Caught in Amber

by Pegau, Cathy

All three of them would die.

  Sasha pushed at Guy’s arm. She couldn’t disarm him; he was too strong and she was still recovering from the crash. He automatically resisted, and his hand gripped her other arm like a pneumatic vise.

  Their eyes met. His glare could have peeled the ion coating off a freighter.

  “No, Guy, don’t. Please.”

  “Why do you care? You said there was nothing between you.” His soft tone belied the simmering anger underneath. He’d had it with all of them.

  “There isn’t.” Please, God, let him believe me. She didn’t dare look at Nathan, knowing he’d understand she was only saying it to keep them alive, but looking at him would reveal her true feelings. If Guy realized she cared for Nathan, they were all dead. “I still don’t want to see them hurt.”

  He stared at her for a few moments—gauging her, she could tell. The tension in his gun arm relaxed. He didn’t release her, but he loosened his grip on her arm. She lowered her hand.

  “All right, Hollings. Here’s what I’m going to do.” Guy broke eye contact with Sasha and frowned at Nathan. “I’m going to make you a deal.”

  “What kind of deal?” Nathan sounded skeptical, and rightly so. Guy’s deals were rarely beneficial to anyone but Guy.

  “Choose.” Guy gestured with the pulse pistol, first at Kylie then at Sasha. Sasha’s stomach flipped. “You get one, I get the other.”

  She risked a glance at Nathan. Disbelief and anxiety played across his face. “Choose?”

  “Come on. I’m being generous here.” He wrapped his arm around Sasha’s shoulder and pulled her against him. He pointed the gun at Nathan. “Or is it better if I kill you then take them both?”

  Sasha’s body went cold. “Guy.”

  “That’s what I’d do,” Marco said.

  “Marco,” he said with a sigh of frustration, “you are torquing me to no end. Just shut up until I’m ready to talk to you.”

  Marco scowled. “What the hell did I do?”

  Guy turned on him. “Making deals behind my back. Giving my staff new product without permission. Telling Nate you’d be the one in charge of Kettrick. He told me about that. I have the party vid to prove it. Then threatening Sasha in the elevator. Not smart.”

  Marco’s eyes filled with fear, and Sasha’s heart felt like it stopped.

  “Yeah, I saw and heard the whole thing on the security feed. The one you didn’t know to turn off. Oh, and I’ve taken care of Jillian for helping you get friendly with Kylie and anonymously comming Sasha.”

  Sasha winced. Jillian wasn’t her favorite person, but she’d never wish Guy’s wrath on anyone. Now that he knew what she’d done with Marco, would she experience it too?

  Marco started to say something, but Guy spoke right over him.

  “Poor judgment and less-than-subtle betrayal, my friend. So.” Guy raised his pulser and shot Marco in the head. Marco flew back against the container with a crash then dropped to the floor, the pulse rifle still clutched in his hands. “You’re done.”

  The stench of burned hair and flesh wafted to Sasha. Staving off nausea, she took ragged breaths through her mouth and turned away. Guy was insane. And they were dead.

  Kylie sat huddled in the middle of the floor, hands over her ears and head down, sobbing. Nathan stared at the body for a moment then swung his gaze back to Guy. Wariness narrowed Nathan’s good eye. She’d told him Guy was incapable of love and forgiveness. Now they all knew just how true that was.

  Behind Nathan, Genevieve Caine hadn’t moved, but instead of her typical unreadable expression, she frowned at her boss.

  “Where was I?” Guy asked no one in particular. “Right. The deal. What do you say, Nate? Who will you choose?”

  Nathan looked at his sister then up at Sasha. For the first time since they’d come into the warehouse, Sasha sensed uncertainty in him. Guy had posed the one question neither of them had anticipated.

  “I—I can’t—”

  Swallowing hard, knowing what had to be done, Sasha put her arm around Guy’s waist and raised the other hand—the one Nathan could clearly see—to Guy’s chest, barely touching him. She’d rather hug a Bidarki python. “Take Kylie home.”

  Nathan’s jaw muscles worked as he kept emotion from his face. “Sasha,” he growled, “I can’t leave you with him.”

