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He chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’m not hungry.”I’m starving. “Please.”
Lia shot him a dubious look but accepted his offering.
The heat in his chest intensified. He should have the Medic run a scan on him later. Right after he found time to call his brother, that was.
“You can talk while I eat, by the way. We’ve wasted a lot of time already, and I’d really like to go back home before my parents and boss freak out.”
“Umm… all right.”
Dargus grabbed Cubbie from the now empty plate and deposited the rabbisaurus in his lap – he would need fluffy moral support for this. But where to start from?Best to get the bad news out first.“Speaking of going back home and freaking out…”
CHAPTER 7
CUNNING FEMALE, MY ASS
“No. No, no, no. Hell no!”
Emilia got up from the seat with enough power to send it falling back, were it a normal chair with legs. Which, of course, it wasn’t. It was a seat suspended in the air by some alien space tech, because she was in space. Where she had just been told she would remain for ‘at least a week or so’.
“I can’t be gone for so long, don’t you get it?” She glared at her abductor from a safe distance, i. e. from next to the kitchen island that minutes ago had been hidden in the floor. “I’m supposed to be away from home for only three days. Three. Days. After that my parents expect me back at their house, my boss expects me at the pub, I have to start packing to move out…” Emilia got some oxygen in before stating firmly, “I can’t be gone for a week.”
Cubbie was staring at her from his owner’s lap, ears as perked up as floppy ears could get. Dargus, on the other hand, was not reacting at all. That was, if she wasn’t counting the restless movements of his tail over his backless seat.
Emilia knew that look on a man’s face. He was waiting for her to get it all out before he said something that would reveal he hadn’t been listening to her at all.
So much for starting to like him – or at least, to no longer dislike him. She had even gone as far as to nearly laugh at some of the things he had said. To feel guilty for acting bitchy and rude on purpose when he had been nothing but kind and considerate. Damn, she had actually enjoyed the touch of the ball of hair at the tip of his tail and had regretted its departure.
I’m so gullible.
“What do you think will happen when I don’t show up at home and at work?” Emilia ranted on. “Even if they initially ignore the fact that my car is still parked by the pub when I’m supposed to be out of town with it, come Wednesday theywillnotice. Meaning there will be police looking for me, searches being conducted, my parents getting sick with worry long before the week is over…” She shook her head. “No. I can’t do that to them. I won’t letyoudo that to them.”
“If I could return you sooner, I would, but it’s not up to me, Lia.”
She opened her arms wide. “Then who is it up to? Maybe if I talk to them, they’ll show more compassion than a human-abducting alien.”
Dargus flinched at the accusation, making her feel bad – again.Stop it, Emi, you’re not the bad guy here.
“They are the organizers of the gala we need to attend in three Terran days.”
“Oh…”
“They are also the creatures behind the biggest number of alien abductions in this galaxy. Of Terrans included.”
“Oh.” That, she had not expected.
“So, you see, Lia, if I take you back to your parents now, you’ll save them several-days-worth of worry. But if you stay to help me put these ruthless criminals behind bars, you’ll save countless parents from a lifetime of waiting for a missing loved one who will never return.”
It took Emilia several seconds to analyze what he had just told her, before she deduced what he was planning. “That’s… That’s not fair, Dargus! You can’t put such pressure on me! Besides, getting criminals in jail and stopping illegal trafficking is the job of the police, of trained officers and operatives. Not of a civilian with zero experience in crime-fighting, let alone space crime-fighting. And you also want to take me to Alien Abduction Central to do it? Ha!”
He put Cubbie on the table, much to the pet’s dissatisfaction, and got up.
Emilia tensed up but instead of coming closer to her, he started pacing, tale swishing wildly behind him.
“It’s the only way. I can’t get access to the gala without bringing someone exotic along to prove I’m an abductor worth his salt.”
Her eyebrows nearly reached her hairline. “Wait a sec. Are you saying this operation is run by you and you alone? No team, no backup?”
He shrugged. “No one wants to work on this case. Too many higher-ups are involved, or too many credits are paid to keep one’s eyes and mouth closed to the slave trade in creatures from underdeveloped worlds.”
