SavingAttractions (13 page)

Jagger’s nerves stretched taut as the time on the planet
grew shorter. He wouldn’t be at ease until the
Vigilant
had arrived and
they were on that ship. It would be easier to watch the remaining crew members
with the advanced systems available there.

Keeping track of two remaining men shouldn’t have been that
difficult. Staying near them had been an almost impossible task. He couldn’t
count the number of times the men he’d had watching had nearly been spotted.
The environment hadn’t helped. The grassy plains between the groups of trees
made it easy to see any followers.

Time crawled. The transmission early this morning had said
the
Vigilant
was a few hours away from the planet. That had been hours
ago. Jagger knew his impatience was prompted by his desire to get Ada to
safety. Those bastards were going after women for the most part. He suspected
that anyone weaker than them would have been a target if they’d had the opportunity.

He hadn’t let Ada very far out of his sight, and his men had
kept watch on the other women. Ada had accepted his watchfulness at first
without question. Now, though, he could see a few questions bubbling in her
eyes as well as a little resistance.

She headed for the tent she shared with the other women. He
followed her. She looked back over her shoulder and scowled at him. At the door
to the tent, she turned.

“Stay here. There are other women in here.” She pointed at
him. “I’ll be out in a few moments. I’m not going to suddenly disappear.”

He smiled at the admonition and her apparent belief that it
would stop him if he wanted to go in there. With a nod, she turned and went
into the tent. He waited to the side of the opening. He hoped she realized that
if she took too long, he’d come in after her.

Rationally, he knew his protectiveness was a little
excessive. He acknowledged that, but he couldn’t contain the urge any more than
he could stop breathing. She’d been attacked twice and that made the desire even
more intense. He was sure that once they were on the ship those urges would
lessen. It would help that once they returned to the ship, he could be with her
when he wasn’t working. Even better from his viewpoint, she’d be with him in
his cabin at night.

He waited and was almost to the end of his patience when she
came out of the tent. She glowered at him and walked past him without a word.
He stepped up beside her and urged her toward the table. She stopped and put
her hands on her hips.

“How long are you going to do this?” She tapped her foot.

“Until you’re safe.” He took her arm. “Let’s go sit down.”

“But I’m not in danger now,” she said and sighed.

“Not as long as you’re with me.” He stopped beside the table
and waited for her to take a seat. He didn’t want her to wander off while he
was sitting down.

She rolled her eyes skyward. “Will this stop whenever the
ship arrives? Because this personal bodyguard routine is annoying.”

She dropped onto one of the seats and glared at him. He sat
down beside her and shook his head. Ada might not realize it, but his behavior
was far from as intrusive as it could be. Although he was staying near her, it
wasn’t close to acting as her personal bodyguard at all.

“I’m sure it will lessen when we do manage to get in a place
where you’re not so exposed.” He reached for her hand and laced his fingers
with hers.

Jagger heard someone walking up behind them. He glanced over
his shoulder and saw Cort approaching. Jagger hoped nothing had gone wrong. He
didn’t want to leave Ada, even if she would be well guarded by the other men.
And she definitely wouldn’t be going for a walk. He’d already gotten her word
on that, which was probably behind some of her exasperation with his behavior.

Her fingers squeezed his. “Any idea when that will be?”

“About now.” Cort’s voice sounded just behind him.

Jagger’s attention focused on Cort. He raised a brow in
question. Cort pointed to the sky. Jagger turned back to look up and could see
the incoming shuttles. Relief spread through Jagger. There might still be one
attacker free, but now, if he tried something, there would be more people to
stop him before someone was hurt.

The murmur of voices behind him signaled that others had
noticed the descending craft. The murmur grew, and Jagger heard another set of
footsteps approaching. He turned and watched as the trade ship captain walked
over and sat down beside him.

“Those are ships from your people?” The captain gestured to
the incoming transports.

“Yes, those are ours. They’ll be landing soon and then everyone
will be able to go up to the
Vigilant
. The teardown here won’t take
long.” Jagger smiled at the captain before looking over the camp.

