Janaya (13 page)

“Luke.” A big man, wearing eyeglasses, shook his hand with clear relief. “We’ve been searching since seven this morning. It’s as if they’ve disappeared off the face of the Earth.”

Luke speared a glance in her direction and it was easy to read his concern. Torgon. She jerked her head in the negative. The Torgon were after Hinekiri’s charts. The rest of Earth’s inhabitants weren’t in danger unless they got between the Torgon and the charts.

Like Luke.

The thought popped into her head and wouldn’t leave. Great. Another person to worry about. She was collecting responsibilities like Hinekiri collected souvenirs during her travels.

“Don’t worry, Sam. We’ll find them. Sam, this is my cousin, Janaya. She’s in law enforcement too.”

Sam nodded but the worry remained on his freckled face. “Good to have your help. We have to find them. I don’t want to explain to Mrs. Bates that I’ve lost her precious grandson.”

Janaya caught Luke’s grimace before it smoothed into a professional mask.

“Don’t worry,” he repeated. “We’ll find them. The volunteer fire brigade is on their way. I’m going to divide the area up into sectors. My suggestion is to get the kids home. Can you organize some of the parents in your group to take them back to Sloan? I’d like you to stay here to coordinate the search and direct the fire brigade boys when they arrive.”

Sam nodded rapidly, his eyes blinking behind the glass that covered his eyes. Although the man was worried, Janaya sensed he was pleased they’d asked for his help. Janaya wondered if he feared Mrs. Bates too. The woman was certainly a fearsome sight when she became riled.

Luke pulled a waterproof map from the pack he wore. “Show me where you’ve searched.”

Sam pointed at the map with his forefinger. “We spent the early evening down by the river fishing for trout. We built a fire and cooked them here at the campsite. Spent the evening roasting marshmallows and telling ghost stories. All the boys were present. I counted them and checked off the roll.”

“So they’ve wandered off during the night or early morning before you got up.” Janaya glanced at the young humans who sat in a huddled group in the middle of the clearing with the adults keeping watch. “Have you questioned the boys?”

“Yes.” Sam nodded. “None of them know anything.”

“Might pay to question them again,” she said. “Why don’t I start that while you and Sam organize the search grid?” The moment the words were out of her mouth, she paused. She’d taken over. Her eyes widened and she glanced at Luke to read his reaction to her orders. She found him grinning and let out the breath she’d been holding with a slight hiss.

“Go ahead,” he said, his eyes twinkling.

Janaya ambled over to the boys but couldn’t prevent a glance over her shoulder to see if Luke watched. He did. The fact warmed her through. Reassured he wasn’t going anywhere, she concentrated on the humans.

“Hello.” Janaya scanned the circle of small faces. “I’d like to question them individually,” she said to one of the adults acting as chaperone. “I’m with the police.”

“You can talk to them over there,” the man said, pointing at the campfire and a large log perfect to sit on. “I’ll send them over one by one.”

She ambled over to the log and sat to wait for her first victim. A small dark-haired boy arrived first.

“Do you have any idea where the two boys have gone?”

The boy shook his head. Although he trembled slightly, his pulse remained only slightly elevated. He spoke the truth. She worked her way through the group of boys, using her enhanced senses to judge if they were lying. The second to last boy wouldn’t meet her gaze. His voice trembled and broke before he started to talk so fast his words blurred in one long string of nonsense.

He knew something but she decided to wait for Luke. She nodded when the boy finished telling her he’d gone straight to sleep after the ghost stories. She talked to the last boy and ascertained he spoke the truth.

Luke looked up from the map. “Anything?”

“The boy with the green shirt,” she said. “He knows something but he’s not talking.”

“Sam, would you mind sending him over?” Luke asked. When Sam walked away and was out of earshot, Luke said, “Wanna play good cop, bad cop?”

“Does it involve those steel bands?”

Luke snorted a laugh. “Handcuffs?” Interest, along with speculation, lit his eyes. “How do you like the sound of a private party later? We can use the handcuffs then.”

“I’d need more details,” Janaya said.

“Details, I have.” His grin was wicked. “Remind me later. Here’s the kid. Follow my lead.”

The boy walked with slow, reluctant steps, finally coming to a halt in front of them. His brown eyes blazed with belligerence. “I don’t know nothin’. I already told the lady cop that.”

