by Merry Farmer
Danny snorted. “You take care of her because you need her. That’s why you went after her now and why you went after her in the first place. You need her or else you’re just like everyone else. If you don’t bring her back, you’re through. I bet there’s already somebody else waiting to take over.”
“I’d like to see them try,” Kinn threatened, but his confidence was gone.
Danny rolled his head back against Kinn’s shoulder and laughed. His glasses may have been history, but everything was suddenly so clear. Grace may have crossed the river and left him for Kinn out of anger, but she had stayed away not out of hate for him, but because it enabled her to help people who she believed needed her. If she didn’t hate him, he had a chance to put everything right. His heart had never been so light.
“What the fuck is so funny?” Kinn growled. His stretching and straining at their bonds began again.
The slice of pain Kinn’s struggle caused dropped Danny back down to earth. Whatever Grace’s motives in staying away from him, she was lost out there in the snow, vulnerable and surrounded by enemies. She needed him. They all needed him. He had to break free.
“Stop squirming,” he ordered Kinn. “You’re getting us nowhere.”
Kinn flexed with a roar that echoed off the walls, then settled, panting. Danny could feel Kinn’s heat and sweat through his back. The embers from the fire were fading with every minute. Cold fingers of night air reached down through the cracks in the roof.
Danny grimaced and tested the bonds on his hands. They were still too tight to break free. The straps around his torso were looser but not enough. His ankles were his best bet. He shifted his legs, rocking his feet back and forth, ignoring the flare of pain the movement caused. If he could figure out a way to take his boots off—
The strap holding his ankles snapped and dropped away. He let out a breath of relief and spread his feet shoulder-width apart to make sure. Now he could do something.
“Can you stand?” he asked Kinn over his shoulder.
Kinn pushed against him. The burst of strength, many times superior to his own, surprised Danny. He skidded a yard across the dirt floor before planting his feet and providing enough leverage for the two of them to stand. Kinn was several inches taller, and as they stood straight the ropes skewed around them. Danny wriggled in the loose bonds, bending his knees to sink lower and lower as the coils of rope slackened. He yanked free with a jolt and stumbled to his knees, staggering away.
He turned when he got to his feet to find Kinn still snared in rope and leather straps. Apparently Kutrosky’s men had seen Kinn as a far bigger threat than him. The bonds around his torso sagged and fell to the ground, but he still had coils around his knees and ankles. Someone had even found plastic ties to shackle Kinn’s hands together behind his back.
“Get me out of this,” Kinn demanded, panting like a bull.
“Why should I?” Danny arched an eyebrow. “You’ve been threatening to kill me with every breath you take. I’d be an idiot to set you free.”
Kinn blinked through his fury then jumped at Danny.
Danny stepped aside and Kinn thumped to the floor, bellowing. Months of rage took over and Danny lunged at him. He knelt on Kinn’s back, teeth bared, shoving a knee into his spine. Victory and vengeance pumped through him. He slipped his bound hands around Kinn’s neck and pulled up, choking him with the same leather that held him prisoner.
“You give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you now,” he seethed, voice and arms shaking. “You’ve been a predator from the moment we set foot on this moon. You raped Grace,” he yanked tighter as Kinn tried to protest, “and kept her prisoner to maintain your illusion of power. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t stay here and watch you die.”
Kinn bucked and rolled, throwing Danny off. He hit the dirt floor hard, shoulder flaring in pain. As Kinn sputtered to catch his breath, Danny scrambled to squat and then used the earthen wall to help him to stand. The night may have been cold, but he burned with fury, sweat dripping down his back. He lumbered over to Kinn and kicked him in the gut with all the strength he could muster. The blow sent biting pain through his wounded foot.
Kinn twisted and whipped his bound legs to swipe at Danny’s feet. He connected with Danny’s shins before he had a chance to recover, knocking them out from under him. Danny crashed to the floor, grunting in pain. Before he could roll to his knees and stand, Kinn brought his hands around under his hips to the front of his body and lifted to his knees to lunge at Danny. His shoulder landed in Danny’s stomach and they both lost balance and fell to the ground.
