Fairchild nodded in agreement. “You weren’t there to see it. Haven’t seen a fight like that since a gorilla alpha male put a smaller primate in his place at a zoo. She’s bloody fortunate Thandie is a better woman than her. I’d have let him snap her goddamned neck after what she did to Lopez.”
Xander waited for the condemnation and distrusting stares. None came, and he relaxed, all of his clenched muscles untensing. News on a ship spread like wildfire. Saskia’s arrival under guard in medical had started an entire slew of rumors and accusations. It didn’t take long for the story of her betrayal to make the rounds.
Xander shook his head. “Trust me. She won’t find anything nice about what happens to her next, once our ship is in the clear.”
“Yeah? What’s happening, Commander? What can you tell us?” Fairchild asked eagerly.
“Yeah. About that. I don’t actually know what’s happening next. With the commodore on the bridge directing the battle, I’m honestly in the dark, too.”
Their expressions deflated. Just as Xander opened his mouth to apologize for his lack of information, Jem’s voice blasted over the public channels, “Red alert status has ended.”
Kathleen sagged in relief against him. He leaned against her in return. “Thank God. I’ve never been in an actual battle before. That was terrifying. And now I’m going to the viewport.”
She and Davis fought over it. The result of their squabble was that both women ended up cheek to cheek, peering through the small window into the outside world. The Jemison used its tractor beam to anchor and draw the deactivated enemy ship toward them.
Oshiro joined them and placed a hand on each woman’s shoulders. “They’ll board the ship now. We must be prepared for more injuries.”
A doctor’s work was never finished.
Chapter Nineteen
Rendered completely harmless, Saskia lay upon an examination table with nothing more than a sheet covering her. Medical staff had secured her with restraints.
Xander slanted his gaze to Ethan. “How long do you suppose she’s been on their side?”
“Impossible to tell.” The man crossed his arms against his chest. “I want to throttle the little bitch for what she’s done, but you already beat me to it.”
Xander grimaced. “I know I lost it, and I’m—”
“Don’t you dare apologize. Anyway, we’re waiting for Nisrine to begin the interrogation.”
“Is she up for it?”
Ethan nodded. “She’s eager to have answers for what happened, and she wants justice for Lopez. I won’t deny her that.”
“Hopefully, we will receive answers for this travesty,” Oshiro said. The older man shook his head and quietly observed.
“How’s Kruger?” Ethan asked suddenly. “She’s earned herself a promotion as far as I’m concerned.”
“Lil patched her up and sedated her to ensure she got some rest before we arrive for the mission. She insisted on going down and is fit for duty, if that’s what you’re asking,” Xander said.
“No, I simply meant—”
The doors hissed open and cut Ethan off, heralding the arrival of their intelligence officer. Nisrine approached with her chin held high despite her red and puffy eyes.
“Are you sure that you’re good for this, love?” Ethan searched her weary face.
“I am. May I begin?”
Ethan gestured toward Saskia. She hadn’t said a word since she was detained, though they’d made numerous attempts to question her. Nisrine stepped over to the bed and looked down at Saskia’s battered face without any pity.
“As you won’t willingly give over the information we seek, it appears that I shall have to retrieve it all myself.” Nisrine made a show of pushing her sleeves up and reached for Saskia’s head.
Their prisoner struggled against her restraints. “You can’t do this to me. There are bloody laws prohibiting—”
“You seem to forget something, DuPrie. You’re a traitor and this is my ship. A good man is dead because of you,” Ethan spoke out in an even voice. “You won’t receive an ounce of pity from us. Begin when you’re ready, Nisrine.”
“This will not hurt me a bit. I cannot say the same for you.” Nisrine lowered both hands to Saskia’s head and cradled her face, anchoring her head in place.
They all knew when the real work began once Saskia’s terrified shrieks began to reverberate through the room. She thrashed on the examination table and her pupils dilated as her memories were rifled through.
