Page 73 of Hot Zone

The general’s voice was alarmed. “Are you all right? Did you call the police?”

“No. They didn’t take anything. They just photographed my research papers.”

“And the—”

“I’m not dumb enough to leave it lying around someplace so obvious, Bev.”

“Didn’t think so. I was just checking.”

Athena grinned at the relief in the woman’s voice. Then she grew sober. “But we do have a major problem. Someone’s onto our work, and they want to know what we’re doing. They’re clearly not friendly.”

“Do you think the Centaurian Federation is behind it?”

Athena frowned. “The energy signatures in my house are human.” She added grimly, “But I wouldn’t put it past the Centaurians to be meddling again. Wouldn’t surprise me in the least to find out they’re pulling some human’s strings on this one.”

Bev replied, “First the fire at the lab, and now this. I’m beefing up security for both the project and you, immediately.”

“Fine. Just don’t ask me to suspend the work. We’re too close now to stop.”

“Not if you die,” the former marine retorted sharply. “Come back to the lab so we can go over new security measures and I can get a guard detail assigned to you.”

Athena sighed. She’d known it would come to this. Just not this soon.

Rustam packed up their camp while Tessa perched on a large rock at the cave opening, staring out pensively at nothing. He glanced over at her occasionally but left her to her thoughts.

Who’d have guessed that human women would ultimately become so independent? The steady stream of observers sent from Centauri Prime was supposed to prevent this exact kind of development in human females.

What a hash he’d made of it. He’d genuinely thought she would be thrilled and honored to realize he’d given her a child. He hadn’t been kidding when he’d told her Centaurian women fought for the privilege.

And what was this about her having a career? Females had one purpose, and one purpose only. Even on Earth, a woman like Artemesia, who was queen and general and able ruler of a kingdom all by herself, was an extreme rarity. If modern women had abruptly become this strong and self-sufficient, no wonder the Centaurian council was so worried they might go after the Karanovo Stamp.

Recovering a piece of the stamp was why he’d been sent here in the first place. If the humans failed to recover all twelve pieces of the medallion, they would not be able to signal the Intergalactic Council. Just one piece of the stamp. That was all his kind had to find and remove from Earth.

He’d wondered why the sudden urgency when he’d been given this mission to time-travel back to ancient Earth, to find and recover a piece of the medallion. He was too skilled and high-ranking a star navigator to rate such a trivial assignment under normal circumstances. But it made perfect sense, now.

Unfortunately, staring at the back of Tessa’s head while she gazed at a distant hill wasn’t getting either of them closer to their respective goals. He interrupted her reverie quietly. “It’s time to go.”

He didn’t know why she was so hell-bent on recovering a simple map. Sailors in this time already had reasonably complete charts of this part of the world.

Even if her map of unknown seas and continents on the far side of the planet were found, the locals would likely put it down to inaccurate drawing or some sort of imaginary document of the gods’ underworld. A context existed for explaining away her map to these ancient people. If discovered, it shouldn’t derail the development of mankind.

But if the map was that important to her, so be it. After all, she was his consort, and the mother of his child. He owed her a certain amount of consideration.

The females of his kind didn’t usually become irrational and demanding until late in their pregnancies. Maybe these humans started earlier.

But, in her defense, Tessa had good cause to be angry with him. It hadn’t even remotely occurred to him that first night that human females might want some say in their reproductive processes. Now that he knew her better and understood how intelligent and liberated—that word had a sour taste in his mouth—a woman she was, he could see her point.

Not to mention that every star navigator learned in his first days of training never, ever, to involve himself with an indigenous species this personally. But damned if the woman didn’t completely bewitch him. It wasn’t an excuse for his behavior, of course. But it did help him unravel how he could’ve ended up in a mess like this.

It was midmorning before they finally cleared a long line of Greek soldiers off to their east. Rustam glanced over at Tessa, who was riding beside him stoically, steadfastly ignoring his existence.

He sighed. “Tell me of this human custom of marriage.”

She glanced at him, naked surprise flashing in her gaze. To her credit, she swallowed her anger for the moment and answered civilly. “Most humans take a single mate for life. Marriage is a ceremony wherein they promise to spend their lives together and forsake all others.”

He stared, shocked. “You would ask me to give up all my other females for you?”

She lurched in her saddle, startling Cygna badly enough that Rustam had to send out a quick calming to the mare lest she dump her rider off her back.

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