“I don’t.” She checked the many weapons at her belt, one by one. “I’m natural born, with only a few robotic implants.” She pointed a finger to her head. “In my brain, to communicate with Sheba.” She blinked a few times. “And in my eyes, to see better than the average human.”
She had the most beautiful and strange green eyes, unlike Azuran eyes that reflected the color of the crystal.
Acielon found himself drawn to her fascinating gaze. “I heal very quickly. Do I have nanobots?”
She chuckled. “I doubt it, but I suspect you have something much better. Nanobots can’t give the kind of abilities you have.” She raked her short blond hair with slender fingers. “Where is Tarkan now? How far?”
The reality of her imminent departure struck Acielon like a wall. He must stop her, but Azurans did not lie or go against a friend’s will. Closing his eyes again, he surveyed the slopes with his mind’s eye. He breathed easier. “You may want to rethink your strategy. The Dragons are half way down the hill, but Tarkan is not among them.”
“He’s not?” She frowned. “Did he stay behind at the cave?”
Acielon closed his eyes again, his sight showing him the glowing crystal vault. “Yes. He seems fascinated by the crystal.”
“Lazy bastard! I’ll have to go get him myself.” She adjusted the heavy weapons on her belt. “Come, Sheba. We’ll have to be stealthy to get past the Dragon Squad.”
Sheba sniffed the air. “Sheba know stealth.”
“I cannot get involved in what you plan to do.” Acielon made himself invisible and followed them out of the Silver Angel.
The yellow morning light bathed the rocky hill, and the air smelled of tropical blooms.
“Where did he go?” Fianna looked around for him. “Triblets! What a wimp.”
“Acielon know stealth, too.” Sheba’s coat turned the soft brown of the rocky hillside. “Sheba see people.”
Fianna blinked. “The Dragons. I see them, too.” She veered to the left. “This way, so they can’t see us.”
Smiling, Acielon flapped his wings and took off above woman and cat as they climbed up a side path hidden by boulders. On the main trail, Tarkan’s Dragons came down the rocky slope, laughing and dancing, talking loudly in their excitement about the wealth the crystal would bring them.
* * *
Fianna hated delays. Half a standard hour up to the cave, and it would take another half hour to get down to the landing site. Tarkan now behaved like a spoiled dictator, letting his Dragons do all the work for him. To think she’d once been one of them. The long erased dragon tattoo under her left arm still stung when she thought of that time.
She attacked the slope, climbing in quick, angry strides, her dangling hardware clinking with each step. At her side, Sheba loped with ease.
How could Fianna have been so blind to Tarkan’s obvious manipulation? She’d been little more than a child at the time, but still... he would pay for all the suffering he’d caused her and her brother.
And what about Acielon? She couldn’t understand his cowardly behavior. With all his abilities, he could be of great help. Yet, he chose to vanish. Fianna would fare better alone with Sheba. Her skills at picking friends and lovers sucked.
“Sheba smell body stink.”
“It’s coming from the cave where Tarkan and his Dragons slept.” Fianna trusted Sheba’s instincts. “Lead the way, girl.”
The big cat climbed deliberately toward a rocky overhang. The entrance of the cave looked quite ordinary. Brown rock under an orange sun. Fianna followed Sheba through the wide opening, adjusting her vision to the low light inside.
“Sheba smell.” The puma took off across the cave toward a narrow path sloping down.
Light on her feet, Fianna hurried after the cat on the uneven floor of the natural tunnel. Humidity and heat radiated from below, and a faint blue glow emanated from the rock. Even she detected the stench of Tarkan’s Dragons... the stink of unwashed bodies.
She shuddered at the memories invading her... waking up in a dark, stale lair, the weight of Tarkan upon her naked body. How stupid she had been to believe he loved her. She would bring him to justice, take away his freedom like he had taken hers.
As she entered the luminous vault, she halted on the threshold. The turquoise crystal hummed, and the vibration permeated her body. The pendant on her chest vibrated in unison with the cave, making her light and giddy.
