They hadn’t worried about birth control.
“What concerns me the most,” Lennox said, still facing the holoscreen, “is not the fact that the target got away. It’s the fact that the three male members of the team allowed themselves to be captured. That’s against Guild protocol.”
“It’s also against protocol to leave a comrade behind,” said Barnes.
“Butallowingthemselves to be captured?”
“It all worked out in the end. The Guild even got their hands on Slayn’s ship as a result. Lots of information on those computers.”
Lennox just shook her head.
“I suppose,” she said. “But I have trouble seeing that as anything other than dumb luck. I mean, using ejaculatory fluid as a weapon? Really?”
Of course, Nash took it upon himself to chime in.
“That wasn’t luck, ma’am. I never miss.” And then, just for good measure, he added: “If you’d like, I’d be happy to go down the hall to the gun range and demonstrate my marksmanship.”
Reece suppressed a laugh. Without even looking, he could sense Fairchild doing the same.
Lennox turned and arched one steely brow.
“Thatwon’tbe necessary.” She glanced down at the data slate on the table. “I suppose we had better discuss the issue of pregnancy. I’ll make an appointment for Fairchild at the infirmary. If the test results come back positive, we’ll arrange for a termination.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Fairchild said calmly. “I won’t be terminating the pregnancy.”
Lennox looked at her.
“Are you… sure?”
A nod. “I plan to keep it.”
The answer didn’t surprise Reece in the least. They hadn’t discussed it during the trip home, but they hadn’t needed to. If the forced breeding with Dutton hadn’t impregnated her, the week of non-stop unprotected sex definitely had. The woman was knocked-up six ways to Sunday with one of their babies. Reece didn’t particularly care which one. As far as he was concerned, the baby belonged to all of them.
“Well,” Lennox went on, “that’s certainly your choice. In that case, I suppose we’d better move on to your next assignments.”
Assignments? Plural?
Before Reece had a chance to question that wording, Fairchild spoke up again.
“Ma’am, we request permission to continue our search for Slayn.”
Lennox shook her head.
“No. He knows who you are now. The element of surprise has been lost. We’ll have to give the job to a different crew.”
“It doesn’t need to be undercover,” Fairchild protested. “Considering how things went down, I’m pretty sure Slayn won’t be going back to Calyxia anytime soon. We can take a more direct approach, hunt him down and—”
Lennox slapped the table, hard.
“I said,no. You’re too close to this one, Fairchild. You let it get personal.”
“Personal?” Reece interrupted. He knew Fairchild didn’t need him to stick up for her, but he couldn’t help himself. “With alldue respect, ma’am, Slaynkilledher last team. Maybe he didn’t pull the trigger, but he planned the whole thing out.”
Lennox gave him a cold stare.
“That doesn’t matter. We can’t have emotions clouding an operative’s judgements on the battlefield. That’s why I’m assigning you, Dutton, and Nash to a new mission…”
She looked at Fairchild.
