Escape From Zulaire (27 page)

The truck swerved, skidding on the dirt road, as Mitch reacted to her dramatic announcement. Desperately, Andi grabbed at Tom to keep from being flung against the door.

Mitch straightened the truck with a violent jerk on the controls.

Tom hauled her back across the padded bench seat. “Are you sure? How do you know?”

“There was an alien with Iraku, giving him orders about what to do next. It brought him weapons of some kind, too.” Remembering the creature’s touch, she shivered.

Mitch and Tom exchanged glances in the rearview mirror before he turned back to her, frowning. “Can you describe the alien?”
 

“Tall, thin, some visible exoskeleton. Carapace heavily ornamented with inlaid gold.
 
Red stalk things growing where eyes should be. Fleshy tentacles with suckers instead of arms. I guess it was surprised I could see its true form. It told me the Naranti see it as one of their ancestral spirit figures. But I’ve seen the murals of the Kuzura, the spirits. This thing was
nothing
like a Kuzura,” she said, rubbing her arm where the tentacles had rested.

“A Betang. Well, I’ll be damned. This is a fucking mess.” Leaning against the seat cushion, Tom pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes closed, then rubbed his jaw and sighed. His other hand clenched around the hilt of his blaster.

“Betang?” Andi tilted her head, looking at him for enlightenment.

“A client race of the Mawreg. They often send Betang in to soften up planets they want to invade. Betang can project illusions.” Reflexively, Tom checked the charge level on his weapon and slammed it back in the holster. “This is a disaster.”

“Remember the blast cannon the rebels had, back at the monastery?” Mitch asked from the front seat. “We were
sure
it was Mawreg-issue. This confirms it.”

“Mitch and I were supposed to be backing up the planetside Sectors forces, do a little digging into oddities puzzling the intel guys. Which you’ve now resolved with your Betang encounter.”
 
Reaching out, Tom took Andi’s hand, lacing his fingers with hers.

“Lucky to survive that, ma’am,” Mitch said over his shoulder. He whistled. “Very lucky.”

She nodded. “It wanted Iraku to kill me at once but backed off when he explained his plan, the mock fertility ritual killing, because he was getting so worked up about it.” Struck by a puzzling thought, she looked at Tom. “Why could I see this Betang creature for what it was? The Zulairians couldn’t—they’d have run screaming down the road if they could have seen what I was seeing.
I’d
have run if I hadn’t been tied up.”

“Not all humans can see through a Betang illusion field, which has cost us dearly in a number of situations, I might add. There’s a particular genetic drift on the DNA code for sight and depth perception which gives a person immunity, in varying degrees, to the Betangs’ powers.” Tom feathered a kiss on each of her eyelids. “Those beautiful eyes saw right through its deceptive cloaking.”

“It did try to do something to me, to my mind. I thought I was going to have a heart attack on that couch. I guess I owe Iraku for saving my life at
that
point.”
Andi frowned.
 

Tom pulled her closer into a tight embrace. “Damn, you were lucky. The Betang can kill humans with their minds once they’ve sampled the person’s DNA.” Obviously still edgy about her near miss with the Betang, which seemed to bother her taciturn captain even more than the knife at her throat had, he said, “Maybe the Bet was afraid to go against Iraku at this stage. They do use civilian puppets at first, for a few years, to ensure their foothold on the planet.”

 
“But why are they after
Zulaire
? It’s a backwater. Even
the Sectors isn’t very interested in anything Zulaire has to offer.” Andi hastily leaned the other direction as Mitch brought the truck around the next curve in a wide swoop. “Although there are exotic minerals in trace amounts. I was trying to get my company to invest in some exploratory excavation.”

“Never try to figure out why something interests the Mawreg.” The sergeant met her eyes in the rearview mirror. “But the minerals might be the draw.”

Tom nodded his agreement. “Command
needs
to know this. It’s even more critical than the Naranti being behind this sudden Clan war. Mawreg involvement affects the entire Sector.”

“We could take this vehicle and hightail it straight down the damn freeway.” Even as he made the suggestion, Mitch hit the accelerator.

