covering the one window on the far side of the room. When he closes the door behind us, I can hardly see a thing. There is light coming in from the edges of the window and that’s just enough to outline the bed and chair in this small room.

Bane is quiet behind me. Up until this moment, my thoughts have been focused on the explosion and what is going on at the Embassy. They quickly switch to worrying about the current situation I find myself in. Sure from the moment I saw Bane, I thought he was dangerous and sexy. Mysterious with a definite bad boy vibe, but definitely sexy as hell. That was in a tavern full of other people, though. Now I’m wondering where he came from and what he wants with me.

“We don’t have a lot of time,” he says, moving the curtain aside just enough to look out the window.

“What are you talking about?” I ask. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“It’s complicated. All you need to know right now is that I’m on your side and I’m going to keep you safe.”

He steps close to me in the dark room. If there were any light he would notice the way my skin glows pink when he stands so close. Subconsciously my right hand moves toward my left shoulder, covering and protecting my heart from this hypnotic stranger.

“Thank you for keeping me safe, but I need to get back to the Embassy. It’s my job to cover what’s going on over there. If this explosion was to try to stop the treaty from happening, I need to get that story. This is big, Bane, and I can’t miss it.” I look down to my left hand where I’m still tightly gripping my camera. At least I didn’t drop that with all of the commotion.

“No, absolutely not.” He takes a few steps and reaches down to grab a bag from off the floor. “I’ve already packed some things that we might need. You’re coming with me until we figure out what’s going on.”

I laugh nervously. “What are you talking about? I’m not going anywhere with you unless it is back to the Embassy.”

“You can’t go back there, it isn’t safe. And with explosions going off the treaty signing isn’t happening now anyway.”

I let that sink in for a moment. He’s right, the treaty signing won’t happen right now but that doesn’t change the fact that all of my things are at the Embassy. That is where I need to be. I walk over to the chair in the corner of the room by the window and sit down. I touch the band on my wrist and instantly feel calmer knowing the guards can track me. And I still have my watch with the chip hidden on the other side. The most important piece of information is right here with me.

“We need to get rid of that.” Bane walks over bends down so he’s more at eye level with me.

I grip my band tightly and for the first time, I’ll admit, I’m a little scared.

“Why?” I ask him, cautiously.

“You’re in danger, Elena. We don’t want anyone to be able to track you from here on out.”

“What are you talking about?” The butterflies are back in my stomach but not in a good way. Not the fun, crazy kind like when I first sat down with Bane in that tavern. This time there’s a sickening ache spreading from my stomach to my chest.

“You saw something you weren’t supposed to see, didn’t you?” He slowly rocks on his heals while looking into my eyes. I grip the band on my watch tighter, instantly knowing what he’s talking about.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I say.

“Of course you do. As soon as you copied those files, it was only a matter of time before they came for you.”

I try to swallow but my mouth is dry. My heart is pounding so loudly it echoes in my ears. Bane reaches out a hand and I know what he wants. I don’t know how he knows all of this, but I have to trust him when he tells me he’s on my side. With a deep breath, I pull the band off of my wrist, knowing perfectly well that no one will be able to come for me now if I need them. I’ll be completely off the grid.

“Good girl,” he says.

Then he drops the band on the floor, crushing it to pieces with the heel of his boot.