Frost Station Alpha 1-6: The Complete Series (16 page)

“Unfortunately. I especially remember that he made me leave all of my artifacts out on the table where anyone could steal them.” Anise’s gazed flicked toward the porthole, though they couldn’t see much from their seats on the floor.

“Still think there might be a pirate ship out there?”

“I don’t know. I’d love more intel.” Anise lowered her voice to the barest whisper again. “We have to get out of here and send a report with everything we know back to headquarters. Especially now that I’ve... blabbed.”

“Trust me. I’ve been trying. I—”

The lounge’s only door opened, and Brax and Makkon walked in. Tamryn sank lower against the wall and closed her eyes to slits, hoping they would think her asleep, or that they wouldn’t notice her at all.

But Makkon’s gaze latched onto her before he’d come more than two steps into the room. Anise was right: he
did
tend to focus on her.

“Maybe you can seduce him and try to get more details about their plans,” Anise whispered.

Tamryn snorted. “Right.”

If she could seduce him, she would be duty bound to kill him.

As the pair walked in her direction, she wondered if that might actually be possible. Could he, in the throes of passion, be distracted enough that a normal human being might be able to land a killing blow?

Makkon had cleaned up since she had seen him last, washing off the blood and changing into another vest that, while still faded and patched, was at least clean. His black hair fell about his shoulders, straight and glossy. Long hair wasn’t that fashionable, and she had never dated a man with such locks, but it looked soft, and she could imagine running her hand through it.

When we’re seducing him to kill him, right?
came a thought from the back of her mind.

Yes, of course.

“Any of you ever deal with a Fleet ship called the
Felling Axe
?” Brax asked, stopping in front of Anise and Tamryn.

Tamryn met his eyes but did not answer. She hadn’t, but she wouldn’t have told him if she had.

“Are they here to rescue us?” Anise asked.

“No,” Brax said.

“Are you sure?” Anise lifted her bound wrists. “This would be the perfect time for inspiring heroics.”

Tamryn managed a smile, though she felt anything but pleased, especially now that she knew more about these people. She almost kicked the med kit as she pulled back her legs from Brax. He was standing too close for comfort. Makkon was a couple of steps behind him, his hand in a pocket, a pocket with a faint bulge in it. Was he still carrying her tablet around with him? If that other ship was nearby, she might be able to contact it with the small device.

“They haven’t responded to us,” Makkon said. “We told them the station is ours and that they can’t come in for repairs. They haven’t been good enough to leave the station’s space, as one might expect.”

“If they’re damaged, they might not be able to make it anywhere else.” Tamryn found her gaze drifting to the med kit, to the injector next to it. It had nothing but some morphine-based concoction in it—she’d given the wounded men fresh shots before falling asleep—but based on what Makkon had said, she wondered if the painkiller might compete with his truth drug in the body. Didn’t morphine already bind to the receptors for a person’s endorphins? That wouldn’t do anything to stop the release of oxytocin, but perhaps if she knew exactly what was happening, she could fight it, especially if the rest of the drug was only partially effective.

“I may have heard of the
Felling Axe
,” Tamryn said, not because she had, but because she needed a reason for them to try the truth drug on her. “Why don’t you let me talk to them from the station?”

“And tell them what?” Brax demanded.

“That Anise is waiting for inspiring heroics?”

He glared at her. “We don’t need you to talk to them.” He and Makkon walked away to confer softly.

Tamryn subtly slid her hand down by her calf and grabbed the injector. She checked the dosage out of the corner of her eye, then pushed up her sleeve and gave herself a shot. Doing it with her hands bound made it awkward, but she managed, then set the injector back in the kit. She touched her pocket and felt for the hard outline of the knife she had acquired to make sure it was still there.

Anise’s eyebrows rose—she hadn’t missed Tamryn giving herself a shot—but she did not say anything. Tamryn leaned closer to her.

“If I could talk to the captain of the
Felling Axe
,” she whispered, trusting the men’s superior senses would allow them to overhear, “tell him
my
secret, then he might take some risks to help us.”

There. Bait dangled.

Anise glanced toward the men. Whether she knew what Tamryn was up to or not was up for debate, but Tamryn had already said enough. It should intrigue the men, if they were listening. Brax was talking, and Makkon was pointedly not looking at her, but he definitely had an ear turned in their direction.

