Shades of Dark

by Linnea Sinclair

  Then he knows you’re here, we’re here? I asked, seeing a quick end to our ruse.

  Del snorted. He wouldn’t know his own feet if he tripped over them. Base-level Ragkiril.

  Sully’s hand rested on my shoulder. I tried to jerk away as Kyi energy swirled around me. I don’t want to chance his sensing you as a ky’sara. Tolerate my presence for your own protection.

  I stopped flinching and focused on the hand-held. More than protection flowed through his touch. There was a deep weariness as if the coat he wore weighed a hundred pounds. Maybe that’s why, when I saw the readings of six life-forms heading for the tubeway, I was barely alarmed. Five armed escorts and Burke. He’d never met Halemon with more than two: Dexter and Morlo. Did he suspect we were here, or was this his method now that he’d found out what his cousin was?

  The gray haze around me had no answers and Sully was silent. Informing Del of what to expect? That would be my guess.

  Burke was in the tubeway. I glanced up at Sully but could see him only in profile, his expression obscured by the haze and lightning flashes now surging rapidly over his skin.

  I want Hayden alive, he told Del. He’s mine.

  I wouldn’t have it any other way, Gabriel.

  There was a finality in Sully’s tone, haughty confidence in Del’s. Both made me uncomfortable; both were out of my control. I reminded myself I was here to do a job. My fingers tightened around my pistol’s grip. The airlock hissed open. Morlo and Dexter exited first, laser pistols still on their hips, no other obvious weapons. Though the set of their shoulders and narrowing of their eyes told me they were wary.

  Burke followed in dark spacer leathers. I’d only seen him in business suits and formal dress on the society vids. He wore leathers well. They gave him a dangerous but refined air. He moved with the same sinuous grace Sully did.

  We trained with the same fight master. I kicked Hayden’s ass more than a few times, even though he’s older than me. And was bigger back then.

  Sully’s comment reminded me that the ky’saran link may be quiet but not shut off.

  I said nothing.

  He’s a good fighter, though. Strong, quick. That will be of little help to him today.

  I didn’t think it would be.

  A tall Stolorth ducked through the airlock, almost on Burke’s heels. Like Del and Ren, his long blue-silver hair was pulled back in a braid. His features were coarser, though, his nose bulbous, his mouth almost too wide for his face. Brigitta would be disappointed. The voice wouldn’t live up to her expectations.

  Zeno had a rifle slung over his back, a standard Poltar-385. His dark gaze swept the open corridor, passing twice over where we stood behind the illusionary doorway in the rubble of the abandoned office.

  Sully pulled me back against him, draping his arm around my neck, his right hand now on my left shoulder, lightly toying with my rifle strap. I had no idea how Zeno didn’t sense him. Sully’s power pulsed over me like a hot, driving wind. He shifted quietly to my right and I realized it wasn’t the rifle slung across my back that bothered him but the Kyi-killer on my left hip, probably more so now that the energies of the Kyi encompassed us both.

  Zeno moved on, keeping pace with Burke. Two more people appeared, both human. One male, one female. Midthirties, well groomed, dark leathers like Burke. I didn’t know either one.

  Sully did. Innis and Sadira. They’re from an executive protection service the Burkes have employed for decades. They can blend easily in at the expensive house parties because they’re not only well educated but trained in lethal hand-to-hand. They don’t need to wear obvious weaponry and scare the guests.

  Both Morlo and Dexter could easily be labeled thugs. Innis and Sadira wouldn’t be.

  They cleared the airlock, half-turning as they followed Burke. Watching their employer’s back. Professionals who either knew Zeno didn’t have the talents he purported to have, or didn’t trust a Stolorth. Or both.

  I let out a slow breath as they moved through the patches of light and darkness, swerving or sidestepping around the debris. They had no idea we were here.

  Sully’s arm loosened slightly. His thumb slowly brushed along my collarbone at the edge of my shirt, then back again, warmth trailing, spiraling…

  Stop it! I jerked a few inches to my right, a small move but a hard, definite one. Nothing to make Burke’s party hear a sound. But enough to let Sully know those actions weren’t welcome.

