A Plain Jane Book One (25 page)

Lucas immediately darted
his gaze over to Jane to see whether she would react to that news.
She didn't. She was still sitting on the edge of the bed, her limbs
huddled together, her eyes wide as she watched them.

Right, so apparently the
implant didn't care if they were to go and meet with a Paran, but
it absolutely objected if someone tried to tell Jane she was one.
It seemed remarkably fickle.

‘
They may be able to help you
with the . . . ’ the Director moved his pincers
up and down.

Lucas got the picture. The
Paran might be able to help them with Jane's implant. After all, if
all the scans had been correct and the thing was Paran, then it
stood to reason that a Paran would be able to at least decipher
what it was, maybe even give them some idea of how it
worked.

‘
Okay,’ Lucas breathed through
his teeth, ‘okay. Give me the contact.’

The Director dipped his head.
‘I will, but there is one thing I must warn you of, Stone: there
are certain elements of the Galactic Union, even of the Galactic
Force, that do not approve of this line of thought.’

Lucas frowned heavily. ‘What
are you talking about?’

‘
Let us just say
that . . . over the
years . . . ’ it was clear that the Director
did not want to be forced to say it. Perhaps he was wary that he
had already said enough in front of Priya and the other scientist,
or maybe he just didn't want to give away too much information in
front of the implant.

‘
It's dangerous, right? Well I
guess that's all I need to know,’ Lucas straightened up. ‘Actually,
there is one more thing I need to know. Are you going to let her
out? Are you going to let us go?’

The Director took a moment
and then nodded. He walked over to the console where the other
scientist was sitting and clicked over the panel with his pincers.
The security field flickered off.

Jane did not react
immediately, she didn't jump off her bed and run out of the room,
happy that she was finally free.

Even if she didn't jump up and
run, Lucas had to stop himself from running over to her and
checking that she was fine. Checking that she was
okay . . . because it seemed to be really important
to him that she was okay. Only several hours before he’d faced the
prospect that Jane was some kind of highly-trained and disguised
spy who’d bided her time in the Administrative Division of the
Galactic Force only to hack into its systems when the Paran
Artifact had arrived. Now that thought was far from his mind. He
couldn't identify when his attitude had changed. He could simply
appreciate that now he was determined to sort this out for her. He
was also determined to get that implant out of her brain, though he
knew that would take time.

It was strange. Though
Lucas had saved people in the past – in fact, it was pretty much
the entire point of his job – this was different. Maybe he felt
sorry for her; she didn't belong in this world,
his
world. Or maybe she did. The implant had been
controlling Jane her entire life. Who knew what she would have done
without it? She could have joined the Galactic Force herself, hell
she could have become his superior. One thing was clear though;
Jane was more than she believed herself to be. Something else was
also clear: Lucas was now determined. And when he was determined,
things got done.

Jane

Jane was fighting the urge
to jump off the bed and practically throw herself right at Lucas
Stone. After all, it was a little inappropriate; she had spent
nearly every interaction she’d had with him either shouting,
glowering, or throwing up next to him. Still, he was the only thing
she could count on right now. Everything was crazy and unknown. Yet
she knew Lucas Stone. Hell, she’d practically studied the man. With
all of the fan supplements she’d read, she probably knew more about
him than he did. It was that bedrock of certainty that she now
wanted to hold onto.

Fighting the urge until
the end, Jane slowly got off the bed. Taking several steadying
breaths she waited there, not wanting to act until she was told to.
She didn't want them to suddenly change their minds and
disintegrate her.

Eventually Lucas gestured
towards her. ‘It's okay,’ he shifted his head to the side, ‘we can
go.’

Rather than simply believe him,
she made sure to look at everyone else in the room. While the
Director looked at her curiously, and Priya stared on with angry
confusion, the other scientist . . . he
looked . . . well, Jane couldn't put her finger on
it.

Then Jane
moved.

She didn't intend to, but
she did.

She snapped up, and she
ran right at Lucas.

She was not in control of
her limbs. It wasn't a cute and rather romantic way of suggesting
she was giving into her desire to throw herself at Lucas. Oh
no,
it
was in
control.

In another second a
containment field snapped into place just where she’d been
standing. In fact, she could feel the arc of it sizzle against the
back of her arms.

‘
What—’ Lucas began.

Jane slammed into him,
pushing him to the ground just as a shot sliced past Lucas and ate
into the opposite wall.

Jane didn't wait. She
snapped up to her feet, twisting her head to the side, tracking the
scientist.

He shot again, but she
dodged, or her body dodged more accurately.

‘
It’s happening again,’ Jane
managed. In the time it took to speak, she tucked into a roll, and
came up behind one of the consoles, close to the
scientist.

‘
What's going on?’ the Darwai
roared, his usually staccato voice booming.

Jane did not wait for the
scientist to answer, she just rolled to the side as some kind of
energy beam sliced through the console she was hiding behind. She
flicked herself onto her feet, moving easily and with an agility
that she’d never, ever shown in her ordinary life.

Before she could jump up
and her body could do whatever it was planning on doing, she saw a
black flash streak past her. In another moment there was a heavy
grunt, and she saw Lucas plow right into the scientist. There was a
flash of a light blue energy, but Lucas reached for his plasma
handgun, and managed to squeeze off several rounds.

Then the scientist
fell.

Something clattered out of
his hand. Something Jane had never even seen before. It was a long
blade that had an arcing electrical field traveling all the way up
it.

The scientist lay still,
and Lucas snapped to his feet, bringing his gun around, firing
several more rounds into the man.

