She’d been alone for six. His sweet baby.
Judge’s heartbeat called to him first. He was in the room next door. The knob twisted open, and Judge lay on the table, perched up on his elbows, clearly groggy. Still, when Judge spoke, it was with a strong voice.
“What took you so long?”
Sterling snorted. “I woke up, and I came right here. How long have you been waiting?”
“Six months. We have to get back. Diana.” Judge didn’t have to say more.
Sterling pulled him off the table. “Can you walk?”
“Yeah.” Judge steadied the longer they stood there. “Let’s go. I can’t stand to think of her there alone.”
Judge was quiet, but Sterling could feel the other man’s endless energy coming back online. “Weird dreams in the trip?”
“All about Diana. Getting to her. Reaching her. Not being shoved into the pod.”
Those sounded pretty much exactly like Sterling’s dreams, too. “It’s rough. I’m never doing that again.”
“Her dream. Do you remember her dream where we left her, and she was buried and …”
Sterling put his hand on Judge’s arm. He didn’t need the trip down memory lane. He knew exactly of what Judge spoke. “I do.”
Cash was next. The doctor was awake, sitting up, and he stumbled off the table when they came in. “Let’s go. Our girl has been alone too long. She’s going to be starting to doubt.”
Sterling loved that they were all on the same page. He didn’t question their love for her. But he’d have gone by himself if he had to.
When they got to Damian and Lewis, it was a different story. They were both still out cold. His brothers must have fought the gas hard. It tended to knock the person out longer if the body tried to fight off the gassing. He’d fought, and it had still been fine. How hard had Damian and Lewis tried not to go under?
“Can you?” Sterling pointed toward Lewis, and Judge and Cash took him under their arms to drag him. Sterling hauled Damian over his shoulder. They headed in silence toward the shuttles. He was going to steal the fastest one in the fleet, and they’d be on their way before they were even supposed to be conscious enough to be questioned.
Evander wasn’t used to people trying to get out.
Everyone wanted in.
Ten feet from the shuttle, a face Sterling never expected to see again stepped out of the shuttle.
Canyon Baxter stared back at Sterling. For once, Sterling wished he had his gun. One of the few people in any universe who could kill Sterling, if he so chose, blocked their exit. And Sterling had Damian flung over his shoulder.
“Sterling.” Canyon stood at exactly Sterling’s height. They’d slept next to each other in cribs and toddler beds, each ignored when they called for attention and love. Out of their group, they’d been the two to survive. The individual baby groups only produced so many young ones who made it to adulthood.
They might even be related. Brothers. Cousins. They were both blond, although Canyon shaved his head regularly, so it was hard to tell. His nursery-mate had been given a cybernetic extension to make his eye sight even better than the already-better, lab-created Warriors around them.
He was cold as ice. Always had been.
“Canyon. I don’t want an issue with you. I have to go. I’m taking that shuttle. There’s no time for me to waste. You’ll never see me again. I’ve got a girl. She needs me. Us. She’s our wife.”
Canyon cocked his head to the side. “You’re in love?”
“That’s right. Let’s not make this a thing.”
He’d set Damian down and then go for Canyon’s throat. There was a sharp piece under the wing of the shuttle. He’d jam Canyon’s head right into it and …
Canyon raised his hand. “I can’t let you have it because I’m stealing it myself. They’ve broken a promise to me, and I will not work for them anymore. I will, however, take you where you’re going. Call it curiosity. I’d prefer not to know which one of us can reach that sharp edge first. You’re … in love. I find this surprising. I want to hear more.”
That would do.
Time passed pretty quickly when they made great time. “What is this woman like who could love you and the others? You can’t offer her anything.”
“I offered her my heart. It’s what she wanted.”
“I see.”
A shout from the back caught Sterling’s attention, and he ran toward the back, leaving Canyon to pilot. Damian had woken up, and not well. He screamed and struggled. Sterling held him down. Lewis groaned and then started to cry, calling out Diana’s name.
