The Bond That Ties Us (22 page)

With great care to not rip her EV suit, Haylie rested against the jagged rocks and tried to see what was so dangerous that Ray had tried to kill her.

“Damn. I see something moving down there, but I’m too far away to make it out.”

She spoke the words to no one in particular.

She switched on the zoom goggles built into her suit’s mask. Automatically, the device zoomed in on the area where she had been staring. It took her brain several seconds to acknowledge that what she saw was real and not something out of a nightmare.

The reptilian creatures walked on all fours moving about the confines of the valley, looking very much like they were swimming in water, not pacing on land. Their alien nature was difficult for her mind to grasp. But not only that, she had the feeling that they knew she was there. Her mind felt the itching sensation of her dreams. They were beating at what little protection her inner mental walls could offer.

“Oh, shit.”

Haylie took the chance and broke radio silence. “Taber?”

“Chief Bond? Taber isn’t here. What is it?” There was no mistaking the concern on the other end of the speaker. She vaguely recognized him as one of Taber’s men.

“I don’t…I’ve never seen creatures like this.”

“Can you describe them?”

“Ah, ever see a crocodile? Kind of like that, only pumped up on steroids, silver, with spikes coming out of their spine.”

“Crocodile?”

She shivered. “Tell Taber it’s the Ecada.”

147

There was suddenly a riot of voices on the other end of her speaker before a long silence. Haylie’s heart was pounding by the time the Briel officer returned.

“Ms. Bond, Taber and his men are on their way. They want you to stay there.”

The creatures in the valley must have sensed trouble was brewing. As if in sync with his statement, they began to pour from the valley, spilling over the sides of the rocks like a quicksilver river.

“No can do. These things are on the move. Tell Taber to lock onto my suit’s tracking ID signal. I’m going to follow them.”

There was no response. She’d half expected the Briel to protest in that politely annoying manner that they all seemed to possess.

“Eurus colony? Over?” she said, tapping the earpiece through the helmet.

Just wonderful
. Haylie pushed off from the rocks and tried to keep as close to them as she dared. As she did before, Haylie got the sense that the creatures knew she was there. As she approached them, it felt like her brain was itchy and she fought to keep her eyes open.

Pull yourself together, Bond.

She had to give her head another hard shake to clear it.

Come on, Haylie. Where are you?

It took her a second to realize the voice in her head wasn’t her own.

Kamran?

Yes, it’s me. What are these things you’re following?

She then stared hard at them, trying to get as clear an image as she could.

Di machachta. It’s the Ecada.

Her eyes dropped closed, but this time she almost couldn’t get them back open. The buzzing in her mind now filled her ears. She wasn’t going to make it. They knew she was there and somehow they were trying to stop her. Forcing her body and mind to shut down.

“Haylie?”

Kamran’s voice now crackled from the speaker, jolting her awake again.

“They are going to attack the colony. Kamran, you have to make sure they don’t.

They’ll kill everyone.”

“It’s not safe for you there. Can you take shelter somewhere?”

Why the hell was he worrying about her when the entire colony was in danger?

“Don’t worry about me, Ambassador. I’m close to the colony now and should make it back before they get to me. Just get our defenses up.”

“Taber has pulled everyone he can find. Even the miners have grabbed their equipment and laser torches for weapons and have joined us. We’re moving as fast as we can, but we need time.”

Time. Never enough of it.

148

“There’s a supply depot south of my position. I don’t think I can get to it, but it’s full of explosives. Have some of the miners set it to blow. That should cause enough of a distraction to buy a few minutes.”

She hoped she sounded braver than she felt right now. There was no way she’d make it back in time. Even if she did, she was on the wrong side of the fight with little more than a blaster. Her safety wasn’t worth all the lives on the colony. Kamran was protected and that gave her a sense of satisfaction. As she collapsed to her knees, consciousness fading, everything seemed all right. The buzzing of the Ecada in her head was too much, too strong to fight.

“Where are you? I don’t want you getting caught out there with no place to go.”

She heard him talking, but despite her best efforts, she couldn’t reply.

“Haylie?” Kamran sounded desperate, even to his own ears.

She wished she’d been able to tell him how she felt before now. Life wasn’t fair.

Haylie gave up the fight and let unconsciousness take her over.

149

Kamran tapped his own communication unit in his EV suit, before letting out another curse. He tried once more to reach out with his mind, but their intimate connection was fading as well. The warmth of her now constant presence in his mind began to retract, leaving a dead space in its stead.

He stood at the brink of their quickly erected defenses between the oncoming horde and the fragile colony. Briel and humans alike were bringing out what limited firearms they had, preparing for battle. With the damage that had been done to their backup EV

suits many were left to wait inside the colony in case the Ecada breached their outer defenses. Few spoke as they listened for sounds of the approaching horde. Kamran grabbed an X5 pulse rifle and pushed his way past a huddle of security officers strategizing over a map.

“Ambassador, where do you think you are going?” Taber’s gruff voice invaded his ears, coated in static.

“To get Haylie. I’m not leaving her out there alone.”

“That is not wise.”

