Home in the Stars Box Set

by Mason, Jolie

  Chapter Seven

  “Oh, we’re fine. He’s not. You little freak.” Ari started to go for him again.

  “Ari,” Caden said quietly, holding her arm.

  “Come on! Caden, he’s a cartoon. If he wants me to stop mocking him, he’s gonna have to kill me. Seriously, man, you’re ridiculous. Where’s Rick?” She wanted to rip the prick in half, and he was about the size of a datapad. She thought her odds were pretty good in a fair fight. He did have the mercs, though Ari found it impossible to remember that with Caden doubled over holding his side and people she liked and admired missing.

  Nodding to one of his hired guns behind Caden to grab him, he reached over and grabbed a handful of Ari’s hair and pulled painfully until she was on her knees. Ari reached up in reflex to try and stop the hand pulling her hair. Her eyes watered. The sting was significant, but she ignored it. “I’m curious. Do those pants chafe much?” she asked.

  “This one’s a charmer, Carnes. You got wedding plans yet?” Tallon pulled harder making her twist to stop the burn on her scalp. He leaned close to her face to tell her menacingly. “We don’t have to kill anyone to make this unpleasant, Captain. Just ask your boyfriend there. He can tell you how I like to pass the time while I’m waiting.” His breath blew hot on her skin. She pulled away as far as his grip would let her.

  Through the pain, she realized just what the little toad had wanted her to know. She was looking at the man responsible for the scars on Caden. She was in the room with the man who tortured him for weeks, not days. He was in front of her. She twisted her head, even though it hurt to look the man in the eye.

  “You should have kept that little secret. You’re dead.”

  He laughed uproariously and let go of her hair with a hard twist. “I like this girl, Carnes! She’s feisty for a spacer.” Ari hit the floor with some relief, until his booted foot connected with her side. Dazed, she breathed through the pain.

  She didn’t say another word. She just let him laugh because she didn’t know how, she didn’t know when, but sometime in the very near future this piece of trash would die.

  Caden had been put in static cuffs by the time her eyes stopped watering enough to see. Only after he’d been cuffed would they take their hands off him. Cowards, she thought. So they were worried about the big, brawny man. That was a miscalculation. Ari might not be a man. She might not be a tough girl, but she was something infinitely more scary; a really, really pissed off woman with an ax to grind right into a pirate’s shiny skull.

  Tallon turned his attention to Caden with a sick focus. “You know, Carnes, you have some distinction among your peers, did you know that?” He waved a hand through the air with a grandiose arrogance. His accent lilted strangely, making him seem creepier somehow. Ari traveled for a living, and she wasn’t familiar with it. “Not money. It doesn’t take much for a man to amass a fortune. In fact, most of the nobility of the Empire brought it with them from the cradle, right? You inherited a fortune. That doesn’t take skill or education. It’s blind luck.”

  The pirate faced Caden. His face pinched into something close to rage. “No, you escaped. You lived. Every other hostage on that transport died that day or in the following years. You have not, my friend, and not for lack of trying.” He shook a chastising finger at Caden as though he saw some shame attached to the fact, then laughed. “You are hard to kill! That’s impressive. That’s challenging.”

  Caden stayed still and quiet as Tallon paced in front him. “And really, when you think about it, it should not have been so difficult. Your father hired us to get rid of you. I mean, the deck really was stacked against you, no?” Ari felt complete shock slam into her at the words. Surely, he was lying about Caden’s father in this case. No one could be this bad, could they?

  Tallon paced from the desk and back again. It was pretty clear the man was on a downward slope to unhinged. But she looked at Caden. He exhibited no surprise that the pirates had been hired by his father. He’d already known.

  Tallon jerked forward to hit Caden suddenly across the face, and then in the stomach. Caden fell forward to his knees and coughed. With hard eyes, Caden stood slowly. “Tallon, I’ve heard all this before. Don’t you get tired of talking.”

  He was kissing distance from Caden in seconds. That was when Ari saw the knife. It shone like it had been polished with stars, and it curved along the top to a deadly tip. He ran it along Caden’s jaw lovingly. “You have changed, little man. Tough guy now, huh? Yeah, you’ve got a little more steel in that spine now, I think.”

