Ronnie pointed out bruises on Binda’s arms. It looked like she had been held down and forced to take the poison. I quickly searched the room for evidence—a vial, a bag, anything—but the scene was clear.
Evidently the breaking of doors and all the heavily armed humans had gotten someone’s attention. There were Cjittan guards trying to get past Harry, Nedra, Snake and Adam. Of course, that meant there were guards lying all over the hallway. Adeen conversed with the slightly more intelligent palace guards from a position behind the team. Then she alerted me that the big guns had shown up.
“Ben, Taz is out here with the intel officer,” Adeen yelled through the broken doorway.
“Keep them out for their own safety, Adeen,” I yelled back. “This poison is highly toxic to their species. Have Taz send for the doctor, and tell him to dress appropriately for the situation.”
“She says she will keep the guards away, but she and Zora are coming in.”
“Just her, and no farther than the door,” I said. “I don’t know Zora and she isn’t coming anywhere near Binda. Take it or leave it, I’m done talking.”
Ronnie tapped me on the shoulder. “Ben, her heartbeat and breathing are steady, but she hasn’t regained consciousness.” I nodded my understanding, then stood and walked to the door.
I waited by the door. My people moved just enough for Taz to get between them, but no farther. My resolve would be unwavering regardless of what approach Taz planned on using against me. Natalia and Lorelei were standing with Adeen. I waved them in as well.
“Your Highness,” I said politely as she walked through. “I’m sorry to disturb your evening.”
“Somehow I doubt that, my love,” she said. “I doubt you are ever sorry for any of the things you do. Here, take your com. I’m sure you’ll need it.”
“I know you think so, but you’re wrong,” I told her. “Excuse me for a minute, I need to talk to my daughter.” I motioned for Natalia and Lorelei to follow and walked across the room out of earshot. Lorelei was teary eyed and constantly looking over to Binda.
“I need you two both on the Claymore,” I told them quietly. “Get power to medical established and bring it here to the palace. Natalia, you and Imelda need to be ready and waiting outside to escort the team to the ship.”
“Benjamin,” Lorelei said, concerned. “There is nowhere the Claymore can land very close except for the garden, and it will destroy a lot of it.”
“Fuck the garden,” I scoffed. “That shit will grow back.”
“Geez, Dad, there you go again,” Natalia said. “It’s not Taz’s fault, but you’ll take it all out on her. We aren’t going to destroy her garden. I have an idea. Give us fifteen to get to the Claymore and send me the location of the pickup.”
Lorelei looked at Natalia, one eyebrow raised. “I’ll tell you on the way,” Natalia said. Lorelei nodded.
I wrapped my arms around my daughter and kissed her on the forehead. I wasn’t sure about forgiveness, but I thought Natalia had resolved herself into a truce with Lorelei.
“Don’t get caught,” I told them. “I’ll have Genius let you know which exit we’ll use.”
They hurried toward the door, but suddenly Natalia stopped in front of Taz. She wrapped her arms around her and whispered something, then was gone.
“You owe me for a door,” Taz told me. “It was a thousand of your years old.”
“No wonder it broke so easily,” I said. “You should replace them all with something newer.”
“I should replace you!” she snapped.
“What’s stopping you? It’s not like there is a shortage,” I answered, temper rising. “Hell. you have a whole list to choose from! They wouldn’t need as much medical attention if I wasn’t around, either.”
“I would not be happy if you weren’t around,” she said quietly, her eyes locked on mine.
“I am very unhappy, Taz,” I said, changing the subject and gesturing to Binda. “Look at her. Someone tried to kill her. She is part of my crew and my friend.”
“Is it possible she tried to kill herself?” Taz asked hesitantly. “I am only asking the question that others will ask,” she added.
“No, she didn’t try to kill herself,” I answered. “Her attacker took the delivery device. We know it’s poison, but there is no evidence of how it got into her. No cup, syringe, bag, nothing. There are bruises on both her arms, so Ronnie and I think she was held down while it was poured into her mouth, and then she was forced to swallow.”
