Shielder — A new Science Fiction Romance (Book 1, Shielder Series) (31 page)

Apprehension impaled him, as harrowing
memories flooded him, taking him back three seasons. He'd battled a
demon virus then. And he'd failed horribly.

This virus seemed the likely cause of
Nessa's symptoms—and a possible threat to her life. No…not again.
Stop!
he told himself firmly. The odds of her having a virus
as deadly as the Ramos virus Dansan had engineered were minuscule.
He just needed to draw some blood and analyze the virus, then
compound an antidote.

He sterilized his hands and slipped on
gloves. As an added precaution, he donned a surgical mask, although
he'd already been well exposed to whatever she had. Taking Nessa's
arm, he swabbed away the grime with antiseptic solution,
discovering the blotches weren't all dirt. Surprised, he cleaned
her arm again, his alarm escalating.

Large, ugly bruises lined her arm, mottled
and purple beneath the surface. It looked like hemorrhaging under
the skin, but he couldn't tell to what extent. He cleaned one leg,
finding similar bruises. Checking beneath her tunic, he discovered
more. They hadn't been there last night. What was this virus?

He drew blood and placed it in the
centrifuge. Then he woke Nessa with a stimulant injection, wanting
to evaluate her mental faculties. As she stirred, he ran the
monitor over her again, noting the abnormal readings. She stared up
at him, confusion reflected in her eyes..

"Where are we?" she asked, struggling to
rise.

"In the lab. Lie still." Chase pushed her
down and retrieved a blanket from the cabinet.

She grabbed his wrist as he spread the
blanket over her, her dark eyes huge. "Where is Sabin?" she
rasped.

Asking for Travers the minute she regained
consciousness. Why should he care? Chase pulled away from her grip.
"He had some business to attend to." Taking a hypochamber, he
filled it with a coagulant and a fever-reducing compound. He'd
start an intravenous strip after he got her cleaned up.

"Oh," she sighed, sinking back and closing
her eyes. Seconds later, they flew open. "Have we left Intrepid
yet?"

"Not yet." Chase deftly injected the
medication.

Her eyes followed him like heat-seeking
missiles. "I must get to Zirak. But I have to talk to Sabin
first."

He resisted the urge to slam his fist into
something. "I have no idea where Travers is. He could have departed
by now, for all I know. As for Zirak, I'm afraid you're in no
condition for a pagan lunar celebration."

She pushed up, panic etched on her face. "I
must get there. It's crucial." She drew a deep breath, her body
trembling.

It always came back to reaching Zirak.
Nothing else had ever mattered. Yet nagging doubts diluted Chase's
anger. Nessa had treated his injuries, saved his life. What had
compelled her to alter his identification file, when she could have
simply taken his ship?

Had she hoped it would merely delay him
getting free on Odera? Perhaps she didn't understand the
Controllers, how they operated. He wanted desperately to believe
she hadn't known what she was doing. But he suspected she did.

"Is getting to Zirak as important as staying
alive?" he snapped.

She started to reply just as the hatch tone
reverberated through the chamber.

"That's Travers now." Removing his mask and
gloves, Chase headed for the entry panel. "I'll get him. You stay
right there."

He strode down the corridor, but an
ominously familiar figure, along with two Anteks, brought him up
short.

Heading for the cockpit, Dansan whirled
around when she heard Chase. They stared at one other. He battled
the flood of memories and pain he always experienced when he
encountered this soulless being; when he stared into eyes
containing no shred of human decency.

Dansan's evil aura lingered so strongly
around her, he asked himself for the thousandth time how he and a
whole society could have been so blind to the monster within the
woman.

Regaining his wits, he realized he had no
weapons on him. Not that it would have done him much good, not with
the disrupters Dansan's two henchmen had trained on him.

"McKnight," Dansan drawled, her pale eyes
glittering. "What are you doing here? I heard you'd been detained
at base command."

She couldn't have known he'd been arrested.
Unless she had spies planted at the command center, a likely
possibility.

"This is my ship. Why wouldn't I be here?"
he countered, stalling to formulate a game plan. His stunner. By
the hatch, where he'd laid it yesterday. He stepped toward the
hatch, halting when Dansan's guards tensed and raised their weapons
higher.

