The Bond That Heals Us (10 page)

“This is Fergus,” she said into the small device. When static was her only response, she adjusted the frequency in case the metal of the ship was blocking the transmission.

56

“Med bay, this is Doctor Fergus. What is the emergency?”

“It’s right here.”

A large hand clamped over her mouth as a musty smell made her gag. The bitter sting of vomit rose in her throat and her last conscious thought was that Davin would think that she’d left him.

57

Davin woke with a start and knew something was wrong. The bed beside him was empty and cold, though Sara’s scent still clung to the furs. Ignoring his naked state, he went in search for her. She could have gotten turned around on her way to the lavatory or had been called to an emergency. The doors to his room slid open and he walked out into the corridor in search of her.

“What have I told you about walking around like that,” Silas said, his hand covering his eyes. “It’s not decent, man.”

Davin walked past the engineer. “Have you seen Sara?”

“Well, that explains why you’re naked at least.”

“Silas.”

“No, she wasn’t out back. Think she got lost?”

Or ran away.
“She might have gotten called to med bay. I’ll check.”

“Clothing first. You don’t want to scare those poor Briel doctors.”

Ignoring Silas’ bark of laughter, Davin returned to his quarters. He quickly dressed before signaling med bay.

“Hello, Captain.” Rachael, Sara’s head nurse, smiled back at him. “What can I do for you? Need advice on things she likes?”

“Is she there?”

He didn’t care that Rachael took a step back and raised her eyebrows. He needed to know where Sara was.

“I haven’t seen her since before she left med bay this morning.”

Davin didn’t wait to hear anything else. He disconnected the call and quickly redialed, this time calling security.

“I’m trying to locate Doctor Fergus. It’s an emergency.”

“One moment,” the young woman behind the desk said and typed into the computer.

Slowly one minute, then two ticked by, each second grating like claws down his back.

“I’m sorry, she’s not responding.”

“Do you know if she was called for an emergency?”

“Not that I can see, sir.”

“Fuck.”

58

He disconnected and redialed before the security guard could respond. When Kamran came online, his hair was disheveled and his clothing seemed unorganized.

Davin couldn’t see Haylie, but he knew she was probably naked and just out of view.

At least he and Sara weren’t the only ones who like a quick fuck in the daytime.

“Captain, is there a problem?”

“Sara’s missing.”

Kamran frowned. “You mean she left your company?”

Davin couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “Is she normally the type to roll out of a man’s bed without so much as a word, and there not be a medical emergency?”

“What!” Haylie said from off vid screen. “If something’s happened to her I’ll fucking wring your neck.”

The sudden rustle of clothing and cursing almost drowned out Kamran’s question.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. I wouldn’t have bothered you otherwise. None of my crew has seen her and neither has anyone out in the hangar.”

Haylie’s face popped into view beside her husband’s. “Med bay?”

“I checked both there and with security. She’s not answering her communicator for an urgent call. That doesn’t seem like her.”

“Shit, it isn’t like her. The only reason she wouldn’t respond to an urgent call is if someone was stopping her.” Haylie turned away from the vid screen and muttered something, looking at Kamran.

For a minute nothing was said. Davin watched as they stared at each other in some sort of silent conversation. He’d never met a bonded Briel before, but it was a bit unsettling. From out of nowhere, Haylie threw up her hands and growled out of frustration. Kamran turned back to Davin.

“Give me a few minutes to take care of something. Taber and I will meet you at your ship in fifteen.”

Davin nodded and the communication link was severed.

He spent the next fifteen minutes looking around his room for any sort of clue, something that would tell him why she’d gotten out of his bed after the most amazing sex he’d ever had in his life and walked into a trap. If it was even a trap. But the idea that she hadn’t enjoyed their time together didn’t seem plausible. Her lab coat was still on the floor in a ball where he’d thrown it. It wasn’t easy to see at first and he knew she had probably been trying not to wake him up as she left.

