Tiger of Talmare (16 page)

"Let me do the talking," Mel whispered, then stepped forward before Zach could argue.

"Look," Mel said to Sanderson, "I'm a pirate, I don't care who runs the Universe. You, the Intergalactic Agency, I really don't give a shit. So why don't you just let us go on our way and we won't disclose what we know about you to the Agency."

Sanderson didn't answer. Instead, he looked at Leila. "Leila, tell me what they're up to."

Leila walked past him and came to stand in front of Mel and Zach. She stared at them, her eyes cold and blank. Mel shivered. Something was very wrong here.

"It's really quite simple," Leila said. "Tiger there, is a genuine hero, he's here to save me. How sweet." She leaned forward and patted his cheek. "But really, I don't need saving." Mel noticed she was wearing leather gloves and that Zach flinched back from her touch. "And Mel's here to save Tiger. She loves him. How very odd."

Mel's eyes narrowed. "Leila, what's going on?"

"I told you not to come," she said. "You should have listened to me."

"We're going to get you out of here, Leila."

Leila turned to Sanderson. "She's going to tell you that they have a communication set up with the Agency and that it will be sent unless we all get off here alive." She paused for a moment and looked back at Mel. "She's lying. There's nothing set up."

Mel had been watching Sanderson, now she swung around to stare at Leila. What was going on? Leila was working with Sanderson, but why? Mel waited for her to continue, to tell Sanderson that the Agency already knew everything, that they were on their way to Talmare, but Leila said nothing further.

"What's going on?" Zach whispered from beside her.

Mel frowned. "How the fuck should I know?"

"I could still blow us up."

"Don't you dare." She turned to Leila. "Why?"

"All my adult life, I've been a freak. Now I have a chance to be with people of my own kind, to do what I was born to do. Besides, he's promised to tell me where my brother is." She glanced back at Sanderson. "You promised you would tell me if I got them here. Where is he?"

Sanderson shrugged. "No reason why not. After all, your friends won't be leaving here alive. Your brother is in a compound beneath the garrison on Talmare." He smiled at Zach. "Right beneath your feet all that time."

"So what about that little chat you promised me?" Zach asked. "I was looking forward to it."

"Well, you see, Leila here has told me that the information has gone no further, so I'm afraid we're going to forgo our little talk. I was rather looking forward to it as well, but you do seem to have an inconsiderate habit of wriggling out of entanglements. So this time, we're just going to get it over with. Leila, come away now. Leave your friends." He held out a hand.

Mel knew something was up; this wasn't going down as Sanderson planned whatever he thought. She just had no clue how it was going down. But whatever was going to happen, it had better happen fast because their two guards were drawing their weapons, aiming them, their fingers tightening on the triggers.

Zach took hold of her hand and squeezed.

She glanced at him. He was staring at Leila.

"Bitch," he muttered.

"Shh," Mel whispered. "Just be ready."

"Ready for what? To die?"

"Ready for anything."

Leila took a step toward Sanderson. She was tugging off the leather gloves. Glancing back over her shoulder, she smiled at Mel as she took Sanderson's outstretched hand. It was a smile of such malicious pleasure that Mel suddenly had an inkling of what was going to happen. It seemed to occur in slow motion. She stared at their joined hands then up at Sanderson's face, saw the moment the pain hit his system. His eyes widened, he pulled away from Leila, stared down at his hand in horror. He started to scream.

At the sound, the two guards covering them swung around.

"Now," Mel yelled at Zach.

They moved together. She leaped forward toward the closest man, kicking the weapon from his hand. Whirling, she kicked again, this time hitting him in the throat. He fell to the ground and Mel lunged for the blaster, picked it up, and shot him through the heart. She straightened up, looked around. Beside her Zach had taken out his guard.

Sanderson was still screaming, frantically rubbing his hand against his clothing. "What have you done?"

Leila smiled. "Poisoned you, of course. Don't bother trying to get it off. You're already dead."

She turned away from him. The remaining guard had been looking on bemused, now he grabbed at Leila, and she gripped his bare arm. "That was pretty stupid," she murmured. A moment later, his screams joined Sanderson's.

Sanderson writhed on the ground, blood erupting from his eyes and nose, blossoming into open sores across his skin. Finally, the screams stopped, and low animal moans trickled from his throat. Mel moved to stand over him. Leila joined her.

"Shouldn't we shoot him or something?" Mel asked.

