“I’m staying,” Carl said firmly.
Jinx frowned. As the crew trickled out, Jinx said, “Fine. But you don’t need to watch. She deserves some privacy after what she’s been through.”
Carl obediently averted his eyes while Veridian and Jinx undressed Kayla and cleaned her wounds. After Jinx wrapped her ribs with the bone molds, Veridian pulled a blanket over Kayla. “Okay, Carl. We’re done.”
Carl turned back around. Kayla’s dark hair fell around her face and was still damp from where Jinx had washed the blood out of it. Her eyes were closed and she looked extraordinarily pale. The bruises around her neck were darkening and Carl could see the outline of where Vex's fingers had gripped her.
“Carl, would you mind putting the bone mold on her wrist?” Jinx asked.
He nodded and gently lifted Kayla’s hand to wrap her wrist in the mold. Jinx adjusted the IV. “It’ll take a few hours for the bone molds to finish regenerating her bones. She’ll need at least one more bag of synthetic blood, but at least her vitals are stable now. With that concussion, she’ll probably be confused when she wakes up. I don’t want to give her a painkiller until then. Right now, being unconscious is the best thing for her.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Carl offered.
“In that case, I’m going to go get rid of these clothes. We’re going to need to get her some more UV gear. These are trashed.”
“That’s fine. I’ll arrange it.” It was the least he could do. Hell, he'd buy her a new speeder if he thought it would make it up to her.
Jinx stepped out of the room, carrying the ruined clothes. Veridian held Kayla’s uninjured hand and watched her silently. Carl pulled up another chair to sit down on the other side of Kayla. He put his head in his hands and sighed.
“So what happens now?”
He glanced up to see Veridian's worried expression. “I’ll send the recording to OmniLab. They need to know what happened. They have an obligation to protect her as part of the contract.” He wished he felt as confident as he sounded. OmniLab should never have put Ramiro into a position of authority.
“She won’t get into any trouble over killing Vex, will she?”
Carl shook his head. He'd make sure of it. “No. There’s no doubt she was simply defending herself.”
“I’d love to be alone with Ramiro for five minutes right now.”
Carl nodded in agreement. “You’re not the only one.”
They both fell silent for several minutes. “She’s going to be pissed off when she wakes up and sees this. She hates being sick or injured.”
Carl’s mouth twisted into a smile, remembering how she objected to using the medicinal cream. “I believe it.”
“Thanks for going down to get her. Most traders wouldn't have done that.”
“I don’t think she would have been down there if it weren’t for me,” Carl admitted in frustration. “I gave her the scotch hoping to get her to open up and talk to me about Pretz. I knew there was more to the story than she originally told me. I should have waited for her to come around in her own time.”
Veridian shook his head. “I’m not sure about that. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pissed off this happened, but I don’t know about the rest. It’s been a year and she hasn’t opened up about Pretz. Tonight was the first time I actually saw her cry. She’s kept all those feelings bottled up for a long time. She needed to let them out.”
“She told me she loved him.”
Veridian looked at him in surprise and then considered Kayla thoughtfully. “She never told me that. I knew she cared about him, but I didn’t realize…”
His voice trailed off, indecision playing across his face. After a long moment, he said, “She can sometimes come across as being a sarcastic hard-ass, but that’s not who she is. Kayla’s got one of the biggest hearts I’ve ever seen. She’s either been hurt or has lost everyone she’s ever cared about. She doesn’t like to let people too close.”
Carl raised an eyebrow, surprised at the volunteered information. From everything he'd seen, Veridian was a staunch defender of Kayla's privacy. Wondering where this sudden loquaciousness was coming from, he observed, “She seems to be close to you.”
“I guess, but I’ve hurt her too. After my mother died, Kayla needed me and I wasn't there for her. She turned to Pretz instead.”
“Kayla was close to her?”
