“It depends on what I’m supposed to do. Whether I can make a difference. I just don’t see how. I’ve thought and thought but can’t come up with a reason, a purpose.”
“Let me find out.”
“How?”
“I’ll go talk to Dr. Yang.”
She bit her lip. “Won’t that be dangerous?”
“No. I’ll tell her I have important information about her family. That I just want to talk to her. There will be no danger.”
A shiver ran through her. A premonition of something to come.
But he was already walking away.
Chapter Thirty-Three
“It is a bad habit to shout it from the rooftops when one challenges a person. Not everyone benefits from attracting attention.”
—Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
Milo strode away from the ship with a sense of failure.
He was aware of what Destiny wanted. His total capitulation.
Everything.
His soul. If he had one.
And if she got it, if he gave in and gave her his soul, then what would she do with it?
Jump up and down on it? Set it on fire? Decide that her duty to humanity was more important than him?
He should just walk away.
Leave her to her duty. But he couldn’t do it.
Already he wanted her again.
It wasn’t just sex, though the sex was the best ever. He liked her. Was amazed by how much she had grown and could only imagine the woman she would become if she had the time and space to grow further. He wanted to help her become that woman.
Even if he couldn’t say the words that he suspected would change the whole situation.
The truth was it didn’t matter if someone loved you. They all came with baggage, whether nature or nurture. Things that were fundamental to their very being or things that were drilled into them from birth. His mother wanted revenge, Maria wanted to save his soul, Rico…Rico had wanted to survive but also, he’d wanted Milo to survive as well.
He waited until he was a good distance away from the tunnel entrance and then he lifted the comm unit and punched in the code for Dr. Yang.
“Yes.”
“It’s Milo. We need to talk.”
“You have Destiny with you?”
“No, but I know where she is.”
“You need to bring her back.” Her tone held a hint of panic. “Do that and Kinross will pardon you. Let you and your friend leave the planet.”
Of course he would. And pardon him for what? He hadn’t done anything fucking wrong. Yet. “I have news about your family.”
She was silent for a moment. “And what do you want in return?”
“Just some information.”
“I need proof that they are okay.”
He thought for a moment. How the hell was he supposed to give her proof they were okay when they were long dead? He’d just have to come up with something. “How about the promise that you can come with us when we leave? You can be with your family on Trakis Two. If you help me, you or your family won’t be safe here. I doubt you’ll be safe anyway. Kinross is not an honorable man.”
Again, she was silent for a little while. “Your captain will agree to that?”
“He will.” Maybe. Who knew with Rico? But he couldn’t come up with anything better right now.
“I’ll want confirmation from him.”
“Well, I’m having a little trouble contacting him right now due to the fact that your boss blew up my shuttle.”
“Then meet me at the Trakis Four. There’s a conference room on the second level, room 206—it has a long-distance link.”
And the comm went dead.
He could very well be walking into a trap. But he didn’t think so. He suspected that everything Dr. Yang had done had been about her family. Probably Kinross had bought her loyalty with promises that she would be reunited with them. Promises he couldn’t keep because her family was dead. Maybe she was getting suspicious. She’d likely had more than a glance into what sort of man Kinross was.
There was a risk, but he wanted to do this for Destiny.
Dr. Yang knew all the answers. She knew who Destiny was and what she would be walking into if she went back. Or maybe he just wanted to find the truth and it would convince her there was no reason to return. That she wasn’t the savior of humanity. That she could come with them to Trakis Two without fear that she had condemned the human race to…what?
Total annihilation?
He had no clue.
He’d racked his brain for an answer as to why she was important to them and still came up blank.