Allie's War Season Two

by JC Andrijeski

  “Stop!” I said.

  He froze, holding up his hands, but I saw the predatory look in his eyes.

  “Don’t make me kill you, Wreg,” I said. “...Please. I don’t want to.”

  “Just what do you think you’re going to do here, Bridge Alyson?” His eyes held as much hate as Revik’s had, if not more. “...You think you’re going to hand your husband over to those Adhipan fucks? You’ve in for a hell of a surprise...”

  “Am I?” I swallowed, shrugged. “Well, I guess that fits. Remember my stats, Wreg. ‘Risk-taker,’ right?”

  He didn’t smile. Instead, the hatred in his eyes deepened.

  “It should have said ungrateful, disloyal cunt...”

  I flinched a little, but didn’t lower the gun.

  “Why would you do this?” he burst out. “Why? You are his mate! You are his goddamned mate! He told me you chose him! That you asked him!”

  I nodded. “I did,” I said. “And I’m not giving him up, Wreg. I’m not...not like this.”

  Wreg snarled, “Do you even have any idea what you did to him? You broke his goddamned heart! You fucking shattered him! And for what? He would have done anything for you. Hell...any of us would have! You throw it away for some Adhipan prick...”

  “Is that what he told you?” I nodded, feeling tears come to my eyes anyway. “Yeah. I guess that’s how he would see it...”

  “You have no idea what kind of pain you’ve brought down on you and yours, Bridge Alyson...no fucking idea. We may not be able to kill you, but we can kill anyone you’ve ever given a damn about...starting with that Adhipan who did this to you. Do you have any idea what we will—”

  “Yeah, yeah.” I held up a hand. “...I got it, okay? I’ll writhe in pain. My friends will die. The world will suffer. Puppies will spontaneously explode...” I forced a smile. “You Dreng really need to learn some new lines.” I motioned with the gun.

  “...Your handcuffs, Wreg. Please.”

  “No fucking way.”

  I shot him in the leg.

  He let out a yell...as much in shock as pain.

  Watching him grip his thigh, gasping as the actual physical pain kicked in, all I could hope was that the anatomy lessons I’d gotten from Balidor...and even longer ago, from Revik and Ullysa...were as precise as I remembered them. If I’d hit any major arteries, he would bleed out before the plane taxied on the private landing strip outside the Forbidden City.

  But he didn’t seem to be bleeding that much. Well, considering.

  “Cuff yourself to the seat,” I said, swallowing. “Right there...” I motioned at the middle seat. “The thick part, there. The dead metal part...not the organic. Or the next one’s going in your neck, Wreg. I can’t promise I’ll miss anything important there...”

  I kept a hand up towards the younger seers, my aleimi split as I watched all of them, including the stewardess behind the wall.

  I waited while Wreg struggled over to the seat I’d indicated. Then, stepping closer, I watched him cuff himself to the seat. Once he’d yanked on the binding, proving to me it was secure, I pulled my own drink off the table behind me.

  I handed it to Wreg.

  “Drink it.” I aimed the gun at him. “...All of it. You pour it out, and I’m just going to shoot you. I’m trying to keep you alive, Wreg...”

  “You should kill me, Bridge,” he said, his eyes holding murder. “I’m going to cut your Adhipan boyfriend into tiny pieces while he breathes, if you let me live...I’ll make you watch, Bridge...”

  I swallowed. “Okay. I’ll let him know.” I waved the gun at his head. “Now drink the damned drink, Wreg. You have two seconds...”

  I watched him down the whole thing, tilting his head back. He didn’t stop glaring at me through it, his dark eyes holding silver flickers of the Dreng.

  A minute longer, and he was out cold.

  Once he was, I felt myself exhale.

  I frisked him, taking off the two remaining guns, finding a knife I didn’t know about. Then I walked to the front of the plane, looking at the two seers who sat together in the first row. They both stared at me, their eyes wide.

  I glanced at their buddy, number three, but he was still out cold.

  “Where’s that stewardess?” I said. I scanned the cabin, found her in the side compartment. “Come out here, now!”