Veridian rubbed Kayla’s hand and didn't answer right away. When he did, his voice was quiet. “Yeah. Kayla grew up in our camp. There was some sort of collapse in the ruins when she was a kid. Leo and my mother heard screams and went to investigate. There were several people down there when the beams fell. One of the women in the group was badly hurt but conscious. When she saw Leo and my mother, she pushed Kayla through a small opening and begged my mother to take her. My mother pulled Kayla out right before another beam fell. Leo and my mother were lucky to make it out of there alive.”
“What the hell were they doing taking a child into the ruins?” Carl had difficulty imagining taking a child down into the ruins. There were far too many dangers.
Veridian shrugged. “She was a little young, but it's not that unusual. We have to learn sometime. Leo tried to find out what camp she was from. He asked some other scavengers, but no one seemed to know anything about them. He gave up and figured they were new to the area.”
“I wasn't much older than Kayla when she came to live with us.” Veridian smiled at the memory. “She was headstrong, even then. She had to know how everything worked. I think she drove people crazy with her nonstop questions, but she was absolutely brilliant. If you showed her something once, she immediately caught on. She was easily out-scavenging seasoned ruin rats by the time she was twelve.”
“How long ago did she come to live with you?”
Veridian thought carefully. “I don’t know. I’m guessing it was about thirteen years ago. That would make her around eighteen now.”
Carl sat back, somewhat surprised. He'd known she was young but it was strange to have it confirmed. Most people with her level of skill and experience were several years older. It seemed they both had one more thing in common: responsibility had been put on both of them at a young age.
Glancing down at her, his heart thrummed in his chest. She looked so vulnerable surrounded by the medical equipment. He ached to pull her into his arms and hold her. He swallowed and looked up to see Veridian studying him with an uncanny awareness. Carl cleared his throat and observed, “I’m surprised you’re being this open with me.”
Veridian leaned over and brushed a kiss on her forehead. “Kayla's been living in a fog since Pretz died. She's gone through the motions but there's been something missing. She might kick my ass for telling you everything but I doubt it. Scotch or not, she wouldn't have opened up to you about Pretz if she didn't want you to know. It's more than that though.” He looked up to meet Carl's eyes. “She lights up when she's around you. I've missed seeing that spark in her. I know it won't last, but I'm thankful you brought it back.”
Carl opened his mouth to object, but words failed him. Veridian was right. Anything between him and Kayla could only be temporary. He had less than three years left on his contract. After that, he had to return to the towers. No matter what was growing between them, it wasn't fair to her to begin something he couldn't finish.
A monitor beeped and Carl stood up to replace the pouch of synthetic blood with a new one. He adjusted her IV line and she moved slightly.
“I think she’s waking up. Kayla? Can you hear me?”
Her green eyes slowly opened and Carl sighed in relief. She squinted at the bright light and tried to look around the room. She cried out in pain from the effort and fell back again. Veridian stood up, putting his hands on her shoulders to prevent her from trying to sit up. “You need to stay still, Kayla. You were hurt. You’ve lost a lot of blood and broken a few bones. It’ll take a few more hours for them to be repaired.”
She lifted her broken wrist and stared at the
bone mold.
“Shit.” Dropping her wrist back down, she winced in pain. “My head is freaking killing me. What happened?”
“What do you remember?” Veridian asked her.
She frowned. “Uh, crap. I think...I was in the ruins?”
Carl picked up the painkiller and brought it toward her IV line. “That’s right. You should feel better pretty soon though. You need to rest right now.”
She held up her hand when she saw the needle. “Wait. Stop. Don’t give me that yet. It makes me stupid. I need to remember. Oh, shit. It even hurts to breathe.”
Carl paused, the needle hovering by the IV line. “Kayla, it’ll stop the pain.”
Stubbornly, she insisted, “No, dammit. Hang on. Let me think a minute.”
She closed her eyes and concentrated. Her eyes flew open. “Where’s Vex?”
“He’s dead.” Veridian's voice was matter-of-fact.
“He is?” She reached up with her uninjured hand to touch her throat, wincing in pain at the movement. “He was choking me. I grabbed my knife and tried to stop him. He…Did he throw me into the wall?”
