Reavers (Book 3) (37 page)

“So I take it you are the master of this house?” the doctor asked.

“Brent, allow me to introduce Janet to you,” Cain said diplomatically.  “She doesn’t exactly like being called doctor.”

He thought deeply.  Janet was a popular name.  It alone wouldn’t help him nail down the odd sense of familiarity.  Off hand, he could name at least five Janets, three of which were students at the university.

“He does speak, doesn’t he?” Janet asked.

“Brent!” Hiroko shouted as she weakly stood.

“It’s alright,” he said gently.  “What’s happened?”

“We were attacked by Dante,” she said, obviously barely restraining her tears.

“Impossible,” Brent said flatly.  “I thought a Weaver attacked you.”

“Well, that’s true.  But I swear he looked exactly like Dante.”

“A twin?” he asked, turning to face Cain.

“Don’t look at me.”  Cain raised his hands in a shrug.  “I never bothered to look into his past.  Didn’t seem relevant.”

“So what’s the damage?” Brent asked as he returned his attention to Janet.

“I’ll be.”  A strange look filled her face.  It fell somewhere between awe and fear.  “You’re a Weaver, aren’t you?”

“How’d you know?” Cain asked.

“Well, this is the first time anyone has talked to Hiroko about the . . .
incident
without her breaking down into tears.”

Hiroko looked at him in surprise for a second before smiling thankfully.

“I never thought I’d see a Weaver this far out on the rim.  Let alone one that
helps
people and doesn’t wear the silly outfit.”

“You’re one to talk,” Cain said.  “White is
not
your color.”

“Can we save the discussion of fall fashion until
after
I find out how Owen is?” Brent asked as he forcefully nudged Cain.

“Of course,” Janet said as she instantly became serious.  “We worked as quickly as we could, but by the time he got to us he had already suffered severe blood loss.  A knife had sliced open a major artery in his right leg.  Apparently, the wound was self inflicted.”

“He did it to save me,” Hiroko said in a faint voice.

“What made matters worse was there was a previous wound to the leg - a very serious one at that.”  Janet was obviously deeply troubled.  “Between the shock and reduced blood flow, it’s almost certain that there was a prolonged decrease in the amount of oxygen that reached his brain.  We can’t be certain, but brain damage is almost guaranteed.  If he ever does recover from his coma . . .”

“He won’t be the same person,” Brent said as he studied the unmoving body.

Large tears started to fill Hiroko’s eyes, and she tightly embraced Owen.

“Is there anything
you
can do?” Cain whispered so only he could hear.

“Janet?” Brent asked aloud.  “Would you mind giving me and Hiroko a few moments?  Alone.”

“Why don’t I give you a tour of the mansion?” Cain suggested before she could refuse him.

Janet’s mouth compressed as she gathered that she didn’t really have any say in the matter.  With a resigned nod, the doctor followed Cain out of the room.

“He won’t be Owen anymore?” Hiroko asked, dreading the answer.

“Only time will tell,” Brent said as he sat on the opposite side of Owen.  “What’s his pulse like?”

Taken by surprise at the question, Hiroko tilted her head.

“I never was any good with medical things,” he said with a shrug.  “Even though I spent more than my fair share of nights in a bed like this myself.”

As Hiroko turned to study the readouts of the various machines, Brent took a deep breath.  He had practiced and trained diligently, but this would be the first time he worked with an actual person.  Reaching out his right hand, he placed it gently on Owen’s chest.  After quickly glancing up at Hiroko to be certain she was distracted, he focused intensely on his hand.

A flash of green light arced through his skin.  There was pain, but, compared to the gravity treatments, it barely registered to him anymore.  Taking a final breath, he plunged his hand into Owen’s chest.  As he had hoped, the green light grew brighter and his hand phased into the skin.  With contact established, the room and its details faded away.  The world faded into pure white.  He had done it.  Now for the hard part.

Searching the white expanse proved fruitless.  Dozens of boxes and crates lined the pristine white walls of the Navy ship, but not one of them contained the target.  Glancing at his pad, Revel double-checked his instructions.

“Where do you store the reserve D rations?” he asked in a harsh voice.

The crewmember trembled as the raiders stared at him.  They had taken him captive about five minutes after boarding the ship.  These ones were fighters.  If they hadn’t snatched him, it would have been a bloody battle even to get to the cargo bay of the proud navy ship.  Without a word, the crewmember resignedly guided them to a remote section of unassuming boxes.

“According to this, what we are looking for is hidden under there,” Revel said.

As three bulky raiders tossed the crates of D rations aside, the crewmember’s eyes constricted apprehensively.  In the suits Rosalyn had picked, they looked like large red lizards searching for a nest of tasty eggs to devour.

“Right where they are supposed to be,” one of the bulky raiders said with a hint of pride.

Suddenly, a loud gurgle hit Revel’s ears.  Together, all the raiders turned to find the crewmember being lifted off the ground, a rifle in his right hand as his left desperately clung to his neck.  With a single hand, Kevin was lifting the man off the floor plating by his neck and staring at him with supreme rage in his eyes.

As the helpless crewmember gasped for breath, Kevin tossed him forcefully into a wall of nearby crates.  He was instantly knocked unconscious by the savage impact.  The rifle fell to the ground as it dropped from the crewmember’s newly limp hand.  Kevin slowly walked over and picked it up.

“I thought you said you searched him,” Kevin said in a cold voice to one of the other raiders.

Instantly, the raider responsible recoiled as if he had been physically struck.  Even Revel flinched slightly at the hostility in his voice.  They had raided seven ships since that day in the freezer, and each time Kevin had grown more distant.  He only acted or spoke when they were attacked by a crewmember or when another raider made a mistake.  Having to turn away Sasha had hurt him deeply.

