hand over the controls and the screen flashed to life. Rico stood there. “I thought we had a fucking plan,” he snarled.
“Have you heard from Milo?” Destiny asked.
His eyes narrowed on her. “You are trouble,” he said. “I’m thinking more trouble than you can possibly be worth. But then it appears you’re worth quite a lot.” He blew out his breath and scowled. “I just had that tosser Kinross on the comm. He’s got Milo.”
She swallowed. “Is he okay?”
“Not really. Want a look?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. The screen flashed blank then a new image emerged. A dimly lit room, a chair in the center, a man tied to the chair. She gasped. His head flopped forward so she couldn’t make out his features, but then his face lolled to the side, a mask of crimson. His gray T-shirt was dark with blood. His eyes were swollen shut.
“What have they done to him?” she asked. This was her fault. He’d gone back for her, and now he was a prisoner and they were torturing him. Had Dr. Yang betrayed him? She reached out a hand as though she could touch him, and the image vanished, replaced by Rico scowling.
“Nothing too drastic,” he said. “Just beaten him up a little. He’ll live. Or he will if we get him out of there.”
“We have to get him out. We will, won’t we?”
“What do they want?” Dylan asked. “I presume they want something.”
“They’ll swap Milo for the woman.” He turned his attention to Destiny and studied her. “For some reason, they really want you back. I’m just trying to find out why.”
“Join the club,” Dylan muttered.
“That’s why Milo went to talk to Dr. Yang,” she said. “He was going to offer her information about her family in exchange for information about who I was, what they want from me.” She blinked, her eyes pricking. “This is my fault, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Rico snapped. “And if we don’t do the swap, they’ll kill Milo and then nuke Trakis Two.”
She had to save Milo. “I’ll give myself up. I was going back anyway. I was always going back.” But she didn’t want to. And now the last of her loyalty to Dr. Yang drained away. Nothing justified torture. Everything was messed up and she was going to lose Milo. But she’d be damned if he was going to die because of her. She would save him.
“Very noble of you,” Rico said. “Unfortunately, I don’t think it will be that easy. I don’t trust that bastard Kinross not to keep Milo anyway and use him as a hostage against us, and that’s not happening. He also hinted that he knew more about us than he was letting on. Which is bad news. For him.”
“I’m going to rip his fucking head off,” Dylan growled.
“Get in line.”
“So what do we do?” Destiny said. “How do we get him back? We have to save him. He’s hurt.”
“Aw, she actually cares.”
She glared at the screen. “Of course I care. Don’t you?”
He pursed his lips. “I care. But if we want to get him out, we need to keep emotions out of this. And your boyfriend’s tough. He’s not going to die from a beating.”
But she couldn’t bear to think about him hurting. Alone, believing no one was coming to help him. She took a deep breath. Rico was right; she had to focus. They’d already proved they were treacherous. If she just gave herself up, then there was no guarantee they would let Milo go.
She could contact Dr. Yang and tell her that she would come back but only if Milo was released. How could she force them to do that?
Could she threaten to kill herself, hold a pistol to her head until Milo was away? But would they believe her? Would she actually do it? There had to be a better way. Think!
“We arrange to meet them in the forest,” she said. “Dylan can hide somewhere close by. He keeps a weapon trained on me. One of those with the red dots, and he tells them he’ll shoot me if they make a move against Milo.”
“Might work,” Rico said. “If you set it up right. And select the right location. But are you really ready to give yourself up to them?”
“Dr. Yang won’t hurt me.” But did she really believe that?
“Milo will be pissed,” Dylan said.
Would he? Did he care?
She hoped so. And she believed so. Not least because he would hopefully not let them nuke the