“You know this wouldn’t have been so bad if we didn’t still have to worry about what the unknown attackers will do.” Lauren gestured to the area around them.
Ada guessed that she meant the visit to this planet. “And if it hadn’t started with pirates hijacking us and probably destroying the ship.”
“Yeah, it’s going to be hard. I don’t know if I’ll be able to wait to see if the ship is found and repairable.” Lauren heaved a heavy sigh.
“I hate looking for a new captain,” Owen agreed.
Ada nodded. She knew she wouldn’t be going with them. It wasn’t so much that she’d accepted a life with Jagger. She merely acknowledged that he wasn’t going to let her disappear. The man was determined and as stubborn as anyone she’d ever met.
“This is almost as good as a vacation, although I usually pick somewhere with a little more room service and where I don’t have to share a room.”
“You typically have some of the worst luck on your vacations and trips. I, on the other hand, usually don’t have that problem.” Lauren laughed.
Ada shook her head but grinned. Her last two vacations had been disasters. She’d been mugged on the first one and the last vacation, her hotel had been flooded by a freak storm.
“I bet those bastards stole all my tech. I had my cabin fixed just as I wanted it.” Owen scowled.
The turn of subject didn’t much surprise Ada. Owen loved his tech.
“If they didn’t take it, they destroyed it.” Ada glanced at him. She’d already counted the jewelry in her property box as lost.
“Damn, you know how to hurt a guy,” Owen said.
“Just facing facts. Everything on the ship is gone. Which for me was basically everything I had.” Ada shrugged. It wasn’t easy for her. The only clothes she had were on that ship.
“You’re not the only one. The ship was my home too.” Owen exhaled heavily.
“Even with an apartment, almost everything that I cherished was on that ship. All that I have in that apartment I share is extra clothing.” Lauren gestured to the sky vaguely. “I want to kick those bastards in the balls.”
Ada laughed. She felt the same way. And it had all been for nothing. There wasn’t anything for the pirates to take. Not anything worth the attack in any case.
“And then twist their shriveled little balls right off,” Ada added.
“Hey, man in your presence, remember. You promised no bloodthirsty talk of male genital torture in front of me.” Owen stopped and glared at them both.
Ada stopped and turned toward him with a smile. “They deserve it.”
An energy beam slammed into the grass in-between them, stopping anything more that might be said. The grass charred from the blast, emitting an acrid odor, but didn’t burst into flames. Ada spun, running away from the direction of the blast. Owen and Lauren ran beside her. They headed for a group of trees. Those thick trunks would make it harder for someone to shoot at them. She hadn’t seen who’d fired that shot or even where he was beyond the angle of the shot.
A man stepped out of the trees in front of them. He had something over his head. The fabric looked like that of the shirts provided for them to wear. A rectangle had been cut out where the man could see. He pointed a laser pistol at her. She recognized it as being similar to those used by the Zarain men. He and his friend must have stolen one.
“Stop right now.” The man’s voice was muffled but clear enough that she had no trouble understanding him.
She stopped. Even if that was only on stun, she didn’t want to chance it. If she was stunned, she’d be helpless. They could take her anywhere and she wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop them. And if it was on a higher setting, well, she didn’t want to die.
“Where is it? Tell us where the secret cargo is and we’ll walk away. We won’t hurt you. You can go back to camp and there won’t be anything more to worry about. Give us what we want and there will be nothing more to worry about. We only want the location of your cargo.” The man gestured with the weapon.
Ada’s eyes were locked on that weapon. Her mouth felt dry and her heart pounded. She could barely think, much less figure out how to get through to him.
“Where is what?” Owen asked. “The pirates and now you have asked for it, but none of you damn idiots have said what you’re looking for.”
“You know what we’re looking for. What you’re delivering to the Central Command base. We know a new weapon is being sent there and it’s not traveling the usual way.” The masked man pointed the weapon at Owen. “It isn’t worth your life.”
“They took the supplies we were carrying for the base.” Ada held up her hands. She wanted to get that man’s focus off Owen.
“There is more to the cargo you were carrying. Your crew has too much access to the base. Your ship is the only regular transport aside from the military shuttles.” The gun pointed right at her head.
Ada froze and her voice locked in her throat. Her mind blanked. Fear poured through her.
“Where is it?” With each word, the weapon jabbed in her direction.
“We don’t carry anything except the supplies.” Lauren threw up her hands.
The laser pistol swept in Lauren’s direction. “Lie to me again. There’s more.”
“How about I put it this way? There’s nothing for you.” Jagger’s voice cut through the haze of fear holding Ada in place.
Ada’s gaze moved beyond the masked man and saw Jagger and some of the Zarain men behind the masked man. Cort had a traser rifle prodding the man’s back.
“I’ll shoot them. Back off and let me go or I’ll kill them.” The man’s voice tightened and the weapon shook a little.
“No you won’t. If you don’t drop it now, you’ll be dead.” Cort’s voice was flat, emotionless, and he seemed relaxed and unworried.
