Ages in Oblivion Thrown: Book One of the Sleep Trilogy (22 page)

۞

He brushed loose hair from her
forehead, trying not to look at the rest of her.

Her face was peaceful,
indescribably so. It didn’t seem real.

Dmitry had seen the dead before.
It was an unavoidable part of peacekeeping. Death hunted and
stalked, always. But here, on the Nimitz, they’d been lucky. It had
always been life in a protective bubble.

He sighed, looking away. Death had
found their address. The spell had been broken. Tark was not going
to like this. He walked back out to Maeve, feeling still that
lightning strike of anguish at seeing her like this.

Emergency medical personnel worked
calmly and swiftly over her. She was pale again, as when he’d first
met her. Blood was everywhere, but one of the investigators,
Carson, assured him that it was not all Maeve’s.

“She must have gotten him
good.”

“We’re positive it’s a male?”
Without considering the tests that the investigator had already
run, he said this. A moment later, he noted the pitying look Carson
was giving him. “Sorry, my stupid moment. Anything else to
know?”

“Nothing. Absolutely zero in the
databases. I mean, the blood is human, and male, as I said, and A
positive, but aside from that…nothing.” She held up her hands in
defeat.

“How is that possible?” It was a
universal (if not despised and debated) fact that every human child
born got logged into a DNA base. That information was supposed to
be inaccessible except to law enforcement. It was possible that
some slipped through the cracks, but those people were usually not
a part of mainstream society.

“I have no answer for that, sir.
Once we start really poking around, we may find something, or an
absence of something, if you know what I mean.”

“You think somebody erased a DNA
profile?” A far worse thought surfaced in his mind. “Or maybe it
was never there to begin with.” He looked over at Maeve. She surely
would have said something if she’d known her attacker, wouldn’t
she?

“I don’t think
anything…yet.”

“Frankly, I don’t like either
scenario.” Trying to think back to the guy who’d run into him, he
found he was unable to summon a clear description. He also saw that
Carson was unwilling to say anything further.

A niggling memory from all the
traffic that had gone in and out of Hawke’s personal comm occurred
to him. Embedded in one was the hint of a rumor he’d heard years
ago, about some secret society. It seemed implausible now, but
perhaps less so than when he had first heard it.

The emergency team were standing
around the stretcher, getting ready to move Maeve. He leaned over
her, holding her hand gingerly.

“I’ll be right behind you. Just
need to wait for T…” Dmitry gave a silent look around; the
technicians turned away for a moment. “…the colonel to show.You’ll
be fine in a few hours. Do your best to try and retain everything
that happened.”

“That’s usually what I do all too
well.” A hint of a smile passed over her lips. Realization washed
over him.

“That’s
why you got blitzed.”

“Bingo, you win the
jackpot….”

“How much have you gotten
back?”

“It keeps coming in bits and
pieces.” Her brows knitted, from pain, or unhappiness. “I hate
it.”

“Never mind. Go get put back
together.” He leaned down to kiss her, softly, trying to let her
feel how much he wished he’d been there early, instead of just a
bit too late. They took her to the clinic. Now it was just him and
a dead girl, waiting together for time to catch back up.

۞

“Dmitry?” The voice was an anchor
back to reality. It seemed as though hours had slipped away. Tark
was staring around in disbelief. “What in six hells happened
here?”

“Somebody was waiting for
her.”

“You weren’t here.” It wasn’t an
accusation. Dmitry had to fight down the instinct to defend himself
anyway.

“No. I was on my way.”

“Is she okay?” Tark pointed out
the front entry. “I saw them taking her. But I also saw a bag out
there. Was she questionable for a while?” Dmitry sighed.

“No. The bag is for…someone else.”
The weight dropped from Tark’s chest through his gut, into his
knees. He rested on the arm of the sofa for a moment.

“Who? Where?” He followed the
direction that Dmitry’s arm swung out, as it came to rest pointing
at the bedroom door. It was closed. “The perp?”

“I wish. If I’d….” Dmitry breathed
in and out, willing the rage to fade away. “Never mind. It’s a
female. Maeve says the light was off in there when she first came
in, but by the time I got here, it was on. Our guy wanted us to see
everything he’d done all at once, I guess.”

“That assumes he thought he’d left
both of them dead.” Tark was staring at the closed door, trying to
talk himself into going over there.

“One might imagine, yes.” Dmitry
noticed a peculiar look on his friend’s face. “Are you
okay?”

“Did you ID the woman?” Tark was
barely breathing. “Is that why the door is shut?

“What do you mean?”

“Sa’andy, she’s been out of the
loop for a few hours. They said in the lab that she’d gone to talk
to somebody.” So that was it.

Dmitry reached out and put a
comforting hand on Tark’s shoulder.

“It’s not Sa’andy. Jeez, you don’t
think I’d call you down here like that if something that bad had
happened, do you?”

Tark slumped for a moment, obvious
relief coursing through his body. The realization that there was
still a dead woman in the other room sobered him again,
however.

“Well, then, who is
it?”

“You’re not going to like
it.”

۞

“Okay, so Jules and Jemi have run
off together for a spa day.” Antonio was only trying to steer
conversation away from delicate topics. He was surprised by Grace’s
reaction to what he figured was a joke.

“What have you heard?” She had her
finger practically in…side his nose.

“Whoa, ease up. Just
kidding.”

“You wouldn’t have said something
like that for no reason.”

“I was trying to lighten the
mood?”

