First Watch: A Watcher Bay Adventure (14 page)

That was close. Too close.

Silence hung loudly in the air as both sides held their breath, waiting for the next move.

Because Levra was listening for it, she heard the sound of the arrow before she saw it whizzing through the air straight toward Gunnar’s chest. Gunnar must have heard it, too, because at the last second, Levra watched in horror as the former love of her life pulled Ana, his cheating mistress, in front of him, and used her as a human shield.

Time stood still for a moment as the Ddaeran arrow penetrated her chest. Levra watched the bright sunlight shine on Ana’s mouth as it overflowed with blood. Her limp body slid to the ground when Gunnar let go of her. Her lifeless corpse dropped to the dirt in a heap.

“Fire. Fire. Fire,” Gunnar shouted again. He pointed to the sky as the arrows began to appear. His crew responded to his command and pointed their weapons to the sky, searching for the threat as the arrows made their stealthy flight.

Morgan called out from her position among the Ddaerans. “Hold. Hold. Commander Shield is acting out of order. I have orders from General Command.”

The crew simultaneously lowered their weapons, sending Gunnar into a tail spin of rage.

“Shut up, bitch. Don’t listen to her,” Gunnar called out to his crew. “I have the command here.”

As if to protest his words, the arrows began to fall out of the sky, headed for Gunnar. When they were mere inches from his body, they all stopped, held steady in the air by the Ddaerans. If they let go of the arrows, Gunnar would be killed instantly.

Morgan spoke again, addressing the crew. “Commander Shield is under arrest for the illegal and unauthorized attempts to clone the Ddaerans. I have orders from the military demanding his immediate incarceration and return to Abramov headquarters in New Seattle.”

She held up a badge in one hand and an envelope in her other, flanked by her loyal crewmen. They were all members of her undercover team. Morgan addressed the remaining crew that had been either loyal to Gunnar or completely neutral. “This is my ID badge with my military credentials and arrest warrant.”

One of the crew approached Morgan slowly and read the paperwork. He turned to face the crew.

“She’s telling the truth. Commander Shield acted against orders.”

Levra watched with relief as the rest of the crew holstered their weapons. Morgan marched across the clearing and put Gunnar in handcuffs. As soon as he was secured, Morgan nodded at Bria who released the arrows that were frozen in mid-air. Collectively, they harmlessly fell to the Earth.

Morgan continued to address the crew who now stood in a more relaxed position.

“Gunnar Shield is a traitor and a coward. He was working for a covert agency within Abramov Security with the secret mission of torturing, experimenting, and cloning the Ddaerans.”

Levra approached Morgan and spoke, cold determination in her voice. “I’d like a word alone with my husband. Then you can do whatever you want with him.”

Morgan deferred to Levra and Bria stepped forward and motioned toward the chief’s hut.

“That will do. Morgan, bring him to the chief’s hut, please.” Levra didn’t recognize the sound of her own voice. She sounded like the ghost of herself.

Morgan nodded. “I’d like a few words with him myself,” she said, and then turned to face the crew.

“I’ll be assuming command of this post until further notice. You two will stay with me to transport Commander Shield back to post after he is interrogated. The rest of you should return to the Outpost and await new orders. Leave two hovercraft here. Under no circumstances are you to return to this village.”

The crewman who verified the arrest order nodded, saluted, and then led the crew to the hovercrafts they’d flown in on.

Morgan looked at her wrist comm. “Report to command at twelve-hundred hours. Dismissed.” She shoved Gunnar toward Bria and Veld’s residence. Levra watched with dead eyes as she allowed the reality of the moment, of her new life, to settle on her shoulders.

Nothing felt real right now, but she would find out what she needed to know from her husband, and then say goodbye to him. Forever.

CHAPTER 17

Glanmorr, Rasia, New Eden

October 17, 12 AA

Situated inside Bria’s house, Gunnar sat on a wooden chair, held captive by Morgan and her plasma weapon while Levra interrogated him. Adrenaline and white-hot fury kept her awake. One more thing and she could sleep.

“What happened? During the five years you were gone? I think you at least owe me that. What happened to you?”

He stared at her, his dark eyes glinting with anger. “For starters, I stopped loving you.”

His admission felt like a punch to the throat, even though she’d figured out that much by now.

“Tell me something I don’t know, Gunnar. What’s going on with the clones?”

“Like I’m gonna tell you that! You always were naive, baby.”

She slapped him hard across the face. “Don’t call me that. You don’t get to call me baby. Not now. Not after this.”

Morgan spoke up. “Why don’t you let me ask the hard questions? You can sit back and watch him suffer. That should be nice for you for a change?”

Levra smiled at her new friend. “Yes, that sounds like a fine idea.”

Morgan’s first question caught Levra off-guard. “Why do I have a gap in my memory, Gunnar? What happened on that ship?”

He stared at the wall, looking past Morgan. She continued her questioning, unfazed by the traitorous prisoner’s silence.

Levra filled the silence with her own questions for Morgan.

“What memory gaps do you have, Morgan?”

“There are two years missing from my memory. We arrived at the planet Tortia, in the Altius system. Our public mission was to collect samples of plant life and soil so we could bring them back to New Eden for study. The private mission was to experiment with cloning technology. Our job was to infiltrate and uncover the illegal cloning ring. We needed to know how far they were in their progress. Anyway, I remember arriving on Tortia, and then I woke up two years later. I remember nearly everything before and after those two years, although some of the past eludes me.”

“And you think Gunnar knows what happened during those two years?”

“Something happened to him. They’ve done something to his memory and to his personality.”

“Yeah, I gathered that when this animal came home in my husband’s place. Were they experimenting with mind control?”