“Grace is mine,” Kinn shouted. “She chose me.”
“She hates you.” Danny rolled away, using his unbound feet to his advantage. “You’re a manipulative asshole who is only using her to hide your incompetence.”
“Like you’re any better,” Kinn growled.
“You never had her, you just kept her imprisoned.”
“Yeah?” Kinn worked to loosen the ropes around his ankles and knees instead of attacking Danny. “You have no idea, jackass. Grace has been real good to me. Real good.”
Danny wanted to kick the shit out of him, but his window had passed. Kinn was squirming free. He was no match for the man’s superior strength. He needed to get away sooner rather than later.
“Grace belongs to no one but Grace,” he said, searching the room for anything that would help him break free.
Kinn followed his eyes, looking for whatever he searched for. “Yeah? Well what do you know about anything you cold-blooded ass-wipe scientist?” The ropes around his ankles slackened and he worked on the ones at his knees. “You think that because she used to hang out with you on the Argo that means she’s yours?”
“I love her.” He had no interest in keeping the truth buried anymore. “Everything I’ve done, I’ve done because I love her. And she loves me.” His voice cracked as he made his declaration, wondering if it was true anymore.
“Yeah?” Kinn shook out of the last of the ropes on his legs and jumped to his feet, striding across the small room to stand towering over Danny. “Well I don’t see her carrying your child. I never seen her wet and moaning in your bed. Yeah, she’s been real good to me just like I been real, real good to her.”
Every nerve in Danny’s body ached to beat the crap out of Kinn. It took all of his self-control and then some not to leap into a battle he couldn’t win.
“Rest assured.” He glared up at Kinn, icy calm and unintimidated. “You will die by my hands.”
“I’d like to see you try,” Kinn threatened.
The standoff could have gone on for hours. “Grace hates you and you know it.” Danny shook with cold rage. “But right now she needs our help.”
He hated losing even one battle, but it was necessary to win the war.
He pushed past Kinn, darting for the door that led out into the cold night.
It had started snowing lightly, fat, wet flakes. The camp was deserted, silence heavier with the snowfall. No smoke came from any of the mounds. Discarded scraps of furs and what looked like crude utensils littered the paths. Danny rushed between the mounds, searching for any signs of life. Footprints from boots, snowshoes, and skis spilled in every direction. The domed roof of one of the pit dwellings had caved in.
“What happened?” Kinn vented his frustration in the eerie night, his voice hoarse from shouting.
“They’ve gone.” Danny’s sense of alarm grew. The world was a dark blur without his glasses. He needed to see the area better, but he couldn’t do it by standing in one place.
Hands still tied in front of him, he dashed into the nearest structure looking for a torch, a fire, anything that he could light. Kinn followed him from hut to hut, whether to help or kill him Danny didn’t know and didn’t care. He finally found a discarded torch and a small fire still burning to light it. Kinn searched for a torch as well when he saw what Danny was doing.
They rushed to the perimeter of the camp. Many
sets of footprints were still visible, heading away to the south, toward his home. A rabid army was on the move toward people he cared about, a community he was invested in. They would be outnumbered and completely unprepared for the onslaught. He resisted the urge to chase after those prints and circled around the camp.
His worst fear was confirmed. More sets of prints lead off to the north, a third toward the forest in the northwest. Kutrosky’s people had split up. All of the trails were quickly covering with fresh snowfall. There were no clues as to who had gone in which direction and whether they had taken prisoners with them. Logic said that Kutrosky and the bulk of his men had gone to the south in search of the transmitter. But had they taken their prisoners with them? Had they taken Grace?
“Shit,” he hissed, spinning to look off in every direction in the snowy dark. He was as good as blind.
