She stared down at the address, at the patch number. Celine had just left moments before…
But if she discovered that Gabriel was half-beaten to death, unconscious in the brothel, would she be so willing to help them anymore?
Somehow, Valerie didn’t think so. Celine Larchmont loved her son fiercely, despite the type of man that he was. She was his mother, after all. A mother’s love was sometimes blind.
Her breaths were coming quick and she fastened her eyes on the Keriv’i males in the lobby. Tavak and Ravu had deposited Gabriel in one of the leather armchairs next to the glittering cart of booze Dravka had once helped himself to.
“You have to leave Everton,” she told them, her voice oddly…calm. She felt her heart beginning to splinter when she met Dravka’s eyes. “Tonight.”
Dravka’s frown deepened.
Tavak and Ravu exchanged looks.
“Celine will help you get off the colony. She gave me an address to her private docking bay. If I call her now, she can have a pilot there soon,” Valerie continued.
Her gaze strayed to Gabriel, his head lolled on the back of the chair. Blood was leaking from his nose and was beginning to dry. Already, dark bruises were blooming under his skin. The place around his eyes looked reddened.
“It has to be tonight,” she whispered. “If she finds out about Gabriel…”
She cleared her throat.
“If she finds out about Gabriel, she won’t help us,” Valerie finished, the plan coming together in her mind, snapping and locking into place. “Tavak, can you go get a sedative injection from a med kit? We have to make sure he won’t wake up. Not until you are safely on Nimida.”
This would work but they had to act quickly.
“Nimida?” Ravu asked, watching as his brother immediately left, heading towards one of the mating rooms on the second floor, which always had fresh medical kits on hand.
“Yes, I’ll explain on the way,” Valerie said, already rounding the reception desk, her hand fumbling for her Nu device. She blew out a breath, calming her features, smoothing her hair into place. “Take him into the back office.”
Ravu nodded, lifting Gabriel’s still form himself as Dravka rounded the reception desk towards her.
“What are you thinking?” he asked, studying her.
“I’m thinking that if you are still on Everton by the time Gabriel Larchmont wakes up,” Valerie said, placing Celine’s card down on the desk in front of her, staring down at the patch number, “then you will be taken away by Patrol and charged. Imprisoned. Or worse.”
She grabbed his hand, her thumb brushing over his knuckles, which were raw and bloodied. He didn’t even flinch.
“I need to get you off Everton tonight, Dravka,” Valerie whispered, her heart aching at the thought. “All of you.”
Whatever Dravka saw in her gaze, he knew better than to argue with her. He could read her well. He knew she would not be swayed from this.
“Go change,” she whispered, trying to keep a level head. “You can’t show up to the docking bay covered in blood, okay?”
Dravka’s jaw clenched but eventually he pulled away from her. Valerie watched him race up the staircase, rounding the corner just as Tavak returned from the second floor, a fresh med kit in his hands.
He nodded at her and then went into the back office when he heard Ravu call out for him. They would get Gabriel injected with the sedative. Everything would be fine.
Blowing out a sharp breath, she dialed Celine’s patch number into the Nu.
It rang once, twice—Valerie could feel her heartbeat in her throat—and then the blonde’s confused face popped up in the blue light of the hologram.
“Valerie?” she asked. “Is something wrong?”
Judging by the hushed sound in the background, Valerie knew she was still in the driverless car, probably still on her way home to the Garden District.
“That, um, pilot you have on call,” Valerie said, keeping her voice light, “do you think you can have him meet us tonight?”
Her brows rose in surprise. “Tonight?”