Cash leaned over them. “This is not just waking up badly. Something is wrong.”
“What?” Sterling sat Damian up. “What’s the matter?”
“She got bit.” He cried out his answer, throwing his body out of Sterling’s arms to pound on the floor. “The Infected got her.”
Sterling’s whole world shattered into a million pieces. Lewis had told her to get help, but he didn’t think she could have with the hall all filled with Infected. She was dead.
Color drained around him. Sterling knew this feeling. He’d had it in every battle he’d ever fought. Black and white and nothing else. Diana took all the color with her.
Tears streamed down Judge’s face, and he otherwise remained silent. Cash sunk to his knees, his head bowed. Damian pounded on the floor of the shuttle, over and over. Lewis sat in utter silence.
Finally, Sterling stood. “I made her promises. I broke them. I will not leave her there. I will end her. It’s the least I can do for my wife, whom I failed so completely. I won’t make any of you. I’ll leave you …”
“No,” Lewis spoke through clenched teeth. “I’m going.”
They all agreed.
Sterling didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. He never needed an audience when he did the work he’d been created to manage.
It took three months and three days to reach Orion. The three days because Canyon insisted on stopping on a planet Sterling had never heard of to buy them all civilian clothing. They weren’t working for Evander anymore; they needed to blend in better. Sterling really didn’t give a shit. He’d given no thoughts to anything past Orion. He might not leave it. Spend his days there until his days were over. Stay where she died until he could someday follow her there.
Cash read all the time, like he could find some sort of answer he’d missed in his five years of study. Sterling didn’t know what he’d do if Cash got in the way of Sterling fulfilling his promise to Diana. He wouldn’t leave her Infected. Cash had made the same damn promise. Oh hell, Sterling knew what he’d do. He’d knock Cash out until the promise had been fulfilled.
Damian hadn’t spoken but single words in weeks. Yes. No. He had dark circles under his eyes. Lewis had finally insisted Damian eat more before he wasted away. It wasn’t easy to get Damian to do what he didn’t want to do, never had been. They’d all been following his direction for so long they were used to doing what he said all the time. Only he’d checked out. He wasn’t home.
Lewis and Judge tried to stay busy. Judge found things to do on the shuttle all the time, and Lewis tagged along, helping where he could.
Sterling sat in the co-pilot seat next to Canyon while they landed. His former nursery companion spoke rarely but this time he had something to say. “I always thought that I wanted love. Couldn’t imagine anyone wanting me, but I wanted it. The US machine, it doesn’t feel right.”
Sterling looked at him sideways. “I didn’t even think. You must have been withdrawing.”
“Maybe for a day. I kept it to myself. You’re in so much pain. Why would you choose this?”
Canyon would never understand. He hadn’t been loved by Diana. If Damian hadn’t brought him to Orion, Sterling would be Canyon.
“Thanks for the ride.”
His—colleague, friend, family member … Sterling didn’t know how to categorize Canyon anymore—pressed a button releasing the main
doors to the shuttle. “How will you leave?”
“I don’t know about the rest of them. I’m not sure I will.”
Canyon shook his head. “You were always a caretaker. More than the rest of us. I admired your instincts. You won’t leave them. Better to acknowledge it now.”
“I …” Sterling shook his head. “There’s no point to anything without her. But you’re right. I won’t disappear. Not until I know they’re all okay.”
Sterling stood, his non-uniform clothes tugging at him in ways he had to get used to. He’d never lived outside of Evander. The uniforms had been his entire existence. Now he wore dark jeans and a grey t-shirt. They were landing inside the enclosure. They didn’t have to be sprayed down for the cold.
Damian stood when he entered. He was also in dark jeans, but Canyon had gotten him a black t-shirt and a hoodie, which he pulled up around his head. Judge followed them. He had on a pair of khakis with a long-sleeved red shirt. Cash had on a pair of black slacks and a white V-neck t-shirt. Lewis rolled the arms of a white suit shirt and wore a pair of blue jeans.
