by Susan Hayes
“I like that version of events. I’m going with that as my official story.” She reached out and pointed to the data stick on the shelf beside them. “You asked me if it was safe to have that here. While I was waiting for you, I made several copies, encrypted them, and sent them to others. Even if they find that one, they’ll never find them all. The truth is going to come out one way or another.”
“And what about you? What if they find out you were behind the information getting out?”
“I was careful. The tech I used is top of the line, almost impossible to detect. Even if they do find out they were breached, they won’t know how, or who orchestrated it. Only one person knows what I did, and he escorted me out of the building tonight and made sure I got home safely. Zale isn’t going to say anything. As it turns out, he already knew the truth, but he couldn’t tell anyone. I think he’s relieved to know someone is going to do something about it.”
“Zale knows?”
Lieksa filled him in on what had happened, and by the time she was done his mind was busy sorting through all this new information. Things were more complicated now, but that didn’t matter. All that really mattered was keeping Lieksa safe.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Lieksa slept fitfully, but she wouldn’t have slept at all if Mack wasn’t with her. Having him back in her life made everything feel right, even if it really wasn’t. Dash was out hunting a traitor they’d all trusted, the corporations were keeping life-ruining secrets, and it felt as if the number of people she trusted could be counted on one hand. Yet, crammed in beside Mack on her tiny bed, his arms around her and his chest rising and falling with every slow breath he took, she had faith that everything was going to work out somehow, for all of them. Well, everyone but Len. As far as she was concerned, he deserved to be thrown out the nearest airlock or tossed into the heart of a star.
“You need to sleep,” Mack said, his voice a soft rumble by her ear.
“So do you.”
“I’m a cyborg, remember? I can go for days without sleep if I have to. My medi-bots will keep me on my feet for as long as I need to be. You have no such advantage, so try to rest. If I hear anything from Dash, you’ll be the first to know.”
“It must be strange not to need sleep. What do you think about in the middle of the night and there’s nothing to do?”
“I’d think about you. On the hospital ship, you were my distraction. Afterward, you were my fantasy, and now, you’re reality.”
She smiled and snuggled in closer to his side. “I think Dash has competition for being the charming one in this relationship. All these years, I dreamed about the two of you, too. No matter how this ends, I’m glad we got a chance to be together.”
“This isn’t going to end, Lieksa. Not in this lifetime, and not in the one that comes after.”
“Everything ends—” she started to say, but her argument was cut short by a muffled chiming from her comm device.
The device was still in her pants pocket, and her pants were still in the pile of clothing they’d created in their earlier rush to get naked. She had to climb over Mack’s naked body to retrieve it, which created the opportunity for all sorts of distractions along the way.
When she finally dug out her comms and answered it, she was out of breath and sprawled in an ungainly tangle on the floor. In her rush, she didn’t check to see who was calling. “Hello?”
“Lieksa, it’s Len. Len Daniels. I’m so glad you answered. You need to get here. Mack’s been wounded, and it’s not looking good. Are you at home? I’ll come get you myself.”
Icy tendrils wove down her spine, weaving a pattern of fear and loathing as they went. She didn’t have to fake the quaver in her voice as she asked the questions he would be expecting. “Mack’s hurt? How? Where? I’m home. Please hurry. I want to see Mack right away.”
“I’ll be there soon. Dash would have called you himself, but he’s with Mack right now. I’ll tell you all about it once we’re on the way there, okay? I’m two minutes out. Don’t open the door or talk to anyone. It’s not safe.”
“Okay.”
She disconnected the call and blew out a breath before looking up at Mack. He was out of bed and pulling on his clothes as fast as he could, but his eyes never left her as she caught him up on the conversation, keeping her voice low, just in case. “That bastard said you were injured and Dash was sending him to fetch me before it was too late. He’ll be here in two minutes. He didn’t even ask me where I lived. He already knew! Veth, if you weren’t here, safe and sound, I’d have believed him. How the hell did he find me?”
