Save for Shardae (12 page)

“Good idea,” Commander Ashe said. She grabbed Barlow’s feet. “Help me get him into this cell.”

Shardae lifted Barlow under his arms. Together they carried the man into a cell. Commander Ashe rushed to the control room. She entered without a look back. He assumed she went to verify Barlow’s words or to send the IGO a message or something. He didn’t know.

“Get Kirk in here too,” Shardae said gently, moving out of his way. She went to Kirk’s feet and crouched down to hoist them up.

“I got it.” He dragged Kirk into the cell with Barlow. Barlow would have a nice surprise when he woke up. A reminder of why he shouldn’t have chosen to betray the IGO.

Once the force field winked into place, Shardae ran down the corridor to the last cell on the left. He followed. Inside, Aoki, Yazzie, Coppola, and Miller all sat cross legged on the floor. On the foam bed, Gonzales lay, his head wrapped in what looked like his own tank top, but even the fabric’s ebony color couldn’t hide the deep scarlet blood saturating its fibers.

“Sergeant!” shouted Aoki, leaping to his feet when he saw Shardae. “I thought they’d killed you.”

“Nope.” She pressed the force field’s release. “Come on. We’ve got work to do.”

All eyes rushed to her. Zander walked up behind her and put his back to hers. He wanted to make sure no one snuck up on them or the commander.

The other security guards filed out around her.

“Who’s got a weapon?” she asked.

None of them did except for her and Zander. He didn’t like those odds, but he knew how he could even them up. “The weapons are in the control box. O’Leery must’ve just dropped them there to keep them out of your reach. Lazy bastard.”

Shardae nodded. The others all began to talk at once.

“Silence!” she said firmly. “I know you’re angry. I am too. But going in as a mad mob won’t get us the craft back. That’s our priority -- securing the vessel.”

They stared silently at her. Zander’s heart swelled with pride.

“Just tell us what to do, Sergeant,” he said. He resisted the urge to kiss her cheek. But his tone -- it told everyone right there where his heart resided.

She nodded. “Right.”

He saw Yazzie’s eyebrows go up in surprise as knowledge clicked home for him. Yes, Shardae was his woman, his girl, make no mistake about it; Zander would rip the arm off of anyone thinking about trying to test that theory.

Zander scanned the faces. A bunch of them got it. He could see the knowledge blink in their eyes. Not that it took away from Shardae’s authority, but he wanted them to be sure -- he didn’t trust any of them -- that thinking of harming her would meet with a horrible fate at his hands.

“First, Aoki and Coppola, get to medical. Get as many medics down here as you can. Gonzales has a head injury. Three people have been poisoned. Be careful. We don’t know exactly how many of Lee’s people are onboard.”

“Yes, ma’am,” they said in unison and started down the corridor. They stopped at the control box and came out with weapons. So far so good.

“Miller, you’re to stay here. Try to use the first aid kit and the brig’s A.I. to slow down the Scarlet Burn that’s in their systems. Do what you can for Gonzales.”

“Yes, ma’am,” she said, her voice full of tears.

Zander watched her leave the cell, regretfully wiping tears from her face. “Miller,” he called to the pale woman. “He’ll be all right.”

She nodded numbly and headed to the secondary control panel. Underneath it lay a first aid kit. “What’s that?” Shardae inquired, rubbing her hands on her pants.

“Gonzales is Miller’s boyfriend, ma’am,” Yazzie said softly.

Shardae stared open-mouthed, and then shut it. “Yazzie and Yow, your task is to locate Mackerel and Stein. Yow, find Mackerel. Yazzie, find Stein.”

“Yes, ma’am,” they said and hurried down the corridor before she could tell them good luck.

She turned to Zander at last. Those maple brown eyes melted his inner core to pudding. Mars, he loved her. “Zander…” She hesitated. She looked up the platform where Miller furiously navigated the console’s touch screens looking for assistance for her lover.

“I’m not leaving you,” he said. “Where you go, I’m going too.”

“I need you to go to the command floor,” she said, swallowing so hard it hurt him. She avoided his eyes and studied the markings on her stunner. “Henderson is hurt. You’re good at stealth. We need to regain control of the vessel.”

“No,” Zander said.

