to risk herself for you.”
Bella let out a long sigh. “Then put me down and let’s get the hell out of here.” Better to wait and talk to Pogue and Winthrop without Convict or Ava around. In the meantime, Winthrop would watch out for Ava. And Pogue would keep Winthrop alive since the Council-connected Doctor was his ticket home.
Bella’s world went topsy-turvy once again as Convict set her on her feet. He dragged her along, his arm around her for balance, until she found her equilibrium. Then she was charging up the cliff on her own steam, his big body right behind her, pushing her on. He didn’t even let her catch her breath when they reached the top. Merely snagged his pack from the hidey-hole and corralled her down a different path. Since he was leading them toward the Oasis, she didn’t complain. Plus, she could barely breathe. Much less talk.
It wasn’t until a lot later when everything was silent and they were once again on flat ground that she found enough breath to actually speak. “Where are we going?”
“Home.”
Her steps faltered. She hadn’t really thought in terms of Convict and a home. It had an odd sense of permanency. One she definitely wasn’t ready for. She’d been thinking more in terms of a few hours or, at most, a day away from her crew. “Is…is it far from here?”
“Far enough.” His hand was firm against her lower back as he propelled her onward, farther and farther from everything and everyone she’d ever known. “They won’t bother us. No one will.”
She wasn’t sure whether to be comforted or terrified by his assertion.
Chapter Nine
“Is it much farther?” Bella scanned the horizon, trying to remember if they’d turned left or right at the last split in the rocky cliffs. Covered in miles of the same rust rock and debris, it was hard to tell one part of the terrain from another. The Oasis had definitely looked a lot closer from the top of the cliff.
Which was making it especially hard for her to feel confident about her ability to return to her colleagues’ campsite on her own if necessary.
“A little ways more.” One hand around his spear, one hand at her lower back, Convict urged her forward, his gaze scanning everywhere, his shoulders tense.
It was the same response he’d given her a half hour ago.
“Can you tell me more about this jammer? Where they keep it? How hard it was to make?”
“Why?” His voice had gone hard.
“I’m curious.”
“I told you before, there’s no going up against 225 and his pack. They number at least three thousand and fifty men, each more psychotic than the last. And they show no mercy. If they get hold of you, you’ll long for death.”
A shudder passed through her. “Still, there has to be some way to stop them.”
“Not without dying yourself.”
They walked in silence for a long while.
“I’m sorry about my colleagues.” She couldn’t stand the quiet any more. It was giving her too much time to think, especially about whether she’d made the right choice to leave with Convict. “They’re frightened and unsure and lashing out at everything as a threat. I’ll be able to get through to them next time we talk.”
If he noticed her subtle reference to seeing them again, he didn’t remark on it.
“They’re smart to be on guard,” he said instead. “It’s the only way to stay alive on this planet. Still it won’t make a bit of difference. Most of them will be dead within the month.”
At her soft gasp, his scowl deepened.
“You need to toughen up.” His hold tightened on his spear. “Don’t forget those soldiers are the same bastards who left you and your friends to die that first day. They deserve everything that’s coming to them.”
Disturbed, Bella said nothing. But inside, doubts battered at her. She kept trusting the humanity she’d glimpsed inside Convict, kept telling herself the way he touched her was more significant than what he said, but could she be fooling herself? Had she truly chosen the wrong side with which to stand? Ava’s reminder that there was a reason that Convict was a prisoner on Dragath25 echoed ominously through her head. Worse, hadn’t he himself warned her he wasn’t one of the good guys?
Questions clogged her throat, too many to let out at once. If his claims about what would happen to anyone who tried to rescue them were true, what did that mean for their deal? Was he thinking to use