Into Light (Shadow and Light Book 2)

by T. D. Shields

  Aware of the danger, Tindel repeated, “I will not direct my soldiers to use deadly force.”

  Cruz’s face flushed with anger. “I am your commanding officer,” he shouted, pounding one fist against the shining wood of the conference table. “You will not disrespect me by disobeying my orders! And if you won’t follow my orders, you will be replaced with someone who will.”

  Cruz yanked a gun from his pocket with his right hand, swinging to take aim at Tindel. A soldier with decades of combat experience, Tindel reacted to the threat immediately. By the time Cruz steadied his aim at Tindel’s forehead, Tindel had produced a weapon of his own—a military-grade shock-blaster that projected a dot of red light onto Cruz’s forehead.

  Markham squeaked in alarm and dove beneath the conference table. Rather than jumping in to help either side in this standoff, she focused on hiding from the conflict. I wasn’t surprised. She was a political appointee and much more administrator than cop.

  I took this escalation as my cue that it was time to intervene. I gave Lucas’s hand a quick squeeze and touched my palm to the tiny scanner that unlocked the hidden door. Jeffries clutched at me and started hissing a warning, but I didn’t have time to reassure him now. I gently pulled away from his clinging hands and pushed at the door.

  The small panel had unlatched with a soft click that went unheard by Cruz and Tindel, occupied as they were with their standoff. They noticed when the whole panel slid open and I stepped out, however. They were so busy gaping at my entrance that they barely seemed to notice Lucas and Sharra stepping into the room right behind me. As far as I could tell, no one saw Jeffries before Sharra pushed the door closed again.

  Neither men allowed their aim to waver at my surprise entrance; they remained locked in deadly equilibrium. Markham continued to huddle uselessly beneath the table.

  Cruz’s recovery was quick, and he welcomed me as smoothly as if I’d been invited all along. “So nice of you to join us, Poppy. You’ve come to see me just as you promised in your charming message. And you brought friends, too, I see. I recognize your pink-haired friend, of course, but who’s the muscle?”

  “Not important right now, Cruz,” I responded. “Why don’t you put down the gun so we can talk?”

  “Certainly,” he agreed with suspicious ease. “As soon as the general agrees to put his away as well.”

  Tindel gave a short nod to indicate that he would be willing to end the standoff with Cruz. Watching each other intently, each man carefully lowered his weapon but left it sitting on the table in easy reach.

  “Now,” Cruz said, “we’ve put away our dangerous toys like good boys. Why don’t you have a seat?”

  The table was a short rectangle. Cruz and Tindel sat opposite each other on the long sides of the table. I grabbed the chair to Cruz’s left and pulled it to the end of the table so I could sit halfway between the two men, able to face both of them. Sharra took the seat next to Tindel. Lucas elected to stand behind me, his arms folded severely across his chest.

  “I see you’ve acquired a bodyguard since our last meeting, Poppy. Feeling nervous?”

  I raised my eyebrows. “I think I have reason to be a little nervous around you, Cruz. You killed my father. You killed your co-conspirators and closest advisors. You also tried to kill me the last two times we met. I think a little caution is in order.”

  Cruz chuckled. “You exaggerate. I didn’t kill your father; it wasn’t even my decision to have him killed. I simply ran the operation. As for my advisors, they were getting ready to turn on me and made the mistake of letting me see it. I may have given the order, but one could surely argue that they basically killed themselves.

  “Now you—I’ll admit you were a secondary target during your father’s assassination. But again, I certainly didn’t attempt to kill you myself, and I was actually rather relieved at your escape.

  “I have to concede your point about the warehouse, though. You made it clear that you weren’t willing to work with me, so I didn’t have a choice. I would have killed you if I hadn’t been interrupted by your furry friends.”

  Taking that as his cue, Roomie leapt onto the table. He landed with a solid thump that rattled the weapons lying on the polished surface. Tindel exclaimed in surprise and fell back into his chair just a little. Cruz yelped in alarm and leaned away as Roomie paced deliberately toward him.

  “Call him off,” Cruz demanded as Roomie stalked closer.