“I think you do,” Luke said in a hard voice. “And if I don’t get the answers I want, I’ll have you in jail so quick your head will spin.”

“You wouldn’t put him in jail,” Janaya said. That didn’t sound like Luke.

“Try me.” Luke slipped a wink at Janaya over the top of the boy’s head. “What were Matt and David doing? Where were they going?”

“They were going to look for aliens,” the boy burst out. “They can stick whatever they want in my locker. I don’t care. I’m not going to jail. They told me they were going to find an alien and sell it to the UFO hunters.”

“Where were they going? Which direction?” Janaya asked, fighting her need to break cover and snarl like a bad cop. It was difficult to hide her distaste.

“Up to the cliffs.” Worry and fear pulsated off him in waves. “I promised I wouldn’t tell.”

“We won’t tell,” she promised. “But think about this. If something bad has happened and they need help, they’ll be pleased you helped. You’ll be a hero.”

The boy’s face brightened. “Hey, yeah!”

“You can go back to your friends now,” Luke said.

They watched the boy run back to the group.

Luke checked his watch. “Let’s go. I have a bad feeling about this.” He bent to pick up his pack and slipped the straps over his shoulders. “I’ll get Sam to delegate search areas when the rest arrive—just in case they’re not where they told the kid. We’ll take the cliff sector.”

Janaya picked up the coiled rope she’d carried up along with a smaller pack. Luke wasn’t the only one with a bad feeling.

Half an hour later, Janaya stood an arm’s length away from the edge of a cliff. Her eyes focused on a tall, stately tree while Luke lay on his belly and peered over the edge.

“You’re right,” he said. “I can see one of the boys at least. I’ll take your word that they’re both there.”

Janaya gulped. The bark on the trunk of the tree was very smooth. Or at least it looked smooth. Whether it felt the same way was anyone’s guess.

“Janaya? Are you listening?”

“Yes. What sort of tree is that?”

“Kauri. And good try but no cigar. Our ropes aren’t going to reach that far down.”

He was going to suggest she go down there. She just knew it.

The muscles of her stomach trembled. She was way too close to the edge. Janaya took a step back. “No.”

“No, what?” Luke said, climbing to his feet and dusting off his hands.

“I’m not climbing down there.”

“Of course not.” Astonishment sounded in his voice, and Janaya’s shoulders relaxed. “You’ll fly,” he said.

“No!” Memories of her childhood rose up to taunt her—her tantrum because they’d left her toy soldier in the spaceport café; her father’s fury because they’d missed their allocated slot to fly and the vicious storm that had swept through the sky just before their arrival at Dalcon.

Janaya swallowed and backed even farther from the cliff edge. How could she explain her paralyzing fear to Luke? She recalled the long agonizing hours perched on the edge of the mountain with nothing but empty air beneath while they waited for rescue from the crash site. She remembered her older brother crying then finally falling silent and the steady drips of blood that trickled from the gaping wound on her mother’s leg. Her father’s grief had been a palatable thing even for a child of six rotations. He’d never forgiven her. When rescue had finally arrived, it had been too late for her mother and brother. Her father had suffered broken limbs that gradually mended while she escaped without a scratch.

Her father still blamed her for the accident. He’d shouted it was her fault they’d missed their time slot and become trapped in the storm. And he’d followed that up with blaming her for the death of his heir and his beloved mate.

“You rescued me,” Luke said, stepping up beside her and cupping her face in his palms. “You can rescue the boys.”

Janaya took comfort from his confidence but not enough to agree to his plan. “The only reason I went over the cliff to rescue you was because Hinekiri pushed me.”

Luke’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

Janaya took one look and backed up in two rapid steps. “No. Absolutely not. I can’t go over that cliff. I just can’t.”

“How do you get on as a bodyguard if you’re afraid of heights?”

“I am not afraid. I’m a good bodyguard. I would have got that promotion.”

“Of course you would.” Luke’s face gentled. “All right. Here’s the plan. I’ll climb down to the boys or as far as I can with the ropes.”

The idea of Luke climbing over the rim of the cliff terrified her. She curled her hands around his biceps and held tight. “You can’t. You can’t climb down there.”

“There’s no one else to do it,” he said simply.