  Not after what he’d shared with Del.

  He pulled his arm away quickly as I glared at him. He ducked his face for a moment then shoved his hands in his coat pockets. Evidently I’m not yet finished making an ass of myself.

  We have work to do. Who’s left on the ship?

  Four, all on the bridge. Nice and tidy. This shouldn’t take long. Then Cousin Hayden and I will have a nice chat before I turn him over to Guthrie and Bralford.

  To Philip? This caught me fully by surprise.

  I would have gladly traded him for your brother. One more thing that reminds me how your entire life can change in a matter of not just a few hours, but a few moments. Damnably, saving Thad is no longer an option. Helping Guthrie and Bralford stop Tage is all I have left. He pulled his hands out of his pockets and touched the translucent door. It wavered and dissolved. I’ll take point, obviously.

  He strode softly into the corridor, coat rippling from his hips, bright energy sparking down its edges. I hurried behind him.

  Tubeway cam, I told him. I blow it like Philip did and the bridge crew will know we’re coming. This is Burke’s personal ship with a professional command staff, not a lab ship whose only job is to keep moving.

  He slowed. Then we’ll give them something to look at. He released a ball of star-filled energy from his right hand as we stepped through the airlock. He flicked it at the camera’s lens. It flared.

  Now! He broke into a run.

  I kept up with him. We hit the opposite airlock. Clear, he told me. Right, second stairwell.

  I do know the layout of an Explorer-Five.

  Apologies, Captain, but you might need to know we have one at the comm station left, two right at nav, and a nervous fourth pacing in front of the captain’s chair. Two male, two female.

  We reached the second stairwell. That’s useful, thank you.

  I try to do my job well. He surged up the stairs almost noiselessly, not letting his heels touch the treads. I did the same.

  That energy ball still blinding them?

  Set it only for flare. They’ll tag it another annoyance of being berthed at this depot. Nothing to raise alarm. He paused as we reached the stairwell blast door and glanced down at me. I do know what I’m doing.

  I’ve never had a problem with that.

  His face lost the haughty expression of moments before. I don’t want problems, Chasidah. I want…I’m very lost right now, angel-mine.

  I tensed at the affectionate term and his plaintive, almost pleading tone. And his pain. I can’t help you with that. I can’t change what I am, what I believe, what I respect.

  He closed his eyes and turned away. Let’s get this done.

  I put my hand on his arm, stopping him before I could stop myself from doing so. But his pain, his weariness, and his damned hopefulness were more than I could bear. And I’d made a decision I wasn’t going to change. I’m sorry, Gabriel. I really am.

  He stared at my fingers on his sleeve and I could feel pain, needle-thin, stabbing at him as he felt my resolution. Then it was gone. Don’t be. You’re doing the right thing. He shoved the blast door open. Give me three minutes. If I need you, you’ll know. Your help, I mean, he amended as he flattened himself against the corridor bulkhead.

  I’m going to the opposite bulkhead to cover you. I slipped past the closing door. I crouched down, my back to the wall, Stinger drawn up but ready. He was almost to the bridge hatchlock. He slowed, crouching as I did, silver energy whipping in a frenzy around him. Philip had guessed the coat was a containment field. I wasn
’t sure I’d want to see what that energy looked like uncontained.

  Voices coming through the bridge stilled, save for a brief, startled sound of surprise. Then all was silent. Sully was rising. Come. It’s safe.

  I sprinted forward, following him onto the bridge, feeling as if I’d stepped into a garden of statuary. Four people in various positions, all frozen. Each wore black ship’s coveralls, but one red-haired man’s pocket was imprinted in white with the word captain. He was caught in midstride.

  Sully, next to me, was breathing hard. I can’t hold them much longer.

  Hold them?

  Stun them, now!

  I brought up my pistol and fired, taking each one center mass. They dropped hard to the decking.

  Sully wiped his hand over his face. “We need to tie them up, gag them,” he said aloud as the last one—a ruddy-faced older woman—collapsed to her knees then fell facedown.

  I holstered the pistol. “Why didn’t you just blank their minds?” As he had the lab ship’s crew and med-techs.

