That is my decision to make.

"No, it's not. I'm the one who stands accused of treason. I'm not going to have you run off and get yourself killed when it won't make a difference anyway."

For the first time in his life he truly felt terror. Kamran had to struggle to control his body under the weight of his emotions. His breathing became labored and he could feel his blood pounding through him. Mentally, he erected a barrier in an attempt to contain his fear and concern. The last thing he wanted was for her to see the depths of his emotion.

He knew he was successful instantly. Too successful. Not only had he blocked her from seeing his fear, but he had broken the rest of their connection. Haylie sucked in a gasp and looked hurt. Her hand fell away from him.

"Why?" Her voice sounded strange.

Her question echoed in the room when she pushed away from his body, cool air replaced her warmth. He knew he should say something. He opened his mouth, but closed it again. He wouldn't give her the information she wanted. His life wasn't worth hers, no matter what she thought.

Instead, he was forced to watch her dress. The clothing that she had enticed him with a short time ago, she now donned as a protective barrier against him. She jerked her pants up and turned to face him. He didn't like the expression on her face.

"Please, don't." He somehow managed to keep his concern from his voice.

Haylie pulled out the strands of her thick hair that were caught in her shirt. With a fascinating movement of her hands, she tied the silken strands into some sort of tight bun. No, this wasn't good.

"Haylie?" His voice didn't rise above a whisper.

"I'm not a child who needs protecting," her words were clipped. "I've lived my whole life dealing with the sc.u.m of humanity, so you needn't worry about that. And yet again the universe has reminded me that relationships are nothing more than vapor.

You'd think I'd have learned that lesson when my mom left us. But I guess I'm not too bright."

"Please don't think that."

140.

"Thank you, Amba.s.sador. I will keep you informed of any breaks in our investigation," she said coolly. Haylie pressed a b.u.t.ton on the key pad by the door. "I'm done here."

Kamran closed his eyes and almost reached out with his mind. He didn't want to lose her. Not this way, not ever. But no matter what she thought, he knew that somehow the valley would be dangerous for her.

The sound of the door swooshing open reached his ears a second before the blast of cold air from the hall.

"If you're not going to listen to me, please be careful."

She looked at him, her mouth opened for a second before snapping shut. Without even a backward glance she left him alone.

141.

Chapter Fourteen.

Haylie tried to scratch her nose yet again through the environmental suit and cursed once more as her finger jabbed the reinforced plastic that kept her alive. This was crazy. She was crazy. Her dreams were probably nothing more than a byproduct of her overs.e.xed libido. But she couldn't walk away from her duty, no matter how p.i.s.sed off she was.

Stupid, G.o.d dammed, conceited, smug... alien .

Not that it mattered much anymore. Once she solved this mystery, she was going to hop on the first transport off this nightmare planet and head somewhere else. t.i.tan colony was looking for an a.s.sistant chief of security. They were only a three-month journey by cargo shuttle and had fresh water on the planet. And they had the added bonus of having no Briel.

Unfortunately, solving the mystery meant finding this d.a.m.n valley to see what the h.e.l.l was out there.

"Are you well, Ms. Bond?" The speaker in her EV suit crackled in her ear.

Haylie looked up. Dr. Ray was waiting for her at the top of the ridge. The wind had let up, giving her enough visibility to see what lay beyond. Not that it was anything other than more sand until they hiked another two miles.

"I'm fine. Just thinking."

"We don't have time for your feet to go idle. If we are to make it to your valley and back before nightfall, we must hurry."

She nodded and increased her pace until she was beside him. It was impossible to clearly see Ray through the EV suit. And even if she could, his body was as completely covered as her own. Between the high winds whipping the sand in her face and the haze from the EV mask, visibility was poor. The added layer of clothing between her and Ray set her more at ease. She didn't feel the same comfort around him as she had back in med bay. And the rest of her personnel were either on duty or resting, so she didn't want to ask any of them to come. For now, having Ray act as her guide made sense. Still, something wasn't right about this whole situation.

Haylie shook her head. Why the h.e.l.l had she run into him just as she was trying to leave? She really wanted to do this alone in case it turned out to be nothing. The only other person who posed more of a problem was Taber. d.a.m.ned Briel were a stubborn bunch. She'd decided to bypa.s.s asking others for information on the valley and turned to the old Briel archives. Her access allowed her viewing privileges on non-cla.s.sified information, including geological surveys of the planet. It was in one of those files that she'd found an early survey done of the Corridor. The place was a non-area. Nothing of 142 note for minerals or resources that the surveyors could find. No reason at all for it to appear in her dreams. She had to see what was hiding there. She would have been able to slip out without anyone noticing if Ray hadn't come looking for her with a message from Sara.

As soon as he discovered what she was about to do, Ray announced that he intended to help her find whatever it was she was looking for on the planet's surface.

What the h.e.l.l did he think a doctor could do to help? If she did run into anything dangerous she doubted he'd be able to do anything in time to help.

She'd tried every tactic she could think of to keep him from following her. Even threw her weight around as security chief and claimed that it was too dangerous for the colony's main Briel doctor to be traipsing around the planet's surface.

She even tried to use the truth. She was investigating the strange occurrences on the station and it led her to the Corridor. Ray simply smiled as he slipped the EV helmet on and twisted it into place.

"Are you coming?" His voice was almost cheery.

He was going. What choice did she have? Now she had to watch her back and his.

As they walked, she probed him for anything information she could. Best to keep him occupied and not worrying too much about what she was looking for.