Bringing the coat to his face, Davin breathed in deep. The mixture of vanilla, arousal and Sara washed over him, setting his heart pounding. He might not have been born into the warrior cast, but he’d learned many ways to kill a man over the years.

Once he got his hands on the people who took her, he’d put those skills to good use.

Unable to wait any longer, Davin grabbed his belt and his gun and marched out to the hangar bay.

59

He was standing, glaring at the door when Kamran, Taber and Sean walked in.

“That’s a long, fucking fifteen minutes,” he barked at them. “She could be halfway to Yardon by now! Where’s your wife? I expected her to be here.”

“I initiated a lockdown. No ships are getting on or off this planet until it’s released,”

Kamran said in a calm voice. “And my wife has agreed to run the search from her office. She’s asked Sean here to step in for her.”

Davin had no doubt that in her office was the last place Haylie wanted to be right now. He couldn’t imagine the conversation that had passed between husband and wife.

Turning, he eyed the man he’d met only briefly in med bay. He looked as happy to be there as Davin was to have him.

“Taking her off planet isn’t their intent.” Sean spoke up and the group turned to stare at him. “They’d want her for the mine. A lot of men—”

Without thinking, Davin grabbed Sean by the front of his mining suit and hauled him into the air and gave him a shake. “You knew they were going to do this?”

Sean stared at him, a blank look that told Davin no amount of yelling or beating could scare this man. Without any care, he dropped Sean back to his feet and turned away, running his hands through his hair.

“No, I didn’t. If I had, I would have been there to stop it. I owe her that much.”

“We all want her back.” Kamran stepped beside him, his quiet voice unnerving Davin’s anger.

“It’s my fault she’s in trouble. I didn’t know she’d left,” Davin said in a quiet voice.

Again, he’d let someone down and they had to pay the price. His mother hadn’t been strong enough and he’d been too scared to help her. Now Sara was in danger, all because he’d been lulled into a false sense of security. It was becoming a habit he didn’t like.

Kamran placed his hand on Davin’s shoulder. “I’ve known Sara for a little over a year and I have my wife’s memories of her for the past seventeen years. If anyone will find a way to get into or out of trouble, it’s our Sara.”

Somehow, that didn’t make him feel any better.

Davin looked hard at the three men and asked the question he knew everyone was thinking. “Do you think this is related to the bio weapon? Take her to use as leverage.”

Taber looked at Kamran and then the floor. Sean crossed his arms across his chest and leveled his gaze at Davin. “If they did, then she’s dead. We can’t give them what they want, no matter the cost.”

“We need to get her back before that happens,” Davin said, unwilling to look away from Sean, despite the pull of the other man’s wounded psyche.

“We’ll have to move quickly if this is going to work.” Sean stepped forward.

Davin eyed him, hoping he wouldn’t get much closer. “Why do you care?”

“She’s helped me.” Sean took another step forward. “Why do you care?”

60

That was an answer he didn’t have. At least one he didn’t want to share. “She’s nice.”

Taber finally coughed, drawing everyone’s attention. “I’ve secured you two enviro suits. Sean and Davin will be able to travel to the mines and find out where she is.”

“Why not you? You’re the Briel security chief,” Davin said and waved a hand at the large Briel.

Taber glared at him but otherwise didn’t show his annoyance. “I doubt my arrival would do anything but cause more problems.”

Unfortunately, he was right. That didn’t mean he trusted the human. Kamran must have detected his hesitation, stepped forward and drew Davin aside. The current administrator kept his voice low, but the intensity in his gaze told Davin as most as much as his words.

“Sean is…struggling with some demons. Sara helped him in the past and he owes her. He also helped me, saved my life. He needs to know that we still trust him despite what he thinks he’s responsible for. I’m asking you, as a personal favor, let him come along and help.”

Davin let his gaze slip from Kamran over to Sean, who stood calmly waiting for Davin’s verdict. As much as he wanted to keep a wide distance from Sean, he wanted Sara back even more and if that meant enlisting the help of a man who made his skin crawl, he’d do it.

