The Cold Between by Elizabeth Bonesteel Page A

her.
    She turned and grinned at Ted. “Good morning, Lieutenant,” she greeted him. “How does the day find you?”
    Ted Shimada was, at most times, a good-looking man, lean-muscled and hearty, but this morning he looked haggard. “There’s a remote possibility I had too much to drink last night.” She laughed aloud, and he winced. “Fuck, Lanie. Seriously.” He squinted at her. “You are cheerful, aren’t you? Who’d you spend the night under?”
    â€œSome guy I met in a bar.”
    â€œYou? Picked up some spaceport cruiser? I don’t believe it.”
    â€œHe wasn’t a cruiser,” she told him. “He was PSI.”
    That shocked most of the hangover right out of him. “Seriously? You picked up a pirate ?”
    â€œWell,” she said, a little alarmed at his response, “sort of. He’s retired.”
    Ted’s expression froze, and his eyes took on a cunning look. “You picked up an old pirate.”
    â€œOld my ass,” she declared, turning back to her task. “I didn’t sleep.”
    â€œYeah? How long?”
    â€œSix hours, give or take.”
    He shook his head in wonder. “Jessica is going to tell everyone on board, and the comms guys are going to stare at you like cats in heat for a month. ”
    She stopped and turned back to him. “Actually,” she said hesitantly, “I was thinking of telling Jess I hid in some dive hotel alone all night.”
    â€œYou think you can sell that?”
    â€œCan’t I?”
    â€œLet’s see.” He considered her. “Stop smiling so much.”
    She drew her lips together and tried to look serious.
    â€œStand up straighter. Be military.”
    She stood at attention.
    â€œNow stop humming.”
    She had not realized she was still doing it. Swallowing a grin, she complied.
    He shrugged. “That’s not bad. Of course,” he added, as she went back to the preflight, “that big-ass hickey on your neck pretty much gives the game away.”
    Elena put a hand to her throat. Sure enough, there was a tender spot under her left ear. She glared at Ted, who put up his hands in self-defense.
    â€œDon’t yell at me, ” he objected. “ I didn’t bite you.”
    The others trickled in as she worked, ticking their names off at the wall terminal. Fifteen minutes from departure she had twenty-one; not a bad showing from a roster of thirty. Most of the stragglers were from the Demeter crew; the few who hadalready arrived waited outside the shuttle for their friends, talking to each other in low voices and falling silent every time a Galileo soldier walked by. Elena did not understand them. Enthusiastic friendship was hardly required, but Demeter ’s borrowed soldiers seemed intent on open hostility between the two crews. She should have asked the bay officer to assign them a dedicated shuttle, but she supposed that made her no better than they were.
    Belatedly it occurred to her that Danny might be on this shuttle as well, and would hear how she had spent her evening. Well, she had made it clear to him when she turned down his invitation the day before that he had no claim on her any longer. He had thrown that away all on his own.
    She had finished her check of the ship’s air seals and was turning to look for the dispatcher when she came face-to-face with Jessica, who had crept up silently behind her. Despite the fact that Jessica was likely just as hungover as Ted, she looked perfect: coppery hair tamed away from her face, expression bright-eyed and alert, the picture of a disciplined officer. Except that she was staring at the bruise on Elena’s neck, her expression cheerfully curious.
    â€œSo,” she asked, “did you find someone else?”
    Elena shook her head, and saw her friend’s eyes widen slowly. “ Seriously? ” she said, nearly shrieking. “You fucked a pirate ? Those guys are