by Jenn Burke
Zed pulled him close and Felix breathed in sharply. He hadn’t actually expected a kiss…
A shadow came up behind Zed and the air left Felix’s lungs in a rush. “Watch out!”
The blur of motion in front of him meant Zed had Zoned. Within seconds, he had their assailant pinned to the wall of the outbuilding. The man—no, a stockily built woman—was still breathing.
“Who are you?” Zed’s flat tone tugged at the fine hairs along the back of Felix’s neck.
Likely it did the same to the woman. She didn’t have time to answer, though. Two more shadows slipped from the hazy darkness, both with small projectile weapons pointed toward them—and the crew of the Chaos weren’t even armed with stunners, because they had been asked not to carry small arms to the planet surface. So much for polite compliance.
Double shit.
Noting the twitch across Zed’s shoulders, Felix said, “Zed, no.”
He was too late.
Zed moved almost too quickly for the eye to track, but he hadn’t phase-shifted. He remained visible—just. One of the weapons coughed quietly and sparks danced off of the plasmix bricks over the woman’s head. She swore, then huffed as Felix barreled into her. He didn’t know whose side she was on, but dead was dead, and dead folks couldn’t talk. He yanked at the woman’s collar, exposing her neck, and barely breathed out as he noted the lack of tattoo.
“Where’s our pilot?” he asked.
A heavy weight slammed into him from behind. Losing his balance, Felix fell to the ground, taking the woman with him. He attempted to roll as he fell, and curled toward the knife he kept sheathed in his boot. Before he could reach for the grip, someone fell on top of him. The darkness confused the fight but he knew the man on top of him wasn’t Zed. Didn’t smell right.
Someone grabbed him by the shoulders and heaved. Felix pushed at the weight pinning him, dislodging the unconscious man, then scrambled up to find it was the woman who had pulled him out from under. Another figure lay prone on the ground and Zed was slumped against the wall, one hand to his temple, eyes reduced to slits in his shadowed face.
“What the ever-loving fuck!” Felix stepped over the unconscious bodies—praying to all gods that they were just unconscious—and put a hand on Zed’s shoulder. “Zed?”
Zed answered with a groan.
“Got any meds on you?”
Wincing as if the mere thought of moving caused him pain, Zed said, “Shirt pocket.”
Felix glanced over his shoulder as he reached into the soft silk of Zed’s SFT. “Who are you?” he asked the woman. She had no tattoo and seemed disinclined to take advantage of the lull in action.
“I can show you where they’re holding your pilot,” she said.
“What’s going on?”
She shook her head. “That’s between Vinchy and the pus that’s got him by the balls. You want your pilot or not?”
“Why are you helping us?”
The woman blew out a sigh. “Most folks would just follow, eh?”
“Most folks aren’t invited to their own kidnapping party.”
“I like the little ashies, okay? Don’t want to see no harm come to your pilot.”
It could be a trap, but Felix didn’t see as he had any other choice. He wasn’t the choke-for-information kinda guy. That was Zed’s job and Zed currently looked as though a stiff breeze would knock him over. He shoved a pill at Zed’s mouth and shivered as a warm tongue tip teased his fingers. The pill disappeared. Steel-blue eyes closed.
The woman nodded toward the two men slumbering on the ground. “More where they came from, we best get moving.”
Grunting, Zed pushed away from the wall. “Let’s go.”
Felix attempted to contact Elias and found that verbal comms were still blocked. A shiver crept down his spine. He tapped out a quick ripmail, which he just as quickly deleted. Elias didn’t need a message that repeated the word fuck sixteen times. He sent a quick sitrep instead, hoping the lack of connection was a passing thing. Then he grabbed Zed’s arm and stepped into the darkness after their dubious benefactor. She led them downslope, away from the noise and light of the feast.
He thanked all the useless gods when she veered to the left instead of entering the line of trees that banded the bottom of the hill. Being planetside was bad enough. Having to duck between trees in the dark? Cruel and unusual punishment, even if the local legends were nothing but fireside tales. Shortly after, he made out the shape of a building. Low and squat like the privy, it resembled a bump on the landscape. The outline was familiar, though.