  “You’re not leaving me.” She moistened her lips. The one Guy split stung. “I’m staying. Take her home.” She turned to Guy, unable to bear the pain on Nathan’s face. Surely he understood what she was doing for him and his sister. “Promise me you won’t hurt them and I’ll stay as long as you want, do anything you want. But you have to promise, or so help me—”

  She’d find a way out. OD or pulser to the head or driving an air car into a mountain.

  “Of course I promise.” He hugged her closer and pressed his lips to the top of her head. “Of course. Genevieve, take Nate and Kylie wherever they want to go.”

  Too easy. She didn’t trust his promise, but what choice did she have? The only thing she could hope for was that Nathan would be able to escape Genevieve. Somehow.

  Genevieve hesitated for a moment, a moment longer than Sasha had ever seen her delay in response to Guy’s orders. She uncrossed her arms. In her right hand, she held a small but deadly looking pulser. With her left hand, she grasped Nathan’s upper arm and helped him to his feet. Crossing to Kylie, she repeated the action, treating the girl a little gentler than her brother. Genevieve held Kylie’s arm and gestured for Nathan to walk in front of them toward the side entrance.

  Nathan turned to look at Sasha. Her heart twisted at his expression of anguish and helplessness. Tears burned and fell before she could hide them from Guy. She’d never see him again, not if Guy had anything to say about it. And right now, Guy had everything to say about it.

  “Comm me when you’re done,” Guy said as Genevieve ushered the two out of the warehouse.

  When the three pairs of footsteps faded and the click of the side door closing behind them sounded, Guy led Sasha toward the stairs to the office. “Good decision, sweetness. And now, some insurance.”

  Guy stared straight ahead, a hard smile on his face.

  Unequivocal dread coiled along Sasha’s spine.

  * * *

  Sterling preceded Kylie and Caine through the side door, his mind racing. With his hands secured behind his back, he was damn near helpless as far as overpowering the blonde. The bonds felt cold and metallic against his skin. Snapping them would be impossible. Maybe he could work his arms in front of him somehow. But with Caine’s gun pressed against Kylie’s side, the chances of his sister coming away without injury before he could act were slim.

  “Keep moving, Mr. Hollings,” Caine said. “My air car’s around back.”

  “The same one you ran us off the road with?” Taunting her wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but it couldn’t get them any deader than they would be.

  “That wasn’t me.”

  “I can’t believe Guy’s letting us go,” Kylie said. Her teeth chattered in the cold.

  “He’s not,” Sterling and Caine said simultaneously.

  Sterling stopped and turned around, amazed she would admit as much. Caine stood two arm lengths away, her gun still in Kylie’s side. Kylie was pale as she stared at Caine.

  “Keep moving,” Caine said. “I can get you out of here, but I have to do it now, before he checks the security cams.” She made a subtle gesture toward the building, where the hemispherical lens of a camera glinted in the watery sunlight.

  Sterling resumed walking toward the rear of the warehouse, his mind reeling. Caine was willing to help them? Why?

  The side door of her air car slid open as they approached.

  “Get in and slide to the far end,” Caine instructed. “Kylie, sit next to him
. Cut his bindings with this.”

  Sterling didn’t turn to see what Caine gave his sister. He slid into the car and made room for Kylie. He glanced down. Palmed in her small hand was a pair of snub-nosed cutters. He held Caine’s gaze as she grabbed the door handle. “What now?”

  She shut the door then got in on the driver’s side, while Kylie worked the cutter. “I drop you off where you want to go. You walk away and get on with your lives. Try to take me down, and we all die.” She held up what looked like a small data stick, her thumb pressed against a yellow button. Dead man’s switch attached to a self-destruct in the air car, no doubt. Damn the void.

  “Do you have my comm?” he asked. Sasha had it in his car, but perhaps Caine or whoever had knocked them off the road picked it up. If he could get hold of Hallowell, he might get some backup.

