She sighed shakily. “She looks at me the same way.”
Pierce sat up, all traces of humor gone. “What’d you do to piss her off?”
Dalia shrugged. “Breathe, I think.”
Pierce looked her over searchingly. “You’re not worried about her, are you? Because I know you can kick her ass any day of the week.”
“I could. I can’t now.”
His gaze dropped to her belly and remained there for several moments. Finally, he reached across the couch and caught her hand, giving it a squeeze before he released it and sat back. “Don’t worry about it, Dally. I’m your man.”
Relief seemed to roll off of her like a boulder. “Thanks!”
He grinned. “If she so much as looks at you in a way I don’t like--I’ll grab you up and run like hell.”
Dalia chuckled. “Good. I don’t think I could outrun her by myself right now.”
He waggled his eyebrows at her. “And, by the way, since you brought it up, if you think you might be interested in fucking, I’m your man there, too.”
Dalia chuckled dutifully, but despite the fact that he’d said it jokingly, she realized joking had always been a smoke screen for Pierce to hide his feelings behind. He was making it clear that he wanted to be considered if she intended to look for a lover.
When they returned to the holding cell, Pierce walked to the opposite end, collected his belongings and returned, depositing them on the floor beside her cot. She looked at him in surprise. “Not enough cots. I guess there were more of us than they were expecting, but I figure the floor’s as comfortable at this end as the other.”
For the first time since they’d been confined, Dalia actually managed to sleep deeply. The following morning when she woke, she discovered that Zenia’s cot was empty.
She sat up and glanced around in surprise.
“The guards took her last night,” Camile volunteered.
Dalia felt her jaw go slack. “They just took her?”
Camile shrugged. “They were in and out so fast, I wouldn’t have seen it except that I’ve been sleeping with one eye on her. What do you think it means?”
“It means we don’t have to worry about the psycho bitch anymore,” Pierce said, yawning hugely and scratching his head as he sat up. “And everything we say is heard.”
Dalia looked at him sharply. “You think so?” she asked quickly, mentally reviewing their conversation the day before.
Pierce shrugged. “Like you said, they’ve got no reason to trust us, and every reason not to. I know if I had nearly a hundred prisoners I was transporting, I’d want to keep up with what was going on.”
“What do you think they’ll do with her?” Camile asked nervously.
Pierce sent her a look. “You’re not going to pretend you care?”
She glared at him. “She’s not a ... rabid animal that can just be put down.”
“She doesn’t miss it by much,” Pierce said dryly. “Look, I know what you’re saying, but the company would’ve fixed the problem if it was fixable. You’ve been around her long enough to know she’s dangerously unstable.”
“Yes, but--she’s a human--she’s a being. If they do something to her, what’s to stop them from doing the same to the rest of us?”
“We’re not psychotic?”
Camile threw her pillow at his head.
“If it was me, I’d ship her back to the company. They deserve her. She’s their problem.”
Dalia said nothing, but she felt uneasy about it, wondering if it was something she’d said. She didn’t like to think she might be responsible if they did decide to terminate Zenia.
She watched the guards as they brought in the morning meal, but none of them seemed to pay her any more attention than any of the others. After they’d gone through the particle baths, however, the guards rounded up nearly half the men, including Pierce, and marched them out.
