Betrothed Episode One by Odette C. Bell Page B

persistently writing it right onto my brain
cells.
    I rocked
back and forth, but nothing – nothing – could assuage my
fear.
    I had to
get to Hart.
    I had to
warn him.
    Yes,
that’s it – I had to warn him.
    My limbs
unlocked, and I jerked towards the door, stumbling, and having to
lock a hand onto the table to right myself.
    Before I
could take another step, I stopped myself.
    What the
hell was I doing?
    What the
hell was I thinking?
    I didn’t
know Hart, and what little I knew of him confirmed I hated the
guy.
    So why
was I turning to him now?
    I got
another compulsion to move, but I used every ounce of will to stop
myself in place.
    No.
    I wasn’t
going to do this. I was going to tell somebody what was happening
to me. I was going to request a brain scan or something. I was
going to ask for help.
    I was
not going to lurch my way out of here and find Hart, because that
was crazy.
    I
couldn’t deny something was happening to me, but if I wanted to
find out what it was and stop it, I had to be smart, not
reactive.
    Gritting
my teeth together, I tried to suck a breath through them. It was
the hardest thing ever, but I managed to keep myself standing and
away from the door, even though the compulsion to rush through it
kept surging in my mind.
    I took a
step away from the door, but my head jerked towards the view
instead, my eyes locking on that tower.
    I had to
warn Hart.
    It was
imperative I go to his side and warn him.
    Of
what?
    Did I
honestly think that vision, or whatever it was, was
real?
    I tried
to tell myself it couldn’t possibly be real, but it didn’t
work.
    All my
other visions – though they hadn’t been as complete and violent –
had come true.
    Somehow,
some crazy how, I could tell the future.
    And the
future was telling me that Illuminate Hart was in
danger.
    ...
    Captain Fargo
    There
wasn’t much that could be done. The terrorists – whoever they were
– had been meticulous.
    They had
destroyed all evidence.
    For a
so-called terrorist attack, it was too clean. They also hadn’t
taken out a population center or a building that would be missed.
Just a single floor on a single block in the lower
quarter.
    I stood
before one of the enormous long sets of stairs that led down into
the lower quarter. Both hands were in my pockets as I stared at my
security guards and watched them work.
    Miranda’s words kept echoing in my mind. She’d said this
building was the place they had been holding her for a
week.
    They.
    Who?
    What the
hell was going on here?
    Either
she was lying, or she was telling the truth, and I didn’t like
either option.
    As I
stood there, I suddenly got a call on my wrist device. I activated
the holo feed and linked it to my neural implant so my conversation
could be silent.
    It was
the Captain of the Corax.
    I’d gone
to the Academy with her, but she wasn’t calling for a friendly
chat.
    “ I received a request for information on Lieutenant Mark
Havelock,” she said before I could greet her.
    “ Thank you for getting back to me so quickly, but you needn’t
have called. I just want confirmation he’s on-board your
vessel.”
    “ And I called you, Francis, to tell you he isn’t.”
    “… Excuse me?”
    “ Lieutenant Mark Havelock was never assigned to my
vessel.”
    “ But the official records—”
    “ I know. I looked them up myself. They show he was assigned to
my ship, but I’m telling you, I okayed that assignment, and he sure
as hell isn’t here.”
    I
frowned, the move etching itself into my lips and chin. “What’s
going on?”
    “ Beats me. What do you want this man for anyway?”
    I
withdrew into silence.
    “ You can’t tell me, can you?” She asked
perceptively.
    “ I don’t know what’s going on yet, Bethany,
and until I do, I don’t want to speculate .”
    “ It’s meant to be impossible to fake Foundation Forces
assignment records,” she pointed out.
    I knew
that, and that’s the reason my gut was twisting and contorting as
if someone was