Desire Disguised (11 page)

“Ask her to come and rub it for you. Once you start having skin-to-skin contact, it all gets very easy. Come on, let’s get my stuff to my room and go grab something to eat. I can give you all sorts of advice on relationships. Then I’ll force you to look at Clare’s digimas until your eyes cross. It will be the best evening of your life, at least until you seduce your pretty neighbor.”

“Ben, hello?”

Cara’s voice quavered from his datpad, and he automatically lifted it to his ear so no one could eavesdrop. He hadn’t seen her since the previous evening, and his whole body went on alert when he heard her tense voice.

He and Lia stood in the street, waiting in line to collect some freshly steamed curlers from a vendor when his device had chirped the incoming call. Lia motioned for him to step away as she stayed on task to collect their food. He’d wanted to take a stroll down the main thorough fare that afternoon since there were lots of new people in town for the cortiglow sale. Everything was peaceful. He’d even bought a small vial of perfume from a sutler’s popup shop. It had a violet engraved on the pale purple of the glass bottle. He had no idea if the scent inside was accurate, but it was delicate and sweet. Lia had rolled her eyes again but said nothing other than she was hungry for something native. Hence the wait for curlers.

“Yes, Cara. What can I do for you?” Lia rolled her eyes at his formal tone as she picked up two paper cones of the orangish pink protein.

“I can’t find Mat. He’s gone.” Her voice broke with fear, and worry coursed through his veins.

“When and where was the last you saw him?”

Lia stopped eating and stared at him.

“It was when I dropped him off at school this morning. I volunteered to work an extra hour this afternoon because of the new arrivals, and he promised me he’d go straight to the barracks after he was dismissed. I went to our rooms a few minutes ago, and he’s not there. I’ve called him three times, and there’s been no response. Ben…” Panic tightened her voice.

“Hold your position and let me check something.” Ben lowered his datpad and activated his tracker for Mat’s movements. In the school building two minutes before he was due that morning, exited the school a little over an hour ago, and no scans recorded since. Damn.

“Where are you?” he asked Cara.

“Walking to the school.”

“I’ll meet you there.” Ben kept the comm line to Cara open and looked at Lia. She’d stopped eating the curlers and frowned at him.

“How about I help search? I know this place has changed in the time I’ve been gone, but I’d like to try.”

Ben nodded agreement and turned in the direction of the school, Lia tossed their snack into the first available trash receptacle and followed him. They had to dodge around a lot of pedestrians. A ship had arrived that morning filled with cortiglow buyers, sutlers, entertainers, even a tiny body art shop. All the extractors who could make their way there from their jungle outposts were selling product and spending the proceeds as quickly as they could.

They made their way to the plaza and once clear of other people, jogged to the entrance of the school building. They entered and found Cara coming their way from the opposite end of the hallway. She peered in each room she passed as she called for her brother.

“He isn’t here, Cara. The automonitors didn’t pick up a return.”

Her hazel eyes met his as she rushed to his side. “Where else could he be? He knows the rules. Here or in our suite. He’s known for years what to do. I shouldn’t have stayed in the kitchens. It’s my fault we’ve lost this much time to look for him.”

Cara shivered and reached out to grasp his arm. “Oh, Ben, what if they’ve found him? That big ship came in today. Someone could have been on it. They could just take him out in this jungle and—” She stopped talking with a gasp and tightened her fingers around his wrist.

“Don’t panic. There was no one suspicious on that flight. I checked over every passenger’s bona fides this morning before they even started to shuttle down. A few folk had some prior convictions for financial indiscretions but nothing to worry about.”

Lia followed this conversation with a furrowed brow and frown. Ben realized his friend was going to have lots of questions for him later, questions he couldn’t answer.

Footsteps echoed in the hallway, and they turned to see Citizen Topi walking their way. “Chief, Citizen Belasco, what’s wrong?”

“Mat’s missing.”

The teacher’s eyes widened and her hand leapt up to press against her chest.

Ben held up his hand to try and calm the situation. “He wasn’t in his rooms this afternoon. What happened when he left here today?”