Janaya heard a soft whimper. The sound reminded her of the cries her brother had made while they waited for rescue from the mountain ledge in which their spaceship had lodged. A second cry sent a helpless shudder running through her. A tear leaked from her eye.

“What is it?” Luke said.

Janaya squeezed her eyes shut in an effort to halt the escalating panic. “One of the boys is crying.”

“No time to waste.”

“Wait.” Janaya grasped his shoulder. “I’ll do it.”

Luke looked down at her, a tender expression on his face. He pressed a butterfly kiss on her lips. “We’ll do it together,” he said. “A partnership.”

A partnership. The idea that he’d be with her while she faced her fears, her memories of the past, made all the difference.

“You can do this, sweetheart.”

Maybe.

Or maybe not.

But she couldn’t live with Luke’s disappointment if she didn’t make the effort.

Janaya grasped his hand and stepped toward the cliff. Her knees started to knock together, and when she moved closer to the edge, panic bombarded her mind. It was a long way down.

She jerked back. “I think you’d better push me,” she forced out from between dry lips.

“You can face this without me,” Luke murmured. “But I have an idea.”

“I’ll try anything,” Janaya said.

“Good.” Luke picked up a coil of rope and placed it over his left shoulder. Then he grabbed Janaya and kissed her, taking possession of her lips in a masterful manner that made her forget her wonky knees. He hauled her close to his chest, his tongue thrust into her mouth and she felt his erection jabbing her belly. He pulled away and nuzzled her nose with his.

“Let’s go,” he said, and took her hand before calmly stepping over the edge of the cliff.

“This is your plan?” she shrieked.

“You’d better think about flying in a hurry,” Luke shouted. “Otherwise we’re gonna go splat.”

Janaya pictured herself standing on solid ground. That had worked last time.

Their downward plummet slowed.

“I have an idea,” Luke murmured.

“I didn’t think much of the last one.”

Luke kissed her, slow and lazy, as if he had all day. When they surfaced from the kiss, Janaya found they hovered in the air.

“I knew it,” Luke said in a smug, satisfied note. “When your mind is clear of panic, you can fly.” He stepped onto a nearby ledge, his arm around her waist propelling her onto the ledge beside him.

“There’s the other boy.”

He lay a few feet from them, one of his legs at an unnatural angle.

“He’s not moving.” Luke grasped the rock face above the ledge they stood on and pulled himself up to the silent boy. “He’s unconscious. Janaya, you take him up to the top and I’ll check on his friend.”

Janaya gaped in shock. He trusted her with the small human. He wasn’t even watching her to make sure she followed his instructions. Her confidence took a flying leap.

He trusted her.

A warm sensation curled around her heart. Without stopping to analyze further, Janaya stared up at the still child. She found herself hovering beside him and she picked him up, careful to keep his leg stable as she rose to the top of the cliff. She prayed she didn’t make his injury worse by moving him.

“Janaya? I need a hand down here,” Luke called.

A trace of fear unfurled inside, then she concentrated on Luke. She closed her eyes, held her breath and stepped over the edge.

“Over here.”

Janaya kept her eyes firmly shut but followed the sound of his voice. “Keep talking.” Please, she thought.

“Have I told you how sexy you look?”

Janaya heard the smile in his voice. “No.”

“Pretty eyes.”

Janaya’s eyes flicked open when she found herself brushing his body. “Is that all?” she whispered.

“Nah.”

His grin was infectious and brought an answering smile in her.

A soft moan broke the spell shimmering between them.

“How about taking this little guy up to the top then coming back for me? He’s drifting in and out of consciousness.”

Janaya gathered the small pliant body into her arms. “I’ll be back soon.”

She shot upward and placed the boy on the ground well away from the edge of the cliff. The sound of approaching voices hastened her actions. Janaya leapt over the cliff and shot down to Luke.

“Quick,” she muttered. “We have to hurry. It sounds like the rest of the rescue team is nearly here.”

“Give me a kiss first. You deserve one,” he said, and nuzzled the soft skin of her neck.

Janaya groaned. The sound of the voices became louder. “We don’t have time for this.”

Luke dropped an open-mouthed kiss on her collarbone. “You’re right.” He placed his hand in hers. “Do your worst, sweetheart. Throw me around.”