“Munitions bunker,” Zed murmured, confirming Felix’s suspicions.
“This is where I wish you luck and disappear.”
“Who’s behind this?”
The woman held up her hands and stepped back. A moment later, she disappeared, but Felix caught the shape her fingers made before she melted into the darkness. Thumbs linked, hands angled outward. A butterfly, or moth.
“Agrius,” he whispered.
“Surprised?” Zed had his wallet out.
“Pissed.”
“No map data available for the colony, but the configuration is probably similar to most colonial landing sites. The layout of the festival area was the same as Outrock.”
“How’s your head?”
Zed answered without looking up from his wallet. “I’m fine.”
“Bullshit,” Felix hissed quietly.
“Now isn’t the time, Flick.”
No, it wasn’t.
Felix scanned the near darkness for movement. The far corner of the building was marked by a sharp edge, meaning there was a light there, just out of sight. Probably a door. A small bulge broke the line between shadow and light. The shoulder of a guard. Could there be more than one?
Felix turned to consult with Zed and discovered he stood alone.
Swearing softly, he bent to pull the knife from his boot. He gripped the handle firmly in his right hand and crept forward. Before he’d taken more than two steps, an invisible whirlwind began flinging bodies around. Felix ran into the fray. There had been two guards and one of them was rolling to his feet in front of him. Felix pulled up behind the guard and cracked the back of his head with the handle of his knife. The guard slumped back to the ground. Zed picked the other up and thrust him against the side of the bunker.
“Where is our pilot?”
“In there,” the guard rasped.
Zed squeezed the guy’s neck until his eyes bulged and his legs kicked the hard plasmix wall behind him. Felix wavered between calling a halt and denying the satisfaction he gained from seeing the guard struggle. When he stopped kicking, the silence rang with the absence of noise. The distant murmur of the festival broke the spell and Zed moved his hand away, releasing the guard’s throat and revealing the tattoo at his neck. A moth with spread wings. The confirmation that Agrius was on the ground did uncomfortable things to Felix’s gut.
The guard dropped into an untidy heap.
“Is he dead?”
“No. Can you hack the lock on the building?”
Tapping his bracelet, Felix turned to assess the squat hatch recessed into the front of the building and swore. Instead of a keypad and panel, the wheel lock was secured by a heavy chain and padlock. “Fucking backward fucks.”
A quick search of the unconscious guards proved fruitless. Neither carried anything resembling a key. Zed had already discarded their weapons as useless. Keyed grips all ‘round. Felix looked around for something to use as a lever, but couldn’t see anything in the shadows, nothing but the outlines of bodies they’d left on the ground. Think, Felix, think. He called on long-forgotten training to direct his thoughts and find the soldier within. The mechanical engineer. The kid who knew how to hack all sorts of locks, electronic and dumb.
When he was ten, he’d stolen a locked box from a surgery in the bowels of Pontus Station, hoping it would contain drugs. Pills he could either give to his mother, or sell for the creds to buy the righ
t ones—probably from the same damn surgery. The box hadn’t had an electronic lock, though. It needed an old-fashioned key. It had taken him three hours to pick it and then he’d taken the lock apart and put it back together—sixteen times. If it hadn’t broken on the next attempt, he might still be fiddling with it.
He dug his hands in his pockets, looking for something long and slender, and found some sections of wire he’d been experimenting with for his glove. Crouching in front of the lock, Felix slowed his breathing. He grabbed the cold lump of metal with his left hand, inserted a slender spoke into the opening at the bottom and scraped the inside gently until he felt out the mechanism. Memories came tumbling back. All the locks he’d collected and broken, all the circuits he’d redirected and rewired. Every hack, electronic and not. He heard one lever shift and catch, and probed for the next. His pick teased the second for the space of a long and painful breath before the lock clicked against his left palm. It was open. There had only been two mechanisms. Breathing out, he yanked on the lock, pulling the shank free. He wrestled it out of the chain, threw it aside and wrenched open the hatch.
