by Cara Bristol
“That’s why she was at Luna Center before,” she recalled.
“Yes, and it went even better after we left. She’s been tireless in her lobbying.” He looked at her. “She was able to leverage the attempted assassination to make her case. If you’ve ever wondered if one person can make a difference—Mikala is proof she can.”
“Her daughter, Penelope, an AOP ambassador, polled the membership, and right now, they’re split fifty-fifty on going to war. The vote could go either way, and her speech just might swing it. Vincere granted her request to address the assembly back when she didn’t have a quark’s chance of swaying the vote. Now she does.”
A Faria with iridescent wings and silver skin landed next to them. Beth tried not to stare, but the alien woman’s beauty was mesmerizing.
“Beth, I’d like you to meet Solia. She works for Cyber Operations. Solia, this is Beth. She’s in logistics for Aym-Sec but has been cleared for Cy-Ops as well.” Carter introduced them.
“Nice to meet you,” she said. This woman was a cyborg?
“Pleasure to meet you.” Solia smiled. “I’m not a cyborg.”
“How did you know that’s what I was thinking?”
Tinkling laughter floated on the air like a misty shower. “I’m a bit of an empath, but your expression gave you away.”
“Solia is a linguist, involved with a special language project for Cy-Ops, but she also has a good degree of empathic ability,” Carter said. “She’s attending the Summit to get a read on people, to sense ill intent, maliciousness, etc. Another way to head off any problems before they occur.”
“And you’re going to read the crowd’s reaction to Mikala’s speech?” she guessed.
“I’m going to try. Sensing emotion is easier one-on-one. Picking out an individual’s emotions in a crowd is much more difficult.”
Carter touched her elbow. “I’ll leave you two to talk while I patrol.” Like the other cyborgs and the Aym-Sec officers, he kept moving, watching, listening. He strode out of the cordoned area onto the assembly floor.
Beth turned to Solia, fascinated by the woman’s ability. “Are all Faria empathetic?”
She shook her head. “No, but we all have unique natural gifts. My primary gift is my ear for languages, but my mother was an empath, so I inherited a moderate amount. Some Faria are mathematical geniuses, others can sing with perfect pitch, some are eidetikers with photographic memories. Have you met Illumina yet?”
“No, who is she?”
“She works for Cy-Ops, too. She’s a computer sensate with the ability to mentally integrate into any computer code.”
That kind of skill would be a tremendous asset to an intelligence agency like Cyber Operations, but Solia’s empathic ability interested her more. Dare she ask? “What can you read about me?”
Her expression serious, the Faria surveyed Beth. “I can tell you’re excited to be here at the Summit, you’re unsettled about something, and you care for Carter Aymes very much.” Solia’s silvery face seemed to take on a glow. “He loves you, too, and worries about your safety.” The Faria touched her arm. “That’s the way cyborgs are. They’re very protective of their women.” Her gaze shifted to the arena, and back to Beth. She motioned. “It looks like President Aaron’s address is about to begin.”
Benson’s dais hovered in the center of the arena. “Ambassadors of the general assembly, President Mikala Aaron of Terra United has requested to speak on the initiative to employ military action against Lamis-Odg. Please give her your ear and your respect.”
The dais lowered to the floor near the observation area, and Benson opened the protective gate so Mikala could board.
The president emerged through one of the tall doors and strode toward it. In the tiers, pink lights of approval and blue lights of disapproval blended to a purple haze, but the color skewed pink, suggesting Mikala had slight majority support of the voting membership. Could her speech really influence the declaration of war against Lamis-Odg?
Beth shoved Solia out of the way and vaulted over the cordon. She disabled the Aym-Sec guard with a chokehold and relieved him of his blaster before dropping his unconscious body to the floor.
Grabbing Mikala by the throat, she thrust the blaster to her temple. “You’re…n-not…going…to…deliver…that…sp…sp…speech.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Never had Carter been too stunned to react. Until now. Disbelief froze him to the spot.
