Free Strange Skies by Kristi Helvig

“I’ll be right back after the meeting and then I expect both of you to be in a condition to help me.”
    Alec set his mouth in a hard line. “Take good care of her, amigo . The way I did when I got her here safely.”
    I put my hand on my hip and turned to James before hecould respond. “Guess it’s you and me.” I’d be alone with him in the woods. Maybe I should picture him shooting me every time my knees felt weak.
    Our eyes locked. I tried to recall him aiming at me but what flashed through my mind instead was his fingers grazing my bandaged ribs under my shirt back at the bunker.
    “Have it your way. Let’s go,” he said, marching away. I hurried to catch up.
    Lucy followed us, which irritated Alec. “Lucy, come back,” he called after us loudly. She turned and trotted back to Alec.
    “She certainly seems to like you.”
    James moved quickly through the trees. “Yeah. Dumb dog, huh?”
    I smirked. “You said it, not me.”
    We followed the creek back toward the command center. I was captivated by the gurgling water winding its way through the forest. The trees were lush, vibrant, and green—such a contrast to the brown, dead Earth I’d come from. Everything smelled fresh and alive, punctuated by the occasional aroma of flowers.
    I got so caught up in my surroundings that I had to jog to catch up with James. I’d forgotten how fast he was.
    “When was the last time you saw Kale?” I asked, breathing heavily.
    James glanced at me over his shoulder. “A few weeks ago. Said he was going to find the leader of the Resistanceand bring him back so we could finalize our attack on the Consulate.”
    I moved a wayward tree branch out of my way. “Who’s the leader?”
    “Don’t know,” James said. “And Kale doesn’t know either—he said the guy preferred to lead from behind the scenes after some of his closest men were killed by the Consulate. They only spoke over the com system and the guy never said his real name.” James paused and looked unsure whether to go on.
    “What?” I asked.
    “Kale did find out who killed my family.”
    My stomach dropped. That must be the info he’d been wanting from Kale all along. The info he’d risked my life to get.
    My voice came out in a whisper. “Who?”
    His eyes hardened. “Guy named Allan Davis.”
    I gulped, remembering the day Dad had brought me to work with him and we were called into his boss’s office. How I had wiped my hand on my pants after enduring his sweaty handshake. “No way! I met him. He’s the one who gave my dad the Infinity.” The Infinity that Kale took from me.
    James stopped and tracked back to me. “What? You know what he looks like?”
    “Sure, but I was, like, nine years old.” I told James what I recalled of the brief encounter, including how Davis had been in charge of the weapons department.
    James shook his head. “He’s in charge of most things, it seems. Kale told me that Davis was the one who hired him to come after you on Earth. He used a middleman to make the deal. No one in the Resistance knows what Davis looks like. Not even Kale.”
    Was it possible that I was the only one who knew what Davis looked like? Dad did, but he was a prisoner. Not for much longer, though.
    “So what you’re saying is that you need me, James.” My heart began thumping faster at his nearness. Don’t go all girlie now . I shrugged and tried to play it cool. “Maybe needing me means that even though you tried to kill me, you feel differently now.”
    James closed the last step between us. I stepped back, right into a tree. He grabbed my hands and pinned them to my side, his mouth inches from mine. “I didn’t try to kill you,” he growled into my ear. “I’m a perfect shot, remember?”
    Before I could react, his lips closed over mine. For a minute I got lost in the sensation of his mouth on me. I kissed him back and enjoyed the ripples running through my body.
    Then I remembered James standing in front of me pointing my own