“Benjamin, the doctor is here!” Adeen called into the room.
“Let him in.”
The doctor and I had a history; he had patched me up a couple of times. Next to Taz, he was one of my favorite Cjittan, tied with the sisters, the terrible trio. Speaking of the sisters, I hadn’t seen them since the meeting had ended, which I found very strange.
“Taz,” I said, turning back to her, “where is the terrible trio? Why aren’t they standing around with everyone else?”
“I didn’t summon them to accompany me.”
“You must be lying to me! There is always one keeping an eye on you. . .and me.”
“Crnana is out there keeping an eye on your people.”
“I thought as much,” I said. “Why didn’t you just say so?”
“We have a lot of tension between us right now. I saw it as adding fuel to the fire, as you would say.”
“It’s ok, I’m no better,” I said. “I’m about to try to put it out with gasoline.”
“What do you mean? I am not familiar with this saying.”
“Just stick with me,” I said.
“Let me pass!” I heard a familiar voice yell. “I need to speak with my queen.” Both of us turned to the hallway. I took Taz by the arm and we stopped at the door.
“What is it, Zora?” Taz asked.
“The traitor, Queen of Spiders, is outside waiting for someone. The guards wish to know your orders.”
“Tell them to stand down. She will do nothing unless provoked or ordered.”
“Benjamin, would you give us a hand over here?” Ronnie asked.
Just then, I got a message from Natalia. “Dad, I’m in position. Bring her out the east wing doors.”
I picked Binda up off the bed and laid her on the medical hover bed. “Ronnie, you drive,” I ordered. “Doc, walk ahead of her and don’t do anything stupid. Adeen! We’re a go! Get everyone in position and head for the east wing doors.”
The team surrounded the bed. It was good I didn’t have to order everything. They knew instinctively what to do at this point. The doctor and Ronnie began walking. Zora walked with Genius, which made me curious. Taz walked with me, turning her head every few seconds as if to say something but saying nothing. The guards backed slowly down the hall ahead of us. A few of them decided to block our exit. Snake pointed his rifle at them and motioned with it for them to move. They looked at Zora, who nodded, and they went out the doors ahead of us. I don’t think they knew or remembered Imelda was there. They were looking at us a little wild-eyed as we walked out.
“Calm down, fellas,” Snake told them as he passed. “She ain’t gonna hurt you if you don’t do anything stupid.” Ten feet ahead, out of nowhere, a ramp began to lower.
My daughter stood there smiling, a pistol in her hand, looking confident as hell. “All right,” she said. “Let’s load up women and children first. Guess that’s you, Snake.” She sparred daily with the two biggest members of our crew, Imelda and Harry. She had the right to feel some confidence and be a little cocky.
“Very funny, Little Ben,” Snake said. Harry let out a laugh to support Natalia’s joking with Snake; the joke itself probably was lost on him.
“Can I ask what you’re doing without us getting into an argument?” Taz asked me.
“We are taking her to the Claymore where we can protect her,” I answered, ignoring the second part of her question. “It has a state-of-the-art medical facility. All of Binda’s records and samples, as well
as some blood, are on file. I would appreciate you keeping your people away other than the doctor. That goes for Zora as well.”
“She is my minister of intelligence, Benjamin. She has a job to do, even if you don’t like her.”
“Well I find it convenient that while I was incarcerated for no reason by your minister, one of my crew was attacked—the very one who may have had a vision of your relatives destroying everything in their path. What do you think, was it just a coincidence?”
“Zora had nothing to do with it,” Taz said quietly, her face tightening with concealed anger.
“She stays off my ship,” I said. “Am I clear, Your Highness?”
“Crystal!” she answered shortly.
“Very good. Who taught you that? Natalia, I bet.”
Someone cleared their throat and I realized they were all loaded and just waiting on us. “Are you coming with me? I would like for you to,” I said, taking her hand in mine. “We need to talk, and I would be happier knowing you were safe with me.”