“Absolutely not,” came another voice, that of Commander Ashe. She stalked down the corridor, her eyes pinned on Shardae. She shot Zander a withering glare, before moving her icy blue eyes back to the sergeant. “You head down to the cargo bay, Simmons. Your duty is to the security of this craft. Remove the threat.”

“Yes, but…”

“If I die here, Shardae,” Commander Ashe said firmly, grabbing Shardae by the shoulders, “there is a junior commander who will take my place. But only you can get your team in place to take back my vessel. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Her voice sounded hollow but determined.

Commander Ashe straightened.

“I’m not leaving her,” he said before the commander could speak.

“And if I ordered you to leave her?”

“You’d be disappointed,” he said, not the least bit afraid. Ashe had better look around. The dire situation didn’t call for this level of petty bickering over following orders. That’s how Lee had managed to hoodwink them.

“You’ve got grit, Reyes. Wouldn’t have ever thought that of you, but then you don’t fall too far from the tree, do you?”

“Guess not.”

“Well then, Reyes, stay with Simmons,” Commander Ashe said, lifting her stunner.

“For the rest of my life, ma’am,” he said dutifully, but kept his eyes on Shardae.

She gasped. Shardae’s face was hot in embarrassment -- her skin tone became slightly rosier.

“Well, if we get out of this mess, Reyes, I’ll see if I can’t make that happen,” Commander Ashe said before jogging down the corridor and disappearing through the front doors.

“So, what’s our plan, Sergeant?” Zander asked.

“We’re going to stop Lee. We’re headed for the cargo bay.” She started for the doors. “We’ll talk later about that little thing with the commander.”

“What thing?” he asked.

She glanced over her shoulder. “You know.”

“What?” he asked with his arms widespread.

“Shush! If we get out of this alive, I’ll show you,” she said with a wink.

“That’s my girl.”

* * *

The horror of her betrayal by members of her own security team flashed with speed through her brain. Shardae heard Zander’s labored breathing behind her, but she knew what kind of shape he was in -- maybe it just rasped louder because of the quiet. Her own breathing sounded loud and coarse in her ears as she raced down the corridor to the stairway that snaked throughout the belly of the craft.

She couldn’t believe Kirk and Stankiewitz were dead. Snow had tried to warn her, to tell her, but she’d been too wrapped up in her own damn ego to see what he tried to convey.

Nothing moved. The air hung heavy with tension -- an unusual quiet of the stairs. Where the dickens was the crew?

“I don’t like this,” Zander whispered. “Too quiet.”

Folding her hands into fists, she tried to quell their quivering fury. Gripping the stunner tighter in her hand made her knuckles throb, but she didn’t care. She agreed with him. They hadn’t seen another living soul, but then she expected that might be good news.

The stairs emptied out into the hall. Nothing but containers occupied this end of the craft’s cargo floor. If they encountered anyone now, they’d be shot to death -- there was no cover.

“Like shooting in a hologram chamber,” she whispered, her thoughts spilling through her lips.

“Yep.” Zander slipped around her, to be in front.

“I don’t need protecting,” she growled at him, but inside she glowed.

“I beg to differ,” he said.

The doors to the cargo bay appeared before them. Funny, Lee didn’t have guards posted or anything. What had he done that made him this confident? She hurried toward the bay with her heart beating out its own cadence.

“Steady,” he said quietly. “Signals.”

She watched Zander’s hands but couldn’t keep her mind on the fact that those hands felt so wonderful when on her body. Those same hands had knocked Barlow unconscious and had shot Private Kirk to death.

Those hands now told her that the coast was clear.

Zander approached the doors. The blinking scarlet on the keypad told her that Lee had locked out whoever wanted to get into the cargo bay.

“That’s why there weren’t any guards,” Zander said. “He’s locked the keypad.”

“And contacting the A.I. to force them open would only tip him off,” Shardae said. They dropped their weapons to their sides.

“Is there another way into the bay? This can’t be a one way in type of space.”

“Right,” Shardae said slowly, her face scrunched in thought.

“How do engineers repair the big shuttles that skate into here?” Zander asked. “They couldn’t get through these doors. Where’s the service port entrance?”

“Follow me.” Shardae backtracked down the corridor to the cargo bay doors.

