High Flyer - Michelle Diener Page 0,72

asked.

Brynja shook her head, a sharp, angry movement. “I'm not telling you.”

“Fine.” Iver leaned back, at ease. “But Jake's gone off over the wall to contact his friends with his comms unit, hasn't he?”

The power flickered again, and Brynja glanced up at the ceiling, then at Iver.

“So what if he has?”

“No reason.” Iver leaned back further on the couch and rested a hand on Hana's shoulder.

She shared a look with him.

Jake had been rattled to learn the shield blocked comms. She'd thought he glanced down at the case more than was normal while he'd been seated at the table.

“He was waiting for a message,” she whispered to Iver. “He didn't look happy to discover he can't receive anything in the camp.”

Iver gave a slight smile. “Not happy, at all.”

Chapter 24

Who was Jake communicating with?

Iver shifted a little at the outside table where they had been taken to eat some lunch, trying to see where he'd gone.

He wasn't in the camp, unless he was behind the buildings, near the entrance, but given that Craven kept glancing out toward the river, Iver guessed he'd gone that way.

It was obviously bothering the smuggler that his collaborator was keeping himself out of sight and out of earshot.

Hana sat beside him, and worry spiked in his chest just looking at her.

There were dark circles under her eyes and she was listless.

She folded her arms in front of her and rested her head on them, after having barely touched her food.

“We're going to have to do something about her.”

Iver looked up, found Lia watching him. She had a big bruise on her right cheek where she'd fallen the day before after Bret had shot her in the back, and her posture was as stiff as his own.

When he said nothing, she moved closer, blocking the sun so he could look straight up at her. “She needs the medbay.”

Iver nodded. He thought so, too, but Hana kept insisting that she was fine. “Jake says she'll have to tough it out.”

Lia huffed out a breath. “I know you carried me yesterday after that bastard shot me. Thank you.”

“You're welcome.”

She was the youngest of the group, and she thought she owed him. She would maybe help them, if the right opportunity arose, but Brynja had swung her attention in their direction as soon as they'd started talking, and Tillis started moving, circling the table and chairs set out on the grass like a predator circling its prey.

Bret swiveled on his bench as Tillis moved, slowly biting off pieces of the thick bread in his hand. He and Brynja had given each other a nod of recognition at the start, but hadn't said anything more to each other. If they had known each other during the war, as Hana told him Bret had said, then they hadn't been close.

The tension between the two groups had been evident since the start, but it seemed to be ratcheting up.

That wasn't completely bad, Iver thought, as long as he and Hana could run while the two teams fought it out. But Hana didn't look like she could walk right now, let alone run.

He leaned back in his chair and pushed his empty plate away, pulled Hana's barely touched food in front of him and looked around for a knife. The meal was just bread, cheese and fruit, but it was a welcome change from the military fare they'd had up until now.

“I need to cut this up a little more,” he said.

Lia looked over at him, hesitating, and then walked to the table where her team mates were sitting, got a knife, and brought it back to him.

“Make sure he doesn't keep it.” Tillis had sat back down to eat and he leaned forward, elbows on the table. He went back to shoving food into his mouth like he hadn't seen any for a long time.

The trap they'd set for game made a little more sense, now. They had been desperate.

“What animals were you trying to catch with your trap in the valley?” He took the knife from Lia with a nod of thanks. He hadn't seen any big wildlife since he and Hana had slipped out of the lander in the valley, only small mammals and insects, and not many of them, either.

He also hadn't seen any birds.

He should have noticed that sooner. Faldine was known for its birdlife. The colors on most of the birds of prey alone were considered worth a trip to the planet.

The thought caused him to look