Clear blue obelisks and columns at odd angles reminded her of jumbled tree trunks in a forest after an earthquake. Except that the crystal beams also stemmed from the sides, and from the ceiling. Uneven crystal protrusions on the floor, like irregular cobblestones, made the footing difficult.
Sheba turned her coat white, and the blue glow reflected off her hide, making her look the color of a unicorn.
“Monalisa... did you miss me?” The suave voice Fianna knew too well whispered and echoed around the immense cave. “You cannot live without me, Monalisa. I told you leaving me was a mistake.”
Fianna drew her crossbow rifle. How she hated that pet name. She shivered but quickly regained her calm. She couldn’t see him in the stilted forest of crisscrossed blue beams. She activated her eye software, but so much refraction on the faceted crystal blinded her scanners. Triblets!
“Tarkan? Show yourself.”
A tall man in black synthleather, bristling with blades and guns, stepped out from behind a crystal column, dwarfed by the gigantic beam.
Sheba moved closer to Fianna’s side, flattened her round ears, and growled at Tarkan. The cave amplified the growl to a roar. Fianna braced herself for the confrontation.
Tarkan laughed. “You brought a kitty cat on a manhunt?”
Fianna aimed the crossbow at Tarkan. “I’m afraid you are outnumbered. Your men are back at the landing site. They can’t help you. Surrender if you want to remain unharmed. Sheba is lethal, and so am I.”
He smiled, still handsome as the devil who seduced her cycles ago. The long scar on his left cheek caught the blue glow. He winked at her. “You would not dare maim or kill the love of your life.”
“Ha!” Fianna straightened her frame. “You forget I gave you that slash to remember me by, every time you look in a mirror.”
“I don’t forget anything.” Tarkan’s dark gaze hardened. He rubbed his scarred cheek. “But I know you miss me.”
“I can’t believe you still hang on to this ridiculous belief.” She took a quick breath before the lie. “I never loved you. I used you like you used me. It was a relationship of convenience.” Her throat clenched. In her blind innocence, she had loved him once, deeply, and the memory of his betrayal still stung.
Tarkan walked toward her, slowly, deliberately, like a predator sizing up his prey. “I know better than that, child. You are and will always be my Monalisa. I saved you from the slave market. I took you in with your brother. I was your first. They say a woman never forgets her first love.”
“That’s close enough.” Fianna raised the crossbow rifle, aiming at his head.
Tarkan stopped and casually held up his hands in surrender.
“You, sonovabitch. You betrayed me and my brother, who you claimed to love as a son.”
His brow rose. “I never betrayed Kid Hacker.”
“Don’t call him that. He’s not a hacker. And his name is Maksou.”
“May he rest in peace.” A shadow passed over Tarkan’s dark brown eyes. Sincere concern, or manipulation? “At least, he remained a Dragon to the end. He gave his life so I could escape.”
“No.” Fianna’s heart clenched. “My brother knows better than to renew contact with the Dragon Squad.”
“Yet, look around you, Monalisa.” Tarkan gestured toward the glowing crystal. “Kid Hacker infiltrated the archives of the Trade Alliance to give me the location of this mother lode.” His stare hardened. “Your perfect little brother broke into the security system of Byzantium-5 to allow my escape. Then the explosion he created engendered total chaos. We w
ere supposed to share the wealth.”
“Maksou would never...” But Fianna suspected Tarkan told the truth. That explained why her brother was caught in that same explosion, the one that caused his severe injuries. She hated the charismatic power Tarkan had on people. “Why are you talking about him as if he were dead?”
“Kid Hacker is alive?” A spark of interest livened Tarkan’s piercing gaze. “I saw him buried under rubble and engulfed in flames. I thought for sure...”
“He lives. No thanks to you.” Fianna swallowed her hatred. “Apparently you saved your skin and left him to die while you fled.”
“I didn’t know. How is he?” The concern around his eyes seemed genuine, but Tarkan could fake any emotion.
Fianna could never trust his reactions. He lived and breathed lies and manipulation. She closed her mind to his hypnotic charm and focused on her hatred. “Thanks to you, Maksou lost the use of his legs. He needs a surgery I can’t afford. That’s why I need your bounty. I will take you back, to face your just punishment.”