“What?” Kinn growled, catching up as Danny started off again, heading through the mounds to the path leading up the hill to Kutrosky’s hut.
“They went in different directions,” he called over his shoulder
“You motherfucking piece of shit.” There was no way to tell if Kinn was cursing Kutrosky or him. “Where the hell are you going?”
“Kutrosky’s hut,” Danny shouted, racing up the hill. If he was going to find anything to cut the ropes around his wrists, anything that would give him a clue which way Grace had been taken, it was going to be in the leader’s lair.
The planetarium had been nearly completely black. A hazy field of stars had flickered above. Danny had found Grace sitting in her usual spot after class. Her expression had been anxious, clouded.
“It was just hacking. It’s not worth moping around in here.” He smiled, hands in his pockets, heart light in spite of the controversy buzzing through the ship. He sauntered into the row of chairs and sat next to her as he did nearly every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. It was getting to be as much a habit as checking the computer models for scenarios pairing her with Sean every morning.
She tried to send him a smile but couldn’t maintain it. “I hate the idea that anyone would disparage the Project, let alone sabotage it,” she said.
He was glad the darkness of the planetarium hid his wince. It was getting harder and harder to feign innocence with Grace. He could hide his true involvement with the Project and his true feelings for her under the comfortable veneer of friendship, but she was getting to know him too well.
“People will always have opinions, especially about rules and authority. Think of it this way, aren’t you glad Sean discovered the virus before it wrecked your dream world?”
She shrugged. “He’s certainly glad he discovered it.”
Their eyes met and they shared a chuckle. He was content with her believing Sean had the idea to dig into the ship’s operations all on his own. All he cared about was that his insurance policy against Kutrosky had been effective. That’s what the man got for thinking Danny was disposable.
Taking a risk, he pushed the arm between their two seats back and inched closer to her. As smooth as a high school dweeb at the movies, he slid an arm around her shoulder. His whole body zinged with energy when she snuggled against him and rested her head on his shoulder.
“Why would anyone want to tamper with the creation of a new civilization?” she sighed.
He marshaled all of his powers of concentration to keep his mind on her words and not her body. It would have been easier to blow up the ship with a firecracker.
“People have all sorts of stupid agendas, Grace.” God only knew how irrational his own agenda had become because of her. “If everyone believed the same thing and agreed with each other, we never would have explored the stars in the first place. Or other continents on Earth or anything outside of our primitive little villages, for that matter.”
“Mmm,” she hummed. “Sometimes I think those primitive little villages had the right idea. Small units, everyone working together, focusing on essentials instead of petty wars.”
“And that’s your agenda.” He grinned, kissing the side of her head. He did it before he could think about it.
If Grace felt it was inappropriate, if she felt anything, she didn’t say. A silence followed before she adjusted against him and went on.
“But who would want to undermine a colony whose mission is so profoundly important and good?”
Dozens of people. Thousands of people. Entire organizations who knew what the colony’s purpose truly was and the cost it would really incur.
“Not everyone agrees with the way the Project is being carried out.” And any second now, Kutrosky would be caught. He could put his plans for Terra in motion. The moment they set foot on the new planet, he would whisk her aside, explain everything, carry her off if he had to.
“But surely we can solve this by discussion,” she argued. “That’s what a civilized society does. They don’t sabotage each other. They don’t undermine the rightful authorities.”
He smoothed a hand down her shoulder, brushing a strand of her hair out of the way. “I think I’d be perfectly happy living in your world.” He spoke softly, heart thumping in his chest.
She twisted to look up at him. Projected starlight from the planetarium’s ceiling reflected in her eyes, making her skin as white as snow.
“I know I’m being naïve,” she confessed on a sigh. “It’s just that I know humanity can do so much better. We can do so much better.”
He brushed his free hand across her cheek, tucked her hair behind her ear. “I believe you.”