“Risky. May be our only chance, though.” Pounding a clenched fist against his palm, Tom swore. “
Damn
. If the Mawreg penetrate this Sector we’re facing catastrophe.”

“Is the situation really that bad?” Andi swallowed in sudden fear.

Eyes narrowed, lips compressed, Tom nodded. “The big brass and politicos keep details from civilians to avoid panic. And maybe you don’t get much of what they do release to the media, since Zulaire is in such an isolated Sector, but once the Mawreg get entrenched, their presence is like a cancer. We have to make it cost too much for them to stay. Sometimes it takes the destruction of entire planets to eradicate them. Once in a while victory requires the destruction of whole systems.”

“What about the people on the planets?” Andi’s jaw dropped.
I can’t imagine the destruction of an entire solar system.

 
Tom turned her chin with one finger so they were gazing at each other. “Sweetheart, the Mawreg don’t leave any people alive.” His mouth tightened, deepening the wrinkles. “I’d hate to see it happen to Zulaire. Despite the current situation, it’s a damn nice planet.”
 

“And it’s worth fighting for
.
” Andi squared her shoulders and clenched her jaw.
Mawreg takeover isn’t going to happen here. We can’t allow that.

“Hitting the transportway,” Mitch said. “Should be a better surface now.”

 
The ride did indeed smooth out. The main road was well kept, as opposed to the ruts and potholes of the village access road. Despite ominous whining from the old engine, the sergeant accelerated to the truck’s top speed.

“Shit!” The truck swerved suddenly as Mitch yelled, brakes screeching until the vehicle slewed to a stop sideways. The cranky engine sputtered and died.

“What the
hell
are you doing?” Tom had braced Andi during the sudden stop, and even now the truck had stilled, he maintained his tight hold on her.
 

Mitch was apologetic, eyes open wide, mouth a thin line. “Vehicle abandoned in the middle of the road, sir. Didn’t see it in the dark until I was nearly on top of it. Sorry.”

Revving the motor into life again, he prepared to continue on their way, but Tom stopped him. “Wait. Let’s check this out. With the size of our party, we could use another vehicle. Keep the engine running.”

Climbing out, the men walked back to the abandoned vehicle. Andi waited in the truck for a minute then slid out, not wanting to be left alone in the dark.
I may never want to be alone anywhere ever again.
As she approached them standing by the abandoned car, Tom’s hand lamp illuminated the vehicle’s front panels, showing an intricate pattern of an urabu dancing in the midst of flames overlaid on a gleaming, yellow undercoat.
 

Andi stopped, her mouth falling open in a short gasp of recognition. “
Gul
.”

Tom stared at her as she walked up. “You know the owner?”

“Yes, this car belongs to Gul Tonkiln, the older son of the Planetary High Lord. He was supposed to return to the summer compound for his sister’s handfasting, but he never showed up.”
I can’t believe it, but he must be dead.
A pang of sorrow made her heart skip a beat for a moment. Trailing her hand along the embossed panels, Andi walked the length of the car.
Hard to remember back to that day now. He wanted to see if the relationship had a future. I guess I always knew it didn’t.
 
Raising her head, Andi squinted against the light in Mitch’s hand. Hastily, he redirected the beam to the ground.

Tom had an odd expression on his face, eyebrows raised. He looked away from Andi. She sighed.
We’re going to have to talk.
Rapping her knuckles on the engine compartment of Gul’s car, she said, “I don’t see any damage. What do you think happened?”

Mitch walked over to join her, squatting to look more closely at the elaborate Tonkiln insignia. “Ambush most likely. Maybe they staged some kind of fake accident, and he stopped to help.”

“Gul wouldn’t stop to help,” Andi said with a bitter laugh. “He’d only pull over if there was a big obstacle in his way. And then he was lured out of the car somehow.” Hard to remember now what she’d ever seen in the arrogant Obati lord, especially with Tom’s solid, dependable presence beside her.
But Gul didn’t deserve
… She hugged her arms around her waist, suddenly chilled.
 

