Free Shades of Dark by Linnea Sinclair Page A

link when I’d been concentrating on getting us through the gate and hadn’t reinstated it, so I could only read his thoughts as I would any other person’s. He was no longer upset by my rush to judgment earlier, but there was still an element of hurt. His mental silence told me that much.
    He was also worried about how and when Thad’s revelations would be released. I didn’t need a mental link with him to know that. And it was something I knew I’d have to force him to face before we left jumpspace. Even if it meant angering him again.
    But I had work to do. This was my duty shift, and the slippery space around me didn’t make it an easy one. The Karn wasn’t used to such inconsistent conditions. Sometimes being too high-tech could come back and bite you in the ass.
    I voiced my concerns about her performance with older gates after Sully left the bridge.
    “Used ’em two, three times in the past couple of years,” Marsh said. “We never liked using the smugglers’ routes unless we had no choice. But like Sully said, we’re not going to get a second chance at this information if they get to this guy before we do.”
    That was our stated reason for the change in plans: a threat against Del, our informant. The meeting had been moved up. Which was partly true. Only Sully was the one doing the moving.
    At two hours in, I logged off for a break. Verno, who logged off shortly after Sully left, came back on. Leaving the Karn in Marsh’s and Verno’s capable hands, I headed for the corridor seeking not Sully but Ren.
    No one knew Sully better than Ren did. Sully had at one time been Ren’s tutor. Lately I’d begun to wonder if the student wasn’t wiser than the teacher.
    Ship’s locator system showed Sully logged into the gym and Ren in the galley. He’d been slowly rebuilding his friendship with Dorsie. It had almost collapsed due to his part in the deception Sully had pulled months ago. If Ren and Dorsie were playing cards or just chatting, I’d get a cup of tea and go back to my cabin and try him again on my next break.
    I found Ren in the storeroom off the galley’s main room, talking to Dorsie. Their voices were light, amiable. I almost turned around and left, but Dorsie saw me and waved me in.
    “We just finished up inventory,” she said. “Can I get you something, Captain?”
    She sashayed past Ren. Dorsie was a short, plump, dark-haired woman with sparkling eyes, an infectious laugh, and a perpetual mischievous swing to her hips. There was a strong resemblance to her nephew, Marsh, in the tilt of her eyes and the wideness of her mouth, but her skin tone was lighter than Marsh’s nut brown. And Marsh with his crooked nose and scarred left eyebrow could at times look foreboding. Dorsie was just pretty.
    Not that Ren could actually see that. He read a person’s rainbows: thermal energy fields all sentients emitted. I imagined Dorsie’s rainbows danced. I know Ren liked her a lot.
    “Just taking a break. I thought if Ren wasn’t busy, I’d borrow his copy of the Eternity Six concert. But I can pester him for it later.”
    A light warmth trickled through me, ending with a question mark. The tall, elegant Stolorth leaning against the storage cage hadn’t moved, nor had his slightly bemused expression changed. His six-fingered hands were clasped before him. But his question and concern drifted over me like mist carried on a summer breeze.
    “Now is an excellent time,” he said. “I fear Dorsie was about to have me start peeling vegetables.”
    “You do want srorfralak pie, don’t you?” Dorsie planted her hands on her hips, but she was grinning.
    “When you bake it, it is a true nectar of the gods,” Ren replied.
    “Damned straight it is.”
    “I can get the music later—”
    “The vegetables are still soaking,” Dorsie said, jerking her chin toward the main galley. “Won’t be ready for peeling for another half hour yet.”
    Ren pushed away from the storage cage then stopped in front