Last Flight of the Ark (13 page)

“You need to slow them down, sir. I don’t have enough time.”

He hit the door, running for the lift. He tried the com again. “Jessica.”

“Here, sir.”

“Get out of their shuttle.”

“Sir, I—”

“Now. They’re almost there.”

The com went dead, and he glanced at the panel that controlled the power to the lift. If he shut it down, they might suspect something was going on. It would be close. His stomach convulsed. What good was he if he couldn’t protect her? He leaned his head against the panel and said a prayer, the only thing he could do without putting them all in danger. “Come on, Jessie.”

Kaleb raised his head as the lift came to a stop. Melissa, Jessica, Frank, and Bryant stepped off.

“You could’ve let me know everything was okay.”

“No could do. They were on the shuttle and would’ve intercepted our transmission.”

Melissa leaned against the wall and shut her eyes. She drew in a deep breath. “It was close. I just got her onto my shuttle before they walked into the bay.” She pushed off the wall and turned to him. “I got a whiff of them, sir.”

“And?”

Melissa didn’t say anything. She handed him the remote.

Captain James nodded. “I’ve never smelled anything like it. They’re killers. I wouldn’t have known before you gave me the mutation.”

“Same here,” Frank said. “They smell like death.”

“We need to talk,” Jessica said. A warning flickered across her face. “In private, sir.”

Well, this was going to be fun
. Kaleb nodded to Melissa, dismissing her.

“We’ll be on deck.” Melissa escorted the men away.

He studied Jessica silently, waiting. She wouldn’t have asked for a private conversation only to talk about the infection. Instinct told him there was more to it.

“You infected them?”

Then again, maybe not. “We’ll talk about this later.” Or never.

“I’m going down to the surface, sir.”

“Like hell you are.”

“They’ve been doing something down there and I’m certain I know what.”

“It’s too damned dangerous. I don’t like sending anyone over to the other ship, but I don’t have a choice. Down to the planet is another matter. Forget it. Who knows how many of them are down there?”

“We can’t wait.”

“Who’s in charge of this mission?”

“Sir, I found the bodies of the command crew. They didn’t lock them up separate from the rest. They killed them. Some of the remains were stuck inside these hive-things full of what looks like eggs. I didn’t want to say anything in front of Melissa or the others. Who knows what those things are? If they hatch, we could be done.”

“Go on.”

“I recognized one of the dead. She was—I couldn’t believe what I saw. I lost my headset. I’d just gotten it back when you contacted me. It was like I was looking at Melissa. Did she ever tell you she had a sister?”

“Shit.”

“It gets worse. I could only account for half of the bodies. I’m certain they took some of them to the planet. If they’re planning on hatching these things on the surface, I’m going to stop it. I have to stop it.”

He grabbed both sides of her face and closed his eyes. She was right. Someone needed to go down there. If what she said was true, their guests had already started colonizing the planet. The alien commander had told him they could be contacted on the surface, which meant she’d taken the hive—and the bodies—with her.

“I need you to infect me. It might provide some protection. I don’t know what the hell to expect down there, but I want to have every weapon possible at my disposal. I felt vulnerable on that shuttle. I don’t want to be in that position again. What if they’d caught me?”

“Even if you go to the planet, what makes you certain you’re going to find the pods?”

“Once I break atmosphere, I can lock on to the transmitter I placed in the shuttle.” She sniffed. “I’m going to put a torch to the nest.” When she looked up, tears glistened in her eyes. “Melissa’s sister, Kera…. They wrapped her up and hung her like a side of beef. She didn’t deserve that. How am I going to tell Melissa?”

“You don’t have to.” He tried to keep the lump down. “My job.” His voice still cracked. He looked away before he lost it. Not in front of Jessica. He needed to stay strong. She didn’t need to see anything but strength right now.

“I want to kill every one of them. Extinction is what they deserve. They invaded our ship, our planet, ate our people. They need to die.”

“We can’t let this get personal, Jessica. If we let our guard down, we’re dead.”

“It got personal the second they killed the command crew, killed Melissa’s sister. Kaleb, infect me. Let me do this.”