Jane knew enough about
plasma weapons to know that it was set to stun and that none of the
shots would kill the man. Lucas was clearly just being
thorough.

Lucas took several steps
back and knelt down to pick up the strange electrical blade. He
twisted the handle. The electricity shooting up and down it
stopped, and the actual blade disappeared back into the hilt. He
stared at it for a moment, then finally turned to face
her.

‘
It's okay,’ he said very
clearly, ‘the situation is now under control. You can leave this to
me.’

Jane got the distinct
impression that while he was speaking at her he wasn't talking to
her. He was talking to
it
.

‘
You can leave this to me,’ he
repeated once more. Though his helmet was set to opaque, Jane could
just imagine the look of pressed, perfect sincerity on his
face.

She slowly stood up, and
it was her that did the standing.

She could tell that Lucas
watched her the entire time, his helmet angled down towards her.
After a long pause he let out a massive sigh, his chest punching
forward. ‘Is that you, Jane?’

She gave a brief
nod.

‘
What the hell was that?’ Priya
said, her voice shaking as she took several nervous steps towards
Lucas.

‘
How long have you worked with
that man?’ Lucas asked immediately. While his voice was direct, his
words quick, he still reached out a hand and latched it onto
Priya's shoulder.

Jane noted the move and
realized that even though Lucas was standing stiffly, his armor
affirming the impression he was nothing but a soldier, he still
managed to look tender.

‘
He must have been some kind of
spy,’ the Director said, his hands clicking over each other at such
a frantic pace he had to raise his voice to be heard. ‘But how did
he get here? What was he waiting for?’

Jane stood there and
listened. Soon she started to realize that she was feeling sick,
and clutched a hand on her stomach.

She watched Lucas twist towards
her, his helmet angling her way, light tracking along the smooth
metal finish. ‘Jane?’ he asked warily.

She pitched forward and
threw up. This time it wasn’t on a command chair; this time it was
all over a console.

She didn't mean to do it, it
kind of just happened. She grimaced, pressing her back into the
wall behind her. ‘I feel terrible,’ she admitted
honestly.

Lucas just stood there and
he shook his head.

Chapter 14

Lucas Stone

It had been close. Dammit,
it had been really close. He hadn’t been expecting the other
scientist to do anything. Hell, the man had looked mild in the
extreme. He’d certainly not given away any indications that he was
a) highly trained, and that b) he was after Jane. Yet he’d clearly
been after her, which made Lucas sick to think he’d left her alone
in the room with him.

Lucas swallowed hard,
looked down at the man, and then back across at Jane. She was
resting with her back against the wall, one hand on her stomach and
one hand on her mouth. She had thrown up yet again. He was starting
to get the impression that whenever her implant took full control
of her body, the consequences weren’t just fatigue and the fact
Jane could end up fighting off half the Galaxy, nope, she would
also inevitably end up throwing up.

Before he could do
anything, the Director clicked several buttons on one of the clean
consoles, and a small containment field flickered into place over
the mess. In another second it was simply disintegrated clean off.
If you asked Lucas, that was a huge waste of energy, but perhaps
the Director did not like the idea of his expensive computer
equipment being fouled up.

‘
What's going on?’ Priya asked
again. She had a certain note of uncertainty and fear in her voice
that Lucas had never heard before. It was the kind of note that
told Lucas – no, reminded him – that underneath the acerbic
personality there was a real person. Yes, Priya always put on a
nasty face, but deep down she was still capable of fear and
surprise.

The Director, despite the
fact his race were insect-like and had an exoskeleton, still
managed to look pale, as if the shock had sunk deep into his
carapace. In fact, the only person that didn't appear to be
completely confused was Jane. She just leaned against that wall,
looking mildly sick and sniffing occasionally.

‘
Put a security field up around
him,’ Lucas pushed his words out, realizing that he had to act.
This situation had just taken a turn for the worse, and Lucas could
not guarantee that there weren’t more spies or enemies lurking
around the ship.

‘
I do not understand why he did
that,’ the Director said as his pincers clicked across the console.
‘Adam Thomson was a good man. He was never late for work,’ the
Director added as if that alone conclusively proved his positive
character assessment.

Priya closed her eyes and
shook her head bitterly, then she glanced at Jane. Lucas watched
the move carefully and though he tried to fight the urge, he found
his hand gripping harder over his gun.

‘
Who is she?’ Priya asked so
quietly that it was almost a whisper.

Jane looked up slowly,
warily.

‘
If he wanted her dead, why
didn't he just use the containment field when we were out of the
room?’ Priya narrowed her eyes visibly.

‘
I don't think
the . . . implant,’ he said quietly, ‘would have let
him. Every single time it sensed a threat, it interfered with your
field and the computers. Perhaps the electro blade was his backup
plan.’

Priya took a steadying breath.
‘What's going on, Lucas?’ she asked again, this time turning to him
fully.

He couldn’t
answer.

‘
Whatever is going on, I suggest
that we act quickly.’ The Director slowed his pincers down, as he
visibly started to calm. ‘I do not think this situation it is as
simple as we once believed.’ He shot a look at Jane.

Lucas felt like laughing
and pointing out that he’d never believed the situation was simple.
In fact, if anything, this unexpected incident reaffirmed what he
already knew about this situation: it was desperately
dangerous.

He faced Jane and saw that
she now had two hands clutched over her mouth, and though she did
not look like she was immediately going to be sick, she certainly
appeared overcome. He realized that while he didn't have any idea
what was going on, it wouldn't be a touch on what Jane was going
through. Less than 24 hours ago she’d still been under the
impression that she was normal and that nothing extraordinary could
ever happen to her.