Bianca D'Arc (3 page)

“
When we get there, I want you to
stay toward the back and observe the crowd.” Alex reached into his
shirt pocket and took out two small, flesh colored earpieces. He
handed her one. “Put this in. You know how to use it, right?” He
swiveled his head to look directly at her in the confined space. He
seemed to be searching for something, perhaps seeking knowledge
about the extent of her abilities and training. Fair
enough.

“
I do.” She held his gaze,
reinforcing the strength of will and surety of her own abilities
behind her insistence on being included on this mission.

He turned away, slipping the matching earpiece into
his ear. She followed suit.

“
Com check.”

“
Roger,” she gave the standard
military reply. “Check delta gamma.”

He sent her a sharp look at her
use of what amounted to military slang. Delta gamma also
meant
damn good
in the vernacular used by many soldiers. There were lots of
little things she knew that would astound him. She hadn’t gotten
the job—or the security clearance—she had without picking up a
thing or two along the way.

She was an unconventional operative, to be sure, but
she did have training and skills beyond her gift of foresight. She
could take care of herself. Maybe not as well as Alex could. After
all, he had years of combat experience. He could probably kill a
man fifty different ways with his bare hands. She couldn’t compete
on a brute force level and she knew it. She could, however, bring
down a man his size easily. Especially when they made the mistake
of underestimating her.

“
No recording,” he said shortly.
“I don’t allow records of my ops anymore. So we can talk
freely.”

“
Wise precaution. I assume the
earpieces are non-traceable as well.”

“
Is there any other kind?” He gave
her the ghost of a smile.

“
Not in our world, no.” She shook
her head. “Look, Alex, about last night—”

“
Stop right there, gorgeous. I
lost my composure for a minute, that’s all. I
apologize.”

So that’s the way he wanted to play it, eh? Fine.
She would let him get away with that for now. There was too much
going on to let their personal issues into the mix at the moment,
but the time would come soon—if they survived the next few
hours—when they could no longer ignore the attraction that affected
them both.

“
Apology accepted.” She turned her
face away, glad to see their pod coast out of the main tube and get
in the queue waiting for space at the disembarkation platform on
the departure concourse. “Looks like we’re on. I’ll station myself
on the northwest walkway up there. I’ll have a good look at the
crowd from that vantage point.”

“
I’ll be right below you. All you
have to do is point out the man in the chameleon suit. I’ll take
care of the rest.”

He might think so, but her gift said different. She
knew she had to do a lot more than just identify the assassin from
afar. In her vision, she’d seen herself grappling with the man,
hand-to-hand. She knew she wouldn’t end this day without more than
a few bruises.

Of course, Alex would go ballistic if he thought she
was in any danger. She chose the path of least resistance, telling
him only what he needed to know. The rest would unfold as Fate
demanded.

They departed the pod and with a final nod, she
headed for the upper level walkway from which she would scan the
crowd. Alex could hear and speak to her through the earpiece and
she welcomed his low-voiced updates in her ear as he made his way
into the sea of people, cargo and luggage filling the vast area.
From this concourse, people and things would enter or leave the
giant passenger and cargo ships that docked with the station every
day. It was organized chaos but it seemed to work.

“
See anything?” Alex asked.
Hearing him like that, over the earpiece, was like having him
whisper into her ear. She had to suppress a shiver of response at
the intimate tone. She knew he didn’t mean it to be arousing. Silly
her, she couldn’t help but get excited by Alex’s least gesture,
touch, or even the murmur of his voice in her ear.

“
Nothing yet.” She got a grip on
herself and searched the crowd from top to bottom. “He’s not here
yet,” she reported a moment later. “If we see the party of jits,
we’ll know the assassins aren’t far behind.”

“
I remember the kid,” Alex told
her. “I’ll know him again if I see him.”

“
Good. Let me know if you spot
him.” That would at least give her a clue that the time for action
was near. Nothing could happen without the target being present.
She knew that much from her vision.

“
Roger that.”

Della settled down to wait, scrutinizing every
person that passed through the large concourse as best she could.
Every few minutes, she completed her scan of the entire cavernous
room and started over from the beginning. She was on her fifth or
sixth pass when she spotted something amiss.

“
The kid’s here,” Alex reported.
“He’s behind your position. Just walked in with his friends. The
old guy and the soldiers.”

She resisted spinning around to look. Something was
off in the sea of faces in front of her. She had to reach inside to
where her gift lived. She needed to see what was true and what
wasn’t.

There. She tapped the psychic part of her mind and
what was revealed made her want to scream.

“
There’s a team of them, Alex.
Waiting in ambush below the walkway. Four men. Two on each side.”
She was breathless as she sought a way to stop what she dreaded was
coming. Would they be too late, or too little, to save the young
man after all?

“
I’m coming. Hold position!” Alex
shouted in her ear even as she lifted one leg clear of the railing.
People around her on the walkway gasped as she bypassed the
security features and balanced on a thin ledge, waiting for her
perfect moment.

“
I can’t, Alex. I’m taking the two
on your right. You need to get the two on the left.”

“
Dammit, Della!”

“
We can’t wait, Alex.” So saying,
she stepped off the ledge, aiming her fall to the unsuspecting
assassin below. With any luck, she could take out both of them in
one shot.

But luck was not on her side. Not at that moment.
She landed on one man, quickly disabling him with a blow to the
temple. He’d be out for a while. His friend was another story.

The two on the other side of the corridor didn’t
engage her, but the one who’d been with the man she’d clobbered
came at her, fists flying. She ducked as best she could, but a few
hard punches got through her defenses. Someone called station
security as chaos erupted around them. People ran, women screamed,
one or two civilian men probably thought about helping her but one
look at the giant swinging at her made them think twice.

