LOGAN (The Innerworld Affairs Series, Book 5) (12 page)

Nadia inhaled sharply as she stared at the screen. It
was
him, just as she suspected. "You were right, Simone. He does appear to be extremely dangerous."

"There's no need to worry," Olympia said. "His room is completely secure."

"Thank the suns for that," Nadia said, pretending to be greatly relieved. Actually she was racking her brain to come up with an excuse to get into that room. After her experiment with Fulton that afternoon, her curiosity about the Earth men was increasing by the hour. But no reasonable explanation came to her. After a few more seconds studying the shape of the man's body beneath the sheet, she had no choice but to leave unsatisfied.

"Thank you for your help, Olympia. Perhaps I'll be able to return a favor one day in the future. Simone, I'll speak to you later." With a formal nod to each of the women, she headed back home.

Somehow, she was going to gain possession of that man. Regardless of the danger he posed, she wanted him before the antidote completely stripped his masculine qualities. Based on his size and the dosage he should be consuming daily, she estimated she had two days at the most to come up with a viable scheme and implement it.

After that, the scarred man would be as mellow and impotent as Fulton.

Chapter 7

The click of the bolt being pulled back on the tack room door instantly drew Tarla and Geoffrey to their feet. Robin, who had brought Tarla's uneaten dinner then stayed for the vigil, remained on the floor until Logan actually appeared.

Tarla could see he felt better even before he spoke. His usual bored expression was back.

"Headache's gone," Logan said as he walked up to them. "But I have no idea what happened to me."

"Think, man," Geoffrey prompted. "There has to be something. You were in there for four hours."

Logan shook his head. "I was awake and miserable one minute then I was waking up without a headache the next. I don't even remember falling asleep but I obviously did."

"Any aftereffects?" Tarla asked.

"No," Logan answered. "In fact, I feel like I just had a great night's sleep."

Robin glanced at Tarla. "Maybe it's some kind of mind control."

"Whatever it is," Geoffrey said, "we don't know anything more than we did before—that someone with advanced technology is in control here and this tack room is some sort of way-station between them and the farm."

Logan frowned. "I think we can assume they're keeping tabs on us too. I'd say the first step should be to tear this room apart."

"Right," Geoffrey responded. "Considering the number of mouths there are to feed, we'll have to continue to do a fair share of the work but a few less hands won't matter. In the morning, your team can concentrate on the barn. I'll put my team on examining the invisible wall."

"And keep the women in the kitchen all day?" Robin asked in a falsely sweet tone. "I don't think so."

Tarla spoke before Geoffrey could reply. "If I might make a suggestion, it might be best to rotate chores. Everyone's going to want to feel they're contributing to an escape plan."

"Quite right," Geoffrey said. "Preparing a rotation schedule will be the first order of business in the morning."

"With my help," Robin amended. "If that's okay with you, Tarla."

Tarla gave the major a chance to object but he only cleared his throat. "That will be fine. Two heads are always better than one. And now, if I don't get a little sleep, I won't be much good for any kind of chore when the suns come up."

The others agreed there was nothing more to be accomplished that night. As they walked out of the barn, a star-studded sky lit their path and the rustle of leaves was the only sound in the air. Everyone had apparently given in to fatigue. Just before they split up, Logan asked, "Could I have a word with you, Captain?"

Tarla gave Robin a sign to give her a minute.

"Come on, Geoffrey," Robin said with a smile. "I'll show you where I put your new home then I'll come back to guide Tarla to ours."

Tarla grew tense the moment they walked away, leaving her alone with Logan. He hadn't made her nervous as long as he was incapacitated. Even though she now felt certain he was neither a murderer nor traitor, he was still a very large, dangerous man... with the ability to crush her heart with a few words. It seemed as though he sensed her nervousness for he just stood there looking at her, as if daring her to run away. She made herself stay perfectly still and meet his gaze. And when he stepped closer, it took all her courage to stand her ground and not show the slightest trace of fear.

Slowly he extended his right hand toward her. "I just wanted to say thank you," he said in a low voice.

It took her another moment to realize that he was only trying to shake her hand. By the time she did, he had withdrawn his hand and walked away. She hadn't meant to be rude. His gesture had simply been a shock. It was completely out of character for him to say thank you for anything.

"Sergeant McKay?"

He stopped without looking back at her.

"You're very welcome."

His response was a casual salute.

"He's a strange one, isn't he?" Robin said coming up behind Tarla.

Tarla turned and shrugged. "I didn't understand him when he was my patient either."

For fear of disturbing anyone, they kept silent as Robin led the way to their tent. All of the women and most of the men were bunking two or three to a tent, partly for a sense of companionship and partly because there were only half as many tents as there were people. The caretakers must have assumed they would sleep in pairs. There was probably some sort of clue in that, but she was too tired to figure it out.

A candle lantern burning inside the tent allowed Tarla to see what Robin had accomplished while she was with Logan. Their cots were made up and a few changes of clothes were stowed beneath each. Since they were relatively close to several other tents, they kept their voices to a whisper.

After Tarla thanked Robin for setting them up, she said, "Considering the unreality of this whole situation, we're fairly well settled in."

"Yeah. When we get back we can all send thank you notes to the Pentagon for training us to adapt so well."

Tarla pulled off her shoes and examined one. It was stretchy, like a one-size-fits-all slipper sock, but the expandable sole was made of a harder, rubbery substance that was similar to the bottom of a sneaker. "Whoever our caretakers are, they're quite ingenious."

