Page 64 of Sawyer’s Mistake

“I’ll take first watch,” Prado announced. He walked out onto the corridor and headed to the bathroom, where he splashed his face and hair with cold water. He looked up at the face staring back at him in the mirror. Midnight black hair, longer than he liked it. Dark brown eyes, rimmed in purple from lack of sleep. He still looked like himself, so why didn’t he feel like himself anymore?

His back spasmed. He gripped the edges of the bathroom sink, waiting for the pain to recede. His fingers shook against the cool stone. He resisted the urge to feel for the small package of pills in his shirt pocket. He’d had a good one only five hours ago. They weren’t doing shit for him anymore.

Suddenly, the door opened. He expected one of his teammates to come in. He straightened with some effort.

He smelled the soft almond fragrance an instant before Alix’s face showed up in the mirror.

She leaned back against the second sink.

She brought out a cigarette from her pocket, holding it loosely between her fingers. When she brought it up to her face to smell it, he couldn’t help but feel jealous of the cigarette.

“Ray gave it to me,” she said. “I haven’t had a smoke in over a year.”

“Are you going to save it?”

She shook her head, bringing out a lighter. “Not really my style. I didn’t have a pension plan before, and now doesn’t seem to be the right time to start saving up for the future.”

He nodded then winced as pain flared in his back again.

“How bad is it?” she asked. She tilted her head sideways as she lit up the cigarette, inhaling deeply. She exhaled slowly, closing her eyes as she did so, looking more relaxed and happier than he’d ever seen her. She was so beautiful, it was almost enough to distract him from the pain.

She took a couple drags from the cigarette.

“Well?”

He kept his expression neutral. “Why do you ask?”

She exhaled a small ring of smoke. “I’ve been watching you. I see how you hold yourself when you think nobody’s watching.” She shrugged. “I also saw what you took from the pharmacy. If you’re hurting—”

“It’s my own business,” he said.

“I respect that. But if you ever need to talk to someone, I’m a good listener.”

He nodded. “Why aren’t you sleeping already?”

He saw the fight within her before she answered. “I’ve been having strange dreams.”

“Nightmares?” he asked. That didn’t seem so unusual, after what she’d been through.

“No, not nightmares.” She watched the cigarette burn for a moment. “Dreams. I’ve been dreaming of the Remur and of aliens who don’t look like them. I don’t really want to talk about it.”

He held her eyes for a moment.

“If you ever want to speak about it, I’m a pretty good listener myself.”

Her brown eyes were serious for a bit, and then she smiled.

“Why do you want to be my friend?”

“Is that what you think I want to be?” he replied, leaning in close to her head.

She smiled ruefully. “It’s like you don’t remember what I am.” She crushed the cigarette stub on the sink, leaving a dark stain on the porcelain then jumped off the sink and left without saying another word.

Chapter 26

Saoirse

She was back in her lab, preparing a summary of her research in gesture prosody to present at the weekly team meeting. Her computer, her notebook, everything was in exactly the right place. She felt very much at home. Suddenly, her computer screen went black. She crawled under her desk to check the cables, which were all tangled. By the time she stood up again, the screen had changed color from black to blood red. Suddenly, the computer started wailing.