Hitting the Target Read online

  People looked at her in surprise, but no one seemed inclined to do anything until someone ahead of her put out a foot and tripped the bag-snatcher, at last allowing Mia to catch up with him.

  “Give it to me! Give me my bag!” she shouted, grabbing the strap and yanking.

  But the thief wasn’t so easily put off. He struggled to his feet and pulled back, refusing to relinquish the stolen bag.

  “Get off, lady!” he snarled at her through the mask he was wearing. “Let it go!”

  “No!” Mia struggled with him fiercely. It seemed like all the anger she’d been keeping bottled up inside from the way the Commandant had treated her had come suddenly to the surface and now she felt positively enraged—angry enough to face ten thieving bag-snatchers if necessary.

  The people around them still didn’t seem to understand—or care—exactly what was going on. There were angry grunts when Mia or the thief bumped into some of the passersby but even as they struggled closer and closer to the edge of the platform, no one came to her aid.

  No one until a deep, angry voice rang out above the crowd.

  “Hey! Let go of her bag!”

  The voice was somehow familiar—though nothing in this strange place should have been the least bit familiar, Mia knew. It startled her so much that she jerked her head up and her grip on the bag loosened just a little.

  It was enough. With a tremendous yank, the thief pulled the hotly contested bag from her hands. Then he gave her a one-handed shove in the center of her chest which made Mia gasp.

  She could feel her center of gravity shifting—could feel herself losing her balance as she wind-milled her arms, trying desperately not to fall even as she was tilting backwards, over the abyss that was the edge of the platform.

  And then she was falling…falling so hard and fast she couldn’t even put out a hand to catch herself. She had time to turn her head and saw the dull silver lines of the transport tracks flash in her vision and then she was landing on her back, the sharp gravel tearing her thin dress and digging painfully into her back and side.

  “Oof!” Mia heard herself gasp and then she couldn’t say anymore—couldn’t do anything but gasp and try to get back her breath—all the wind had been knocked out of her in her fall. She looked up, out of the pit of the transport tunnel, and saw a row of surprised faces staring down at her from above.

  Help me, she thought but couldn’t say. She still could barely breathe, and she thought her ankle might be broken—trying to move it brought a sharp jolt of pain.

  “Why is no one helping, damn you? Get out of the way if you’re just going to stand there!” the same deep voice that had startled her before rang out. Suddenly a familiar face was staring into hers. The shaggy golden-brown mane of hair surrounded a face with a neatly clipped beard. Eyes as green as a tropical sea looked worriedly into her own.

  It’s him. It really is him—the man from my dreams, Mia thought dizzily and wondered if she might faint.

  Then he was kneeling on the edge of the platform and reaching out to her.

  “Take my hand!” His deep voice was urgent, his green eyes worried. “The next transport is due any minute. Hurry!”

  The urgency in his voice seemed to get Mia going somehow. She reached for him, despite the pain the sudden movement caused in her bruised muscles and injured ankle. As she did, she heard a rushing sound. It was far down the track but it was getting closer fast—the rushing growing to a roaring in her ears.

  “Hurry!” the Kindred said again. “Now!”

  No one else could have reached her down on the tracks but he had long, muscular arms. Before she knew it, he was dragging her up and over the lip of the pit, just as the high-speed transport rushed by.

  The wind of its passing blew a breath of hot air straight up her skirt and Mia gasped breathlessly and threw herself forward, trying to get completely out of its way.

  “Easy—take it easy.” Somehow, she found herself in the big Kindred’s arms and he was holding her cradled to his broad chest high above the crowd because he was so much taller than anyone else there.

  Oh my God, he’s huge! Mia found herself thinking, looking up at him. Why hadn’t she realized how big he was in her dreams? The Kindred was head and shoulders taller than any man she’d ever known—he made her feel like a child being held as she was in his massive arms. He was wearing tight black leather trousers and black boots to go with them as well as a deep teal, long-sleeved shirt made of some rich, silky fabric Mia had never seen before. It made his eyes look even greener.

