Coletti Warlords: Vexing Voss (9 page)

Uncle Saul’s a big, distinguished-looking man with thick hair gray and the cold soulless eyes of a serial killer. He’s as deadly as any Coletti warlord and just as ruthless. Unlike my father, Uncle Saul’s fiercely protective of his family, and he never forgot my birthday or Christmas.

My uncle surveyed the destruction, and his gaze stopped dead on me. His familiar presence filled my mind.
“Another investigation, Zoey?”

“I’m still looking for the traitors, Uncle Saul.”
Because of my “unique” brain pattern, he always saw right through my disguises. Both times I had sneaked into Central Command, he had caught me. Believe me, you do not want him yelling at you.

A smile pulled at his hard mouth when he noticed Voss watching us intently from the command center.
“I see the Battle Commander finally caught you.”

I gaped at him in stunned disbelief.
“What? How did you… Wait a minute. I’m family. You knew he was hunting me and never said anything?”

“I never told the Coletti about you either. Now come give an old man a hug.”

With my faithful shadow dogging my heels, I walked over and hugged him. “Thanks for coming to the funeral.”

Uncle Saul embraced me, ignoring the astonished stares of his men. “Your mother was a very special lady.” He patted my back gently. “How are you holding up?”

“I miss her a lot. Voss mucked with my head, and I’m not having crying jags anymore.”

His deadly gaze settled on Voss. “If the Battle Commander doesn’t treat you right, you let me know, and I will deal with him.”

My jaw dropped. He was dead serious. Uncle Saul was a mean sonovabitch, but to take on Voss? Wowzers. That was a death sentence. “Ah… Thanks, but I think I can handle him.”

My uncle laughed like that was the funniest thing he had ever heard. “He’s definitely going to have his hands full with you.”

I bristled. “Voss said he wanted a warrior for a mate.”

“And he got one,” Uncle Saul answered, still chuckling. “Do you need anything?”

“You could shoot Daddy for me.”

All the humor fled from his face. “It might come to that.”

Hothar sucked noisily on his soda. “Why would you want to kill your father?”

“It’s a long story. Uncle Saul, this is Hothar, my bodyguard.”

“The Battle Commander’s nephew.” My uncle extended his hand. “I had the pleasure of meeting your father on Tanith. He’s a true master at designing warbirds.”

Hothar quickly wiped his hand on his battle suit before shaking my uncle’s. “Thank you, sir.”

Voss’s impatient voice rumbled in my head.
“Zoey, you have delayed the general long enough. Send him to me. Now.”

Scowling, I shot him a quick glance, and in my best timid-mouse voice replied,
“Yes, your lordship. I humbly beg your forgiveness, your lordship.”

A phantom hand smacked my bottom.
“Enough.”

Ouch! I gave Voss the one-fingered salute and turned to my uncle. “The Battle Commander requests your immediate presence at the command center.”

With a wry little half smile on his mouth, Uncle Saul asked, “You do realize how powerful Voss is, don’t you?”

“Yeah, the big guy’s downright scary, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna roll over and play dead.”

Uncle Saul pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Sweetheart, you’re one of a kind.” His back ramrod straight, he marched over to Voss.

A camouflage-painted armored vehicle skidded to a halt, raising a big cloud of dust. Ted bailed out and opened the back door. My father stepped out like he was royalty, wearing an immaculate, perfectly pressed dress uniform.

In looks, he’s a pale image of my uncle. My idiot father actually thinks his battle tactics rival those of Alexander the Great’s. Talk about delusional. His poor command decisions during a Rodan raid on Spokane led to the slaughter of half his troops. He was promptly demoted to a one-star general.

Me? I would have busted my father back to private and put him on the front lines where he could fight the monsters up close and personal. It might teach him some humility.

Daddy also carries one hell of a grudge against his big brother. Uncle Saul had put a stop to his abusive use of mind control on the men and women under his command. After the disaster in Spokane, my uncle transferred him to the base in Phoenix and keeps him on a tight leash.

“That, unfortunately, is my father,” I said to Hothar as Dad sauntered casually over to the command center with Ted trailing behind him.

“He thinks highly of himself,” Hothar commented.

“Yeah, Dad’s a narcissistic ass with a lot of explaining to do.” I mean the Tai-Kok had set up shop in his backyard, and he hadn’t known about it? C’mon, how stupid did he think we were? Was he the traitor? The evidence was piling up, and either way it was a definite career killer.

