This close, I could make out details of the room.There was a bed, a small desk.A wall in one corner partitioned off what I assumed was the bathroom.There was even a small fridge unit and a reheater.It looked like a cozy room.If you ignored the fact that it was a glass cell.
It looked like it was built into the basement.What the hell kind of place was this?
For all her eagerness, when we reached the glass, Lacy’s resolve seemed to waver.
“Want me or Burn to do this?”I asked quietly.
“No,” she said shakily.“I can do it.Just give me a minute.”
I nodded and gave her space.Just a little.
She took another breath and visibly pulled herself together.
“Layla?”Her voice was little more than a whisper.
Could the other woman even hear her?
“Fuck off, I’m sleeping.”
Apparently so.
Burn snickered.The woman in the cell definitely sounded like she was related to Lacy.
Lacy knocked on the glass.Softly at first, then with more force.“Layla?”Her voice wavered as she spoke her sister’s name.When the woman didn’t respond, she pounded on the glass.“Layla!”
The woman stiffened, then rolled to her side to face us.“Lacy?”
“Oh my god, Layla!”Lacy pounded on the glass wall again.
I stepped closer.“Shh.They might hear us.”
She nodded, then placed both her hands on the glass.“Layla!”she said a little more softly.
The other woman rolled to sitting and I got my first clear look at her.She appeared tired and thinner than what I remembered from the videos.There were no visible marks on her face, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t been hurt.
“Is it really you, Lacy?”
I clenched my jaw at the tremor in her voice.
“It’s me, Layla.”
The woman stood from the bed.She wore loose trousers and an oversize shirt.Her feet were bare.Remembering the stylish woman in her videos, I didn’t think the clothes were hers.She walked slowly over to the glass and pressed her hands against it.“I was starting to think you wouldn’t come.”
Lacy pressed her palms over her sister’s.Now that they were closer, I could see the resemblance.Her sister—I should probably start thinking of her as Layla—pressed her forehead against the glass.Lacy did the same.
After a moment, Layla lifted her head and looked at Burn and me.She recoiled and took a step back.“Where’s Dad?”she asked as she tried to peer past us.
“What?”Lacy stepped back from the glass and looked at her sister in concern.
“When I sent you the data log, I thought you’d go to Dad.”
Lacy hunched over.“Um, no.I came myself.”Burn coughed.“Well, I came with a ship.”Lacy pointed to us in quick succession.“Dax, Burn, and over there, Mercer.Orion is upstairs keeping watch.”
“Why didn’t you get Dad?”Layla sounded seriously confused.And the way she kept asking for their dad gave me a bad feeling.Was I right in my suspicions?
“It didn’t cross my mind.The data chip was delivered and the next thing I know, guys were breaking into my place wanting a map.”
Layla gasped.“Oh no!I thought once the data was out of reach, they’d stop looking.”
