Captured (15 page)

Ekkatt stopped himself from flinching at the words.
 
“Fly safe,” he said.

“And you,” replied Pana.

Ekkatt strode up to the guards at the gate.
 
He nodded in a friendly fashion, while they greeted him as always.
 
“Did you have a safe flight, Ekkatt Vom Baerkah Elae, son of Baerkah, son of Elae?”

“Yes, thank you.
 
I understand the fever has abated.”

“Yes,” replied one of the guards.
 
We were very lucky.
 
Most survived.”

“Then sales were good,” Ekkatt commented, hating himself.
           
“Sales were excellent, the best we’ve had in years,” came the chief’s jovial voice from beyond the gate.
 
“Welcome back, Ekkatt.
 
Prepared to leave on your next mission?
 
I’ve got a transport ready to disembark tomorrow.
 
I have a full crew but there is always room for my best trapper.”
 
The chief clapped Ekkatt on the back.
 
Ekkatt gave him what passed for a smile.

“Not this time, Chief.
 
I plan to spend a few months with my father and brother before my next mission.
 
I’m hoping my share will cover some renovations we need to make to the compound.”

“I’m disappointed, Ekkatt.
 
This last batch was rich, very rich.
 
Two more years on the hunt and you could buy a new compound outright.”

Ekkatt pretended to consider the suggestion.
 
“I’ve promised my father and brother.
 
I have an obligation.”

“Yes, I understand.
 
Is your brother’s weakness increasing?
 
Many people who suffered through the Wind of Death find that years later, their weakness becomes more profound.
 
My father suffers the same.
 
I’m disappointed, Ekkatt, but I sympathize.
 
Well…” he walked toward his office, “Let’s get you your share.”
 

Ekkatt made a show of counting his cills.
 
He thanked the chief and wished him well then he went to clean out his locker.
 
When he’d used his gear bag to spirit Mari out of the facility, he’d had to leave some items behind.
 
He grabbed a spare bag from the storage closet and flipped open the clasp.
 
He piled in two pairs of sturdy boots, warm trousers, several thick jackets, a small uustal, more suitable for one Mari’s size, and a set of large knives which were always good for protection.
 
He slung the bag over his shoulder and left the unit.
 
As he approached the gates, one of the pilots stopped to chat.
 
Ekkatt did his best to hide his impatience.

“You are like a man chafing to go after a paid woman,” the pilot said, with a laugh. “Just like your friend Pana.
 
He took off a short time ago, saying he had an urgent matter to attend to before we leave tomorrow.”
 
Ekkatt’s heart began to pound
.
 
“The only thing Pana considers urgent is a woman,” the man joked.

He smelled her on me.
 
He smelled her scent.
 
I shouldn’t have been with her right before I left.
 
I shouldn’t have touched her.
 
I have to get to Mari.
 
I have to go now.

“What did you say, Ekkatt?”

“Nothing…excuse me…I remembered something…something I left behind in my craft.”

Ekkatt took off at a trot, trying not to appear in any distress.
 
He stopped at the guard station to wish the men well.
 
Fly safe
, they told him.
 

Pana has a head start and a new, sleek, fast craft,
Ekkatt thought.
 
If he wanted to catch him he’d have to fly like a man possessed by the devil, as the Earthers said.
 
He hoped to her god that she would use the uustal.
 
Shoot him, Mari
, he said in the silence of his craft.
 
Kill the son of a bitch.
 

Chapter 12

Mari knew she’d taken longer than she’d planned, but she’d wanted to rinse out a few shirts at the hot spring. She’d also brought along
 
Ekkatt’s nail clippers and the file to give herself a much needed nail trim.
 
She’d tried the hair remover on her legs and underarms.
 
Before he’d flown off, she’d asked him how he removed his facial hair, explaining in a self-conscious voice that some earth women removed the hair from their underarms, legs, and sometimes other places.
 
Ekkatt had looked her up and down for a moment and then he’d said,
interesting,
and he’d given her the bottle of lotion and explained how to use it.
 

Weeks of half-assed grooming makes you appreciate the feel of nice, smooth skin
, Mari thought.
 
Now if I can just invent deodorant, I’ll be set.
 
It occurred to her that there must be some mineral in the hot spring that changed her pH a little because she’d noticed that she didn’t really have a need for deodorant.
 
Maybe the water is like one of those crystal deodorant sticks, whatever those are
.
 

She’d carried everything up in a woven basket Ekkatt kept in the kitchen. s She’d packed the soap, her toothbrush, and the tooth powder along with her other supplies, including a clean shirt to put on after her bath.
 
She’d done exactly as Ekkatt had instructed.
 
For all intents and purposes the cabin appeared uninhabited.
 
She’d kept it dark and shuttered, hadn’t built a fire, and she’d been careful to lock the door behind her.
 
The key and the uustal sat on a nearby ledge where they were easy to grab if a giant durra happened by.
 
Fortunately, there was one way to the spring and she’d see and hear anything coming, she hoped.
 
Mari closed her eyes and leaned back against the rock wall.
 
