Beneath the Fallen City, Jamie A. Waters [ebook reader .TXT] 📗

live with us.” Veridian smiled at the memory. “She was headstrong, even then. She had to know how everything worked. I think she drove people crazy with her nonstop questions, but she was absolutely brilliant. If you showed her something once, she immediately caught on. She was easily out-scavenging seasoned ruin rats by the time she was twelve.”

“How long ago did she come to live with you?”

Veridian thought carefully. “I don’t know. I’m guessing it was about sixteen years ago. That would make her around twenty or twenty-one now.”

Carl sat back, somewhat surprised. He’d known she was young, but it was strange to have it confirmed. Most people with her level of skill and experience were several years older. It seemed they both had one more thing in common: responsibility had been put on both of them at a young age.

Glancing down at her, his heart thrummed in his chest. She looked so vulnerable surrounded by the medical equipment. He ached to pull her into his arms and hold her. He swallowed and looked up to see Veridian studying him with an uncanny awareness. Carl cleared his throat. “I’m surprised you’re being this open with me.”

Veridian rubbed his thumb across the top of Kayla’s hand. “Kayla’s been living in a fog since Pretz died. She’s gone through the motions but there’s been something missing. She might kick my ass for telling you everything, but I doubt it. Scotch or not, she wouldn’t have opened up to you about Pretz if she didn’t want you to know. It’s more than that though.” He looked up to meet Carl’s eyes. “She lights up when she’s around you. I’ve missed seeing that spark in her. I know it won’t last, but I’m thankful you brought it back.”

Carl opened his mouth to object, but words failed him. Veridian was right. Anything between him and Kayla could only be temporary. He had less than three years left on his contract. After that, he had to return to the towers. No matter what was growing between them, it wasn’t fair to her to begin something he couldn’t finish.

A monitor beeped, and Carl stood to replace the pouch of synthetic blood with a new one. He adjusted her I.V. line, and she moved slightly.

“I think she’s waking up. Kayla? Can you hear me?”

Her green eyes slowly opened, and Carl sighed in relief. She squinted at the bright light and tried to look around the room. Crying out in pain from the effort, she fell back again.

Veridian stood, putting his hands on her shoulders to prevent her from trying to sit up. “You need to stay still, Kayla. You were hurt. You’ve lost a lot of blood and broken a few bones. It’ll take a few more hours for them to be repaired.”

Kayla lifted her broken wrist and stared at the bone mold.

“Shit.” Dropping her wrist back down, she winced in pain. “My head is freaking killing me. What happened?”

“What do you remember?” Veridian sat back down beside her.

She frowned. “Uh, crap. I think… I was in the ruins?”

Carl picked up the painkiller and brought it toward her I.V. line. “That’s right. You should feel better pretty soon though. You need to rest right now.”

She held up her hand when she saw the needle. “Wait. Stop. Don’t give me that yet. It makes me stupid. I need to remember. Oh shit. It even hurts to breathe.”

Carl paused, the needle hovering by the I.V. line. “Kayla, it’ll stop the pain.”

“No, dammit. Hang on. Let me think a minute,” she insisted stubbornly. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Her eyes flew open. “Where’s Vex?”

“He’s dead.” Veridian’s voice was matter-of-fact.

“He is?” She reached up with her uninjured hand to touch her throat, wincing in pain at the movement. “He was choking me. I grabbed my knife and tried to stop him. He… Did he throw me into the wall?”

Carl nodded. “Kayla, it’s going to be all right. I’m going to give you the painkiller now.”

When she didn’t offer any further objections, he pushed the medicine into the line and watched as she began to relax. “Oh, crap… that’s… that works. I guess I needed that.”

“You’re actually admitting I was right?”

“Maybe,” she murmured and looked up at him. With her uninjured hand, she reached out to grasp his hand. He pressed a kiss on the inside of her palm, careful not to hurt her further. She gave a long, drawn-out sigh. “Too damn pretty. Why did you have to be a trader?”

Carl chuckled. “So I could get stubborn ruin rats out of trouble. Now you need to close your eyes and get some rest.”

Once he’d made sure she was sleeping comfortably, Carl headed toward the common room. His crew was standing around talking but fell silent the moment he entered.

Jinx took a step toward him. “Is she awake?”

“She’s sleeping again, but she regained consciousness for a few minutes. I gave her the painkiller, and it knocked her out.” Carl turned to the rest of the crew. “I know you’re concerned, but she’s going to be fine. We’re going to need to take shifts around the clock for a while until this issue with Ramiro is settled. I’ll push on OmniLab to try to get them moving.”

Xantham scratched his head. “I’m going to need to take the first shift then. Zane, you mind joining me? I need to make sure our comms are locked up tight after they infiltrated them earlier.”

After Zane agreed, Cruncher spoke up. “Elyot and I will take the second shift.”

“Carl, I think I should stay with Kayla tonight,” Jinx suggested. “She seems to be out of danger, but I don’t want to take any chances.”

Carl threw her a grateful look. “Thanks, I was going to ask you to check in on her throughout the night. Veridian is going to stay with her, but I would feel more comfortable if you watched her too.”

She turned to Lisia. “Would you mind checking in on her tomorrow during the second shift? Or would you rather help out with the security systems?”

Lisia looked up from the ground when everyone’s gaze fell on her. “I-I’ll work security tomorrow,” she stammered before turning away and striding out of the room.

Elyot frowned at his sister’s behavior. “Jinx, I can check on her tomorrow instead.”

Carl held up his hand, waving off Elyot’s excuses. “That’s all right. Why don’t you guys get some rest? I need to go give Ramiro a call and tell him to get Vex’s body out of my district.”