The Iron Admiral: Deception

by Greta van Der Rol

  Something cold and hard pressed into Allysha’s temple. She froze, a shiver of fear shooting up her spine.

  ChapterFour

  Her attacker dragged her back three paces, his arm wrapped around her waist. “Stay where ye stand or yer girl gets it.”

  Saahren’s eyes narrowed but he complied.

  Allysha’s heart raced. She ought to do something but the kid pressed the pistol barrel hard into her flesh.

  It hurt. If he fired… if he fired, she’d die.

  Three more smirking youths stepped out from under the trees. A heavily-built lad to Saahren’s left held a wicked-looking knife and a skinny boy on his right raised a gun in one hand, above the level of his shoulder, aimed at Saahren’s head.

  The third, also carrying a pistol, stepped in front of Saahren. “Jest give us the controller fer yer skimmer an yer credit chip. An don’ try anythin’. Tank’s got yer girl and me friends’ll get you.”

  Kids; just kids in their late teens. The one holding her stank of alcohol. They all pretended to be tough, lips curled in snarls. The heavy one had a tattoo on his neck. The gun still pressed into her flesh. Surely Saahren wouldn’t do anything foolish? Just hand over what they wanted.

  “Okay. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.” Saahren reached slowly toward his pocket.

  “Yer don’t say?” said the one who appeared to be the leader. “Raise yer hands, arsehole. I’ll get ‘em meself. Hurry up, on yer head.” He poked the muzzle of his gun hard into Saahren’s stomach.

  Saahren grunted and did as he was told. The thief tucked his weapon into his belt and reached into his victim’s pockets. Saahren frowned at Allysha over the youth’s head. She saw anger; not fear, not pain.

  The blow hadn’t really hurt him.

  The hand around Allysha’s waist slid up inside her jacket to cup her breast and the fellow rubbed his crotch against her hip. He was hard. She stiffened, her flesh creeping. Ugh.

  “Don’ reckon we should give ‘er back, Lee,” the youth holding her said. His voice was oily and suggestive. “Reckon she could give us all some free fun.” He squeezed her breast and she leaned back, trying to escape his hand. He chuckled, enjoying her discomfort. “Come on, darlin’.” He leaned over her shoulder and the gun dropped away. “Be nice ter us and we’ll be nice ter you. Mebe yer boyfriend would like ter watch?” The creep ran his tongue along her neck. She strained away while the other three sniggered. He pinched her nipple, hard. She gazed at Saahren.Please… help .

  Saahren moved so fast, she hardly had time to register.

  One savage punch to the stomach had Lee crumpling. Even before the lout hit the ground Saahren pivoted and kicked Skinny off his feet.

  Tank, holding Allysha, lost his concentration completely as he swung his gun around to find a target. She twisted, crunched her elbow into his gut and shoved him sideways. He floundered, lost his footing on the edge of the path and fell. The gun clattered to the ground.

  Allysha scooped it up and pointed the weapon at him. “Don’t tempt me,” she growled. She hoped she sounded tougher than she felt.

  The thug with the knife took one look at his fallen companions and ran. Out of the corner of her eye, Allysha noticed three shadowy figures racing toward them up the path. Oh, shit. Her heart hammered again. “Oh, no. There’s more of them.”

  Saahren stepped to her side and took the pistol from her hand. “No. They’re my security people. Are you all right?”

  As he slipped an arm around her she rested her head on his chest. It felt safe, reassuring, very comfortable. “Yes.” She shuddered. “He groped me. They were going to— ”

  “Yes. I know.” Saahren’s fingers were gentle but his body was rigid.

  He stepped over to Tank, who still lay sprawled on the ground. “You. Get up.”

  His voice had changed, the tone deeper and darker and full of menace. That tension she had felt in his body was anger. No, more than that; rage. This dark, furious Saahren was something she hadn’t seen before.

  The teen didn’t move fast enough. Saahren grabbed two handfuls of his jacket and almost lifted him off the ground. “So you have a taste for rape, do you?”

  Tank cringed. “N-no. No, Sir.” He stammered the words, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down.