The hesitation cost her. She could hold her own for
a few minutes more, but not without sustaining some serious damage.
This guy was a monster.

“
Della!” Alex’s shout made her
look up. She sidestepped a fist that would have hit her square on
the chin and saw the young man and his entourage walk blithely into
range of the other team. Alex was too far away, though he was doing
his best to get through the hysterical crowd pouring out of the
wide corridor that passed under the walkway.

She saw one of the other assassins raise a bulky
weapon of some kind. There was no time. She had to act.

With a shrieking war cry, she launched herself
across the corridor, ignoring the grasping hands of the man she’d
been fighting. Running and leaping at the last possible minute, she
plowed into the man with the weapon. It went off and a cloud
enveloped her for a moment, choking her briefly before it
dissipated into the station’s highly efficient air scrubbers.

“
Bitch!” The man she’d knocked
over pulled her hair as he shoved her away. He cocked his weapon
and took aim again but the man she’d been fighting across the
corridor grabbed her arms from behind, drawing her backward,
kicking and screaming.

Then Alex was there. He moved so fast, she could
barely follow. He downed the second man who’d been lying in wait
across the corridor without even breaking stride. The weapon went
flying after dispersing another small cloud. A split second later,
her arms were released as the man behind her fell unconscious.

“
You all right?” Alex asked
tersely as he paused to look at her.

She nodded and started running. “Have to save the
heir,” she whispered through wheezes. The gas had done something to
her, but she had to fight through it. She had to save that young
jit man. Millions of lives depended on it.

Alex was at her side as she herded the small party
of jits toward the embarkation area. The young man’s guards had
already taken stock of the situation and were moving them along in
the wake of fleeing people.

“
Who are you?” the old man
demanded.

“
Friends,” Della replied. “Where
is your ship?”

“
Bay One. We have a priority
launch. Your doing?” The old man was chatty, but she didn’t mind as
long as they kept moving. She kept her eyes peeled for more of the
chameleon suited team. She didn’t want to bank on there being only
four of them.

“
Yes, sir. The sooner you’re back
where you belong, the sooner I can rest. It’s my job to make sure
you get off this station in one piece.”

“
A woman?” The old man seemed
nonplussed by the idea.

“
Sorry to disappoint you, sir, but
in the Milky Way we utilize all talents. Not just those that come
with a—”

“
Della,” Alex interrupted her with
a grin on his handsome face. “Let’s save the chatter until they’re
aboard their ship.”

Knowing he’d just saved her from an intergalactic
incident didn’t sit well, but she acknowledged the wisdom of his
words. They were running now in a mostly empty concourse. Station
guards began arriving, belatedly, and took the four unconscious men
into custody.

There had to be more. The little hairs on her arms
stood up at attention. It wasn’t a good sign. The danger wasn’t
over. She could sense it.

They reached Bay One at a jog only to find the way
blocked by four more men. All shimmered with the glow of chameleon
suits only she could see.

“
They aren’t who they appear to
be,” she stated quietly. The men looked like simple dock workers,
wearing the coverall uniform of those who operated the lifts and
handled the baggage. A nice disguise. Too bad she could see right
through it.

“
Let me handle this.” Alex stepped
forward, two of the jit guards flanking him.

Della was just as glad when the three men downed the
four would-be assassins. Alex got two of them in the time it took
the guards to deal with the other two. They stood back to let the
young man and the rest of the party pass into the open hatch when
Della caught a burst of movement from behind.

Without pausing to think, she launched herself at
the young man, tackling him and pushing him into the craft as
everyone else piled in behind. Alex slammed the hatch closure as
conventional ammunition thunked against the armor plating. One of
the soldiers who’d been at the rear of the party was bleeding
profusely. He’d been hit by a slug meant for the young man.

The youngster turned his head to look at her as she
rolled away on the metal grating of the ship’s entry. He was a
handsome young man but the gaping surprise on his face was almost
laughable. She would have laughed, if she could’ve caught her
breath. Her throat was closing and her eyesight growing dim. She’d
been poisoned by that gas cloud. Likely, Alex had too. Her gaze
sought his across the small space.

“
Alex…” she whispered before the
gas put her under. If she died from this day’s work at least she’d
have the satisfaction of having saved a man that held the fate of
millions of souls in his hands. And the last thing she’d ever see
would be Alex’s beloved face.

Chapter Three

“
Would someone care to explain
exactly what is going on here?” The young man pushed up off the
floor and looked around.

“
It would be my pleasure but I’m
afraid my lady and I have both been dosed with sarulin gas meant
for you. Please tell me you have a doctor on board.”

“
Of course.” It was the old man
who answered. He slapped the com panel at the side of the hatch and
started barking orders.

Alex went to Della, taking her in his arms, hoping
the med team would be there in time. They had to be in time to save
her. She was precious to him. Fight as he would against the
impossible attraction, he didn’t want to live without her.

A minute later, a doctor showed up with a couple of
transport lifts and a needle to halt the progress of the poison in
Della’s beautiful body. Alex saw the antidote delivered before
succumbing himself to the effect of the toxin.

The next thing Alex knew, he was in a medical
facility. He recognized the doctor who’d treated Della in the
airlock and realized he was still on the ship. He sat up, looking
for Della, relaxing marginally when he saw her sleeping in the bed
across the small aisle.

The doctor noticed his movement and came over.

“
How are you feeling?”

“
Sick to my stomach, but otherwise
okay.”