Chapter 17

Zander leaned over Shardae’s shoulder. She still smelled like him. The faint trace of sex clung to her, but barely, like a fading mist. It made him smile, but when he looked across the cargo bay what he saw evaporated the warm fuzzy feeling he had. Several round plastic barrels protected them from view. He understood at once why he and Shardae hadn’t found anyone from the crew.

“Most of the crew is here,” Zander whispered to Shardae. “But why?”

“Hostages?” Shardae whispered back in bewilderment. “Was the entire crew in on it?”

“No, listen,” he said and touched her shoulder.

He couldn’t hear well from this distance, so he leaned carefully forward. The stack of biodegradable containers created enough coverage to hide both of them, but barely. Positioned on his knees, he leaned around the round edge of the box. The crew had been contained behind mobile force fields. Across the floor, four dome-shaped metallic spheres had been positioned at four points to create a solid force field. How Lee had corralled this many people into the cargo bay was beyond Zander’s comprehension.

He could see Lee. Someone had given him an ebony uniform. He stood in the center of the bay with his hand cupped to his left ear. He spoke loudly. Zander scowled at Lee’s furious whine.

“ETA in about fifteen minutes. Yes, I’m aware. Yes, sir. No, damn it, I said NOW!” Lee roared into the cold cargo bay air.

When he took his hand away, Zander spied the reflection of a communication earpiece. Lee pushed the earpiece button and removed his stunner. Like a caged animal, he paced the floor.

Zander ducked back around. Shardae sat beside him on the floor with her back to the containers. “He’ll explode before whoever he wants gets here,” she whispered, her hand curling around the handle of her stunner. “We must act.”

“Plan?” Zander asked, eyebrow raised.

A smooth hum announced the cargo bay’s doors opening. Zander leaned over again to spy O’Leery, a huge grin on his face. He must’ve accessed the craft’s A.I. to open them because he strolled in as if everything had been under control. Moron.

In stunned silence, Zander watched O’Leery walk right up to Lee. They talked in low tones. Judging by Lee’s body language, he disliked O’Leery. Funny. Though Zander doubted Lee truly cared for anyone except himself.

Beside Zander, Shardae ducked back down behind the containers and changed her position. Sitting on her knees, she met his eyes. He found steel in those deep maple pools. Calculating, Shardae’s face showed nothing but pure determination.

“We can’t stay here forever,” she said.

“With O’Leery here, it looks like they’re all getting ready to jump craft.”

She nodded. She quietly sat up on her knees and took in the scene. Scowling, she sat back down on her heels. Zander’s face tightened in worry. If Lee or any of his friends caught her, they’d been in for a battle. The element of surprise would be lost.

“Hostages are safe behind the force fields,” she said. “That still leaves Rojas and McAffrey.”

“Three,” he said. “Two of us, three of them. Whatever we do, we must do it quickly.”

She nodded. “Confronting them outright won’t work. Lee might use the others as hostages.”

Zander agreed. He’d thought the same thing, but he did have an idea. “We can create a diversion while one of us frees the hostages. Then we get them to help us take over the other three.”

“I like it,” she said. “I’ll get the party started.”

Before he could stop her, she streaked across the floor to a neighboring stack of containers. Calling her back would alert Lee and Rojas, so he made the hand signals. She gave him a single nod, but it didn’t make him feel better.

She shouted as she rose and aimed four or five blasts from the stunner into the area around Lee.

“There!” screamed O’Leery.

Zander didn’t see what happened next. He’d ducked behind the containers until he arrived at the portable force field. The crew trapped in the square all watched him with careful eyes. They couldn’t celebrate yet because they all seemed to understand that to do so would alert the others. He pressed the release button for one wall. They all spilled out.

“Watch out!” someone yelled.

Zander spun and fired. Everyone scattered.

Stunner fire raced all over the place. He couldn’t see anyone in the spray. He peered through the chaos. Where had Shardae gone? Heart pounding, he saw mouths open. He knew others yelled. But he couldn’t hear anything.

“Stop!” roared Lee. “Young Reyes, show yourself!”

Zander stood, not liking the self-assurance in Lee’s voice.

In front of him, he held Shardae. Lee’s arm curled around her neck and in his other hand, he held a stunner. He pressed it close to her cheek.

“You won’t get anything for killing her, Lee!” he shouted. “Because I will kill you.”

“I don’t want her dead. I want your life,” Lee said coldly.