The man seemed to have second thoughts about what he was doing. His hand shook and a moment later the weapon fell to the ground. Two Zarain men immediately grabbed him and secured his hands. Ada’s eyes locked on the man as the makeshift hood was pulled off. Who was this? She hadn’t wanted to speculate on which of the new men might be behind the attacks.
The hood slipped off and revealed Jeff. His black hair was mussed and his brown eyes glared at them.
“There’s another one here, Jagger. Someone shot at us and we tried to run away, but he was here waiting for us.” Ada glanced at Jagger. Where had that man gone? Had they already caught him? And how had they managed to get here? Had Jagger had someone following them? If he had, she couldn’t feel very mad about it right now, but that question would wait. She wanted to know about the second man.
“We know there was a shot earlier. My men will look for the second man.” He nodded. Two of his men left and began to head across the field.
“How did you know about the shot?” Ada frowned at him.
“We have a satellite above to help monitor the pirates. It sensed the discharge.” Jagger slowly stalked over to her.
The muscles along his jaw flexed. He stared down at her as if he was afraid she’d run from him if he looked away from her. She wondered if he wanted to yell at her or if he was angry because somehow the man had one of their weapons. She half expected him to start shouting.
“Did you hear? They’re after a weapon.” She didn’t know if he’d arrived in time to hear that part of the conversation. “They know it’s being sent and thought it would be taken by us.”
“I heard,” he said as he closed the distance between them.
The moment he stepped within reach, his arms swept around her, pulling her into a hug. As her face pressed against his chest, she could feel the pounding of his heart in his chest. His breath filtered through her hair as his lips rested briefly on top of her head.
“I think my heart stopped beating when I saw you standing there facing that weapon.” His voice sounded tight and a little hoarse.
“I was so afraid. I couldn’t even move when he pointed that thing at me,” she adm
itted. Her arms tightened around him and she held him even closer.
“You’re safe now, but don’t be surprised if I stay near you for a while once we’re all back at camp. Could you and the others go back to camp with Cort? I’ll return after I see if I can help with the search.” Jagger slowly released her, stepping back.
She nodded, although she wanted to stay with him. He’d be too busy and didn’t need to be worrying about her. She wanted him to catch that other man. They’d probably be safe once the ship arrived, but that wasn’t guaranteed. If they still didn’t know the identity of other man behind the attacks, the danger would remain even when they were surrounded by other people.
Chapter Thirteen
Jagger’s nerves stretched taut as the time on the planet grew shorter. He wouldn’t be at ease until the Vigilant had arrived and they were on that ship. It would be easier to watch the remaining crew members with the advanced systems available there.
Keeping track of two remaining men shouldn’t have been that difficult. Staying near them had been an almost impossible task. He couldn’t count the number of times the men he’d had watching had nearly been spotted. The environment hadn’t helped. The grassy plains between the groups of trees made it easy to see any followers.
Time crawled. The transmission early this morning had said the Vigilant was a few hours away from the planet. That had been hours ago. Jagger knew his impatience was prompted by his desire to get Ada to safety. Those bastards were going after women for the most part. He suspected that anyone weaker than them would have been a target if they’d had the opportunity.
He hadn’t let Ada very far out of his sight, and his men had kept watch on the other women. Ada had accepted his watchfulness at first without question. Now, though, he could see a few questions bubbling in her eyes as well as a little resistance.
She headed for the tent she shared with the other women. He followed her. She looked back over her shoulder and scowled at him. At the door to the tent, she turned.
“Stay here. There are other women in here.” She pointed at him. “I’ll be out in a few moments. I’m not going to suddenly disappear.”
He smiled at the admonition and her apparent belief that it would stop him if he wanted to go in there. With a nod, she turned and went into the tent. He waited to the side of the opening. He hoped she realized that if she took too long, he’d come in after her.
Rationally, he knew his protectiveness was a little excessive. He acknowledged that, but he couldn’t contain the urge any more than he could stop breathing. She’d been attacked twice and that made the desire even more intense. He was sure that once they were on the ship those urges would lessen. It would help that once they returned to the ship, he could be with her when he wasn’t working. Even better from his viewpoint, she’d be with him in his cabin at night.
He waited and was almost to the end of his patience when she came out of the tent. She glowered at him and walked past him without a word. He stepped up beside her and urged her toward the table. She stopped and put her hands on her hips.
“How long are you going to do this?” She tapped her foot.
“Until you’re safe.” He took her arm. “Let’s go sit down.”
“But I’m not in danger now,” she said and sighed.
“Not as long as you’re with me.” He stopped beside the table and waited for her to take a seat. He didn’t want her to wander off while he was sitting down.
She rolled her eyes skyward. “Will this stop whenever the ship arrives? Because this personal bodyguard routine is annoying.”
She dropped onto one of the seats and glared at him. He sat down beside her and shook his head. Ada might not realize it, but his behavior was far from as intrusive as it could be. Although he was staying near her, it wasn’t close to acting as her personal bodyguard at all.
“I’m sure it will lessen when we do manage to get in a place where you’re not so exposed.” He reached for her hand and laced his fingers with hers.
