Page 6 of Bradi

Lacing the desire to continue to look upon her demise, she barked new orders at the chip. “Not that damage! The damage to life forms.” She had to be vague because several of the beings on board the ship were anything but humanoid. She knew their secrets and she held them close to the vest.

The initial scans revealed that seventy-five percent of the crew had been killed. The picture that the ship showed her of the mess hall was enough to make her have to swallow down the bile in her throat. No one in the mess hall had survived.

Startled by the horrific images that were now displayed in her mind, Marisa stumbled backwards and screamed out when something seized hold of her waist. Peter was gone and she was alone in the room. Nothing should have been there with her.

“Calm down, woman, it’s me,” a deep, heavily accented voice said from behind her. “Your arm? What the hell happened to it?”

“Bradi?” she asked, shocked by his sudden British inflection. It sounded so natural, so right for him that she wondered if that too was part of what he hid from the Commission. “Peter isn’t here.”

He turned her to face him, his brows meeting. “I’m not here for him.”

“What?” she asked, feeling light headed.

Bradi lifted her injured arm and his eyes widened at the sight of her blood soaked uniform. “What happened?”

“It was an accident,” she said, swaying slightly.

He growled and it sounded so animal like that it caught her off guard. “The cut is deep. Very deep.”

She touched his chest with her other hand. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine. But you’re not. Where the hell is Pete? Why did he leave you like this alone?”

“He had to go help everyone else,” she said, leaning against him. “Isn’t that where you should be too?”

“I’m exactly where I should be,” he snapped before jerking her against his powerful frame. “More than just your arm is hurt, Doc.”

“What?” she asked, unable to think clearly. She suspected it was from blood loss. The cut had been much deeper than she’d first thought.

“Your side,” said Bradi, an accent still present. “It’s injured.”

“It is?” she asked. “Nothing hurts.”

“Shit,” he returned, caressing her good arm. “You’re in shock. You’re hurt, Doc. Trust me. I can sense it on you.”

Confused, she met his gaze. “Sense it?”

His nostrils flared. “Pete shouldn’t have fucking left you. As his woman, you should be the single most important thing in the world to him. You should come before all others.”

“Others? Bradi, I have to help the others.”

He grunted. “We’re getting you to safety. Let’s go.”

She shook her head. “No. The ship has some survivors and they need me.”

“We need to get you to a release POD and treat that wound. Dr. Graves has ordered you off the ship. He wants you at the rendezvous point to care for the wounded there, not on board right now. The ship is too damaged to remain on it.” He paused. “And there are only a few survivors left.”

“I know.” Not wanting to think about the massive amount of fatalities that had flashed in her mind, she nodded and took Bradi’s hand in hers. She didn’t know how he’d found her or why, exactly, he had come to Peter’s quarters if he wasn’t looking for Peter, but she was happy he was there.

His brow furrowed as he looked down at their joined hands. “It will be okay, baby. I promise.”

Normally, Marisa would have snapped at Bradi, or any man for that matter, angry that he’d called her a pet name. Now, it was music to her ears. Something deep within her wanted that to be true, wanted everything to be fine and for her to be his significant other. It was absurd but there nonetheless. Squeezing his hand tighter, she offered him a slight smile. “I trust you even if it turns out you really are part toad.”

He winked. “Come on.” Bradi pulled her down the long hallway and past the medic chambers.

“Wait!” she cried out, digging her heels into the floor.

At six foot six, Bradi towered above her. When he looked down at her and shook his head, she had to take a tiny step back to fully appreciate how intimidating he could be. “We don’t have time for this, Doc. The ship isn’t stable and life support is dropping as we speak. Give it another few minutes and we’ll all be frozen to death or sucked into space. That’s not really my idea of fun, so let’s go.”

---