Kamran turned to face his friend and fixed him with a stare that sent Taber’s second in command scurrying away.

“At least let me send a unit with you.”

“No. They won’t bother me. Individuals aren’t seen as a threat by them. Plus, we need everyone we can get here.”

“They
may
bother with the ambassador who tried to stop them from getting what they wanted.”

He didn’t respond, taking the time to check the rifle’s power supply. Fully charged.

“She can’t be too far from our present location. She was moving toward the base when we lost contact,” Kamran said with every ounce of conviction he could muster. If only he could still sense her.

Why had he blocked her earlier?
Stupid fool.

Taber nodded. “I have every confidence that the chief is well. She may have needed to break contact for safety reasons.”

Great makers, let that be the case
. “I hope to beat the Ecada back here.”

An unnatural scream pierced the silent planet landscape, silencing every soul at the defense base. The sand began to tremble with the slight rumble of the enemy’s approach. The beat of hundreds of feet were coming toward them.

“That may be overly optimistic. You better move. They will be here in moments.”

150

Kamran saluted his friend in the traditional military form. With any luck, they would see each other again. He then slung the rifle over his shoulder and set out in search of Haylie.

Despite his long legs, it took an unacceptably long time to make his way toward her last known location. His weight made walking quickly a challenging prospect. Once he found her, he was going to kill her for doing something so stupid. She was only one person. What made her think that she could take on an entire army?

A sense of knowing exactly what she was capable of created an air of confidence in her he’d only seen in a few other beings in his life. Even if she held doubts, Haylie charged ahead sticking to her convictions once she’d made a decision. Whatever reason brought her out here, he knew she wouldn’t stop until she saw it through. Or she was killed. He closed his eyes and breathed as deeply as he could in the EV suit.
She’d better
be okay.

Because he didn’t think he could live without her.

Over his shoulder to the right, Kamran tried to catch a glimpse of the oncoming Ecada horde. They had either switched routes after Haylie’s last transmission or had engaged a cloaking barrier. Neither of which boded well for the defenders. A second later, a large explosion shook the ground. The miners had created their distraction.

A loud beeping from his hand broke into his thoughts. The EV location ID tracker had a lock on a lone signal—Haylie.

“Haylie, can you hear me?” He repeated his message on several different channels.

Please let her hear.

The locater showed that she was due south of his current position.

He began to run as quickly as he could. “Haylie, I’m almost there. Hold on a few more minutes.”

Static answered his plea.

He should be able to see her once he crested the next hill. But reaching the top didn’t reveal a body. A glint in the sand caught his eye and he slid quickly down the hill.

No.

He picked up the metal transmitter, bits of Haylie’s torn EV suit still clinging to it.

Kamran spun around, but there was no indication of anyone or anything. Someone else had gotten to her first. Kamran’s stomach sickened. He was too late.

He stood motionless, not knowing what to do. He needed to find her to be able to put things right between them. He needed to tell her that he loved her. She drove him crazy with her brashness, but he could live with that. She gave him something he never knew was missing from his life. A companion, someone who would love him for himself, not his political accomplishments. Someone who would challenge him in life without judging him. Someone who could love him back.

“Ambassador, did you find her?” Taber’s steady voice broke through his thoughts.

151

Kamran swallowed away the lump in his throat. “No. Someone tore her transmitter out and left it. I’m going to have to come back to base.”

“The Ecada were drawn toward the explosion. It must be the heat. That won’t distract them for long. They are approaching from the southwest.”

Kamran squeezed the transmitter tightly before tucking it into his pocket. “I’ll swing around and approach from the east.”

“Hurry. They haven’t attacked yet, but I don’t anticipate that lasting much longer.”

The journey back to base took twice as long due to the roundabout route. With each step, Kamran tried to figure out who would have taken her. The Ecada didn’t take prisoners unless they were short on their food supplies. That left only one person.

“Taber, has anyone been able to track down Ray?”

“I’ve had to pull all our men to the perimeter.”

“But no one has seen him enter from that side?”

Silence for a moment before Taber responded. “No sightings at all. What are you thinking?”

“There’s a secondary access tunnel on the north of the colony base. I think he’s taken Haylie there.”

The main channel automatically cut over the private chat. “Weapons ready. Here they come!”

Goddess protect them.

Kamran switched off his communication unit. The last thing they needed was him as an added distraction. He reached the base and turned right instead of left making his way toward the access tunnel.

The door was large, the metal dented and pitted from the constant beating it took from the sand. At first glance it didn’t appear that it would open, but a spark from the door mechanism caught his attention. He picked up the wires and touched them together, once, twice. The doors whooshed open, sending a cloud of sand swirling around his feet.

He had to force the doors shut, using the exposed wires on the inside. Ray had clearly been in a hurry, not bothering to cover his tracks. Sand and dirt from outside were sucked into the room, creating a cloud of haze to fill the small antechamber.

How the hell was he going to figure out where they’d gone? All four of the access doors were closed, but something drew Kamran’s attention to the far left one. The security panel had a wipe mark, fingers drawn quickly through the dust.

Haylie.

With a flash of his ID badge, the door opened effortlessly and Kamran barreled through. He pushed his EV helmet from his head and took in a lungful of clean air.