  Caine tossed his comm over the seat. Sterling caught it and tried to contact Hallowell. Nothing. The crash had damaged the comm’s network connection. He called up the app to check Sasha’s chip. The screen flickered, but a green icon blinked at the warehouse coordinates. Her bio readouts were elevated. Not a shock.

  “Take Kylie to CMA headquarters in Pandalus,” he said. “Leave me here. I need to get to Sasha.”

  Caine shook her head as she started the car. “I told you before, she’s his, and he doesn’t share.”

  Sterling punched the back of her seat, wishing he could strangle her. The vibration shook his body, and his nose and left eye throbbed anew. “Damn it, I can save her. I have to.”

  She half turned in her seat as the car lifted. “You’re an idiot.” She glanced at Kylie. “Your brother’s an idiot.”

  The fear on Kylie’s face wavered into a shaky grin. “He always does stupid things when he’s sweet on someone.”

  Sterling jerked in surprise. Kylie knew what he felt for Sasha?

  Caine gave her a crooked grin in return. “Don’t we all?” She looked at him again and sighed. “Hold on.”

  Banking hard to the right, she swept around the back of a one-hundred-meter-long freighter sitting on the launch pad in the center of the complex. She set down and turned in her seat again. “He’ll probably kill both of you, you know.”

  Sterling wanted to say something flip, but the look on Kylie’s face stopped him. He smiled reassuringly and took her hand. “I’ll be careful. You go with Genevieve. She’ll take you to Natalia Hallowell at the CMA.” His eyes found Caine’s. “Right?”

  She held up her free hand, the one not holding the dead man’s switch, and nodded. “I swear she will get to this Hallowell person safely.” She lowered her hand where Sterling couldn’t see then held up her pulser, handgrip toward him. “You’ll need this,” she said, passing it to him. “And this,” she added as she gave him her comm. “Security cam controls are in that. Pass codes are one-three-Branson-one-seven for the cams and one-two-Melaine-two-four for the door.”

  He raised an eyebrow at the unusual codes. They sounded like names to him, but he didn’t bother asking. She wouldn’t have told him anyway. “Why are you doing this?”

  “Because Christiansen has gone too far, and I refuse to do his wet work. That’s what Marco was for.”

  There had to be more to it than that, he saw as much in her face, but disgust and anger wormed their way into his words. “You were willing to let Marco do his job, ignoring all the people Christiansen hurt or allowed to be hurt, until it was foisted upon you?” His growing esteem for Caine crumbled. “That’s damn human of you.”

  Caine leaned toward him with a scathing glare. “You don’t know anything about what I do—what I did—for him. Who do you think convinced him to test the product on some slags instead of at the university, where he thought he could make a few thousand extra credits? People died, but trust me, it could have been a helluva lot worse.” Her brown eyes softened, saddened, as she swallowed hard. “I can’t do it anymore. I have my reasons.” Her gaze hardened again and she turned to face the front, revving the engines without engaging the lifters. “Now, go get Sasha before it’s too late.”

  “Nathan?” Kylie grabbed his shirt sleeve and searched his face. “I don’t want to go without you.”

  He slipped the comm into his pocket and laid his hand over hers. He tried to smile, but it felt crooked and forced. “It’ll be okay. I trust her.” Mostly. “When you get to the CMA, Natalia will take care of you.” He tried to pry her hand from his sleeve, but she held tight. “Please, Kylie. I have to save her.”

  She held on to him for another few seconds then nodded. Smoothing the material of his sleeve, she said, “You and Sasha risked a lot to get me out of there, and I wouldn’t have come if you’d waited another week, or maybe even a few days. I would have told him who you were.” She raised her eyes and tears slid down her cheeks. “I’m sorry.”

  Sterling kissed her forehead, taking care not to touch the gash at her hairline. “It’s okay. It’ll be over soon. You’ll be safe. Go to Natalia.” He opened the door. “Thank you, Genevieve.”

  She nodded once before he jumped out and sprinted around the back of the air car.

