JakesPrisoner

by Caroline McCall

  Tanith breathed a sigh of relief. Thank the stars Jake was safe. The pilot spoke quietly into her com badge, informing Alaysha of their arrival. There was one last thing she had to do before they went inside and Strom wasn’t going to like it one little bit. “Is the pilot still watching us?” she whispered.

  “I think so. Why?”

  Tanith slid her arms up his chest and rearranged the collar on his jacket. She could sense his discomfort at her nearness. Standing on tiptoe, she pressed her lips against his jaw. The muscles of his shoulders became rigid under her hands and she dug her nails into his upper arm, holding him still. “Don’t you dare move, Strom,” she hissed, “or I will kiss you again.”

  She nuzzled his jaw again before stepping back to admire her work. The edge of Strom’s jaw was nicely marked with carmine lipstick. The poor human was doing his best not to look terrified, but he stayed obediently in place while she rubbed some of the lipstick away with the tip of her finger, leaving just enough of a display for Alaysha to notice.

  “Try not to look so uncomfortable, Strom. We have to convince Alaysha that I don’t care about Jake. Otherwise she won’t give him back. So whatever you do, please don’t call me Ms. Jasson.”

  The reception halls of the Ranan financial services center were luxuriously appointed, as would befit a corporation that handled billions of credits on a daily basis. A dark-suited Ranan stepped forward. “Ah, Ms. Jasson, your associate is waiting. This way, please.”

  Threading her arm through Strom’s, they followed the aide to a plush reception room. Tanith focused her attention on Alaysha, trying to ignore the thundering of her heart when she saw Jake. The Dermatrax hummed to life immediately, calling silently to him, desperate for his touch. Down, girl.

  “You have the key?” Alaysha’s tone was clipped and impatient.

  “Of course,” Tanith reached inside the flight suit and waved the pendant teasingly.

  “Let’s get this done.”

  The Ranan advisor stepped forward to greet them. “Welcome to Rana, ladies. We have just a little paperwork to do before we organize the transfer.”

  “Just one moment,” Tanith interrupted. “I want to make a withdrawal first.”

  “Surely that can wait.” Alaysha scowled with impatience.

  “I’m afraid not. You have no idea how expensive it is to buy a Fleet Command captain these days and Strom prefers credits. Don’t you, Sweetie?”

  “Sweetie” flashed her a menacing glance before lifting her hand and bringing it to his lips for a brief kiss. This wasn’t part of the plan and Tanith knew that she was going to pay for that one later. She was afraid to look at Jake. He hadn’t stopped staring at her since she entered the room and she could almost feel his anger.

  Jake had caught the warning glance when they arrived. He knew Strom well enough to know that something big was happening, but that didn’t stop the jealous fury that was racing through his veins. The smear of Tanith’s lipstick on Strom’s jaw was like a red flag. Strom might be his best friend but if he touched her again, he was going to have to kill him.

  In the skintight leather flight suit, Tanith looked hotter than hell. Her scent was driving him out of his mind and he felt a raging need to drag her into a dark place and peel it off her. He had been away from her for seven torturous nights and his nerves were on edge, but she had barely glanced at him, as if she had forgotten all about him. Tanith was all over Strom, smiling at him and touching him as if she cared about him. She had a lot of explaining to do when he got her alone. No wonder Cyraelian men locked their women up. He had never known anyone who could drive him so crazy.

  Jake watched anxiously as another aide arrived with the paperwork. What the hell was going on? Two new signatures were requested to replace the old ones on the digi-file and a scan of their retinas and index fingers were taken to verify their identities. Tanith and Alaysha signed the last document, agreeing that the proceeds of the account would pass to the survivor if one of them died. With a final signature from the Ranan aide, the account was deemed to be transferred.

  The door opened and the dark suited banker re-appeared, carrying a small attaché case and a pair of titanium force cuffs. Strom raised an eyebrow, but made no objection when the cuff was fastened to his wrist and the key was handed to Tanith. She was stealing Sorza’s money and Strom was helping her. Was Strom out of his mind? What had Tanith been doing to him for the past week?

