“We all thought it best he didn’t come. Your aunt was worried it might encourage you a bit too much to see an interspecies couple that was sanctioned by both governments.” Timber chuckled under her breath. “Guess it was too late to worry about encouraging you, though.”
“I really do care about him,” I said quietly.
Timber put a hand on my shoulder. “Believe me, I know. They have a way of growing on you, huh? Mine crash-landed on Wrigley Field, and at first he irritated meso much.”Her eyes glistened with tears, and her other hand moved to her belly.
“You’re the hybrid mom?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.
“Yep. Well, more the hybrid’s mom. Not a hybrid myself.”
That explained her underlying sadness, then. My aunt had just about declared her pregnancy a goner right in front of everyone. That had to sting. “It’ll be okay. I trust T’raat when he says Xalanites are attracted to compatible mates.” I had to trust him in that, though; if I didn’t, it meant our future kids might not make it.
Was I really thinking about kids with him already?
“We’d better get back,” Timber said. “Don’t want your aunt to worry.”
I nodded and dried my hands on a paper towel.
When we got back outside, we were both surprised to see that Aunt Ann and T’raat hadn’t returned yet. We’d spent so long chatting that I assumed we’d be the last ones back.
Timber stiffened as we neared the empty car, and she grabbed my arm to stop me. “Stay behind me,” she hissed, releasing the safety on her gun with her other hand. “Something’s wrong.”
I froze and looked again at the car. Now that we were closer, I could see that all the doors hung open, and the contents of my suitcase had been strewn about the parking lot.
Fear seized my heart, and I let out a sob. Timber clamped her hand over my mouth to stifle me as she backed me down the sidewalk towards the bathroom. “Shh! They could still be around here somewhere.”
I didn’t ask, but somehow I knew “they” didn’t mean T’raat and Aunt Ann. “They” meant someone else, someone other.
“They” meant the person—or people—who had taken my aunt and my boyfriend.
Once we were back inside, Timber turned the bolt on the bathroom door and checked the stalls. Upon seeing that we were alone, she let out a sigh of relief. “Okay, well, at least they didn’t manage to slip in behind us. We’re safe enough in here until I can contact the rest of the motorcade and call HQ for reinforcements.”
While Timber made some calls, I huddled in a corner and cried. The last thing I’d expected was for T’raat to be kidnapped. And Aunt Ann! She was about the toughest woman I knew. How could she get caught?
The answer to that came when Timber got off the phone. Her expression was grim, and I feared the worst.
“Shit.”
“Wh-what is it?” I said between hiccupping sobs.
She sighed and holstered her weapon. “Help is on the way, but it’s worse than I thought. Two of the cars that were accompanying us have gone missing. I’d think they were all kidnapped, too, except kidnappers shouldn’t know how to turn off the GPS devices on the vehicles. Those buggers are hidden well, so my guess is that this is an inside job. We’ve got moles in the AARO.”
“T’raat … Aunt Ann … You don’t think these people would hurt them, do you?”
“Honestly, I have no idea. It all depends on what the kidnappers want. If they want information, they might hurt them to get it. If they want something physical, they might hold off on torture for a while.”
My vision swam, and my heart sank at the word “torture.” I put my head between my knees and tried not to hyperventilate.
Timber knelt next to me and put her arm around my shoulders. “Sorry. I’m not trying to scare you. Just being realistic. We have to face the fact that they might be hurt or even dead when we find them. And wewillfind them.”
T’raat—dead? No! I refused to think like that.
While I wallowed, my phone began to buzz. I tried to ignore it, but after a few vibrations it stopped, started again, then stopped, then startedagain. I wondered who the fuck could be texting me at nothing in the morning.
After the third round of buzzing, Timber held out her hand. “Come on. Give it.”
I dug my phone out of my pocket and handed it to her. She checked the screen and let out a bark of laughter. “I thought so! Your guy’s a smart one. That’s the Xalanite equivalent of Morse code. He’s letting us know they’re okay.”
“What?” I yanked the phone out of her hand and tried to read what the messages said, but it was all nonsense. “You can read this?”
