Trapped (The Condemned Series #1) - Alison Aimes Page 0,71

of thirty-five crew, only she had made it back alive. Winthrop was dead. Ava still missing. A sob ran through her. Then her gaze found Caine.

He was gently passing Winthrop off to two soldiers.

Her heart leapt. Yes, there’d been too much death, too much waste of good life, but something wonderful had happened, too. Caine had made it off Dragath25 alive.

At least for the moment.

It didn’t escape her notice that two soldiers’ guns remained trained on him, their gazes wary.

“Put your guns down,” she insisted. “He’s the one who saved your lives. Without him, your engines would have stayed jammed and you’d be down there defenseless against those monsters.”

A stern-faced man with salt and pepper hair, a crisp Council uniform, and a Captain insignia stepped forward. “Is that true?” His question was for Caine.

“I was able to create a jammer from spare parts to counteract the machine that brought the other shuttle down, Sir.” In his rapid, no-nonsense response, it was easy to hear the soldier Caine had always been.

“And who are you, ma’am?” The Captain asked her, his assessing gaze traveling the length of her.

She tugged at her hem, suddenly well aware that she was in nothing but Caine’s big, old-fashioned shirt. No official Council uniform in sight.

Putting as much steel into her spine as she could muster, she offered an official Council salute. “I’m Cadet West. One of the junior scientists under Dr. Winthrop,” she managed to say his name with only a tremble, “assigned to the previous research mission to Dragath25. When our shuttle crashed, Caine saved my life. He did the same for a number of other colleagues as well.”

“So this man here is a prisoner and not mission personnel?”

She exchanged a quick glance with Caine. If he wanted her to handle this differently, he wasn’t giving her any clue.

“That’s right,” she admitted. “But his initial sentence was a crime in itself and his efforts these past two weeks saved not only my life, but the life of your crew.”

Painful seconds ticked by while the Captain considered her words. Finally, he nodded, his gaze locking with Caine’s. “Seems we owe you our thanks.”

She let out a deep breath. Especially when the guns trained on Caine dropped.

“I’d like Cadet West to be examined by a doctor,” Caine said, “and then we can discuss what you want to do about me.”

“Do about you?” she echoed. “There’s no question. You need to be looked at, too, Caine. You’ve been shot. Then we’re going back to the space station and then to Earth, and we’ll make sure the world knows what you’ve done for us today.”

“One thing at a time,” said the Captain—his gaze flickering between them as if trying to ascertain the exact nature of their relationship. “You both look pretty banged up. Medics will see to both of you. Then they’ll show you to some quarters where you can get cleaned up and rest. But tomorrow morning at eight hundred hours, I expect you in my quarters. I’ll need a full report. A lot of people are going to be wondering just what the hell happened here. Especially why I’m bringing back a Dragath25 prisoner as one of my only survivors.”

“We’ll be there,” answered Caine, his warning stare restraining her from saying anything more.

The Captain started to step aside so the medics could do their work. He stopped suddenly. “There was a lot of hope for Earth’s future riding on your mission, Cadet West. Any chance you have good news?”

“Yes.” It was a wonderful feeling to be able to give such an answer—and her chest squeezed again as she wished Winthrop and Ava were there to give it with her. “Our mission offered some real possibilities for making Earth habitable and healthy once again.” She took a deep breath, “I intend to make sure every bit of that information is passed onto the Command Council—once I’m assured everything with Caine has been squared away.”

The Captain’s eyebrows rose. Off to the side, she heard Caine issue her name in a warning growl. She didn’t care. He’d protected her and her colleagues as best as he could. Now it was her turn to do the same for him.

Chapter Twenty-Four

The rumble of voices in the hallway woke Bella. She sat up, her heart beating fast, her gaze taking in the gleaming metal walls of the sparse ship quarters, the empty bunk beds to her left and right, the half lit artificial lighting that never turned completely off, and her clean, new