“What’s the word?” Dax asked without preamble as he settled in the chair beside her.
The man glanced at Lena. “One.”
Dax’s brows rose. “Only one?”
“It was a trawler.”
A smile of satisfaction curled Dax’s lips. “Good. They took the bait.” Reaching into his pocket, he pulled something out and dropped it on the table in front of them. It pinged metallically as it landed.
The tino man stared at it as if it was a snake.
After glancing from one man to the other, Lena peered at the tiny fleck of metal. “What is it?”
“The last of the locators.”
“You brought one with us?” the man asked in a strangled voice.
Dax shrugged. “They planted six on her. The only thing they could deduce from sending them off in six different directions was either that we’d killed her and cut her up, or we’d removed the locators and sent those off in six different directions--in which case, I thought it might work better to be one of the ‘diversions.’
“Take it, attach it to a torpedo, and launch it toward the sun of this system when we leave. When you get back to the bridge, you can set a course for home base. Keep a sharp eye out, though. Once they’ve eliminated the ships not carrying, they’ll figure out pretty quickly which one of the diversions is us.”
“That was in me?” Lena asked, stunned by the entire conversation.
Dax slanted a glance at her. Almost casually, he leaned back in his chair and draped an arm over the back of her chair. “One of six. Obviously, they were pretty certain we’d come in after you.”
Lena met his gaze. “I didn’t know they’d done this,” she said faintly.
His lips curled, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I know.”
Lena looked down at her plate, wondering if she could manage to choke down enough food not to look like she was a nervous wreck. It wasn’t enough everybody on the damn ship thought she might be a clone? Now she might also be a spy? Or a clone who was a spy?
She didn’t know what to make of his behavior, which seemed to be a vast contradiction. Obviously, he still distrusted her, but he was behaving in a way that would surely convince everyone that saw them together that he’d accepted her, more than accepted that she was the real Lena. His manner had seemed protective as they’d made their way to the mess hall, but almost from the moment they’d stepped into the doorway she’d sensed a subtle change in him from the protective to the possessive. She just wasn’t sure whether it was deliberate on his part, or a subconscious reaction to the way the men in the room were all studying her, either blatantly or furtively, but she didn’t think she was imagining it.
Dax leaned down until his lips were next to her ear. The gesture, Lena was sure, must look almost like that of a lover to anyone who saw it. “Eat.”
A shiver traveled through her as the warmth of his breath caressed the sensitive flesh, but she picked up her fork and went through the motions, finding after a few mouthfuls that it was easier. “What do you think would’ve given them the idea that anyone would consider me important enough to try to get me out?”
Dax shrugged. “You were important to Nigel … and Morris.”
Lena’s head came around so fast a bone popped. Cold washed through her. “You think they know about Nigel offering to help in return for getting me out?”
A look of irritation flickered across his features. “Nigel’s safe. I’m fairly certain it was the connection to Morris, not Nigel, that interested them most.”
Lena set her fork down. “Not if he keeps his end of the bargain, he isn’t.”
His lips thinned. “They made the connection between you, Nigel, and Morris before any of this went down. If I was guessing, it would be that they just hoped they could use you to bait their trap. They knew about Morris. They may have suspected that Nigel was the source they were looking for and you were the go between, but I doubt it. They took the informant out that had contacted Morris before he could deliver the goods.”
Lena frowned. “They kept interrogating me about the rebels. They thought I knew something. They were asking for names and meeting places.”
Dax flicked a glance at the man across from him. “They interrogate everybody, just in case they know something,” he said slowly. “The fact that they questioned you isn’t necessarily significant.”
Lena frowned, trying to recall anything about those sessions that might give her a clue. “Maybe. There were two of them. One was like a med tech. He gave me the injections and it seemed he was only there for that and to observe. He said if I knew anything, I’d have to tell them because of what he’d given me.”
“What did you tell them?” the tino man asked.
Lena glanced at him when he spoke. “Nothing. I didn’t know anything.” She frowned, wondering whether to mention what she had told them or not. Finally, she decided against it. “Morris never told me anything. I didn’t even know he was actually involved in the rebel movement. I thought it was just … talk.”
“What did Morris talk about?”
