Hard Line - Pamela Clare Page 0,82
components, I’m sure, but we’ll never know what his true motives were.”
“How did Delaney know Samantha and I were in the LO arch?”
“Vlad overheard us and shot Delaney a text to warn him that you and Dr. Park were still alive and headed back into the station.”
“That’s why Vasily killed him—for betraying us,” Samantha said. “I still don’t know whether Vasily is a good guy or a bad guy.”
“Oh, he’s definitely a bad guy,” Segal answered. “But he’s a bad guy who cares about you—and Patty. This time, that’s what mattered.”
Thor remembered Jones and Segal rushing through the doors after Vasily had already killed Delaney. “What took you two so long? How did Vasily and his crew get there first? Didn’t you lock them down?”
“Sorry, man.” Jones explained. “After we left, they overpowered Ryan and his guys, went for their rifles, and ran straight to Delaney. You said you were backtracking to the machine shop, so we went outside and came back in through the door to the LO Arch, thinking we could get ahead of Delaney. But he had already found you.”
“Better late than never.” Thor struggled to keep his eyes open.
“Okay, guys, he needs rest.” Kristi motioned for Jones and Segal to leave. “Samantha, either you get back into your own bed, or I’ll have these two strong men pick you up and put you there.”
“Listen to her!” Samantha stood. “She’s so bossy.”
Thor drifted into a dreamless sleep.
Samantha was discharged two days later and spent the next few days doing her best to catch up on work. It seemed like an impossible task. She wasn’t sleeping well and was tired all the time. Typing with her healing fingers was uncomfortable despite ibuprofen and the aloe gel Kristi had given her. Worse, her body couldn’t tolerate extreme cold, not even with all of her layers. The moment she stepped outside, she began to shiver, her frostbitten skin to ache. She had no choice but to operate the telescope remotely, doing what she could from the science lab on station and getting help from the other astronomers—Kazem, Greg, Bai, and Nick—with tasks that needed to be performed in the Dark Sector Lab.
Everyone on station seemed to know what had happened. They had been incredibly kind to her. They got her coffee, brought her snacks, carried her tray to the dish pit. Analise Weber, a young woman she barely knew who worked in the galley, gave her a pair of hand-knitted socks to keep her feet warm.
Jason had come up to her in the galley to apologize. “Sorry I was such an asshole. I’m really glad you’re going to be okay.”
“Thank you, Jason.”
She saved her breaks and free time to be with Thor.
Kristi and Decker said he was recovering quickly, but she knew he was frustrated.
“Go easy on yourself,” she’d told him this morning when the pain of his physical therapy exercises had left him tight-jawed and angry. “Three days ago, you almost died. I know you’re not used to physical limitations, and pain really sucks. But you can’t storm your way through healing. Your body needs time.”
Kristi had ducked inside the curtain, holding a tiny paper cup with two pills in it. “Or he could take his oxycodone an hour before starting his exercises like his excellent nurse suggested.”
“Fine!” Thor had snatched the cup from her hand, tossed the pills back, and swallowed them without water.
Kristi had winked at Samantha. “For a Viking, he’s a teddy bear.”
It was both touching and distressing to know that what he suffered now, he suffered for her sake.
But the hardest part of Samantha’s day came at bedtime. Every night, she had nightmares, not just once a night but two, three, or four times. It had gotten to the point now where she dreaded going to bed.
After supper, she tried procrastinating in the lounge, watching some weird B-movie with a few of the others until it was late. Then she made her way to the infirmary, hoping Kristi would let her visit with Thor—or sit beside him if he was asleep. When she reached the infirmary, she discovered that Kristi had already gone to bed in the adjacent sleep room and Thor was awake and sitting up, reading something on his phone.
He smiled when he saw her. “Hey, what are you doing up?”
“I just wanted to check on you.”
He arched an eyebrow. “At midnight?”
She leaned down, kissed him. “Why not?”
He set his phone aside and took her hand. “You’re having trouble sleeping. Nightmares?”
She nodded, sat.