Page 23 of Star-Crossed Captive
Tension cascaded off the commanders around the table, the mood shifting from alert to volatile. Everyone wanted to fight, to get even.Blood for blood.Mace kept his eyes on Foley, waiting for Cache to call him out for his misstep. The reprimand never came.
“Do we have a target in mind, sir?” Grey asked from beside him.
“No.”
Everyone’s gazes snapped to hers.
She raised her hand. “I know. We all want to take action, but my orders came from the top. Admiral Krispin and the others want us to focus on Sector Four. If we retaliate now, we lose our chances of finding out what’s going on there. We need to stay focused even if it kills us.”
Distracted from his need to put a knife through Foley’s eyeball, Mace raised his eyebrows at her.
“I’m serious.” Everything in her posture said she spoke the truth.
He nodded, knowing if the admirals were breathing down her neck to stay out of the way, they meant it.
“What about those who are going to be executed?” Grey asked. “Are retrievals scheduled?”
Cache didn’t answer right away, and a hard knot settled in Mace’s stomach.
“We’ve been told to stay out of that as well.” A stunned silence fell over the table. Cache kept her eyes fixed to the images hovering above the table. “We’ll reconvene when I have something new to report. Dismissed.”
Mace wanted to argue, to demand a way to make the CORE pay for what they’d done. His focus shifted when Foley pushed away from the table and headed toward the exit.
Before he could follow, Cache stepped in his path. “You were late.”
She might be itching for a fight, but she wasn’t the one he needed to confront. He stepped around her and kept walking, then felt her eyes boring in his spine. It didn’t stop him.
There was blood he needed to spill.
Chapter nine
Theliftdoorslidopen, and Mace stepped out. At the end of the corridor, Foley walked away from him, Commander Poole at his side. Fury burning in his gut, Mace jogged to catch up.
“Hey, Foley,” he said, tapping him on the shoulder.
Mid-sentence, Foley turned. In the next instant, he was on the deck, holding his nose, blood coating his mouth. “What the fuck?” His nasally voice went high pitched.
At his side, Poole tipped his head, looking from one of them to the other without intervening.
Mace shook the sting out of his hand. “That was forElara Five.”
“Elara Five?” Foley whined. “I saved your ass onElara Five.”
Mace clenched his fists, needing to hit him again. “You destroyed a non-combative medical station and nearly killed me.”
With his hand holding his nose and blood dripping down his chin, Foley’s face puckered in confusion. “I was following orders.”
“Cache didnotorder you to destroy the place.”
“Cacheorderedme to take as many medical officers as possible because we’re so short. Do you think if we’d sidled up and parked nicely, they would’ve hopped on?”
Mace ran his hand over his face. More guilt pressed down on him.
Poole pulled Foley to his feet.
“What is this really about?” Foley wiped the blood off his upper lip and flung it to the side. “You want my position?”
“I don’t want your fucking position.” BeingOrion’shead of security was the last thing he wanted. He’d found his place training tyros and loved it. It was the only thing he cared about, really. He didn’t want to become Cache’s glorified enforcer.