“One of the other officers was working on implanting memories but as far as I know they didn’t get anywhere with that. They couldn’t make it work without making the patient susceptible to lots of other mental issues. But that was before my memory gap.”

Morgan turned back to Gunnar and holstered her weapon. “Did they perfect the memory implantation during those two years I can’t remember?”

Gunnar stared at her. No sound came out of his mouth.

Levra wasn’t sure if it was the smug look on his face or the straight-up refusal to cooperate, but she lost her patience and and began to yell.

“You son of a bitch. Tell me about the Ddaerans. What do you want with them?”

He spat in her face, and Levra raised her hand to slap him. When her hand made contact with his face, something broke inside her. She felt rage course through her, a blind fury for all she’d lost, all she didn’t understand. Anger for feeling helpless. She clenched her fists by her side and stood up, staring at Gunnar, forcing herself to remember to breathe.

Morgan stepped in between them and spoke to Gunnar. “I’m sure you are familiar with the phrase ‘hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.’ You might reconsider your stubborn silence.”

Instead of answering her, he stood up, lunged forward and put Morgan in a headlock with his still-cuffed hands and began choking her. Levra watched as Morgan gasped for air. For a split second she thought she could anticipate the sound of Gunnar snapping Morgan’s neck.

Levra charged Gunnar without another moment's hesitation and when her hand brushed against Morgan’s holstered weapon, she pulled it and jumped back out of the fray, out of Gunnar’s reach.

She pointed it at Gunnar, forcing her hands to steadily grip the gun. “Let her go, Gunnar. Now.”

He grinned at Levra, an evil projecting from his eyes she had never seen. She caught her breath, realizing the truth in that moment. Her husband was well and truly gone.

Whatever happened to him on that ship, her husband was gone. All that remained of him was the mocking shell of the man who stood here in front of her. There was not even the tiniest glimpse of the soul of the man she’d once loved. Still loved. She would always love that man. But he died when this one was born.

The truth of her new reality settled in, squeezing her like Gunnar squeezed the life out of Morgan in front of her. Morgan’s face began to turn blue, her eyes bulging under his fatal grip, and Levra was out of time. Gunnar was dead, but Morgan didn’t need to die. Levra could do something about that. She’d have to do it now.

“Let. Her. Go.” Levra lifted an eyebrow. “Last chance.”

Another evil grimace in reply from Gunnar. There was no more time.

She tucked the plasma pistol in the back of her pants and threw her hands up in the air in surrender.

“Okay, please. Let her go. I’ll stop. You win. Please don’t hurt her.”

Gunnar raised his eyebrows. “You aren’t so tough now, are you Levra?” he taunted, but he shoved a gasping Morgan to the ground and began to laugh.

Just as Levra had hoped he would.

Without sparing a glance for Morgan or a thought for the consequences, she drew the pistol, aimed at Gunnar’s chest, and fired.

Everything moved slowly. Time seemed to stop. She felt the weight of the gun in her hand, the cold metal of the trigger under her finger. In the moment the purple light traveled from the end of her weapon and connected with Gunnar’s chest, a vision of her son’s face entered her mind.

“I’m sorry, Enric,” she whispered as Gunnar dropped to the dirt floor, forever ending a chapter in Levra’s life.

CHAPTER 18

Glanmorr, Rasia, New Eden

October 17, 12 AA

Levra dropped the weapon and raced to Morgan’s side as she lay sputtering and coughing next to Gunnar’s still-bleeding corpse.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I will be now,” Morgan gasped out, her voice gravelly and hoarse. “Thanks.”

Morgan unbuttoned the top buttons of her blouse and rubbed her neck where the beginnings of a bruise were already starting to appear.

A necklace dangled on her neck, and Levra’s breath caught in her throat, cutting through the numb realization beginning to kick in. She’d killed her husband only moments before. But, for the moment, the necklace Morgan Moore wore on her neck was a welcome distraction. She could think about what she’d done later. Much later.

“Where did you get this necklace?”

Morgan looked down at the necklace and held the coin between her fingers. “This? I’ve had it most of my life.”

Levra looked closer, reaching out, but not daring to touch the coin. Could it be? Mitch’s coin? Her last keepsake from her sister. The token of love she’d given to Gunnar. The coin he’d supposedly lost in space. What had happened? How did Morgan get it? Levra’s mind raced with questions.

“Is it a Kansas State coin? Minted in 2015?”

Morgan nodded. “Yes. How—?”

“Tell me when you got it, Morgan. Anything you remember. Anything.”

“Okay . . . I, uh, my sister died in an elevator accident back on Earth. She gave this to me before she died. It was our grandfather’s.”

Levra felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. If she’d been punched in the stomach, she wouldn’t have been more breathless.

“What is your sister’s name?”

“Michelle. We called her Mitch. Why? Levra? What does this coin mean to you?”

“Can I see it for a second, please?”

“Sure.” Morgan held it out for Levra who reached for it with shaking hands.

As soon as her fingers made contact with the coin, a holographic image of Gunnar projected from the coin. It was as if he stood in front of her.

“Levra, I’m so sorry. If you are seeing this message, it means they got to me. There is so much you need to know.”

His words haunted her.

She stared at this holographic image of her husband—not the man she’d killed, but
her
Gunnar while he tried to explain the past few years to her. She thought she could feel her heart cracking as he spoke.

“Colton wants to capture the Ddaerans’ abilities from their DNA and implant them into the human Founders. Colton and his crew have already begun the cloning process. They set up a base on the planet Tortia in the Altius system. The cloning started with volunteers but Colton’s growing impatient. He’s been ordering crew members to submit to the cloning process, at gunpoint if necessary. I’m sorry I had to give this coin to Morgan. She knew some of this, but I had to wipe her memory for her own protection, and then implant new ones. I knew when she told you the story of how she got the coin, she’d have your attention.”