  He stared at me a few very long seconds. “I can’t trust myself, not after what happened with Halemon. And if that answer shocks you, I’m sorry. Secure the bridge. Got an archiver?”

  Now I was the one staring, trying to process his confession and his abrupt change of topic. I dug in my belt cannister for an archiver and tossed it to him. Then I slipped into the captain’s chair and brought up the ship’s primaries. This was not going to be easy. Either Hayden or his captain had the file heavily encrypted. I played with it a few minutes then looked over at Sully at communications, filching all of Hayden’s transmits.

  “I need your help here.”

  He crossed the bridge quickly. “This is new,” he said, studying the console screen.

  “That’s what I thought. The usual code breakers aren’t working. So I tried backdating the files to find an entry point but nothing correlates.”

  “I’ll work on it while you find some restraints.”

  I headed down the corridor to where the security locker should be on an Explorer Five. Hayden hadn’t changed that. I punched out the lock with one blast and came back with sonic cuffs and hobbles. Gags I improvised from the bridge’s med-kit.

  Sully was still frowning, lightning flashes now more muted.

  I pointed to the unconscious captain. “Can you get it from his mind?”

  He hesitated. “I peeked. He doesn’t know. This is Hayden’s doing.”

  I wanted this ship—this armed ship—in my control, not Hayden’s. “Can Del get the information?”

  “I don’t want Del trying. He’s hard to keep in line. After Halemon, it’s even more difficult.”

  Two Kyis in full phase. Philip warned me this was a potential problem. It looked like potential had become reality.

  I finished cuffing the last bridge officer. “We’ll hobble them to the chairs in the ready room then lock them in. I need that data from Hayden. We can’t risk one of Hayden’s people escaping, using this ship. Or the ship malfunctioning at a predetermined point in jump because we don’t know the right clear codes.”

  A few minutes later we were in the tubeway, Sully scanning ahead. We darted around the debris through alternating patches of dark and light.

  “What’s the status with Burke’s people at the platform?” I asked.

  “Last I checked, nothing more than minor problems.” But he slowed, eyes narrowed, Kyi flashes once again up to full power. “He has them all in stasis, except for Zeno. But Guthrie says it’s not much more than Regarth being a pompous ass at the moment.”

  “You’re still linked to Philip?”

  “When I need to be.”

  I was about to ask him to link me to Philip as well but we were at the staging area and I could hear Del’s cultured drawl. I followed Sully quickly down the stairs, spotting Philip with relief, seeing Del with considerably less positive emotion. He was standing, hands on his hips, with Zeno kneeling, head bowed, before him.

  Sully muttered something uncomplimentary under his breath and strode over to him.

  Philip held his rifle casually in his hands as he leaned against a tall duro-hard. Only as I got closer did I notice a bruise blossoming under his left eye.

  “I take it Regarth didn’t have them all instantly unconscious?”

  “He tried, but he underestimated that one.” Philip motioned toward Zeno with his rifle. “Still says he’s just base Ragkir but he blocked Regarth’s initial probe. Long enough to warn the security woman.”

  “Sadira,” I said.

  “I was coming up behind them and she spun on me. Clocked me good. Then Regarth pretty much shut them all down. Except for Zeno here, who’s keeping him amused.”

  “He didn’t…touch Sadira?”

  “I haven’t let him be alone with her. I told him if he tried anything, I’d kill him. A ridiculous threat, of course. He can shut me down too. But he knows I’ll go down shooting.”

  I knew Philip Guthrie. He would.

  “Everything okay with you?” he asked as, behind me, Sully’s and Del’s voices rose and fell softly.

  “Yes and no,” I said, then wondered if he knew what Sully had done, that Del hadn’t been alone in taking pleasure and drawing power from Brigitta Halemon. I needed his input but couldn’t bring myself to tell him. It wasn’t Philip’s problem. It was mine. “Hayden’s got a bitch of an encryption on the ship’s primaries,” I continued because I’d been silent a bit too long. “Neither Sully nor I could break it. Bridge crew doesn’t know it. We need Hayden. Or else I can’t certify what that ship will do an hour from now, a month from now. Or if we can even get her to undock.”

