Page 47 of Double Take

Amity moved to the bedroom and knocked loudly. “I’m coming in!” she shouted and peeked inside. Vacant.

Something happened. Those men!

Constable. I need to call the constable.She should have brought her tech-tab, but she could use Faith’s; it was probably in her bag. If not, she’d run to the lawman’s office.

Amity retreated down the hall.

The cat’s body lay on the parlor floor.

“Oh, my god! Rusty!” Before she could take a step, someone grabbed her from behind. There was a sharp jab in her neck, and then the world faded away.

Chapter Eighteen

Come on, Marshall, come on!Bragg prayed his CO would get back in time. They watched the monitor showing the feed around the spacecraft. Neither friend nor foe had approached the ship he’d left.Come on, Marshall, come on.

“How much time is left?” Faith asked.

“Five minutes,” he replied.

Tears of worry and fear slipped down her face. She’d insisted on hearing the truth about Amity, and he’d been unable to lie to her. He and Marshall had informed her Amity was probably dead, that Dark Ops would seek to eliminate witnesses.

“I need to know for sure,” she had insisted. “If she’s alive, I can’t leave her. I won’t leave her to be killed by those men!”

“It's too late. She’s gone,” Marshall stated bluntly and looked at Bragg for support.

“Most likely,” he had replied. He didn’t doubt it, but they didn’t have actual proof.

“Most likely? Then she could still be alive! We have to get her!”

Marshall had scowled at Bragg. “She’s gone, and we need to go.” He had stalked toward the bridge.

“I’m not leaving without Amity!” She ran for the gangway. “I’ll find her myself.”

Bragg intercepted her. “Faith, wait. Marshall is right.”

“I am not leaving my friend behind—or my cat.” Her eyes blazed with pain and anger.Don’t you understand?her look seemed to say.

His poor choice of words had given her false hope. If he’d been toldshewas “most likely” dead, no way would he have left. As long as he believed there was a chance she was alive, hewouldn’t leave. Amity was like a sister to Faith, and she loved her cat.

“You stay. I’ll check on her and get Rusty,” he said.

“You both stay! Are you insane? Don’t you realize they’re looking for you?” Marshall glared. “I’ll go. I’ll check her cottage and the shop and then I’ll get the damn cat, okay?”

“But…what if she’s not there—” Faith started to protest.

“Okay!” Bragg hurriedly agreed to the compromise. They couldn’t scour the entire planet, conduct an exhaustive search for someone who was dead. If Marshall found anything, it would be Amity’s body. Would Faith accept his word? “If you find, uh, her, you’ll need to bring…”Proof of death.

“I understand.” Marshall caught the gist right away. “Keep the gangway up. If I don’t return in half an hour, launch the ship, and get the hell out of here,” he’d instructed. “Rogers and Glenn will start searching the spaceport, if they haven’t already. The AI can provide you with my notes. It will give you instructions on where to go and what to do.” He stalked down the gangway, muttering, “This is what I get for trying to save his fucking ass.”

Bragg closed the gangway and led Faith to a ready room to watch and wait.

A movement on the monitor caught his attention. He peered closer and sucked in a breath as a hovercar zoomed in and landed next to the spacecraft. Was that Marshall or Rogers and Glenn?

He got to his feet. A man bounded out of the hovercar. “Marshall’s back!”

“Is Amity with him?”

He watched Marshall stride around the vehicle. Bragg couldn’t see through the tinted windows. His CO bent into the passenger side of the vehicle and pulled out a duffel, which he slung over his shoulder. No Amity. No cat.

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