  I shrugged. “He’s my friend, not my pet. He makes his own decisions.”

  Roomie reached Cruz and slowly stretched out a paw, gleaming claws extended. Cruz watched as if entranced, unable to move, even to try and swat the big cat away. Roomie’s paw slashed through the air … and struck Cruz’s gun lying on the table. His blow sent the gun spinning across the table to fly off the gleaming wood surface. The gun hit the polished stone floor and skittered across the tiles to come to rest against the far wall, well out of everyone’s reach.

  “Nice job, Roomie,” Lucas told the satisfied feline. Roomie gave a short meow of acknowledgment and settled in to bathe right there on the table. I’m pretty sure he deliberately positioned himself to have his butt directly in Cruz’s face.

  Cruz tried to regain the dignity he’d lost in that little encounter. He sat up taller in his chair and reached up to smooth his hair. “So what’s the plan here, Poppy? You sneak in through the hidden passageway and confront me so I’ll blurt out a full confession in front of your hidden camera there on the ceiling? Well, I’ve cooperated by giving you the confession you wanted. Now what?”

  My mouth dropped open a little. What had seemed like a decent, if not terribly original, plan was falling apart right in front of me.

  Cruz smiled smugly, his confidence restored. “I’m a very observant man, you know. When I walk into a room, I always check to be sure nothing is out of place. Your camera is small but hardly invisible. I spotted it right away.”

  Cruz reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a silver cube about the size of his thumb. He held it up so I could see it clearly and said, “Signal jammer. Handy little device that scrambles any broadcast trying to send a signal without the correct authorization code. Your father and I have been using them for years to be sure that no one could record us without our knowledge. I guess he didn’t tell you everything, did he?

  “This little beauty only requires my fingerprint to activate it, so as soon as I spotted that camera, all I had to do was slip a hand into my pocket and turn it on. It has about a ten-foot range.” He glanced up at the relatively low ceilings of this particular room. “I’d say we’re well within that range here. So you have my confession, but I’m afraid the rest of your little plan has hit a bit of a stumbling block.”

  My heart sank. Between his earlier orders to Tindel and Markham and his admission that he’d tried to kill me in the warehouse, we would’ve had the evidence we needed to prove that he had broken the accords, and other countries could intervene to force him out of power. Now we had no proof.

  “There are witnesses,” Tindel said sharply. “Markham and I will testify to the true events.”

  “Cha,” Cruz laughed with a dismissive wave. “If I decide to let Markham live, she’ll say anything I tell her to. Look at her.”

  We all glanced at the end of the table where only the tips of Markham’s shoes could be seen poking out into the room. Even as we watched she pulled them in further with a little whimper, trying to hide all sign of her presence.

  Cruz rolled his eyes. “She’s weak, but she follows my orders, so I’ve left her in place.”

  Tindel glared at Cruz. “You cannot say the same of me.”

  “No, that’s true. So I guess I’ll just have to get rid of you.” His gaze slid sideways to me. “All of you.”

  Suddenly Cruz hurled the little jammer cube at Tindel’s face. The general instinctively flinched back, and Cruz dove across the table to grab the shock-blaster that lay on the table between them. A breath later he fired a strea
m directly at Tindel’s chest. The blast of blue light knocked Tindel out of his chair, and he fell in a crumpled heap onto the floor.

  34

  Cruz turned the blaster toward me and Lucas next, but we were already on the move. Sharra had dropped to Tindel’s side, loosening his collar and encouraging him to fight off the stun and focus on breathing.

  Lucas lunged toward Cruz. Cruz knew I’d had some training from my father, but he didn’t know the extent of it. And when looking at me compared to Lucas, he made the assumption that Lucas was the real threat. He pivoted to face Lucas, who was trying to rush him and take away the blaster. Lucas didn’t move fast enough and Cruz was able to target him. Lucas saw the blaster come up and dove to the side as Cruz fired. From what I could tell, Lucas took a glancing shot to his shoulder rather than a full-body blast. Even a partial shot from a blaster was temporarily incapacitating though, and Lucas dropped to the floor with a heavy thud.

