Warrior's Valor (6 page)

“We have to go there.” Kellen looked taut and barely contained. Rae knew she must act or her wife might hijack the closest shuttle.

Ewan cleared his throat. “I've already ordered the Keliera station to allow the luxury cruiser they were traveling on to continue toward Corma. We'll have more ships rendezvous with them, to make certain they're travelling with the safest vessel possible. We'll know more when they arrive.”

“For stars and skies,” Rae muttered. “Damn it, Father, weren't there any indications? What about the security detail? They were traveling with an entire entourage, and their whereabouts were on a need-to-know basis.”

“I'll keep in touch with SC headquarters and also inform our Cormanian hosts. The council is concerned, of course. If M'Ekar has your mother…” Ewan glanced at Rae, his lips thin and pale. “You know as well as I do why this is potentially disastrous, not only for our family.”

“Yes, Father.” Rae understood what he meant, but she could think of nothing but the safety of her mother. They had just begun to communicate, after years of strained, formal attitudes between them.

“I want to take a shuttle and rendezvous with Armeo and Ayahliss.” Kellen stood stiffly next to Ewan, her ice blue gaze alert and not revealing the turmoil Rae knew she was experiencing. As Protector of the Realm, Kellen was the last member of the Gantharian royal family's guardians. Kellen never let Armeo out of her sight, unless her duty as a lieutenant in the SC military kept her from him.

Ewan took a deep breath and visibly controlled his own worry. “I'm not about to let you go off alone in a shuttle when M'Ekar and his cronies could be anywhere.” His voice softened. “We should prepare for the children's arrival. Their ETA is tomorrow morning.”

“I can't sit idly by when Armeo might be in danger and Ayahliss is injured.” Kellen stormed by both admirals, forcing the aide de camp to flatten himself against the wall.

Ewan put his hand up. “Let's find out what's going on first. As soon as we know more, we can take appropriate action.”

“You don't understand,” Kellen hissed. “This is about
Armeo
.”

“But I do understand.” Ewan didn't avert his gaze. “This is also about my wife.”

Ironclad wills clashed as Kellen's crystalline blue eyes met Ewan's dark gray ones.

“Kellen. Father.” Rae rose and circled the desk. “We're wasting time. We can use the new long-range scanners to perform initial searches for traces of any vessel leaving the Keliera space station moments after the kidnapping. If it
is
M'Ekar, I bet he's traveling with a civilian ship, and we might recognize its signature.”

Rae fought to think clearly, to remain as by-the-book as she would have been if this were an incident regarding a stranger.
Incident.
Rae wiped her palms against her uniform-clad legs. The word suggested something minor, but her
mother
was missing. If Dahlia was in the hands of the man who had everything to gain—and nothing remotely important to lose—by abducting her… Rae cleared her throat to loosen the forming lump. “Kellen, please, darling, listen to me. I promise, as soon as we know what we're dealing with here, we'll go get Armeo and Ayahliss.”

Kellen drew long even breaths, a technique Rae recognized. Her wife's volatile nature didn't surface often, but now, when the child she regarded as her son might be in danger, the beast tore at its tethers. “Very well, Rae. I will do as you suggest. For now.”

“For now.” Rae returned her attention to her father. Ewan's dark eyes met hers, and his piercing stare reminded her that, under certain circumstances, he could be as deadly as Kellen. Kidnapping his wife of almost fifty years was one of those situations. “Sir, Kellen and I should join you in the mission room to monitor the progress.”

“I agree. You know M'Ekar better than anybody, except perhaps Dahlia, and you might be able to anticipate his actions.”

Rae dragged a hand through her hair. “His motives aren't hard to guess. He wants to combine business with pleasure, in a manner of speaking. Mother is privy to classified SC information because of her level-one security clearance. He plans to make her talk.”

“What good would that do him?” Kellen asked, sounding calmer.