  “You okay, little one?” he asked, looking down at her with worry on his chiseled features. “That was quite a fall you took.”

  Mia’s mouth worked and she wasn’t sure what to say. At last she blurted,

  “You’re so big.”

  He rumbled laughter that seemed to vibrate her entire body.

  “Well, I can’t help that. Maybe it’s just that you’re so small. Are you all right?”

  “My bag!” Mia exclaimed, finally tearing her eyes away from his, which was surprisingly hard to do. Oh God, her bag had everything in it! Her identity papers, her healer’s aide certificate, the money the Commandant had grudgingly given her to rent a flat—but most of all, it had the all-important recording device which she was supposed to use to stream both audio and video surveillance back to The EYE’s headquarters. Without it, she had only her Mercy Star pin which sent images but no sound. God, the Commandant would be furious!

  “My bag!” she cried again and twisted, trying to get out of his arms.

  “Whoa there!” He pulled her closer, keeping her from getting down. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save your purse, but I thought it was more important to save you. A purse can be replaced, you know.”

  “Not this one,” Mia exclaimed. “It had everything in it! All my papers—my certificate—my money—let me down so I can go after him!”

  “He’s long gone by now,” the Kindred protested but he set her on her feet obligingly.

  Mia took a step…and gave a cry of pain as she promptly crumpled to the ground.

  “What is it? What’s wrong?” He knelt beside her, his eyes anxious.

  “My ankle! I must have twisted it when I fell.”

  Mia tried to move her right ankle and hissed in pain when the tiny movement shot a spike of agony through the joint in question.

  “Here—let me. I’m a healer.”

  He probed her ankle gently with his big hands, his forehead creased into an expression of thoughtful worry. His touch was warm on her hurt flesh but somehow he managed to examine her without causing her more pain. At last he sat back on his haunches.

  “I don’t think it’s broken but I’d like to get some internal images to be for sure. Can I take you to my Care Center to get it looked at?”

  “I…um…” Mia didn’t know what to say. She’d never intended to meet the big Kindred so quickly.

  The plan had been to go and apply for a job where he worked and accidentally run into him there. The Commandant had instructed her to put herself into some kind of danger so he could rescue her. Mia had thought she might trip in front of him when an orderly was pushing a stretcher down the hall so he could pull her out of the way. She’d never dreamed a scenario like this one, where he would actually save her life for real from a speeding transport which would have squashed her like a bug if he hadn’t been so fast.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, frowning at her. “Can I take you to the Care Center?”

  Mia realized she was taking too long to answer. But she hardly knew what to say. She wanted to say that he was much bigger than he had been in her dreams but that would sound crazy, wouldn’t it? She couldn’t tell the big man that she had dreamed of him, not once but many times. He would think she was insane, and she would lose any chance she had at getting close to him.

  “I…I don’t even know your name,” she said at last.

  A smile touched his lips and filled his clear green eyes.

  “
I don’t know yours either, but I want to,” he murmured. “I’m Trey—Commander Treygar of the Kindred. Who are you, little one?”

  “Mia,” Mia heard herself saying. “And I guess you can take me to the Care Center—I…I don’t have anywhere else I can go,” she added.

  “Come on, then.” He scooped her up and stood in one smooth motion, making Mia gasp. She couldn’t help noticing he lifted her as easily as though she weighed nothing at all, which was hardly the case. The crowd seemed to part before him as he carried her along the platform towards the end of the station.

  Finally, they came out into the open and Mia caught her breath. This was it—this was the clean city with trees everywhere that she had dreamed of! There was no dirty orange fire rock dust coating everything and the buildings were white instead of gray. Also, they weren’t all exactly alike—there were short ones and tall ones and all of them seemed to have broad glass windows to let in the sun.

