Beloved Stranger: Gaian Series, Book 5 (22 page)

Allan nodded. “I’ll get into position to do my part while you and Sonja stand near the platform where you can see inside the shuttles as they arrive for inspection. Signal me if you see your sister or if the shuttle is full of women wearing veils.”

Closing his p-tab, Allan headed out of the restaurant. When Sonja got up to follow, Roan put his hand on her arm. “Give him a head start.”

She settled back into her chair and finished the javi in her cup, tension filling her at the delay. Finally, at Roan’s nod, they got up and left the restaurant. Large as the station was, it wasn’t more than a short walk to where the tube from Omega Residence entered the bubble. They stayed on the second floor of the station, level with the platform where the shuttle would come to a stop. Unlike the other platforms where no one waited, two men in blue company uniforms guarded this one.

Sonja couldn’t see where Allan had stationed himself until Roan made a surreptitious gesture with his hand. “Under the track,” he whispered. Then she saw a brief flash of brown as a man moved slowly beneath the narrow rail that the shuttle ran along as if checking it for worn places.

“Hey, you!” One of the men on the platform wearing a grey uniform gestured at Allan. “What are you doing down there?”

Roan and Sonja stiffened, and she worried that Allan was going to be found out. But Allan just waved at the man and called back, “We got some complaints about a smell along here. I’m seeing if I can’t track it down.”

“Smell?” The man sniffed. “I don’t smell anything.”

“You won’t up there. It seems to show up only inside the shuttles.”

Roan groaned and took Sonja’s arm, leading her over to the railing. “Now I know what Allan is going to do to incapacitate the shuttle.” He shook his head sadly. “Your poor, poor sister.”

“A stink bomb?” she guessed.

Roan smiled wryly. “A very effective one that he invented. The stench will drive everyone out of the shuttle, plus it clings to outer clothes, so the women will be pulling off anything concealing. We should be able to spot your sister immediately.” Roan laughed. “He is an evil genius.”

“How badly will she smell?” Sonja asked. “We don’t want her to stand out as we’re trying to sneak out of here.”

“Most of it will be on her clothes, so we’ll just have her change. He has a remedy he can spray on her to get it off her skin and hair.” Roan grinned. “We’ll make him be the one to treat her, so if she’s angry she can take it out on him.”

He consulted the chrono on his arm. “Just a few more moments and the first shuttle will be here. Try not to look too interested in what is going on at the platform until I tell you to. That way, even if the guards notice us, they won’t think anything of it.”

Sonja turned her back against the railing to avoid the temptation to look over at the platform. Instead she concentrated on Roan standing so close to her. The glint of the wristband she’d made for him caught her eye, and suddenly she was reminded of what she’d engraved the band with. “You never asked me what I put on my band.”

He glanced at it. “It’s a bird of some kind. Looks like a hawk or maybe a falcon.”

She stared at him. “That’s right. How did you know?”

Roan laughed. “I was guessing, but it seemed to suit you. I read about hawks when I was a boy.” His hand trailed against her cheek. “You can be so fierce, but I think you are also loyal, almost to a fault. Like a hawk, your loyalty needs to be earned. I like to think that with enough time I would have earned it.”

Enough time, meaning longer than the few hours they still had together. She hated how little time they had left…

What does that mean?
She’d never felt that before, not wanting to leave someone, wanting to be with them. Not even Bearn had made her feel that way.

Roan leaned over her, looking like the besotted husband he was pretending to be. And probably was, as she thought about it. “A shuttle just came in. The guards are busy, so you can look.”

She turned to examine it, staring through the wide windows at the people inside. There were two women and two men, and as she watched, all four of them left the shuttle. None of them were wearing any kind of concealing clothes, and even from here Sonja saw the glint of marriage bands on their wrists. “Not the people we’re looking for,” she whispered to Roan.

He nodded. “Looks like some of the married folks going out on the town. They’ll change to another shuttle.”

“So we need to wait another five minutes.”

“Less than that now.” He turned her back to face him. “So do you have any questions about the band I gave you?”

She looked at it and the parallel wavy lines. “I’m not sure what it represents.”

“My roots, actually. The sea. Like I told you, I grew up alongside the ocean. I used to watch the waves move like that.” He traced the lines with his finger. “It seemed ever constant. Always in motion, often changing but in many ways always the same. You could rely on the ocean to be there.”

She couldn’t help leaning into him. “You think of yourself that way. ‘Ever constant’.”

“I’ve wanted to be. I wanted to be that for you, a constant presence, reliable, even if I change.”

She couldn’t help asking again. “Roan, come with me.”

“Come where?”

“Off Ares Five. Come to the Outer Colonies with me.”

He blinked at her, and she realized she’d surprised him. “We talked about this before. I have to finish out my sentence. Even if I did…” He touched her wristband. “If I did, would you leave this on and stay my wife?”

She hesitated. Maybe she was falling in love, maybe she wasn’t. Finally she decided to answer him honestly. “I don’t know. I couldn’t promise that, right now. But it would give us the time to decide if we should be together.”

He laughed, but the sound was sad. “It would give
you
that time. I don’t need it, I know how I feel.”

“So it would give me the time. Listen, after we’re gone, they’ll soon figure out you were involved in Suna’s and Sulla’s disappearances. Coming with us will keep you safe.”

He seemed on the verge of answering, and she could see the regret in his eyes. He was going to say no, his promise to his family keeping him here in spite of the danger. In spite of how much she thought he wanted to be with her.

But he’d asked if she could promise to stay his wife, and she couldn’t make that promise right now. She needed more time, and that wasn’t something they had enough of.

Before Roan could answer, Sonja put her finger on his lips. “Don’t answer just yet. Just think about it, that’s all I’m going to ask. I’ll ask again before we leave, and you can decide then.”

