Operation Hydra (29 page)

Two guards, dressed in black bodysuits, pinned Trey against the far wall. Saebin stood in front of him, her fist aimed directly at his head. Did he understand the threat? He hadn’t seen Reeva’s implants.

“You are my objective,” Saebin said mechanically. “Do not move.”

Trey’s weapon lay on the floor several feet away.
Useless.
Out of reach.
How had this happened? Krysta had sensed Tor Meter’s deceit. Why hadn’t she been more insistent? Why hadn’t she made them listen? Why did Tal only sense one conscious person? Tor Meter also wore a black bodysuit. Were they some sort of portable shield?

The general pushed Drakkin against the wall next to Trey.

“Saebin, they are both your objective. If either man moves, shoot to kill.”

“They are both my objective,” she responded, her voice flat, emotionless.

“Hydran, raise the grid around those creatures, so we can dispense with this racket,” Tor Meter called. “It may not affect normal people, but it’s undeniably annoying.”

Normal people!
Fury cut through the pain. Krysta swung fast and hard; her fist smashed into Hydran’s nose. Drakkin waved his hand in front of Saebin’s face and she crumpled to the stone floor. Taking advantage of Tor Meter’s confusion, Drakkin snatched the pistol from his hand before the general realized what was happening. Trey wrenched the pulse rifle from the guard and used the butt like a club, slamming it into his stomach and batting the side of his head.

“Behind you!” he shouted, flipping the weapon in midair. Drakkin jumped forward and Trey fired on the other guard. Had Drakkin used Saebin’s ability against her or could the Bilarrian do that to anyone?
Time for questions later.

“On your belly.”
Krysta grabbed the back of Hydran’s neck to make sure he went down.

“Turn off the alarm.” Trey aimed the rifle at Tor Meter.

The general glared, but moved mechanically toward the control console. Slipping into one of the two chairs, he hesitated over the controls. Trey slapped the back of his head; Tor Meter’s face hit the console.
“Now!”

The sonic pulse stopped and Krysta sighed. Despite the pounding in her head, she automatically assessed the situation. Trey had shoved Tor Meter, chair and all, away from the control console. Drakkin was arranging Saebin’s unconscious body into a more comfortable position. He hadn’t bothered with the two guards.

That left Hydran.
Her nemesis.
Her tormentor.
The bane of her existence.
Bloodied and defeated on his belly at her feet. She had expected it to feel more liberating.

“Gerr, can you watch this… creature? I want to find Belle.” Gerr sat against the wall, his head in his hands, his face tinged green. He looked as miserable as she felt, but he nodded and moved to her side.

Tal stood, Shifted into a sleek black panther and then back to his original shape. His hair flowed behind his shoulders and into a neat coil down the middle of his back. He smiled. Oh, to be a shapeshifter. An especially loud grunt drew Krysta’s attention back to the general. Trey was cheerfully binding his hands and feet with some sort of cord.

“Tal, when you scan this room how many people do you sense?” she asked.

“Everyone in a black bodysuit is undetectable to me.” He confirmed her hypothesis.

She started to ask Hydran where Belle was,
then
realized she didn’t need to waste her time. Tal’s original scan indicated the two unconscious persons were nearby. Only an open archway separated the medical unit from the lab, but Krysta approached it cautiously. She paused in the threshold, pistol extended, as she checked the room for attendants or guards. Comfortable that the room was unsupervised, she snapped her pistol into the flexible bracket strapped to her thigh and entered.

They lay side by side on treatment tables. Krysta’s chest compressed so tightly breath couldn’t fight its way through. There were no bruises or incisions, no implants or alterations. Vee looked as Krysta remembered, so she moved to her sister’s side.

Each treatment table had a hood, extending to mid-chest. Krysta hesitated over the controls, unsure how to retract the hood and revive the patients. She took Belle’s slender hand and raised it to her cheek, feeling the rush of exaltation she’d been expecting before. Her own hands trembled and tears blurred her vision. Belle was really here. She was alive, safe — and free of Dr. Hydran!

Closing her eyes, Krysta reached for her sister’s lifeforce. Triumph sang through Krysta’s soul when Belle responded to her gentle touch with a familiar wave of peace.