  The moment Tanith had been dreading finally arrived and she handed over the harlequin key. The two halves were placed in a sleek handheld device, and there was a brief delay while the key was scanned. The device beeped its approval. The virus hadn’t been detected. Tanith could feel her heart thudding. The countdown had begun. They had to get out of here in the next few minutes before the virus went live.

  “Your withdrawal has been concluded, Ms. Jasson. Would you care to make another transaction at this time?”

  Tanith shook her head.

  Alaysha could barely contain her impatience. “I have quite a number of transactions to make, if you don’t mind.”

  The aide inclined his head politely. He was obviously used to less than mannerly clients. “Good day, Ms. Jasson, your key will be held here until your return.”

  Tanith’s heels clicked noisily on the marble floor as they walked quickly to the exit. Jake followed close behind them. “Would anyone like to tell me what’s going on?”

  “Not now, Jake. We need to get out of here as soon as possible. I estimate that we have less than five minutes before all hell breaks loose.”

  Back at the shuttle, Jake strapped himself into the pilot’s seat and switched on the engine. They didn’t have time for a preflight check. The shuttlecraft moved smoothly forward and headed toward the open sky.

  “Time?” Strom asked anxiously.

  “Less than one minute,” Tanith replied.

  “Jake, get us out of here.”

  The warning light came on when they reached the upper atmosphere. Jake flipped a switch, trying to reset the control. “We have a red on life support.”

  Seconds later the control panel was lit up like a comet tail. The engines were failing, they were losing cabin pressure. A complete systems failure in a shuttlecraft was almost impossible. It had to be sabotage. Alaysha’s pilot should never have been left alone. “We have to turn back.”

  Strom eased into the copilot’s chair. “Negative. Keep going, Jake. I’ll send a mayday to Pete and get him to pick us up. How long have we got?”

  The cabin lights flickered ominously as they reached the inky darkness of space. Jake eyed the com display. This was bad. “If you like breathing, you’ve got two minutes.”

  “Activate the escape pods.”

  Jake switched on the emergency lights and there was a low hum as the pods slid open in the rear of the craft. “We’ve lost forward propulsion.”

  As the craft began to spin, Tanith grabbed the bulkhead for support. The ship was out of control. Strom moved unsteadily toward the rear of the ship. “Jake, Tanith, get back here, now.”

  Alaysha’s pilot had been busy when they were inside the bank. Dark scorch marks of laser gun fire crisscrossed the life support units of the pods. Only two were functional.

  One of them wasn’t going to make it.

  Chapter Ten

  The shuttle lurched again and began a slow spin. They were slipping back toward Rana. Without the ability to make a controlled reentry, they would burn up in its atmosphere. Tanith eyed the cramped interior of the escape pods. There was just enough room for someone like Strom, even the attaché case was going to be a problem. She would have to find a way of sharing with Jake. Strom punched the side of the interior of one of the pods, ripping at the covering with his bare hands. If Strom could take out some of the insulation, there might be enough room for two.

  “Try this.” Tanith reached into her hair and handed over the stiletto knife. Her chest hurt and her breathing was becoming shallow. It was getting harder to pull en
ough oxygen into her lungs. Strom grunted as he gouged at the insulation with the knife, until a small channel was carved out of one side. It would have to do.

  “Get in, both of you. I’ll take the other one.”

  Tanith climbed into the pod and Jake followed, curling up to her back. Strom pressed the lid down hard and the seal engaged. When the dim interior lighting came on, Jake reached out and switched it off. “These things aren’t designed for two. We need to save as much energy as we can.”

  She whispered a silent prayer as he watched the automated display countdown to launch. Three, two, one…there was a sudden lurch as both pods were jettisoned.

  They had made it off the shuttle. It was up to Pete now. She could feel Jake’s lean body curved around hers. Without the insulation, it was going to get cold in here, unless they could generate enough body heat to warm the interior. With all the excitement, she had almost forgotten how much she had missed him.

  His mouth nuzzled the back of her neck, inhaling her scent. “Hey, baby, you have no idea how good it feels to hold you.”