Qek stood framed in the vague square of light, her blue face smooth enough to show a bruise highlighting one cheek.
“You alone in there?”
“Yes. Thank you, Fixer.”
Beckoning Qek to follow, Felix turned to check that Zed hadn’t disappeared. They still had to locate Elias and Ness, and playing find the crew member was getting old.
No sooner had Qek stepped through the hatch than a slender, dark hand curled around her shoulder. Not Zed’s hand. A stunner nudged her temple. “Hands where I can see them,” demanded a husky voice.
The woman seemed to be made of the darkness, her skin spun from shadow. Caught in the light of the door, her eyes appeared too large for her face. Her cheekbones were sculpted and her lips full. Even Felix—who had never desired a woman in his life—could see that she was beyond beautiful.
She tipped her head toward the open door. “Back inside, one at a time, nice and slow.”
The very last thing on Felix’s “to do” list would be entering a dark bunker, gorgeous escort aside. But the woman had the stunner pressed hard enough against Qek’s skin to leave a mark—and Qek was one of the few beings in the galaxy he truly liked.
“Watch your step,” Zed murmured behind him.
The instruction—the plan—made sense the moment Zed nudged him forward. Felix “fell” sideways, catching himself on a braced forearm. The impact still jarred. Zed became the wind, then, moving over and around him at the same time. When Zed passed through Qek, Felix understood he’d phase-shifted, taking advantage of the woman’s momentary distraction. The stunner discharged, electricity crackling into the night. Barely a second later, the stunner dropped from her hand as she clutched her wrist, dark features contorted in pain.
That the woman had actually fired, had actually intended to scramble the brains of an ashushk—of Felix’s friend—surprised him no more than the sudden urge to take her down, swiftly and painfully. Felix swept his knife back out of his boot and pushed to his feet. He let his upward momentum drive his arm forward, intending to stab the woman with all the strength he could muster. A bar of iron caught his arm, halting his strike. Pain slammed along the bone, alternate flashes of fire and ice. Numbed, his fingers opened, releasing the knife. Felix barely heard it hit the dirt.
Zed stood between him and the woman, one hand around her neck, the arm that had blocked Felix’s strike still angled up and across.
“Our objective is to disable, not kill.”
That shouldn’t sound as weird coming from Zed as it did.
“All right for some?” Massaging his arm, Felix aimed a nod at the woman Zed nearly held off the ground.
“Find something to restrain her with.”
Something in Zed’s tone warned him to comply—quickly. Activating the small light on his bracelet, Felix ducked into the bunker and scanned the dusty and nearly empty shelving lining the walls for cording or wire, and found what any engineer might consider one of his best allies: a roll of duct tape, the galaxy’s best multi-tool.
Qek appeared at his side. “Can I do anything?”
“Just be okay. You’re not bleeding anywhere, are you?” Would Zed flip out if he asked Qek to watch him? Possibly catch him when he fell out of the Zone? Fuck.
“I will be fine.”
“See a chair anywhere?”
“There is one over there.” She pointed into the shadows.
“In here, Zed.” A shiver crawled up between Felix’s shoulder blades. “Qek, would you mind keeping watch? Call out if you see someone.”
Zed folded the woman into the chair. Felix taped her around the middle first, getting her somewhat secured.
“You have no idea who you’re dealing with,” she said.
Felix pulled one of her legs to the corner next and wrapped tape around her boot and the dull metal chair leg. “Neither do you,” he murmured.
“Agrius will sweep you from the stars.”
“I’d like to see them try.” Actually, he wouldn’t, but there really was only one way to respond to folks who clung to warped ideologies.
With her second leg fastened, Zed ducked outside the bunker to grab the first guard. Still unconscious, the guy made a forlorn heap on the dusty floor. Same with the second.
Qek’s voice floated through the open hatchway. “Elias and Nessa are coming down the hill.”
“How many more of you are there?” Felix asked as he pulled the woman’s arms behind her. When she struggled, Zed leaned on her shoulder. She didn’t answer the question.
