Save for Shardae (11 page)

He took off his earpiece and placed it on the ground because the A.I. could track him. Stalking down the hallway, his stunner out, his heart pounded in his ears.

Boom
!

Zander dove to the rubber reinforced floor, rolling into the archway of one of the quarters.

“Pilot Reyes, please come with us,” commanded a man in an ebony uniform. “Now.”

“Fuck you!” he shouted. “You tried to shoot me!” He climbed slowly to his feet. Elbow singing in stinging anguish, Zander tried to swallow but his throat had gone dry. “Who the hell are you?”

The helmet clad person spoke in a tone stripped of its humanity. “Come with me. Yu Lee commands it.”

“I don’t answer to Lee,” Zander shouted back and fired a few more random shots.

A gurgled “fuck” lit up the hall. Zander risked peering into the hall. The man lay sprawled onto the floor. He crept around before quickly dropping to his knees. With his anger boiling, he shoved off the helmet. “Berg,” he growled.

He knew it! Shardae’s security team had been infiltrated by rats. Lee. It all came back to Lee. Zander knew where he had to go -- the brig. There might not be any survivors, but he had to see it for himself.

Carefully, he moved down the hall, leaving Berg to meet his fate. He didn’t give a damn. The sole person he cared for had gone missing. He was an IGO soldier, yes, but his heart, his core being, cried out for Shardae.

He couldn’t trust the turbo lifts so he ran down the stairs that snaked through the entire craft. The brig lay in the belly of the craft. Zander had wondered if its location meant the craft could eject the bastards if they needed to in an emergency.

Zander swallowed the acid mix of adrenaline and rage on his tongue. If anyone had hurt his baby, his Shardae, he would make them pay.

He didn’t dare use the comms unit. Whoever had taken over the comms knew Zander hadn’t been rounded up in whatever horseshit they’d concocted. If they’d gotten to the comms that meant they’d gotten to the command floor too. He’d read about the mutiny on
The Inquiry
. Lee had taken control of that craft’s command floor also.

There hadn’t been any Scarlet Burn, but maybe Lee wanted guarantees. Besides,
The Explorer
wasn’t some small research vessel.

And Zander wasn’t a good little soldier who played by the rules.

Something Yu Lee was about to find out.

Chapter 15

The gash above Shardae’s eyebrow kept dripping blood into her eye. Using the back of her hand, she rubbed it clear of her vision. She promised herself to pay O’Leery back. He’d pounced out of the shadows and slammed his fist into her. She’d barely gotten her arm up to partially block his strike.

“I’m going to kill that sonofabitch,” Commander Ashe grunted, her lips swollen black and blue muffling the words. Locked inside one of the numerous holding cells, she sat with her back against the wall, glaring out at the traitorous crewmates. “I can’t believe I let him sucker punch me!”

Tousled blonde hair hung down. Scrapes and abrasions littered Commander Ashe’s face. The swollen red knuckles of her hands stood out starkly against the white of her skin. “Damn it!” she growled. “I’m going to kill Lee. Snow shouldn’t have spared his sorry ass life.”

Shardae remained stock still, afraid to shatter the spell her usually strict commander had fallen under. The woman hadn’t ever said this much to her before and definitely nothing that didn’t follow stringent IGO guidelines. Commander Ashe’s eyes grew puzzled. Shardae saw true emotion in her face. She meant those words about killing Lee, but which “him” she meant sucker punched her, Shardae didn’t know.

“How the fuck did you let this happen?” Commander Ashe’s harsh browbeating rolled to her. Angry eyes met hers.

“You know what, Commander,” Shardae said, anger firing inside her. “I was poisoned. So excuse me for being attacked, weakened by Scarlet Burn. My body gave out, ma’am.”

Commander Ashe flinched. “Poisoned? That wasn’t in the report. Dr. Raja said you had been struck with a blunt instrument… I thought you’d been accidentally struck by one of your friends. I’m -- I’m sorry, Shardae.”

Shardae choked down the lump of restless nerves in her gut.

Outside the cell, O’Leery marched impatiently down the corridor. Pausing to glare at them, he leaned close to the force field. “How you doin’, blondie?” he cackled at Commander Ashe. “You could use some lipstick on those lips of yours. Black and blue doesn’t become you.”

Along the floor behind O’Leery, three of her security team were sprawled, victims of the Scarlet Burn courtesy of their traitorous crewmates. Shardae scowled in fury.

