Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 5

2,500 credits. He didn't even have twenty five.
    When Drake spoke, his voice was softer. "What had he done to anger them?"
    "Nothing," Sebastian snapped. "He never did anything to them, just ran his mouth at a local tavern and someone took offense. We aren't a part of this war."
    Drake's look was faintly pitying. "Everyone's a part of the war."
    Defeat washed over him, along with a trace of nausea. Probably his stomach would reject the food and he'd end up vomiting all over Drake's boots. Serve him right.
    "What was his name?" Drake asked. His tone was casual, as if the answer didn't matter, but Sebastian knew it did.
    "Would you,–"Sebastian licked his chapped lips. "Would you be able to find out what's happened to him?"
    There was no artifice in Drake's face, only uncertainty. "They would have taken the prisoners during the raid. There's no telling what happened to them."
    His father could be dead, he meant. Even though the grief stabbed his gut, it would be better to know. "Everyone calls him El Basque. Please. If you could find him, if he's still alive, if maybe you could help him --"
    "It's best that you don't get your hopes up," Drake said softly.
    "I'd do anything. I don't have any information, I swear it, but I could get it. I could enlist, maybe, and send you reports." Sebastian trailed a look down Drake's hard body and whispered, "I'd do whatever you want."
    Drake didn't reply to his impassioned plea, didn't react at all except to walk over to the door. He rapped sharply and the two guards entered. Even while they dragged him out of the chair and toward the hall, Sebastian kept his eyes on Drake. He stared into the blue of his unfathomable gaze and wondered if it was the last bit of sky he'd ever see.
    ****
    Folsom kept him waiting a full revolution before he summoned Drake to his office. In that time Drake thought about the pain in Sebastian's eyes when he talked about that prisoner, the grief. He may not have believed his story initially. The wrong place, the wrong time – it was too convenient. Too damned familiar. But when he'd seen the grief over his friend, he'd known that part of his story was true.
    If this El Basque was truly a prisoner of the rebels, then it didn't make sense that Sebastian worked with them. His story was all the more tragic because it was hopeless. If this El Basque survived the raid, he was probably in an interrogation room on this same compound. Neither of them would get free if they couldn't supply the Ke'lan with something useful.
    "You requested a meeting?" Folsom asked when Drake arrived.
    Drake ignored the nod to the chair and remained standing. "I need information on the raid. One of the prisoners."
    Folsom folded his pudgy fingers into a mash of flesh and rested it atop his belly. "What is this for?"
    "The man I'm interviewing. They have a connection." Drake had also had time to consider the nature of that connection. He already knew that Sebastian had an attraction to men, and the acute pain in his eyes at the thought of the man's death spoke of deep affection.
    El Basque. The name evoked images of a Spanish sunset and rich wine. Were they lovers? He could imagine a Latin physique perfectly matched to Sebastian's. He could imagine a fiery spirit pitted against Sebastian's passion, in sharp contrast to his own staidness. He had to get those images under control or he would embarrass himself in front of his superior officer.
    Folsom cocked his head, jowls swinging. "Why do you care?"
    Drake shrugged, as if he wasn't personally invested. He couldn't be. "It could be leverage. Just doing my job."
    Folsom sighed heavily and stared off in front of him. "I gave you this assignment because you had some time before your next excursion. Perhaps that was a mistake."
    "No, sir," Drake cut in.
    "Information extraction isn't your specialty. There's no shame in that. You're our best tactical officer. I don't want you to burn yourself out over a puny little runt."
    Drake paused. Folsom wasn't wrong about his tactical skills, and he needed to use them now. He was about to lose access to Sebastian, he could hear it in Folsom's voice. He had to change that, had to win him over. It clearly had not worked to imply that Sebastian had nothing to offer.
    "I believe he's deep in the underground," Drake said slowly.
    Folsom leaned forward.
    "That's why he's inured to the normal interrogation tactics." Not that a handjob and a meal counted as normal interrogation tactics. "He's well trained."