by Lisa Lace
I didn’t thank him.
We performed our jobs in silence, then prepared for launch, speaking only to give commands and answer questions. It was the most awkward takeoff we had ever done together. Usually, we had plenty of things to talk about, but there was nothing this time. There might not be anything ever again.
I knew in my heart that Anders would ask for a new partner. I hated the thought of it, but part of me would be grateful at the same time. How could I possibly be near him when I knew how much I had hurt him?
Our final mission together was going to be torture. But I would treasure it nonetheless, knowing it would be my last opportunity to spend time with my best friend.
It had only been three days since we left but it could have been three years. So much had happened between us. We stared at our old home on the viewscreen. It was still minuscule in the distance.
I had changed out of the shredded dress and into some standard-issue clothes. I had found beige pants and a beige long-sleeved shirt that almost fit me. It wasn’t pretty, but I had to get out of that dress.
“Do you think they’ve taken the women yet?� My stomach was in knots.
“I doubt it. We’ve only been away seventy-two hours.� Hearing someone say it out loud made me realize how much had changed. I had gained the most amazing lover I could have imagined but lost my friend too.
“What do you think we should do first?� It was his idea to bring back help. The Markan ships would be here soon. We needed a plan.
“I don’t know. There are too many things to do at the same time.� He sounded flustered, but I knew he probably wasn’t thinking clearly.
“Okay.� I tried to stay calm. “Should we get the pirates off the transport, or get our people?�
Anders looked off into the distance. “It would be better if we could keep the ship, but the most important thing is everyone’s safety.�
“We need more information. Do you have anyone you could contact to find out the situation inside the ship?�
He shook his head. “Ayrie would have sealed the door to the panic room after Avren and Allex arrived. Once it is closed, nothing comes in or goes out.�
“What about someone outside of your family? Maybe a pilot?�
Anders snapped his fingers. “Jassan. He’s got illegal equipment, and he’s always searching the deepest parts of the network. I could contact him that way.�
“If you say so.� I waved my hands. “While you’re doing your thing, I’m going to curl up for a nap before we play secret agent.�
He nodded. He already had his computer out and was typing.
“You have to get up.� I woke from my nap to the sound of Anders saying my name. I was groggy and extremely thirsty. I sat up on the couch in the change room, trying to shake the sleepiness out of my head.
“Jassan says they’re going to transport the women in the morning. If we’re going to make a move, we have to do it tonight, or we’ll be too late.�
That was enough to get me wide awake. Soon our friendship would be over because Anders would get himself reassigned. I tried not to think about how much that would hurt me. I might never see him again.
“There’s a complication, too. Allex didn’t make it to the panic room in time. Jassan says that he saw him. He must be hiding somewhere.� His jaw looked tense, and he frowned.
I knew this probably bothered Anders more than anything else. The Madellan brothers were close.
They had all made sacrifices for each other. Ayrie hadn’t finished his degree because he didn’t want to split the family up. Arnon had given his adolescent years to his brothers to raise and encourage them when their father couldn’t be there. Anders had been in many fights defending Allex and Avren, his younger brothers.
Hearing that no one knew the location of his littlest brother must be horrible news. I wished I could comfort him, but that wasn’t my responsibility. I wasn’t his friend or lover. I wasn’t much of anything. He wouldn’t appreciate my interference any more than he had appreciated my apology for hurting him. Sometimes it wasn’t enough to be sorry.
“Maybe he’s safe somewhere else.� I tried to offer what I could. “You only know that he’s not in the hideout. He could be walking around in the tunnels still.�
“I guess so.� Anders frowned. “He could be hiding in there, or the maintenance rooms or greenhouses. When we were little, and we first moved onto the ship, we played all over the place. He knows it like the back of his hand.�
“It sounds like you do too.�
He gave a quick nod. “I might.�
“Can’t we can use that knowledge to move around the ship without the pirates knowing where we are?�
“Maybe.� His face lit up but fell again when he looked at me. “That’s a good idea.�
It was only small praise, but I would take it. “What if the Markan ships can draw out their fighters? They can move a lot of the pirates out of our way. And if we sneak in and hide in the tunnels, we might find an ally.�
“Do you think Allex can help us do anything?�
“Maybe. Does the ship have mass transporting capability? Like a transporter that could lock on to all the pirates simultaneously?�
Anders thought for a minute. “I’ve never used it, but I believe we can do that.�
“Is there a way for us to only transport a particular group of people? We can’t take everyone off the ship together. Then we still have the problem of being threatened by pirates, just in a different place.�
Anders was studying something on his computer. In a moment, he made a sound of triumph.
