Page 77 of Red Marked

“Maybe we get lucky, and the whole thing unravels in the three days we are there.” He shrugs. “Probably not. If it doesn’t, we come back here, and you work for me. You go out with the team bringing in ferals, and while you’re out there, you look for your five lost males. Do you know them? Would you recognize them?”

“Yes,” I say. “They were all employed at the clinic. My boss was a doctor. The other four were security guards. I saw their faces every single day. I’m sure they look different now, but I’m also sure I would recognize them.”

“Okay. We need to try to find them. I went through the intake records already. I’m pretty sure they either won’t be recorded at all, or they’ll be tagged as release.”

“Release?” I frown. “What does that mean?”

He looks at the floor between his boots. “I’ll fill you in some other time. You’ll receive induction training if you come and work for me.”

I nod. “Okay.”

“So what do you say? Do you want in on the team?” He spreads his hands. “We’ll work the case in our downtime. Here, when we’re off duty, in Mistveil City, when we’re on our days off. It’ll be slower going than you’d like, but you’ll have resources. You’ll have me. I have contacts on Draig Island who can help us quietly. I think you’ll have more of a chance of finding him this way.” He pauses. “Or them, however many there turn out to be.”

I’m off the sofa a second later and put my arms around his neck, and my face ends up pressed against the side of his jaw. He smells of smoke and of male.

My eyes flood. The tears just come, hot and fast, and I feel them run down and soak into the collar of his shirt.

“Okay,” he says. “Okay…Star.” His whole body has gone stiff against me, his hands hovering somewhere at his sides and touching nothing. “No sappy shit.”

He’s smiling. I can hear it.

I pull back far enough to look up at him.

“Oh craaap. Star! Please don’t cry.” He winces at whatever my face is doing. “Fuck!”

I let him go and step back, wiping my eyes. “Sorry…it’s just… Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet.” He stands and puts a little more room between us. “We still need to get you out of this facility and over the jungle boundary, and that’s going to be difficult. Finding the fucker who did this is going to be even harder.”

“I know, but we can do it.”

We.

I thought I was alone.

I was told not to, and I do it anyway. I step in and hug him again, both arms around his middle this time, and hold on tight.

“Thank you so much.” My voice cracks, and the tears start up again.

He makes a sound in his chest that might be a laugh or might be a groan. He touches my back once. I know it’s making him uncomfortable, so I force myself to let go.

Once again, I wipe my eyes, sniffing. “I’m sorry. I’m not usually like this. It’s just that for the longest time I had accepted my fate. I’d made peace with dying on that mountain. And now…” I have to stop and swallow. “Now I have hope. And it’s all thanks to you.”

“I’m going to give you the password to my computer.” He gestures to the desk. There’s a closed laptop on top of it. “You can start looking into all of it tomorrow.”

“I would love that.” I sniff, nodding.

“You’d better dry your eyes.” He clears his throat and pulls his phone from his back pocket. “I need to snap a photograph of you for Magma so he can get started on your ID.”

“Oh shit.” I sniff. “I must look terrible.”

“You don’t. Don’t worry, you look beautiful.” He seems to catch himself, his eyes flaring. “I mean, as far as ID photographs go.” He shrugs.

My cheeks warm.

“Stand against that wall,” he says, all business again. “The plain one. Chin up. Don’t smile.”

I nod and do as he says. For the first time in a long time, I’m excited about what the future holds.