  It was amazing and for a moment, she just drank it in while the big Kindred carried her along the street—a street filled with people who were dressed in light, colorful clothing and chatting easily together. It was so unlike what she was used to in the Republic that she couldn’t help staring.

  Then she realized she was wasting an opportunity—how could she ever seduce the big Kindred if she didn’t talk to him?

  “Is the Care Center close to here then?” she asked lamely, feeling like she had to say something. It was uncomfortable being so close to a strange male—especially such a big one. And yet…not as uncomfortable as it should have been, she realized. His arms felt right around her somehow and he had the most amazing scent—like warm fur and leather and sunlight with just a hint of some dark, masculine spice that made her think of wild places where beasts might roam.

  She wondered if it was some kind of cologne. Perfumes and colognes were forbidden in the People’s Republic—they were supposed to be decadent and wasteful—but she had heard of them.

  “The Care Center? Just came from it,” he rumbled, drawing her thoughts away from his amazing aroma. “It’s the end of my shift.” He smiled down at her. “So I guess I’ll be working on you off the clock.”

  “Oh please, I don’t want to be any bother,” Mia protested quickly.

  “No bother at all. I…” He seemed about to say something else but then he shook his head and just kept walking, carrying her as though she was light as a feather.

  Mia didn’t know what to say. She was feeling the loss of her bag more and more. What was she going to do without it? But she was also keenly aware that she was in the arms of the man she had been sent to seduce and spy on. Should she start the seduction at once? But surely not even the Commandant could expect her to entice the big Kindred to have sex with her while she had a broken ankle—could he? Mia didn’t know and she felt a knot of tension in her stomach as her worry grew and grew.

  “Hey—relax. Is the pain that bad? You’re tight as a wire.” Trey was looking anxiously at her again.

  “Yes. It’s…pretty bad,” Mia said, since she couldn’t tell him the real reason she was upset. “I’m sorry…um, Commander Treygar.”

  “Just Trey is fine.” He smiled at her easily. “Tell me about yourself—it’ll help take your mind off the pain.”

  Mia wasn’t sure about that, but he seemed to want to talk so she felt she had to comply.

  “I came from the North—from behind the Great Barrier,” she said, reciting the story The EYE agent had given her. “I paid a Wall Jumper to take me over.”

  He frowned. “A Wall Jumper? What’s that?”

  He must not have lived here long or he would know, Mia thought.

  “It’s someone who’s supposed to be good at judging when the Great Barrier will flicker and how long the flicker will last,” she explained. “Some of them have been across the Barrier hundreds of times. Only the one I was with…misjudged. I…I was the only survivor.” She looked down, unable to meet those clear green eyes while she told the lie.

  “That’s terrible. I’m so sorry, Mia.” He spoke with great sincerity, looking down at her as though he really cared about the fictitious ordeal she’d just been through.

  Mia cleared her throat, feeling horrible about lying to him—but what else could she say?

  “I…was hoping to start a new life here in Bountiful,” she said. “I’m a healer’s aide. But I can’t prove it because all my papers are gone.”

  As well as her best method of surveillance, she thought again. Would the Commandant be angry that she could now only send him pictures without audio to go with them? Would he turn Neemah out into the street as a punishment? Oh God, she hoped not!

  “Well maybe there’s a qualifying test you can take or some way to look up your certificate,” Trey said consolingly. “A way to prove you know your stuff so you can get a job anyway. I’m friends with the head of the healers’ aides at the Care Center. I’ll ask her about it for you, if you want.”

  “You’d do that for me?” Mia couldn’t believe how nice he was being to a total stranger. First he’d saved her life, then he insisted on carrying her to the Care Center to check out her injured ankle, and now he seemed to be offering to help her get a job. Were all Kindred like this? The Commandant had said they were foolishly set on the protection of females. Was this part of that cultural trait—or was it something more?

  Or maybe he’s just treating you nicely because he expects compensation for it at the end, whispered a nasty little voice in her head.