“Haylie!”

152

This was a service tunnel. He ran with great strides up the corridor until it emptied into a control room.

“Preflight sequence engaged.”

The computer’s sanitary voice sent a chill through him.

“Computer, override. Cancel preflight cycle.”

“Please provide override authorization.”

“Kamran, five-nine-alpha.”

“Access denied.”

So much for that.
A glance out to the hangar gave him another idea. Releasing the security seal on the door, he slid down the ladder to the hangar bay floor. The whirl of the short-range shuttle’s engines increased, blowing the dust that had penetrated the force field’s barrier into his eyes.

With a yank, he pulled his helmet back on but couldn’t fully secure it to his face. At least he could see a little. Well enough to locate the one thing that could keep the shuttle grounded.

When he passed in front of the nose of the shuttle, a booming voice assaulted his ears.

“Well, Ambassador. Nice to see you outside med bay for a change. I hope you haven’t had too much of a headache recently.”

Kamran stumbled over a toolbox. He landed on the ground next to the docking clamps.

“I’m perfectly healthy. Not a great day for a pleasure flight.”

“If you’re referring to that little attack from my friends, I think it’s a perfect day for one. Their orders are to kill every last human and Briel on the planet. So I thought it best to take a little day trip.”

Kamran grabbed a wrench from the tool box and pounded the clamp’s casing until it popped open. He knew what men like Ray were like. Keep him talking, taunt his ego long enough to finish what he needed to do to keep the shuttle grounded.

“And you felt the need to take Chief Bond with you?”

Carefully removing his gloves, Kamran tightened his hands into balls before diving into the panel. A shock from the unshielded wires made him cry out. It had the happy side effect of numbing his fingers to the pain and he was able to force the security panel open, exposing the metal clamps that could prevent the shuttle from taking off.

“I wanted to make sure I had a pleasant distraction while I orbited the planet. I’ve always wanted to dissect a human.”

“We’ll see about that,” he said through his clenched teeth.

Movement from Kamran’s right caught his attention. Donaldson stepped into his line of sight. “What are you doing, Kamran?”

153

Kamran tensed, ready to defend himself from attack. Donaldson had been working with Ray this whole time. He tightened his grip on the wrench.

“Just a little last-minute maintenance.”

It took a second but Kamran realized something was different. There was no malice in Donaldson’s voice and he’d used his given name. He was filthy and his eyes were bloodshot with heavy bags underneath. Gone was the coldness that had been so much a part of who he had been in the past year. What remained looked tired, scared and confused.

“Are you well, Administrator? Sean?”

The engines from the shuttle kicked into the next phase. The last one before takeoff.

“No time. I’m going to stop him.” Donaldson muttered.

Kamran watched as he pulled out a blaster and stumbled toward the shuttle door.

“No. Sean!”

Kamran stopped and tried to think back to his basic piloting course. In case of emergency, clamps can be manually released by turning the handle clockwise. So to lock them…

“Docking clamps engaged. Preflight sequence paused.” The computer’s voice echoed in the docking bay.

He released his breath. “Thank the goddess.”

“Not smart. I would hate to see your girlfriend get hurt.”

Kamran looked up in time to see a limp, helmetless Haylie being shoved at him. He barely managed to get his arms up in time to catch her when Ray launched at him.

* * * * *

Haylie landed hard against the hangar floor, the pain from the impact jolting her from unconsciousness. The world was spinning, her head throbbed from the impact with the floor and her lungs seized in a fit of coughing.

What was going on? The last thing she remembered she had been circling around the Ecada close to the colony defenses when she’d fallen unconscious. The next thing she knew her suit was ripped and she couldn’t breathe. She barely managed to hold the tear together before Ray dragged her back inside the building and she passed out again.

She managed to roll onto her back as someone kicked her leg. She looked up to watch Ray swing a wrench at someone’s head. The impact sent the helmet flying.

“Kamran?”

“Run. Now!”

“Like hell!”

On her feet, she stumbled toward the shuttle. A weapon, she needed one now. Her vision blurred, she misjudged her distance from the shuttle’s nose and ran into it. Her hands managed to find a groove and she held on tight. Focusing straight in front of her, 154

Haylie saw a heap lying on the floor.
Donaldson
. He was moaning, clutching his gut. But he did have one thing she needed. Haylie threw herself at him, landing hard on her knees beside him.

“Give me your blaster.”

“I’m so,” he gasped. “I’m sorry.”

“Just give me the fucking gun!”

Haylie ripped it from his outstretched hand and tore back around the front of the shuttle. Haylie pointed the blaster at the two Briel as they grappled with each other on the shuttle floor. For a second, she thought Kamran had the upper hand until Ray managed to kick his feet out from under him and Kamran’s head banged hard against the floor.
God, let him be okay.

“Freeze!”

Ray spun to face her. He smiled a wide toothy grin. “Chief! Nice to see you up on your feet again. Though I haven’t given you permission to return to duty. Have you, Administrator?”

Haylie didn’t dare take her eyes off Ray but she knew Donaldson now stood very close behind her.