“He could use her information in many different ways,” Rae said. “He'll most likely try to regain the trust of the Onotharians and thus get his old life back.”

“There's only one glitch in such a plan,” Ewan added.

“Mother would never talk. Ever.” Rae was as sure of that as she was of her love for Kellen.

“You're right.” Ewan cleared his voice, his lips pale and tight. “She wouldn't.”

Rae fought to remain calm as horrific images of her mother remaining stoic and silent under one torture session after another flickered through her mind. Any method was possible. Physical assault, brain scans, truth serums, other mind-altering drugs, unscrupulous telepaths. Or all of them.

“So that leaves us only one option,” Kellen said gravely. “We have to get her back. Quickly.”

Heading for the door, Rae turned to look at Kellen, who seemed every bit as determined to pursue M'Ekar as Rae herself was. “You'd better clear the way with headquarters fast, Father,” she said abruptly. “Because no matter what, Kellen and I are going.”

*

The forest had become denser after Emeron and her team parked the hovercraft and stepped off the trail to escort Dwyn farther. They all carried heavy back-strap security carriers with enough supplies to spend two nights without the habitats.

Emeron shoved vines out of her face, annoyed that she couldn't simply use her sidearm and cut them with a well-aimed plasma-pulse ray. She cursed the Thousand Year Pact for prohibiting such methods. Instead, she had to make sure she didn't harm any single plant or animal within the Disi-Disi forest. The natives believed the trees had souls, as well as other superstitious garbage. Emeron briefly remembered Briijn—large, deeply set brown eyes in a furrowed, wise face—and then she slammed an inner door shut around the twitch of familiar pain. “Superstitious garbage,” she repeated to herself.

“Excuse me,” a clear voice said, as Dwyn closed the distance and stopped next to her.

“Nothing. Is this spot good enough for you?” Emeron pointed at the small clearing ahead of them.

“Perfect.” Dwyn surveyed the area. “We can make camp over there and I can use this section for samples. I found traces over an hour ago that suggest someone has tried to cover their tracks around here.”

“Really?” Emeron raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure? The undergrowth is as dense here as everywhere else.” It was their fifth day in the forest, which to her looked undisturbed.

“It takes a trained eye, but I've documented the signs thoroughly. And I wouldn't be surprised if we discover even more obvious ones here.”

“I thought you were looking for actual structures that someone built unlawfully. So far I haven't seen as much as a straw bent out of shape.”

Dwyn shrugged. “You don't know what to look for, but that's all right. I do.”

Emeron refused to huff out loud, but she was definitely not used to anyone talking to her like this. Dwyn was self-assured in a way that few people were around her. Though Dwyn appeared to be physically frail and ethereal, she was surprisingly stubborn and cocky when it came to her job.

“Let me show you.” Dwyn knelt just inside the clearing and motioned for Emeron to join her. Carefully she parted the knee-high, silky grass. “Here. Can you see the color of the soil here?”

“Brown.” Emeron looked indifferently at the dirt.

“Look closer.”

She felt silly, but couldn't very well refuse. She slid nearer to Dwyn. Something mild and fruity filled her senses, and at first she thought it was the vegetation, perhaps some flower, but soon realized the scent came from Dwyn. Perplexed at herself, she inhaled stealthily.

“Well?” Dwyn prodded.

“Eh…brown, with dark streaks?”

“Exactly. Good.” Dwyn smiled brightly. “This means that soil, which should be dark brown, is now infused with a foreign substance. If we dig very carefully…” Dwyn produced a small spoon-like object. “Aha.” She held up a piece of the dirt and, to Emeron's surprise, the black streaks were dark orange inside.

“Even I know that orange-colored dirt isn't normal.”

“No, it's not.” Dwyn emptied the spoon into a small canister and tucked both items back into one of her many pockets. She looked up as they rose, her silver-gray eyes sparkling, most likely from the joy of being correct. “Visible orange, in this case, means that the underground constructions have gone far. Way too far.”

