Blood Will Tell Read Online Free

which was more than she could say of the boys her own age.
    But when she sat down in his office and poured out her troubles to him, at first he had looked away, his pleasant features clouded.
    “We can file a missing-persons report, of course,” he said formally, and she could see his blue eyes shift past her to the two soldiers standing on either side of his open door.
    “How can he be missing if I’m pretty sure I know where he is?” she demanded, and after that he stood and palmed the door shut, then returned to his desk.
    “I wish I could help you, Mia,” he said, and even the sound of her father’s nickname on his lips had brought the tears she had been suppressing for too long to her eyes.
    “Why can’t you, Captain Malick?” She had been deliberately formal, using his title, although she had spoken his given name before in private.
    Even though the door was shut, he had lowered his voice. “The GDF has a policy of not getting involved in Mast’s affairs. We leave him alone, and he leaves us alone to do as we wish. The arrangement has worked thus far.”
    “Even if innocent people are involved?”
    “Unfortunately, yes.”
    She’d wanted to hate him then, but couldn’t; the dismay in his face was all too obvious. He wasn’t responsible for the Gaian government’s edicts and was only trying to make the best of a difficult situation. An officer who asked too many questions would soon find himself on the fast track to nowhere—although she couldn’t think of many posts worse than Iradia. It was, as she’d heard one of the soldiers comment once, the “ass-end of space.”
    “So what am I supposed to do?” she’d asked at length. “Just pretend that nothing’s happened?”
    “That would be the wisest course, yes.” Unexpectedly, he had reached out and taken one of her hands in his. “I know this is improper of me, but—”
    She’d narrowed her eyes then, wondering what was going to come next. Unwanted advances were certainly the last thing she needed right now.
    But he had surprised her. “I have enough saved to get you off-world. You could be in danger, if your father has let Mast know that he has family here. Let me get you away from here—my tour is over in three months, and I could come see you before I’m sent on to my next post.”
    The unexpected generosity almost undid her. It would have been so easy to let Captain Malick take care of her, hustle her off-world to someplace safe. Perhaps he had convinced himself that he was in love with her, or perhaps it was merely some sense of old-fashioned honor that spurred him to attempt her rescue.
    She hadn’t known what to say. She’d made a few inarticulate attempts, had begun to really cry, then let him fold her into his arms and hold her while she wept. If nothing else, it had felt good to have his strong arms around her, to feel the reassuring roughness of his uniform jacket against her cheek.
    In the end she had been able to leave without really promising anything, knowing even then that she would never forgive herself if she didn’t do something to avenge her father’s death. What poor Captain Malick thought of her disappearance, she didn’t want to contemplate. Probably that Mast’s goons had spirited her away, finishing the job once and for all.
    But now Mast was dead, along with all the rest of his hangers-on. It wouldn’t be too long before the next piece of scum rushed in to fill the vacuum his death had caused, but Miala thought she had a few days before the news spread. She only hoped that a few days would be enough.
    The compound was empty of all but a few maintenance mechs, for which she was thankful. She never thought she’d be grateful for Mast’s raging ego, but obviously he had wanted the largest audience possible for his latest—and last—round of executions.
    There was the slightest shift of the hand that lay beneath hers, and she glanced down, startled. Thorn did look better after all; the shadows under his