The use of telepathic abilities lacked pretty physical effects to mark Nisrine’s progress; she didn’t glow, shimmer, or appear any different while invading Saskia’s mind. Instead, they were treated to the spectacle of the psychic victim convulsing and screaming while Nisrine calmly leaned over her without loosening her grip. “Good. I hope it hurts a lot.”
Ethan dropped his voice low and whispered to Xander, “She isn’t killing her, is she?”
“I don’t believe so. Of course, there’s always a risk of brain death whenever a psychic goes into an unwilling mind like this.”
His friend grunted, then cleared his throat. “Anything useful from her, Lieutenant?”
“Yes. She is the one who took Kaiden Lockhart,” Nisrine reported. “There is a clear memory here of stalking him during his patrol. Attacking. She dropped his body for others to pick up.”
“That means she’s worked for the enemy at least five years. Perhaps six,” Xander said.
“What about the people directing her movements. Who are they? Who’s responsible for this treachery?” Ethan asked.
“This woman,” Nisrine spat the word with vehemence, as if she had another description in mind. “She informed Jarvis Crane of patrol routes, allowing him to keep ahead of United Command.”
Ethan hissed out a breath between his teeth. “That bloody tosser wasn’t even on board the ship we captured. Bastard must have fled prior to the assault, but we do have his second mate’s corpse. What else do you see?”
“She reported to the leader of her cell, Doctor Mathias Campbell, and she killed him when you were too close. She is the one who attempted to gas you on Kantarn.”
Xander deflated a little more with each revelation. How long had Matthias been part of their scheme?
Better yet, who had he worked for?
Ethan clapped a hand to his shoulder. “Is that it, Nisrine? There has to be someone higher.”
“Nothing. Her mind is particularly resilient when it comes to identifying her superiors. Either she remains unaware of their identities or she has been conditioned to conceal them. I can continue to delve deeper, but it may kill her this time.” Nisrine’s hardened gaze remained on the woman in her hold.
“Do it.”
“Do we want to risk losing her?” Xander spoke up suddenly to his friend. “I want the information as badly as you do, but…”
“I know. Do no harm,” Ethan muttered.
“Nisrine is one of the best in her field when it comes to retrieving mental data. If she is unable to do it safely, no other psychic can,” Oshiro said. “But the possibility of loss is great. We are not the ASR, Ethan. Please. Let us have a traitor to release to the prison ship when it arrives.”
“Fine,” Ethan agreed. He waved a hand. “Get her to the brig in a paper gown only. I want two armed female officers by her cell at all times.”
Saskia’s history as a highly trained and deadly field operative meant Ethan didn’t plan to leave anything to chance. Xander didn’t blame him. He’d watched Saskia pick a lock with her fingertip once.
Once Nisrine released their prisoner, Kathleen moved in and guided the quaking psychic away.
“Doctor Hart gave her an injection to destabilize her abilities. She won’t be going camo any time soon, either, but we colored her arms with medical dye just in case,” Xander said.
“Brilliant. All right, I have to go write some reports. I hate this bloody part of my job.”
Xander sympathized. Losing a member
of the crew was never easy and he could only imagine the deeper loss Ethan felt as the commanding officer. He clapped his friend on the shoulder.
“We’ll get who did this, Ethan.”
“Yes. We will.” Ethan drew in a deep breath. “Go on now and check your bird.”
“She’s asleep, remember? There’s too much work to do, and too many injured.”
“No, you are going to rest. I need you fresh for this mission, Xander. Check on Kruger to ease your worries, then hit your rack. That’s an order. I’ll see you in ten hours.”
“Ten hours. We’ll get our guy back.”
If they made it in time.
Chapter Twenty
Midori resembled an emerald marble hanging in space, a moonless planet covered in dense jungle, with very little visible surface water. Xander stared out the viewport and frowned. Beside him, Viljoen wore a matching expression.
“I thought the UNE decided against colonizing this place. Something about dangerous wildlife,” Viljoen said.
