Bernadette by Tracy St. John

Author:Tracy St. John [John, Tracy St.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-10-07T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Present day

Bernadette was in a pitched battle with her feelings after Tumsa commed and asked her to join him at his home the next morning. “I have news that should only be delivered in person. Fortunately, it’s a holiday here on Haven, so no school and no team practice. Can you come?”

Had his contacts found Doljen? Why couldn’t he tell her over the com? She tried to keep calm, but she’d chewed off two fingernails on the shuttle ride to his home.

She was less than pleased to discover Hal standing in front of Tumsa’s door as she landed, the shuttle he’d evidently hired taking off. At least he’d had better sense than to take the second of her two shuttlecraft from the Rogue, particularly without asking. She’d have skinned him alive.

She had no chance to bark at him or vice versa. Tumsa was opening the door as she came within snarling distance of Hal. His expression said he was full of snarls that morning himself.

“Come in. I may have a lead on Doljen.” Tumsa ushered them in.

“May?” That hardly warranted an in-person meeting in her opinion, but his handsome features wore cautious excitement.

He gestured for them to take seats in his living room. “From anyone else, I wouldn’t get my hopes up, but Nobek Jol’s information is usually pretty solid. He used to be the head of Haven’s security, and he’s the clanmate of the former governor, who happened to owe me a favor.”

“Dramok Ospar?” Hal’s gaze narrowed. “He was involved in a scandal to do with the kidnappings that set off the Earth-Kalquor war.”

“Guilty or not, if you want information on someone, he and Jol are experts at digging it up.”

Bernadette was impatient to get past the history lesson. “What did these people tell you?”

“Doljen was last seen on Lobam. Jol says there’s no sign of him there at present, but there’s no record of him having left.”

“Lobam?” She’d made a number of supply runs to the Earthlike moon, one of five orbiting Kalquor.

Hal’s brow knitted with suspicion. “How can a person disappear on Lobam?”

“There’s a place called the Besyu District, where a very small population is located. Most of it’s unlivable desert, but there’s a border area of ocean and woodlands that are supposedly nice. From what Jol said, it’s the place to disappear if the residents will have you. Services are sparse, people there isolate themselves, and strangers aren’t exactly welcome.” Tumsa’s mouth curled in a hesitant smile. “Doljen briefly stayed in a city only an hour’s flight from Besyu. There, he bought a shuttle, along with a large supply of food and medicine. He vanished shortly afterward.”

“It sounds promising.” Excitement was growing in Bernadette’s gut. “Such a place might very well welcome a doctor.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“It’s worth checking into. If there isn’t a shipment scheduled from Haven to Lobam this week, I’ll toss my blades out an airlock when we hit space again,” Hal said.

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