Kai grimaced. “Sheesh, I remember when the worst thing I had to worry about was a bunch of guys armed mostly with hand tools.” He looked around the group. “Don’t sweat it; we’ve got this.”
He and Christina left the alley and went inside the restaurant, leaving the comm open. They spotted the cult cell seated on the righthand side of the room. Christina stuck to the comm as the hostess came over. Don’t let them know we’ve seen them.
It’s not my first time undercover, Kai replied. Is there anything you can do about that vibe you’re giving off? You’re scaring the hostess.
I’m a genetically-modified killing machine. Christina scoffed. I can’t fucking turn it off.
The hostess offered them a table on the left, which Kai turned down. “How about by the window over there?” he suggested, indicating the booths on the right.
The hostess smiled, her eyes darting nervously to Christina. “Of course. Right this way.” She took their orders and left once Christina and Kai were seated.
Christina was less than happy to have her back to their targets. “Did they notice us?” she whispered.
Kai shook his head. “Not yet. I’ve been thinking about how we should play this. We need to act like we’re suspicious of them.”
Christina snickered. “Not a problem, but why? We need to get them to talk once we’re in the warehouse.”
“I think they’re more likely to trust K’aia and Trey if they’re not relying on us to protect them,” Kai told her slowly, still figuring out his theory.
Marek's voice intruded. “Hey, I thought it was you.”
I think you need to be “dead” for the last part, Kai finished quickly.
Christina had a second to decide if she was going to go along with Kai’s plan. Okay, we’ll do it your way. She looked up in feigned shock as Marek approached their booth. “What are you doing here?”
Marek's smile faded at the lack of welcome. “Our ship was damaged. We needed repairs.”
“Were you attacked?” Christina asked, putting a touch of mistrust into her tone. “By those asshole FDG agents? Crazy bastards accused us of being part of some anti-Bethany Anne cult. Can you imagine that?”
“Cult?” Marek blustered. “FDG agents?”
What are you doing? Alexis demanded.
Improvising, Christina told her. She tilted her head at Marek’s incomprehension. “The ones from the bar on Nabraxia? We were lucky. We only just got away from them after you guys left.”
Marek shook his head. “We were hit by debris. I hope you didn’t bring those agents here.”
“Not likely,” Kai told him, getting to his feet. “But if you’re here, they’ll be here soon, anyway.”
Get a tracker patch on him in case they make a break for it, Gabriel murmured. The one Alexis gave him is getting near the end of its life.
Christina considered how to fulfill Gabriel’s instruction. “At least get our order to go,” she called to Kai to distract Marek while she took a tiny translucent tracker patch from her pocket.
Marek stepped back to give Kai room to exit the booth. “You’re leaving?”
“Damn straight, we are,” Christina told him. She rubbed the tip of her finger over the patch to find the correct side to peel, hoping she’d gotten it right. “They might have missed the prelude to the bar fight, but we know that you’re the ones they’re hunting. It’s not worth the bounty the Magistrates have put on your heads.”
The blood drained from Marek’s face. “Why would they put a bounty on us? We haven’t broken any laws.”
Christina shrugged, maintaining her disinterested demeanor. “It’s nothing to do with us either way. We’re out of here.” She patted Marek’s cheek, surreptitiously applying the patch, which was absorbed into his skin on contact. “You’re on your own, sunshine.”
She slipped past Marek and caught up to Kai at the door. “Do you think it worked?” she murmured as they left for the warehouse they’d leased.
“We scared the crap out of him,” Kai replied with confidence, transferring the takeout bags to one hand. “I was watching his face while you baited him. The guy was thinking so hard, I’m surprised there wasn’t smoke coming out of his ears.”
The new tracker just came online, Gabriel announced.
Good, Christina stated. This time there won’t be any fuckups to the plan.
They’re not going to get a chance to rile anyone since they’ll be sound asleep within a minute of leaving the restaurant, Alexis replied. But you fucked the plan and then some. What was that?