Carl nodded. “Kayla, it’s going to be all right. I’m going to give you the painkiller now.”
When she didn’t offer any further objections, he pushed the medicine into the line and watched as she began to relax. “Oh, crap...that’s...that works. I guess I needed that.”
“You’re actually admitting I was right?”
“Maybe,” she murmured, and looked up at him. With her uninjured hand, she reached out to grasp his hand. He pressed a kiss on the inside of her palm, careful not to hurt her further. She gave a long drawn-out sigh. “Too damn pretty. Why did you have to be a trader?”
He chuckled. “So I could get stubborn ruin rats out of trouble. Now you need to close your eyes and get some rest.”
Once he'd made sure she was sleeping comfortably, Carl headed toward the common room. His crew was standing around talking but fell silent the moment he entered.
“Is she awake?” Jinx asked.
“She’s sleeping again, but she regained consciousness for a few minutes. I gave her the painkiller and it knocked her out.” Carl turned to the rest of the crew. “I know you’re concerned, but she’s going to be fine. We’re going to need to take shifts around the clock for awhile until this issue with Ramiro is settled. I’ll push on OmniLab to try to get them moving.”
Xantham scratched his head. “I’m going to need to take the first shift then. Zane, you mind joining me? I need to make sure our coms are locked up tight after they infiltrated them earlier.”
After Zane agreed, Cruncher spoke up. “Corsin and I will take the second shift.”
“Carl, I think I should stay with Kayla tonight,” Jinx suggested. “She seems to be out of danger, but I don’t want to take any chances.”
Carl threw her a grateful look. “Thanks, I was going to ask you to check in on her throughout the night. Veridian is going to stay with her, but I would feel more comfortable if you watched her too.”
She turned to Arlisia and asked, “Would you mind checking in on her tomorrow during the second shift? Or would you rather help out with the security systems?”
Arlisia looked up from the ground when everyone's gaze fell on her. “I’ll work security tomorrow,” she stammered, before turning away and striding out of the room.
Corsin frowned at his sister’s behavior. “Jinx, I can check on her tomorrow instead.”
Carl held up his hand, waving off Corsin's excuses. “That’s all right. Why don’t you guys get some rest? I need to go give Ramiro a call and tell him to get Vex’s body out of my district.”
Chapter Eight
Corsin stared at the code on the screen and exclaimed, “No way! She wrote that? I thought she was a scavenger.”
Cruncher chuckled at Corsin’s reaction. “Yeah. That’s what I thought too. This is the same code she wrote to distract Ramiro so she could steal the Aurelia Data Cube.”
Corsin let out a low whistle and gestured to his sister. “Arlisia, you’re a tech. You should see this.”
“I’ll pass.” She waved him off, not bothering to turn away from her screen. Corsin started to make a comment, but fell silent when he noticed Carl standing in the doorway.
“Hey, Boss. Didn’t know if we would see you today.”
“Yeah, I’ve been on my comlink all morning.” Carl leaned over the desk to see what they were working on. “What’s this?”
Cruncher sat back in his chair and gestured to the monitor in front of him. “I was showing Corsin the code Kayla wrote when she stole the data cube. She modified it so it’ll protect our system from the same type of attack. Apparently, some of our critical base systems were vulnerable.”
At Carl’s obvious interest, Cruncher entered in a few commands. The new code appeared on the screen along with the overlay system Kayla modified.
Carl looked at the code in surprise. “When did she do this?”
“She started working on it yesterday. Then, this morning when she woke up, she insisted I hook her into the system so she could keep working on it from the med room. For the past several hours, that girl has been tearing apart our security and rebuilding it.”
Carl chuckled, imagining the scene. “She’s been doing all this from the med room?”
“Yeah, she was pretty pissed with Veridian for not letting her get up. Veridian compromised by letting her work from the med room. That girl is something else. I’ve never seen anyone with her skills either above or below ground. I don’t know how the hell she does it.”
Arlisia turned away from her screen and stared at the three men, not bothering to hide her disgust. “How much longer are you going to keep going on about this? I’m sick and tired of listening to you guys fawn over her.”
