That thought brought me up short. Maybe Ada would arrive before Ian? The bounty hadn’t said which representative of House von Hasenberg had to pick me up, and the mercs wouldn’t care as long as they were paid. I crossed my fingers that she saw the news first.
I pieced together my public persona. Before Gregory, becoming outwardly emotionless had been second nature, drilled into me by countless tutors and Consortium events. But while physical pain sharpened some of my siblings, it completely derailed me and made it so much harder to keep my emotions in check.
The cell door opened and the man from earlier entered. In the light, his eyes were pale green and his hair was a light reddish blond. He held out a sealed bottle of water. When I refused to take it, he set it on the bench next to me.
“I’m Rob. Sorry about the cheek,” he said. “We didn’t expect you to pass out. Your nanos should take care of it in a few hours.” A hint of bitterness crept into his tone.
Nanobots had to be designed for each person’s DNA and were prohibitively expensive. My modified nanos still healed, but they were slower than most. I’d be sporting a bruised cheek for at least a day.
I raised an eyebrow. “Stunsticks are designed to incapacitate their targets,” I said. “You failed to plan for that and I paid the price.” He tried to interrupt, but I continued, “How long was I out?”
“Maybe an hour,” he said. “We had a doctor check you, just to be sure you were okay. Why did you mention Guskov?”
“He and I have business.”
Rob paled. “Were you under his protection?”
My smile was designed to discomfit. “Too late now, don’t you think? Have you contacted House von Hasenberg?”
“Yes, they have someone on the way. He should be here in a little while. Do you need anything until then? Would you like to contact Guskov?”
Freedom and painkillers would be a good start. I didn’t say that, though. “No. And you should be aware that I know exactly how many credits I was carrying.” I let ice slip into my tone. “I expect them returned to me, along with the rest of my stuff.”
He grimaced but didn’t argue. Despite my current incarceration, I was still a von Hasenberg. I could make life very unpleasant for him and his team.
“If you need anything else, just ask. We are keeping you in here for your protection. If any of the less scrupulous squads knew you were on-planet, they would try to retrieve you themselves. It would not end well for you.”
“You’re a saint, Rob,” I murmured under my breath.
He grinned. “We all have to eat,” he said. “Don’t try anything stupid and we’ll get you safely back to your House without any further drama.” He left, locking the door behind him.
I closed my eyes and skimmed the wireless signals flying through the air. Pain blossomed in my temples. I pulled back and tried again, with an even lighter touch. I’d been practicing this technique for months, teaching my brain to feel the differences in the signals without fully decrypting them.
The hope was that one day my brain and the implant would be able to automatically distinguish important messages from the garbage and only spend energy decrypting the valuable messages. Ideally, I would be able to shut off all signal processing like flipping a switch, but without Gregory’s genius, I had to take baby steps to get there.
None of the messages I checked were worth the headache of actively looking at them. I mentally let go and sank into a light meditation. Gregory had taught me patience, if nothing else.
I don’t know how long I sat there, drifting in and out of sleep in a sea of mental calm, before the cell door opened again, but it was long enough that my legs had fallen asleep. When Rob didn’t say anything, I cracked open one eye.
The other popped open in amazement.
Ian Bishop stood just inside my cell, dressed in dark combat fatigues and scowling violently. “What happened to your face?” he asked, his voice low and harsh.
“I don’t know,” I said, startled into honesty. How had he gotten here so quickly? And what was he wearing? I’d never seen Ian in anything other than a suit or tuxedo, but I had to admit the change was a good one. The shirt clung to his broad chest and flat abs, while the pants accentuated his lean waist and strong legs. “Are you real?” I blurted out.
Anger morphed into concern in an instant. “What is wrong with you?” he asked.
I’d thought myself crazy after Gregory had first injected me. He hadn’t warned me about what he was doing, of course. I’d just woken up one day after being incredibly sick and had started hearing other people in my head. I hadn’t known that I was unconsciously decrypting wireless communication signals. And since then, I’d had a secret fear that perhaps I wasn’t as sane as I liked to believe.
“Nothing,” I said. “I’m just surprised to see you.”
“Get up, we’re leaving.”
“No.”
Now the familiar scowl was back. “I don’t have time for your games. Brava isn’t safe. We need to go now.”
I sighed and fought to control my temper. Ian could punch through my calm faster than anyone else I knew. “I can’t. My legs are asleep.” He moved toward me and I held up a hand. “Just give me a minute, Ian. You can certainly do that, since it’s your fault I’m here anyway.”
A muscle flexed along his jaw and his eyes narrowed. Oh, he wanted to argue with me but he knew we were being watched. I smiled at him and watched the pulse thrum in his neck.
I scooted to the edge of the bench and hissed as my legs lit up with pins and needles. Ian offered me a hand up. His hand was cool against my palm, his strength effortless. He pulled me up but my legs weren’t quite ready to support me, so I overbalanced and collapsed against his chest. He froze and then started to set me away.
“Stop. Don’t move,” I said. I slid one hand up and wrapped it over his shoulder so he couldn’t push me away. My other hand was at his waist and it took all my willpower not to trace the muscles I could feel under my fingertips. I mentally shook myself and continued, “My legs feel like they’re on fire. Give me a second for the circulation to catch up.”
A gentle touch traced over my bruised cheek. “What happened to your face?” he asked again, his voice quieter but no less fierce.
“They stunned me. I blacked out. So I really don’t know. I probably hit it when I fell.”
His muscles firmed under my hands, and his arm locked around my back, his entire body going tense and still. “You were unconscious?”
“For a little while.” I tried to push back to see his face, but I’d have better luck moving a brick wall.
“Did anything else happen?”
I shrugged. “They took my stuff, so they must’ve searched me.”
“Your things will be returned to you,” Ian said, as much to whoever was on the other end of the room’s surveillance as to me. He gripped my shoulders and stepped away from me. When he was sure I was stable, he let me go.
I didn’t make the mistake of thinking everything was cool between us. Banked anger still burned in his eyes, but he had rightly decided that this was not the place to get into it. I inclined my head in agreement.
Ian stalked from the room without another word, leaving me to trail along behind him like an obedient puppy. I bit my tongue and did just that. I could be reasonable when the situation demanded it.