Dansan strutted forward, her tight
flightsuit showing off every curve of her muscular body. She kept
herself in top physical condition, but her age had begun to show in
her face. Face replacements only worked so many times.

"I expected you to be delayed much, much
longer," she crooned in her throaty voice.

Even with contacts at base command, she
couldn't have gotten to Intrepid this quickly, unless she'd already
been headed here. Chase inched toward the hatch. "How did you know
I was on Intrepid?"

"I have my sources, McKnight. Even after all
this time, you continue to underestimate me."

He'd
never
underestimate the evil
this woman was capable of. "So you thought you'd check out my
ship—maybe even take it?"

She coolly scanned the corridor. "It's a
nice ship. I wouldn't mind adding it to my fleet."

A nagging suspicion snaked into Chase's
mind. Dansan never did anything by chance, so she really must have
believed he would be delayed a while. "What made you so certain I
wouldn't be returning to my ship any time soon?"

Her eyes met his, diabolical, cold. "Let's
just say I arranged your detention. Although I rather expected you
to be detained on Odera."

Realization slammed into Chance with the
force of a rocket launcher. Dansan possessed almost as much
knowledge about computers as she did genetic engineering.
She
must have been the one who altered the records on Odera,
not Nessa. She probably had his voice and hand prints recorded
somewhere, a remainder from their dealings on Torin.

She'd had ample opportunity to access the
computer data base on Odera, as the authorities hadn't known of her
presence there. He hadn't thought to tell them, assuming she'd
fled. Not that anyone would have arrested her. Fury rose at the
knowledge that this woman had successfully infiltrated every level
of government and society with bribes and threats.

"Is that why you altered my identification
records?" he demanded. "To confiscate my ship?"

"Your ship would have been a side benefit,
McKnight. I just wanted to put you out of action for a while."

So Dansan had altered his records. He'd
accused Nessa without ever giving her a fair chance. "Why put me
out of commission, Dansan? I thought you enjoyed the challenge of
pursuit."

"Perhaps I enjoyed outwitting you for a
time. But I grow weary of looking over my shoulder at every turn."
She strolled forward and ran a finger down the front of his
flightsuit. Her nose wrinkled. "My, my, aren't we filthy. What's
this? Welts, dried blood? Hmmm, I don't mind a little sweat, and I
do so like the taste of blood. I might be persuaded to prolong your
miserable life a while longer."

Nausea roiled inside Chase. His nemesis,
this close, and he could do nothing to her. She'd lusted after him
even when they were supposed allies, working to mine the iridon.
He'd refused her advances politely but firmly, not attracted to her
in the least. Hatred and revulsion filled him. He battled the urge
to wrap his hands around her treacherous throat, knowing he'd be
killed on the spot if he did.

Unable to touch her, he glared into her
eyes. He found no light, no spirit in those dispassionate, icy
orbs. Only greed and death.

"Tell me, why don't you have a price on your
head, like the common criminal you are?" he asked, slipping closer
to the hatch.

"You just don't get it, do you?" she
sneered. "Everyone has their price, McKnight.
Everyone
.
Including the all-mighty Controllers. They wanted a way to get to
the Shielders, and I supplied it. They willingly provided Shielder
prisoners for my experiments. Once I isolated the chemical
providing Shielder immunity to mind domination, all I had to do was
create a virus that would bond with the unique Shielder DNA. The
Controllers were most grateful. They wouldn't dream of disposing of
me. They might need my services again."

She'd created Orana! The revelation stunned
Chase. But that explained why the virus had proven so lethal to
Shielders. Using her twisted genius, Dansan had engineered Ramos
and then Orana, all for money, knowingly setting in motion the
destruction of at least two groups of people.

And yet, no one seemed to care. Was there no
justice in the universe?

A blinding flash of white-hot rage barreled
through him. There damn well would be justice. With a bellow, he
charged Dansan, knocking her into the nearest Antek, who crashed
backward.

Chase hit the floor and rolled toward the
hatch, kicking the legs from under the second Antek. Leaping to his
feet, he swept up his weapon and whirled toward Dansan. Too late.
He faced the disrupter she aimed at him.

