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bigger than the bunk in the middle. This was a huge room
with light coming in through the ceiling and full-sized beds lined up against
the wall.
    “Ah, Tom Frieden. It’s nice to see you responding to the
stimi. How are you feeling?” A doctor or nurse with his white coat came over to
hover over Tom and make him feel uncomfortable. He didn’t like people standing
over him and he frowned up at the man to show just how unhappy he was.
    “Like horse shit,” Tom answered honestly. The staff member
had been reaching out to poke and prod at Tom, but that made him pause for a
second. “What the hell hit me?” Tom demanded. His throat felt raw and
scratched, so he guessed he’d been out for a while and they’d either had the
machines feeding him or breathing for him. It wasn’t a pleasant thought either
way.
    “Well, we received limited information, but you appear to
have been in an explosion.” The man smiled as he jabbed Tom in the kidneys. Tom
stared at the idiot. He’d pretty much figured that one out on his own.
    “No shit, genius. What kind of explosion? How’s the rest of
the crew?”
    The guy kept poking at Tom and then recording something on
his little handheld.
    “Nice to know you’re thinking about us,” Ramsay said. Tom
looked up to find the captain lying two beds over. “Eli is out already. He only
had a broken bone and Becca was safe in the Kratos . We got the worst of
it, and I don’t mind saying I am too damn old to be getting blown up, but no
one’s dead. Well, no one except the men we killed.”
    Tom sighed and leaned back, relieved at that. Fact was that
Becca wasn’t much of a pilot, but she was someone who made Tom think of the
girls back home—all sweetness until some storm ripped through and then you got
to see how strong they were. His worst fear had been that the Kratos had
gone up, taking Becca with it.
    “Turns out the crate was booby trapped. When the heat from
the engines hit it, the whole shipment blew sky high.”
    “Da’shay?” Tom wasn’t a fan, but he didn’t like the thought
of her blowing up without any warning.
    “You know genta .” Ramsay shrugged and then he gave a
hiss of pain that suggested he had more injuries than Tom could see. “She said
that the heat was a new experience.”
    Tom sat up, ignoring the unhappy squawk the doctor gave and
the even more unhappy flare of pain in his hip. He grabbed at his leg and
groaned in pain before he could get his words out. “She knew. That fucking
daughter of a pox-sick cow knew.”
    “What? Tom, calm down,” Ramsay said, his voice dark with
warning.
    “Tick tock, isn’t that was she was saying right before we
all just about got blown to pieces? Tick tock?” Tom demanded. He might have
gotten out of bed so he could stalk over to Ramsay’s bed to make his point
better, but his hip felt as if it were on fire from the inside.
    “Corporal!” Ramsay barked out. He wasn’t a big man, not like
Tom, and he was actually kind of average looking and starting to look like a
curly haired grandfather, but when Ramsay got mad, he had a terrifying ‘do not
fuck with me’ expression. He glared at Tom now, daring him to push this any
farther, and Tom pressed his lips into a thin line, struggling to pull back
before he went too far. He respected Ramsay enough to not say all things he was
thinking right now.
    “Sir,” Tom said more carefully, “I’d like to point out that
Da’shay was saying something about whispers and ticking before the bomb went
off. It might be, sir, that she knew there was a bomb in there.” He felt as if
he were going to explode with emotion, but he reined it all back in.
    “That had occurred to me,” Ramsay agreed. “Tom, let the
doctor tend you. I need you healthy and on your feet, not lame and hobbling
around on crutches.”
    “And Da’shay?”
    “She’s already walking around fine,” Ramsay said, and Tom
frowned, wondering if the man had misunderstood him or if he was being too