That couldn’t be Beth, his Beth, threatening Mikala with a blaster.
In his peripheral vision, he caught sight of Kai Andros, March Fellows, and an Aym-Sec guard moving in. His cyborg side snapped into command mode. Deal with what is. He suppressed his human emotions and focused on the enemy combatant.
“Don’t anyone…come any closer or…I’ll kill her,” she growled. She must have tightened her chokehold because Mikala gagged and clawed at Beth’s arm.
What the hell? Andros messaged.
What the hell indeed.
Beth’s eyes jerked as she scanned the assembly area. Searching for him? Or getting a lay of the arena? He retreated to blend against the wall. I’ll circle around behind her, he communicated to Andros and March.
Voices in all languages babbled in confusion. Ambassadors and aides jumped to their feet, some to gawk, but others in alarm, and panic began to build. Carter could feel it. So could his team. In the tiers, his Aym-Sec and cyborg force moved through the crowd, trying to maintain order and prevent a stampede.
He set his blaster to stun, and, hugging the perimeter, he scooted around to get closer.
“You don’t want to do this. Why don’t you give me the weapon, please?” Vincere extended his hand and inched toward Beth.
No, don’t do that. The idiot would get himself killed. Beth’s eyes were jiggling around in their sockets like she had no control over them. Her mouth worked with a grimace. “Don’t come…any closer!”
“This isn’t you,” Vincere said. “You’re not this kind of person.”
“Stop right there. I’ll sh-shoot her. I s-swear.”
An Aym-Sec guard edged in from the side.
“Why would you shoot Mikala? You like Mikala.” Vincere spoke in a low, soothing voice. “Why don’t you hand me the weapon?”
“No! Stop!” She dragged the blaster from Mikala’s temple and pointed it at him.
The Aym-Sec guard lunged.
She whipped around and fired.
The officer’s body bowed in half backward, and he fell to the floor in convulsions. People in the tiers close enough to witness the shooting surged for the exits like a pack of frightened yacuni. Security staff formed a block to hold them back. If they rushed the floor, there was no telling what Beth would do. It could turn into a massacre. Stop her. Have to stop her. Carter ran.
With the weapon no longer at her temple, Mikala stomped on Beth’s foot. No, Mikala! He cried out silently. Jabbing her elbow hard into Beth’s stomach, Mikala broke free.
Beth raised the weapon.
“No, Beth!” Vincere shouted.
The blast hit Mikala in the back, and she collapsed.
Carter’s cybervision zeroed in on the weapon. With a flick of her thumb, Beth switched the setting to the highest intensity.
What have I done? He’d screwed up so badly. He’d hired her, taken her into his confidence, trained her. She didn’t know everything, but what she had heard and seen could destroy Cy-Ops. He had no idea who the hell she was or why she was doing this, but one thing was certain. They’d been set up.
If possible, take her alive so we can question her, he ordered. But, if you have to, terminate her. A gap opened up in his heart. He couldn’t believe he’d just given his men permission to kill the woman he loved. Thought I loved. She’s a traitor. An assassin.
Understood…his cyborgs responded.
Andros closed in, March right behind him. Carter raced as quickly as he could while trying not to draw atten
tion.
Beth brandished the blaster, motioning at Mikala. “Take her,” she ordered Vincere.
“What?” he asked.
“Stop stalling. Pick up the president and carry her.”
In position now, Andros aimed his photon blaster.
“Get the president. Now!” Beth shouted and waved the weapon at Vincere.
The secretary general raised his hands and backed away inadvertently blocking Andros’s shot. “Please…this can still end peacefully,” he said. “Everything will be okay.”
Carter cursed. Only Vincere could manage to be a needed distraction and an impediment.
Beth’s mouth twisted as if she had Tourette’s. “Carry her or I’ll…kill you.” Her finger caressed the trigger.
Vincere knelt beside Mikala, clearing the shot.
Andros took aim again.
A panicked ambassador’s aide leaped from the tier, falling into Andros. The cyborg’s shot whizzed over Beth’s head and lit the wall red. She aimed and fired. Andros went down.