  I didn’t waste time running around the table to reach Cruz. I braced my hands on the table and vaulted onto and across the table in one big leap. As Cruz turned away from Lucas to look for me, I crashed into him from the side to knock us both to the floor in a tangle of arms and legs.

  Cruz was scrappy and mean, but he wasn’t a trained fighter. He thrashed wildly in an attempt to get the blaster into position to fire at me, while I tried to knock it from his hands and restrain him. Roomie dashed in from the side and leapt onto Cruz’s arm.

  Roomie tore into the tender skin with all his claws and teeth, and Cruz screamed in pain and dropped the blaster. He shook his arm violently, trying to knock Roomie away, but the big cat didn’t budge. While he was distracted by Roomie, he forgot to protect himself from me, and I used a short jab to break his nose. The crunch of cartilage beneath my fist was so satisfying. I had to do it again. I let loose with all my fury at this man and punched him over and over. His face was unrecognizable beneath a sheet of blood when I felt the prick of sharp teeth grabbing my arm.

  Roomie had grabbed my wrist in his mouth, as if to say, That’s enough now. I looked into Roomie’s eyes and felt my insane rage ease. I fixed the sight of Cruz’s bloody face in my memory so I could pull it out and remember this moment the next time I thought of Cruz.

  Cruz was struggling weakly, trying to squirm away from me. I used my elbow to deliver a sharp blow to his temple so he wouldn’t get loose. Stunned, he went limp.

  Sharra scrambled under the table to join me, and together we yanked Cruz’s belt loose from his waistband and used it to bind his hands behind his back. We didn’t have another belt handy, so Sharra pulled out her knife and shortened her shirt by a couple of inches. We wound the stretchy fabric tightly around Cruz’s legs and ankles to ensure he couldn’t easily break free.

  Ignoring Markham, who was having full-blown hysterics at the end of the table, we helped Lucas and General Tindel to chairs at the table. Lucky for both of them, Tindel’s blaster had not been set to lethal power. Both men were feeling better as the effects of the shock subsided.

  Sharra retrieved the little jammer cube from the floor and slipped behind Cruz so she could touch it to his fingers and deactivate the jamming signal. With communications restored, Tindel used his wrist-com to summon a few of his personal soldiers. “Report to the Cabinet Room, ASAP. Full security, full complement of medics.”

  These men were hand-picked for their trustworthiness and loyalty and Tindel had them on standby downstairs waiting for his call, so they were not trapped in the locked-down barracks with the rest of the local troops. Within minutes, the room was overrun with soldiers in fatigues and medical officers in white.

  “Lane, Robins … secure Rodriguez. Then have medical check him over,” Tindel ordered. “I want him alive to stand trial.”

  Two of the soldiers hauled Cruz to a chair and replaced our makeshift bindings with sturdy metal cuffs on his wrists and ankles. Cruz was silent for the moment, his eyes still unfocused from the hard blow to his head. He didn’t seem to really grasp what was happening.

  A quick exam from the medical officer netted a favorable diagnosis. “A mild concussion and that arm is chewed up good, but he’ll be fine. We can take him back to the infirmary, bandage him up, and treat the concussion.”

  I was sorry to hear that. After everything the man had done to destroy my life and this country, it was unfair for him to get off so lightly. My fingers twitched toward the blaster that had been placed on the table within my reach. Before I could do more than seriously consider it, a big paw pressed my hand to the tabletop. Roomie didn’t think I should do it. I sighed and reached up to pat Roomie with my other hand. “You’re right,” I whispered. “I probably would have regretted it later.”

  Roomie’s twitching tail slapped the blaster, sending it skittering across the table. One of the soldiers caught it before it reached the edge.

  “Secure that weapon,” Tindel commanded. “It will be evidence. It was used to fire on both a military officer and a civilian.” The soldier stepped away to lock up the blaster as Tindel turned back to the medical team.

  “No infirmary,” Tindel said. “He goes straight to the brig and you can patch him up there.” The medic saluted and began gathering his gear so he could accompany Cruz to the brig.

  “Lane, I want Rodriguez in solitary with a constant guard. No access to electronics of any kind.”

  “Sir, yes, sir!” The soldier saluted and pulled Cruz to his feet by an elbow.