Tarkan raised both arms to the ceiling and pivoted, gesturing to the crystal. “There is plenty of wealth all around us to pay for his surgery. We can live together like kings for the rest of our lives. You don’t need my bounty. You wouldn’t have to hunt another day in your life.”
“Cycles ago, I may have accepted your offer, Tarkan.” Fianna shuddered. “But I know you too well. You only want to trick me into letting you go. Even if I accepted your offer, you would soon leave me for the fresh face of a teenage slave girl. I’ve changed. I moved on. I call the shots now. And I decided you have to pay for all the suffering you caused.”
His gaze stopped on Fianna’s crystal pendant. “Where did you get that bauble? And how did you get it shaped and polished without power tools?”
“Never mind where I got it.” Fianna’s free hand flew to the tingling crystal on her chest.
“You don’t need my bounty or the crystal from this cave. This piece alone can pay for hundreds of surgeries!”
But Fianna could not let Tarkan go free. He had to pay for his villainy.
Tarkan took a step closer. Sheba growled a warning.
Fianna stepped back, strengthening her grip on her crossbow rifle. “You have killed and hurt enough people. It’s time to lock you up.”
Tarkan laughed. “No prison can hold me for long, Monalisa. You should know that by now. Too many important people owe me big and are eager to get into my good graces.”
“You perverted my brother with dreams of riches, you brought your louts to this peaceful planet. You are a mercantile predator, oppressing and exploiting others for profit. You kill anyone who gets in your way. It’s over. This time you are coming with me.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” Tarkan grinned. “You arrested me once, and look what happened. I’m still free, and your brother paid a heavy price.” He shook his head slowly. “It’s all your fault, Monalisa. By insisting on locking me up, you put your brother in the hospital.”
Fianna swallowed the knot of guilt obstructing her throat and motioned with her crossbow rifle. “Surrender, or prepare to die, you sorry piece of refuse. The reward is the same whether you are dead or alive. You are a plague on society. You don’t belong on this peaceful planet.”
He winked at her. “Neither do you, Monalisa.”
“I know.” She swallowed hard. “That’s why you and I are going back where we belong.”
“Not so fast.” His hands inched toward his weapons belt.
Sheba stepped in front of Fianna and hissed at him, baring sharp fangs.
Tarkan stopped mid movement. “Am I supposed to feel intimidated?”
“Ignore the warning at your own expense.” Fianna advanced toward him, crossbow aimed, Sheba in front of her. “Turn around, hands in your back.”
Tarkan pivoted in a smooth motion then completed the turn and faced her again with a gun pointed at her. Sheba leapt upon the arm holding the gun. The gun clattered to the crystal underfoot. Tarkan yelled and fell backwards but rolled and landed on his feet, facing her.
Sheba bared her fangs and growled.
Tarkan drew another gun and aimed it at Fianna. “I don’t want to hurt you, Monalisa, but you are forcing my hand.”
His trigger finger moved. Sheba leapt in front of Fianna. The gunshot cracked and zinged upon the feline’s reinforced hide. Fianna hit the cave floor as the bullet ricocheted and zigzagged off the crystal beams in a deadly crossfire.
Tarkan lay flat. Sheba remained standing, her head snapping quickly back and forth, to follow the bouncing bullet across the cave.
“Not such a good idea to shoot bullets in here,” Tarkan grumbled.
“No kidding.” Fianna rose and aimed her crossbow rifle at Tarkan. “Get up, hands behind your back.”
Tarkan rose, pulling two daggers from his sleeves.
“Drop the blades!”
“Make me.” He smiled devilishly.
Fianna couldn’t stand the jerk anymore. She couldn’t bring herself to kill him, so she fired the crossbow and drove the bolt into his upper leg. The strange dry sound of it surprised her.
Tarkan didn’t even flinch. In one smooth motion, he pulled and uprooted the bolt from his thigh.
“By the frozen hells of Laxxar!” She saw no blood but smelled the lubricant of prosthetic limbs. “Since when are you a cyborg?”