  She walked out, her eyes holding almost as much hatred as Wreg’s.

  “Are you going to kill the Sword?” she said.

  “Kill him?” I stared at her. My throat hurt, badly enough that I couldn’t answer her at first. “No, goddamn it. I’m trying to save his life...”

  She stared at me like she thought I was insane.

  It crossed my mind that my own people would probably view me the same way, once they saw what I’d done.

  “Come here,” I told her, my voice thick. “I want you to cuff all of them to the legs of the chairs...tired boy over there, too,” I added, motioning at the seer I’d already knocked out.

  As she did what I told her, I found myself counting backwards in my head.

  It was going to be really close.

  Really, really damned close.

  When she finished, she rose to her feet. Her eyes still held that cold anger.

  “Now get me a bottle of something,” I said.

  “What?”

  “Get me a bottle,” I told her. “Now.”

  “Of course...Bridge,” she said the title with contempt. “What would you like?”

  Pulling out the second vial of tranquilizer I’d brought with me, I showed it to her, fighting to control my voice.

  “It doesn’t fucking matter...” I said. “Just get a bottle, and a glass...or I start shooting your friends. Understand?”

  She blanched a little, but gestured yes. She came back seconds later with an unopened, flask-sized bottle of rum and another rocks glass.

  I couldn’t help snorting a humorless laugh.

  Motioning for her to open the bottle, I pulled it from her fingers once she had. I took a few swallows off the top to make room...and maybe in the dim hopes it might steady my hands...then poured the vial in the space that was left.

  Watching the tranquilizer disperse through the alcohol left in the bottle, I recapped it long enough to shake it for good measure.

  Pouring the first glass, I handed it to her.

  “You first, sister,” I said. When she raised the bottle immediately to her mouth, I added, “...You might want to sit down first.” At her surprised look, I shrugged, still holding the gun on her. “...Not everyone has my husband’s constitution.”

  She pressed her lips together, almost like she was forcing herself to stay silent. I watched as she sank to the nearest passenger seat, then motioned for her to drink up.

  Once she’d had her dose, I moved on to the next.

  Rinse, and repeat.

  I DIDN’T GO into the cockpit until the plane had taxied to a stop.

  The two pilots hadn’t noticed anything.

  Revik told me once, on our way to São Paolo, that they kept a separate construct for the cockpit, in case they were ever boarded.

  It was a lucky break that he had. I’d managed to shield that construct too, without tipping either pilot off as to what went down in the rear cabin. It also allowed me to make sure that Balidor had been able to knock out each and every communication both to and from the Rebel compound in Asia. Otherwise, news of what had gone down there after we left might have reached the plane, too.

  Then gods only knew what Revik would have done.

  Once we were down on the ground, I paid our seer pilots a visit too. Luckily, there was still enough left in the rum bottle for two last doses.

  It hadn’t taken much to reach Balidor after that.

  They reacted about the way I’d expected them to.

  Still, they were there, waiting for me, which was what mattered. Of course, they’d told me they would be. Jon used all the same codes Balidor taught me in Beijing, but it
was easy to second-guess everything when I had to function in the dark...and alone. For months now, I’d never felt so alone.

  More so, the harder it got to lie to Revik.

  Balidor got out of the car first, followed by Dorje, Tenzi, and Illeg. Jon climbed out of the second car as soon as it came to a stop, followed by Cass and the giant Wvercian, Baguen.

  When I saw their faces, a flush of emotion hit me so strongly, I gripped the back of the pilot’s chair, probably grinning like an idiot.

  At that point, adrenaline held me up as much as anything.

  They rolled the staircase into place at the doorway before I’d figured out how to open the hatch. Once I got it open, Cass and Jon smothered me in a mutual hug. I heard Balidor laughing as they did, and Tenzi grabbed hold of me not long after, followed by Dorje who spent a full minute squeezing my hand as he pushed past me onto the plane.

  It had taken a little convincing to get them to go along with what I wanted.