  “I… she… I was just… I was just trying to scare her.”

  “Were you? I don’t believe you.” Saahren smashed his fist into the kid’s gut, then floored him with an uppercut. As the youth lay groaning, he summoned one of his escorts with a jerk of his head. “Hold this piece of filth for me.”

  The security man hauled Tank to his feet. Saahren lashed out with the back of his hand once, twice. The dull thunk of flesh on flesh tore at her nerves. Bastard. He deserved it, every blow. Tanks’ head jerked back and forth with the blows. Another fist to the diaphragm. Tank sagged in the guard’s arms.

  The security guard said, “Sir, he’s had enough—”

  “Shut up.”

  The guard shut up. Saahren’s lips were set in a tight line, his nostrils flared as he pounded the youth again and again, to his body and his face, each blow loud in the silent carpark. Allysha heard the crunch of bone. Blood trickled from the victim’s nose. This was getting dangerous. He deserved a hiding, sure, but any more and he’d kill the kid.

  “Stop, please.” She raised a hand. “Stop. Enough. You’ll kill him.”

  Saahren glanced at her, eyes pitiless as the holes of hell. But at least he paused.

  “Please. Look at him.” Tank hung in the guard’s grip, head lolling. “He’s barely conscious.”

  For a sickening moment she thought he’d ignore her. He slammed his knee into the lad’s groin. The kid moaned, eyes screwed shut. A flick of Saahren’s hand, and the security guard let go. Tank slumped to the ground. He should have been a writhing, groaning ball of pain but he just lay there, motionless, like a broken marionette.

  Saahren stood over him for a long moment, his lip curled, before he turned to the guard. “Tidy this up.

  I’ll take my lady home.”

  She stared at the body on the ground as two guards rolled him over. The moonlight accentuated the contusions and swellings on his face. “Is he dead?”

  “Him? No. He might wish he was, come tomorrow.” He reached out a hand to her.

  She dodged away from him, a tendril of fear clutching her heart. Saahren like this was scary. She walked quickly to the skimmer, pushed past him when he tried to open the door for her. Fear faded and anger took its place. She’d let him get under her skin but he was just a brutal bastard in a fancy uniform.

  “You beat him to a pulp.” She leaned away from him, as far as the seat would let her.

  “He was going to rape you.” His anger had abated, that deadly fire in his eyes had gone. He seemed confused, surprised at her reaction.

  “I know. I know. You near-on killed him.”

  He glowered at her. “He deserved what he got.”

  “So you’re above the law? You can dispense your own justice?” Her heart beat too fast.

  “Justice was done.”

  He was probably right but that didn’t make it right. He’d been the prosecutor, the judge, the jury and the dispenser of retribution.Chohzu the Destroyer in a very personal guise.

  Allysha eyed him as the Lysanda lifted and turned toward the city. He wasn’t sorry. He was ruthless, proud of what he’d done. The military mask slipped into place for the first time all day. His face became composed, his expression controlled. She couldn’t see his feelings anymore.

  “Look,” he said after a few moments. “If a beating teaches that young thug a lesson it will be worth more to him than going before a court. The judge would have slapped him on the wrist and told him not to be naughty again.”

  “And that excuses you beating him to death?”

  He shot one unreadable glance at her and looked away. The Lysanda’s engine purred through the night, the only sound in the cabin.

  Yes, they would have ra
ped her. She knew that. He’d rescued her, of course he had, but his bodyguard was nearby. He could have waited for them. He could have turned them over to the police. Oh, god.

  Yes, she was grateful but this darker side of him scared her. What if he turned on her like that? And to think she was even considering giving up the fight. The vehicle skimmed in over the suburban sprawl, headed for the bright towers at the center of the city. Maybe this was a reminder, a wake-up call.

  Saahren hadn’t changed. He might look like Brad Stone, act like Brad Stone, but underneath it all, a scratch below the surface, wasChohzu the Destroyer. Grand Admiral Saahren.

