Page 138 of Alien Burn

Now he waited to see whether Roemary would take it.

She did not hurry.

That was the first thing he noticed when she appeared. No halting steps, no anxious pauses at doors. She walked as though someone had given her perfectly ordinary directions and she expected to find what she wanted at the end of them.

She stopped outside the cell.

His lead released the lock. The door opened.

She glanced up at the unlit indicator above it and went inside. His lead had darkened that light along with the visible lock display. The recorder itself remained on.

Dhomhes remained still while she went in. From his angle he could see Burk lift his head. No surprise. No demand to know who she was.

Something settled coldly beneath Dhomhes's ribs.

He had suspected her. He had seen the pressure she put on Sereya, the attempt to get advance movement details, the private messages. All of those things had explanations a determined liar could rehearse.

Here she was with the male who had dragged Adryel off the ramp.

She stood over Burk, arms folded.

“The chip,” she said.

He shook his head. “She doesn't have it.”

Roemary's expression changed.

“She had it when she boarded. I confirmed it myself.”

Dhomhes kept his breathing slow. She believed she knew more than she did. He could use that, provided he did not move now and let anger finish the conversation.

“She transferred it.” Burk sounded tired. “Before we arrived. I don't know when. I don't know to who.”

“You had her.” Roemary's voice dropped. Dhomhes could hear the edge even when the machinery blurred a word. “You had her and you couldn't get a straight answer out of her.”

“She was telling the truth.” Burk looked up. “She doesn't have it on her anymore. Whoever she gave it to, they don't know what they're carrying.”

Roemary went quiet.

Dhomhes thought of Stron's hand on Adryel's face in the tunnel. Of the careful way his friend had stood close to her afterward, leaving no uncertainty about who would have to be moved before anyone reached her again.

Roemary was about to arrive at the same conclusion for a very different reason.

“It doesn't matter,” she said. “We'll find it.”

“How? It could be anyone on that transport. Anyone in the refinery.”

“It won't be just anyone.” She uncrossed her arms. “She trusted someone with it. There aren't many people she trusts.”

A pause.

“Find the person she trusts most and you'll find the chip.”

Burk said nothing.

Roemary looked down at him for a moment longer.

“Someone will be in touch,” she said.