“Idiot.” She
stalked away. He reflected that Grace had suddenly gotten pretty
strange in the past day or so. Well, they were all temperamental
lately. There was just a little extra topping on
some
of their
dispositions. Maybe Grace was having hormones…he looked over at
her. She was furiously muddling some leaves in a tall glass. What
was up with her? Women.

Grace didn’t
want to be pissed, but she was, so there. After all this time, she
would have hoped that Jemi would get it. Don’t go putting oars into
other people’s boats. Or lakes. Something. Why would she go off
alone with Jules? It was not cool. Then again, why
would
she
have?

Why would Jules, for that matter?
Hadn’t she just told Grace how hard it had been, for two whole
years, knowing that she had to keep waiting? She thumped the
muddler down into the glass once last time, noticing that she’d
turned the mint leaves into goo. So much for that idea.

“We probably ought to go check and
see if everything is okay down there.” Josh looked to Mrs.
Han.

“Well, you cannot do much here
unless we have Miss Ramirez. I do not like the sounds of what I am
listening to, either. Whatever has happened, they are taking it
very seriously.”

“Alright, we’ll roll down there,
check on things, and see if we can locate our little lost sheepies.
Sound good?” Josh tried to sound as cheerful as he did not
feel.

They all shrugged apathetically,
but dragged themselves out the door regardless.

۞

They were walking into the grand
foyer when Colonel Tarkington walked in with Major Petrovich and a
detachment of PMO personnel. The two senior men looked a step past
grim. Everyone came to a halt and stood staring at one another.
Josh had a bad feeling.

“Colonel?”

Nobody moved. Petrovich was
glowering at them all. Josh could hear Leif breathing, and the
sound of fists tightening up. Oh, not now. Of all the moments he
wanted to act like a jealous lover….

“Gentlemen,” Tark nodded to Grace,
“Miss Poole. We’ve had a little problem.”

“Could you be more specific?” Josh
tried to sound nonchalant while stepping on Leif’s foot as hard as
he could. Leif had his eyes locked on Petrovich.

“Not here. We need to head to
security battalion offices.” He paused, only for a moment. “Now.”
Tarkington did not look like a man to be argued with. He crossed
the polished marble floor over to Wallace. “We’ve not yet been
introduced, Mister Wallace. You come too.”

Wallace
blanched. They’d come in using false names. Nobody was supposed to
know his real name, unless…. He scowled over at the others.
Somebody must have talked. The whole mission was compromised now.
Probably that’s what this was all about, actually. He imagined that
Jules was already in lockup, as he would soon be, all
because
someone
didn’t want to have to go back and get into original orders.
Shit.

Nonetheless, they went without
argument. Tark left behind two corporals, ordering them to stay in
direct sight of Mrs. Han until he said otherwise. The old woman
cursed inwardly. This was not part of their planning. And she would
be unable to let her brother know anything for now. Very bad
indeed.

۞

They walked at a brisk pace, all
too aware of curious stares from onlookers. It was not every day
that they saw their commander at the head of a procession like
this. Tark knew he had to move quickly. By his count, there was
still someone unaccounted for, and it was only a matter of time
before rumor started running wild. There was no avoiding
it.

“Colonel, I….”

“Not yet, Mr. Yi. Double time it.”
Taken aback by the terse tone, they instinctively fell into pace.
They were in the boundaries of the base by then; no more civilians
to gawk at them, they broke into a stride that had them at a light
jog.

“This is a little wacky,” Antonio
muttered to Josh.

“You’re telling me. You suppose
they want us to reenlist?”

They were all thinking the
obvious. Tarkington might have finally gotten orders of disposition
for them.

“God, I hope not. I’m too old for
this crowd.” Josh looked around at all the bright shining faces
moving about their duties.

“You’re twenty-five, dude.” They
slowed down and stopped outside a large freight
elevator.

“We’re going down. Get in.”
Petrovich was downright surly.

“Take it easy, we’re moving.”
Antonio found himself nose to nose with the XO. The guy acted like
he was trying to read his mind, boring into him with those
unsettlingly pale blue eyes.

“Major.” Dmitry was unyielding. “I
may not have authority over you, but you will respect my
office.”

“Yes,
sir
.”

“Stand down, Major.” Tarkington
walked over, somewhat in awe of his friend’s ability to suddenly
seem like the most terrifying man alive. Petrovich backed away,
still observing them carefully. Josh began to notice that he was
only watching the men. As to Grace, be barely spared a glance. The
elevator jerked, stopped, and groaned open its doors. Cold air
gusted in from a glossy hallway.

“Uh, I’m sorry, this isn’t the
security battalion…is it?” Josh didn’t like the direction things
were headed. Tarkington did not respond. Petrovich, who had not
taken his eyes off them, answered.

“It’s the morgue.”

۞

Maeve drifted back into the warm
fantasy of swimming in bright blue water. She couldn’t remember how
old she had been. Where was Niall? Was he there, in the water,
right beside her? Deeper in, she could hear his infant laughter.
She sighed with relief. She must have been about seven or eight if
he’d only been a babe in arms. The laughter continued. What had he
been so happy about?

A seagull. There had been one of
them squabbling with a pelican over a mackerel. Niall couldn’t get
enough of watching the smaller bird hop around the large, awkward
one. They both squawked and carried on as they fought. She’d lost
sight of him, her baby brother; he had been a good baby. Never
cried. Trusted everyone to come to him if he but peeped. Good
little baby.

Baby.

She was back in the ocean, but it
had turned red. Everywhere red. She hadn’t seen it coming. But
come, it had. There and gone before she’d had a chance to think it
through. Out with the bath water, and down the drain. Gone into
neverland.