Mack helped her to her feet and handed her several pieces of clothing, then pulled her into his arms and crushed his lips to hers. “You were brilliant. As for how he found you, he could have simply looked you up. He might’ve slipped a tracker on you when he saw you tonight, though. Did he touch you at all?” he asked once he released her again.
She was going to say no, then remembered the odd way Len had touched her shoulder before leaving the table. “He might have. I’ll check my clothes later to be sure. What happens when he gets here?” she asked as she dressed.
“I’ve already let Dash know we’re about to have company. He and the task force are on the way, but they’re not going to get here before Len does. When he arrives, we’ve got two choices.”
She cocked her head, her fingers frozen on the fastenings of her pants. “You’re giving me a choice?”
The look he shot her was full of frustration and worry, but he nodded. “I am. You don’t respond well to orders, so I’m trying something new.”
“What are the options?”
“Option one: you go to the bathroom and stay there until I tell you it’s safe to come out and I take on Len when he gets here.”
“I don’t like that option. What if he’s not alone?”
“That leaves option two: you answer the door, but stay off to one side so no one can take a shot at you. Tell him you need to grab your repair kit or something. Then try to get him to follow you inside. I’ll be waiting out of sight, and the moment he’s through the door, you hide in the bathroom while I deal with the threat.”
She frowned at him. “I see some overlap in these plans, but since I’m not the one genetically bred and cybernetically enhanced to be a soldier, I’m not going to argue. Option two it is. See? That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
He scowled at her. “Now is not the time for sass. This would be a lot simpler if I could just kill the bastard, but we need him alive. A fight in tight quarters like this…there are a lot of variables. Once that door is open, you head straight for the bathroom and out of the line of fire. I can deal with anything but losing you.”
She nodded, then finished getting dressed, leaving her shoes off because it seemed like an obvious reason for her to need another minute to get ready. Her heart was pounding, and her hands were shaking the whole time, but she was determined to see this through. The bastard coming for her had tried to kill everyone she cared about, and he had to be stopped.
When the door chime sounded, she nearly jumped out of her skin. Mack placed a steadying hand on her shoulder, and she leaned into him for a brief second while she pulled herself together. I can do this.
“Len, is that you?” she asked through the intercom.
“It’s me. We need to hurry. Open the door.”
Mack had dimmed the lights so that most of her cubby was dark, making it easier for him to stay out of sight. He was pressed against the wall on the other side of the door, one hand already on the access panel. He nodded once, and she moved to one side as he punched in the code to override his security measures and open the door.
“You ready?” Len demanded before the door was even fully open.
“Almost. Still need my shoes. Have you heard anything else? How’s Mack? What happened?” She kept hitting him with questions in an attempt to keep his focus on her.
“Same thing that happened to Crews, I guess. Someone tried to take h
im out.”
He stepped inside and she deliberately moved backward, her face buried in her hands as she sobbed loudly. “I can’t believe this is happening. It’s so awful!”
He followed her exactly as she hoped he would, putting him in the middle of the room with Mack behind him. The door shut, and all hell broke loose.
She dropped her hands in time to see Mack charge toward Len and she scrambled to get out of the way. The plan to get to the bathroom had seemed practical enough in theory, but the reality was that having two huge men battling it out in her small residence meant there was no clear path for her to take. They were grappling and punching, and while it was clear Mack was winning, Len was a tough, well-trained officer, and he was fighting like a man with nothing left to lose.
She dodged around them as best she could, but her best wasn’t enough to keep her out of harm’s way. Len’s out-flung fist struck her face as she tried to slip past, and she yelped in surprise and pain. Starbursts of light exploded and danced in front of her eyes, making it impossible for her to see.
“Lieksa!” Mack called her name frantically.
