Free Ghost of Mind Episode One by Odette C. Bell

informed
him.
    The transport had not bothered taking them to
the nearest block; not considering how much trouble she'd caused.
They were headed to Block Prime. About the only building on Orion
Minor that did not have a slum attached to it. Block Prime was
where the ruling elite lived. It housed not only the best and
brightest, but the key planet-wide systems. It also held the
central operations for the security forces.
    The transport gave a shake as a blast of wind
ripped into it, but fortunately John already had a magnetic lock on
the floor below him, and couldn't be thrown from his feet. Instead
he watched in pure fascination, his eyebrows inching down, as the
woman was jostled to the side, her hands grabbing hold of the bench
she'd been seated on. Though the impediment field had all but
locked her in place, she could still make movements, and she still
had to correct herself as the transport gave a shake.
    Though her hair spilled from underneath her
hood and the tatters of her tunic shifted around her shoulders, her
hood did not move. Not a freaking centimeter.
    Once the turbulence stopped, John shifted
forward. He did not latch hold of the hood and try to tug it off
her head again; he dropped to his knees. Planting a hand on the
ground, leaning close to one of her legs, he tried to look up.
    She ducked her head down straight away,
bringing a hand over the hood and locking it over her eyes.
    Letting out a frustrated sigh, John stood. He
half turned to see that the view from the single window in the
hanger bay showed the transport rapidly approaching Block Prime. It
would be seconds before they touched down. The hatch of the
security level was already opening in preparation to receive
them.
    ‘ Suit yourself, but the hood will come
off,’ John turned back to her.
    She didn't move. No, that was wrong. She
shook. However slightly, he could pick it up with what was left of
his armor.
    It softened him. The prospect of an immovable
hood and a backhand that could send a fully-armored man flying
through the air had served to heighten John's suspicions of this
woman. But that shake had reminded him that he had no idea who she
was and what she was hiding form.
     

Chapter 13
    Alice
    She could hardly move. It wasn't just the
cold snaking up from the bench underneath her, it was everything.
This transport was not atmosphere proof, and the fell wind from
outside managed to snake its way in, the frozen cold shifting
through everything.
    But it wasn't the cold that had made her give
that shudder. It was his promise. Pure, clear, and simple. The way
he'd said it had left no doubt in Alice's mind; if she didn't
manage to get out of here, John Doe would reveal her.
    As the transport slowed down, the mag clamps
of the building they had just reached locking onto it and guiding
it safely through the hanger doors, she indulged in another
shake.
    She hadn't been expecting him to transport
back to the planet. Then again, she hadn't been expecting he'd
manage to get a transporter lock on her.
    It seemed there was no predicting this guy
and the lengths he'd go to.
    ‘ Inform the Security Chief we need a
portable containment field, level three,’ John turned on his heel,
his helmet twisting her way.
    God, he was looking at her. And though she
couldn't see his eyes under the opaque plating of his armor, it
didn't matter. It was the way his head twisted in obvious interest,
one shoulder high the other hand dropped into a tight fist by his
side.
    Though Alice could not have a classic panic
attack; her alien body was too far gone from a human's to undergo
such a thing, she could freak out in her own unique way.
    She became so stiff it would take a rock
warrior to move her. As her fright rose and bucked within her, she
lost control of her energy. Or whatever was left of it. Because if
she’d been her usual self, she would never have let John Doe get
close enough to latch hold of her hood. She would have kicked out
the side of the transport, sailed