“What have you done?” Vincere cried, and hurriedly slung Mikala’s limp body over his shoulder. Beth rushed at him and shoved her weapon against his back. “Go…go…go.” She prodded him toward the exit.
Abandoning his cover, Carter ran, raising his own blaster. I’m going to have to shoot her. He felt sick.
Beth spun around. Using Vincere and Mikala as a shield, she aimed over the secretary general’s shoulder. A red bead danced on Carter’s chest.
Her mouth twisted. “Carter Aymes…such a worthy…a-a-adversary…good…good…” She jerked her head. “Good”—tears ran from her eyes—“bye.”
She fired.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Consciousness seeped in. Every muscle ached. A hum droned in her ears and vibrated under the soles of her feet. Beth pried her swollen, sticky eyelids open and blinked in the blinding light.
She tried to rub her face, but her arms were locked at her sides. She couldn’t move her head, either. Panic flared in her chest. What had happened? Where was she? The blank metallic wall gave little clue. In her peripheral vision, she detected part of an arch. A doorway…to what?
The last she remembered, she’d been at…Luna Center.
The Summit.
Details seeped through a crack in her memory block, widening the crevice until the barrier shattered, and the horrifying acts she’d committed poured out.
I killed Carter. No. Oh no. No…no…no. I killed Carter.
Why? Why? Why? Agony fired through her, worse than any photon blast. She’d watched from inside herself as she vaulted over the cordon, attacked the Aym-Sec guard, shot another then fired at Mikala when she tried to get away. Switching the blaster to the highest setting, she’d murdered a cyber operative, and in a final denouement, killed Carter.
She’d forced Benson to take her to his shuttle. They’d boarded, and then…searing pain had stabbed into her head, and she’d blacked out. After her collapse, Benson must have run for help. Had she been arrested? Was she in a brig?
She could move her eyes, but not her head. Within her field of vision, all she saw were light-gray metallic walls with no markings. The hum she heard, felt in her feet, was the thrum of a ship’s engine.
So…a spaceship. A prison vessel, perhaps? There would be other prisoners, wouldn’t there? Maybe she was in solitary.
After what I did, I deserve it. More tears of misery poured from her eyes, and her nose ran. I’m so sorry, so sorry…
She realized now she was sitting on a chair. The hardness of the construction pressed into her spine, her thighs, her bottom. Her calves were stuck to the chair legs. She tried again to move her limbs, move anything, but couldn’t. Did she have a voice? “Help me! Anybody? Is there anybody there?” Hoarse, but she could speak. She strained, trying to rock from side to side—
“It will do you no good to fight the restraints.” Benson appeared in front of her. She hadn’t heard him come in.
The charm, the geniality, the concern had vanished, turning handsome features sharp, almost cruel. His eyes were colder than the dark side of the moon as he scrutinized her. She swallowed. He hates me. I can’t blame him.
She lifted her gaze to his face again. “Carter…Carter…is he…”
His chest swelled as he took a breath. “Dead,” he said.
Confirmation of her worst fear hit her like a punch to the throat, and she choked. She had hoped her recollection was faulty, that she hadn’t committed the acts she remembered.
“Mikala—President Aaron—is she okay?”
“For the time being.”
“Am I on a prison ship?”
“You’re on my ship.”
“You’re taking me to Terra?” He must intend to turn her over to the authorities.
“No.
“Where, then?”
He folded his arms and stared down his Romanesque nose. She expected disgust and dislike, but the glint in his eyes sent fear clawing up her spine. He looked…triumphant.
He circled behind her, where she couldn’t see him, and the hairs on her nape stood up in alarm. She was the dangerous one, wasn’t she? What did she have to fear of Benson? But, all of a sudden, she did. He wasn’t acting like himself.
Neither am I. We both snapped. She’d done things, said things without any control over her actions. What if I snap again?