Roan studied her face for what seemed like a long time. Finally he nodded slowly. “Very well. I’ll tell you later.” He glanced over to the platform and stiffened. “In the meantime there’s another shuttle coming in. And this time the guards seem very intent.”

Sonja turned to look at the arriving shuttle, again checking the riders through the window. For a moment, though, she thought they’d covered the inside of the clear plastisteel windows with some kind of curtains. All she could see was white. Then the door to the shuttle opened, and two men stepped out wearing blue uniforms.

She clutched Roan’s arm. “It’s them. They’ve got the women dressed for the marriage meet already.”

Roan pulled a small commlink from his pocket and spoke into it softly. He took Sonja’s arm. “We better get to where that platform ends.”

They walked quickly but even so were still upstairs when a woman’s shriek split the air. Sonja looked over at the platform to see five white-garbed women rush from the shuttle followed by another blue-uniformed man.

“Three guards,” she whispered to Roan. “Just as we expected.”

He glanced over at the confusion on the platform. “Yes, but we forgot about the other two men.” Sonja turned to see the two guards who’d been waiting join the group. All five men ushered the women down the stairs to the main floor of the station.

Five armed guards, all of whom were walking with drawn weapons, and only one had been inside the shuttle, thus taking the brunt of the stink bomb. His companions gave him a wide berth as if they couldn’t stand to be near him.

Meanwhile the women were crying, and Sonja heard one speak loudly enough to be heard over the confusion, obviously arguing with the guards.

“These robes stink all the way to Gaia. Get us to a sanitary or we’ll strip naked here!”

Sonja grabbed Roan’s arm. “Let’s get downstairs and to the nearest women’s room. If I can get inside before they get there then I can see the women alone.”

Roan caught on to her idea immediately. He hustled her down the stairs and towards a door with the silhouette of a woman’s figure. Sonja slipped inside and then into one of the stalls, standing on the stool to leave no trace she was there.

Shortly after she was settled she heard the door open, and then the most outrageous stench filled the air. Sonja couldn’t help but put her fingers over her nose to help block the scent. A man walked through the room and gave a cursory look into the stalls but apparently was in a hurry to get the women inside. He ducked out, and Sonja heard several women come inside, talking quietly. She waited until she heard the sound of robes coming off, and then she came out of the stall, one hand on the stunner in her pocket.

Four of the faces were unfamiliar but the fifth one she knew immediately.

“Suna!”

Her sister turned and blinked in astonishment. Her smile grew with recognition. “Sonja, is that you?”

Chapter Twenty-One

Suna might have been six years older, but she was just as pretty as Sonja remembered. Just as emotional as well. She blinked away tears at the sight of her older sister. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to rescue you.”

“Rescue me? You mean keep me from going to the marriage meet?” Suna clapped her hands together. “How wonderful!”

The other women looked uncertainly at them. “The men are right outside the door. How do you think you’re going to get past them?” one said. Sonja recognized her voice as belonging to the woman who’d threatened to strip on the platform.

Her kind of woman, obviously.

“Walk out, with you.” Sonja emptied her pockets into her bag and pulled off her skirt and blouse, handing them to Suna. “We’re going to trade clothes. My guess is that those men haven’t seen your faces, right?”

The other women looked at each other. The one who seemed to have been designated leader spoke again. “That’s true. We were supposed to leave these on until we got to the marriage meet room. But why are you interfering?”

“They are making my sister go to the meet even though she’s a widow.”

“She is?”

The leader looked at Suna, who nodded confirmation. “My husband died just a few months ago in the mine.” Tears formed in her eyes. “I don’t want to reattach. I loved my husband, and it’s just too soon.”

The women looked troubled. “That’s wrong,” the leader said. “We came from Gaia to be wives, but you shouldn’t be here.”

“Then you’ll help us?”

The other women looked at each other. “Can you keep us from getting into trouble?”

“Sure,” Sonja told her. “Just follow my lead. As far as you know, I was the one with you from the time you got on the shuttle.”

Suna struggled to fasten Sonja’s skirt. “Wow, sis, could you possibly be any thinner?” She stared ruefully at her thicker waistline. “I guess I should have gone to the gym more.” Finally she pulled the top on and let it drape over the not-quite-sealed waistband.

Sonja pulled out a pair of light-colored pants she’d gotten from Roan and white top and put both on, making sure to put her weapons back into her pockets. She then took the white gown Suna had been wearing and slipped it over her clothes.

“But sis,” Suna said, “they’ll notice that.” She pointed to the wristband Sonja was wearing.

Sonja took it off, intending to give it to her sister, but when she started to hand it over she found she couldn’t. Even if it was only pretend, she couldn’t allow her sister to wear Roan’s band, so instead she slipped it into the pocket of her pants.

The sleeves of the white blouse Suna was wearing were long enough to cover her wrists, so no one would notice Suna wasn’t wearing a band right away.

The other women had made a pile of the smelly concealing robes in the corner and were using the sinks to wash their hands and faces to get rid of as much of the smell as possible. There was a knock on the door and a rough man’s voice said, “Are you almost done?”

“We’re as clean as we can be,” the woman who’d designated herself the leader said. “We’ll need a shower before the meet or no one will want to get near us, much less attach.”

“I’ll arrange that and for clean gowns. Come on out and we’ll get you to a new shuttle.”

Sonja handed Suna her black bag and told her to hide in the stall. “After we’ve been gone for a count of fifty, leave here and look for a man named Roan,” she whispered so the other women wouldn’t hear.

“How will I know him?”

“He’ll know you. That’s why I put you in my clothes.”

“Who is he?”

Sonja paused for a moment before answering. “He’s my husband.”