Grasping Tor Meter by his bound wrists, Trey pulled the general to his feet. He shoved him toward the unconscious guards. “Sit.”

The general glared, but obeyed. Drakkin stayed almost protectively near Saebin, but within easy reach of the guards.

“What next, Commander?” one of Trey’s crewmen asked.

“Check in with Chet, he’s back by the stairwell, and organize a perimeter sweep. Let’s make sure we’ve discovered all of Hydran’s surprises.”

The man nodded and, followed by his partner, left the lab. Checking the condition of said doctor, Trey found Gerr stoically standing over Hydran’s prostrate form. “Master Gerr, let’s get them all against the wall.”

Gerr seemed to welcome a reason for laying hands on Hydran. He grasped the back of the doctor’s shirt and hauled him to his feet, dragging him across the room as Trey instructed. Hydran sank to the floor with a grunt and the somber Mystic actually smiled.

Muted voices and metallic clatters echoed within the medical unit. Glass shattered and a woman cried out. What, by the ghosts of the night moon, was going on in there?

“Can you handle this?” Trey asked impatiently.

“Go,” Drakkin urged.

Another crash rushed Trey toward the open doorway.

Belle still lay in
stasis,
Krysta hovered in front of her, creating a physical shield. The medical unit had been reduced to a shambles, carts overturned, shelves scattered, distinct patterns scorched in the stone walls. His brother’s back was to him, so Trey couldn’t see the source of the destruction.

“Where is
he!
”

The voice was sharp, so filled with rage, that Trey didn’t recognize it as Vee’s. Only when Tal stepped cautiously forward and he could see the older Mystic did Trey finally comprehend the situation. Vee crouched like an animal against the far wall, his hair circling his body in unkempt clumps. Fury literally ignited his eyes, causing them to glow with emerald fire.

“If ye try to stop me, I will kill thee.” Soft and lethal now, his tone was no less shocking.

Tal held his hands out away from his sides. “Master, you are not a murderer. Ontarian law will ensure that justice —”

“I am not interested in justice.” He pushed to his feet and spun to face a freezer cabinet on his right. “He took the very essence of life from me!” He swept his hand forcefully toward the cabinet and the glass vials within it exploded.

“Where are the specimens, Vee?” Trey was almost afraid to ask. “They will require cryogenics for long-term preservation.”

“The storage facility is in the very heart of the Warren.” Vee spoke evenly, his face an expressionless mask.

“Do you know what level?
A sector designation?”

Trey watched Vee closely, unnerved by his barely controlled calm. How had he instantaneously extinguished his glowing-eyed fury? Vee crossed to Belle’s table and shared a glance with Krysta. Deactivated the hood extended over Belle’s upper body. “She will now awaken naturally.”

When Vee turned, his eyes glowed again and Trey felt death’s shadow embrace him. Shuddering, he frantically searched for the words to prevent what he read in the Mystic’s gaze. “Vee, if you want to strangle Hydran, you’re going to have to stand in line.”

Unmoved by his humor, Vee walked past him with a purposeful stride. Trey grabbed for his arm, but his hand passed right through. Damn, he was good. The red ring in Drakkin’s eyes glowed, but he made no move to interfere.

Hydran scrambled to his feet, fear twisted his features, making him clumsy. “You can’t just stand there. He means to kill me!”

“Oh, I think
it’s
self-defense,” Trey responded.

“This is murder. I’m unarmed!”

“As was Krystabel!”
Vee caught Hydran with nothing more than the intensity of his emerald gaze. The human shrieked and flailed.

“As was Krysta!”
Hydran’s head slammed against the wall.

“As was Belle!”

The doctor moaned, clawing at the mistlike shroud.

“As was I.”

With each pronouncement, Hydran screamed louder and writhed more violently. Trey glanced back to find Krysta watching dispassionately from the doorway of the medical unit. Suddenly her gaze shifted, her expression hardened, focused. She pulled her pulse pistol from the bracket on her thigh.

Tor Meter held Saebin’s hand in his, forcing her fingers into a tight fist and aiming it at Vee. Krysta fired a sustained pulse at Tor Meter.

“That’s enough, Vee,” Drakkin said. “Finish him.”

