Free Unchained by C.J. Barry

relenting to her curiosity, she moved
quietly behind him to get a better view of the charts.
    Grey didn’t take his eyes off her. “Thank
you. I see you survived your first dinner with the crew?”
    She smiled at him with genuine delight. “A
rowdy bunch, especially Coon.”
    Grey gave a short laugh. “I’ll bet you heard
all of his best stuff tonight. He always enjoys breaking in a new
crew member or two.”
    “ I could tell.” She
inclined her head toward the display. “What is that?”
    Grey saw the gleam in her eyes. “You really
want to know?”
    She nodded, leaning over his shoulder to get
a better look, her long hair drifting down.
    “ I’m trying to track down
the Lost Mask of Teran. It was en route from Teran to Borkova for
an exhibition forty-three years ago and disappeared.”
    He pointed to a small galaxy on the screen.
“Their last transmission was tracked to this sector. So that’s
where we started.”
    His voice grew husky as he became acutely
aware of Cidra’s hair brushing his neck. He was truly amazed that
she’d come into his office alone after that scorching kiss. Now
here she was, standing inches from him. Either she trusted him more
than he trusted himself or she was genuinely interested in the
subject. He decided it was wiser to focus on the latter.
    “ Then what?” she
asked.
    He cleared his throat and continued. “We
began with a long list of possibilities, then eliminated them one
by one.”
    She turned to him with those incredible
clear, blue eyes. “Possibilities?”
    For a split-second, Grey
was caught off-guard. Just keep
talking . “Something caused that ship to
disappear. Mechanical malfunction, crew problems, pirates, enemies,
natural disasters. Like I said, it’s a long list.”
    Her hair smelled
incredible .
    She frowned at him. “How can you eliminate
possibilities when the ship vanished without a trace?”
    “ Research.” He could hear
her steady breathing in his ear, ignored it and plowed ahead. “We
get a complete schematic of the transport ship. Identify previous
or possible mechanical problems. Locate a crew roster. Find out if
the working crew have a history of difficulties? Were pirates
working that sector at the time? Who would have wanted the Mask?
Any local meteoric activity, asteroids, comets or other
anomalies?”
    She frowned even more. “Suppose it was
completely destroyed like the Dakru shipment? You could do all this
work for nothing.”
    There was a beat of silence before he
finally shrugged. “It’s instinct.”
    Cidra’s eyes widened. “That’s it? Your
entire operation is based on instinct?”
    He grinned. “Call it hunter’s intuition. I
wouldn’t pursue the prey unless I felt it still existed. I guess
you could call it a gut feeling.”
    Like right
now , for instance. He felt her body heat on
his shoulder, and his gut feeling told him to back off before he
did something stupid. He breathed deeply, crossed his arms, and
leaned forward in the chair.
    “ That’s where most treasure
hunters give up. They think the research is too time-consuming and
tedious. Not to mention, it doesn’t pay particularly well if you
don’t find what you’re looking for.”
    Cidra was quiet for a minute behind him.
“You don’t give up easily, do you?”
    He wasn’t sure if it was a personal or
professional observation and decided it didn’t really matter. The
answer was the same.
    “ No. I like to think it’s
one of my most endearing qualities.” He turned and smiled
roguishly. “Among others.”
    She raised an eyebrow and indulged him with
a playful grin. “Really? Do you have many?”
    “ A few,” he acknowledged,
sliding his gaze down to her lips. “Unfortunately, decent apologies
aren’t at the top of the list.”
    Cidra blushed and managed a smile. “Lucky
for you, I’ll accept just about anything.”
     
    Cidra tossed the micropad on the side desk,
rubbed her eyes and stared at the ceiling above her bed. Thanks to
Decker, hundreds of