He drew in a breath and leaned toward her. She didn’t back away. Her head tilted up in fluttering expectation. He would hop on an emergency ship right now and fly off with her if she would just let him—
“Grace!” Carrie shouted from the back of the room.
They jerked apart. She had been so close that for a moment he could taste her. So close.
“Grace!” Carrie repeated.
Grace cleared her throat and answered, “Over here.” She sent Danny a guilty look, biting her lip. The lip that had almost been his. Carrie had some serious explaining to do.
“There you are.” Carrie stumbled through the darkness to the row where they sat. Even in the dark, she was clearly excited. And she wasn’t remotely surprised to find him sitting there with Grace. Her disapproval quickly faded as she announced, “They caught the guy who did it.”
“They know who gave the computer a virus?”
“Yes.” Her wide eyes shifted to Danny. “It was some guy named Brian Kutrosky from the IT team.”
Danny saw behind her words in an instant. Carrie hadn’t come looking for Grace to gossip, she’d come looking for him to tell him they could be next.
“Never heard of him,” he shrugged. Let her believe what she wanted. Kutrosky’s capture didn’t change the plan for him.
“Yeah, well they’ve taken him into custody and they’re confiscating his computer and searching his quarters.” She planted her hands on her hips and stared straight at Danny.
Danny shrugged. “Hopefully he was sloppy and left things lying around.”
“He was sloppy.” Her face burned scarlet in the dark. “He had a data strip with the command codes on it.”
A twist of anxiety poked through Danny’s gut. Only a fool would have failed to destroy the strip once they’d learned the codes. He’d given Kutrosky more credit than he deserved. At least he’d wiped anything implicating himself from the strip. Or so he hoped.
“What’s going to happen to this Brian Kutrosky?” Grace stood to face her friend.
“Since the ship doesn’t have a brig or anything, they’re putting him in a room next to the engine instead.”
“Next to the engine?” Grace balked. “Those rooms are only minimally climate-controlled and have no sound-proofing. They’re strictly for storage. They can’t do that.”
“There’s going to be a trial,” Carrie explained.
“Good,” Grace sighed in relief.
“Did he h
ave any accomplices?” Danny feigned only mild interest.
Carrie met his eyes with poorly concealed desperation. “They don’t know yet. They’re still searching. Searching deep.”
He shrugged. “Well, if he wasn’t working alone, hopefully his accomplices aren’t stupid enough to get caught.”
Kutrosky’s hut was dark, the fire nothing more than smoldering embers, but the thick furs on the walls had kept some of the warmth inside. Danny scrambled down the earthen stairs, torch held out in front of him. He scanned the large room for anything that could cut the straps still binding his hands. Without glasses and with nothing but his torch for light, he had to move to see.
He kicked over baskets and crates, spilling furs and bowls and tools, feeling for what he needed. The scent of dried fruit and meat mingled with earth and wood as carved mallets and cups and food scattered on the floor. He ripped coverings off of tables made of boxes and Kutrosky’s large bed, venting his rage as much as looking for something that could be useful. He would not be rendered useless now. If Kutrosky had done anything to harm Grace then he would be number two on his list of people to kill, right after Kinn, glasses or no glasses.
Kinn was right behind him in the path of destruction. He reached the hut a minute behind Danny and tore through the crates that Danny had uncovered, finding nothing. They ransacked the hut in a battle of wills, bristling with hatred, their hands still tied.
Danny found the knife first. He snatched it from a covered bowl beside the bed. Hoping to conceal it from Kinn as long as he could, he dropped to the floor and clamped the knife between his knees as he sawed through the straps on his wrists. They snapped easily. The knife was sharp. With a grunt he shook the straps aside. His red and blistered hands shook so much as blood and pain rushed back to them that he dropped the knife and torch as he stood.
Kinn dove for the knife with a strained grunt. With few other options in the nearly pitch-dark blur of the hut, Danny kicked the knife across the room into the pile of debris from the baskets. He wasn’t about to make it any easier for Kinn to get free than he needed to.
