Jamar laughed in victory. “I reprogrammed my sphere.”
“To do what?”
“To blow this asteroid straight into Earth,” Jamar jeered.
Nausea and horror curled in Cade’s gut. Jules’s vision was about to come true. Including the total destruction of Earth.
Raw fury burned through Cade. He’d almost succeeded. Almost. He struggled against Jamar’s Quait, but helpless, he could only jerk and spasm.
Jamar boasted, “According to my calculations, the Earth planet will run red with lava and blood—until it rips itself apart.”
Instead of freeing his people, Cade had failed horribly.
Lyle’s face was hard with bitter anger. “You’d murder billions of innocent people to—”
“Cade should have thought of the consequences before he came here. Your people’s deaths are on his head.”
The Terrans would die. All of them on the Earth and the Moon. Those on Mars and Io wouldn’t survive without resupply from Earth. Cade’s people would suffer for eternity. And there was nothing he could do.
Cade struggled in fury. If rage could kill, Jamar would be scorched ashes.
The First laughed as smoke began to rise from the mine. Hellish sparks shot into the air, and bursts of ash flared then settled back into the Lamenium.
Sweat beaded over Lyle’s face. “How long before you destroy Earth?”
“Time enough for me to enjoy my reward.”
“Reward?” Cade asked, his heart pounding with worry. He well knew Jamar’s penchant for cruelty to women. Fear like he’d never know scoured him like acid.
Jamar laughed, but his tone threaded with evil. “Before I’m done with your women, they’ll beg for death.”
64
Shara shoved open the door to the back porch, but even before she and Jules had completed the search, Shara knew the men had gone.
Jules bit her bottom lip, her expression mystified. “This island is too small for them to just disappear. They must have gone to the mine. Lyle said something about taking heat and gas samples.”
“If they left, Cade would take the spheres.” Shara and Jules rushed to the closet where Cade had stashed the spheres. “His backpack is gone.”
“They went without us?” Jules frowned. “Lyle promised to take me with him. Maybe if we hurry we can catch up. We were only gone for half an hour.”
Shara’s breath hitched. “Cade’s going to deploy the spheres. Why else would he go on a trek with such a heavy load?”
Alarmed, Shara placed her own pack on her back, added several water bottles and power bars. She’d made the climb before, several times, and knew how draining it could be in the heat. “Put on sunscreen, sunglasses, and a hat. It’s hot, and there’s no shade.”
Jules didn’t budge. “Shara.”
“What?” Shara paused to look at her friend. She knew that expression. It meant trouble.
“Something’s wrong.”
“Duh. The men went to the mine without us.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Shara expected Jules to tell her about a vision. Instead, Jules pointed out the second-story window. “Look.”
From her bedroom Shara had a great view of the turquoise lagoon with its crescent sand beach and coconut palms, but she could also see the next protected harbor. Had Jules spotted the men? She peered at the vacant beach, but then she focused on a rocket moored in the water. “Someone’s here.”
Jules handed Shara the binoculars she kept on her nightstand. “You recognize the craft?”
Shara focused the lenses quickly. “Never seen it before. But it looks similar to the shuttle we stole from . . . It’s Jamar. He’s here.”
Her pulse escalating, Shara scanned the beach, looking for Jamar. Between the missing men and Jamar’s shuttle, Shara’s fear climbed.
When she didn’t see anyone, she focused on the mine.
“Oh . . . my . . . God.”
Jules placed her hand on Shara’s shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
“The men are in trouble. But they don’t know it.”
Jules’s tone rose in panic. “What do you see?”
Shara’s blood turned cold as she focused the binoculars. “It’s Jamar. I see him, but he’s waiting at the top behind a boulder. Cade, Trevor, and Lyle can’t see him. They are still climbing. Walking into a trap.”
“We have to warn them. Use my vidlink,” Shara waved in the general direction of her desk. Hands shaking, she lowered the binoculars.
Jules went to the vidlink, her expression turning to anger and horror as she spied pieces of smashed plastic and metal. “Jamar must have broken it before going after the men.”