“You gotta get them to medical,” Shardae said, her voice as hard as ice. “They’ll die. That’s more deaths that will be on your hands. You played futbol with them! You can’t leave them to die.”

Her entire team had been ambushed and imprisoned in neighboring cells. So far, none of them had died. Although Berg had been dispatched to corral others, he hadn’t returned.

“Do what she says, O’Leery,” Commander Ashe added.

“You ain’t giving the orders now, bitch,” O’Leery snarled.

“No,” Commander Ashe said back frostily. “Not now, but later, I will.”

“I hate you. I’ve always hated you. You’re weak. Pretending to be so tough. All you had going for you was a pair of decent tits. How those helping you out now?”

O’Leery laughed. The rest of them joined in an uneasy round of chuckles, but Shardae saw Rojas’ face -- he didn’t like O’Leery. Perhaps she’d be able to turn that her way. She didn’t know. Darryl Snow’s report of the attempted mutiny on
The Inquiry
portrayed Rojas as a follower -- a man without any thoughts of his own. One who would shoot down a slew of innocent people and later proclaim to just be following orders.

Ashe sounded so confident. It made Shardae smile. The conspirators hadn’t intended to kill them or all of them would be dead. No, this wasn’t a mutiny
per se
. The craft hadn’t gone off course. It hadn’t gone anywhere. The bastards were waiting for someone or something.

Shardae got unsteadily to her feet. Without waiting for Ashe’s approval, she went directly to the force field, careful not to touch it. O’Leery had pushed on. They all stood in a loose group by the control room. Body language told her the others had relaxed, feeling all the potential dangers had been contained. Only Rojas tossed careful glances over his shoulder. Shardae could tell he didn’t believe that all had gone according to plan.

Zander. He remained at large. She knew deep into her bones. He wouldn’t leave her or abandon her. If he sat with her for three days in medical, listening to Dr. Raja’s prattle, then he wouldn’t leave her to chance or betrayal. So, where was Zander? Was he all right?

“Where is JC Henderson? JC Stankiewitz?” Shardae asked, her mind racing through the list of personnel. She had to figure out how many of the craft’s personnel had gone to Lee’s side of doing things.

“Henderson was shot and left on the command platform. Stankiewitz is dead.”

Dead. Stankiewitz must have been on duty when Lee’s plan hatched. “How many?” Commander Ashe asked softly, a whisper above the hum of the environmental controls. “I see your brain processing it like you do. That brilliance is why you’re chief of security.”

“Four,” Shardae answered dutifully. “Not counting Lee, Brock or Berg. Add them, at least seven, possibly more.”

“Small unit. Stealth.”

She stepped back from the front. Heart thundering in revved up adrenaline and angst, Shardae sat on the floor beside Commander Ashe, with her back to the cell’s opening. No one had taken the time, in all the confusion, to remove Commander Ashe’s weapon. Using some of the commander’s body to shield her, she hastily began to take her stunner apart. The cells had been designed to prevent tampering from inside, but she had a different plan. Besides, shooting the force field wouldn’t do any good.

“Why did he do it, Simmons?” Commander Ashe inquired. The anger had evaporated. She seemed to be staring off into the air. No doubt chasing down her missteps in her head.

“Lee?”

“Yeah.”

“He wants off this craft,” Shardae explained, but she didn’t believe it either. “The others, well, I don’t know. I just don’t know.” It bothered her too. How had Lee gotten his hooks into so many people on her security team? How many others on the craft had he managed to convince he was worth their careers, their lives?

“Tell me about Scarlet Burn.”

“Ma’am?” Shardae looked up from the stunner. Could she not see her trying to get the pulse reconfigured to disrupt the force field?

Commander Ashe caught her expression. “Sorry. Just ready to pound on them. Bastards. I talk when I’m, well, agitated.”

“Why would O’Leery want to help someone like Lee?” Shardae wondered aloud. Zander had suspected him, had instantly disliked him. But Berg’s betrayal punched a hole in Shardae’s guard. He’d gotten around her usually suspicious nature. She still felt the sting of anger.

“Dunno,” Commander Ashe said with a shrug. “Tell me about the Burn.”

“According to Dr. Raja, the dose of Scarlet Burn I got came from the Titan Penal Colony,” Shardae said, putting her full attention back on the weapon.

Commander Ashe nodded. “Makes sense. O’Leery once worked on the Titan Outpost.”

“And Zigler didn’t find it odd?”