"Drop it," she hissed. Behind him, he heard
the two Anteks staggering to their feet. He didn't stand a chance
if he tried to fire. He dropped the stunner.

Her face twisted with contempt. "Your
so-called weapon wouldn't have hurt me anyway, McKnight. Your
stunners don't begin to compare to a disrupter, and everyone knows
you keep your 'toys' on a low setting."

Chase's chest heaved and his heart pounded
from the impotent rage roaring through him. He balled his fists and
drew a deep breath. "Unlike you and the Controllers, Dansan, I
don't have to scramble the brain and nervous system to control my
prisoners."

She shook her head, her eyes gleaming. "Such
a bleeding heart, Dr. McKnight. I'll bet you wept over those fools
on Torin. But your weakness is my advantage. You could never kill
me. That would be murder, and you swore to protect life."

She was wrong. Dead wrong. He’d dreamed of
finding Dansan, of placing a gun to her head and blowing her evil
mind away, for the past three seasons. Maybe he couldn’t have taken
a life before she murdered virtually everyone in his colony, but
pain and the burning desire for revenge had forged him into a
ruthless bastard. He could dispatch her to the fires of the Abyss
without any regret.

Like a predator closing in for the kill, she
stepped closer. "I always wondered what you planned to do with me
if you ever actually caught me. But I know what I'm going to do
with you. If I happen to be in an amorous mood, I might enjoy your
body for a while, before I inject you with the Ramos. Then I plan
to watch you die, McKnight. Slowly, in agony, like the rest of your
witless clan."

An insidious cold congealed in his chest. He
felt oddly detached, as if he were watching the scenario from a
holo screen. He knew he'd rather die fighting than give this
madwoman the satisfaction of watching him go insane. As he prepared
to launch into drastic action, a movement to his left caught his
eye.

Nessa. She sidled quietly along the
corridor, a gun clutched in her hand. He could see her trembling.
She'd get herself killed. Before he could react, she raised a
shaking arm toward the Anteks behind him. Just then, she stumbled,
drawing all attention her direction.

Chase seized the distraction. He hit Dansan
with a high kick to the chest, hurtling her across the corridor.
She stumbled into the brig cubicle on the other side. Nessa fired
at one Antek, as Chase whirled and gut punched the second one. The
first Antek slumped over, a wound in his chest.

Chase dove for his stunner. The second Antek
charged with a roar just as Chase scooped up his weapon. The brute
slammed him in the back, and he went down, the breath knocked out
of him. He managed to roll again, his stunner in his hands. As he
rolled, he kicked the Antek in the groin, and the soldier screamed
in pain and lurched away.

Halfway to his feet, Chase froze when he saw
Dansan had gained her footing inside the brig cubicle and had her
disrupter trained on him. Hatred set her face in an ugly mask, and
her white hair swirled wildly around her face.

"This weapon is at the highest scramble
setting, McKnight. It won't kill you immediately. You'll experience
the total disruption of all signals to your brain and nervous
system before you die. You'll hallucinate your worst nightmares,
while your nerve endings will have you writhing and screaming in
agony. It will take a while, but you'll die eventually. Good
riddance, McKnight."

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion
then. He saw Dansan's finger slide over the discharge button. At
the same time, he heard Nessa gasp, "No!" and saw her lunge for the
brig control pad. His hand tightened on the stunner in a futile
race to beat Dansan to the first shot. He saw Nessa hit the force
field pad just as Dansan discharged the disrupter.

The flash momentarily blinded him. Dansan's
scream of pain reverberated down the corridor. He blinked his eyes
to clear his vision. She writhed and twitched on the floor,
moaning, then stilled. He didn't spare more than a cursory glance
her way. The force field had amplified her disrupter beam as it
rebounded. He could do nothing for her now.

He whirled as the Antek he'd kicked charged
again. Raising his stunner, Chase shot the Antek in the chest, and
he crashed to the floor, unconscious. Dropping his weapon, Chase
turned his attention to Nessa.

She'd saved his life again.

Her huge eyes fixed on his face, she slid
slowly down the wall. He rushed to her and eased her down into his
arms. She stared at him, fever glazing her eyes.