“No sign of a body.” Mitch darted an uneasy look her way, then glanced down at the road.

Leaning over, Tom tried the door. “Autolocked. Probably why the attackers didn’t boost it or blow it up. We
could
blast it open, but the electronics would be ruined. What I want most from this vehicle is a working comlink.”
 

Unnerved by the hard, shuttered expression on his face, Andi eyed him warily for a moment. Drawing in a deep breath to fortify herself, she said, “I can open it for you.”

“You drove his
personal
groundcar?” Tom’s voice was flat. She glanced at his face, but he kept it carefully blank. “How close were the two of you?”

Raising an eyebrow, annoyed now, Andi was edging toward offended.
It’s really none of his business who I was involved with before I met him.
“I drove it in town occasionally.” She triggered the lock with her thumb. Pausing for a moment after the doors opened, not looking at Tom, she elaborated. “Gul Tonkiln and I knew each other well, but it wasn’t serious.” Her small burst of anger had tired her out, making her aches worse, and she didn’t even glance Tom’s way before sliding into the driver’s seat of the beautiful machine. Automatically, the car adapted itself to her height and reach. Soothing music played as the dim internal lights came on. She caught a faint hint of Gul’s aftershave, citrus and wood. A small stab of memory made her eyes prickle as she thought of him, and all the people who’d died in this stupid Clan war.

For a very long moment, Tom didn’t budge. Sighing, Andi made the first move, leaning her head out the open doorway. “Didn’t you want to use the comlink?”

“I’ll stand guard,” Mitch volunteered, glancing from Andi to Tom before quickly walking out of earshot.

 
Tom came around to get in the other side, easily sliding into the passenger seat. “Hey.”

 
She turned her head at his soft greeting. Eyebrows raised, Tom met her gaze steadily, a tentative smile curling his mouth. “If I need to apologize for being an asshole just now, consider it done. The thought of you with any other guy—even before I met you—makes me crazy, Andi.”

She kept her frown going for a second longer, then took pity on him and smiled a little. “Apology accepted. We can talk about it later, but…I was never in love with him, Tom. We had fun, we were a couple off and on, attended a lot of business dinners and awards ceremonies together. No man has ever meant
anything
close to what I feel for you. Okay?”

“Okay. I am sorry it appears he’s dead.”

She sighed. “Me, too.”

He stared at her for a few more seconds and then switched his focus to the com system, pulling out the small earpiece and clipping it to his ear. Examining the dashboard, he flipped the system from music to communication. “Figures he’d have an illegal scanner, but it’s our good fortune tonight. He could surf the Sectors’ military channels.”

 
Head tilted, he fiddled with the controls. “Zulaire Command, this is Patrol KJ123, declaring an emergency. Need immediate extraction, party of eight military and civilians, highest priority.”

 
A response came almost immediately.

“Identify yourself. You are an unauthorized station intruding on military networks.”

 
“Patrol KJ123, Captain Deverane commanding. I’m declaring an emergency, priority Red Alpha, do you understand?” Tom put more emphasis into his question. Frowning, he gave Andi a sideways glance of pure frustration.

“Current code word?” The male voice on the other end of the link sounded hostile to her, and she didn’t understand the man’s odd reaction.

Tom didn’t seem to like it either, taking a deep breath before he answered. “Soldier, I’ve been in the field for weeks, out of touch. I don’t
have
the current code word. It was ‘pond scum’ when we were last briefed.”

“Nice try, whoever you are. If you
were
with the good guys, then you’d know the entire planet is under lockdown. No emergency extractions, no evacs, no sorties,
nothing
. Now get off this military link before I do a tracer and have you arrested.”

Drawing himself up in the seat until his head nearly touched the roof, Tom’s face grew even more grim, a vein throbbing in his neck. “You’re addressing a senior Sectors officer declaring a priority Red Alpha. Get me the officer of the watch, on the double.”

“Yeah, right. You ain’t decoying anymore of
my
guys out there into an ambush like you did to poor Deverane. At least you had part of your story right. Have a nice night, asshole.” There was a sharp click. The channel hummed a second, then died.