“I had a few modifications made, after a bad prison brawl.” Tarkan laughed openly. “Look.” He knocked on his leg. A hollow sound. “Best prosthetics on the market. It’s amazing what money and connections can buy, even in lock up.”
Fianna didn’t want to kill him. She threw the empty crossbow rifle far and wide. It clanged on the bumpy crystal floor. Judging by the blades in his hands, Tarkan had run out of guns, and she wanted him alive.
Taking a step back, she drew a sword and a machete. “You want to put up a fight? Bring it on.”
“I love a good wrestling match with you.” His leering smile brought unsavory memories.
“You disgust me.”
The two combatants circled each other, less than three feet apart.
“Sheba help?”
“Stay out of this, girl. This is personal.” Fianna stared into Tarkan’s deep brown eyes. That snake would not charm her again. Not this time.
He smiled. “The problem with women, is that they don’t have the guts to do what needs to be done. Why didn’t you shoot me in the heart? Better yet, why didn’t you slaughter me in my sleep, cycles ago, when you had a chance?”
Good question. “Maybe I should have, but I’m not a cold-blooded killer like you.”
“Yet you do kill in your line of work.” Tarkan’s smile turned into a leer. “We are not so different, you and I.”
“Oh, yes we are.” Fianna focused on Tarkan, aware of Sheba, who circled them both, waiting for orders. “I only kill scum, and only when I have no other choice.”
Tarkan scoffed. “Keep telling yourself that.”
A knife flew at Fianna’s head. She ducked. The blade bounced on a crystal beam behind her and clattered to the glassy floor. But Tarkan had many other blades in his arsenal. She shivered as she remembered he poisoned his knives... a favorite trick of the Dragon Squad. No wounded left behind to bear witness. The dead did not babble to the authorities.
She feinted right and Tarkan side-stepped. Good. He seemed jumpy. She only needed to hurt him enough to overcome him. Maybe push him back. He might stumble on the stubby floor and hit his head. She only needed to cuff him, hands and feet. The rest would be easy.
* * *
The rage fueling the two opponents confused Acielon. He did not understand why Fianna ever loved that man. Even less her obsession with bringing him to justice.
The two battled with blades that clanked as they clashed, but their words cut deeper than the blades.
Acielon refused to imagine them as a couple. He suspected Fianna had been Tarkan’s unwilling mate cycles ago. His hatred for the man welled
in his chest, causing physical pain. Pain? How odd.
As much as Acielon wanted to protect Fianna, he could not get involved. An invisible wall prevented him from intervening. Azurans did not fight, Azurans did not kill. Azurans did not feel or express hatred. To his relief, it seemed Fianna had the upper hand.
His heart dropped when Fianna and Sheba both leapt upon Tarkan in one synchronized jump. The cat had Tarkan by the throat and lay upon his body, while Fianna knocked down Tarkan’s blades and kicked them away from him. Then she clicked upon his wrists the metal cuffs linked by a chain to the second set of cuffs she locked around his ankles.
“It’s okay, Sheba. You can let him go, now.”
The feline docilely vacated Tarkan’s chest, allowing him to sit up.
The despicable man had the gall to smile as Fianna patted him and removed more blades from his belt and boots and from inside his vest. “You are enjoying this part way too much, Monalisa.”
“How many times do I have to tell you? My name is Fianna.”
“Monalisa. How many times do I have to tell you, no prison can hold me for long?”
Fianna grabbed the man’s shoulder and pulled him to his feet. “Get up and start walking.”
Relieved that Fianna was unhurt, Acielon left the cave. He’d go keep an eye on the rest of Tarkan’s squad at the landing site. Perhaps he could delay Fianna’s departure, or dissuade her from leaving.
The situation with her brother, however concerned Acielon. He never had parents or siblings but had read about family and the love they have for each other. Often, he dreamed about having a family. Fianna would certainly want to return to help her brother. Could Acielon interfere with her plan, knowing that the young man would suffer if she did not return? Was her brother a victim like her? Or was he a despicable criminal like Tarkan?
* * *
The bolt of the crossbow rifle poked Tarkan’s back.
“Hurry up. I don’t have all day.” Monalisa behind him sounded pissed.
Angel Mine Page 5