“Tell me where you need me to go and let’s get moving.”

* * * * *

The ride to the mines in the crawler was bumpy at best, fucking painful at worst. It had been a long time since Davin had traveled on a planet’s surface this way, and it made him wonder why the colony hadn’t built a better system before now. The loud crackle of the suit communicator in his ear made him turn to face Sean, who was driving.

“Only another minute and we’ll be there. Let me do most of the talking until we figure out who has her.”

“I thought you knew who was behind this.” Davin ground his teeth in pure frustration.

“I know who sent the request for the bio weapon. Taking Sara feels different, unplanned. Besides, the last thing we need is for them to think my loyalties are divided.

I’m going to bring you in and hope they buy your act. They’ll know your relationship with Sara.”

“We don’t have a relationship.”

“You’re fucking her. That’s all they’ll care about.”

61

Davin had to reach deep inside to keep himself from pounding the shit out of Sean.

And while they were having sex, the crude way he’d described what was between them made his anger flare.

The crawler crested one final red dune before hitting the rock that led them to the mountain. Sean had given him a quick rundown of the layout before they’d left. The colonists had been digging underneath this mountain for the past twenty years. Most of the mines were secure, protected from the harsh planet’s surface, but under the mountain was not a place for the weak.

Davin watched as Sean pulled the crawler into a dirty decompression bay that seemed attached to the rock face. A loud hiss of air from the door sealing and gust of wind from a fan sent the dust flying around them. Only after a loud beep echoed in the bay did Sean hop out of the crawler and yank off his helmet.

“Come on,” he said to Davin before striding away.

It took a great deal of concentration to slip into his carefree attitude. Normally, he never let anything bother him, especially the disappearance of a woman he’d only met a few days before. But he couldn’t get Sara out of his mind and it was scaring the shit out of him.

Careful not to look too anxious, Davin pulled off his helmet and set it in the crawler’s seat as he climbed out. Next, he took his time to remove the enviro suit and tuck it away. He made sure his jacket wasn’t in the way of his blaster and his gloves were on tight. He wanted to make sure anyone watching knew he was in no hurry to get where Sean was leading him. Sean seemed to pick up on what he was doing and by the time Davin reached him at the door to the complex, he was looking just as bored.

Two guards greeted them as soon as they passed through the inner airlock door.

They searched them and took Davin’s blaster and Sean’s pistol.

“Who’s this, Donaldson?” one of them gestured toward Davin with his chin.

“Friend looking for work. He’s the idiot who crashed his ship and now can’t afford to pay for the repairs. I was going to get him checked in.”

The guard snorted, shooting Davin a sneer. “Find Grit and get him set up. We’re under lockdown until further notice.”

Sean frowned but nodded and led Davin away from the guards.

“Any chance we’ll get our weapons back?” he muttered when they were a safe distance away.

“Not unless we steal them. Something weird is going on.”

Walking through the narrow corridor, both Davin and Sean had to duck several times so to not smash their heads on rocks and beams that were jutting down. In more than one spot they were forced to walk single file until they made it out to a large cavern-like area.

“This is the work house. The miners report here for meals, breaks and to get work duties for the day. It was the first part they were able to open wide enough to 62

accommodate the crews.” As Sean spoke, he led Davin toward what looked to be an office.

“How long have you been down here?”

Sean turned to look at him and Davin could see a flash of something in his blue eyes. A deep pain Davin recognized instinctively. The cold numbness he’d felt the first time he met Sean in med bay ripped through him again. Only this time he could see there was more than loneliness. Guilt was tearing Sean apart.

“Long enough. Just follow me and we should have her tracked down soon.”

They spent the better part of an hour talking to various miners as they weaved their way deeper into the mine. A few times they had to stop while Sean talked to several men about a variety of matters, more often than not explaining who Davin was and why exactly he was here. Each one he listened to, giving his undivided attention. For a moment, Davin saw a glimpse of the man Sean used to be.