Page 36 of Healing Creek (Arena Dogs #3)

Chapter Thirty

Grace walked with purpose to Mercury’s command center.

It felt good to be back on the Abundance .

They’d just completed their first skip using the skipdrive to skim them across space.

Grace never thought the ship that had been her prison could become so much like home, but it had.

The ship had become a beehive of activity.

When word spread amongst the Arena Dogs on Haven that Mercury had plans for a direct attack on Roma, many had asked if they could come along.

He’d had no trouble recruiting enough fighters to take on the research base.

Many more were learning to take over the less specialized jobs on the ship.

Neri had agreed to come at Creek’s request. She was learning to work with him on the ship’s security team.

Grace wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

Watching them together made it clear they were close.

But why hadn’t they become a couple, and would that change now that Creek was at full strength again?

No, she loved him and she believed he loved her, too.

The fact that he hadn’t made a formal declaration didn’t mean a thing.

She stepped up to the door and it slid open. Several sets of Arena Dog eyes turned her way. Mercury stood first, but the others followed his example.

“Grace. Is everything okay?”

She stepped in and let the door slide closed behind her. “I need to talk to you.” She wanted to shift her gaze to the other Arena Dogs, but she kept her eyes on their leader. “It’s important.”

Mercury turned to the others. “Give us the room.”

A chorus of barks that seemed to be agreement rose up around the room and the men headed through the door behind her. Jupiter was last in line and he stopped at her side. “Should I get Creek?”

Since she’d kept her gaze on Mercury’s face, she wasn’t sure who the question had been aimed at. Mercury raised an eyebrow. He was leaving it up to her.

“That’s fine.” She’d needed to take action on her own, but she wasn’t opposed to having his support.

Jupiter moved away and she heard the gentle swoosh of the door open and close.

“Should we wait?” Mercury waved an arm toward the table.

“That’s not necessary,” she said, but moved to sit for the sake of easing the tension in the room.

Mercury settled into an oversize chair. “What can I do for you, Grace.”

“It’s time to call my family.”

“Ah.” He settled more fully into his seat as if he’d expected something more dire. If he knew her family he might not be so relaxed.

“I want to contact my brother David. He has a very fast ship. If there’s a chance he can get to Jenny more quickly, I think we should let him.

” She hoped he wouldn’t be insulted. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust the Arena Dogs to free Jenny, she just worried every minute that Jenny might be dead before they could reach her.

“You’ve been very patient,” said Mercury. “I know you’re worried about her.”

She released the breath she was holding. “Thank you for understanding.”

“My concern is that we don’t want this communication to alert Roma to our plans.”

Her hands were in her lap and she twisted them together and reminded herself to stay calm.

“David’s ship is very advanced. I’m sure it’s capable of receiving the most secure transmission we can send.

” She hesitated only a moment. “I think it’s worth the risk.

We can find out where his ship is located before we divulge the coordinates for the compound where she’s being held. ”

Mercury’s head tilted. “I see you’ve thought this through. You believe your brother is capable of freeing Jennifer from Roma’s grasp?”

“I think he can get Alliance Enforcer assistance. They have no reason not to help her and my family is influential. I know Roma is powerful, but in this situation, I think the Alliance would bend to David’s demand that they do their job.”

Mercury frowned. He had no reason to trust the Enforcers.

The door to the room slid open and Creek and Samantha stepped in. Creek was at Grace’s side in an instant. “What’s wrong?”

She laid a hand over the one he laid on her shoulder, but before she could answer, Mercury spoke.

“Grace needs to speak with her family. Can we make that happen, Courra ?”

Samantha’s eyes widened. “Of course.”

Grace almost slumped in her seat with relief.

“We’ll need to do it on the bridge where you can access navigation.

” And with that she had to explain the plan to Samantha as well.

They would need navigation to calculate the distances and speed of their ships.

For all she knew, David could be too far to get there.

“Let’s go,” said Mercury as he met her gaze. “Time is critical.”

There were too many people on the bridge.

It was her first thought when they arrived.

She didn’t really want to talk to her family in front of all of these people, but it had been her idea.

She was glad for Creek’s presence. The bridge was brightly lit with a handful of workstations all oriented toward the center of the room where the pilot’s station held prominence. It was elevated above the others.

“Pretentious, right?” Samantha followed her question with a chuckle. “We definitely need some redecorating.”

Grace forced a smile, but she wasn’t feeling the humor.

A panel on the wall directly in front of the pilot’s station held the view screen, currently showing a lot of readings and updates Grace had no hope of understanding. A wave of dizziness hit her, and she stumbled.

“Grace.” Creek caught her and kept her from embarrassing herself by falling on her face.

She patted his hand, took a steadying breath, and strode forward. “You actually fly this thing?” she asked Samantha.