“Everything was fine. He and Ermil Healy were talking about their jumbo nanos as they walked out the door. Citizen Belasco, I’m so sorry,” Topi said as she reached out to pat Cara’s arm. She flinched away from the teacher and pushed against Ben’s side.

Mat was with Ermil Healy. He should have known. Any time there was trouble involving anyone younger than thirteen in Pearl, one of the Healy boys was the probable culprit. Contemplating the destruction they’d undertake when they reached their teen years made Ben wonder if he should put in for a transfer soon.

Lia spoke up for the first time. “Knowing Ermil, they could be anywhere.”

Ben gave her a repressive glare. The last thing they needed was for Cara to succumb to panic. “Let’s check the most logical places first. Lia, why don’t you head over to the science station and see if you spot Ermil anywhere along the route. Mat’s about a meter and a half tall, has brown hair.”

“He was wearing an orange pullover and red trousers,” Cara interjected, and Ben winced at the color combination. He’d be easy to spot at least.

“Got it, call me with a report,” Lia ordered in her efficient way and jogged off in the next second.

Ben turned to Topi. “We’ll let you know when we find him. Has he returned a call yet, Cara?” She released her grip on his hand to pull out her datpad, shaking her head with a quick jerk when she found nothing. Her shoulders hunched and her head tilted forward. Without a thought he circled his arm around her shoulders.

“It’ll be all right, Cara,” Ben tried to reassure her. Her body was stiff and tense, and she was breathing rapidly. “Come on, I know where to start.”

He nodded at Topi as they left and wondered if he was making empty promises to the young woman shaking against his side.

* * * *

Cara shrugged away from Ben’s arm as they walked down a short side street on the way to the Healy home. His touch had felt too good, and she didn’t want to be distracted from her anxiety by anything comforting. He kept walking without seeming to notice. She checked her datpad compulsively and every unacknowledged ping made her fear grow like a cold fire in her heart. Ben approached a wall and opened a door cleverly cut into it.

“This is the Healy house. My friend, Lia’s partner, used to live here in a tree hut, and when he left with her, Gina Healy gave it to her boys. Thought it would keep the house neater to have them doing their deeds out back.” He gestured for her to enter, and she stepped inside to see a barren, soggy area surrounded by a high fence and one large cocker tree with a whitish living pod embedded in its side. Some steps led up to a deck where Ben headed. As he reached the first one he turned back.

“Stay down here. If he’s in there, I don’t want him embarrassed in front of his new friends.”

Cara wanted to argue, but the idea that Mat might be safe inside kept her quiet. All she wanted was her brother returned. She’d deal with his misdeeds later. Ben peered at her, his dark eyes flashing before he scrambled up the steps and knocked on the door. She heard some thumping noises from inside, and Ben entered the little dwelling.

Lia began to pace when she heard high pitched voices and an answering low rumble from the man above. A clatter of footsteps announced the arrival of someone outside, and she stared up at the deck, her throat tight. First was Ben. He descended the ladder quickly and gave her an inscrutable look. Then she saw Mat and wanted to cry out in a mixture of relief and anger.

She clapped her hand across her mouth instead, Ben’s warning still with her. Mat hung his head as he stomped down the steps, and he didn’t meet her eye when he stood on the ground in front of her. He had his pack from school and swung it over his shoulder with a deep sigh. There was more noise from the deck above, and she glanced up to see two boys staring down, grinning identical wide smiles. They had large white teeth and brush cut black hair. Two mischievous brothers leading her Mat astray.

“Hi, Citizen Belasco, I’m Ermil Healy, and this is Perrin. My brother.” The taller one waved at her, and she nodded back. All those years of etiquette training were impossible to resist even though she wanted to shake the teeth out of every male in the near vicinity.

“Healys, don’t blow anything up,” Ben ordered with a firm tone, and Cara nearly gasped. They’d been exploding things in there? Ben pointed at the open gate, and Mat trotted through it, turning neatly to head in the direction of the barracks. Cara waited until she left the yard before she started in on her younger brother.

“Why were you there? You knew you were supposed to go back to our rooms. It wasn’t safe. Why didn’t you call me back?” Now that he was accounted for and in front of her, Cara couldn’t hold back her fury.