  She wriggled in the tight space, trying to get closer to him, and her hand reached for his. She brought his fingers to her lips and kissed them lovingly. “I missed you too, Human. We both did.”

  Jake dropped a light kiss onto the Dermatrax and Tanith could feel it ripple with pleasure. “You look so hot in that suit. Promise me that you’ll never wear it again.”

  Tanith giggled. “Never?”

  “Well, maybe not never, but not in public for a while. I wouldn’t have time to admire it. I’d have to spend too much time beating up all the guys who were staring at you.”

  Jake nuzzled her neck again. “Speaking of guys, is there anything you want to tell me?”

  His voice was teasing, but there was an underlying hint of jealousy that excited her. Tanith was silent for a few moments, pretending to consider her reply.

  “Tanith?” Jake’s hand slid between them, caressing the shimmering display on her spine and she squirmed.

  “I kissed Strom, but I don’t think he liked it much. Oh and I kissed Pete too, but it was just a quick one.”

  Jake gave a low growl, sending a delicious shiver down her spine. His hand stopped caressing her for a moment. “I am never letting you out of my sight again.”

  “I think I’d like that, I’d like that very much.”

  Tanith snuggled into his arms. “Lieutenant Svenson, it just occurs to me that this is a very one-sided mission debriefing. You haven’t said a word about your time away.”

  “Nothing to tell, really.”

  “Really?” Tanith’s tone was extremely doubtful.

  “What can I say? Zander’s crew went crazy for me. They didn’t leave me alone for a minute. I’ll need a week to recuperate.”

  Tanith elbowed him sharply in the ribs. If her human was with one of those women, she would gouge his heart out. “Jake Svenson, if you touched one of them, I’ll…”

  She felt a low rumble of laughter rise in his chest. The human was teasing her.

  Jake cupped her hands under his. Tanith was getting cold. He glanced at the display in the lid of the pod. The temperature had dropped three degrees in the last ten minutes. That couldn’t be right, environmental controls should have kicked in by now. Jake turned on the light and tapped impatiently at display. As he watched, the temperature dropped another half a degree. The life support unit must be damaged. His mind raced, calculating the rate of heat loss. They didn’t have long, less than twenty minutes. If Pete didn’t get here soon, they weren’t going to make it.

  With his tech enhancements, he could put himself into stasis. He could survive extremely low temperatures, but then Tanith would be left alone and he couldn’t do that to her. He would stay with her. At least they would be together when the end came. He couldn’t reach her mouth, so he contented himself with a slow kiss against the back of her neck. The Dermatrax rippled. Even in the dim light of the pod, the shimmering display was beautiful. He had missed them both. “I love you, Tanith.”

  She was the only woman he had ever said those words to. He hadn’t meant to tell her like this. He had always planned to say it with flowers and soft music and putting his ring on her finger. Not floating in an icy tin can in space, waiting to be rescued. Where the hell was Pete? What could be taking him so long?

  “I love you too, Human.”

  Her teeth chattered as she said the words, and Jake rubbed his hands up and down her body, trying to warm her. The temperature gauge had dropped another two degrees in the last few minutes. “I think I can get out of this shirt.” Jake started to wriggle out of his clothing, but in the tight confines of the pod, there wasn’t enough room to move.

  “No, I’m fine, honestly. I’ll try to sleep for a little while. That might take my mind off the cold.”

  Jake rubbed her briskly again, up and down her thighs and along her arms. Tanith turned her head and landed an awkward kiss on the edge of his jaw. She was ice cold. Her lips were tinged with blue and the tip of her nose was pink. With her slanted eyes, she looked like a pretty elf from his grandmother’s old storybook. There was one tale about two kids lost in the woods and something about breadcrumbs. Jake closed his eyes. He could almost see the range in her kitchen. They burned real wood in the old farmhouse back on Earth and the flames danced when Uncle Charlie opened the heavy iron door to feed the fire. Jake stretched out his hands. He could feel the warmth. Any minute now, his grandmother would put a big steaming mug of hot chocolate into his hands and he wouldn’t be cold any longer.