“Yeah, well, looks like somebody decided to risk it despite the oversized reptiles.”
“We’re coming up on our target,” the pilot called back. “Single structure ten klicks ahead.”
“Good. Land us on the rooftop. You know the drill, everyone. We are going to sweep through this position and lock down everyone inside. Let’s make this clean and quick and find our man.”
Viljoen stood and opened the side door, then Thandie slid smoothly into place with her rifle at the ready to cover their landing. They touched down on the empty rooftop without any resistance.
The moment Viljoen kicked open the roof access door, the squad spilled into the facility as a cohesive unit. They had a single mission: to safely retrieve their lost comrade. Kaiden Lockhart had to be somewhere in the building.
Abernathy and Thandie took point as the team swept through the building, while Xander and his medics brought up the rear. No opposition came forward, the upper hallways silent. The tingling sense of unease followed them down to the main floor. The group left the stairwell and came across two uniformed guards.
“Weapons down and hands up!” Viljoen bellowed.
Both guards threw up their hands, weapons tumbling from their fingers.
“Don’t shoot!”
“We didn’t do anything. Please don’t shoot.”
“Holy shit. Royal Navy? What’s going on?” another confused voice shouted from the lobby.
Three more security officers emerged from a surveillance room. Once they saw the guns leveled at them, they also put up their hands.
“Any one of you wanna tell us what happened here?” Viljoen asked.
The guards all exchanged glances, then one cleared his throat and stepped forward. “We wish we knew. The scientists packed up in a hurry. First, they put out an alert about some experiment escaping the laboratory, then they had us out there searching in the jungle, but wouldn’t tell us shit about it.”
“Did they reclaim their experiment?” Xander asked.
The spokesman shook his head. “Not that we know of. They said the tracking equipment was shot to hell. Apparently, their science project killed a few men in the lower levels. Next thing we know, they’re loading up on the shuttles. Took off without us. Until you showed up we were trying to figure out how to get a signal off-planet.”
Expendable. Xander’s jaw tightened.
The guards voluntarily confined themselves to an empty office. Viljoen left two marines to keep watch and then led the rest of the squad to the lower levels.
The subterranean rooms reminded Xander of Kantarn. They passed empty surgical suites and cybernetic labs. Further ahead, two bodies lay sprawled across the floor.
“This must be the security they were talking about.” Thandie crouched by the nearest corpse. “Their armor is better—cutting-edge tech. The holsters are even specialized.”
Viljoen whistled. “I know the model that belongs in there. I’d put money on it that the main level guards are non-essential staff, and these were their loyal security squad members.”
Xander joined Thandie and looked over the two bodies. “Both had their necks snapped.”
“Got a third body in this next room,” Abernathy called over. “His uniform has been stripped. My guess is that our guy took him out first and snagged his uniform, then came up on these two without raising an alarm.”
“I’ll be damned,” Viljoen muttered, impressed.
“Kaiden was always one of the best operatives on any ship. Maybe… I want to try something. If the body hasn’t been dead for long, maybe I can see this guy’s last sight,” Gareth said.
“Go for it,” Xander encouraged him.
Gareth swapped positions with Thandie and took a deep breath. With both hands against the cheeks of the corpse, he turned the security guard’s face toward the ceiling and leaned above him to make direct eye contact. He jerked back and toppled on his ass.
“It was Kaiden. He’s really alive.”
Xander leaned down and pulled Gareth up to his feet again. “Then let’s find him.”
“You don’t get it, Xander. I saw him. Right in front of me.”
“You’re going to see him for real in a second, man. Keep it together.”
Once Gareth gathered his wits, Davis pointed out a trail of carnage for them to follow. It led to a locked door requiring a security clearance.
Gareth viewed the map briefly. “It’s the only way out of here,” he muttered.
“Can you hack it?” Thandie asked.
“Sure I can,” Gareth knelt beside one of the fallen bodies and hefted the corpse to his feet. He scanned the cybernetic clearance chip installed in the guy’s wrist. “Or I can swipe this and get out faster.”