  The memory of the Commandant’s clammy hands groping all over her body…bending her over the desk…preparing to meet his needs with her, made her shiver as her stomach clenched with revulsion. Was that why the big Kindred was treating her so nicely? Because he wanted what the Commandant had wanted? What she supposed all men wanted, if she was being realistic with herself.

  After all, she might be a virgin, but she wasn’t completely naïve.

  “Sure I will,” he said, breaking her morbid train of thought. “I’ll have a word with her today—her name is Lydiah. But first we need to get some internal pictures of that ankle—it’s already starting to swell.”

  Mia looked down at her feet and saw that he was right. Her right ankle was as puffy as a good fin-fin sausage that’s started to swell on the hot stove coils. The little black shoes she had on couldn’t contain it. The right one was beginning to look like it was stuffed with rising dough.

  “It doesn’t look like I’ll be working any time soon,” she said, unable to keep the dismay out of her voice. “Even if I can get a job without my certificate—I can’t walk on that.”

  “Just let me see what I can do for you,” Trey said comfortingly. “My people have more advanced medical technology than yours. I’ve been sharing it with my Care Center since I came here. As long as it’s a sprain and not a bad break, we’ll have you up in an hour or two.”

  An hour or two? For a severe sprain? Riiiiight. Mia was skeptical about his claim, but she thought it wouldn’t do to say so. She only nodded meekly and murmured, “Of course.” Which was pretty much what she always did when she didn’t agree with the course of treatment a healer had prescribed but knew she couldn’t do anything about it.

  To her surprise, Trey seemed to see though her little act because he burst out laughing.

  “Skeptical little thing, aren’t you?” he remarked, eyeing her with amusement. “That’s all right—I don’t blame you.”

  “I never said—” Mia began quickly. She didn’t want to offend him—healers could be so touchy sometimes and she couldn’t afford to make him mad.

  But Trey didn’t look offended. He shook his head in apparent amusement.

  “It’s all right—I see how it is. I’ll have to prove myself to you before you trust me, right? Well that’s okay—I can do that, Mia. I can prove myself to you. I hope,” he added quietly and looked down into her eyes.

  For a moment Mia found herself caught in that clear, green gaze. She saw a flicker in his eyes—a
moment when the green turned to gold—but then the big Kindred looked up and announced, “We’re here.”

  Chapter Six

  Mia felt so tiny and delicate in his arms. And her scent was so sweet. Her long, black hair hung like a river of silk over his arm and her curves were lush. With her warm brown skin and those unusual blue eyes, she looked a thousand times more beautiful than she had in his dreams.

  He heard an inward rumble of agreement from his beast who remarked that she was perfect. He hoped he would be allowed out to meet her in person soon, rather than just observing her through Trey’s eyes. He wanted to breathe in her sweet scent and wrap himself around her and feel her soft form cuddled against his fur.

  I don’t know about that—she’s had a rough time already, with her whole party getting fried at the Barrier and then the way that bastard snatched her bag and pushed her down so she nearly got run over by a transport. I think you’re going to have to wait a while to meet her, Trey told his other half.

  I can be patient. She is worth waiting for. His beast spoke, as always, with quiet dignity. He was the calm center of Trey’s soul and almost nothing disturbed him. Of course, he had a wild side too. It took a lot to make him angry but once he was roused, his rage could be unstoppable. It made Trey glad his other half was so tranquil and patient. If their situations had been reversed and it was he who had to wait to hold Mia in his arms, he didn’t know that he would have been so willing to wait.

  Trey never wanted to let her go. He wished the walk to the Care Center from the transport station was twice as long, just so he could keep holding her in his arms. But her ankle really did need medical attention. With an inward sigh of regret, he came to a stop at the broad steps at the front of the large block building.

  “This is your Care Center?” Mia sounded surprised as she looked up at the tall columns that ranged across the front of the building and the stone targens—large beasts that looked a little like his Lei’on—which guarded the front.

  “This is it.” Trey nodded. “Why—does it look different from the one you work at?”