  The insistent buzzing of the alarm woke him. Jake switched it off. He didn’t need an alarm to know that environmental controls had failed completely. Tanith was sleeping. Jake pressed his lips against her skin. She was icy cold. Jake touched the artery in her neck, but he couldn’t feel a pulse. He put his hand in front of her mouth. Nothing, she wasn’t breathing. Jake slapped her gently on the face. “Tanith, Tanith, wake up, baby. Stay with me. Stay with me now.”

  There was no response. His heart thumped. Tanith couldn’t be gone. He grabbed her arms and shook her roughly. She was as limp as a rag doll. He slapped her hard. “Don’t you do this, Tanith. Don’t you die on me.”

  He was shouting now, screaming at her. The temperature in the pod had dropped again and his lungs hurt. He wouldn’t last much longer. Stay with her. Stay with her. It was no use. Nothing mattered anymore. Tanith was dead. The tech enhancements in his brain kicked in, shutting down all systems, sending him into oblivion.

  * * * * *

  His lungs hurt, everything hurt. Jake tried to open his eyes, but the light was too bright and he closed them again. Someone tucked a thermo blanket under his chin. He tried to shrug it away, but he couldn’t move his arms yet. Something lurked at the edge of his consciousness, something painful. He sat up suddenly, almost knocking over the medi-bot beside his bed. “Tanith?”

  “They’re working on her now, Jake.”

  Pete’s face was ashen. Over his shoulder, Jake could vaguely make out the head and shoulders of the big guy standing at the end of the next bed. They were working on her. They wouldn’t be doing that if she was dead. “I need to see her.”

  “Not yet, Jake. They’re—”

  “Please, Pete.” Jake swung his legs over the side of the bed and lurched toward her. Pete caught him as his legs collapsed. What the hell? The link between his brain and his legs wasn’t working and he was as weak as a kitten. Strom was at his side in seconds. Between them, they half carried him to the next bed. The doc was frowning, that wasn’t a good sign.

  “The resilience of the humanoid species is nothing less than breathtaking. But I don’t have enough knowledge about Cyraelian physiology to know whether she has suffered any permanent damage.”

  Jake reached out his hand to touch her. Tanith was warm again. He could feel the tears running down his cheeks. He couldn’t remember the last time he had cried. “I want to lie beside her.”

  “I’m sorry, Lieu
tenant, but—”

  “Let him,” Strom interrupted.

  Pete helped him onto the bed and he curled up behind Tanith. The nurse came again with the thermo blanket, and this time he didn’t fight her.

  * * * * *

  Tanith watched as the medi-bot made its rounds again. If that thing took her temperature one more time, it was going to end up in the trash chute. Sickbay was hell. If it wasn’t a medi-bot sticking probes into her, it was the doc fussing over her. He must be writing another medical paper. She had to get out of here.

  Tanith slid out of bed. Damn legs, they still weren’t back to normal, but they carried her as far as the locker. Choices, choices—should she wear the regulation flight suit or the backless medi-gown? She wriggled into the suit and logged herself out of sickbay.

  The summons came over the ship’s com within ten minutes of her discharge. Now she was heading to the captain’s ready room to face a big pile of trouble. Pete had filled her in when he came to visit. He was always good for the latest gossip. Like the small matter of an enraged Cyraelian captain who had taken a few potshots at the ship while Pete was in command. The Ranan bankers had been sending hourly communications for her attention—apparently Strom was trying to field those. Fleet Command wanted to discuss allegations of bribery of a starship captain, and that was before the salacious reports about Sweetie and the Terrorist had hit the news coms. That was probably Alaysha’s doing.

  According to Pete, she looked hot in the red suit, but the suit wasn’t going to help her now. Not one little bit. Yes, it was going to be a very bad day and she hadn’t seen the human for nine hours and forty-seven minutes. Pete said that he was moving quarters. She couldn’t figure that one out.

  The doors to the bridge opened. Several members of the crew smiled openly at her when they saw her in uniform. Strom scowled his displeasure at them and he gave a curt command that she follow him to his ready room. “Please be seated, Ms. Jasson, there are a number of matters we need to discuss.”