“What are we going to do?” Jules asked.
“We take Jamar by surprise. Free the men.”
Jules folded her hands across her chest. “If we go closer, he’ll take us under his control, too. We’ll never reach the sphere.”
“True. Look in the chest.”
“For what?”
“Cade brought back the weapons we confiscated from Jamar’s guards on the Moon.”
“You’re going to shoot a laser gun?” Jules raised her brows up to her hairline.
“I have to. We can’t get close to Jamar, or he’ll take us under his control, so maybe we can shoot him from a distance.” Shara ignored the fear crawling down her spine and settling into her gut. She ignored the icy perspiration under her arms. She ignored the tremble in her hands.
Jamar was about to take the men prisoners. If they didn’t do something, Jamar would certainly kill them. The thought of Cade dying without him knowing that it was Jamar—not him—who would ruin her world, sickened her. She’d already betrayed Cade. Made a huge mess. But if she could save him and prevent the planet from exploding by using a weapon she despised, she could set things right.
They had to move fast.
“Got them.” Jules picked up the weapons, checked the clips and safety mechanisms, and handed one to Shara, her gaze a challenge.
Shara forced herself to take the gun and stuck it into the side pocket of her backpack, within easy reach. “Ready?”
“For what?”
“To go rescue the guys.”
Jules stared at her. “You’ve changed.”
“I have?” Shara headed down the stairs.
“A month ago, instead of taking on the worst bad guy in the galaxy, you’d have been telling me how badly you needed a drink.”
“Trust me, I’d love a drink.”
“But it wasn’t your first thought, was it?”
As they headed back through the trees, she accepted that Jules was correct: her first thought had been about Cade. And Earth. “I don’t even want to think about what Jamar might be doing to the men.” Shara increased their pace, ignored the heat, her burning gut, and the nagging fear that insisted she run the other way.
“Hey, slow down.” Panting, Jules tugged on her shoulder.
“Come on. You’ve got to keep up.”
“You aren’t listening.” Jules could barely get words out she was breathing so heavily. “It could be dangerous.”
At Jules’s insistent warning, Shara slowed her pace. “What’s wrong?”
“I saw someone moving up ahead. A silhouette of . . . it’s Trevor.”
Shara and Jules ran to the reporter’s side. Blood and dust had congealed on one side of his face. He had a black eye, possibly a broken nose, and he walked with a distinct limp. One hand cradled the other arm, his face grim, his eyes determined.
“You all right?” Jules asked.
“What happened?” Shara pulled her water bottle from the pack and offered Trevor a drink.
He took a long swig. “Cade threw one sphere into the Lamenium mine, then Jamar threw his in after.”
“Why would Jamar help Cade?” Shara frowned.
The ground rumbled. Lamenium ash rose into the sky. Sparks flew.
“Oh, God.” Jules muttered. “It’s unfolding exactly like my vision.”
> “Why would Jamar throw a second sphere into the mine?” Shara asked Trevor. “Are you certain?”
“Even part way down the mountain, I could hear Jamar boasting. Apparently, he’s reprogrammed the damn thing to make this asteroid crash into Earth. And Jamar’s captured Cade and Lyle.”
“We’re going to help.”
“No. If you go up there, he’ll take you captive and use you against the men to make them do whatever he wants.”
“He can make them do whatever he wants anyway.” Shara patted the compartment with the gun, as if she were confident, because in truth, she didn’t know how far Jamar could extend his powers. “If we shoot him from a distance, we shouldn’t come under control of his Quait.”
“Have you ever fired a gun?” Trevor asked.
“Yes, you idiot,” Jules answered for her, automatically protecting Shara.
“It’s okay. Trevor’s hurt. You can’t expect him to know . . . about Bruce.”
Shara must have turned white because despite his pain Trevor shook his head, apparently remembering that the last time she’d fired a gun, she’d killed her husband.
“Sorry. But from a distance, shooting a man isn’t that easy. Come back to the house with me. We’ll call Space Force for help.”
