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“Partners in what? Crime? Misfortune? Sex? Whatever I touch seems to fail. I don’t want to drag you, Konnitch, and the other marshals down with me.”
“You won’t, because we won’t let you go down. Not without a fight.” He leaned against her back, his hands traveling up and down her arms, warming her. “Warriors fight to win.”
“You said you’re not a warrior.”
“I no longer have the title, but I’m still warrior-trained.”
She turned into him, placing her palms flat on his chest. “Won’t you tell me what happened?”
“It’s not important.”
“It is, to me. Besides, it will give me something to think about other than the mess I’m in. Those bastards opened up my head and whisked my brains like scrambled eggs. I’m mad, scared, and can’t trust my own memories.”
“You are as sharp as the day we met, but you need rest.”
She picked up the datapad. “You were analyzing a series of kidnappings around the time I left for Montana. How are they connected?”
“I think you were one of the women the og’dals kidnapped from Los Angeles. It explains why you never requested permission for a leave of absence. You merely disappeared.”
“I told you, I didn’t have time—”
He held up a hand. “I’ve never known you to break protocols. You would have called in to Earth Intelligence from any government or law enforcement office nearby or paid a messenger to deliver a note to them, but you didn’t. The og’dals took you, Maggie. It fits. And we have a potential witness. Stenikov read through the statements from women taken during that time and later rescued by GI5.
“Amanda Greyson returned to Earth a year ago but refused to enter witness protection or testify on Dal. But she made a statement. Konnitch remembered her and dug up the report. She said the og’dals kidnapped three dozen women in one week, including a blonde who fought back and killed several og’dals on board the ship. Ms. Greyson never saw the woman after the og’dals separated her from the other kidnapped women. She’d assumed the slavers killed the blonde.”
Zirkov petted her hair before cupping her cheek. “What if that blonde was you, Maggie? For a female from Earth to fight back and with such skill is rare given how the Coalition suppressed women during the occupation. They denied females more than an education. They instilled a fear that they cannot fight back, that they aren’t worthy.”
Flashes of her childhood returned. The male boarders at her mother’s house always spoke down to her, telling her she needed to be grateful when a male gave her attention.
A shudder ran through Maggie. “My mother never believed me about anything. Not the Coalition, nor the…”
“You saw beyond the lies.”
“I fought as hard as I could. I started sleeping with a knife under my pillow.”
“Maggie—”
“Forget it. Let’s stick to the subject. The og’dals who supposedly abducted me. “
“You have an incredible strength in you, Maggie. I wish you could see yourself as I do.”
“The og’dals, Z….”
“I think they interrogated you and discovered you were a marshal in Earth Intelligence. They saw you as a way to access and even control intel from Galactic Intelligence. Through you, they stayed ahead of those who hunted them.”
* * *
ZIRKOV
“No,”Maggie said, her voice barely a whisper. Tears filled her eyes as she shook her head, unable to accept his words.
He hated not only what the og’dals had done to her, but that he told her a truth she wasn’t ready to hear. He’d likely stirred memories about her kidnapping, and perhaps older memories, ones as traumatic—maybe more—than her abduction.
“I’m sorry, Magdalena, but you deserve the truth. All of it.” He rubbed his hands up and down her arms, hoping to comfort her.
As part of being head of GI7, he’d delivered bad news to people before. Families of fallen marshals and witnesses. He’d even had to accept the truth of his own situation, one he could blame on no one but himself. None of those hurt as much as seeing her face twist in confusion and fear.
Maggie buried her head against his chest and sobbed. His horns shot forward and his stomach twisted as she shook. Petting her hair and caressing her back helped calm her, but it wasn’t enough. He had to do better for her.