  A blast of cold wind hit him as he rounded the cargo ship in front of him. He was just past its landing gear when Caine’s air car whooshed up and banked toward the city. His heart and stomach swapped places for a second. The idea of trusting his little sister with one of Christiansen’s top employees—no matter what her reasons for turning on him—seemed like a huge mistake. But something had made him trust Caine, and now he had no choice. He had to take it on faith that she’d get Kylie to Natalia and had given him the proper codes to get back into the warehouse.

  Sterling ran across the tarmac toward Christiansen’s building, ignoring the pulsing pain in his face. Back against the wall of a neighboring warehouse, he punched in the request for the security cam controls. The device asked for the pass code. Sterling entered the letters and numbers. The screen blanked, and he cursed Caine for giving him false codes that would trigger some sort of alarm. But within a few moments, the comm screen prompted him to choose operations or view. He tapped view and searched the seven cams for Christiansen and Sasha.

  None of the views showed them, but it did show Christiansen’s office door was closed. The boss hadn’t placed a cam in his office, of course, and Sterling could only assume that’s where they were.

  Choosing the operations icon, Sterling froze the cams’ views to the most narrow scope he could while still making it look like it covered the proper area. The one guarding the side door was directed as far from his path of entry as possible. It would still be necessary to approach from the opposite side, but at least he wouldn’t get caught by the wide angle. The other cams he’d encounter were likewise altered. He decided not to turn them off completely, concerned that it might set off some kind of system failure alarm.

  He pocketed the comm and checked the pulser Caine gave him. Fully charged and set on the highest power that would be fatal just about anywhere he hit. Sterling held the pulser in his right hand and sidled up to the side door. The wind ripped between the buildings, cutting into the thin material of his shirt.

  He flattened himself against the wall near the door and tapped in the code. A soft click sounded, and he opened the door slowly. Slipping inside, he eased it shut, listening for any sign that Christiansen and Sasha were near. Nothing. He called up the chip app and zoomed in. Locations were accurate to within two meters. There she was. In the office, but her heart rate and respiration had increased to stress levels. What the hell was Christiansen doing?

  A quick check of the cam views showed no one in the warehouse except Marco, and he wasn’t going anywhere. Christiansen’s door was still closed. Sterling pocketed the comm and made his way to the staircase leading up to the office. He eased up the stairs, pulser at the ready as he placed his feet on the side of each tread rather than the looser, noisier center. At the top, he crossed
the short space between the stairs to the office door and placed his ear against it. Nothing. Damn, he’d trade his false eye and left arm for an enhanced ear right now.

  Sterling drew in a deep breath and reached for the handle.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Sasha watched Genevieve Caine’s air car lift off from behind the building on Guy’s office SI feed. She breathed deeply to try to reduce the tension in her chest and limbs. It had been her choice to stay with Guy and give Nathan and Kylie a chance, slim as it might be. Sasha didn’t trust Guy to keep his promise about allowing them to live, but if he went back on his word, she’d find a way to end her own misery.

  Behind her, he shut the door with a solid thud.

  She shivered and rubbed her arms. Guy reached past her and laid his pulser on the desk. Less than a half meter away. All she had to do was make a grab for it. Before she could put thought into action, he draped his jacket around her shoulders and turned her toward the couch.

  “Have a seat, sweetness,” he said as he tapped the screen off. “This won’t hurt a bit.”

  Sasha shrugged her arms into the too-large jacket, grimacing at his scent that rose from it but grateful for the warmth. She crossed to the worn couch and sat on the edge, hands between her knees. He’d said something about insurance. What did that mean?

  Guy slid the pulser into the waist of his trousers at the small of his back. He withdrew an old-fashioned metal key from his pocket and crouched down on the right side of the desk to unlock a drawer. It opened with a squeal. He placed a metal box on the desk.

  “I was worried for a minute there,” he said as he tapped icons on the box’s locking mechanism. “I thought you’d want to go with Hollings.”

  “It’s better this way,” she replied, her voice rough.

  Yes, better. For Kylie, definitely. For Nathan, he’d have his sister back safe and sound. For herself? Definitely not better for her. Standing there in Kylie’s room, just thinking about using again, proved she couldn’t trust herself. With her chip deactivated, she would have no resistance on her own.