  “You can’t do this,” Cruz mumbled as they led him away. “I am your president. I will not be disrespected.”

  Markham was still weeping beneath the table even though the excitement was over with. Her high-pitched sobs and squeals were getting more irritating by the moment.

  “Could someone please shut that woman up?” Tindel demanded.

  “We just gave her a dose of sedatives, General. She should be shutting up any minute now. We’re going to take her in to the hospital for further treatment.” Markham finally calmed as the medical techs loaded her onto a stretcher and rolled her out the door.

  “Keep a guard on that one too,” Tindel directed as they were leaving. “I’m not sure what she’s been up to for Cruz.” Two of the soldiers followed the medics out the door to keep an eye on Markham at the hospital.

  The buzz of activity continued around me as medics poked at Lucas and Tindel, who both tried irritably to send them away. I was slumped in my seat when Sharra sat down beside me.

  “Hey,” she said. “You just went up against the guy who destroyed your life and literally beat him down. Why are you acting so defeated?”

  “Maybe we beat Cruz,” I grumbled, “but we have no proof. Even if Tindel and maybe Markham testify to it, will this be enough? Cruz may be out of it right now, but he’ll recover soon and then he’s going to turn this whole thing into a he-said/she-said argument. He’s really convincing. What if people believe him instead?”

  Thumping and muffled shouting from behind the wall interrupted Sharra before she could respond, reminding us that Jeffries was still stuck in the hidden niche. I hauled myself out of my chair and touched my palm to the scanner to open the door. Jeffries dashed into the room, grinning from ear to ear.

  I was confused by his happiness given the disastrous end to all my grand plans, and I had to restrain myself from snapping at him. “What are you so excited about?” I asked, almost nicely.

  “I tried to tell you about the jammer earlier, but there wasn’t time. Cruz always carries those things and turns them on during any meeting, so I knew that if you were trying to get this on record, it would mess up your plans. But that little hiding spot you put me in is outside the range of the jammer. As soon as you shut the door behind you, I grabbed my tablet and activated the record function. The picture quality isn’t great since I was filming through a peephole, but the sound is excellent.

  “I patched the signal into the White House feed we use for national addresses—you know, the one that overrides every other signal when it
begins to broadcast. This whole situation,” he waved a hand around to encompass the entire room, “went out live to every news and entertainment station in the country. It was surely picked up by every international station that monitors our feeds as well.”

  Jeffries beamed at me proudly, and I just stared at him for a moment, stunned at the sudden turnaround. We had our proof.

  Epilogue

  I sat back with a sigh of relief. Relaxing into the contoured support chair that was built into the passenger capsule felt heavenly. The burdens of the past two years finally lifted off my shoulders as I settled into my seat and waited for the signal that the vac-train was ready to depart.

  This time I was actually riding the vac-train to Denver in a passenger capsule rather than as a stowaway in a cargo pod. I snapped my restraining belt into place and checked Roomie to be sure that his special harness was secured. He sprawled in the seat beside me, clearly unconcerned about his second trip via vac-train.

  I let my head fall back against the seat. The last six months had been grueling. I felt like I’d been moving non-stop since the day we’d finally confronted Cruz. I was more than ready to go home to Denver and get back to my less-stressful life as a guard. At this point, dealing with mutant animals and hostile neighboring packs seemed downright appealing.

  After the footage of my confrontation with Cruz hit the airwaves, General Tilden had stepped into the leadership role. But his was not a face known and trusted by the citizens or by the other countries who had immediately stepped in once it was clear that we would welcome their assistance. Given all that had happened since my father’s assassination, people were looking for familiarity and comfort. It seemed that I was what they needed.

  Though Lucas and Sharra had to return to Denver to take care of the pack, I’d stayed behind in Goodland. I agreed to stay only until things were under control again in Goodland and the rest of the nation. Since we were no longer hiding the existence of Denver’s population, I was able to speak to one or both of them every day via tablet link, but it just wasn’t the same as having my boyfriend there to hug me or hanging out with my best friend in person. I was grateful to have Roomie as my constant companion and as a connection to my Denver family.