“Like most transfers, it isn’t up to the chief of security,” Commander Ashe said, matter of fact. “O’Leery came because of his background on Titan. Zigler recommended him for security. At the time, I didn’t see a problem, so he got on the security team.”

Shardae nodded, noting the twinge of regret in the commander’s tone. “With all due respect, Commander, we can’t spend any more time looking behind us.” Shardae stood up. “If we want to get out of here, we need to focus on what’s happening right now, right here.”

Commander Ashe twisted her hair -- securing it. She looked at the weapon in Shardae’s hand. She didn’t confirm she’d even heard Shardae’s pep talk, but her face changed, taking on its usual coolness.

Muffled sounds met her ears. Then the noise of struggles.

“No time like the present.” Commander Ashe’s blue eyes shifted to the force field.

“Yes, ma’am,” Shardae said, feeling the cold anger spill over her body, steadying her hand. IGO training took over. She fired the stunner. The reverse polarized beam slammed into the force field and disrupted it just enough to punch a hole. A hole that grew larger with each burst of the stunner.

“Now!” she shouted. She leapt through the hole, singeing the edges of her uniform jacket and a bit of her hair. Not waiting, she punched the release button outside the cell. Commander Ashe, fists pumped and ready to fight, came out first.

The cobalt blast cannon’s stream zipped by her face. She returned fire without even blinking. These bastards had it coming. She was just the person to bring it to them. Grunts, growls, and more scuffling abounded from the direction in front of her, but she shielded her face against the stream of stunner spray.

“Shardae!” shouted a male from the far end of the floor.

Scuffling, yelps, shouts, and arguing erupted. Shardae ran to protect her commander. She continued to fire. Commander Ashe had dropped down to the floor beside Private Porter. She crawled over to Eves and checked for a pulse too.

“They’re alive,” Commander Ashe said. “But not for too much longer. They need medical treatment.”

“Shardae! Don’t fire!” Zander shouted. He stepped out of the box. In his grasp, he held an incredibly pissed off Barlow. Clutched around his neck by Zander, Barlow’s face threatened to turn puce. The scrawny man kicked and sputtered, spittle flying, but Zander held him firm. “It’s me!”

Shardae didn’t lower her stunner, though honestly she didn’t know what would happen if she hit someone with the reversed, polarized stunner beam. She crept closer and stepped over the fallen body of Private Kirk. Too bad. Mack would miss him down in engineering. “Where are the others?” she asked. “Tell me, Barlow.”

“Answer her,” Commander Ashe snarled. She yanked Barlow’s weapon out of his holster. He’d never even cleared it before Zander had gotten a hold of him. “Now or I will burn you like you did Porter.”

Barlow’s eyes widened. Zander’s hold tightened. Barlow gasped.

“Where are the others?” Shardae asked again, impatience straining the words.

Barlow sputtered and croaked, “Command.”

“How many of you are there?” Shardae asked, lowering the stunner to his heart.

“Fuck you.”

Shardae didn’t blink. She punched him.

“Augh!” Barlow screamed and flailed against Zander.

“Barlow,” she said, bringing the stunner close to his face again. “Get this straight. Fucking me isn’t ever going to happen in your lifetime, what little’s left of it.”

Zander smiled encouragingly. “You tell him, baby.” His eyes twinkled with what Shardae could only read as pride. To Barlow, Zander said, “If I were you, I’d do what she said. Start singing.”

Chapter 16

“Rojas and O’Leery went to the cargo bay,” Barlow wheezed. “That’s all I know! I swear it!”

Commander Ashe nodded though she didn’t look satisfied. “Sure it is, and I’m the queen of Newport Empire!”

“Tell her all of it.” Zander poked Barlow in the side with his weapon.

“Who else is involved?” Shardae asked.

“Just who you already know,” Barlow answered bitterly. “Kirk, Berg, O’Leery and McAffrey. You didn’t have to kill Kirk like that. Shooting him like a dog!”

Zander’s eyes met Commander Ashe’s. She smiled. “Good work, Reyes.”

Taking his cue, Zander slammed the butt of his stunner into the back of Barlow’s neck. He made a brief, whimpered sound before dropping to the floor like the useless sack of human skin he was. Zander pushed the crumpled man out of his way and joined Shardae.

“Let’s put them in one of the cells,” she said, not even looking at him.

She seemed annoyed. Really, he wasn’t expecting a huge kiss in light of what was happening, but at least he wanted some eye contact. He pushed his irritated thoughts aside.