Babylon 5 07 - The Shadow Within (Cavelos, Jeanne) by Jeanne The Shadow Within by Cavelos

Author:Jeanne The Shadow Within by Cavelos [The Shadow Within by Cavelos, Jeanne]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2013-01-27T08:44:57.469361+00:00

"That is a three!"

Standish yelled, waving a card in front of Churlstein. Churlstein squinted, his head swaying along with the card. Morden, seated at the head of the table, saw her first. He was pounding his finger into the table, making a point to someone.

"Now you wish we'd raised the stakes," Scott said.

"Hey, Sheridan!"

She waved at Anna, a goofy grin on her face. Her short white hair was standing up every which way.

"Come help me beat the pants off these boys."

Several of them turned toward her, called encouragement.

"No thanks. I'm beat."

Morden stood, took a long gulp from his mug, and wiped all of his chips onto an empty plate.

"Deal me out," he said over the protests of the others.

He approached Anna.

"What's wrong?"

A mild look of concern moderated his smile.

"Nothing." Anna shook her head.

"I just tried to send a message to my husband and found out the communications are down."

"Oh. Well, I'm sure they'll be back on line soon. It can't be serious, can it?"

His dark eyes studied her.

"I don't know."

She looked back over at the table, her hand tapping nervously at her leg. She couldn't trust him. She couldn't trust anyone.

"It's just, you know how it is, it's the holidays, and you want to talk to someone..."

His smile rose, and she realized what she had said.

"I understand," he said.

"Oh. Listen. I almost forgot. I have something for you."

The box was in her sweater pocket. It seemed odd now, her giving him a present, but she'd done it and she might as well give it to him. She should keep acting normally.

"Sounds mysterious."

"It's just a little New Year's present. Let's go next door."

They went into the main lab, and Anna turned on one of the workstation lights, which illuminated a table and various hanging pieces of equipment. They sat on two stools on the same side of the table. The rest of the lab hung around them in shadow. Morden laid his plate of chips on the table, the harsh overhead light creating pools of shadow in his eyes, below his nose, his lips.

"That was the weirdest New Year's Eve party I've ever attended."

"Same here. But it looks like you made out pretty well," she said, indicating his pile of chips.

She realized then that Morden's pile had been the biggest of anyone's at the table. His voice was smooth.

"I'm a pretty good poker player."

"You're not drunk at all, are you?"

"I'm afraid I'm a maudlin drunk. I wouldn't have been any fun at all."

"You like misleading people, don't you?"

The words came out before she could stop them. He folded his hands, careful, noticing the change in Anna.

"Not misleading, no. I don't enjoy that. Except in poker. But I don't wear my heart on my sleeve. I don't enjoy broadcasting my private life to the world. I suppose I did that right after the explosion. I was out of control. And I regret it."

His body settled with a breath.

"But I don't go about my job the same way as Ms. Donne, if that's what you mean.

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