“Jamar destroyed the vidlinks. Unless you’re a Raman shuttle pilot, we’re on our own,” Jules said.
“Did you check the rocket for a vidlink?” Trevor asked.
“I didn’t think of that. But Jamar probably did.” Shara didn’t want to waste time returning to check the rocket. Cade needed her. She could feel it with every breath she took. But she tried to set aside her yearning to see him, tried to build a wall around her panic so she could function. “Jamar’s smart. He destroyed our vidlink at the house. He probably disabled the one on the rocket, too.”
Trevor frowned. “I’d prefer to go back with you, but I’d only slow you down. I think my arm’s broken. But maybe I can get to the rocket.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Shara took a step toward the mine.
“When you return, I expect you to fill me in on everything. I still want my story.”
“You got it.”
The women left Trevor. When they advanced far enough to be out of hearing range, Jules nudged her. “Even if he reaches the shuttle and finds a vidlink, and even if anyone believes him, and if they do send help—it will still take hours.”
“That’s why it’s up to us to save Cade and Lyle.”
“Right.”
“You wouldn’t happen to have had a vision that might tell us the best way to go about taking out Jamar?” Shara asked.
“Don’t have a clue.” Jules sounded surprisingly cheerful.
“For a woman who’s been worrying about the cataclysmic end of the world and whose lover is in life-threatening danger, you don’t seem too concerned,” Shara muttered.
“Fake bravado,” Jules said. “But I think we can do this.”
“Why?” Shara shot a look at her friend.
Jules trudged beside her, her face looking up at the mountain. “Because we have to.”
Shara followed Jules’s gaze to the mine. Where before the Lamenium ash was a drizzle, it now resembled a downpour. Ash fluttered around them, and she raised the binoculars to see that Jamar, Cade, and Lyle had disappeared among the boulders. Damn. She’d planned to hide in the cover of the trees and shoot at Jamar’s silhouette from a distance. With the men behind the rocks, the woman would have to move in closer. But that would give Jamar a chance to use his Quait.
Would Jamar feel her presence before he saw her? How close could she approach before she had to worry about his overpowering her with his mind? And would it take a few seconds, or would she have time to take a shot?
Lowering the binoculars, she hurried to catch up to Jules. “They’ve taken shelter from the ash on the other side of those rocks.”
“That means we have to go up higher.” Jules raised her shirt to cover her nose and mouth. “Breathing Lamenium can’t be good for the lungs.”
Shara followed Jules’s lead. “Once we get close, be very quiet. And if you get a shot at Jamar, take it immediately.”
Jules’s tone was angry. “But even if we can save the men, how do we save Earth?”
“We throw in the third sphere.”
“Huh?”
“Cade told me that two of them will overpower the third one. We can nullify Jamar’s programming with the third sphere.”
“Got it. Kill Jamar. Save the men. Throw the third sphere into the mine. Save Earth. Piece of cake.” Jules took her laser gun from her pocket, flicked off the safety. “I’m ready.”
They trudged up the last quarter of the mine’s cone, keeping their heads down to prevent the ash from coating their faces. The hot air made Shara’s breath short and her pulse race. With no cover, Jamar could see them. All he had to do was glance in their direction.
However, the rumbling mine was such an ominous threat that it drew her gaze. She kept sneaking glances, wondering if it was about to explode. Shara wasn’t a scientist, but even she knew an eruption would increase the heat until it instantly incinerated them. She might never know she’d failed.
Walking through the gathering ash over the steep terrain was not only dangerous because she couldn’t see loose rocks, but her feet kept slipping. A bad skid could send her sliding back down the cone. Her legs trembled with the effort. Beside her Jules stumbled over a loose rock, and when Shara tried to steady her, they both almost plunged down.
Somehow, they maintained their precarious balance and made it to the boulders. Shara allowed them to take only a few necessary seconds to rest.