  Even Balidor looked nervous when he saw Revik passed out in the back seat of the plane, the collar around his neck.

  He knelt down next to him, checking the collar, then his pulse.

  “Allie.” He looked up at me. For a second, I saw something in his eyes, a kind of frustrated pride, mixed with something else, what might have been relief.

  “Allie, what were you thinking?” he said. “Do you know how easily he could have killed you? Maimed you, at the very least?” He clicked at me. “All you had to do was keep them occupied here...to shield them, so they wouldn’t know what we were doing back at their stronghold in China...”

  He rose to his feet, his eyes still holding a rebuke.

  “...He didn’t even have to know,” he said. “Not until he got back. That was the plan...do you not remember? If things went badly, you promised you would get out...try again a different way with him, but not risk him coming after us...” His expression held that frustration again, but I saw more of the other emotions leaking through. “You risked all of us! With this crazy thing you did. Do you not know that? If you’d been caught—”

  “I know.” Leaning my hands on the back of the seat, I swallowed. “I know, ‘Dori. Sorry.”

  Reaching me in two strides, he startled me, catching hold of my arms. He pulled me against him, kissing me. He kissed me hard, wrapping his body around mine, and for a moment I let him, falling into the kiss as he caressed my back, clutching my hair in his fingers, winding his light into mine. He pulled away just as I felt him wanting to go further.

  Then his eyes were on mine, softer as he looked at me. He glanced at Tenzi and Jon, but both were studiously not looking at us as Balidor tightened his hold on my back.

  “Allie,” he said, caressing my face. “Allie...I’ve been out of my head. I was so afraid we’d lost you...” Emotion rippled out at me; it caught in my throat when I felt just how terrified he’d been. He kissed me again, brushing my hair off my neck with his hand, kissing my throat close to my ear. “I think I will kill you for real before I let you do something this crazy again...” he murmured. “Gods, my darling...I cannot forgive you for this...”

  Meeting his gaze, I felt my throat close, seeing the expression in those gray eyes.

  He saw the look in mine, and the softness in his faltered.

  Without knowing I intended to, I turned, looking down at Revik.

  I couldn’t take my eyes off his face for a moment, lost in how different he looked, with his body sprawled out on the seats. A faint glimmer of pain remained etched in his features, but I couldn’t stare at it for long before it brought up the same in me.

  When I finally glanced back at Balidor, I saw that his expression had changed. I felt his light touching mine, almost tentative, as he studied my face.

  He released me a second later, taking a step back from where I stood.

  I wanted to say something to him.

  I wanted to, but I couldn’t.

  We’d been over it again and again, even in Beijing. Even before I had about a million more reasons to say no to him because of Revik.

  He’d never had a chance, really.

  He knelt by Revik’s sprawled body, once more checking his vitals.

  “Voi Pai?” I said, swallowing. “Did she get what she wanted? Did my shield hold?”

  A bare pause went by before Balidor nodded.

  “Her people landed in the mountains not long after your plane left,” he said. “I’m assuming they didn’t feel anything here?”

  “No,” I said. “No, they didn’t.” I bit my lip, watching him touch Revik’s neck. I had to fight the impulse to tell him to leave him alone, to not touch him. Instead, all I said was,

  “Is he all right?”

  “He’s fine. We need to move him though, Allie. If you’re serious about this crazy plan of yours...we need to go now.”

  I nodded, still staring at Revik’s expression. Pain hit me again, enough that I shut my eyes, longer than a blink. A stab of fear followed as I remembered the look on his face right before he’d lost consciousness.

  “You still think you can save him, Allie?” Balidor said.

  I glanced down, meeting his gaze. He’d been watching me look at Revik. I saw pain in his eyes, but I couldn’t deal with that, either, not yet.

  “I have to try,” I said. “I have to, ‘Dori.”

  He nodded, his face neutral.

  He didn’t look at me again. I continued to stand there, almost numb, as he and Jon and Dorje hoisted Revik up, carrying him off the plane between them.