She tried to get out of the way, but before she could take more than a single, unsteady step, a hand clamped around her wrist and jerked her back.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Len demanded. He twisted her captured arm behind her back with enough force to make her want to cry out again, but she bit her lip and refused to utter a sound. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing she was in pain. Something cold and sharp pressed to her throat hard enough that if she moved more than a fraction of an inch, it was going to cut her.
“If you hurt her, they’ll never find all the pieces of your body, Daniels.”
The man she loved was standing only a few feet away, but she barely recognized him right now. His voice was as cold as the vacuum of space, and his hazel eyes were dark with fury. His hands were curled into fists at his sides, and as the last stars cleared her vision, she noticed there were traces of blood on his knuckles and a nasty cut on his cheek.
Len snarled in frustration, the knife he held digging into her flesh. “If you so much as twitch, I’ll do more than hurt her. I’ll slice her throat and let you watch as she bleeds to death. I didn’t want it to go this way. Only you and Dash were supposed to die. With you gone, I’d take over as head of the taskforce, the cartel would pay off my debts, and everyone would have been happy. I’d be in charge, instead of taking orders from a couple of freaks, and the cartel could run their business in peace. Simple fraxxing arrangement. Then Dash doesn’t die like he’s supposed to, Crews figures out I’m the one who dosed him so he was too sick to work the day of the raid, and it all starts coming apart at the seams.”
“Let me go, Len. You said you didn’t want to hurt me. You don’t have to. Let me go, and this can end with everyone still breathing.” Lieksa forced herself to relax as much as she could.
“Not going to happen. You’re my ticket out of here. I’m a wanted man, now. My only chance is to get the hell away from the Drift, and they’re not going to let that happen unless I bring insurance. Isn’t that right, Mack?”
“You think taking a hostage is going to improve the situation? It’s not. You don’t even have a ship, Daniels. There’s nowhere for you to go. The best thing you can do for yourself is to let Lieksa go and surrender.”
“Like I told your girlfriend not fifteen seconds ago, that’s not going to happen. You’re not in charge here, Mack. You should never have been in charge. It should have been me!”
Len’s voice cracked with emotion, and his grip on Lieksa loosened a little. It was the opening she had been waiting for. Without warning, she grabbed at the knife blade and went limp, dropping through his arms toward the floor. The knife sliced deep into her fingers, but she ignored the pain. When she’d dropped far enough that her knees were bent, she tensed and then straightened up as fast as she could. The back of her head slammed into Len’s chin and nose, and once again starbursts danced in her vision.
After that, everything seemed to happen at once. Len screeched and released her to clutch his battered face. Mack was on him instantly, tearing into him with a violence she could hear, but not see.
Lieksa managed to stagger a few paces, but she tripped and went down hard, cracking her forehead on the edge of her bed on the way to the floor. The starbursts of light faded away, but her vision didn’t return. Instead, everything was veiled in a gray haze. Her hand throbbed with pain that only worsened when she made a fist with it to try to slow the bleeding.
She caught flashes of the fight between Mack and Len, but it was like watching a video with a faulty feed. The focus was off, and the images flickered and jumped. It wasn’t more than a few seconds before there was a reverberating thud, and then the sounds of fighting stopped.
“Lieksa? Angel, please open your eyes. Talk to me.”
Until Mack pointed it out, she hadn’t realized her eyes were closed. Something told her that probably wasn’t a good thing. She forced her eyes open and lifted her head to see him staring at her with a worried expression. “I should have gone with option one, huh?”
“Based on the amount of bleeding you’re doing, I’d have to agree. Dash is going to come through that door any second, and he’s going to want to know how you are. What should I tell him?” He tenderly stroked back a strand of hair from her face.
“Tell him I broke that bastard’s nose, and I probably have a concussion. And a bit of a cut on the neck.” She held up her bloody fist and tried to muster a smile, but her head was full of grinding pain and too many parts of her hurt to make it work. “I think I’m going to need a few stitches in my hand, too. I envy you those medi-bots right now. You’ll be healed up before I make it to medical.”