  “If you and Sullivan can’t break it, then I’d probably not be much more help. Let Hayden dig his own grave.”

  “Sully said he’s turning Hayden over to you and Jodey, when we get to meetpoint with the Nowicki.”

  “Surprised me too, but it’s sensible. Sullivan can always be accused of having a personal vendetta against Burke. We can’t. The man’s been kidnapping Takan women and breeding jukors. I don’t give a damn about his bank account or status as an heir.”

  “Will anyone even listen to us?” I didn’t try to hide the tiredness in my voice.

  “Eventually yes, some will. That’s the best we can hope for. Burke’s just the first step, though. Jodey’s already talking to people like Falkner, and he’s picking up dissenters, adding them to his crew. But it’s going to take time, Chaz. It’s going to take time, resources, planning. And don’t think for a minute the Farosians and Stol aren’t thinking the same thing. I don’t care what Tage puts forth. Fleet has fractured. That leaves the Empire vulnerable.”

  “The Serians may once again rule the Baris sector, and Regarth will walk as a prince among kings,” I intoned turning to look at Sully and Del. Their voices had quieted, but judging from the flare of energies, their conversation had not.

  Zeno sat on the floor, glassy eyed, unmoving.

  “At least he’ll have his pick of ships here,” Philip said, watching Sully and Del as I was. “That will solve a big problem for you and Sullivan on the Karn.”

  I couldn’t hold the truth inside me any longer. “I’m not staying with the Karn.”

  “Chaz?” Philip stared down at me.

  I glanced at him then back at the two silvery-limned Kyi. “When we meet up with Jodey, I’m going with you and him.”

  “You’re leaving Sullivan.” It wasn’t a question.

  I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Yes.”

  “Does he know?”

  “Not in so many words, but…yeah.” And he’d deemed it a right decision, through a pain that had seared us both.

  Philip’s silence told me I’d shocked him. I chanced a glance. Disbelief warred with concern on his face. “But you love him.”

  “Yeah to that too.” My voice broke, the tightness in my chest strangling my words. I was leaving Sully. I sucked in a deep breath and headed for the prince and his student.

/>   Del’s eyes glittered as I came up on his left. Hello, angel.

  “Hello, Regarth,” I said out loud. I switched a look from him to Sully. “Which one of you is going to get the primary codes for me?”

  “I wouldn’t dream of denying Gabriel his deserved fun with Cousin Hayden.”

  “This won’t take long,” Sully said but not before slanting a quick, narrow-eyed glance at Del. “Guthrie, if you have any specific questions about Tage, they’ll need to wait. I’ll do a deeper probe later, but Chasidah needs those codes.”

  “Not a zragkor. We’ll need him functioning later,” Philip said as we followed Sully to a cargo bay that opened through the rear wall. Hayden Burke sat blankly—and alone—at one edge of a dirty tool bench just inside the double doors, hands loosely in his lap. His gaze seemed to note our arrival then drifted away. Like Gregor’s had.

  Sully stood in front of his cousin and, with one finger, tilted the man’s face up until he was looking directly into his eyes. “Hello, Hayden,” he said quietly.

  Something like alarm flared briefly in Hayden’s eyes.

  “Just when you think you have everything under control, you don’t. That seems to be a lesson we both have learned lately, doesn’t it? But here I am. And here you are. Your jukors are dead. I couldn’t save the women you kidnapped, but at least you won’t be doing that anymore. And thanks for the ships. Both of them. They’ll come in handy.”

  Hayden’s respiration increased. His gaze was fixed on Sully’s except when something sparked in the Kyi close to him, or a surge flashed down Sully’s cheek. Then an almost imperceptible tremor moved under Hayden’s skin, but his body was locked in stasis.

  “I have a few preliminary questions,” Sully said. “I’m sure you won’t mind answering them. Your cooperation now will make things go much better later on. Let’s start with the encryption on your ship’s primaries. I have a captain anxious to fly her, and if anything—anything— were ever to happen to this very special captain, I will hold you responsible. And you would pay. Very slowly and very painfully.” Sully’s voice dropped to a deep, threatening growl. “For a very, very long time.”