Page 105 of Alien Burn

Sereya's eyes stung.

She answered the second message first.

So did I.

Then she told him she would call if Roemary came.

She drew the shutters, leaving the room in a soft dimness, and lay down without undressing. Her hands rested on the coverlet. Her feet were sore. Beyond the door, someone walked past and kept going.

Roemary had not ceased to frighten her.

But she could remember the message and the garden at the same time now.

She turned her hand over and pressed her kissed knuckles to her mouth.

15

DHOMHES

He had slept for four hours, answered eleven messages, and read the same sentence about Vessik three times.

None of those things had removed the memory of Sereya's mouth against his. Good, she'd said, and kissed him before he could think of anything else to worry about.

He touched his lower lip once, then dropped his hand when his lead looked up.

Remembering should not have put heat under his skin.

Apparently his body had no use for that distinction.

Across the desk, his operations lead waited.

“Go on,” Dhomhes said.

“I had finished, sir.”

“Then allow me a moment to admire the work.”

The male's expression didn't change. Years of service had made him difficult to impress and much too observant.

Dhomhes brought the clerk's employment record forward.

Twelve years in protocol. Most of them spent arranging approvals, assigning appointments, and forwarding requests to whichever office actually had the authority to answer them. Nothing in his post gave Vessik a right to the volunteers' secure room assignments.

Nothing about it made a personal handover at the third window necessary.

But he had a cousin in the emergency response office.

Dhomhes put the second record beside the first.

“Does the cousin have access to the search assignments?”

“The office does. Individual permissions are being checked.”

“Any contact between them about the inspection unit?”

“Nothing confirmed.”

“Then keep the relationship separate from the accusation.”