“Qek!” Nessa’s voice was breathless with concern. A moment later, her wallet beeped. Ever the doctor, she was already scanning her latest patient. “Are you hurt? Is that a bruise on your cheek?”
“What do we have here?” Elias sounded as breathless as Ness.
“Agrius,” Felix said. “How did you find us?”
“A woman pointed us down the hill. Said she’d led you two here.”
“And you didn’t think it was a trap?”
“When she mentioned Vinchy might be conspiring with off-worlders, I figured we didn’t have much choice.” Elias’s bright grin defied the dim light. “Besides, the crew that stays together—”
“The rest of our whisper is still out there, hunting the night. You will not escape.”
The rest of their what?
Zed plucked the tape from Felix’s hand and ripped off a piece. Seconds later, Whisper Girl was gagged.
“She might have had more information for us.”
“I think we know enou—”
Zed’s eyes rolled back, whites flashing, then he dropped to the ground. The tape bounced out of suddenly slack fingers. Felix barely noticed its passage as he folded to his knees.
“Zed!” He grabbed Zed’s shoulders. “Don’t you dare.” Beneath his hands, Zed began to buck and jerk. “Ness? Help!”
Fear again uncoiled in his gut like an oily spill.
Nessa knelt beside him. “Eli, his legs. Fix, hold his shoulders gently. Let him move, but not too far.”
“What’s happening?” Of all the stupid questions to ask…
“He’s seizing. Just hold on, it shouldn’t last for too long.”
It had already been too long, and it was just beginning. Endings really shouldn’t have beginnings and none of it should include a man bucking and frothing. Surely Zed’s reward for saving humanity’s ass should be more dignified than this?
Chapter Six
“C’mon, hon. Come back.”
Zed blinked, fighting to focus. A pale circle of a face hovered over him surrounded by a nimbus of scarlet hair, lit by the gentle, ambient light of an open wallet. He knew who owned those riotous curls but words, thoughts, memories wouldn’t coalesce. Pain sliced through his head and churned up nausea in his gut. Swallowing hard, he concentrated on breathing.
“Gonna puke?”
He close
d his eyes and shook his head, groaning at the movement.
“It’s okay if you need to. Believe me, I’ve seen worse.” A gentle hand rubbed his back and he realized he lay on his side, curled into a recovery position. Another realization nudged him—Ness. This was Ness. His friend and doctor. “I’m sorry I couldn’t let you sleep longer.”
“M’okay.”
“Like hell. But we might have to make a run for it and none of us can carry you for long.”
Make a run for it? He opened his eyes again, squinting in anticipation of the med bay’s harsh lights—except they weren’t there. It was dark, far darker than the Chaos ever got, what with the ambient lighting everywhere. Unless the power was completely out—that was scary. But the room felt different. The acoustics were off and it was missing that familiar and comforting smell of metal and circuits.
“Wha—”
“We are on Risus, Mr. Anatolius.” Qek clicked slowly. “I was attacked and abducted as I left the restroom. You, Elias, Fixer and Nessa rescued me, though you phase-shifted in the process.”
Right. And there’d been a fight before that when he’d Zoned. Zoning twice and phase-shifting—no wonder he felt so shitty. “Eli and Flick?”
“They have left the cavern on a scouting mission to ensure we did not leave a trail.”
Cavern? So they weren’t in the bunker anymore, then. That explained the pervasive smell of damp stone. Zed didn’t remember walking anywhere, but he figured Elias and Flick had managed to half-carry him. “Flick is probably leaving a brand new trail. He’s awful in the woods.”
Qek clicked in a tone Zed had come to learn meant agreement. “He was not enthusiastic about the task but Nessa stated that he had to leave or she was going to render him unconscious and she could not handle two patients at once.”
“Sounds like Flick.” Zed let his eyes drift closed for a second. Holding them open was hard. “How long was I out?”
“About an hour,” Ness said. “How are you feeling?”
“Shitty.” Worse, actually. But admitting to the depth of the shittiness wouldn’t help their situation any. He’d do what he had to do to make sure they got off this rock intact. “Ping Flick, would you?”