The disassembling of some of the tents was already
beginning. The tent the Zarain had used was in the process of being torn down.
They’d readied the inside when they learned the
Vigilant
was close.
Their beds had been packed and left ready for the crates, the bedding prepped
to be boxed and marked for cleaning.

“You knew they were coming?” Captain Thomas’s head tilted and
he stared at Jagger.

“We got word that they were close but didn’t want to
announce it in case it prompted another desperate attempt by that last
attacker.” Jagger didn’t bother to soften the answer. He was in charge of
keeping these people as safe as possible. He hadn’t expected it to require this
much effort, but learning that the pirates had men in this crew might give some
insight on how they picked out their other targets.

Someone had to give those pirates information about the
weapon. Jagger didn’t know who would have information about the weapon, but not
the way it was being shipped.

“Oh, yes, that does make sense.” The captain nodded. “We’ll
help you pack up the tents. It’s the least we can do since you’ve been down
here feeding and watching over us.”

“That’s not necessary. It’s a routine we’re accustomed to
performing and we know where everything goes and how it fits. It will go more
smoothly if we do it. Which does remind me that I need to get up and help them.
You stay here.” He gave Ada a last serious look.

She rolled her eyes but didn’t argue with him. He went to
help with packing up the tents. He helped box up the medical equipment and
supplies, but he kept in a position where he could see Ada without too much
interference. Kairn came in and helped him with the more delicate things. They
were almost completed with the inside of the medical tent by the time the first
shuttle swept in to land.

Jagger did a quick tour of his men to see how everything was
going before he went to meet the landing party. The packing moved along
smoothly, not that he expected any snags. He hadn’t been lying when he’d said
that it was a routine they were accustomed to doing. They used these tents
fairly regularly for training exercises on unpopulated worlds.

The hatch to the shuttles opened as he walked across the
field toward them. Men quickly exited the shuttle. He caught sight of Ivar,
another of the
Achan
’s
Terchal
, among them. Ivar walked up to him
and clasped his forearm.

“I see you left the pirates and the shuttle for us to get. I
sent one of the shuttles over to round them up.” Ivar smiled and began walking
to the camp.

“It was more trouble than they were worth to have to guard
them day and night. They weren’t leaving the planet unless they decided to
commit suicide and there are easier ways to do that.” Jagger shrugged and
walked beside his friend. “It’s a good thing we did leave them. There’s been
enough trouble here without having to think about keeping them contained.”

“Still only one of the mysterious attackers caught?” Ivar
asked.

“Yes, the other hasn’t revealed himself. Not even completely
sure it’s only one, but only two of them have been seen in the attacks.” Jagger
sighed. He’d have liked it completely finished so that there would be no danger
possibly facing Ada.

“We’re ready to begin ferrying up some of the people if
they’re ready. And whose mate is that?” Ivar nodded toward Ada.

“She’s my mate. They should be ready. Just leave Ada here.
I’ll coax her into helping box up some of the equipment to keep her busy after
the rest of the crew is on its way to the ship. In the meantime, I’ll take her
off to talk with her while you get them on the shuttles.” Jagger wasn’t letting
her go up to the ship without him in spite of the fact that on the ship, they’d
be surrounded by other Zarain.

“Congratulations. Looks like you’ll probably be pulling supervisor
duty more often. As soon as you get her off to the side, I’ll start getting
them in the ship.” Ivar clapped him on the shoulder, a bright smile on his
face.

“Maybe, maybe not. Ada’s practically lived on a trade ship
for years so I don’t know how she’d handle a sudden transition to planet-bound
life. As well as that, she has some inventory experience and could be helpful
to the crew.” Jagger knew exactly why Ivar was smiling.

Supervisorduty, as Ivar referred to it, could be
tedious. Most of the decisions involved petty disagreements, everyday running
of the businesses and interpersonal issues. At times, he’d been ready to yell
about some of the foolish things he’d had to handle.

Ada, come over here.
He sent the thought to her.

