Chapter 17
She darted away from him. She was determined not to go back with Josh. Yes, he had saved her in the past. Yes, occasionally he could be nice, gentle even. But she couldn’t put up with that cruel side of his personality. She couldn’t stand there and wait for the kind Josh to be replaced with a monster.
So she ran up the sand dune toward his slider.
If she were being smart, instead of emotional, she would have realized there was no way she could outrun a special commander in the Coalition forces. Not only was he bigger than her, he was trained. Though she exercised occasionally, that exercise never included stamina training and running up freaking dunes. With every step, her foot plunged into the sand up to her ankle. It was excruciating to pull it out again. It was also slow.
Within a matter of seconds, he was right behind her.
Her heart fluttered, and it wasn’t only with fear. In fact, she wasn’t sure she was even afraid. Despite the fact she had made a decision not to travel with Josh, she still honestly didn’t think he would hurt her.
That would be when two massive arms wrapped around her middle and tugged her right off the dune she was clambering up. She let out a pitching scream, to which he immediately replied, “Calm the heck down; I’m not going to hurt you.”
With that, he unceremoniously dumped her next to his feet.
She was furious now. Maybe he could see it, because as she snapped to her feet, he let one eyebrow slowly lift up in a clear warning. “You want to run, go ahead. Be aware I’ll catch you again.”
She stared at him darkly. It was her turn to dig her fingers into her palms as hard as she could as frustration flooded through her.
“You are categorically the nastiest person I have ever met,” she screamed.
Josh appeared unmoved. “Go ahead, Princess, get it all out. But once you’re done, we’re getting back on my slider, and we’re getting out of here.” Josh pointed over his shoulder toward his slider. A second later, however, he appeared to change his mind. After a quick appraisal of both sliders, he shrugged his shoulders. “Actually, we’re getting on your slider. But we’re still getting out of here. Together. Then you are going to give me no trouble until I hand you over to your dear dad so I can return to my normal life. You got that?”
“I really have no idea why the Coalition gave you a job.”
Josh’s jaw stiffened. “I wouldn’t cross that line. Don’t talk about my past. It’s the only warning I’m going to give you.”
“Or what,” she brought her arms up and gesticulated in a jerked, quick fashion, “You’ll hit me? You’ll kill me? You’ll leave me in the desert to rot?”
“Just don’t push me.”
“I don’t get you, Special Commander. You threaten me one minute and then the next you pretend to care. You’re almost sweet one second, then the next you’re a monster. Do you have any idea how crazy your behavior seems?”
He leaned in. It appeared to be his favorite move. It accentuated the strong line of his jaw and shoulders. “Do you think I care what you think about me?”
“No, I’m pretty sure you don’t care what anyone thinks about you. And I’m pretty sure that’s your problem. Real people, nice people, kind and decent people don’t tackle women off sand dunes.”
“Real nice, kind, and decent people would have left you in the desert, Princess. You are not worth anyone’s trouble.”
“There you go again,” she made a frustrated noise, “You want to protect me, but you also want to leave me in the desert. What’s it like living in two worlds, Josh? Do you actually have two personalities in your head? The good cop and the bad cop? The pirate and the Coalition officer?”
Josh’s jaw didn’t stiffen this time; it slackened. In fact, she watched as his hard, dirty cheeks paled.
She’d struck a nerve.
Though her heart still pumped with frustration and anger, she swallowed.
“Get on the slider,” he managed after a substantial pause. “And don’t mention my past again.”
She opened her mouth. Any number of insults were on her tongue. She couldn’t say them.
Instead, her gaze flicked toward her feet.
She couldn’t win this, could she? She wouldn’t be able to convince Josh to leave her alone. In fact, if she took a step back from this situation, she appreciated his point. In his position, as a special commander, he would have an obligation to look after her. And if something did happen to her, it would be his responsibility, and it would reflect on his career.
Maybe that wasn’t the only reason she was starting to give up. Maybe, just maybe, on some remote level, she was happy Josh was back. Sure, she’d managed fine on her own. But he was bigger than her, better trained, and knew how to survive.
“Fine,” she conceded. She took a step toward the slider, but out of her peripheral vision, saw she had dropped her goggles further up the dune. She turned toward them.
“The slider is that way,” he warned.
She put a hand up quickly. “Relax, I just dropped something. I’m going to get it. I’m not going to make a run for it, promise.”
“You stay there; I’ll get it.”
She crossed her arms and watched him as he walked off. He also watched her. He kept his head angled her way as his body marched up the dune. His gaze was cold.
She had the urge to stick her tongue out at him. Though that would be childish in the extreme, it wasn’t as if he was acting like an adult.
Still watching her, Josh leaned down, plucked up the goggles, and turned to march back down toward her.
And that would be when he stumbled. His boots struck something, he overbalanced, and he tipped over.
He tumbled down the hill. Right toward the black spike.
Before she was aware of what she was doing, Mimi ran toward him.
She reached him, just as he rolled to his feet. But he took a stumble back and fell toward the spike.
She wrapped her small arms around Special Commander Joshua Cook and pulled him to the side. It was exactly like tackling a mountain, and just as rewarding. He fell on top of her. It felt like being body-slammed by a cruiser.
It knocked the breath out of her. It stilled her heart too. For entirely different reasons.
Josh’s body stiffened in surprise. “What the hell are you doing?”
There was a moment where she looked up into his eyes, and he looked down into hers. While her heart was fluttering, his gaze looked as if he’d turned to stone.
“You think you can fight me?” He warned as he pushed to his feet.