"So what can you tell me about this place? Anything we need to be aware of before we get there?"

"The first settlers referred to this place as the Corridor. Not a totally appropriate description, but one that stuck nonetheless."

Haylie heard him start to speak further, but then stop.

"What? What is out here?" she asked as casually as she could. Her throat hurt from the minute dust particles that wriggled their way past the air filter in the ventilation unit, making it difficult to speak.

"Nothing at all. Sorry, I thought I saw something. I remember the Briel who scouted the area years ago were surprised that a planet had such an unusual area. Dead patches like this are rare. No microbes or plant life of any kind. That's why I was intrigued when you told me this is where you suspect the root of our problems lie."

"Well, my information could be incomplete, but I trust the source."

Ray stumbled, letting out a curse she'd heard Kamran use before.

She turned to face him, completely shocked at his outburst. "Are you okay?"

Haylie reached out to catch his arm. As she made contact, a blinding cold burned its way up her arm and slammed into her chest. She couldn't move and gasped slightly for air.

Ray turned his head so they were mask to mask. His eyes, cold black beads, stared at her.

"What's your source again?" he asked through clenched teeth.

143.

"I'd rather not say." Her skin seemed to itch like a thousand ants crawled over it.

"It would be rea.s.suring if I could trust it. I'd hate to think you're putting our lives in danger based on the word of a scoundrel. Or a traitor."

Anger flashed through her. "My information comes from official records and my own observations. As chief of security, I think my word would be enough for your confidence."

"Of course it is. I didn't mean to imply otherwise." He smiled, but even through the EV mask she could tell it didn't reach his eyes.

Like h.e.l.l he didn't.

As they scrambled up the next dune, it was Haylie's turn to slip in the heavy sand and instincts kicked in. She caught Ray's shoulder in a tight grasp in an effort to stay upright.

He winced and cried out in pain as he jerked his arm free, sending her tumbling to the ground. They stayed like that for several heartbeats, staring at each other. She felt the blood pool in her stomach.

He was going to kill her. She wasn't sure how or why, but she knew beyond a doubt that he would. He was going to take the knife he had in his survival kit, slash her air hose and suit and leave her to die.

"What's wrong with your shoulder?" She adjusted her body slightly, so as to not alert him to her next action.

Something in his voice changed. His hands flexed into tight b.a.l.l.s. "I had an accident. I tripped and someone drove a knife into it."

As he lunged at her, Haylie swung her leg out, sweeping his feet out from under him and sending him crashing to the ground. The slight incline they were on made it difficult for him to regain his footing and gave her enough time to run. She bolted down the hill, heading southwest from the colony.

"Get back here, b.i.t.c.h!" his voice screamed through the speaker.

"Computer, switch to channel seven." The words came out in gasps as she ran.

"Briel security. Is there something we can help-?"

"Shut up and listen. This is Chief Bond. Tell Taber there is an attack planned from the Corridor. I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I think it's the Ecada."

"Hold." The voice was replaced by the steady hum of static.

Please G.o.d, let Taber be there.

"Haylie?"

She didn't stop moving, but chanced a look behind her. Ray didn't appear to be anywhere in sight.

"Taber. I don't know where I am exactly, can you give me a loc."

"You're in sector forty-five. The scanner shows you just north of the Corridor. What are you doing there? Do you need a.s.sistance?"

144.

She spotted some rocks to her left and made her way over to them as quickly as she could. Ducking behind one of the larger ones, she pulled out her blaster and waited.

After a minute, she realized Ray wasn't behind her. He should be right on top of her.

Where the h.e.l.l did he go?

"Haylie, respond." Taber's concern was apparent in his voice.

"Listen carefully, Taber. Ray must be off to alert whoever is waiting for him in the valley. He was the one who organized everything. I have to find out what is there quickly before they do whatever it is they are doing."

"Doctor Ray?"

"No time to explain. Send every available squad to the station perimeter. Once they're ready, I want you to maintain radio silence, but keep the line open. I don't want to draw any more attention to myself until you're ready."

"Ready for what?"

Haylie prayed she was wrong. "For an attack against the station."

She heard a flurry of activity on the other end as Taber barked commands at the officers in the room.

"Is there anything else you need me to do, Chief?"

Haylie reached out with her mind, hoping she'd find the one thing she'd missed more than anything in the past few hours. Kamran still blocked her. She should be mad still. But with the threat of attack, she couldn't keep hold of her petty annoyances.

"Yes. Please see that Kamran is released. That prison is the last place I want him to be when all h.e.l.l breaks loose."

"That's not possible, I-"

"Please." Haylie heard the quiver in her voice, but didn't care. She had to know Kamran was safe.

"I'll find a way. Be safe."

Why the h.e.l.l had Kamran shut her out? "Just get him out of there. And keep him out of trouble."

She switched into silent running mode and carefully made her way over the rocks toward her destination. She'd remember the layout of the survey map and what was there. She was closer than she'd realized to the valley. As she picked her way over rocks and across the slippery gray sand of the barren landscape, her mind continued to drift back to Kamran.

Taber would see that he was safe. She really didn't need to worry about him. So why was she so freaked? She didn't like the answer that was staring her in the face.

Despite his arrogance and his unwillingness to see past a future that may never come to be, she loved him. Not a pa.s.sing fancy, infatuation, or even strong feelings like she'd had for the few other men in her life.

This was gut-wrenching, mind-blowing love.

145.

She had to stop to catch her breath. Great timing for a revelation. Hopefully, she'd live long enough to share this with Kamran.