“With a little help from the bridge crew.” Samantha led her to one of the workstations. “You’ve met Torres, one of our new communications officers.”

She had met Torres. The woman who’d been a prisoner before the Arena Dogs liberated her along with all the others looked night and day different from the last time she’d seen her.

She wore pants and a pullover in blue. Solid colors in simple styles seemed to be the new crew uniform.

Her short, dark hair had been recently trimmed in a way the warmed her deep brown eyes.

“Torres,” said Samantha. “Grace’s brother has his very own ship and we’re contacting them.”

Grace cleared her throat. “It’s been a while since we were in touch, so I don’t know where they are. The Spark could be out of the sector.”

Torres rested her hands over the controls. “Do you have the hail code for the ship?”

Grace provided the information and Torres entered a coded hail. She indicated a screen on the workstation counter. “If they answer, look this way and they’ll appear on this screen.”

Samantha took Creek by the arm and moved him to the side. “We’re going to stand over here, off camera, so we don’t freak your brother out.”

Creek looked down at her hand on his arm but didn’t protest.

Torres looked up from her workstation. “Keep in mind we might have to try again later if his ship is in skipspace.”

She’d barely finished speaking when a woman Grace didn’t recognize appeared on screen. Torres handled the initial interaction and within a minute David’s face appeared on the monitor.

“Grace. Oh, thank God. We’ve been so worried. Are you okay?” His sandy blond hair looked a shade lighter from the gray sprinkled through, and there were fine lines at the corners of his eyes. Had it been that long since she’d seen him?

“I’m safe, David. It’s good to see your face.”

“Where in the hell are you?” He leaned closer to the camera and his eyes seemed to search her face for clues.

“I’m with friends.”

David turned and looked away from the camera. “Sully, get my mother up here.”

Her stomach knotted. She wanted to relieve some of her mother’s worry, but she didn’t really want to be the one to tell her about Jenny.

“David, can you transmit your coordinates? I need to know where you are.”

“Why?”

“I’ll explain when Mom gets there, but I have someone waiting on those coordinates to make some calculations. Can you trust me?”

He studied her for a moment then shrugged.

“We’re not anywhere sensitive. We’ve been petitioning the authorities on Silviana to reinstate the search for you.

” He turned aside again. “Send those coordinates. What?” He listened for a moment.

“Grace, I’m being told that the ship you’re hailing from is registered to a suspected criminal. ”

“Morgan St. Germain kidnapped me, but he’s no longer in control of the ship.”

Her mother’s face appeared next to David’s. “Grace! Did you say he kidnapped you? My God, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Her throat felt tight as she thought about telling her mother that one of her other daughters was in trouble.

“Mom, it’s Jennifer.” Helen Hobbs, the woman who looked short next to David and wore her silver hair in an artful bun, frowned.

Skeptical. It made Grace recall that she’d tried to convince her parents that Jenny was in trouble before she’d decided to take a walk by herself on Silviana.

She straightened her spine and glanced at Creek.

His gaze, the pride in his eyes, gave her strength.

She met her mother’s gaze on the monitor. “Roma has Jenny. St. Germain kidnapped me on their orders. They were using threats against me to make Jenny work for them. She found Aunt Danika’s lab notes, Mom. She was already doing some preliminary research when Roma found out and took her prisoner.

The color left her mother’s face. “That’s not possible. Danika encrypted everything.”

“We’re talking about Jenny, Mom.”

“So determined, that one.” There was pride in her mother’s voice and her look was far away. Then she shook it off. “Grace are you sure? You have to understand it all sounds a bit fantastical.”

She looked a Creek but kept her face carefully blank. “I’m very sure.”

Creek stepped into the camera’s range and stood at her side. “Your daughter speaks true.” The growl in his voice was mild but convincing.

Her mother and David both leaned back with wide eyes.

Grace couldn’t help but feel a bit of satisfaction at their reactions. She looked over to Samantha who’d moved to another workstation. Samantha looked up and met her gaze. “It is hard to say if they could get there any sooner. We’re a little closer.”

“Can we give them nearby coordinates where we can meet after we have Jenny?”

Samantha nodded then leaned over the console putting her head together with the officer at the workstation.

“David, we know where Jenny is being held. We’re going after her.

We’re sending you rendezvous coordinates where you can meet us.

We’ll bring Jenny to you when it’s safe.

One condition.” Grace shook off another wave of dizziness.

“One condition. You have to keep the Enforcers out of this. My friends are not on good terms with the Alliance authorities.”

She waited for David’s nod before she signaled Samantha.

Her mother edged closer to the camera. “Grace, are you sure you’re okay?”

She understood her mother’s meaning, but she didn’t have time to explain that she would be okay…when the medi-bots returned to normal levels in her system.

“I’ll be okay when Jenny is safe. See you soon.” She put a hand on Torres’s shoulder. “End transmission.”