He grabbed her wrist and yanked her up.
“For a second there, I thought you were being reasonable. I thought, somewhere in that spoilt mind of yours, you could see my point,” he began. “Well, I guess you’ve proven I can’t trust you.” He whirled on his foot.
It was her turn to grab his arm. “Hold on, be careful.”
“Shut up.”
“No, listen to me. Look down to your left, genius.”
Holding her gaze for several seconds, and looking as if he did want to tie her up, Josh finally let his head drop.
He blinked in surprise. That hard edge to his jaw dropped as his mouth opened. “What the hell is that?”
“That, Mr., is something you almost impaled yourself on. Something I saved you from. Now, do you think you could possibly stop holding onto my arm so tight? You’re going to bruise it.” She tried to yank her arm back.
He let her, his grip growing slack.
She watched him take a step back, his brow crumpling as he stared at the black spike.
“I’m pretty sure this is where you say thank you.”
She watched him ignore her, get down on his knees, and inspect the spike.
Throughout her entire argument with Josh, she’d pretty much forgotten about it. Now, as silence descended, the fear started to creep back in. Though she liked to think she was rational, she couldn’t deny she wanted to get as far away from that strange bla
ck spike as was possible.
“What is this?” Josh asked again, tipping his head up to look at her.
“I don’t know. Klutzo came across it. We stopped the slider to have a closer look. That’s when you came along.”
Josh turned back from her without another word. Then he reached out his hand toward the spike.
Mimi jumped toward him, grabbed his arm, and pulled him back. “Are you serious? You can’t touch that.”
He turned around to look at her. They were close, not as close as they’d been moments before when she’d tackled him, but close enough that his face took up most of her view and all of her attention.
She found herself swallowing again.
“Why don’t you let go of my arm? I know what I’m doing,” he suggested in a gruff voice that had an unusual effect on her stomach.
She shook her head, not letting go. “Do you? I’m pretty sure it’s something like lesson one at the Academy that you shouldn’t go around touching mysterious objects on alien planets.”
He snorted at her, trying to pull his arm back at the same time.
She held on fast. It meant that as he tried to pull his arm free, he pulled her closer.
“I don’t need to be lectured on Academy lessons. I’m not the one who got kicked out.”
“I didn’t get kicked out. We discussed this before. And do you think, maybe, just for a second, you could wait to listen to what I have to say before deciding it’s irrelevant?” She stared into his eyes.
Several awkward seconds passed where she tried to keep hold of her determined expression but found her gaze wandering over Josh’s face instead. From the hard edge of his jaw, to his defiant, but somewhat mesmerizing eyes.
“Well, hurry up and tell me,” he stated flatly.
“Okay, just promise not to touch it,” she said as she tentatively let go of his hand. When he didn’t snap forward and grab the black spike, she rested back on her haunches and let out a breath. “I don’t know what to say, really.”
“It better be something good considering the lead up you just gave it. That, or I’m going to have to conclude once more that you just love wasting my time.”
She put up a hand tersely. “Cool your jets. Fine, I’ll tell you. When we came across it, I got Klutzo to scan it.” She started to play with her arms, brushing her hand over her wrist. She wanted to tell Josh about the feeling she got from that thin piece of metal sticking up out of the desert sands, but she couldn’t. Because, seriously, she had known the guy long enough now to realize he would pay absolutely zero attention to her feelings. “Anyhow, he said while he can get a visual on it, that’s it. He can’t get any other readings.”
Josh snorted. “It just means it’s being shielded from sensors.”
She offered him a sarcastic smile. “No, that’s not what he said. He said there are no readings available, because it doesn’t appear as if it has a mass, charge, or any other physical property.”
He leveled his gaze at her, waited for her to meet it, then he snorted. Loudly. Grotesquely. “You’re an idiot. That makes no sense.”
“Fine, why don’t you ask Klutzo yourself?”
“You think I’m going to trust the ramblings of a recording ball that has been wiped so many times it can’t fly straight?”
“You know, Josh, you’ve got a serious problem.”
“Is it you? It’s you, isn’t it?” He answered sarcastically as he shifted past her and tried to touch the spike.
She grabbed his hand again. Once more it brought her within close proximity of his face.
He arched an eyebrow. “My patience is running out.”
“Just, just don’t touch it! Seriously, can’t you feel it? It’s so… creepy.”
He arched his other eyebrow. “Creepy? It’s a freaking black spike sticking out of the sand.”
“No. It’s more. Klutzo had the same reaction as I did. It’s… I don’t think we should disturb it.”
He gave another of his rattling, world-ending snorts. It was a surprise he didn’t suck the whole desert up his nostrils. “You accuse me of being the idiot? I wouldn’t have thought you would be superstitious. Then again, you never cease to surprise me,” his voice bottomed out and his lip kinked to the side.
“Just don’t—”
He tried to reach past her to touch the spike. She got in his way, but in doing so, he bumped her toward it.
Her side pressed up against that thin piece of metal.
Immediately, Josh grabbed her back. “Be careful,” he snarled.
“Careful? You’re the one who should be careful. We have no idea what that thing can do,” she said, trying to ignore the lingering touch of his hands around her middle.
He looked at her pointedly. “You just bumped into that thing, Princess. If anything were to happen, it would have happened by now.”
She opened her mouth.
Something began to shift underneath her. A rumbling traveled up through the sand, sending it scattering about her.
“What the hell?” She had time to say.
Then the ground below her gave way.
In the blink of an eye, metal plates opened underneath them, and both her and Josh tumbled into the darkness.