“Assign blame later,” Revel said quickly, attempting to defuse the situation.  “We’ve got what we came for; let’s get out of here.”

Kevin nodded and forcefully thrust the rifle into the hands of the raider who had failed to find it on the unconscious crewmember.  Without a pause or any indication of strain, he grabbed a crate with each hand and started walking back to the ship with the two crates.  Not daring to look weak in comparison, the other raiders strained to lift a single container each.

Even the bulky raiders sweated a bit as they carried a single crate.  Kevin had to slow his pace as not to leave the rest behind.  Moments after boarding the ship, the Navy personnel had destroyed their automated transport, so they had no other choice but to carry by hand.  As Revel took up the rear he studied Kevin.  There had been a marked shift in him since the Freeport incident.  Being suspected as a traitor had turned him against most of Roslyn’s crew.  His face would contort with disdain whenever anyone got in his way. 

In the boy’s defense, they had locked him in a freezer and most of the crew had agreed with Andreas in wanting to punish him savagely.  Hard to like people who wanted to beat you to a pulp, as a reward for saving their miserable lives no less.  No one dared to try anything.  There had been only a single incident.  A group of five raiders had ganged up on Tardos.  They thought they’d teach Kevin a lesson by playing with a weaker target.  Before a single one of them had laid a finger on the short old man, Kevin had appeared out of nowhere.

He had broken most of the bones in their bodies by the time he was done.  He didn’t kill them, but he proved to the crew that he
could
have.  Naturally, all that made him a perfect raid leader.  For the first time, the raiders could divide into two groups, and they would listen to Kevin with all the fear and respect they normally paid Revel.  Combined with the inside information Longin provided, they were carving up the trade lanes like a roast foul.

“Halt!” a firm voice shouted from ahead.

Glancing up, Revel found two lines of troopers.  They were blocking their path and had rifles trained on the raiders.  A slightly taller man stood to the right of the troopers and had an overwhelmingly smug look on his face.  Revel instantly recognized him as the captain.

“That’s far enough,” the captain said in his firm voice.  “Now, why don’t you be good little children and put those back where you found them.”

Revel studied the man as he tried to think of a way out of the mess.

“Move,” Kevin said in a chilling voice.

Everyone flinched, raider
and
trooper alike.

“Well, don’t we think highly of ourselves?” the captain taunted.

“I’m warning you,” Kevin said, his eyes narrowing.  “Move.”

“You dare . . .”

Before the captain got another syllable out, one of the crates Kevin had been carrying smashed into his face.  Taking advantage of the momentary shock, he charged the troopers - swinging his remaining crate like a mace.  The heavy box smashed into the rifle barrels, splintering them and breaking the bones in the hands of the troopers.  The second row of troopers hesitantly stepped back and pointed their weapons at the man in the demonic red suit.  Without a hint of fear, Kevin turned a murderous gaze on them.  The troopers scrambled away as his lip snarled upward.

“Can we go now?” Kevin asked as he retrieved his second crate from next to the unconscious captain.

Instantly, the other raiders complied and quickly shuffled over the moaning captain.  Revel was amazed the man was still alive after being pelted by the crate.  Shaking his head, he kept up with the others as they left the ship.  No one else tried to stop them.  Once back on their own ship, Revel decided it was time he discussed Kevin’s condition with the captain.

Rosalyn purred deeply as the massaging chair caressed her back.  Things were going so well it was hard to think they had ever gone badly.  With their success it was hard to remember why she hadn’t wanted Longin’s services in the first place.  That man made Duda look like a rank amateur.  Not only was he able to sell off anything they
liberated
, but he had a good eye for targets, too.  Of the last seven ships, he had picked five and usually had a buyer lined up before they had even started to board the target.

Added to that was the fact the raiding parties were performing like they never had before.  Instead of attempting to scare the crew of the unfortunate trade ship they had targeted, they could break up into groups and pull off advanced flanking maneuvers.  It didn’t matter if the traders resisted anymore.  Before they could grab weapons to repel the invaders, Revel would be at their throats.

Even Andreas had to admit they were a terrifying force to watch now.  Stretching, a smile filled Rosalyn’s face.  Andreas had been unusually well-mannered lately.  He hadn’t once ruined her good mood since the Freeport.  He seemed to have completely given up on joining a guild.  There wasn’t anything that could ruin her happiness.  Abruptly, the door tone rang out.

“A visitor?” Rosalyn asked in surprise as she slowly freed herself from her chair.

Placing her hand on the wall, she tapped the commands to open the door.  To her surprise Revel was the one who had come to see her.

“What’s up?” she asked casually as she stretched.

“We need to talk.”

“About what?  You want a raise or something?”

“Nothing like that.  We need to talk about Kevin.”

“Oh?”  She turned a surprised glance at her visitor.  “What’s wrong with him now?”

“Now?  So you’ve gotten complaints?”

“Complaints!”  Rosalyn let out a quick laugh.  “What do you think this is?  A pleasure cruise?”

“You can make light of it all you want, but I’m sure
you
have an idea what’s going on.”

Rosalyn pressed her lips together and took a seat on the edge of her bed.

“I had hoped it was just a phase,” she said, “or just exaggerations by the jealous.  I guess I can’t hope for that if you’ve come to see me in person.  How bad is it?”

“Bad.  I thought he was going to attack one of our own on yesterday’s raid.”

“Why?”

“A crewmember pulled a concealed rifle on us, one that got past a search by one of our better raiders.  For a second, I thought Kevin was going to beat the raider with the rifle.”

“Surely . . .”

“He took out half a squad of troopers single handedly.  While I was still thinking of a plan, he attacked.  From the look on his face I doubt they could have stopped him even if they had any warning.”