Free Essentially Human by Maureen O. Betita Page A

students. For another, Todd and I, well, we set up a full swap years ago.”
    She noticed he didn’t look at his dad on this one. Drum shook his head and seemed resigned to his son’s undeveloped criminal past.
    “You are so busted.” She chuckled. “We check it out before you move on this. I’ll do it from my home, I have a method. If I clear it, fine. Every single step, you check in and no moves on your own. You got that, Jermaine?”
    “Hey, I don’t want to disappear into one of Hammer’s prisons, don’t sweat it. I want to help Monty, and that is it. You guys have the guns. I’ll stick to looking at things sideways.”
    “I’ll get back to you tonight.”
    “I’ll be in Middle Earth, setting up a play for us. Sound good?”
    “Yeah, Jermaine, you do that. Harold, you good with all this?”
    “Yes. I want Montgomery back. You do realize this new security mess puts both of us under review?” Her teammate crooked an eyebrow, his black eyes calm and steady.
    “Nothing for it. We go through security clearance all over, our access to office resources is bound to be restricted. With luck, we’ll be suspended with pay and can while away our time at the library and drinking coffee.” She snorted while Harold lowered his eyebrows. He was the most expressionless man Hermione knew, save for his eyes.
    *****
    Sam didn’t think he’d fall asleep easily. The quiet of the ship seeped into him and he slipped away between breaths into dreams of swimming in deep water. He arrowed though the blue, reaching out as if grabbing great handfuls of water and using it as a rope to pull a weightless body through the water. He glided with a grace he seldom exhibited when awake.
    Until a sharp cry cut through the dream, straight to his waking brain. With a snort, he shot upward, searching for the source. The room had darkened while he slept, but his movement triggered a sensor and a soft light brightened. Just enough to see shapes. And movement. Ria jerked and he sprang from the bed. The shorts he’d loosened for sleep nearly fell past his hips. He caught them with one hand as he closed the gap to perch at the corner of her bed. She kicked violently with her left leg, then tucked it tightly toward her belly. Since he’d gone to bed, she’d rolled back to her side and tightened up all over again.
    But this time, she was vocalizing. He stroked the muscle of her taut bicep, attempting to sooth her. “Ria, wake up.”
    Her head whipped toward him, eyes blank and full of unshed tears. She let out another sharp cry and then began to sob. He tried to reason her out of it, but the shear heartbreaking sound she let out made it difficult to do much more than offer comfort. After a few minutes, he realized she still slept, even as her body trembled with sob after sob.
    He gathered her into his arms and rocked her, crooning nonsense to that incredible mass of hair just below his chin. She had the softest hair he’d ever touched. Like strands of silk and velvet mixed into one, vibrantly alive. He ran his hand down it, feeling how it curled around his legs, almost stroking him back. What had the MRI machine found?
    Was it still there?
    His fingers combed, probing gently but found nothing. She moaned and he stopped looking, just bent his face to hers and sighed. This woman danced on a knife’s edge of breakdown. He’d said it before and he’d been so very right.
    “Ria, you need to wake up and leave it behind. It’s all right, I’m here, I’m holding you and it’s going to be okay.”
    She mumbled something, but he couldn’t understand the words. Abruptly, she went limp and silent. He carefully pulled her face upward and gazed down. Her eyes were closed and it appeared she’d simply drifted back to sleep. When he tried to lay her back down and move away, she stirred, growing restless all over again. With resignation, he settled down next to her, keeping arms tight around her.
    They needed to get her some clothing.
    He lay,