Captivate (Manipulate, Book 2)

Chapter 34

Basher leaned against a wall at the Chunnel station on Upper Selta, waiting for the next train.He held his tablet in his hands, and Akemi wrote on it.

“I’m sorry,” she said for the third time. “The Rik have been gone from the café more than ten hours. They should have been here hours ago. Perhaps I miscalculated, or we missed them already.”

Basher knuckled his eyes. He’d been at the station all night, since Akemi’s warning last evening that Claire and the Rik had left the café.

“I just can’t imagine where they are,” Akemi also said for the third, or possibly fourth, time. “It should have taken them less than ninety minutes to reach the Chunnel, even with traffic. Then the three hour trip. I’m afraid we’ve missed them – or Faal has them.”

“I don’t think Faal has them,” Basher reassured her. “I reviewed your conversation with her and I’m almost positive she would pull out the glasses if she was caught.” On the other hand, he was willing to swear that no humans, Rik or otherwise, had come from Lower Selta tonight. “Either way, I have to get back to the embassy. Senator Fontley is going to meet with Faal today. I think we can get a sense of Faal’s success.”

It doesn’t seem right that he should come openly to the embassy when we know he’s trying to kidnap Claire. He doesn’t even pretend otherwise!

“He doesn’t have to and he knows it. If I arrest him, he has enough clout to begin a war between the Merith and us. It’d be catastrophic.”

Back at the embassy, Basher made himself some very strong coffee. The coffee grounds had been a gift from his partner on Basher’s birthday. Basher still hadn’t figured out how to reciprocate, as the Spo didn’t celebrate birthdays, but he’d certainly been enjoying the coffee. He hoarded it for special occasions or days when he felt particularly sick of aliens.

With no sleep and another day of Senator Fontley and Faal ahead of him, Basher figured this qualified as special occasion and a day when he was going to be sick of aliens. He sipped the dark, bitter coffee and groaned unintentionally. So good.

He made his way stiffly to the negotiation room where he was to meet Senator Fontley, putting his tablet in a large pocket in his jacket.

He wasn’t the first to arrive.

There was a small antechamber that opened into the negotiation room. Sam and Nat were leaning against the wall, with a careful amount of space between them.

Basher wondered in passing if something had happened with them. They'd been affectionate when they first came, but now it seemed like an invisible wall was erected between them.

Basher turned away and finished his coffee and blinked hard. The night without sleep was getting to him.

Sam nodded a silent hello to Basher, and tapped his glasses. He probably meant that Akemi had told him about their lost quarry.

Basher stared hard at Faal when he arrived. The alien had a poker face that was impressive even by Merith standards. He was in the process of hunting down a human on a very personal vendetta, but from his expression, you would never guess he had that much emotion. As still as his face was, Basher had the impression that Faal was coiled tighter than normal this morning. And when he finally made eye contact with Basher there was a feeling of restrained rage that Basher was devoutly thankful for. Faal had not yet captured Claire.

Senator Fontley arrived then, and immediately greeted Faal in an overdone and somewhat theatrical way. Basher thought of it as his CNN voice. They had tried to explain to him about the situation with Claire, but he hadn’t taken it as seriously as Basher expected.