This last plea seemed to make an impression with Mat, because he stopped walking and pulled out his datpad. His face twisted as he stared at the device. “It was powered down, Cara. I didn’t know you’d called.”

Cara grabbed his arm and whispered at him as she propelled him down the street. “You know you’re responsible for checking it. All these years you’ve had the same instructions as me—”

“Cara, I forgot. We have to turn off devices in school, and I just forgot to turn it back on when I left.”

“That had nothing to do with the fact that you didn’t go back to the rooms as we agreed.” Her anger was an unstoppable wave of heat thundering around in her skull like a crashing ship.

“We went to work on our jumbo nanos,” Mat protested as they reached the main entrance of the barracks. Cara couldn’t speak she was so upset. She grabbed his arm and moved to drag him down the hallway, and he slowed his pace.

“Don’t grab me, I know where to go!”

“Then why weren’t you there?” Cara cried out, her overwhelming fear rushing back through her. What if something had happened to him? What would she do? She’d almost lost him in that damned crash, and he’d disappeared today. Mat shook her off and ran down the corridor, sliding to a halt in front of the door as he activated the lock code and dashing inside as soon as it opened.

Cara followed at a jog, or tried to for a few paces until a broad chest appeared in her line of sight, blocking her view of the doorway. Ben Zashi. She’d forgotten about him for a few minutes, which was a first during her time on Gamaliel. He held up both hands and tilted his head, his eyebrow quirked in an inquiring fashion.

“What? Move, I need to go—”

“Actually it would be better if you waited.” He directed her to stand by his door and she did, too shocked by his interference to protest. He walked into their suite of rooms, and she heard his low voice, too indistinct to make out any words. Mat replied a few times and Ben returned, closing the door behind him.

“What are you doing? I need to get in there and—”

“No, you need to get in
here
unless you want everyone in the building to hear this,” Ben commanded, and a flicker of something close to fear wrapped in a thrill fluttered in her chest.

He jerked his chin at the door behind her, and she turned and entered his rooms. She’d never been inside. The layout seemed to mirror their suite, but she was too unsettled to take notice of more than a piano and a blue sofa. Whirling around as soon as she heard the door close, she found she was face to face with an unsmiling man.

“Give yourself a minute, Cara.”

She shook her head. “No, let me out of here. I need to talk with him.” She’d just found Mat, and this man was going to keep her from him. Unacceptable.

She tried to dodge around him, but he was too quick, flinging out an arm to block one side of the hall, and then the other when she tried it again. Her frustration built up in her chest, and she found it hard to take a deep breath. Ben’s dark eyes never left hers as he talked.

“Listen. You’re upset. He’s upset. Take a breather before you see him. He’s safe in there, and he’s not going anywhere tonight.”

“How do you know that? He just disappeared—”

“No, he went to a new friend’s house and thought he’d have time to get back here before you returned. The school routine is new for him, and he just forgot to check his datpad. Cara, listen, he’s just being a kid, don’t be so hard on him—”

The anger popped in her head in a burst of red light, and all the years of fear, the stress that never let up fueled her rage as she lifted her hands fully intending to shove at Ben’s broad chest with all her might. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. I have to be hard on him or he’ll—we’ll die.”

Her strength failed her as soon as she touched him, and her arms gave out before she could actually push. Ben pulled her in as she fell against him. “Nobody died.”

“But we will,” Cara muttered into his chest as his arms wrapped tightly around her. She wasn’t going to be able to do this on her own. Two men had already died protecting them, and Soren was nearly dead. That left her, a naïve woman with no experience or skills.

“Not on my watch.”

“I can’t do this.” Cara shivered into the comfortable warmth of Ben and tried to talk herself into some courage. She had to do it, there was no one else. But she’d already lost Mat once in the few days she’d been responsible.

Something moving against her hair distracted her. Ben’s grip on her loosened, and with an unexpected ache, she realized he was going to let her go. She didn’t want that, not yet, so she slid her hands around his arms and held on. He said something low she couldn’t make out, and he touched her hair again. The soft and mysterious strokes were mesmerizing. She could hear his heart beating and the steady thump made her feel sleepy, a strange reaction after so much heightened emotion.