  She was surprised when he spoke. The strange expression on his face seemed to be a combination of anger and sadness. “I’m not proud of myself, Allysha. I lost control. I admit it. I don’t do it often.” He slid

  his tongue over his lips. “Let me tell you a story. When I was a small child my home planet had slipped out of Confederacy control and was left to its own devices. The local warlords fought for their slice of pie

  like dogs over a bone. Where I lived, we were invaded and taken over by a neighboring army. We—the locals that is—were reduced effectively to slavery, farming our own land for the benefit of others. The warlord employed garrisons of mercenaries to make sure we behaved. They were brutal and eventually, my father led an uprising against them.”

  He stopped talking, just sat there. She could almost feel his pain.

  “What happened?”

  “The uprising was suicidal. They didn’t have a hope. The mercenaries captured my father and my brothers. My mother escaped into the mountains with my eldest brother’s infant son. But soldiers caught my sister and me. They raped her, three of them. One after another and then two at a time. She was fourteen.”

  His nostrils flared. “They made me watch. Even if I closed my eyes I could hear her scream, hear her beg them to stop. There was nothing I could do. Not a damned thing. And then they slit her throat, like an animal. Blood from her artery splattered my face.” His face was emotionless but a dark fury burned in the depths of his eyes. “You think I was hard on him? Think again.”

  His words left her numb. Horror, disgust, pity for a helpless child. And his sister, just fourteen. What a way to die. A nightmare. That could have been her. He might have been forced to watch them rape her, slit her throat. “I’m sorry,” she murmured at last. What else could she say? “I didn’t understand.”

  “And now you do.” He took a deep breath and blew it out.

  And him? What had they done to him? She wrapped her arms around herself, squeezed tight. She couldn’t form the words, shrank away from hearing an answer.

  “They beat me senseless and left me for dead. I was lucky; I was found, taken to a hospital and the Confederacy doctor there took me to Malmos with him. I couldn’t go home, so I lived with him until I was old enough to get into the Fleet Academy. By the time I had my commission, it was all over. The Confederacy Fleet had liberated Ceres.”

  He didn’t even look at her, slumped in the driver’s seat, gazing at nothing. But he’d sure given her a few things to think about. The skimmer joined the major sky way, cruising above the brighter lights of the inner suburbs with the other traffic toward the brilliant towers of the city center. Home was minutes away.

  Thoughts tumbled through her brain. A helpless boy watching his sister being tortured and killed.

  Saahren

  on Tisyphor, gentle and caring and now this other side to him, a vengeful spirit. She couldn’t think about this now, didn’t want to think about it.

  “Who were those men?” Allysha said. “The ones who turned up?”

  “My escort. Secret Service people. I asked them to keep a distance. I wanted at least to feel I was alone with you.”

  “Are they always there?”

  “Yes. It goes with the job.”

  The Lysanda landed at level thirty. He ignored her protests and walked her to her door. “I had a wonderful day, Allysha.” His voice was soft and his eyes wistful.

  “Pity about the violence at the end, eh?” Oh, buckrats. If anything, she was more confused than ever.

  “Look, I enjoyed it too, but… I’ve got a lot to think about.”

  She saw his frustration, his unhappiness, in his eyes. He just nodded. “I love you.”

  Suddenly, for a moment, she saw into a wounded soul, saw what drove him, saw a boy watching his sister being tortured. Her heart cried out to him, but her head stopped her. Not now. “Goodnight.”

  Allysha closed the door and heaved a huge sigh. Oh, man, what a day. Peeling off her coat, she walked over to the window and gazed out over the gardens separating the Fleet buildings. That one over there, its blank facade bathed in moonlight. His apartment was on the eighty-seventh floor. He’d been angry when he learned that she didn’t need her techpack to access the computer systems onArcturus , that she could connect via her implant, she’d even been a little bit frightened of him. But that was a nothing in comparison with the raging fury he’d shown tonight. He’d almost seemed possessed, demonic.Chohzhu .

  She’d never felt so confused, not even with Sean. Maybe that was her issue, she fell for the wrong men.

  Everybody had warned her against Sean; her father, Xanthor. But she’d known better. She’d even become estranged from her beloved father because of Sean.

