Born of Shadows (32 page)

Hauk groaned audibly at the sound of the Enforcers firing on their door hatch, trying to break in. He met Caillen’s gaze. “For the record, it’s a death sentence to anyone caught helping you guys. Just so you know.”

“Appreciate the IFO update, pun’kin.” Caillen made that strange clicking noise with his tongue at him. “And that’s new for us how?”

Hauk sighed heavily. “I hate you, Dagan. I really do.”

“Know you do.” Caillen started flipping switches over his head. “Now pucker up, baby, you’re about to have to kiss my ass for saving yours.”

Fain snorted as he pulled his mask back into place. “I’ll get the engines fired. May the gods be with us. This has all the markings of a very short trip.”

Caillen smirked with a nonchalance Desideria definitely didn’t feel as he took over the controls and did a prelim check. “Who wants to live forever?”

Actually, she wouldn’t mind a small dose of immortality. The concept worked well for her.

Fain muttered as the engines roared to life, “Yeah, but no one said I wanted to die today.”

In spite of the danger and her racing heart, Desideria laughed at his dry words. Normal men would be terrified, but Caillen, Hauk and Fain seemed to thrive on imminent danger. Their attitudes were infectious and it brought the warrior in her to the forefront and made her ready to fight to the bitter end. “Where are the guns?”

All three men turned to her with curious stares that annoyed her. “I know how to fight, boys. I am Qillaq.” She narrowed her gaze at Caillen. “You might be able to fly anything with wings. I can shoot anything with a trigger and if it can be aimed, I can use it to maim.”

He did a charming sweep of her body that turned her body strangely hot. It also made her feel very feminine and desirable. “Baby, I never doubted you for a minute.”

Fain jerked his chin to Hauk. “Take her up and don’t get hurt. I’d have to kill your ass if you did.”

She didn’t even want to comment on the oddity of that particular threat. Hauk inclined his head to Fain before he pulled Desideria toward the rear of their ship.

Caillen slid gracefully from the navigator’s into the pilot’s chair as an ion cannon blast struck the shuttle so hard it caused it to rock. Just like old times for him—it wasn’t a launch unless he was under massive local fire. The steel around them squealed in protest, but lucky for them it held. They only had a few seconds before the authorities were in and they were dead.

Really, it would be impossible to fly a shuttle with a giant hole in the door and he ought to know since he’d tried to do it on more than one occasion.

The good news was, he’d actually succeeded in doing it.

Once.

Don’t go there.
Some memories just needed to be purged.

Fain arched a brow as he took the con. “You going to jerk my guts out?”

“Probably.”

Another loud blast rocked the craft.

“Now that’s just rude.” Caillen flipped another switch over his head which generated a pulse shield. He heard the soldiers curse and whine as it knocked them flying.

Good, you little bastards. I hope it leaves a mark and ruins your sex plans for at least a week.

He did the final sys check and felt the blood pick up its pace in his bloodstream. The ship was ready to launch.

Except for the fact that the hangar bay door was still closed and reinforcements were arriving by the dozens to keep it blocked and them from leaving.

“That don’t look promising,” Hauk said through the intercom.

All of a sudden, blasts shot from their ship to the Enforcers. The authorities scrambled for cover as the bright color bursts exploded around them and left marks all over the walls of the bay.

Putting the mic in his ear, Caillen grinned at Desideria’s precision. She nailed everything she aimed for which wasn’t the soldiers. She blasted close enough to keep them down or scatter them away from the exit, but not enough to kill.

Go, baby.
He respected her mercy and it said a lot about her that she wasn’t gunning them down.

While she did that, Fain hammered the hangar door with their cannons. The hole he created wasn’t that big, but Caillen should be able to squeeze through.

Unless he sneezed. The slightest miscalculation would kill them faster than the Enforcers.

Caillen dropped the grav weights and held the throttle wide open as he headed for the opening at full speed—a fool’s pace indeed and one he was famed for.

He scowled at the angry voices from the Enforcers’ open channel that echoed in his ear. “Is my Andarion rusty or did they just call us the ass of a dung beetle?”

