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me now.”
    “ That is what I thought.”
    Lana felt the sedative the moment Louise
pumped it into her blood stream. “Damn it, Louise. I’m going to
pull your plug one of these days,” she muttered.
    “ That’s a completely illogical
response, Ranger Eloy. If you did that, I would not be able to
attend your medical needs.”
    As Lana felt herself drifting away, a sudden
thought leapt into her mind. “Where’s Corin?”
    “ Captain Thantos is not currently on
the ship. Shall I summon him?”
    “ Yes. And open the damned tube. I
don’t need it now.”
    It took a strenuous effort to remain awake
until she felt Corin’s presence beside her. She opened her eyes,
looking up at him. “Don’t go after Sadin without me.”
    He leaned down. “It will be best if I go
alone. I only waited because I wanted to be certain that you would
be all right before I left.”
    Lana struggled and finally managed to grab
hold of his hand. “We can’t afford to be separated now. He’s seen
your face. He knows we’re together.”
    Corin frowned. “You will be safe here.”
    She tightened her grip on his hand. “You
don’t understand. We’re both more vulnerable to his attack now. A
year ago, Sadin killed my partner, Patrick. He morphed into a
perfect likeness of me, walked right up to Patrick, and blew his
head off before Patrick realized it wasn’t me. We didn’t know,
until then, that he was a chameleon, and Patrick and I had been
working together for three years. We trusted one another.
    “ If you leave me here, he can get to
both of us. He’ll know that even if we suspected, we would
hesitate, and that would be all he would need.”
    Corin frowned. “I would know you. His
subterfuge cannot work when we know his capabilities.”
    Lana sighed, but she was too near drug
induced sleep to allow room for much irritation. “Then you will be
safe,” she muttered. “I won’t be. I let you get too close. I
wouldn’t take the chance that I was wrong.”
     

Chapter Seven
    Lana was ready to set out after Sadin as
soon as she woke—in spirit. Physically, she realized as soon as she
made her first trip across sickbay that she wasn’t in any condition
to leave immediately. After a brief internal debate, she headed for
her cabin, made use of the facilities to freshen up, and then
collapsed on her bunk.
    When the faintness had passed, she rolled
onto her side and called up a display of the area and the files on
Sadin. She was deeply immersed in sifting through the puzzle of
where Sadin might have gone when Corin came looking for her some
time later. Several minutes passed before she realized he hadn’t
moved from the doorway.
    As it slowly filtered through her mind, she
pulled her attention from the files and glanced at him curiously.
His expression was taut, his gaze fixed on the curling thatch of
hair between her crossed thighs. As if he sensed her watching him,
he dragged his gaze up her body. Their eyes locked for several
moments before it dawned on Lana that Corin wasn’t accustomed to
nudity.
    Without a word, she rose from the bunk and
moved to her locker. Removing a long, loose robe, she slipped into
it and dropped onto her bunk once more. “I was trying to figure out
where to look for Sadin.”
    Corin frowned and moved closer, studying the
display. After a moment, he moved to the end of the bunk so that he
could see it correctly. Lana moved over and patted the bed. “It’ll
be easier to see if you sit here beside me.”
    He glanced down at her hand. Finally, almost
reluctantly, he leaned his trident against the bulk head and
settled on the bed beside her. Lana glanced at the wicked looking
trident that was never far from his hands and shrugged mentally. It
wasn’t a bad idea to be prepared. She doubted Sadin would attempt
anything on their ground, but there was no sense in taking
unnecessary risks. It was only through sheer luck that she’d
managed to escape him with her life. She’d have felt better if