  Tallon pushed Caden away with a short shove and shook his knife in the air. “You know what that tells me, Caden? The buttons to push are different, aren’t they?” He leaned in to look long in Caden’s eyes. “Pain won’t work, no.”

  The man turned in an almost giddy, graceful dance. “Your pain won’t work. I wonder if hers will, though.”

  Ari saw Caden crack. She saw the hardness turn to dismay, fear, fury. Tallon moved faster than she could have imagined as his hand cracked across her face in a backhanded slap. She wasn’t expecting it that soon, and she wasn’t used to pain. It shocked her. The burn of the blow. The impact against the wall behind her. Ari shook her head to clear it, so she’d know what was coming next. She snaked her tongue out to taste the blood from a split lip. Truthfully, the blow had stunned her, but it probably came off pretty tough to the crowd in the room. She didn’t cry out or shout or curse him. She just licked her lip, shook her head and stood.

  Tallon hooted. “Great Gods of Mallik! That was fantastic.” He gestured to Caden. “Did you see that? What a woman!” He laughed and strutted about the room, meanwhile Ari shook off the pain. She met Caden’s eyes. His eyes were haunted.

  They had a conversation with no words. She told him, “I can take this”, while he said distinctly, “I don’t want you to.”

  She kept looking at Caden as she said softly, “A fucking cartoon.”

  Tallon’s face changed instantly from jovial enjoyment of her pain to predator. He slid into her space in serpentine fashion, got right in her face. “What did you say?”

  “I said, Pirate King of all the losers, that you are a fucking cartoon, and if he doesn’t kill you, I’m gonna give it a shot. That’s a paraphrase.”

  “That’s enough.” Caden shouted. She hated that he was terrified for her, but maybe keeping this guy unhinged was the way to go. “What do you want?”

  Tallon never took his eyes from Ari’s. “Right now, I kinda want your girlfriend. She is magnificent. I could listen to her scream all damn night.”

  “Oh, just ick”, she let her distaste show on her face. “I’m fine, Caden.”

  “Ready to deal, Tallon. You win.”

  Tallon leaned in closer and licked along her jaw, tasting her blood. He whispered, “Later.” She breathed in as he backed away and looked toward Caden. Her stomach turned.

  “Why does your client need money? Or, more to the point, how much does he want?” Caden asked the question while his eyes silently plead with Ari to be quiet, say nothing.

  “I’m gonna just go on and bid high. His request was all your liquid assets, and, apparently, he knows just what that figure is.” The smile he shot Caden was nauseating. “He has a project that needs funding.”

  “Yes, a weapons project that’s already been shut down. I’m aware of it. But I’d happily pay you for your employer’s name.”

  “Shut down? No one is shutting this down.”

  “I already have”, Caden said.

  Ari noticed a beautiful letter opener on the desk when she was on her knees on the floor. It had been a gift from Rick’s wife, Rick who was most likely dead now. He’d loved antiques. This one was, apparently, very old. She remembered him boasting about it so proudly, not because it was so expensive, but because it was so perfect and from Bett. How poetic would it be to slice Tallon open with Rick’s priceless letter opener? Her mind savored the thought as she pictured Rick’s kids, Lea and Lara, the way she’
d seen them last time she had dinner. They’d been playing with a puppy, a tiny brown something or other that made lots of noise as it jumped from one small girl to the other. Their world would never be the same, just like Caden’s after this psycho got through with him.

  Breaking glass in the hallway was followed by a soft thunk and another, then a muffled curse. It caused the guards in the room to go on alert. Tallon ordered the one by the door to “handle it”. She noticed the smile on Caden’s face before Tallon did.

  The plan, of course, she thought. Abernathy. They were getting into position.

  The office had one large window with an eastern exposure. She almost laughed when it exploded inward and smoke filled the room. Almost. The smoke forced her to duck lower to the floor. She moved quickly in the confusion to grab the letter opener, while the idiot Tallon moved quickly toward Caden in his handcuffs. Go ahead, moron, always assume the girl won’t hurt you. She thought as her fingers curled around the cool wooden handle.