“Are you leaving Cjittan?” she asked. “Am I not safe?”
“No, I’m just staying on the Claymore until we work out what’s going on. We have one or more unknown assassins who moved through your palace at will.”
“You two lovebirds get your asses up here. We need to go,” Natalia scolded. “I’ll leave without you!”
I had to give my daughter kudos for thinking outside the box, stealing our old shuttle and not tearing up the garden. She had us on the ground again a few minutes later. Imelda had run the distance back. Lorelei stood armed and waiting.
I was the last one on and first one off. The team took up positions around the Claymore while Ronnie took Binda and the doctor to our medical facility. Genius walked down with Zora next to him. I stepped in front of her.
“You’re not staying,” I told her. “Luckily for you, it’s not a long walk back.”
“Genius,” I continued, “get in the Claymore. I’ll talk to you shortly.” He walked away, hesitantly looking over his shoulder.
Zora hadn’t moved off the ramp, and stood studying me. Natalia walked up behind her, drew her pistol, and shoved it into Zora’s back.
“He told you already, you aren’t staying,” she hissed in her ear. “If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know this isn’t some pansy-assed Cjittan stunner in my hand. I could blow a hole through you big enough for his fat head to fit into. Now, mosey on home and don’t come back trying to pull anything stupid.”
“Your father is a bad influence on you,” Zora said.
“And you have no idea what you’re talking about. You’re fishing and gambling, and if my favorite queen wasn’t standing over there watching us, I would lay this pistol across your hard head. Now start walking.” Natalia pushed her off the ramp and closed it back up.
I sent two messages with my com and waited for my daughter to join us. I watched Zora, who was about fifteen yards away. “Natalia,” I called, “go get Angel and Shawna. They know you’re coming. Drop the ramp and back up to their balcony; they can board from there.”
“Ok, be right back.”
“It sure looks like you are leaving,” Taz said. “That’s the remainder of your crew.”
“It does look that way, doesn’t it,” I said. “But you’ll notice we haven’t brought any of our belongings with us, and you know I am not going to leave my things behind—or you.”
The last two words weren’t lost on her. She smiled but said nothing.
“We are going to have our own meeting where we can’t be overheard or interrupted by all your fan boys,” I told her. “Hasn’t word spread by now that it’s dangerous to mess with me?”
“Benjamin, do your own people believe everything they hear? And even if they believe if the prize is great enough, do you think they wouldn’t try anyway?” Taz asked.
“Even if I’m still mad at you, I can’t deny what a wonderful prize you are, Tazleaha, Queen of Cjittan.” I smiled at her.
“Benjamin, hush. Someone might overhear you being affectionate and you can’t have that. Besides, you are wrong. I’m not the prize, at least not to anyone but you, love. The prize is power, not the power that I wield, but more power than any other male Cjittan.”
“Ah, I get it, and I knew it,” I said. “But I haven’t been interested in that aspect of our relationship, and I don’t think about it.”
“I know your heart, and know that I could have offered you half my empire and you wouldn’t have cared,” she said quietly.
“Half? You never said anything about half. How does this work? Do you want a church wedding? Do you even have churches, or can we just sign some papers and go on a honeymoon? Can we get hitched tomorrow? Benjamin Jamison, King of Cjittan has a nice ring to it.” I was trying to keep a straight face.
“You are a rogue and a pirate,” she replied. “Just the smell of wealth and power and you show your true colors, forgetting the love of your queen for self-gain and status.”
“Well yeah, my momma didn’t drop me on my head as a baby. She always said to me: ‘Son, marry a rich older woman, and don’t sign no papers.’”
Taz thought that was funny and so did I, until I thought about my mother and family for real and it sobered me up quickly. “Well at least I don’t think she ever dropped me on my head,” I added. “As for the rest, I guess I’ll never know.”
“I am older,” Taz mused.
“Yeah, but rich doesn’t even begin to describe you.”