Hauk laughed over the intercom. “You’re an idiot. They said they’re launching fighters to come at us.”

“Ah. I think I like being called a dung beetle’s ass better. Guess we better go, huh?”

“Nah, let’s sit around and invite them for tea.” Fain’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

Caillen activated the ship’s force field to the max. “Hold tight, kids. We’re going out hot and we’re staying that way until we either escape or end up as a bright burst of flaming fuel. I hope someone remembered the marshmallows. Just in case. We might as well go into paradise with a sweet taste in our mouths.”

“You’re a sick bastard, Dagan.” Fain took up the navigator’s position. “You know we won’t be able to jump. They’ll have your drive jammed.”

Caillen laughed at his dry, dire tone. “Oh ye of little faith. You ain’t with some run-of-the-mill pilot, giakon. You’re with a Dagan. There’s not a wormhole in this sector I’m not dating tight.”

“Incoming!” Hauk warned.

Caillen saw the ships hovering right outside the door with their cannons locked on the shuttle. He charged the front shields and headed straight for their pursuers. “Give them everything you got, Desideria. And get ready to toss your shoes in too.”

Desideria laughed as if she was as thrilled with the prospect of a fight as he was. She and Hauk sprayed fire all through the bay and on top of the patrols coming in.

The ships tried to block their exit for several heartbeats before they realized just how suicidal Caillen really was. He’d slam into them before he’d yield. In a game of header, he refused to blink or swerve.

Fuck them. If he was going to die, so were they.

Just as he would have hit them, they veered off sharply, out of the way.

Laughing from his adrenaline rush, he flew out and up at such a climb that a lesser pilot would have lost consciousness.

Hauk groaned in his ear as Fain adjusted their fuel levels to give the engines the juice they needed to surpass escape velocity. But it wasn’t that easy. The fighters turned to give chase, shooting cannons the whole way after them.

Oh to have his ship or anything that was more maneuverable than this crate. At least that was his thought until he took notice of Desideria’s competence.

Damn to have had her as his partner all these years instead of Kasen who’d be screaming by now that they were going to die. Not a peep came out of little Qill as she reloaded and laid down more fire.

Fain shot a vid to his lower left quadrant for him to see. “Cruiser moving in on port aft.”

“Got it.” Caillen dropped low and spun out of the line of fire.

“Tractor beam pulse,” Fain warned.

He sent a fierce glare at Fain. “You going to give me play by play every time they twitch?”

“Want to make sure you don’t miss anything.”

He snorted at the Andarion. “Only thing missing here is my sanity.”

More ships came in for them. Caillen kept his eye on the scanners as he made numerous calculations in his head and on the con. He needed a few more minutes to get to a wormhole.

C’mon, baby, don’t fail me now…

Desideria backed off as she saw their cannons overheating. Designed to be a passenger transport, the shuttle didn’t want her using so much fire power and it was straining with her efforts. The guns were merely a precaution and not meant to defend for any longer than it would take for a backup patrol to come save them.

Oh to have that backup right now…

She leaned to the side so that she could check Hauk’s status in order to verify her dread. Unfortunately, she’d been right. Hauk’s cannon was already out of commission.

The Andarions were still coming after them.

She tapped the link in her ear. “Caillen, we’re in an overheat situation.”

“I need a couple of minutes.”

She squeezed the trigger.

Nothing happened.

Cringing, she exchanged a concerned look with Hauk. “We don’t have a couple of minutes, dearest.”

“Then you better start kicking off those shoes, sweetling.”

He wasn’t funny in the least. Especially as she watched the Andarions gathering a force that stunned her. But it was the one fighter that concerned her most…

One she’d hoped to not see again.

“Our assassin’s back and he looks determined.”

“I’m on it.”

Desideria held her breath as they dropped low and spun away from their pursuers. Even the assassin.

Hauk tapped her shoulder and pointed to a dark cloud they were headed toward. “Wormhole.”

Relief poured through her. If they could make it to that, then it would propel them out of the sector and leave them a ghost to the Andarions and assassin. There would be no way for them to track them at all.