  As smoke filled more of the room in a gray white billow, she watched shadows repel through the open window and take cover while the two goons fired blindly their way. Ari crept forward keeping the desk between her and the men shooting the bullets. One of Tallon’s grunted softly and curled into a pile on the rug.

  Caden dived to the floor near a worn sofa. He kicked out at Tallon several times as the man grappled for him, going for his neck and face. Through the haze, she saw Tallon land punch after punch on Caden who tried to hold him off with his hands immobilized. Ari grabbed the black shoe in front of her and pulled hard, sending Tallon flat faced to the floor.

  He swore at her as he changed his direction. Tallon’s face was a picture of rage as he started for Ari. She backed away quickly, still holding onto the letter opener for dear life.

  Behind him, Caden hooked cuffed arms over the man’s head and jerked him around hard trying to break his neck. It didn’t work like he’d planned. Tallon had gotten a hand in the loop of Caden’s arms and stopped him from doing more than holding the smaller man in place. Ari rushed forward holding the letter opener like a knife and sank it into Tallon’s stomach with a satisfied grunt.

  “Told you so”, she said in his ear, holding his shocked gaze.

  He fought a little more before, finally, sinking to his knees. Caden held on to him until the members of Abernathy’s team gave the all clear and took over the job of restraining the man who Ari sincerely hoped was dying quite a bit. Her eyes were tearing, so she didn’t know just where she’d stabbed him. Coldly, she observed the man on the floor making gurgling sounds deep in his throat. Lungs, she thought impassively.

  Caden kept his eyes on her as he motioned for one of the men to uncuff him. Whatever their rescuers had used for the smoke cover started to dissipate. Their rescuers were more distinct than shadows now. Ari backed up all the way to the large desk and leaned on it with both hands, clutching hard, finding it harder and harder to stay standing. As soon as he was released, Caden headed straight for her and pulled her close. Given the way her weight sank into him, she assumed she’d looked as wobbly as she’d felt there for a moment.

  Caden’s hand kept her captive as he pressed his mouth to the crown of her head. “You little idiot, you just had to taunt the crazy guy.”

  “He would have hurt you. He’s the one, isn’t he?”, she whispered. “He’s the one that.. . .”

  “I know who he is.”

  Abernathy said quietly from his place near the body, “I’ll be damned”. Ari watched a look pass between the two men. It said things she could only guess. “Get her back to the dock, Caden. The Guard is coming to take the crime scene. She’s seen enough.”

  She felt Caden’s nod, and let him lead her around the bodies. Behind her, Abernathy called to one of the other mercs in black gear. “Follow them back to the Bell, and then get back here. Is there anything we can use to cover her?”

  There was milling and shouting, and Ari felt Caden put a jacket over her shoulders.

  The walk back to the cabstand was long. It wasn’t until she found herself in the middle of a bench seat, surrounded by Caden and one of Abernathy’s men that she realized she had a lot of blood on her. The black of the jacket didn’t show the color, but she stank of it, a sickly copper smell, and, up close, any fool would know she’d stabbed someone today. It was a miracle no one stopped to question her on the way or in the cab.

  They arrived at the dock area during a lull in the foot traffic, thankfully. Ari was ridiculously aware of the sound of their footsteps on the shiny lobby floor. The echo struck each of her nerves as they walked. The dock doors opened before they even approached. Ari felt purely grateful to Luca. She really needed a nap and a whiskey, maybe not in that order.

  The long octagonal tubing stretched forever in Ari’s mind, but wasn’t really all that far. She glanced around to realize the guard had left them, probably back at the gate. The hull of the Carry Bell shown silver above her in the dim lighting. The contrast with the white reflective surface of the ship name stood out in the dark. The ship wore her name more prominently in several other places, but this was the first impression for visitors so Ari had paid more to make it special. She realized this was the first time she saw that name and felt the call of home. Sanctuary lay beyond that hatch.

  Caden put his palm to the latch and twisted. The hatchway opened slowly. Ari reached for his free hand, but she stopped before she took it. Her hand was covered in blood. She stared at her own fingers, thinking how foreign they seemed to her now. She met his eyes, and said in explanation, “Blood.”