“I don’t think they’re going to let you have a nice chat with him,” Anise whispered back. She didn’t look all that enlightened as to Tamryn’s plan, but she was playing along.

“Maybe we can find a way to signal them if they’re still in range.”

“Like what? Holding pictures up to the portholes?”

Brax and Makkon stopped talking. Tamryn fell silent, as well, looking at up them with her usual expression of loathing, or at least irritation.

“I can talk to her,” Makkon said. “Without drugs.”

“You didn’t get that much information the last time you
talked
to her,” Brax growled, then held out his hand. “Give me the syringe.”

Makkon stared mulishly back at him, not lowering his hand to his pocket. “Get some sleep, Brax. Whatever this is, it isn’t important. If the ship’s still out there tomorrow, we’ll come up with a way to deal with it then.”

Another time, Tamryn might have appreciated that he wanted to keep his commander from stabbing a needle in her neck, but not now.

“I don’t need any sleep,” Brax said. “I need my space clear so the military ships don’t have any extra allies when they show up.”

“Nothing she tells us is going to help with that.”

“Are you so sure?” Brax squinted at Makkon.

“She’s a junior officer. What kind of information is she going to have? You already heard everything the other one said.”

Tamryn groped for a way she could make them want to drug her without seeming like she wanted it to happen. Makkon would surely be suspicious of that. Maybe she should just give up on the idea. She wasn’t even sure she could resist their questioning under the drug’s influence. If she didn’t, she could end up telling them far too much. But maybe sharing her secret might be worth it if it could be traded for a chance to get rid of Makkon, get her tablet back, and comm that other ship.

“Give me the syringe, Makk,” Brax said. He sounded like he was struggling to keep his voice calm. “You’ll feel like an ass later if questioning her could have brought up some important information, and you chose not to do it.”

Makkon didn’t respond right away. Some of the mulishness had faded from his expression.

“I can question her without the drug,” Brax added, “like I did the others.” His gaze briefly shifted toward a woman in a white lab coat who was curled into a ball and facing a corner, rocking herself and ignoring anyone who came over to inquire about her.

Tamryn glared at Brax, wishing she could stomach the idea of trying to seduce him, so she could kill him instead. Would Makkon continue on with the mission if he lost his leader? Probably. Tamryn wasn’t even positive Brax
was
the one in charge. They seemed to argue a lot for people with a chain of command established.

Makkon pulled out the syringe.

“I’ll observe,” he said before handing it over.

Brax smirked. “Hoping for a little affection if you’re nearby?”

“Hoping you won’t feel the need to maul her like you did the others.”

“Yes, yes, she’s your special prisoner.” Brax took the syringe and returned to Tamryn.

Her nerves jangled as he reached down and pulled her to her feet. She had wanted this, she reminded herself. That didn’t keep her belly from feeling like it housed snakes writhing in a mad dance.

Brax backed her up to a table. She wondered if she could convince them to untie her. Killing Makkon would be difficult enough with both hands free.

“I have nothing to say to you two,” Tamryn said. If she didn’t pretend to resist, they would be suspicious. “If you need to use the comm to talk to that other ship, I might be willing to do that, in exchange for a shower and some decent food.”

“You’re in no position to barter for anything, girl.” Brax grabbed her by the neck, fingers digging in, and lifted the syringe with his other hand.

She stifled the urge to wince, instead glaring defiantly at him.

Before the needle descended toward her neck, Makkon grabbed Brax’s arm.

“Now what?” Brax growled at him.

Without a word, Makkon took the syringe out of his comrade’s hand, laid it on the table next to Tamryn, then grasped her arm lightly. He didn’t meet her eyes as he did it, but she could tell from the tense set of his face that he didn’t want to drug her. He was at least going to do it the way she had requested. Once again, she found herself wondering if she might find a way to lure Brax out into the corridor and kill
him
instead of Makkon. But she didn’t know if Brax had any attraction toward her or if he could be distracted by a sexual advance. Brax also wasn’t the one with her tablet in his pocket.