  She sank down onto the arm of a chair. Saahren. It would be an even worse mistake with him. He’d shown her tonight how dangerous he could be.But he apologized , said the little voice in her head,he explained. He was protecting you, reliving the murder of his sister .And let’s face it, you had a wonderful day with him. Even considered a kiss goodnight.

  “Oh, shut up,” she said aloud. “He was still responsible for my father’s death.”At least, I think so. I’m so confused. I don’t know what to think anymore .I just want to go home. Running a hand through her hair, she went to her bedroom.

  ChapterFive

  By the time Saahren returned to the thirtieth level, the Lysanda was gone. In its place, the leader of his security escort waited with his vehicle. Saahren slid into the passenger seat for the short trip to the central

  Fleet tower, wrapped in his military demeanor while his heart ached.

  His apartment occupied half of the eighty-seventh floor. From the outside, the walls were blank durasteel but external sensors projected live images to internal screens fashioned to look like windows. It was impossible to tell the difference from the real thing.

  He stood at the window and gazed across the park to the block Allysha lived in. So close, so tantalizingly close. He was sure she would have let him kiss her goodnight. And once she was in his arms… He shook his head. Damn those misbegotten louts. They could have taken the vehicle and he wouldn’t have cared. They wouldn’t have been able to get far, anyway. But that greasy, pimply little piece of filth had to grope her, had to remind him of his sister. He smashed his right fist into his left palm.

  He’d enjoyed that. Blood stained his knuckles and his hand hurt but all hells he’d enjoyed that. He would happily have killed the shartong. Truth be told, he very nearly had killed him. If she hadn’t intervened, he would have. It wasn’t his proudest moment. It had been a long time since that dark spirit lurking in the corner of his soul had had the upper hand. The very thought of Allysha being raped as those animals had done to Kira all those years ago—

  “Admiral Leonov is here to see you, Admiral,”said his IS.

  Leonov? Now? “Let him in.”

  “How are you?” Leonov, dressed in casual clothes, had obviously come straight from home.

  “What do you think? Those no-account, miserable, filthy little pieces of shit were going to rape her and I was supposed to watch. I beat him up the one who groped her, gave him something to remember. ” He put out his hands, the fingers tense. “I wanted to kill him. I very nearly did.” He gazed again at the dried blood on his knuckles and turned to the bar. “Drink?”

  “Why not?”<
br />
  He splashed Lochandor into two heavy-based glasses, handed one to Leonov.“Was I the rescuing hero? Not for a moment. She shied away from me, said I was brutal.”

  Leonov’s lips jerked in a sympathetic smile. “Violence is military.” He spread his hands. “That’s how she’ll see it. Grand Admiral Saahren imposing his will. Don’t glower at me like that. I’m just telling you how it is. Remember what Irina told you. Allysha has to unlearn all the things she’s ever learned about you. You can’t force it on her, she has to do it herself, to really believe it.” He scratched his cheek.

  “Masquerading as someone else took you several steps backwards.”

  “I wasn’t ‘masquerading’ as you so nicely put it, I was undercover. Besides, if I hadn’t masqueraded as someone else she wouldn’t even have spoken to me.” Let alone kiss him, make love to him.

  Leonov raised a placatory hand. “Understood, Chaka. For what it’s worth I told Irina over breakfast this morning what you intended for the day. She approved. Said it was just what she needed to see the man underneath the uniform.”

  He tossed down a swallow of his drink, relished its warmth sliding down his throat. “It didn’t work, did it? I’ll never understand women.”

  “What man does? You’ll just have to be patient.”

  Patience. That was what Irina had said. He wasn’t good at patience; never had been. “I have no real quarrel with the security service people. I ordered them to stay away and overrode their objections.”

  Perhaps if he hadn’t she’d be here now, finding out about the man beneath the uniform. Or he’d be with her. Or maybe neither.

  “Perhaps. But they should have recognized the threat earlier. These four were fishing in the lake earlier.

  They’re known petty criminals. The team leader admits he underestimated the potential for danger.”

  Saahren dropped into an armchair. “Is that why you’re here? To tell me your people screwed up? Or to commiserate?”