“Your daughter is just like you, Benjamin. You need to talk to her. Zora is willing to overlook the incident and the threats—this time.”
“Why is she targeting me and my people? I have a few theories, but I would like to hear yours, Taz.”
“You think you’re being targeted?”
“Where have you been? I honestly expected more from you in the way of support today, but you just let it all roll.”
“Don’t be naïve, Benjamin. We are on Cjittan now, not on one of your adventurous vendettas. You spent time with Taz, and that is who I want to be to you and your people, but now I also must be the queen. I have a government and subjects whom I am responsible to and for.”
“Taz, unknown assailants came into your house and tried to murder a guest. You let me and Genius get arrested without even checking to see if the charges had any validity. My people have been on their very best behavior. There hasn’t been one incident on our part since we arrived. That should tell you something about how much they respect you and your hospitality. So yes, I am struggling right now to understand what’s going on.”
“You need to go back to last night when Binda called out for you,” she said. “I asked Nedra to say nothing and wanted to keep the situation quiet until we could look at all the facts. So what did you do?”
“I contacted Xamand for the information.”
“Yes you did, doing exactly what I didn’t want, and then what did you do?”
“I one-upped you with the information I received.”
“Yes, and you were so proud of yourself,” she snapped. “We wanted to downplay the whole thing so that Zora and a few of her trusted staff could work on the possibility of a Khalnalax threat in the background. We have planets, operatives and outposts near the border of unprotected space. It is a buffer zone not belonging to Cjittan or the Khalnalax. There would be an increase in Khalnalax activity in the area if—”
“If her dream vision represented the present. Ok, what about Binda? How do you expect me to react when one of my own is attacked? If you think I’m letting your people protect mine, well, that’s just stupid and definitely not happening.”
Any of the softer moments from earlier evaporated as her eyes hardened toward me.
“So we are stupid?” she said slowly, looking me up and down. “Me and my people, we don’t measure up to the Jamison standard.”
“Shit, you’re gonna blow this way out of context, aren’t you?” I said. “I’m not going to answer you, since no matter
what I say, you’ll find fault with it. Do you want to join me? I’m going to check on Binda.”
“Yes, I should check on the doctor you forcefully kidnapped, and then I’ll return to my stupid palace with all my stupid staff. Have your daughter take me in my stupid shuttle as soon as I’m ready.” She practically spat the last few words in my face.
We didn’t look at each other even once as we walked toward medical where Binda was being kept. I could feel the anger radiating from her.
“Damn, Benjamin, it’s been a bad day for you,” Adeen said as we approached my crew, who were loitering outside of medical in the hall.
“Yes,” I said shortly. “How’s Binda doing?”
“Doc says she will be sick from the meds he gave her. She will sweat and puke and everything else as her body expels the poison from her system. Then she will be right as rain.”
“Has she said anything? Did she get a look at her attackers?”
“Not a good look. She already had the lights out and was in bed, but she knows they were male and Cjittan,” Ronnie answered.
I looked at Taz and walked out. I immediately had an idea who the attackers were when Ronnie told me what Binda had seen. If I was right, I felt better knowing I wouldn’t have to go to war with Zora. If I was right, her people didn’t have anything to do with it.
“Shawna, Genius, come with me,” I called as I left, and they hurried to join me. We walked to my quarters. “Claymore, secure door and delete any previous passcodes except my own.”
“All passcodes deleted,” the ship’s voice answered.
I turned to Shawna and Genius. “I want you to find those two assholes I gently busted up during that waste-of-time meeting. One of them is married to the Ambassador to Allond. Unless you find they are leaving the planet, there is no hurry. Do some recon first; they probably have habits. Give me a summary of the best spot to take them with the least amount of witnesses. Snake and Angel would be good as part of your team. Harry and Nedra stand out too much. Take them one at a time or both together, then relocate to a private place.”
Chronicles of Benjamin Jamison 4: Empires at War (Part One) Page 4
