Page 16 of Double Take (Cosmic Mates #5)

Faith paced the interrogation room. She could kick herself for falling for Rogers’ and Glenn’s lies. The men had capitalized on vestiges of doubt and used it against her.

If a silver lining existed in any of this, it was that she’d wholeheartedly, 100 percent believed John had told her the truth and that they were meant to be together. I love him.

She’d never put much credence in claims of love at first sight, but then she’d never believed it was possible to create an adult clone. As soon as she met John, intuition had insisted he was the one she’d been waiting for .

However, a happy ending did not seem to be in their future. If the agents only meant to apprehend him, they could have waited for him to return to the cottage. Or had their other agent pick him up at the inn. They wouldn’t have arrested her.

They wanted both of us. Why? I don’t know anything! And if I do, I don’t know that I know it!

What would Amity do when she vanished? And poor Rusty. Hopefully, Amity would adopt him.

She guessed they intended to take her to Earth, or they wouldn’t have brought her to a spaceship. Any second, she expected the ship to blast off.

She wondered again how long she’d been “out” and how much time had passed since she’d been abducted. Had they apprehended John? Was he aboard the ship? Would they allow her to see him? Or had he managed to escape?

Hopelessness swept over her. She didn’t foresee a good outcome. Two lone individuals couldn’t fight a clandestine, powerful organization willing to go to any lengths to achieve their aims.

She whirled around as the door slid open. Hands bound, John stepped into the interrogation room. A man followed him in.

She flung herself at him, hugging him tight. “Your face! What did they do to you?”

“I ran into a fist, but I’m okay. Are you all right?” he asked.

“They drugged me, but yeah.”

His face darkened, and he scowled at the other man. Then, to her shock, he released himself from the cuffs.

“What…how?” she stuttered.

“Marshall, my commanding officer, is helping us—I think.” Hands free, he enfolded her in his arms.

“Former CO.” Marshall removed two vials and a small folding knife from his pocket. He cut a tiny slit on the side of a chair, uncapped the vials, extracted two tiny silvery objects and shoved them into the slit.

John nodded. “They’ll think we’re on the ship.”

“They’ll figure out soon enough we’re not, but we have to leave the trackers someplace. Might as well be here.”

“I don’t understand,” she said.

“I was chipped. That’s how they found me,” John explained.

“Let’s get out of here while Rogers and Glenn are still gone. Hopefully, we won’t run into anyone else on the way out. In case we do, put the cuffs on.” He pulled another set from his pocket. “You, too, Mrs. Hammond.”

She glanced at John for confirmation.

He nodded. “We need to make a show of it.”

“You trust him?” She jutted her chin at Marshall.

“Not completely, but he’s our best bet to get out of here.” He snapped the cuffs on her wrists then released them. “See?” He snapped them shut again and donned his own.

“You need to behave as if you’re detainees,” Marshall instructed. “If we encounter anybody, let me do the talking. Do you understand, Mrs. Hammond?”

“Yes. Call me Faith.” She offered her given name not out of friendliness but to distance herself from the Hammond name.

Palming the electronic pad that had shocked her, Marshall opened the door. He peered into the corridor. “Clear.”

They stepped into the corridor. The door slid shut behind them. “Where are we going?” she asked. Where could they go? The agents would come after them, wouldn’t they?

“Another ship,” John whispered.

“Let’s get off this one, and I’ll answer your questions.” Marshall grasped John’s arm as if to control him.

She bowed her head and stuck to John’s side, shuffling along, but she didn’t need to fake fear. It clawed through her veins. Her heart pounded with anxiety someone would stop them, that Rogers and Glenn would appear, that Marshall wasn’t really helping them.

Getting on a ship meant they were leaving Terra Nova. Were they going back to Earth? You’d think you could lose yourself—or elude a pursuer—in the endless metropolis, except for the ubiquitous cameras, monitors, and trackers. You couldn’t go anywhere on Earth without leaving a footprint. Everything you did was recorded somewhere. If you farted, the government knew it before anyone smelled it.

If she left, what would happen to Amity and the pottery business? Her cottage! It had a thatch roof. She’d left the oven on. The cottage could burn down, catch the whole neighborhood on fire.

Marshall moved them along at a steady but unurgent stride, and then, to her relief, they were walking down the gangway into crisp night air. He picked up the pace then, rushing them to a hovercar hidden in the shadows. There weren’t any hovercars on Terra Nova!

John pulled off his cuffs, she removed hers, and they piled into the vehicle.

They zoomed away, landing moments later at the commercial terminal. But instead of going inside, Marshall rushed them through a locked gate to a private spacecraft.

“We’re leaving Terra Nova…for good?” she confirmed.

“Yes.”

“I can’t leave without Amity and Rusty.”

“Who’s Rusty?” Marshall asked.

“Her cat,” John supplied.

Marshall shook his head. “We have to leave now.”

“The hovercar could be at the cottage in less than sixty seconds,” John said. “We could grab the cat—”

“And risk getting caught by Rogers and Glenn? For a fucking cat? There won’t be a second escape. The only reason we succeeded is that we got shit-ass lucky.”

“But…my friend! Amity!” she protested.

Marshall hustled them aboard, the gangway retracted into the belly of the ship, and the door sealed.

“I’m sorry.” John hugged her. She wrapped her arms around his waist, relieved they were both alive and safe, but sadness and regret still weighed on her heart. How could she leave without saying goodbye? Worse, what if her leaving put Amity in danger? Wouldn’t Rogers and Glenn seek out everyone she knew to try to find her?

While she loved Rusty, she could understand why Marshall wouldn’t go back for an animal. The cat would be okay. Amity would take him in. But wasn’t her friend worth the risk?

She shivered, touched by an icy prescience. When she’d asked about Rusty and Amity, both men had only addressed the cat. She pulled back to study John’s face. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“After the ship launches, I’ll fill you both in on the plan,” Marshall said.

“No,” she said. “What aren’t you telling me about Amity?”