She couldn’t turn her head. All she could do was squeeze her hands into tight fists. When Morhain had put the electrocuffs on her at the hotel, it hadn’t been anything like this. Benson must fear I’m a threat. How could she blame him? Who could predict what she’d do next? Even she couldn’t guess. I killed Carter, and the other cyborg. Her throat thickened with fresh tears.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Would you like to move?” He appeared in front of her and tapped a few strokes into his wrist comm.
Her body was still immobilized, but she could turn her head.
“To answer your question, I’m taking you to Katnia, where I’ll send you to the planet’s surface.”
When his meaning sank in, the blood drained from her face. Spots danced before her eyes. “The KaTȇ will kill me.” She’d never heard of the panther-like aliens until Aym-Sec—Cy-Ops—had hired her, she’d read the threat reports, and shot a robotic version on the firing range.
“No reflection on how you performed, you understand. You exceeded expectations,” he said, like he was praising a trained pet. “However, you’re of no further use to me since no one will trust you now. I can’t let you loose—thousands of people saw us together, so this is the best way to dispose of you. Since travel to Katnia is banned, no one will search there, and if they do, there will be little left of your remains to provide any clues.”
Had he gone insane? What had happened to him? To her?
“All they’ll know is you abducted President Aaron and myself. You stunned me with your blaster, and when I regained consciousness, you and the president were gone.” He lifted a shoulder. “That’s what I’ll tell them. When Lamani notifies the AOP that he has taken Mikala Aaron hostage, I’ll be in the perfect position to lead negotiations and grant his demands. With Mikala Aaron out of the picture and Carter Aymes dead, no one will be able stop it.”
The worst kind of cold seeped into her bones. “You’re working for Lamani?”
He leaned in so close his breath touched her face, and she would have recoiled if not for the restraints. “No, you stupid woman.” She flinched as saliva flecks splattered her. “I am Lamani.”
As if the ship’s hull melted away, the air was sucked from the room. “You’re Benson Vincere…you’re Terran.” No heavy ridges outlined his temples and forehead. He had the symmetrical features of a classically handsome Caucasian Terran male—although there was nothing attractive about him now.
Benson ran a finger over his temples. “Facial cosmetic surgery made me look human. They did a good job, don’t you agree?”
Bet
h gaped.
His expression turned sour. “I’m stuck with this face until I can change back, but this hideous countenance enabled me to infiltrate the AOP.” He stepped back and raised his arms. “Ickto omi Lamani, Hoorat ahno Okanta uya Yagnoni.” The words she didn’t understand, but she recognized the language as Odgidian. She’d familiarized herself with Benson’s bio. He spoke six languages, but Odgidian wasn’t one of them. “I am Lamani, the Prophet and the Incarnate of the Great One,” he said in Terran English.
If her legs hadn’t been immobilized, her knees would have knocked together. Had his mind snapped? Once she would have doubted such an extreme personality change could occur, but she’d proven anything was possible. Was he delusional—or was he Lamani?
Everyone had assumed the terrorist leader had gone into hiding to avoid capture. No one—not even his sons—had seen him in over a decade—about the same time Benson had assumed leadership of the AOP. Had Benson/Lamani orchestrated the acts of terror while undermining the AOP’s attempt to stop it?
Combatting terrorism when it attacked from the outside was hard enough, but when it was inside, what hope was there?
Other than Cyber Operations. And Carter was dead.
No, there was still a chance. The organization wasn’t dependent on him. He’d founded it, guided it, and designed it to function without him. Cy-Ops would try to hunt her down to bring her to justice and rescue Mikala and Benson.
Would they get to her in time? If she died, they would never know Benson might be Lamani. I have to stop him.
“They’ll come for me,” she said. “I’m probably on the Galaxy’s Most Wanted List. I kidnapped the president of Terra United and the secretary general of the AOP. Everyone will be searching for them, and they’ll find you.”
Lamani/Benson laughed. “When I’m ready, I’ll let them ‘rescue’ me. By then, you and the president will be dead, and I’ll resume my position as secretary general of the Association of Planets.”