Christina looked at Kai.
We’ll get a better response if they think their lives are at risk, Kai explained. I’ll go in the cell next to Trey and tell them you killed Christina because she didn’t answer your questions. Add that to the acting masterclass Trey assures me he has planned with K’aia, and we’ve covered all the bases.
You guys get to the warehouse, Gabriel told them. Alexis and I will be there as soon as we get them loaded into the roamer.
You make subduing a group of six sound easy, Kai remarked as he and Christina ducked into the industrial area.
Alexis and Gabriel grabbed a bite from a street vendor selling noodles and watched the restaurant while they ate.
Gabriel dropped his empty noodle carton into a trash can. Is it too late to grab another order?
Yes, it’s too late, Alexis told him, pointing out Marek’s group emerging onto the sidewalk. She moved to the mouth of the alley and drew her Jean Dukes Special, double-checking it was set to low. Night-night rounds were much more effective if they didn’t puncture the target on impact. Get ready. They’re coming this way.
The twins held on until the group made it to the mouth of the alley and fired three shots each in quick succession. The cultists went down before any of them was aware they were under attack.
Alexis huffed as they dragged the unconscious people to the roamer. “It’s no good having all the strength when you’re still pocket-sized.” She dropped the man she was carrying and lifted him using Etheric energy instead. “That’s better.”
She put him in the back of the roamer and went back for the next. Gabriel picked the others up one at a time and stacked them in the back with the rest. “How long does the tranquilizer last?”
Alexis got into the front of the roamer and activated the partition to close off the cultists. “Long enough for us to get to the warehouse and get them into the cells,” she replied as Gabriel got in beside her. “I have to get myself into character. Did Nathan send the katanas?”
Gabriel patted Alexis’ hand. “Yes. Let’s get out of here.”
It was a ten-minute drive to the warehouse. K’aia and Christina came out to help transfer the cultists onto antigrav pallets to take them into the holding facility K’aia and Trey had put together while the twins were following the cultists to the outpost.
K’aia looked them over. “Did you check them for explosives?”
Alexis nodded, hitching a thumb at the bag on the front seat of the roamer. “We stripped them of their belongings when we knocked them out.”
They passed through the outer rooms, pushing through the plastic sheets that hung in place of the missing doors and making their way to the enormous central room.
Alexis looked at the U-shaped cabin that took up two-thirds of the square footage in amazement. “You did all this in five days?”
“Wait until you see the inside,” Trey promised. He glanced at the pallets. “We should get set up before they come around.”
Alexis saved her praise until all six cultists were safely stowed in the two lines of cages bolted to the walls and floor in the middle part of the cabin. “Great job. I wouldn’t know this wasn’t here a few days ago if I hadn’t seen the photos you sent.”
Trey laughed as he handed Alexis the replica katanas. “I’m not going to lie, it was a hell of a job, given the timeline. You should have seen the look on Nathan’s face when we gave him the request for all of this stuff.” He
shot his accommodations for the next few hours a look of distaste before walking in. “Here goes.”
K’aia joined him, and Kai got into the remaining empty cage.
“Good luck,” Gabriel told them as he and Alexis locked them in.
“We’ll be right outside,” Alexis assured them, following Gabriel and Christina to the door. “You’ve got this.”
Christina waved to Kai as Alexis closed the door, leaving them just as the tranquilizers began to wear off.
* * *
Marek came around slowly, his head pounding with the residual effects of the drugs in his bloodstream. He vaguely recalled seeing two people silhouetted in the alley before everything had gone dark.
He looked around in confusion. The others regained consciousness within moments of him.
Marek spotted Kai in the cell opposite his, putting an end to his suspicion the bounty hunter had had something to do with them being taken. He also saw a four-legged Yollin and a large, hairy being he couldn’t identify in another cell. “What happened?” he asked Kai. “Where are we?”
“Where do you think we are?” Kai snarled, waving a hand to indicate the cages they were in. “Thanks to you and your freakshow, my wife is dead.”
