“Good point. So just stick close to me.”
“Or we could both go home.” She gavehim a mischievous smile. “Unless you enjoyed playing Malaran pilottoday.”
“It was un-effing-believable,” he admitted.“They have this simulator that makes you believe you’re in themiddle of a real mech battle. I need to get past one more level,then they’ll let me try the real thing. For practice, I mean. It’sgoing to take a lot more to convince them to let me pilot a mech ina challenge, though. Carrak’s unbelievably tough.”
“Really? She seemed so sweet.”
“Huh? Oh . . .” He grinned. “Don’t worry.She’ll warm up to you. Everyone does.”
“I don’t really care. I’ll probably be morepopular with the pilots if she hates me.”
Rem nodded. “She said she’d let you try somesimulations tomorrow.”
Zia rolled her eyes. “Just for show, right?What I really need are lessons on how to shoot a weapon, incase the Vekzori come back. You’ll teach me, won’t you?”
“Yeah.” Rem glanced toward the door, whichwas opening slowly. Pulling Zia behind him, he rested his hand onhis blaster, then relaxed when young Annur stepped into view. “Hey,Doc. How’s Jackson?”
“He is out of surgery and will recovercompletely. It is good to see you here, Captain Stone. You shouldtake Captain Quito to the hotel so she can rest. She has had a longday.”
“I want to be here when Lieutenant Haradawakes up,” Zia protested.
“He will sleep through the night. If youvisit in the morning, they will both be awake and eager to seeyou.” Annur’s tone grew solemn. “Our minister has sent a new teamto protect you. I am sure you feel less than trusting, but he hasassured Ambassador Humber and me that these five warriors are truesupporters of the alliance.”
“They can guard my hallway, but I only wantRem in the suite with me.”
“That’s not negotiable,” Rem agreed. “Nooffense to your guys, but we’re not taking any more chances.”
Annur nodded. “I understand. I only hope thatwe can eventually re-earn your trust.”
Zia could hear the humiliation in his voice,so she assured him, “That’s not necessary. Two brave Malaranwarriors died today protecting me. And the Vekzori who killed myfather twenty years ago were human. So no one’s making anyjudgments. It’s just that I feel safest with Rem. And so that’s howit’s going to be from now on. Until we go home.”
It had sounded more dramatic than sheintended it, so she laughed at herself and added lightly, “Or untilRem and I have another argument. Then I’ll just hide inside theQuito colossus with my helmet on. I’d be pretty safe there,right?”
“Untouchable,” Annur agreed with a smile.“But for now, Captain Stone is a more practical choice. Go back tothe hotel and get some rest. I suspect you will need it.”
Rem stepped forward and shook the physician’sclawed hand. “Thanks, Doc. We’ll see you in the morning.”
Zia leaned down to pat Harada’s cheek onelast time and whispered good night to him. Then after remindingAnnur to alert them if anything changed with either patient, shegave the doctor a wistful chest-fist salute and followed Rem intothe hall.
* * * *
They didn’t discuss their kiss on the rideback to the hotel, but Zia guessed from the sparkle in Rem’s eyesthat he was thinking about it as much as she was. Of course, partof his excitement came from his experience at the rec center. Histone was almost breathless as he shared the details of his threehours in the Malaran simulator, fighting fake giants with fakeskirmishers, and apparently taking it all very seriously.
It was touching when he described how greathe had felt after surpassing level seven and exiting the simulator,only to be told by a tight-lipped Carrak that the Vekzori had justtried to assassinate Zia. He hadn’t even known she had returned tothe hotel, and was stunned and furious—with himself as well as theMalarans—for allowing such a thing to happen.
She realized he was as exhausted as she was,but when they were finally alone together in her cleaned andsanitized suite, he spent a full hour methodically securing therooms and double-checking his weaponry. Then he dragged a Malarancot into Zia’s bedroom, positioning it right by the door so that noone could enter without going through him first, almostliterally.
When he finally relaxed and joined her forthe protein shakes the hotel had sent up for supper, they were bothtoo tired to talk about anything important or controversial, sothey chatted about the Malaran pilots—Maryak, who had been sowelcoming to Zia; Gannor and his buddies, who had reportedlycontinued putting Rem in his place as “just an Earth pilot,” evengoing so far as to laughingly call him a hairless mono-gut. Remdidn’t seem bothered by it, and Zia sensed that he had probablyhurled a few choice insults of his own. Plus, he had had theultimate revenge: Carrak’s approval, which had been impossible formost of the pilots to obtain even after years of trying.
Finally it was time to go to bed, and Ziaactually felt a little shy when she changed into her nightgown inthe bathroom. She wasn’t quite sure how to act around herbodyguard, given the occasionally romantic element of theirrelationship. But she had to admit, the situation was more comicalthan sexy, at least in terms of her appearance. She had onlybrought ankle-length nightwear with long sleeves on this trip incase any Malaran guards were posted in her quarters, so the chanceof provoking any dangerous urges on Rem’s part was pretty slim.
Still, she brushed her hair until it waslustrous before exiting into the bedroom, where Rem was seated onthe cot, rechecking his blaster for the umpteenth time thatevening.
He gave her a teasing smile. “Niceoutfit.”
“Be quiet.” She edged over to her bed.“Aren’t you going to change?”
“No, I’m fine like this.”
She winced. “Do you really think somethingwill happen? Maybe I should wear my uniform too.”
“No, that thing’s perfect. It’ll scareany intruder away.”
“Funny.” She eyed him intently. “Anyway,thanks again for being here.”
He stood and walked over to her. “I don’tthink they’re coming back tonight. Humber has a small army in thelobby, remember. So just try to get some sleep.”
“Okay.” She smiled. “Good night.”
His hand shot out and he grabbed her, pullingher