When a tortured scream filled her ears, followed by a rumble from the mine, it was as if the asteroid itself howled in protest. Shara squeezed Jules’s arm and gestured for her to circle around the opposite way.
Another horrible scream rent the air.
Fear rushing up her throat, Shara worked her way around the rocks. The rumbling mine hid her footsteps, and she didn’t worry about making noise.
Balanced against the lives of billions, her own stupid fear of shooting Jamar shouldn’t have counted for squat. And yet, just holding the gun caused her hand to shake. Damn. She would be no use to anyone if she couldn’t control her nerves.
Shara scrambled over rocks, dodged a piece of flying debris. The heat had increased. Sweat poured from her skin, and her damp palm on the gun made keeping a grip difficult as she worked her way around the boulders.
She’d been to the rim several times, but had never explored this area. Damn it. Navigating the perimeter was taking too long.
If only she knew exactly where the men were.
The increasing frequency of the painful screams had her heart pounding and her nerves popping like bacon grease in a hot frying pan. Breathing the blistering air increased the pressure in her lungs. Ash filtered through her shirt that she kept over her nose and mouth and caused a burning need for oxygen. She rounded a bend. Heard a shot go off—and then a man’s roar of despair. A woman’s scream.
Jules.
She had to get to her friend. Slipping and sliding over the steep and loose crust, Shara rounded the final bend. To her horror, Jules was on the ground, writhing in pain. She looked bloody.
Cade stood upright and still, his eyes full of burning anguish. Obviously, Jamar had enslaved him in Quait.
Jamar held a gun to Cade’s head, but his eyes raked Shara with glee. “How good of you to arrive and join my party. This is going to be such fun. Now, I want you to shoot Cade, or I’ll put a laser burst through his brain.”
Oh, my God. Was Jamar insane? He wanted her to shoot Cade.
Jamar bellowed a taunting laugh. “Go ahead, Shara. Shoot another lover.”
This couldn’t be happening. It was like a scene straight from hell. The mine spit ash and coughed fire. Lamenium lava spilled over the far rim, the deadly red river burning everything in its path. The ground beneath them shook with tremors . . . o
r perhaps that was Shara’s quivering knees.
Cade’s face was calm, but his eyes burned. “Jamar has me in his Quait. Do as he says. Shoot me.”
“What?” Horrified, she couldn’t believe what Cade was saying. He wanted her to shoot him? Did insanity run in the family?
65
“I’m sorry.” Cade’s somber tone sounded as if he were trying to console her.
“How touching?” Jamar chuckled and waited, enjoying Shara’s horror, and that sickened her.
No way would she shoot Cade, not as long as Jamar offered himself as a target. Shara’s hands shook, but she pivoted and raised her chin, straightened her shoulders. Her shirt slipped from her mouth, and she held her breath, started to point her gun at Jamar.
She placed her finger on the trigger—but couldn’t move. Jamar had immobilized her. She hadn’t been fast enough and had failed. Thoroughly helpless, she could only stand there in dread and misery.
Jamar had her trapped in his Quait. It had happened so fast. One thought was all it had taken for him to immobilize her.
Now they were all at his mercy. It didn’t just sicken her, it made her angry as hell.
To think Cade had spent a lifetime subjugated to Quait made her realize how strong he was. Most men would have broken.
“You stupid woman. How idiotic to think you could defeat a First.” A condescending gleam in his eyes, a triumphant smirk on his lips, Jamar stroked her cheek lightly, like an arrogant bastard. His touch revolted her, but she couldn’t jerk away.
As if Shara needed another reminder of the enormity of her failure, the mine shot a massive eruption of lava into the sky. In the reddish light, Jamar ran a finger over her lips and taunted Cade. “Perhaps I’ll take Shara back to Rama with me and make her my personal slave.”
Everything in her told her to bite his finger. But she could only stand there and glare.
Cade and his people had suffered like this for lifetimes. Humiliation. Frustration.
Cade’s eyes blazed with fury. “Take your vengeance out on me . . . not her.”
Lunar Heat: 1 (The Heat Series) Page 28