“According to the transport specifications, there might be something we can do. They have mass transport capability for emergency purposes. The operator can specify which wings of the ship participate in the transport.�
I was starting to get excited. “If we can get all of our people into one area, we can transport the pirates away.�
“It’s not going to be that easy. First, we’ll have to disable the tractor beam, both to get in and to transport people out. And we have to do it all without anyone discovering what we’re doing.�
Idea followed idea as we bounced our thoughts off each other. It felt like we were partners again. The feeling made me happy and sad at the same time.
“You could knock out the tractor beam like you did before. Hopefully, the pirates haven’t figured out how you did it.� My brain synapses were in rapid-fire mode. “We go in, find Allex, and secretly get all our people together away from the pirates. There’s a bit of magic happening here, but we’ll figure it out as we go along. But how do we prevent them from coming back?�
“That’s one part I managed to figure out. We’ll send them to a police ship.� Anders grinned.
“Sounds brilliant. Are you sure you can do it?�
“I think I can,� he said. “Do you remember that I know the guy in charge of the poor security in this region? I went to flight school with him. He’ll send ships as long as he knows it’s a sure thing.�
I thought that it wouldn’t hurt if the request came from one of the princes of Auxem.
“That’s it, then.� In our enthusiasm, we bumped fists like there were no problems between us. He got a strange expression on his face and looked away again.
“I’ll start setting everything up.� He moved to the cockpit. “If we get lucky, we can move the people through the secret tunnels without the pirates knowing about it.�
Chapter Twelve
ANDERS
“Shh.� I squeezed past Gwen in a dark, narrow tunnel on the transport. We stopped moving when we heard voices in the room next to us. It was a tight fit, and her breasts brushed softly against my chest as I sidled past her. I heard her draw in her breath and felt myself reacting involuntarily. I hoped she couldn’t feel it.
I had hacked into the ship’s computer and isolated a section of the tractor beam, giving us a clear flight path. Once we were inside, I covered my digital tracks before we dropped into the secret tunnels.
My father custom built the transport when he had the idea to travel all over the galaxy looking for women. He added personal touches to the design, including an area for us to fly, the panic room, and a series of tunnels.
As royalty, our palace on Auxem had features to protect us. My father made sure his floating palace contained them too.
My younger brothers and I had grown up on the ship. We had played in the underbelly for hours at a time. Without knowing it, we had prepared our entire lives to lead people through the tunnels.
Gwen and I had been searching for Allex for a couple of hours. I had started in the most likely places, but he hadn’t been there.
I used a peep-hole to look into another possible location, but pirates filled my vision. Each transport was like a small town. I had been living on this ship with the same men for years. I knew every face by heart, even if I didn’t know everyone’s name.
The pirates would have been easy to spot even if I hadn’t known all our people. Each one had a diagonal slash across the corner of their left eye. Some of them were partially blind. They ran the risk of losing their vision if their initiation took an unfortunate turn. They thought it made them look dangerous.
In one room was a man and a woman, and they were getting hot and heavy. I closed my eyes and turned away. I didn’t need to see that. It was a small blessing that they still had their clothes on.
I shook my head at Gwen and motioned for her to go back the way we came. The last thing I needed was to brush against her soft body again. I had to focus. There were a lot of people depending on me.
I followed her up the passage until we got to a fork, then I moved past her to lead again. I took the left fork, and it immediately began heading down. Three hundred ninety-seven, three hundred ninety-eight… I knew there were exactly four hundred twenty-one steps. Allex and I had memorized the number of steps to all our favorite places.
And we were at the end. There was no peep-hole. I pressed a spot on the wall that would release the door, and it slid silently open into darkness. I reached out and found Gwen’s hand. I imagined a spark of electricity jumping between us when we made contact. I didn’t want to touch her, but it was necessary or she might get lost.
We were in the bowels of the ship. Heating units were all around us. My father had forbidden us to play in here. But when we were teens, everything was an adventure. We had gotten lost one time, and it ended up taking us four hours to find our way out. Gwen and I didn’t have that kind of time.
We needed to stay together. I knew a way through that would get us to a place I thought Allex might be hiding. If the pirates hadn’t captured Allex yet, he was probably in a remote location.
Gwen silently followed me. Her warm hand felt wonderful in mine, and the energy flowing between us drove me crazy. I tried to ignore it and pay attention to walking, but her aroma seemed more pronounced in the darkness. It felt like she was everywhere. I didn’t want to get an erection.
The first order of business was to ignore Gwen. The second order of business was to know where I was at all times. The third order of business was to find Allex.
I started moving through the rows of large pipes, counting seventeen before I turned the first time, then twelve more before I moved right again. Allex and I had used this place as a hideaway from our father many times. We hadn’t told our brothers about it.
I counted six more pipes until we came to an empty space in front of a maintenance door. As soon as we came into the open area, I felt something was wrong.
