Part 11 (1/2)

”Why are you worried about her?”

”She's carrying my child.”

Threnody felt as if she'd been punched, all the breath leaving her lungs. Shock came first, then the sickening realization that no unborn child would be able to survive what a neurotracker could do to a human body.

”Are you joking?” Threnody said weakly, searching his face. ”You're not joking.”

”I need to find out what happened to Ciari.” Lucas headed for the door, but Threnody's hand on his arm stopped him. ”Let go.”

”You can't leave the South Pole. We only just got here and Ciari's torture was days ago.”

”All the more reason for me to leave.”

”And do what? You're in no condition to save anyone right now.” Threnody dug her fingers into his arm and moved so he had to look at her. ”We need more downtime.”

”You don't understand,” Lucas snapped, wrenching his arm free of her grip and glaring at her. ”My daughter is why I'm doing all of this.”

Threnody didn't move, never broke eye contact. ”And I'm doing it for everyone else. Your reasons aren't any more or less valid than my own, despite your s.h.i.+tty att.i.tude. So for once, listen to me.”

Lucas blinked at her, momentarily thrown off-kilter by her complete lack of obedience.

”Korman said the World Court put the Strykers Syndicate's second officer into the OIC post as Acting OIC,” Threnody said. ”They don't do that unless the OIC is still alive. Which means Keiko is running the Syndicate and Ciari is still breathing. I can't say anything about your daughter, but if Ciari's been helping you all along, betraying both the World Court and Nathan beneath the rules of the Silence Law, don't you think she would have watched out for her own unborn child?”

”Would she?”

Threnody punched him in the same spot Quinton had. Her fist made contact only because Lucas wasn't thinking straight and wasn't up to full strength. Lucas's head snapped to the side and he swore.

Threnody shook out the tension in her hand from the hit. ”You G.o.dd.a.m.n b.a.s.t.a.r.d. After everything that Ciari's given up for you, you're really going to ask that? f.u.c.k you, Lucas.”

Lucas touched his mouth, fingers skimming over swelling tissue. She hadn't split his lip, and she had half a thought to try again to rectify that mistake.

Don't, Lucas said into her mind, but without the heat of anger.

”The OIC is a position I would never want,” Threnody said after a long moment of silence. ”Ciari's argued for our lives over and over again and this is the payment she gets for it. For toeing the f.u.c.king line and letting you do what needs to be done, she gets her f.u.c.king brain fried. And you think she'd risk losing her baby?”

Lucas let his hand drop away and he spat on the floor of the lab. ”I need to know what happened to my daughter.”

”After the cl.u.s.terf.u.c.k in Buffalo, Ciari had to know she'd be summoned before the bench. She'd have time to do whatever she could to save the baby before that order came. Your daughter is most likely in Toronto. Probably in the medical level of the Strykers Syndicate.”

Lucas closed his eyes, but the tension didn't leave his body. ”Can you be certain that's true?”

”No, but it's the most logical place. We can't run off and find out just yet.” Threnody lifted both hands to rub at her temples, feeling a headache coming on. ”We need to be at full strength before we rush into things, otherwise we'll make mistakes and it'll cost us.”

”Tomorrow,” Lucas said after a moment. ”We'll figure out what to do tomorrow.”

Threnody could only agree to that compromise, and this time she didn't try to stop Lucas from leaving. He unlocked the door and pulled it open, pausing only long enough to say, ”Coming?”

She followed him out.

Lucas led her to a small room barely big enough for a single bed and an old, rickety desk. ”Yours,” he said. ”And Quinton's. I'll let you decide who gets the bed. Cafeteria is down the hall. It's cramped quarters all around, but don't worry. I'll keep an eye on my sisters.”

He said it as if they were still a threat and she stared at him. ”Should I be worried?”

Lucas didn't answer and started to close the door. Threnody put her hand against it, forcing him to stop. Threnody gazed at him silently for a moment before saying, ”Get some rest.”

Lucas closed the door. Shaking her head, Threnody went to sit on the bed, wondering if it was worth it to peel out of her skinsuit. Instead, she slid beneath a patched blanket and dozed.

Threnody woke when the door opened again, instincts too fine-tuned to ignore even the slightest of noises. She opened her eyes and watched as Quinton came into the room and switched on the light.

”I'll take the floor,” he said tiredly, carrying extra blankets. ”Go back to sleep, Thren.”

”The cargo?”

”Safely stored.” Quinton rolled the blankets out on the floor. ”Still needs to be sorted. That's going to take weeks.”

It was hard to believe what they had accomplished, stealing from the government for the sake of a world. She swallowed, wis.h.i.+ng she had water. ”How many seeds?”

Quinton lifted his head and looked at her. Even through his exhaustion, she could see the awe in his eyes. ”Millions, Thren. Millions.”

She squeezed her eyes shut, the strange feeling curling in her gut almost foreign. Hope always was.

FOURTEEN.

SEPTEMBER 2379.

AMUNDSEN-SCOTT SOUTH POLE STATION, ANTARCTICA.

Kristen found Threnody with Quinton during lunch, when Threnody was shoveling a forkful of rice and actual beans into her mouth. They had a corner table in the cafeteria with their backs to the wall, but they never saw Kristen coming. She was suddenly there across the table from them, chin propped up on her bony hands, psionic interference scratching against their s.h.i.+elds. Her permanent smile wasn't inviting.

Threnody paused midchew, meeting Kristen's gaze with a healthy dose of wariness. The teenager used her hands to twist her blond head into a painful angle until it looked as if Kristen might snap her own neck. ”Do you know what happens when Warhounds touch Sercas without our permission?” Kristen said, gleaming dark blue eyes never blinking. ”We kill them.”

”You touch her, I will burn you,” Quinton said, reaching for the lighter in his pocket.

”An eye for an eye.” Kristen dragged a finger down over her face, scratching a long line of red into her skin. ”For what both of you did to my brother. It's only fair.”

Quinton cast Threnody a questioning glance. Threnody shrugged and swallowed her bite of food. ”We disagreed about something, so I introduced my fist to his face.”

”So proud, aren't you?” Kristen laughed, raspy and amused. She stretched out her arms, let her hands slide against the edge of the table as she leaned her weight forward, catching Threnody's gaze. ”How highly everyone must think of you. To waste all that time saving you. To let your hands wander like they do.”

”What caused me to punch Lucas isn't your business.”

That smile never changed, though the look in Kristen's eyes became predatory. ”And here I thought all they beat into you dogs was obedience.”