The door led outside, letting out on a steep slope covered in dense vegetation.
“Keep sharp, everyone. Local wildlife isn’t friendly,” Viljoen warned.
The tracks were easy to follow at first, heavy footsteps leading deeper into the jungle. Wind rustled through the trees and insect chirps echoed through the humid air.
“Shit, I lost the trail,” Thandie said. She twisted around and searched the ground, but the increasingly thick growth obscured the ground.
“Here!” Davis cried. Her call came from the edge of a narrow stream. “Someone came through this way barefoot. You can see a heel indent in the soil. The ground is still soft.”
“Good catch, Davis. Where’d you learn to track?” Viljoen eyed her thoughtfully.
“My dad used to take me hunting before I joined up with the navy. Showed me a lot of things,” Davis replied. “He went this way. No wonder no one found him… It’s thick. Poor bloke’s probably scratched to bloody hell.”
“And scared,” Xander remarked for Gareth’s sake. “Set your handguns to non-lethal rounds. He’s armed and we don’t want to give him any reason to fire at us before he recognizes our colors.”
Gareth shot him an appreciative look, which he returned with a smile. Their path took the group deeper into the jungle, where the ground squelched beneath their feet and became boggy from the atmosphere’s excessive rain patterns.
Davis gestured to some broken ferns. “There. He tripped over that root and fell down on one knee here. Heavy bastard, isn’t he?”
A shot glanced off the helmet protecting Xander’s head. Every marine ducked and moved into defensive positions with their guns drawn.
Before anyone could shout a command, Gareth dove into the thick foliage, pushing forward while calling his brother’s name.
Sweeping heavy branches out of his path, Xander broke through the thick growth a second later, to find Gareth in a standoff with his twin, the two identical in features but not in builds—Kaiden was enormous and muscled. His head had also been shaved, revealing the scar tissue on his scalp from multiple surgeries.
The gun shook slightly in Kaiden’s hand as he backed away from the approaching marines.
“No one move. Give him a moment. Put your weapons
away,” Xander ordered. “You too, Viljoen.”
Viljoen grunted but followed the command. The others did, too.
“Kaiden, I’m your brother. I’d never do anything to hurt you.”
“Prove this isn’t another test. Tell me something only Gareth would know.”
“When we were six, you shoved another kid face down in the mud for knocking my ice cream cone out of my hand. Da’ was upset about the trouble it caused, but mum praised us behind his back and said we should always count on each other.”
Kaiden’s hand wavered. Seconds ticked by, but the handgun didn’t lower. “I can’t trust that. I can’t trust any of you. They’ve been in my head… they know everything. This is all a lie. You only want to drag me back to that room.”
“Read my thoughts. You’ll see the truth.”
The expression on Kaiden’s face transformed from terror and distrust to the bleakest desolation Xander had ever seen. “I can’t,” he whispered. “They took it from me.”
Gareth stopped in his tracks, and the placid mask he wore for the sake of his brother finally cracked. “Big brother, let me help you. Please put down the gun.”
Kaiden shook his head again and took another step backward. “They like to play games. You’re not real.”
“They’re gone,” Xander spoke up gently. He stepped forward slowly with Gareth, only to pause when Kaiden’s muscles stiffened. The tension spread down his arm to his trembling hand. “How do you feel about leaving this place, Kaiden? Would you like to see the Jemison again?”
“I’d like to go home. I want to return to the Jemison again,” Kaiden admitted. His gaze flicked back and forth, giving him a close resemblance to a trapped animal. He tracked their movements, missing nothing, always watchful and alert.
“What do you have to lose?” Xander asked softly. He grazed Gareth’s hand with his knuckles. I’m going to distract him so that the rest of you can take him down, mate. Tell Fairchild to sedate him. Have Thandie and Viljoen secure him.
He’ll shoot you. He’s a caged animal right now, Xander. Don’t do it.
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