She stiffened. She still hadn’t grown accustomed to this way
of communication. Her head turned and she glared at him. Rising to her feet,
she stalked across the camp. She hardly ever responded in kind unless he
pressed her to do it. Stopping in front of him, she poked him in the chest.

“I’ve told you that’s freaky strange. You’ve got a mouth.
Use it.” Her finger twisted, digging her nail in even through the fabric of his
shirt.

He laughed. “Ada, this is Ivar. He’s going to start taking
people up to the
Vigilant
.”

“It’s nice to meet you. It’ll be great to get back on a
ship.” Ada held out a hand to Ivar.

“It’s good to meet you, Ada.” Ivar shook her hand.

“You’ll be waiting a little while to get back on a ship.
You’re going to stay here with me. You’ll be helping.” Jagger drew her close in
a hug before turning his attention back to Ivar.

“I thought you said that you and the others could do this
without any help.” She scowled at him.

“I’ll go round the others up while you answer that.” Ivar
walked away chuckling.

“You’ll be doing this at one point or another anyway. I
might as well show you how to do this now so there’s no delay later.” Jagger
smiled and began leading her to one of the tents the trade ship crew had used.

“I’m supposed to believe that?” She shook her head. “I’m not
that naïve. You don’t want me out of your sight. Don’t you trust your friends
and crewmates on the ship?”

“I trust them with my life, but they won’t watch you like I
will. I want to be with you.” Jagger didn’t bother to try to deny the truth of
part of her statement. He didn’t want her away from him.

“Watch me as in not let me have much privacy at all.” She
threw her hands up in exasperation. “All right, where do you want to start?”

“The bedding first. Fold it, but it doesn’t have to be
especially neat. They’ll be going for washing. We simply need it to fit in the
box.” Jagger nodded to the blankets.

She went to work. With the large crate between them, they
silently put away the bedding. Jagger moved another crate into place for the
thin mattresses. They folded the pads in half. When they finished with the last
of those, Jagger showed her how to collapse the camping beds. Her hands were
nimble and she managed to collapse and put away more of the cots than he did.

“We’re finished in here. What next?” She folded her arms
across her chest and tapped her foot in impatience.

“Not quite finished. We have to take these out of here. The
one with the blankets goes to the next tent to begin working on clearing that
out. You take the blankets. I’ll take the box of mattresses and meet you there
with a new crate.” Jagger picked up the crate, gave a nod in the direction of
the tent where he’d meet her.

It didn’t take long to finish packing up the last of the
tents. The tables had already been put into place when the last crate was
loaded onto the shuttles. The other craft had returned so there were enough
ships now to take everyone back to
Vigilant
. He took her hand and led
her to the shuttle and urged her into one of the seats directly behind the
copilot’s chair. He took the copilot’s chair and waited as everyone boarded and
buckled into their seats.

The routine of the flight occupied him until the shuttle
settled onto the floor of the docking bay. As he waited for the other shuttles
to settle before opening the hatch, he glanced back at Ada. She smiled at him.

Her mood seemed to have improved upon leaving the planet.
“It will be just another moment or two. They’ll give the all clear when the
last of the shuttles is on the deck and it’s not so dangerous to be moving
around out there.”

Even if the bay doors weren’t fully closed, the bay’s shield
would hold the atmosphere inside the ship. The magnetic bubble shield would
remain in place until the doors were completely sealed. The danger came from
someone accidentally being hit by a moving shuttle. A voice came over the com
telling them that the shuttle bay was safe. He glanced back and nodded.

The shuttle doors opened and the men began filing out into the
bay. He and the pilot were last out the door, but he was right behind Ada. He
let his hand rest on her back just below her shoulder. He could grab her if she
tripped and slip his arm around her as soon as they were into the shuttle bay.

Jagger stepped out of the shuttle, keeping his hand on Ada.
As he looked around the massive gray bay, he saw the activity as the crews
moved in to check the shuttles and prep them for next use. He found his
Achan
waiting for them near the back of the shuttle. Jagger smiled as he urged Ada
toward the tall, brown-haired man. Achan Rav Caseain stepped forward with a
wide smile on his face.