Vee trembled, apparently finding the directive hard to obey. The nimbus encompassing Hydran intensified until the doctor finally stopped screaming. Vee released him and Hydran’s lifeless body crumpled to the stone floor, forgotten.

Vee strode across the lab, his movements never less graceful. He paused before Krysta and framed her face with his hands. “Finish it,” he said emphatically.

Then, he scooped Belle into his arms and Shifted from sight. Krysta stumbled from the doorway, stunned by Vee’s insensitivity. It was happening too fast! She had waited her entire life to be free of Hydran and Vee was ruining everything. She was supposed to share this moment with Belle. They were supposed to rejoice in Hydran’s ultimate defeat together.

“Are you all right?” Trey came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

“It’s not supposed to happen like this.” Krysta turned and rested her forehead on his chest. Out loud the thought sounded foolish, but she couldn’t help feeling Vee had robbed her of something important, something vital to leaving the past behind.

“Where did Vee go?”

“To the
Gale
.”
Tal answered, joining them in the medical unit. “What did he show you before he
Shifted
?”

Staying within the loose circle of Trey’s arms, she faced Tal.
“The storage facility.
We must make sure no one can pick up where Hydran left off.”

Drakkin and Gerr were stripping the shield suits off Hydran’s guards when the others returned to the lab. “I’m sure the overlord’s technicians will want as many of these as possible to disassemble and study,” Gerr explained.

They had bound Saebin’s arms, tucking her hands snugly against her body. Krysta knelt beside her friend. The air around them thickened and cotton filled her mouth. Even encased in a shield suit Saebin looked young and fragile. Brushing the hair back from her friend’s delicate face, Krysta choked back tears.

Her angry gaze shot to Hydran’s body. “What will be done with him now?”

Trey rolled his shoulders as he stated, “I suppose we should contact Earthish authorities and turn over their bodies, but I’ll only consider letting them know about any of this once all the specimens have been destroyed…”

As Trey spoke, Drakkin finished with the guards, stood and disintegrated Hydran and Tor Meter’s bodies in a blinding flash. “I don’t intend to be here that long.”

“Well, there you have it,” Trey easily agreed.

“Gerr will take the guards into the forest beyond the complex. I shall transport Saebin to the
Gale
.
Unless you need my assistance with the storage facility.”

“Nope.”
Trey grinned at Krysta. “Let’s go blow stuff up.”

* * * * *

“Open this door.
Now!”
Krysta pounded on the offending portal, but her demands continued to go unheeded. Vee had locked himself inside the infirmary with Belle the moment they reached the
Gale
. By the time the Center, and the Warren beneath, had been reduced to a smoldering pile of rubble, Vee had erected an impenetrable privacy shield. Despite her very vocal insistence that they do so, neither of the other Mystics would even attempt to countermand Vee’s wishes.

“But he’s holding Belle hostage!”

“Is Belle conscious?” Trey asked. He was the only one still with her in the corridor.

Krysta harrumphed, thudding against the door with her back, arms crossed over her chest. “Her signal is definitely stronger, but she seems… confused.”

He was about to say something when Krysta got another idea.
“Drakkin!
Drakkin can cut through this ridiculous shield.” Bolting down the corridor, she collided with the Bilarrian as she flew around a corner. He chuckled, grasping her under the arms and passing her to Trey.

“I am so glad she fell in love with you, dar Aune. This one requires a level of patience I will never possess.”

Trey found the comment hilarious, which made Krysta all the angrier. She kicked and squirmed three inches off the floor. “You are both insufferable. Why won’t anyone help me?”

“It’s called a privacy shield for a reason, Krysta. Stop acting like a child.”

Drakkin’s reprimand ended Krysta’s struggles and Trey set her down. Tugging her uniform top back into place, she stubbornly met Drakkin’s gaze. “I’m not acting like a child. Vee is being unreasonable. Why is he doing this? Why won’t he let me see her?”

“Have you asked him?”

Heat suffused her skin as she realized she hadn’t. She squirmed. He arched his dark brow in silent challenge.
“Fine.
I’ll see if he’ll answer me. But if he won’t, will you —”

“Strength of character is developed when we learn from our mistakes. It’s easy to rely on what’s familiar. Anger has been your shield for a very long time. You’re ready to step out from behind it. Don’t disappoint those who are counting on you.”