Canyon had picked all the clothes; they’d not chosen them themselves, yet they all suited them. Canyon saw more with his cybernetic eye than Sterling gave him credit for.
The quiet of the Enclosure struck him first. The sounds he’d taken for granted in their years there were gone. A hum sounded, stating the main electricity was on but not more than that. Damian walked past him, and Sterling grabbed his arm.
“Where are you going?” It dawned on him he should probably keep Damian from the weapons locker.
Damian stared at Sterling’s hand on his arm. “I’m going to the agricultural section. I want to get the monitors and see her from the day we left. I want to watch the whole damn thing. From the bite until she died. She deserves that. I might also be able to tell where to look for her so we don’t have to delay what has to be done.”
Sterling dropped his hold on Damian. That was the most the other man had said in three months, and it made sense. “The animals are all going to be dead. It won’t be pretty.”
“Nothing is pretty. She took that with her. Death is death. What the hell is the difference anymore?”
Damian stormed off, leaving them behind. Sterling walked, Judge, Lewis and Cash with him. The Infected were nowhere to be found, which was weird. Canyon had also not taken off and left. Sterling would deal with him after he assessed everything else.
The place should be overrun, and yet there weren’t any to be found. Judge left them to go to what had been the pod room. There wouldn’t be any pods in there now.
Cash rounded on him. “Where are they?”
“I don’t have a clue.”
Eventually Sterling ended up in Lewis’ lab with the two doctors. Lewis pounded on his computer. “Someone downloaded all of it. Everything I have has been copied and taken. Also, all my vaccines are gone.”
“Corporate espionage?” Sterling didn’t care anymore. Let them have whatever the fuck they wanted.
“Any indication Boo took it? The dosages? The protocol?”
“How would I know?” Lewis shook his head.
“We’ll watch it.” Damian slammed down the surveillance software and hooked it up to the video screen in the lab. “The barn is a mess, as predicted. No Infected anywhere.”
They stood and waited while Damian set the devices up to show the day in question. It started when Judge was shoved into the pod. There was no sound, just pictures. Sound was possible, but Damian hadn’t carried the whole system with him. Sterling winced as he flew past her too, unable to hold on to anything. He passed out in the pod. It took off. By then he’d been dreaming of her, trying to wake up, screaming silently in his own head. Over and over again.
And there it was. He wanted to scream, to break something. Why didn’t she see it? Hear it? Anything? But she didn’t. And the Infected bit her. She jolted, screaming, as the last two took off, leaving her.
“I’m sorry, Diana,” Damian whispered.
Their girl took a broom and shoved it through the Infected’s eyes. Sterling shook his head. She was strong. With her attacker subdued, she’d run for it. Damian pressed a button, following her from the cameras. She couldn’t get through the hall. He saw it when it dawned on her face that she wasn’t getting to Lewis’ lab. She took a right and ran into Cash’s.
His friend sighed. “She tried.”
“Where is she climbing to?” He’d always assumed Cash used their upper space for storage.
His friend let out a sob. He had never heard Cash really cry. Big, ugly tears travelled down his face. “Our spot. It’s a private refuge. I brought her. Do you think she’s still up there?”
“No cameras up there. I have no idea.” They all stared above their heads. Was his sweet baby wandering around up there, an Infected? Right above their heads?
Damian sped up the recording. “Hold on.”
“What?” Sterling turned his attention to what Damian stared at.
Four men entered the room. He’d seen them before. On Diana’s computer. They couldn’t see what her father and uncles did above their heads, but eventually she came down, embraced in her father’s arms, unconscious.
Lewis gasped. “Her Uncle Dane is taking all the stuff. He’s got her and the computers. Maybe he fixed her.”
Cash laughed, wiping at his eyes. “Do you think it’s possible? If we couldn’t, could he?”
