Raphael’s entire body tightened in merciless fury.
Indigo Smith had Francine.
Francine woke sometime later and wondered why she was so sleepy. Galactic space travel must be exhausting. Maybe it was like having jet lag.
She put a hand on the top of her head, registering that her hair felt damp. How odd. She didn’t remember showering. Had she been so tired last night she forgot?
Opening her eyes, she noted she was in what looked like a hotel room. Across from the bed was a mirrored closet door. In it, she could see the bulk of the big, long pillow behind her.
More disturbing was her hair. She sat up. Her hair had been dyed back to blond. Who would do that? Her gaze searched the room for clues as to what was going on.
Was this Raphael’s room under the Big Bang Truck Stop? It looked very different from the room she’d stayed in when she and her family had come to Alienn for the arranged marriage. Her parents, especially her mother, had insisted on only the best, so she’d been housed in very nice accommodations at the waystation.
This place looked—well, basically clean, if plain.
Forgoing the issue of her hair color, Francine sniffed the air. The scent of orange peel lingered, but she remembered smelling the distinct scent of popcorn. It had been very strong. Were they next to the movie theater? It didn’t matter. The rumble in her belly told her she was hungry. She decided there were three things she needed to accomplish before she looked for Raphael or an explanation for her hair color change.
She needed a bathroom.
She needed a shower.
She needed a giant cup of coffee to function beyond the basics.
The sound of a door opening to her right didn’t prepare her for the shaft of sunlight that hit her eyes.
“Gracious! Please! Shut the door!” Francine put a hand to her eyes to block the blinding glare. A thread of piercing pain wound from her eyes to drill straight into her brain. She didn’t even see who came in. She didn’t care. She wanted the pain to stop.
“You’re finally awake,” said a familiar voice she couldn’t place right away. It was a voice she hadn’t heard in a while.Who is that?
All Francine knew for certain was it was not Raphael’s voice.
The door closed and the light level in the room dimmed substantially. The man lowered his tone to just above a whisper. “I can’t wait to talk to you, Francine. We can start making plans for our future.”
Our future?Oh no.I’m in really big trouble.
Raphael followed the Grey family away from the medical area and Wheeler’s room toward the conference room. He did his best not to show it, but on the inside he roiled with the desire to do something, anything. He wanted to leap up and run everywhere Ichor-Delta fast until he found Francine. It was all he could do to remain passive on the outside, his frown likely the only sign he was sick with worry.
Once the group was seated at the conference table—with a clear understanding that Gage would notify them the millisecond Wheeler woke up—Cam told them something surprising. “Wheeler’s car is still in Alienn. Indigo may have taken it, but he brought it back, because it’s here in the truck stop parking lot.”
“When?”
“No idea.”
“How is that possible? He drove away from Alienn. Wyatt and Raphael brought back a copy of the bank’s street camera view.”
“Can we get more bank video?”
Cam shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. The bank’s camera doesn’t include the employee parking lot.”
Earlier, Raphael had watched Wyatt pull out a miniature Defender, twist the dial on top and shoot Bert Barney with it before the banker noticed what he was doing. The man slumped back in his chair and they made their escape with the flash drive containing the street footage from the bank’s surveillance.
He’d asked, “Isn’t this guy Barney an Alpha?”
Wyatt nodded. “Yes, but technically this isn’t a completely authorized information grab. I try to stay on the right side of the law, but when it comes to escaped prisoners from another planet along with missing family members, I have to make judgment calls. Today is one of those days I’m calling it for the Grey family.”