"No, I want to see how the poison works. It's supposed to literally boil the blood."

"Ouch."

"Quick though." Sanderson had gone still and Leila nudged him with her toe. "Dead." Behind them, the guard also stopped moving. "About a minute, I reckon, I thought it would take longer."

Zach came up beside her. "Does someone want to explain what the hell just happened?"

Leila cast him a disinterested look. "Not particularly." She nodded at the bodies. "But hey, if you're feeling hungry, Tiger, go ahead, help yourself."

Zach scowled.

Mel touched him on the arm. "I think Leila had a better plan than we did."

Leila grinned. "Too bloody right I did. Though, honestly that was never going to be much of a challenge, was it?"

Mel glanced at Sanderson. "So, how did you do it?"

"Well, as I told you, the problem was getting the poison on the subject without touching it yourself." She raised her right hand and waggled her fingers. Mel had to force herself not to step back. "Lend me your knife," Leila said.

Mel passed her the knife and watched as she seemingly pushed the blade under the skin of her palm. A clear, thin membrane dislodged itself, and she peeled it off and held it up on the tip. "Impermeable membrane, impregnated with poison. How cool is that?"

"Really cool," Zach said. "Get rid of that thing."

Leila scuffed a hole in the sand with her boot, dropped the membrane, and covered it over.

Across the clearing, the engines of Sanderson's pod fired up. They all looked up at the sound.

"That's the rest of Sanderson's bodyguards deciding there's nothing left to guard," Zach said.

"Do we let them go?"

He shrugged. "Why not?"

Mel watched as the pod took off and disappeared. It occurred to her that they were all still alive. She'd honestly expected to die here. She grinned.

"What?" Zach asked.

"We're alive, and Sanderson's dead." She took a deep breath. "There's something I wished I'd told you, when you left me back there on
The Revenge
."

"Hmm?"

Oh God, could she do this? She swallowed, licked her dry lips. "I..."

"Oh for pity's sake," Leila snapped. "There's no nice way to do this, just tell him!"

Mel glared at her. "This isn't easy, you know."

Leila rolled her eyes, and Mel turned back to Zach.

"Mel?" He was frowning, but God he was gorgeous.

"What I was trying to say is that I love you, okay."

He grinned. "Wow."

"Yeah well, I might never say it again, so make the most of it."

He took a step toward her, his arms came around her, and he pulled her roughly against him.

"Ow," Mel yelped, "get your hands off my arse. It's bloody sore."

Then he kissed her, and not even the sound of Leila retching in the background could dim the fierce delight that flooded her body.

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"Right," Darla said as the engines fired up. "So where are we heading, Captain?"

"To Talmare, of course."

Darla stopped what she was doing and stared. "That's crazy. Any moment now it'll be crawling with people from the Agency."

"I know, but we've promised to find Leila's brother."

"She does realize that he's going to be a man, doesn't she?" Zach said. "She will be able to hold back from killing him?"

"I haven't killed you yet, have I?" Leila said, strolling onto the bridge. She took the seat next to Mel and put her booted feet up on the console. "But don't hold your breath," she added in an undertone.

Zach ignored the comment. "I say we contact the Agency, work with them."

Mel shook her head. "No way."

"It's the sensible thing to do, I can clear my name, and we get access to Talmare."

"Yeah, well, you might not have noticed, but 'sensible' isn't exactly my strong point. Besides, what would they do to Leila if they find out she's a telepath?"

"Why should they find out?"

"They might, and it's not worth the risk. And what are they going to do to the telepaths on Talmare that Sanderson bred, the others like Leila's bother. You reckon they're going to offer them jobs? I don't think so."

"What about clearing my name?"

Mel shrugged. "We can drop you off somewhere if you like?"

She held her breath as Zach turned to stare at her, his eyes narrowed.

"I'm not leaving you alone," he said at last. "God knows how long you'd survive without me looking out for you."

Something tight within her relaxed at his words. But she wasn't about to let him see that. "Well, just so long as you remember, it's my ship."

"It was mine, first."

Mel sighed. "You know, you can't have two captains on one ship."

"I've been thinking about that," Zach said. "And I think Admiral Zachary Knight has a good ring to it."

"In your dreams, lover."

"If you and Admiral Knight would stop bickering for a moment and actually decide what we're going to do, it would be great."

"Well, it just so happens," Mel said, "that I feel a plan coming on."

"God help us all," Zach muttered.