Behind him, others were moving. Were they going to interfere with the arrest, take Mason down for assaulting Curtis?
The barman leaned over the edge of the bar. “He fucking deserved that, the bastard.” He spoke to Jade. “Sorry. He’d kill me if I didn’t flick a pill in the drink. Let me make it up to you all, free drinks for everyone!”
The mood in the room immediately lightened. The girls scampered from out of the corners and peered down at the peculiar form of the paralyzed Curtis. One gave him a hard kick in the balls and he moaned in his stupor.
“That’s for your damn so-called toys, you evil—”
Mason pressed her back as she aimed for another kick and stopped her mid-flow. “I’m here to take him to Novador. He’ll stand trial for murder, rape, torture, stealing, kidnapping, smuggling weapons, well, everything.”
The girls cheered, the men looked on bemused. The one who’d approached her first opened his mouth and pointed at his missing teeth and eye. “He punched them out. Take him. If you want help carrying him, then I’m happy to drag him. I didn’t realize you were undercover, missy. I wouldn’t have made you do anything, honestly.” The man looked apologetically at Jade.
She hid a smile. He actually thought she was another marshal. It tickled her, because she was a fugitive and supposedly a captive.
Mason thanked him. “Help is appreciated. He’s half-machine and likely to be heavy. Girls, make the most of this. Don’t hang around. Somebody is bound to try to fill his shoes.”
A diminutive woman with crimson hair and a jagged scar down one side of her face stepped forward and grasped Mason’s hand to her lips, giving his knuckles a brief kiss. “Thank you. Both of you.” She had tears in her eyes and she let go of him to brush them away.
“Teesha, thank you. Without your courage, we’d not have had this chance.”
Jade wanted to hug the littl
e woman, but it was obvious Mason was keen to get off the station. He picked up one of Curtis’s legs and started to drag him toward the door. The toothless man helped, then another and before they’d reached the exit, a small crowd had picked up the cyborg and carried him out of the bar.
* * *
Lying on the bed, Jade couldn’t stop shaking. It wasn’t through shock, she decided, it had to be the excitement draining out of her. Seeing Curtis vanquished was immensely satisfying, so was the look of delight on the faces of the women.
Mason had told her to wait in his quarters and keep the door locked, just in case. It seemed to be taking forever to place Curtis in stasis. He was a huge man and without the help of the others, Mason would have struggled to get the paralyzed cyborg on board.
She needed a distraction, something to pass the time. All she wanted was Mason safely back. She hated waiting alone. By the bed, on the little table, was her image cube. She activated it and the pictures, some stills, others moving, projected onto the wall. She dimmed the lights so she could see them clearer: her hometown, the trees, mountains, and her family and friends. Each image lingered for a few seconds before moving on to the next one.
She tensed. She’d not seen that particular image for a while, she’d avoided it, but the cube was on a random display setting.
He was smiling. He always smiled.
“Pause,” she instructed the cube. The picture glued itself to the bare wall and stayed there.
Tears trickled down her face. It was so unfair that he was gone, never to return. She sat on the edge of the bed and wept.
Mason appeared as if by magic. He crouched by her side and held her hands. “Jade, what’s wrong? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
She shook her head. This wasn’t about Curtis or what happened in the bar. Her attempt at distraction had led her to another place, perhaps a worse one. She hiccoughed. “It’s not that.”
“So what is it?” He joined her on the bed and hooked his arm around her shoulder, drawing her closer. “Who’s the man?”
“Tomas.” It hurt just saying his name, knowing he would never hear her say it.
“If you don’t want to talk about it—”
“He’s my cousin.” She stared into the brown eyes of Tomas and wished they would blink, something to make him more real. Alive.
“I’m assuming something happened to him?” Mason gently probed, squeezing her arm.
“Yes. He was conscripted into the Federal army.” He’d been so excited, because it meant going into space. “You know what it’s like for a young man to go on an adventure.”
“Yes, I do. Where did they send him?”
Jade didn’t want him to go, nor did his parents. They understood the dangers far better than him, but ideals didn’t matter when it was your dream to leave home and see the world, the distant suns. “Dramos, where the Fringe are rebelling.”