“Dead?” Jenner repeated blankly.
“They wouldn’t believe we weren’t with you,” Kai replied angrily. He turned to face the wall, folding his arms. “Now she’s gone, and the only thing I have to look forward to is that I’ll probably be next when the FDG agents come back.”
Marek exchanged worried glances with his second-in-command. They were on their own if they came up against the law.
Gerard clearly shared his concerns.
“They’re not FDG,” the Yollin told them quietly.
Marek was sure he’d misheard. “What’s that?”
“They’re. Not. FDG,” the Yollin repeated in a tone that made it clear she thought his intelligence was subpar. “I saw the female’s face.”
The hairy being threw an elbow into the Yollin’s side. “Don’t give away our score. People will pay good credits to know that…she is here.”
The Yollin shoved him away. “Please don’t tell me you think we’re getting out of this? You don’t hijack a QBS ship and get away with it.”
Marek’s head swung from side to side as he followed the argument with interest. He was sure he had heard that acronym before.
Her companion growled low in his chest. “Great! I suppose next you’re going to want to take everyone with us.”
Marek gripped the bars of his cage. “You have a way out?”
“Why should we take you?” the hairy male demanded. “What are you going to be except an added complication on top of getting passage out of this system?”
“Who has us?” he asked, unable to help himself despite the sinking feeling he had.
The Yollin stared straight at Marek as footsteps echoed somewhere outside the cell block. “You haven’t figured it out yet?”
The door swung open and a wave of fear hit Marek, twisting his guts. He scrambled back, his instinct screaming at him to avoid whoever was coming.
The door slammed open, revealing a raven-haired woman whose eyes glowed with the fury of Hell. She drew one of the crossed swords on her back and pointed it at the prisoners. “I hope whoever I choose next is more amenable to giving me answers. Cleaning up blood is tiresome in the extreme.”
Marek’s heart flipped as her voice raked its nails down his soul.
Bethany Anne stalked toward the cells, her face bathed in the red light coming from her eyes. He curled into a ball, begging his bladder not to give away his abject terror.
Thankfully she ignored him. His relief was short-lived when Bethany Anne opened Kai’s cage, pointing with the sword. “Out.”
Marek was not surprised in the least that the broken man didn’t resist. The former Empress exuded a promise of death that made even the air shiver with fear.
Being in her presence was the single most terrifying experience of his life so far. He was pretty sure the next most terrifying experience was probably going to occur pretty soon if her wishes weren’t fulfilled.
He cursed himself for a fool for ever believing his humanity was equal to hers.
Kai didn’t so much as glance at any of the other prisoners. He left his cell with his head down and walked out the door ahead of Bethany Anne.
There was silence in the cell block for a long time after that. Marek avoided the eyes of his followers, remaining curled in the corner of his cage while his imagination fed him ever more painful suggestions as to what Kai was going through.
He became aware that the Yollin and her companion had resumed their debate in harsh whispers.
Gerard hissed to draw his attention. “What are we going to do?”
Marek’s heart was still racing from being in close proximity to Bethany Anne. “We have to find a way to tell the founders that the queen of lies is here. They have no clue how powerful she is. If the Yollin and her friend can get us out of here, we can send them a message and have them send someone to pick us up at the Gate.”
Gerard’s eyes widened. “You know they won’t be pleased if we call for help.”
Marek figured the Yollin was their only hope. “They’re going to leave us behind unless we offer them something.” He ignored Gerard’s motions for his attention and called to the Yollin. “Hey, I can get us passage through the Gate. Just get us out of here before Bethany Anne kills us all.”
Chapter Fourteen
Yollin Space, Planet Melida
It was a normal Friday evening at Talia’s. The bar was filling up after the early evening shift change at the city’s fire and rescue departments, and the staff from the hospital a couple of blocks away practically lived there between shifts.
“Turn it up, will you?” Fire Chief James Artemis Owens called to Talia, waving his hand at the news report running on the center holoscreen above the bar. “There’s something going on around Torcellan.”