Cruncher raised an eyebrow. “When you start bringing in a fraction of the credits that girl does in a week, let me know. Then I’ll start singing your praises too.”
Corsin moved between them and held up his hands. “Come on, Cruncher. Leave her alone.”
Arlisia shook her head and pushed away from her desk. “No, Corsin. I’m sick of this. Every single one of you has been going on about her since she came up on your radar. But how much of it is her so-called talent you’re admiring? From the looks of things, she’s been nothing but trouble since you first saw her. She’s got us on lockdown over here and we’re working around the clock because of her. Personally, I think it’s her assets that have you drooling.”
Carl had just about reached his limit with her attitude. Cruncher wasn't helping matters either. He'd never been fond of her. “That's enough. All of you. Arlisia, you’re a good tech and we appreciate everything you do. You and Kayla are both valuable members of this team. We need to work together and try to get along.”
Arlisia let out a forced laugh. “So maybe I should mimic your behavior and try sleeping with her? Because from where I’m standing, that’s how it looks like you’re hoping to get along with her.”
Corsin’s eyes widened and he said in a low whisper, “Arlisia...don’t.”
Anger floored him but he managed to reign it in. “This conversation is over.”
“Fine.” Arlisia slammed her monitoring station shut. Without another word, she stormed out of the room.
Corsin looked sheepish and ran his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry about that, Boss. I’ll talk to her.”
Carl shook his head. He'd put off dealing with Arlisia long enough. “No. I appreciate the offer but I’ll speak with her. I’ve given her more leeway than I should have because of what happened. That was my fault. I need to be the one to work this out with her.”
Corsin hesitated. “I suppose you’re right. I’ll stay out of it as much as I can. But she’s still my sister, Carl.”
“I know. That’s why I haven’t pushed until now.”
Corsin nodded and sat back down. With a deep breath, Carl headed down the hallway after Arlisia. When he reached the crew
’s quarters, he found her talking to Zane. Judging by Zane’s expression, it was clear she was complaining again. Carl clenched his jaw and tried to maintain his composure. “Arlisia, I need to speak with you in my office.”
Her shoulders stiffened but she gave him a curt nod before turning to Zane. “Sorry, I’ll catch you later.”
Carl ignored the questioning look on Zane's face and followed Arlisia. She flounced into his office and turned to him when she reached the desk.
Even in her anger, Carl couldn’t deny she was extraordinarily pretty. Her long, blonde hair was piled on top of her head with a few curls falling around her face. She was tall and slender with delicate features. Her blue eyes were full of a mixture of hostility and apprehensiveness. Unfortunately, her normally sweet nature had been replaced by an angry bitterness.
“You need something, Carl?”
He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he engaged the privacy controls. There would be enough rumors circulating over their previous argument in the tech room. He didn’t need to add more fuel to the fire. “We need to talk about your attitude, Arlisia.”
She leaned against his desk and crossed her arms over her chest. “What’s to discuss? You’ve made it clear you’re no longer interested in me.”
Carl sighed and tried to remain diplomatic. “Arlisia, you’re a good person and a good tech. What happened between us shouldn’t have happened. I crossed a line when I kissed you. I gave you the wrong impression and I apologize.”
Arlisia’s expression clouded and her shoulders slumped. “I thought there was something between us. I don’t understand what changed. I care about you.”
Carl could see the pain in her eyes. He wanted to be gentle with her, but she'd gone too far. “I don’t want to hurt you. I’ve never wanted to hurt you. But this has got to stop.”
She frowned and asked, “This is because of Kayla, isn’t it? Until she came into the picture, everything was fine. What’s so special about her?”
“You’re wrong. This has nothing to do with her,” Carl insisted, although part of him wondered if she might have a point. The more he was around Kayla, the more he wanted her, even to the point of being distracted from his responsibilities. On some level, he recognized he was approaching dangerous territory. A relationship between a ruin rat and a trader could be disastrous.