Jagger heard someone walking up behind them. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Cort approaching. Jagger hoped nothing had gone wrong. He didn’t want to leave Ada, even if she would be well guarded by the other men. And she definitely wouldn’t be going for a walk. He’d already gotten her word on that, which was probably behind some of her exasperation with his behavior.
Her fingers squeezed his. “Any idea when that will be?”
“About now.” Cort’s voice sounded just behind him.
Jagger’s attention focused on Cort. He raised a brow in question. Cort pointed to the sky. Jagger turned back to look up and could see the incoming shuttles. Relief spread through Jagger. There might still be one attacker free, but now, if he tried something, there would be more people to stop him before someone was hurt.
The murmur of voices behind him signaled that others had noticed the descending craft. The murmur grew, and Jagger heard another set of footsteps approaching. He turned and watched as the trade ship captain walked over and sat down beside him.
“Those are ships from your people?” The captain gestured to the incoming transports.
“Yes, those are ours. They’ll be landing soon and then everyone will be able to go up to the Vigilant. The teardown here won’t take long.” Jagger smiled at the captain before looking over the camp.
The disassembling of some of the tents was already beginning. The tent the Zarain had used was in the process of being torn down. They’d readied the inside when they learned the Vigilant was close. Their beds had been packed and left ready for the crates, the bedding prepped to be boxed and marked for cleaning.
“You knew they were coming?” Captain Thomas’s head tilted and he stared at Jagger.
“We got word that they were close but didn’t want to announce it in case it prompted another desperate attempt by that last attacker.” Jagger didn’t bother to soften the answer. He was in charge of keeping these people as safe as possible. He hadn’t expected it to require this much effort, but learning that the pirates had men in this crew might give some insight on how they picked out their other targets.
Someone had to give those pirates information about the weapon. Jagger didn’t know who would have information about the weapon, but not the way it was being shipped.
“Oh, yes, that does make sense.” The captain nodded. “We’ll help you pack up the tents. It’s the least we can do since you’ve been down here feeding and watching over us.”
“That’s not necessary. It’s a routine we’re accustomed to performing and we know where everything goes and how it fits. It will go more smoothly if we do it. Which does remind me that I need to get up and help them. You stay here.” He gave Ada a last serious look.
She rolled her eyes but didn’t argue with him. He went to help with packing up the tents. He helped box up the medical equipment and supplies, but he kept in a position where he could see Ada without too much interference. Kairn came in and helped him with the more delicate things. They were almost completed with the inside of the medical tent by the time the first shuttle swept in to land.
Jagger did a quick tour of his men to see how everything was going before he went to meet the landing party. The packing moved along smoothly, not that he expected any snags. He hadn’t been lying when he’d said that it was a routine they were accustomed to doing. They used these tents fairly regularly for training exercises on unpopulated worlds.
The hatch to the shuttles opened as he walked across the field toward them. Men quickly exited the shuttle. He caught sight of Ivar, another of the Achan’s Terchal, among them. Ivar walked up to him and clasped his forearm.
“I see you left the pirates and the shuttle for us to get. I sent one of the shuttles over to round them up.” Ivar smiled and began walking to the camp.
“It was more trouble than they were worth to have to guard them day and night. They weren’t leaving the planet unless they decided to commit suicide and there are easier ways to do that.” Jagger shrugged and
walked beside his friend. “It’s a good thing we did leave them. There’s been enough trouble here without having to think about keeping them contained.”
“Still only one of the mysterious attackers caught?” Ivar asked.
“Yes, the other hasn’t revealed himself. Not even completely sure it’s only one, but only two of them have been seen in the attacks.” Jagger sighed. He’d have liked it completely finished so that there would be no danger possibly facing Ada.
“We’re ready to begin ferrying up some of the people if they’re ready. And whose mate is that?” Ivar nodded toward Ada.
“She’s my mate. They should be ready. Just leave Ada here. I’ll coax her into helping box up some of the equipment to keep her busy after the rest of the crew is on its way to the ship. In the meantime, I’ll take her off to talk with her while you get them on the shuttles.” Jagger wasn’t letting her go up to the ship without him in spite of the fact that on the ship, they’d be surrounded by other Zarain.
“Congratulations. Looks like you’ll probably be pulling supervisor duty more often. As soon as you get her off to the side, I’ll start getting them in the ship.” Ivar clapped him on the shoulder, a bright smile on his face.
“Maybe, maybe not. Ada’s practically lived on a trade ship for years so I don’t know how she’d handle a sudden transition to planet-bound life. As well as that, she has some inventory experience and could be helpful to the crew.” Jagger knew exactly why Ivar was smiling.
Supervisorduty, as Ivar referred to it, could be tedious. Most of the decisions involved petty disagreements, everyday running of the businesses and interpersonal issues. At times, he’d been ready to yell about some of the foolish things he’d had to handle.
Ada, come over here. He sent the thought to her.
She stiffened. She still hadn’t grown accustomed to this way of communication. Her head turned and she glared at him. Rising to her feet, she stalked across the camp. She hardly ever responded in kind unless he pressed her to do it. Stopping in front of him, she poked him in the chest.
SavingAttractions Page 12