The Loren flicked a tentacle, and the sound of the Yoll Today correspondent drowned out the jukebox in the corner. “They’re not going to tell us anything new,” she predicted.
Talia (species, Loren) - Image by Eric Quigley
“I’m Gritch Cluster, reporting live from the Torcellan quadrant, where the QSD Baba Yaga is preparing to leave. I’m joined by Dr. Tina Grimes-Cambridge, preeminent authority on extraplanetary defense systems. Dr. Grimes, I hear it’s good news for the quadrant?”
“You’ve got that right, Gritch,” Dr. Grimes-Cambridge responded with enthusiasm. “My teams have just wrapped up, and we’re just about to switch on this section of the ‘blanket.’ That’s the codename for all the modifications we’re making as part of extending the Interdiction.”
Gritch returned his microphone to his mouth, his handsome face concertinaed with concern. “With Ooken attacks occurring at an ever-greater frequency around the edges of the Federation, we the people can only thank you, your teams, and the Empress for your efforts to put an end to the terror.”
“It’s the right thing to do,” Dr. Grimes-Cambridge replied. “The Queen,” she emphasized the title, “made a promise when she stepped down to return if the Federation was in danger. We are fulfilling that promise.”
“Can you explain for our viewers at home and me how the Interdiction is going to protect them?” Gritch asked, giving her a look that apologized for the question.
Dr. Grimes-Cambridge smiled and clicked a small device in her hand. “No problem. If you take a look at my projection, this is a model of Federation space. As you can see, it’s not uniform. Much like a non-Newtonian fluid, it expands and contracts with the rise and fall of pressure, the pressure in this case being the Federation’s population. The enemy is trying to take advantage of that. Even now, there are men and women fighting to keep the outer quadrants Ooken-free.”
She clicked her device again, and the empty spaces began to fill out until the amorphous model more resembled a flatt
ened sphere. “The purpose of the Interdiction is to unify the Federation’s defenses.” The sphere lit up with dots, then the dots were joined with lines, forming a grid network. “EI-controlled defenses will activate the moment an unidentified ship approaches, and an SOS call will be instantly relayed to the nearest base so support can be arranged in real-time. Those living in the heart of the Federation might think that’s a given, but it’s often the case that outlying populations rely on slower-than-light communications.”
“That’s true,” Gritch conceded. “We’ve all heard the stories of colonies lost because they couldn’t get a message out in time.”
“That will be a thing of the past,” Dr. Grimes-Cambridge promised. “The entire Federation is being wrapped in a security blanket.”
“You’ve mentioned this ‘security blanket’ a few times,” Gritch probed gently. “Is that a human term?”
Dr. Grimes-Cambridge lifted her hands, nonplussed. “I guess so? It’s a comfort item given to young humans to make them feel safe. Bethany Anne named the project.”
Gritch nodded solemnly and turned to the camera. “You heard it from Dr. Grimes. The Queen honors her promise to keep us safe. Back to you in the studio, Nancy.”
The screen switched to show the news anchor sitting at her desk. She smiled. “Thank you, Gritch. That was Dr. Tina Grimes-Cambridge, speaking about the defenses being built by former Empress Bethany Anne. In other news, a riot started by anti-Empire protesters claimed—”
Talia grimaced and muted the channel. “Damn Ookens are giving every cephalopod species around a bad name.”
“What are you talking about?” Kelley asked, holding out her mug for a refill.
Talia put a tentacle on her hip, topping up the police officer’s coffee. “I was stopped at a checkpoint going into the Torcellan quadrant while some handsy bitch made me jump through hoops to prove I wasn’t a damned Ooken. Do I look like I’m hiding fur? I’m purple!”
“Darling, you could be hiding anything in there, and not one of us would mind one bit,” Kelley assured her. “We stand by our own around here.”
Return Of The Queen: The Kurtherian Endgame™ Book Eight Page 14