Her mind wandered.
 

Cats stalk their prey in near silence.
 
Maybe wearing a mask on the back of my head would help drive it off.
 
Villagers in India have had pretty good luck wearing masks on the back of their heads when they go to the water holes.
 
It’s the eyes, the eyes in the back of their heads.
 
Tigers are reluctant to attack if they think their prey can see them.
 

Her eyes flew open at a faint noise.
 
You dope!
 
You’ve been drifting
.
 
Ekkatt will be furious
if you get yourself eaten.
 
Mari listened with her mouth open slightly.
 
Yes, there it was again.
 
It didn’t sound like an animal, but she couldn’t identify it.
 
Keeping her movements as controlled and quiet as possible, she climbed out of the pool and pulled on the dry shirt.
 
She tied her hair back to get it out of her way.
 
She then stepped around the edge of the spring and picked up the key and the uustal. Everything else could wait until morning if necessary.

Mari kept to the edge of the trail and pressed herself against the cliff face.
 
She wore a gray shirt which helped her to blend in, but then, there was the problem with her hair.
 
The shadows were growing long, but she was still careful to stay out of direct sunlight.
 

Whatever the noise was it came from the direction of the cabin.
 
Mari reached an overlook and, crouching down on the trail, peered over the rocky ledge.
 
She spied a ship in the clearing.
 
At first glance the vessel appeared to be Ekkatt’s. She felt overjoyed.
 

Mari was about to run down the trail to greet him when she caught a sudden flash of green and dropped to her knees again.
 
There was no green on Ekkatt’s craft.
 
Mari crawled back to the edge and studied the ship.
 
The style was similar to Ekkatt’s vehicle, but this one looked new.
 
Had he ever mentioned another vehicle?
 
No.
 
He hadn’t.
 
There was someone down at the cabin, and it wasn’t Ekkatt.
 
If Ekkatt had returned and found her gone, she would have heard him calling for her.
 
He would be lecturing her right now on the dangers of being out so late in the afternoon.
 
Fuck
.

Mari realized she couldn’t go down the trail nor could she return to the hot spring.
 
That would be the next logical place for someone to look. There was no passage beyond the hot spring so that was a dead end.
 
Her only escape was up, but hiking up the ridge would put her in durra territory in the evening.
 
Mari took a deep breath.
 
In her estimation, it was half-dozen of one and six of the other.
 
Then she saw a tall figure emerge from the far side of the cabin. His movements were slow and deliberate.
 
She recognized Pana.
 
He sniffed around the cabin looking for her.
 
He’d put two and two together.
 

He must have seen Ekkatt at the warehouse and the tumblers had clicked in his brain.
 
Oh my God, it was my smell that gave me away…my smell on Ekkatt.
 
I shouldn’t have touched him before he left.
 
It would have been better to keep my distance.
 
What if he’s killed Ekkatt or turned him over to the authorities?
 

Mari’s chest grew tight as if she’d forgotten how to breathe. Then she realized that if Pana had betrayed Ekkatt whatever agency existed to regulate the importation of humans would be here to pick up the contraband and return it to the meat market.
 
They wouldn’t be sneaking around.
 
No.
 
They’d come with sirens blaring.
 
 
Pana had something else in mind.
 
She doubted he’d killed Ekkatt, but she was willing to bet good money he’d learned Ekkatt didn’t plan to return directly to the cabin.
 
Son of a bitch.
 
She slid the key to the cabin beneath a rock and gripped the uustal.
 
She thought it smarter to take the initiative.
 
Her chances of survival were better against a giant cat.
 
Pana would have to follow her into its territory.

Careful not to disturb any loose rock Mari climbed up the trail to the ridge.
 
She kept to the trees as much as possible.
 
When she reached the top she crouched behind a man-sized boulder and looked down towards the cabin.
 
Pana was headed to the hot spring.
 

His voice carried up to her, “Your stench precedes you, cow.
 
You befoul the air of my world.”
 
He laughed.
 

He doesn’t know you have an uustal.
 
You have the element of surprise on your side.
 
If he catches you, you die.
 
If he leaves here alive he will betray Ekkatt, and the man you love, the man who has kept you safe, dies.
 
You have to kill him, Mari.
 
You.
 
Have.
 
To.
 
Kill.
 
Pana.
 
Mari jogged down the trail into the woods keeping her eyes and ears and her nose open.
 
I will find a place to ambush him. I will stay alive.

The deeper Mari ventured into the forest the more anxious she became.
 
She closed her eyes for an instant and reminded herself that animals could smell fear.
 
Pana could smell fear too, so she needed to keep it together.
 
What if the cat jumped her from above? Mari opened her eyes to study the thick trees surrounding her.
 
Nothing…nothing except for the careless noise Pana made behind her.
 
It was obvious that he had no doubts whatsoever about his ability to track her and catch her.
 
He considered her species far too stupid to avoid even the most obvious entrapment by an evolved species such as his.
 
Bastard
.
 
Mari allowed anger to wash over her.
 
Anger was a far more effective emotion when it came to survival than fear.