  She could barely see his face in glowing lights of the docking tube, but she understood his actions just fine. He took her hand and twined his fingers in hers tightly before leading her onto the ship. Luca stood in the corridor facing the hatch. “Captain, are you all right?”

  “She will be.”

  Luca twisted her braid as she took in the state of her uniform and the blood on her skin.

  “Should I call the medics?” she asked Caden.

  He shook his head. “We’ll be in the Captain’s quarters”.

  They passed a few crew on the way up. No one commented or said a word. That almost made it worse. Ari didn’t know what was wrong with her. Everything seemed so distant.

  If she let herself think too hard about the man she’d killed, she felt a rage like no other in her life. If she could, she had no doubt she would gladly kill him again. That might be what was bothering her the most. She didn’t care. She would do it again and again. She wanted to. He’d gotten off too easy.

  In her quarters, the bed was unmade and the glasses they’d used the night before were lying around. This was nothing like her usual compulsive neatness. Instead of that fact making her crazy to clean it, she felt satisfaction. It felt lived in, like she finally had a life of her own. She let out a deep breath, as if she would thaw out any moment, and be warm again.

  Caden led her to the small, clinically white bathroom. He stripped her of her uniform carefully, as if she might break with the slightest pressure. He removed her comms from her uniform and placed them in a small dish where she kept them on her night stand. Once he returned and had the water running hot, he urged her to step under the spray. She lost herself in the warm water. It washed away the blood in a pink flow down her legs. She watched as it circled the drain in heavy and thin streams of red.

  He stepped into the rush of water behind Ari holding a soft cloth and new soap. Ari turned to face him. He wet the cloth and rubbed clean smelling soap onto it. She watched as he stood there grimly cleaning her arms and hands, then moving to her chest and abdomen where so much of it had seeped out of Tallon onto her. Anger rolled off Caden in waves.

  “I’m sorry”, she whispered putting her hand on his chest. “I’m sorry.”

  His eyes widened. “You’re sorry?”

  She didn’t expect to cry, yet her face crumpled. He tugged her close. One hand pushed back her wet hair from her face so he could trace the l
ines of it. “Open your eyes”, he ordered.

  With a little shake, he said again, “Open your eyes.” She did, and what she saw completely bewildered her. She saw love and terror.

  “Tallon liked cutting on his hostages.” His voice dropped on the last word. “He did things to me I can’t even say out loud. I knew he didn’t care about the money, not really. He cared about supporting his hobby, sadism. You didn’t do a damn thing wrong. Hear me?”

  She whispered, “I hurt you somehow.”

  “You scared me. That’s all.” He folded her up as if he would put her in his pocket if only he could. “That man still stars in my nightmares, Ari. Watching him hurt you just messed with my head a bit. If I had even suspected he was in this crew, you would have never been near this.”

  “I think there’s something wrong with me, Caden. I don’t feel anything.”

  “That’s shock, Love.” He kissed her ear.

  “No”, she said. “That’s not it. I don’t feel anything. He hurt you. There’s no way that man gets to breathe your air. It’s like stepping on a bug. There’s something wrong with me.”

  He smiled at her.

  “You are perfect. I love you.” He kissed her nose. “And you need to sleep.”

  “Yes, Dad.”

  *****#*****

  The comm chimed through the cabin. Ari woke on her stomach feeling very confused. She looked around for Caden who had moved his bag into her quarters sometime during her nap, she noticed. With a smile, she reached over for the comm switch.

  “Badu.” Her rough voice cracked out as if she hadn’t used it in years

  “Captain, are you feeling up to joining us in the briefing room?” asked Caden’s voice in a decidedly distracted tone.

  “Be right there. Who am I joining?”

  “Commander Abernathy has an update on our situation, and the Meriweather has news.”

  “Understood”, she said and tapped the button.

  She dressed in a fresh uniform and pulled her hair severely back in a bun. It helped. She felt slightly more in control, and if she had to listen to gory details about the clean up, she needed some control.