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Now Ireallyfelt like an asshole.
“Hey,” I said softly, placing a hand on her.
She elbowed it off but I ignored it and gently stroked her back.
She sniffed and made a few more lackluster attempts to get me off her but I knew — or at leastthoughtI knew — she liked the contact.
“Your sister is going to be okay,” I said. “I promise.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” she said in a strangely hollow voice.
“This is a promise Icankeep,” I said. “I’m the governor of Enchor’s Heart. I have a lot of powerful friends. If things don’t work out today the way we hope, I’ll make a few calls and make sure your sister and her family are well taken care of.”
I meant every word, and when she turned to look at me, tears shimmering in her eyes, I knew I had hit the target.
“Really?” she said, her voice grating on her emotions.
I nodded. “Yes. I promise. But first, I have a Plan A. Andit’s one that means your sister will never need to know what happened. She can carry on her life as if nothing ever happened because, for her, it never did.”
“What?” she said. “What’s Plan A?”
I searched her eyes and wondered if she was in the right frame of mind to hear it.
I heard an electric whining sound, my ears flapping at its high pitch.
I turned to see a dot in the distance, barely visible through the purple nighttime clouds. “You see that dot?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“That’s a ship. On it are some of the toughest soldiers you’ll ever meet. They’re my squad.”
“Your squad? As in, Space Marines?”
“Yes. We made a pact many years ago, that if one day one of us needed the others’ help, we would be there for them. They’re who I set the beacon up for. They’re going to help us.”
“Help us do what?”
I reached up to help her down.
I wiped away her tears and felt grateful she let me do that much.
“To catch these assholes in a trap. We’re going to make examples of them so anyone else who gets the bright idea to come anywhere near someone I care about, will think twice before doing so.”
She smiled at that.
It was a pathetic, broken smile, but it warmed my heart nonetheless.
“But in order to do that, I’m going to need your help.”
She nodded before even hearing my plan.
I took the Blue Orb out of my pocket and handed it toher. “I want you to call the leader of this outfit and tell him you have the Orb. Follow his instructions and we’ll follow you. When you arrive at wherever the handover is, we’ll be there to shut them down. What do you say?”
She smiled and nodded, dislodging another pair of tears that streaked down her cheeks.
By the Creator, she was beautiful even when shecried!
My squad’s ship whined as it drew overhead and began to set down.