“Do you understand what you’re asking me? If I can’t reverse this, you’ll never be able to go home. I have to infect the others to free them from that ship, but I have a choice with you. If I can save one person from this fate, I will. I don’t want to condemn you to this world forever.”

“The only family I have is you and Melissa. I wouldn’t want to go back to Earth without you anyway.”

He nodded. “When the time comes.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to his chest. She began to sob quietly, shaking against him. Not a sound came from her, but he could feel it, the pain in her silence. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to.

“I’m holding you to it.” Jessica tipped her chin up and looked in his eyes. She wiped her tears with the back of her hand, stepped away, and walked out the door.

Damn it. He didn’t want to infect her; he didn’t want to infect the people onboard the
Genesis II
. Everything was turning to shit, quick. He might be saving their lives, but he sure as hell wasn’t saving them.

And the worst part was he had to break the news to Melissa.

***

“Kera? It couldn’t be. She’s not dead. I’d know it.” Melissa’s face had gone white and she’d collapsed in the navigator’s seat. She punched at random buttons, apparently trying to keep the tears under control.

“Melissa.” He touched her shoulder. She shrank into herself and stabbed at another button, missing it.

“We were going to meet up on our first night on the planet. Have a drink together. I’ve been saving a bottle of rum for months.” She sucked in a breath. “Cheap rum. The kind that rots your insides. She always liked the stuff.”

“Melissa.” He turned the seat around so she faced him and dropped to his knees in front of her. “It’s okay to cry.”

“It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have stopped you. I should have let you infect them instead of delaying it. I….”

“No. It happened before they arrived. There was nothing you could do.”

She burst into tears and dropped her head. “Oh, God. You were right. They want to eat us.”

“I wish I wasn’t.” He pulled her into his arms and let her cry. For the second time that day he felt helpless, defeated, and for the second time, he pulled himself together to be strong, knowing if he was anything but, the world would crumble around them.

“I’m now the commander of this entire mission.” He pressed the remote into her hands. “Give them a dose. I hope they choke on it.” For every action, there was an equal and opposite reaction. Newton’s Law was the law of the universe and he was about to put it to the test. Everything man did, right or wrong, had consequences. Though he’d like time to sit and contemplate what those consequences were, that wasn’t feasible. Lives were at stake, and maybe even the human race.

Melissa placed her finger over the button. “For my sister.”

He nodded. “For Earth.”

She pressed and they stared at one another.

***

“It’s been a little too quiet over there.” Kaleb eyed the
Genesis II
. It floated silently, like a ghost ship. Waiting was the hardest thing he’d ever done. Had he killed the encroachers or everyone onboard the
Genesis II
, including the crew? Had it affected the aliens at all?

“Do you think it worked?”

Jessica hadn’t moved from that spot in forty-five minutes. He could feel her tension. She wanted to go to the planet and finish the job. He’d ordered her to stand down until they knew the status of the captured ship’s crew. Until they knew if the virus worked and the
Genesis II’s
crew was safe on the
Ark
, no one should go to the planet. Any trip to the surface could tip off the enemy and cause the deaths of everyone on the
Genesis II
—if they engaged their weapon and blew up the ship.

He still hadn’t infected Jessica. Ordering her to stay put had a lot to do with that. If she went down to the planet, she couldn’t go as she was. She was right. They didn’t know what they’d find down there. After the close call, he didn’t want her to take that chance again and end up like Melissa’s sister. And he’d promised to infect her, but he could also send one of the security officers to the planet. He didn’t need to infect her….

Why’d he made that promise? What the hell had he been thinking?

“It’s been twelve hours. I’ve tried to contact the deck multiple times and I haven’t gotten a response,” Jessica said. “I think that virus did something to the hijackers.”

“We don’t know that. They could be waiting for us to go over there.”

“We should spring the prisoners.” Melissa strolled over to the glass to stand beside Jessica. Her fingers splayed over the surface.