  Glancing around at the leather-seated interior, at the VR monitor Revik had been using before I sat down next to him, I let my eyes pause on Wreg, watching Tenzi as he bound up the infiltrator’s leg with gauze, stopping the flow of blood.

  He would live to hate me another day, too.

  Forcing a last exhale, I turned away from that, as well.

  But not before I felt a last whisper of regret.

  I still cared about all of them. Wreg, Nikka, Holo, Jax, Yarli...even that grumpy bastard, Loki. I remembered Chandre then, too, and realized I still hadn’t seen her.

  Jon and Balidor carried Revik awkwardly down the aisle to the port side door. Illeg was helping them now too, helping them navigate Revik’s height and long limbs through the narrow opening. Avoiding looking at the collar around his neck, I followed behind the others as we all vacated the plane, taking a deep breath just before I walked though the oval doorway and emerged into bright sunlight.

  Weirdly, just standing there, under that yellow-tinted sky, the high clouds scuttling overhead, I felt better.

  I really did.

  SHADOW

  Allie’s War Book Four

  Dedicated to

  Kathryn

  1

  DEMONSTRATION

  THE CROWD SURGED, shouting in more than one language beneath the running marquees lining the downtown Hong Kong streets that converged at the office building.

  Signs on metal poles and even some wooden stakes waved and jostled next to VR signs flashing on shirts programmed with the same words in multiple languages. The characters danced across chests as the signs bobbed in the hands of the onlookers. The yells grew louder when more seers appeared at the front of the glass doors. Humans stood beside seers in the crush of bodies, barely seeming to notice one another; the same anger etched in lines across their faces, although their reasons may have been different. A number of them threw pieces of cement and gravel from the nearby construction pit on one side of the store-lined road.

  Balidor stared around at the growing numbers, feeling his trepidation worsen.

  With it, his anger returned, too.

  How had they all arrived here so quickly?

  But he didn’t have time to think about that, either.

  “This is madness!” he shouted to Cass over the raised voices. “Suicide, at the very least! Why in the name of the gods did she want to come here?”

  Cass only grabbed his arm, tugging hard on his sleeve to su
rf the motion of the crowd that surged again, now crushing them on either side. Secretly, she agreed with him; he felt her agreement in her light, but she didn’t say it aloud. Nor did he bother to comment on it, nor probe her further.

  He looked around them instead, wondering why they had not gone directly to the rendezvous site like they’d initially agreed.

  They’d only taken a different route to ensure the safe transport of Dehgoies Revik. Dehgoies, or Syrimne, or “The Sword,” as he was better known, was the reason for the crowd of angry protesters they faced now. As Allie’s former...or possibly current, Balidor honestly couldn’t tell most of the time...husband, he’d been trouble enough. As an international figure, he was a disaster, even before Allie had taken it into her head to kidnap him. She’d done it to get him away from Salinse and the rest of the rebels working for the Dreng...to try and extricate him from their ideology and their insanity, if she could.

  Balidor hadn't been able to talk her out of it, or even argue the point really, not at the time. Then again, he'd been too happy to see her alive. Now he wished he'd drugged her, and left Dehgoies collared on that plane for his people to find.

  But that would have caused problems too.

  Maybe worse than the ones they faced now.

  To the rest of the world it looked like Allie had betrayed her own husband in the worst way imaginable. Worse, she’d done it right after he’d run a major op to free a large number of seers from the institutionalized work camps that ruined so many lives.

  That she’d been with him on the op was immaterial now. Clearly, none of the seers or humans present gave that much credence, since most of the signs identified her as a race traitor and an adulteress. Most assumed she’d only done the op to win his trust. In the aftermath at least, they figured the whole thing had been staged to bring him and his followers down.

  Which, really, as far as theories go, wasn’t entirely devoid of truth.

  Given Dehgoies’ notoriety, getting him out without anyone knowing where they were moving him, or even what condition he was in, had to take security precedence. They couldn’t have anyone follow them to the debriefing site, given what was at stake. Dehgoies was a fully trained manipulator, or telekinetic, and probably the most dangerous man alive.