Break Out - By Nina Croft Page 0,47

very grateful to be rescued, it appears he doesn’t actually have a sister.”

Rico raised one eyebrow. “How surprising.” Skylar met his gaze, her own steady. “Anything you want to add?” he asked.

The tip of her tongue came out to lick her lower lip, still swollen from his kisses. “He must be confused. I’ve heard cryo can do that, and Jonny never was too bright.”

He watched as she strolled across the bridge and sank into a chair. God, she was cool. Even now, he was impressed. “Aren’t you eager to go have a tearful reunion with baby brother?” he asked. For a moment, he wished she’d break, confess, and throw herself on his mercy. And he would be merciful. But the thought was fleeting—if she’d been the sort of woman who broke, he probably wouldn’t have cared one way or the other. There was still a chance if he gave her a choice, she would choose him.

She pursed her lips. “I think I’ll wait till he’s a little less fuzzy. It will break my heart if he doesn’t recognize me after all the trouble I’ve gone to.”

Rico smiled in admiration. “Hmm, and we wouldn’t want to break your heart, would we?”

Tannis stood, hands on her hips, her gaze flicking between the two of them. “Is someone going to tell me what’s going on?”

Skylar remained silent, and Rico shrugged. “She’s Collective.”

Tannis stared at Skylar. “She can’t be. Her eyes are the wrong color.”

“Have I mentioned the word gullible before?” Rico shook his head. “Skylar?”

Skylar reached up and removed the contact lenses, dropping them on the floor. Her eyes glowed with the violet of Meridian. She turned to Rico, a look of resignation on her face. “When did you know? Was it the blood?”

“Actually, no. I suspected almost from the start, but Janey confirmed it. You were the only one who could have called up that space cruiser, and as you were with me, you must have had some internal comm link. The only people with that are the Collective. It gave you away. Why did you do it?”

“I had no choice. You were about to munch on me, and you’d just told me you could tell how old I was from my blood.”

“You could have said no.” He studied her face. “So, how old are you?”

She shrugged. “Two-hundred and thirty-two.”

“A baby.” He shook his head. “When the ship attacked, at first I thought you’d had a lucky break, then I got to thinking.”

“I make my own lucky breaks,” she said.

. . .

Skylar was furious with herself. How could she have not seen this? She looked up at where Rico lounged, one shoulder against the wall. She couldn’t believe that all the time he’d been making such sweet love with her, he’d known what she was. One thing was sure; he was a damn better actor than she was.

Time to get off his ship.

There was a good chance that they would attempt to kill her before her backup got there, but right now, she couldn’t think of an alternative. She closed her eyes and opened her internal comm link.

And hit a wall.

She tried again. Nothing. They had cut her off, and the first stirrings of panic awoke inside her. She opened her eyes to find Rico watching her, an amused smile on his face.

“Janey reconstructed the frequency,” he said. “She’s put up a wall. I’m afraid there’s no calling for help.” He grinned. “Oh, and you told them to rendezvous about two hours from here. So don’t be expecting them anytime soon.”

A sense of fatality settled over her. This was it. It was over. They even had an assassin on board who knew exactly how to do away with the Collective on a permanent basis.

“If you knew all this, why am I still alive?” she asked.

“Good question,” Tannis said.

“I had planned to kill you,” Rico said. “I don’t like being double-crossed. But you saved our lives back on Trakis One. Those Collective would have killed us and by now you’d be back with your own kind.”

She scowled. “It was a reflex action.”

“Of course it was. Whatever, I owe you, and, like you, I pay my debts.”

“What does that mean?”

“You can go. Get in your shuttle and leave.”

She looked from him to Tannis. The captain’s face was set, but she didn’t speak. Skylar rose slowly to her feet.

“Just one thing,” Rico said.

She turned to him.

“What was this all for? Why go to the bother of freeing a man condemned by the Collective?”

She shrugged. “I