Uncle Saul wouldn’t give a tinker’s damn that Daddy was his brother. A betrayal of that magnitude would be a death sentence.

Fire ants danced across my mind. I scanned the area and sensed several dozen Tai-Kok hiding in a partially demolished tunnel. They were too damned close. I touched Voss’s mind.
“Sweet cheeks, you missed some monsters.”

“Where?”

“Right quadrant of the debris field,”
I said, flashing him a mental picture.

“Where do you come up with these ridiculous names?”

“It’s a gift.”

“We will discuss your disrespect later.”
Voss broke the link and pointed to a view screen. A few minutes later, he, Jaylan, and a dozen warriors vanished.

Uncle Saul walked over to talk to a warrior on perimeter duty while my father watched the view screens intently.

Unease crawled up my spine. Crap, now what? Like this day hadn’t been exciting enough? On the view screen, a ship appeared.
Crap
. A shuttle load of trouble was heading our way. I couldn’t sense any Tai-Kok or Rodan on it. I frowned. No, the brain patterns were definitely Coletti, but somehow twisted and abnormal.

The old, battered shuttle craft landed with a clanking thump. What a piss-poor pilot. Even I could land a shuttle better than that.

Hothar growled deep in his throat. “Sargon.”

“Who’s Sargon?”

“He and his men are clanless bounty hunters.”

An obscenely fat Coletti in a tattered gray battle suit strutted out of the shuttle like a cocky bantam rooster and studied the area.

Oh yuck. The dude had been repeatedly whacked with an ugly stick, and his huge, distended belly made him look pregnant. With his smashed-in face, scraggly hair, and protruding fangs, he looked like a porky pug. I knew most warriors considered clanless Colettis pond scum, but were they all this hideous?

Five mangy-looking warriors fanned out behind him. All of them were armed to the teeth with the latest weaponry.

Yep, they had taken a few licks from the ugly stick too. I eyed their laser rifles. Where in the hell were they getting the money to buy them? I didn’t think bounty hunting paid that well.

I did a double take on Sargon. “Oh my God. I know him. He hunted me in Baghdad. Only he was a lot skinnier then.”

“Most of the females he brings in are damaged,” Hothar spat in disgust.

“I’m not surprised. I watched that creep capture a young Iraqi Siren. She fought him, and he beat the crap out of her.” A smile touched my mouth. It had given me great pleasure to free her and the rest of the women he had chained up in his ship.

His malevolent gaze fixed on me, Sargon waddled over. “Did you really think this pitiful disguise would keep you safe from a warrior of my status?”

“Are you for real?”

Hothar snorted in disgust. “He has no status or honor. The only ones he can defeat are helpless females.”

“Shut your mouth, pup,” Sargon snarled.

My hand dropped to the butt of my gun as his creepy warriors surrounded us. “I suggest you leave now before things get nasty.”

A fierce scowl on his face, Hothar stepped in front of me. “She has been claimed.”

“The female has no ownership band, and you cannot legally interfere with a capture.”

“The Battle Commander won’t allow—”

Sargon slammed the butt of his laser rifle into Hothar’s chin. His head snapped back, and he toppled to the ground.

“Hothar!” I dropped down beside him and checked his pulse. A sigh of relief broke from me. It was strong and steady.

Sargon’s pudgy fingers wrapped around my arm, and he jerked me to my feet. “You now belong to me.”

A red-hot fury bubbled up inside me, and I hissed, “Like hell I do. You made a really big mistake hurting him, and now you’re gonna pay.”

Sargon brayed like a jackass. “This tiny female thinks she can defeat a mighty Coletti warrior.”

The hunters all roared with laughter.

“Go ahead, laugh it up, fat boy, but you’re about to get your ass kicked.”

Sargon’s beady eyes narrowed. “Insolence and disobedience will not be tolerated. You will be beaten until you show the proper respect.” He yanked a whip off his belt and cracked it wildly. Zorro he wasn’t.

The hunter standing behind him started cussing furiously.

I peered around Sargon’s flabby form. The poor bastard had a big gash across his face, and it was bleeding badly. “I’d put that thing away before you put an eye out.”

“You will soon be on your knees, screaming for mercy.”

“You first.” Yanking my arm free, I hurled a torrent of power at Sargon. No one touched me but Voss.