“Maybe. He’s really, really smart.”
Judge ran through the door. “I think someone was here.”
“We know. Diana’s family. They came; they took her. They may have saved her.”
If that was true, her family had taken her through the black hole. She was gone, taken from them to where they might not be able to reach her. Fifty years, they could be separated in time. He didn’t care. He’d take a ship, any ship, and go.
Judge bounced as he spoke. “I … I’ve been thinking about that device. The one we didn’t understand. I’ve been thinking about it since we found out she was bitten. I … I had to think about anything else. I think it moves time. Hooked to an engine, it might be the kind of thing I could use to trace their steps through the hole. We could come out sometime in her time stream. Not one hundred years but maybe-maybe a five to ten year window. I want to go. I’ll go alone. I don’t expect …”
Sterling snorted. “Try and keep me away.”
Damian’s color changed. He had red to his cheeks. It was almost disconcerting to see his friend come back to life in that second. “We need a ship to hook it up to.”
Canyon spoke up. Why was his friend still there? “I’d actually give you the shuttle if I thought it would work. I’ve seen your device. It’s sitting in your engine room for anyone to take. If I still worked for Evander, I’d take it. My ship isn’t compatible. The one you have sitting in storage—the old one—I searched it. It’ll work.”
Artemis. “Judge can you …”
“Yes.” He answered.
Cash crossed his arms over his chest. “Then what are we waiting for?”
Lewis nodded. “What do you need to get it done fast?”
Sterling held up his hand. “And if what we find when we’re over there is that she’s dead? Or in permanent stasis? What do we do then?”
Damian raised his eyebrows. “We say goodbye.”
“We help her family in any way we can,” Lewis finished.
Canyon saluted him. “I stayed so you could all leave. I think you’ve got this. Maybe I’ll see you in another life. Say hello to Earth for me.”
Sterling nodded his thanks to Canyon. They had work to do. They were going to get his girl. And he’d never break another promise to her. Ever.
Please enjoy a sneak peek from the fourth book in the Wings of Artemis series (the second and final in Diana’s part) entitled Reclaiming Their Love.
Chapter One
Home Again
I did my hundredth sit up for the day as I listened to my mother make her morning
announcement on Mars Station. I knew what she was going to tell the population. It was time to leave. Sandler had been attacking us for years. We weren’t going to make it. The Council had decided to evacuate, to give Sandler the station.
My mother had disagreed with the vote.
I didn’t care. One place was much the same as any other.
My necklace, holding my five wedding rings, bounced while I did my last sit up, hitting me hard on my sweaty skin.
I grabbed a towel and wiped off. We’d gone over everything the night before. The kids—my brothers and sisters—had been evacuated with Cooper and C.J. to a place they’d acquired years before on a planet far away from here. No one knew about it outside of our family. The rest of us were going to help with the evacuation and then board our own shuttles. My mom had wanted me to leave too, but I’d scoffed. I could be of more help here. I needed to be busy.
For the last two years, I’d kept myself endlessly moving. Time couldn’t catch me, grief couldn’t drown me, if I never let it catch up.
Two years and three weeks earlier my husbands, who lived on the other side of the universe, had been forcibly taken from me by Evander Corporation using a chip implanted in their necks that had pulled them, against their wills, into pods that launched into space, leaving me behind. I’d only been there because I’d been attacked and shoved through a black hole the year before. I loved them—Cash, Lewis, Damian, Sterling, and Judge—with the kind of abandon that comes with finally believing happiness was possible.
They’d loved me that way too.
I’d been bitten by an Infected—a Zombie—and would have died if my family hadn’t shown up to save me. Six months in a medically induced coma while my Uncle Dane used my husbands’ research to fix me.
Well, most of me.
I got into the shower, letting the sweat wash off my body. This was my last day in my room. I had no idea what the place my parents had picked out for us to move to would be like.
Crashing Into Destiny (Wings of Artemis Book 3) Page 26