There was another one who was full of tension. Not just tension. Anger, hurt. She was headed for a breakdown, and he couldn’t hold it off much longer. He couldn’t blame her. On the outside, she appeared to be handling it better than expected. It was all an illusion. If he hadn’t been able to smell her distress, hear the staggered breathing or the way her heart pounded, he would think she wasn’t affected.

But he could. Melissa’s grasp was slipping. She was only one beat away from falling apart. Under any other circumstance he would’ve had her sedated and watched. Melissa needed to be held and comforted, impossible at the moment, and that was killing him. He hated her hurt. He hated those who’d hurt her. But he couldn’t show it, inside or out. She needed his strength right now. They all needed it.

“Not until we know it’s safe.” He scrolled through his data on the virus one more time. He didn’t need to, but it was something to do, to keep his focus off her distress.

“Don’t you think they’d have responded to our transmissions before now if it hadn’t affected them,” Jessica snapped.

God, back to the bitchiness that had plagued the mission before he’d been bitten. He didn’t need her attitude. Not now. Keeping Melissa calm was hard enough. With Jessica feeding it, she’d break. Kaleb glanced up from the screen and drew a deep breath.

“If they’ve somehow discovered what we’ve done, they might be playing possum and waiting for us to make the first move.” The entire crew was going to be sick as hell until the mutation eliminated the flu. Even if they did spring them, those rescued might not be up for a revolt. They’d be lucky to crawl out of their beds, and some of them might die from it. A wrong move right now could result in the deaths of the entire crew, a chance he wasn’t willing to take.

“Somebody needs to go over there and see if it’s safe to free the crew,” Melissa said, pressing both palms against the glass. “I need to know if we killed the bastards, if the crew is okay.”

Of course she was right. There was a bomb over there. Nothing was to say the aliens wouldn’t set it off once they discovered the cargo was useless. Someone needed to go—they didn’t have a choice, but he was the one who’d created the virus and made the decision to release it. He’d take the security officers and free their crew. “I’ll go.”

“Not alone.” Melissa spun around. Fear filled her eyes.

“I’m ordering you to stay put with Jessica. If I don’t come back in an hour and you can’t reach me on the com, land the
Ark
on the planet. Get as far as you can from the
Genesis II
. If she blows, I don’t want you anywhere near her. Besides, you’re our pilot. I don’t even want to think about landing this ship.”

“Take Jessica,” Melissa said. “You’re right. I’m the only one who could land the
Ark
on the planet, but she’s got nothing to do with parking this rig.”

“She’s not infected. If she goes over there, she’ll get that virus.”

Jessica whipped around. “I’m right here. Don’t you think I should be included in this conversation? You promised to infect me, so do it already.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Bullshit.”

“Nice mouth, Lieutenant.”

“You’re one to talk, sir.” Fire jumped in her eyes. “You either infect me or I’ll get someone else to do it. Melissa, or one of those cute security officers from the
Genesis II
. I’m not a little girl. Stop trying to protect me.”

Kaleb growled. No, she wasn’t a little girl. She was a woman, and
his
. Like hell he’d let one of those
cute
security officers touch her. If they thought of sinking one tooth into her…. “No. Fucking. Way. No!” His roar echoed off the walls.

Jessica smiled. “Then do what you promised.”

They were going to have a talk about her insubordination later. A long talk. He balled his fists and clenched them at his sides. She had him and knew it. Plus, she’d smiled about it and that pissed him off further. Maybe a spanking was in order? His cock twitched at the thought. “Damn it all to hell.”

“Well?” She raised a brow.

Her smugness vaporized his patience. He strode over and seized Jessica by the shoulders. He leaned in and lowered his voice. “Be careful what you ask for.” He yanked the front of her flight suit open and bit her shoulder, sinking his canines in until he tasted blood.

He released her and shoved her back. Her eyes popped wide and she slapped a hand over her wound. A look of shock froze her face. He’d not even attempted to be gentle. She wanted to be an animal, he’d let her see what it was like. “Don’t romanticize this, Jessica. It’s one thing. Ugly.” He strode away and stopped at the door, glancing back. “Be in the shuttle bay in half an hour.”