Even though Brax was sighing impatiently and holding her neck, Tamryn was aware of Makkon cradling her arm as he checked the dose in the syringe. It wasn’t as if he was fondling her; she shouldn’t have reacted to the clinical touch. And yet she wished he would hurry up, before her body demonstrated that it
liked
that touch. Since she had sacrificed her uniform jacket to wrap Gruzinsky’s wounds, all she wore was her black T-shirt, which didn’t hide as much as the heavier garment. Fortunately, Makkon slid the needle into her vein before her nipples could turn into headlights.

She felt the cool bite of the metal, the substance inside entering her body, and then he was stepping back. He nodded to Brax.

“How you feeling, girl?” Brax asked.

Doubting the substance would take effect that quickly, Tamryn said, “Like I want to throw you out an airlock.”

“How about we have a chat instead?”

Tamryn looked down, fluttering her eyelids a couple of times. It wasn’t exactly the twitching that Anise’s eyelids had done, but it would have to do. She tried to look like she was wrestling with inner turmoil. It wasn’t as hard as she had expected, because she noticed herself feeling less agitated almost immediately. The fingers wrapped around the back of her neck stopped feeling so unpleasant. Why was she worried about these people? Everything would turn out in the end. It didn’t matter what she told them; it would be insignificant when Fleet arrived. They couldn’t fight off the strength of the entire system. They’d flee, leaving the station alone. Why fight them now? She could wait until then.

With a sick lurch, she realized the drug was affecting her.

“Got any intel you’d like to share yet?” Brax asked. His hand had grown lighter on her neck, and he rubbed her with his fingers.

She had the sense that she should be alarmed by that, but she couldn’t remember why. She frowned and looked around the room, trying to gather her concentration. She’d wanted to do something. What had it been? Her gaze landed on Makkon, who stood beside Brax, his hands clasped behind his back, his face a mask. A handsome mask. Why couldn’t
he
be the one rubbing her neck?

“What’s your secret, girl?” Brax asked, a hint of impatience in his voice. Why was he impatient? There was no need to be anything but relaxed and calm. Everything would turn out.

“Tamryn,” Makkon said.

Hearing her name on his lips made her smile.

“What?” Brax asked.

“She has a name. Maybe she would respond better to it.”

Brax grunted. “Why do you want to talk to the captain of the
Felling Axe
, girl?”

“Oh,” Tamryn murmured. “I almost forgot.” She struggled to arrange her thoughts. She’d had a plan. What had it been? Oh, yes. “My older brothers were all in the service, and two of them still are. Ernest served with the captain of the
Felling Axe
.” A lie. She’d managed to get out a lie. She smiled with relief, then wondered if they’d think her an idiot, since she seemed to be smiling a lot. She tried to stop, but she was looking toward Makkon again, and she couldn’t seem to wipe the expression from her face. Her smile broadened as she gazed into his eyes. The blue was striking in contrast to his black hair. Why hadn’t she noticed that before?

He didn’t smile back, but he stirred under her gaze, and opened his mouth. To say something? No words came out. She watched his lips, wondering what it would be like to kiss them.

“So what?” Brax asked, jostling her and forcing her to look at him again. “Who’s the captain?”

Tamryn didn’t know the answer to that question. She tried to force her scattered thoughts into a straight line. “He might rescue us if he knows I’m here. They were friends. Perhaps if I could speak to the captain, I could convince him to come in here and take back the station.” She lowered her voice in a conspiratorial whisper. “Pirates took it over, you know.”

Brax made a disgusted noise. “This was a waste of time. She doesn’t know anything.”

“I told you.” Makkon didn’t sound disappointed. He smiled slightly at her, as if pleased she had irked Brax.

She smiled back, pleased that he was pleased. “Your mission won’t work, you know. Why did you think you could take over the station with ten people? Fleet will annihilate you.” She shook her head sadly, disappointed at the thought of Makkon being annihilated.

Brax let go of her, clenching his fist. She wondered if he would hit her. She ought to block if he tried, but she couldn’t remember how she might do that.

Makkon watched that clenched fist, and a low growl escaped from his throat. Brax heard it and frowned over at him. Would they fight? Tamryn thought she should encourage that, but she couldn’t remember why. She didn’t want anyone to hurt Makkon.