The bounty hunter’s eyes bugged in agonized horror; grabbing his head, he screamed and screamed and screamed.

My radar went on red alert. I swung around to face my new attacker an instant too late. A big fist connected with my jaw, spinning me around and knocking me face-first into the rock. The world spun in a nauseating blur, and I tasted blood.

“Get away from her!” Uncle Saul roared, firing his laser pistol. A few seconds later, my attacker’s limp body landed next to me with half his head gone.

More hands grabbed me, and I erupted into a biting, kicking, struggling wild thing. Only Voss could touch me.

A hunter slapped me viciously. Pain exploded in my face, and everything went black for a moment.

Sounds tumbled into my mind. A bloodcurdling battle cry, followed quickly by the thud of fists hitting flesh, groans of pain, and the sizzling whine of laser fire.

The hot dirt burning my face, I forced my eyes open, but everything was a chaotic, jumbled blur. I could feel Voss’s presence, and his rage was terrifying.

Hothar. I had to protect Hothar. Struggling upright, I drew my pistol and sat with my back against the boulder. Black dots danced across my vision. I shook my head to clear it.

Someone knelt in front of me. My eyes widened in horror when my father’s face came into focus. One look at the hatred in his eyes, and I knew. Daddy was in league with the butchers of the universe. I quickly brought up my gun.

His hand clamped around my wrist, twisting it viciously until I dropped the gun with a cry of pain. “This is the last time you ruin things for me.”

“Did you kill Mom?”

“That conniving bitch got everything she deserved.” He jammed a pressure injector against my throat and triggered it. “Unfortunately, Malik wants you alive.”

A dizzying wave of heat swept over me, and my body went completely numb. I sagged limply into my father’s arms. He grabbed a handful of Hothar’s battle suit and dragged him closer.

A glittering blue transporter beam engulfed us.

I heard Voss’s bellow of fury, and then we were on a metal platform.

My stomach lurched sickeningly when a Tai-Kok pirate stepped out from behind the transporter controls. Who dressed him? Goths R Us? Lots of metal spikes decorated his red battle suit and his head. Jeez, he kinda reminded me of a demented porcupine with all those metal spikes protruding from his skull.

Oh ick! There were white wormy things crawling all over him too.

A hand on the butt of his laser pistol, Spike spat a bunch of angry, quacking gibberish.

My father dumped me carelessly on the cold metal floor and kicked Hothar out of the way. As he stepped off the platform, daddy dearest pulled out a small cell-phone-sized translator and spoke into it. “I captured the Battle Commander and put him in chains. Your warriors allowed him to escape and destroy the base.” Seconds later, vicious quacking noises emanated from it.

He had captured Voss? Liar, liar, pants on fire.

Spike, the prickly pirate, started quacking like Donald Duck on meth.

Sweat trickling down his face, Daddy read the screen and blustered, “No, you’ve got it wrong. Malik didn’t capture him. I did, and if your idiotic warriors had done their job properly, Voss would have never escaped.” The translator spewed out a bunch of gibberish.

Oh my God, the big, fat liar was going to get us invited for dinner. Controlling my panic by a thread, I instinctively reached out for Voss.
What the hell?
All I could sense was an empty black void. It was as if our link had been severed. A sob broke from me. Was he dead? Did anyone know where we were?

The transporter doors swished open. Two heavily armed pirates entered and headed for the big-mouthed moron.

The general sneered. “You think I’m afraid of you? Without me, you’ll never find those containers filled with all that human flesh you crave so much, and you’ll lose forty million credits too.”

Nausea rose in my throat. Dear God, my father was a monster who didn’t know when to shut the hell up.

Spike made a stop motion with his hand. His warriors dutifully obeyed.

His expression one of gloating satisfaction, my father asked, “You ready to pay up?”

The pirates fixed murderous glares on him.

“Ticktock. My price just went up another million.”

Hysteria bubbled up in me. I couldn’t move. No matter how hard I tried. I couldn’t even summon enough power to give the pirates a mild headache. We were stranded on a Tai-Kok ship with a fool who was determined get us all killed.

Hothar was still out cold, and I couldn’t expect any help from him. The awful truth was no one would be riding to our rescue. It was up to me to figure a way out. Think. Think. There had to be something I could do. Dammit, we weren’t dying like this.