“This way,” he calls out. “We have to get to the other side of the trees so can’t see us transport.”
Hitching my gown up to my knees, I pump my legs as hard as I can to keep up. The underbrush catches the hem on the back side of my dress and I hear the faint rip as the fabric tears.
On the other side of the trees, Nico reclaims my hand and pulls me closer as he slows, then stumbles to a stop. We can hear Carter’s footfalls as he crashes through the brush.
“He’s getting closer,” I gasp.
“Betty,” Nico says into the CommLink, equally breathless. “Two to transport. NOW!”
My body tingles as the transporter energy surges through me. There’s a glimpse of Carter as he emerges from the trees a few hundred feet away, and his frustrated grimace when he realizes he won’t catch up. The next moment, Nico and I collapse on the transporter pad on our ship.
“Arseneau!” Carter’s voice booms over the ship’s loudspeakers.
“How the hell...” I gulp air into my lungs. “...did he access our communication system?”
“Someone gave him the access codes.” Nico scrambles off the pad, and heads toward the cockpit, shouting over his shoulder at me as he goes. “Three guesses who might have done that.”
Trevor.
Once at the command console, Nico’s fingers fly over the controls. “She could have given him access to every system on the ship.” He squints at the display screen. “I don’t see any evidence of recent system changes, so it doesn’t look like there’s been any tampering.”
“No tampering, yet, Commander Garcia. I hope you’ll both cooperate so I won’t have to take control of your ship,” Carter says. “I have access to your communication feeds and transporter system. I can also block you from taking off to parts unknown. After that sucker punch, maybe I should just take command of your ship right now.”
“Carter, I thought you’d be retired by now. What the hell are you doing here?” I ask.
“Trying to fix what you’ve broken,” he says in a dry tone.
Nico swivels in his seat and raises a questioning eyebrow. I look away.
“You should have taken me up on the offer to be your advisor, Arseneau. I could’ve kept you from getting stuck in this mess.”
“Given that you’re the Benefactors’ bulldog now, I doubt that,” I say.
There’s an audible sigh. “You’ve got me all wrong, kiddo. There are things you don’t know about how you were chosen for this mission.”
“What do you mean ‘chosen?’”
“You’ve been set up.”
“Set up?” Nico’s jaw drops. “Dodger, what’s he talking about?”
“How am I supposed to know?” I say. Then, to Carter: “You have thirty seconds to explain that or I’m cutting the transmission feed.”
Nico holds a finger to his lips, then taps the communications panel, switching to an alternate frequency. “Fagin?” Nico says. “Are you hearing this?”
No answer.
“I’m afraid Ms. Delacroix can’t come to the communicator right now. She’s in deep discussions with my compatriots, at the moment,” Carter says. “And, yes, we have full control over all of your communication frequencies. We need to talk, Arseneau. You’re trying to climb a slippery slope, and you know it.”
Nico leans back in his chair and shoots me a loaded-for-bear look. “What in the hell is he talking about?”
Fuck. “It’s...complicated.” My mouth goes dry.
Carter makes an annoying tsk-tsk sound. “It sure sounds like you haven’t kept your boyfriend in the loop regarding your extra-curricular activities.”
“Dodger, one more time...what’s he talking about?” Nico’s eyes turn pleading, like he knows he’s going to hate my answer, but he needs to hear it anyway.
I settle into the co-pilot’s seat, and stare into my lap. I can’t meet his gaze anymore. A few minutes pass in silence, until Carter’s dangerously thin patience disappears.
“Enough playing around.” His voice turns hard. “You have five minutes to surrender, and allow me onboard, or I’m coming in there after you. If I have to do that, I promise you won’t like the outcome.”
Chapter 24
“Four minutes left.” Jackson Carter’s voice blares over the speakers. “It’ll go a lot easier for you if I can tell my bosses you voluntarily cooperated.”
“I’ll bet you didn’t make that offer to Fagin as you hold her prisoner,” I reply. “You playing good cop to get her to cooperate, too?”
“She’s not a prisoner. Fagin is free to leave protective custody at any time.”
“Protective custody. Is that what the kids are calling time traveler jail these days?” Usually sarcasm rolls off me like butter across warm toast. Right now, though, my stomach feels ready to turn cartwheels, making it hard to enjoy trading witty comebacks with Carter. “I have no freaking clue what’s going on, but—”
“Don’t you? This party is all because of you, Arseneau.”
Nico leans forward in the commander’s chair and rests his elbows on his knees. The expectant look on his face makes my stomach churn. It’s all about to come spilling out and while I’m convinced I won’t receive better treatment from the Benefactors by cooperating with their errand boy, I’m equally convinced the little toad is right about one thing: Bad things get worse when you don’t face them head-on.
Because he’s the kind who gets quieter the angrier he gets, Nico’s silence as he shifts from annoyed curiosity to active agitation is alarming.
“Does your boyfriend know what you’ve done?” Carter says. “Was he in on your little scheme? I’m sure my superiors will want to interrogate him, too.”
Nico continues to stare. After several long seconds, he takes a measured breath and says, “He’s not talking about this disciplinary training mission, is he?”
It takes two hard swallows to force saliva down past the lump in my throat. “Do you believe someone can do the wrong thing, for the right reasons?” Desperation crowds into the edges of my voice. “Even if it’s something horrible? I mean... sometimes you really don’t have options when