Just a little ways to it…

Almost.

There.

Holding her breath, she wished she could get out and push. But all she could do was imagine herself there with everything she had.

Caillen let out a whoop as they approached it.

Just as she thought they were safe, a net shot out in front of them, cutting them off. The force of impact brought them to an abrupt halt and sent her flying against the straps of her seat. The leather dug into her, bruising her hips and shoulders.

They were caught.

“Surrender!”

She didn’t need a translator for that word.

Worse, the assassin flew in and took advantage of their disabled craft to fire torpedoes at them. The Andarions opened fire on the assassin, but it was too late.

She saw the light bomb coming straight at them.

We’re dead…

Not even Caillen or his magic backpack could work a miracle great enough to save them now. Sucking her breath in, she waited for the fatal impact.

Caillen cursed in her ear. “No one move. We’re pulling a Nykyrian.”

“What’s a—” She paused midsentence as the shuttle went completely dark.

One second she was strapped into her chair. In the next, she was standing in the center of an unfamiliar bridge. The explosion from the shuttle was so bright through the main bridge portal that it temporarily blinded her.

Until a cry rang out from the engineer on her right, alerting the crew that they had intruders.

Caillen, Hauk and Fain leapt into action. Desideria spun and tried to disarm the first crew member who reached her. But disarming an Andarion was something easier said than done. He didn’t react to pain at all.

Did they not have the same nervous system?

He picked her up, literally, and threw her against the wall. The impact knocked the wind out of her as pain exploded through her entire being. In all the fights she’d had in her life, none of them had prepared her for this amount of damage. While she’d been bludgeoned and punched, no one had ever thrown her across the room before.

She tried to push herself to her feet, but she couldn’t.
Oh my God, I’m helpless
. That feeling horrified her.

Dazed, she felt the Andarion grab her from behind. He wrapped his arm around her throat and choked her until her ears rang and her vsion dimmed.

Suddenly, she was free. She turned to see Caillen beating the Andarion so hard she wasn’t sure how he kept standing. It was fierce and impressive.

Fain whistled to get Caillen’s attention. “Enough! We have control of the ship. Focus, drey, focus.”

Caillen appeared to calm down, except for the wild look in his eyes. It was obvious he was more than ready to continue the fight. But somehow he maintained control of himself.

Hauk and Fain directed the four-man crew toward the escape pods with their blasters. “Take the controls, Cai, while we toss out the trash.”

Caillen held his hand out to her to help her to her feet. “You dead?” The humor in his voice undercut the dead seriousness of his gaze. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was worried about her.

“Close, but not yet. Thanks for the assist.”

There was a softening in his gaze that made her stomach flutter. She didn’t know why, but she had a feeling that his anger was actually over the Andarion attacking her…

“Anytime.” With an adorable and sheepish dip of his head that was completely out of character, he turned and went to the controls. It was only then she realized that at some point over the last hour, he’d removed his contacts and had his normal dark eyes. Most likely because it limited his peripheral vision in a fight and while flying.

But when had he removed them?

And why did the sight of his real eyes do such peculiar things to her body? She was both hot and cold. Shivery. Not wanting to think about that, she took a moment to push her pain into submission and to watch as Caillen slid into the chair to begin working the controls as if he’d been born to them. As much as she hated to feed his overbloated ego, he really was a great pilot. Every bit as skilled as he’d claimed and the fact he was piloting a ship with controls and monitors that weren’t his native tongue or Universal was even more impressive.

Before she even realized she’d moved, she was standing behind him, watching his hands fly over the controls and computer in a way that brought chills to her. How could he process an alien language so easily?

And that turned her thoughts to the last few days. So much had happened to her since she’d met him.

Almost all of it horrendously bad.

And yet somehow he’d managed to be a bright spot through the hell that had been this trip. How strange was that?

Right now, his presence was the only thing that kept her holding on to a life that had become a nightmare. Panic swelled inside her as she tried to come to terms with what was happening to her and the speed with which her life had unraveled.