“He’s going to kill me for letting you get hurt,” Mack murmured as he gathered her into his arms as gently as he could and cradled her in his lap, one hand pressed to the bloodied lump on her forehead.
“Tell him I wanted option two. My choice. I’m sorry you got hurt, though. My fault. I didn’t get to the bathroom fast enough.” Her eyes fluttered closed again as a wave of nauseating vertigo overtook her.
Somewhere in the distance a door opened, and she could hear voices asking questions in urgent tones, but it was all happening too far away for her to pay much attention. The pain was fading too, and she was happy to let everything drift away. It had been a hell of a night, and she was ready to sleep.
* * * *
Dash came through the door to Lieksa’s home with a team of men at his back, all of them intent on bringing the traitor who had killed one of their own to justice. He wasn’t prepared to see the woman he loved lying battered, bleeding, and unconscious in Mack’s arms. The rest of his team poured in and secured Len, who was face down in a pool of what Dash hoped was his own blood.
“Dammit, Mack. Keep her safe. Wasn’t that the deal? How badly is she hurt?” he demanded as he crouched by Mack to take a better look at Lieksa.
“I tried to keep her out of it. She had her own ideas. She wanted me to tell you this was her choice, and that she was the one who busted Len’s nose. She’s very proud of that. She’s got a concussion, a wound on her neck, and a nasty slash on her hand where she held onto his knife blade. Nothing the doc can’t fix up, though.”
He glanced up at Mack, surprised. “She decked him? Our angel? And what do you mean, she grabbed his knife?”
“She head-butted him, actually. I think we’re missing some key background information on our girl. She mentioned tonight that she grew up in a hive city back on Earth, and I watched her take down Len with a move that was straight streetfighter. She’s tougher than I ever gave her credit for. Braver, too. Medical is already on their way here. Once they arrive, I’ll tell you all about it. I’ll even show you. I may not be able to record every detail like you can, but you’ll be able to see what happened.”
Len groaned as Dirk and Lance hauled him to his feet and started to lug hi
m out of the room.
“I don’t suppose his partner was standing out there with his hands up, ready to surrender and make this easy for us?” Mack asked.
“No such luck. We’ve got Daniels, though. I don’t think Len’s the kind to endure interrogation for long. More likely he’ll confess quickly in hopes of getting a deal.”
Dash looked around at the bloodstained and upturned contents of Lieksa’s home. “When this is all done, you and I need to talk about her living arrangements. This neighborhood clearly isn’t safe.”
Mack nodded. “We need to talk about a few things, including what Lieksa discovered about the corporations. I’ll catch you up on the way to medical.” He blew out a tired breath. “It’s been a busy night.”
Dash reached out to take Lieksa’s uninjured hand in his. He needed to be connected to her. To feel her even if she didn’t know he was there. “It has, but we’re all still here. I’m chalking this up as a win.”
“Me, too. With what’s coming our way, we’re going to need to enjoy our victories while we can.”
Dash didn’t know exactly what Mack meant, but that didn’t matter. Whatever was coming, they’d face it together.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Dash kept his arm around Lieksa’s shoulders as they made the walk from medical to the Nova Club. It wasn’t a long way, but considering she had only been released from the med center half an hour ago, he wasn’t taking any chances. Dr. Jefferies might think that two days was enough recovery time, but he wasn’t convinced. Judging by how close Mack was sticking while they made their way through the mid-day crowd, he wasn’t convinced, either.
Len was being interrogated somewhere far from the Drift, but he wasn’t the only threat they were facing. The Drojo Cartel was scattered and on the run. Even with the information Len was providing, hunting them all down would be a long, dangerous process. The killer working with Len turned out to be an assassin for hire who was only known as Reaper. Apart from a long list of kills stretching back several years, there was no other data. No ID, no known associates, nothing. Whoever he was, he was still out there.