"About some things," Robin amended. "About others, they're practically prehistoric. If they can heal a man with severe burns, why do they need to barter for food? Why have a semi-modern lavatory but a kitchen from pioneer days?"

"Good questions. Now I have one for you. If the men we met today didn't have to work the farm or prepare food the old-fashioned way, what would they do all day?"

Robin gave it some thought then said, "I think we can rule out socializing. They barely talk to each other. Maybe they'd just sit and stare at the green sky like a bunch of zombies."

Tarla shook her head. "I don't know. They seem to take pride in working and no one I saw today tried to shirk their responsibilities. That in itself is odd."

Robin laughed. "Yeah. That many men and not even one goof-off. Back to Higgs's theory that they're all androids."

Tarla gave a sigh and sat down on her cot. "We'd better get some sleep while we can."

Robin blew out the candle and settled between the soft sheets. "Mmm. Maybe I'll get lucky and this will all turn out to be a weird dream."

Tarla was certain she'd be asleep in seconds but she couldn't let go of her sudden ability to touch Logan's mind. Since she'd never been able to do that before, she assumed the skill would only awaken when she joined with her soul's mate. And since she had given up ever meeting that man, she hadn't expected it to happen at all. Thoughts of soulmates and joining always made her a little melancholy but there was nothing she could do to change the reality of her solitary life.

She had never lacked for male companionship but none of the Noronian men she was attracted to ever triggered the mating fever. Time and time again, she would be hopeful only to be disappointed. Even her one, fairly long, committed relationship had ended in heartbreak. Since he wasn't Noronian, Nick Valentino could never have been her soulmate. But she had cared deeply about him and enjoyed his companionship for over a year... until he met the woman who captured his heart.

Once she had passed the usual mating age without ever having experienced even a hint of the fever that supposedly would strike when she met
the one
, she finally gave up hope of ever encountering her elusive soulmate. Letting go of that hope suddenly allowed her to imagine a very different life in Outerworld and she'd gone after it with all her heart.

Tarla had finally dozed off when several voices shouting obscenities broke the stillness outside. As she and Robin quickly pulled their shoes back on, she could tell both men and women were involved in a furious battle over something but the cause wasn't clear. They hurried outside at the same time everyone else did.

At the center of the commotion, Wilkes and Lee Tang circled each other—her in an offensive fighting stance, him clearly defensive. On the ground, one of Wilkes's pals lay holding his crotch and moaning in pain. Standing guard over him was the beautiful Alicia Samples, and she looked furious enough to do him more damage if he dared to rise.

"What goes on here?" Geoffrey shouted as he shoved his way through the crowd.

"Stay out of this, limey," Wilkes growled. "The bitch wants to play rough and I'm gonna oblige her." He swung a meaty fist toward her face but she instantly blocked it with her left forearm and followed with a powerful right jab to his diaphragm. As his body folded forward under that blow, she spun around, leapt in the air and delivered a kick to his jaw that sent him sprawling beside his friend.

Lee stood poised to continue the fight until she was certain he had given up. Leaning over his barely conscious, pain-contorted body, she said, "Thank you so much for obliging me, asshole. Let's do this again sometime." An angry flame still glowed in her eyes as she turned toward the major and defended her actions. "These two guys physically intercepted Airman Samples and me coming back from the lavatory. When we told them we weren't interested in spending our free time with them, they got nasty. We only defended ourselves from assault." Her narrow-eyed gaze scanned the circle around her. "And we'll do it again if we have to."

Logan cut the tense silence from the back of the crowd. "Show's over, everybody. Back to your tents. Except Gianni, Higgs and Yan." After a moment's hesitation, all but a handful of people drifted off. Robin remained despite his order.

Geoffrey grimaced at the two men on the ground then asked Tarla, "Would you mind seeing to them?"

"Wilkes's jaw cracked," Lee stated without remorse. "I felt it go. Other than that, they'll recover... physically."

A few seconds later, Tarla confirmed Lee's prognosis. "We should put Wilkes in the tack room and let our caretakers check on him."

"Good idea," Logan said. "That'll keep him out of trouble for a few hours. Who knows, maybe he'll remember something I couldn't."

Geoffrey explained the procedure to Higgs, Gianni and Wilkes, and the two MP's helped the patient to his feet. As they headed toward the barn, Lee and Alicia
assisted
Wilkes's cohort back to his tent.

"This problem isn't going to go away," Logan said to Geoffrey. "We may have to assign guards for the women."

"I beg your pardon?" Tarla demanded. "In case you missed it, Lee and Alicia did just fine without a man to protect them."

Logan looked down his nose at her. "That was one on one. What do you think will happen when Wilkes comes out of that tack room in one piece again? He's going to want blood. And he probably won't care if it's his attacker's. Any female will probably satisfy him. Only next time he'll make sure he's got better back up." To Geoffrey he said, "I'll move my tent next to the women's and tomorrow we'll split them up on two teams. You and Gianni take half, and I'll take Higgs and the other half."

Tarla had the strongest urge to object just for the sake of opposing him but her common sense kept her quiet. She didn't resent the protective measures as much as the fact that
he
had given orders for them. As hard as it was for her to accept, the one person in this entire group most capable of leadership and commanding obedience seemed to be the last one she wanted to take orders from.