“Underground? Weren't you looking for traces of deforestation? I mean, above ground.” Emeron had lost track of where Dwyn's thoughts were taking her.

“In order to build the vast structures that become a tiered city, as in Corma's two largest metropolitan areas, you need a foundation that stretches farther down than the ancient bedrock. And the width of the underground foundation must equal the height of the central part of the structure.”

“Are you saying that developers are defying Cormanian laws and working underneath us to create a foundation for a new tiered city?” Emeron stared at Dwyn, uncertain what to think. Surely she was merely making an educated guess.

“That's exactly what I'm saying.”

“And how would they achieve that?” Emeron brushed off her hands on her pants. “You couldn't hide a tiered city right in the Disi-Disi forest.”

“Oh, so you're under the impression that someone trying to break Cormanian law is doing this?” Dwyn wrinkled her nose, and her expression showed clearly her disdain and cynicism. “The Cormanian government is actually our prime suspect. They could easily tunnel into the forest from outside, working in secret.”

“That's ridiculous. Why would the Cormanian government give you and your organization permission to investigate, if they were the guilty party?” Emeron was angry now.

“Two reasons. Some people among your rulers possibly aren't happy with these covert incursions of the Thousand Year Pact. Also, the Cormanian government initially denied my organization the right to investigate. Eventually, they had to concede, much to their annoyance, when the chairman of the SC Council intervened.” Dwyn shrugged. “Proves very handy to have connections in high places.”

Flabbergasted and annoyed at Dwyn's deductions, which seemed maddeningly plausible, Emeron thought of something acerbic to say. “I am here to uphold the law and to keep you safe. I personally think you are in more danger of being sued for spreading false allegations than anything else, but—”

The air filled with a bright green light and the unmistakable scent of plasma-pulse fire. The air crackled, and Emeron reacted instantly. “Down!” She threw herself on top of Dwyn, knocking her sideways to the ground. “Keep your head low.” She pulled her sidearm and pressed the sensor, setting it to kill. “Who the hell is firing on us?”

She glanced around and spotted something moving to their left. Two round objects hurled through the sky, which she recognized as floater bots. Law-Enforcement Command used them for surveillance. The first one twirled and emitted a plasma-pulse beam continuously, hitting tree trunks and shrubbery. Smoke billowed from the scorched plants. She yanked her communicator from her shoulder pad to her lips.

“D'Artansis to Mogghy. We're under attack. Where are you?”

“Mogghy here. We're five minutes behind you.”

“So far no individuals, only floater bots.”

“We see a few here too. They haven't engaged us in combat.”

“They might. Use caution.” Emeron tucked Dwyn under her arm, shielding her as she pulled her beneath a massive tree as the bots circled the clearing. She was infuriated that she hadn't seen this attack coming.

“What's going on?” Dwyn gasped, peering through the dense branches.

“Floater bots. Someone's monitoring us.”

“I'd say they're doing more than that. Watch out.” Dwyn tugged Emeron toward her as one of the metal orbs hovered closer, its luminescent green rays scorching everything in its path.

“Shh.” Emeron allowed herself to be pulled back. “Their audio sensors might pick up our location.”

“Are they operating automatically, or are they remote controlled?” Dwyn whispered.

“You tell me. From the way they're moving, I'd say they're fully automatic.” The bots swept back and forth throughout the clearing, farther and farther from where they hid. Emeron let a few seconds pass after the bots were out of sight, then took a careful step out from under the tree.

Suddenly a movement to her left flickered at the outer perimeter of her field of vision. Emeron grabbed her plasma-pulse laser weapon and took aim, but too late. A bright, green ray pierced the air, and she heard, more than felt, it singe her left arm. Next, something incredibly forceful hit her lower abdomen. She landed on her back on the ground. The force of the impact created a vacuum in her lungs and she struggled to gasp for air.