Dealers' Choice - Susan Hayes Page 0,48

were handshakes and shoulder slaps, and then Ward was getting an unexpected hug from Cynder that nearly cracked a rib and his composure.

“Bring her back safe. And don’t get cocky. Or dead.”

“I’ll do my best.” But he’d also do whatever it took to ensure Xori and Vic had a long, happy life together.

Chapter Eleven

The shuttle touched down with a bone-jarring bump that made the whole fuselage shudder around her. Whatever abilities the clone at the helm had been programmed with, advanced piloting skills clearly wasn’t one of them. Still, they were here. Wherever here was. Xori had tried to engage Five in further conversation, but his answers had been monosyllabic for the most part, and she hadn’t wanted to press too hard. She somehow doubted that asking too many questions would be enough to get her spaced, but why take that chance?

Two appeared at the cockpit door and Five stood, gesturing for her to do the same. She’d met Two briefly, when her guard had needed to use the facilities and the second clone had stepped out to keep an eye on her. The fact they never left her alone made her wonder if there was more she could have done, but after several long, boring hours with nothing to do but try to think of a way to save herself, she hadn’t come up with anything. Either they were being overcautious, or she’d missed something.

She got to her feet, stretched slowly and carefully, and then fell in between her two guards as they escorted her off the shuttle and into the shuttle bay of a much larger vessel. There were abbreviated notations and what looked like warnings in bright red letters stenciled on the walls of the hangar, but she was too far away to read them. The only thing she could make out was a word painted over a pair of heavy double doors at one end - Enigma 4.

She pointed to the doors. “Is that the name of this vessel?”

Neither male answered. Instead, a woman replied. “Yes, it is. Welcome aboard, Dr. Virness.”

Xori nearly jumped out of her skin. She spun and came face-to-face with Vivian, who stood only a meter behind her. “I didn’t see you there!”

“That is because I was not there to be seen.”

It took Xori a second to gather her scattered brain cells into something that worked on more than a primal level. Then she saw what the other female meant. “You’re a hologram.”

Vivian inclined her head. The motion was somehow more graceful than she’d managed in their video chat. “Sometimes.”

“So, when I spoke to you before, on the monitor? That was a holographic projection?”

“No. That was me, in the flesh, as it were.” Vivian gestured to the double doors. “Come with me, please. We have a few things to discuss before we finalize your employment, and I imagine you would like something to eat and drink. The sedative used to incapacitate you has a tendency to cause dehydration.”

“Water would be nice, thank you.” She followed dutifully along behind Vivian, trying not to stare at the other female’s feet. Weirdly enough, the hologram took normal steps even though she moved forward in a gliding motion. The effect was disturbing and a little surreal. Something about it niggled at the back of her brain, but she was too tired and keyed up to think clearly at the moment.

Vivian kept up a running commentary about the ship as they walked, explaining its basic layout and identifying each section as they passed through it. Crew quarters. The galley and mess. Vivian even pointed out the escape pods, and then turned and informed Xori that the pods were not only locked, but set with an explosive that would detonate if they were activated without the proper codes being entered. Her tone never changed, and she went back to discussing the ship’s amenities as if booby-trapped escape pods were of no more import than the wide array of options programmed into the food dispensers. It was even more unnerving than her holographic glide step, but not as strange as seeing the same two faces again and again. Males who were identical to her guards, and a single type of female clone, all with golden skin, dark hair, and heart-shaped faces. Vivian didn’t pay them any attention, moving past them as if they didn’t exist, and they did the same, their gazes fixed on some point behind Xori and her little group as if they weren’t there at all.

They