I stopped and tried to figure out what it was. I must have been thinking for a few seconds before something smashed into my skull and I fell, unconscious.
GWEN
Anders barely spoke to me as we infiltrated the ship. I could understand the need for silence, but it seemed excessive. The bitterness flowed off him in waves, like acid burning me.
I felt awful. I was sorry that I had hurt him, but the way he was acting toward me was painful. There was another feeling that I pushed back into the furthest corner of my heart. I couldn’t give it a name, but I didn’t want to let it out. It felt like a deep grief over losing Anders that would destroy me if I ever released it.
When he took my hand in the dark, I had imagined that sparks jumped between us. Our chemistry was still that strong. It was a painful torment being next to him, holding his hand with his strong body beside me, knowing that he didn’t want to touch me anymore. My caresses would only bring him pain.
Sadness welled up inside me, but under the circumstances, I didn’t have the luxury of tears.
Anders stopped abruptly. I looked around even though I couldn’t see anything in the dark. I heard a thump and Anders groaned, collapsing beside me. I ducked instinctively and heard a clang after something flew through the air where my head had just been.
I had never been in a fight before. But something emerged inside me that I didn’t know existed. I dived for where I thought the pirate’s feet might be. I guessed correctly, and I tackled the pirate the way I used to grab my brother back home when he insisted I play ball with him.
The pirate landed with a feminine shriek. Whatever she had been holding fell to the ground. We scuffled, and she clocked me in the head with her fist.
I gritted my teeth at the pain, not knowing what to do but hoping that flailing around randomly would hurt her. A spear of light pierced the darkness, and I noticed a bandage on the pirate’s left arm. I hit the dressing as hard as I could. The woman let out a blood-curdling scream. I heard the sound of running feet. A door flew wide open, illuminating the open space.
“Priya?� The figure stopped when he saw the three of us. We must have made quite a scene: Anders unconscious on the floor, Priya writhing in pain, and me, trying to seem ferocious but probably just looking embarrassed. I had found the length of thin pipe used to knock out Anders. I was on my feet, holding it out in front of me. I was ready to smack this guy in the head, too. I wouldn’t let anyone hurt him.
“Stay back.� I was full of adrenaline and a strange confidence.
The man peered into the darkness at me. “Don’t hit her again. She’s hurt.� His pleading tone bothered me. I didn’t want to remember that the pirates were people too. And this one obviously cared about his girlfriend. “Let me help her.�
“Fine, but you have to help my friend.�
He nodded. “I’ll bring in Priya first, then come out for your friend.� I wondered why I should believe the word of a pirate.
“Okay, but I’m watching you.� I didn’t want him grabbing a weapon.
He helped the woman stand up before he bent over and went through the door. I followed him, peering through the doorway so I could see what he was doing inside. After he laid her down, he grabbed Anders under the arms, dragging his body into the room.
When we got inside and the man got a good look at Anders’ face, he nearly dropped him. He recovered and glared at me. “Who are you, exactly?� He put Anders down as gently as a mother laid down her baby.
“Why does it matter?� I wasn’t willing to share anything abo
ut myself.
“I asked you a question.� In an instant, he twisted the pipe out of my hands and was ready to strike me with it.
He stood in front of Anders’ unconscious body almost protectively. I looked into the face of the handsome man with short, curly blond hair and thought he looked familiar, almost like Anders, or maybe more like Ayrie considering his blond hair.
I let out my breath. “I feel like I’ve seen you before. You must be Allex.�
His mouth dropped open. The pipe fell to his side.
“How do you know that? What are you doing here with my brother? And why is he unconscious? How did you board the ship?�
“Give her a chance to answer.� The woman’s pained voice came from the pallet. “You have to let people breathe. Sheesh.�
“I’m Gwen. We—�
Allex immediately cut me off again. “The pilot?�
I nodded. “We came back to get rid of the pirates.�
“Allex, I think you need to sit down for a minute. Ask Gwen to sit too. You haven’t had enough rest to play the bad cop.�
Allex looked like he didn’t understand the reference but he followed Priya’s suggestion. “Your wound is bleeding.� He grabbed a small box filled with medical supplies. “I can fix you up.�
“Why don’t you let Gwen introduce herself first?�
“On my planet, we use our hands to perform medicine and our ears to hear. I can bandage and listen at the same time.� Allex had a look in his eye that seemed to silence her. “I have terrible manners. You’d think I was raised on a transport.� He chuckled at his joke. “Gwen, meet Priya from Earth.�
“Nice to meet you.�
She gave me a nod. “I’m sorry I hit your friend in the head.�
I went to check on Anders. He was breathing. I couldn’t do anything for him until he woke up on his own.
