Heart of a Peacekeeper

by Angela Verdenius

  He merely looked amused. “You're clever, Desdemona. That's what I like about you. Strong. Clever."

  "Clever, huh?” Her flesh shrank from his caresses, but she refused to show it.

  "Trying to delay the inevitable, Desdemona?"

  "Can you blame me? It's not as if you turn me on, you gutless wonder. Now are you going to tell me or not? Or maybe there's nothing to tell, and it was all pure luck?"

  "Not even you believe that, Desdemona."

  How she hated him saying her name each time he addressed her. Her gaze flicked over his head to Gracie, who raised one brow mockingly.

  I know you don't like me, Gracie, and the feeling is mutual—but to betray your own daughter like this? What kind of a person are you?

  Gracie scowled at the intensity in Des's gaze and took another sip of wine.

  "Why, Gracie, I do believe your daughter is disappointed in her mother,” Canute said mildly. “Do you think we should tell her anything?"

  "Don't,” Gracie snapped. “Desdemona always has an ulterior motive for anything."

  "Like you, Gracie?” he asked silkily. “Des, your mother works for me, giving my men sanctuary here while they scouted out the areas. She provided me with the girls, and she knifed that good ol’ janitor in the heart. Isn't she an adorable mother?"

  The outlaws laughed again, and Gracie cursed them roundly.

  Stepping back, Canute eyed Des musingly. “But you're right, Gracie. Desdemona isn't asking for her own curiosity. She has a reason. Maybe she thinks someone will hear, that communications will return, but m'dear, I'm here to tell you no one can talk to you again, not even your loverboy."

  The outlaws parted and Yucel strode into view. “Definitely not your loverboy, Boss. I finally managed to cut even his communications and scanners. Took a bit of doing, but I managed it finally. Tricky. I'd like to know who fitted out his communications system."

  She should have known. She suspected a traitor, but to find out it was really true ... Des clenched her teeth. “You."

  "Me.” He grinned. “Good to see you just hanging around and relaxing, Boss."

  She jerked on the rope. “I'll bloody kill you, you traitorous bastard!"

  "Hoo boy!” He fanned himself. “I sure am scared, Boss."

  "Dear me.” Picking up a glass of chilled water, Canute sipped at it, his gaze never leaving Des. “Two traitors, and both so close to home, as it were. One your mother, the other a peacekeeper. Will wonders never cease?"

  "Let me loose and I'll rip his bloody throat out!” Des glared at Yucel. “Come nearer, arsehole!"

  "I'm no fool, Dessie.” Yucel sat down beside Gracie and filled up a glass with wine. “You might want to harm me."

  Laughter rippled around the room.

  "Well, Desdemona.” Canute leaned back against the table, a smile hovering around his mouth. “Now the whole family's here, I'll going to tell you why I'm here."

  "Don't,” Gracie said sharply.

  Canute didn't look at her. “One more word from you, Gracie, and I'll have you shot."

  Angry, but with a glint of fear in her eyes, Gracie subsided, her color high. Yes, Des could see she hated being embarrassed in front of everyone, but she feared Canute more.

  Tamping down her emotions in regards to her treacherous mother, Des looked down at Canute and raised one brow.

  "I'm going to tell you,” he continued conversationally, “then you're going to have to pay for destroying my plans a little."

  Anticipation swept through the room, but none of the outlaws shifted.

  Des kept her gaze steady on Canute. Her wrists hurt where the cuffs were digging in, but she blocked it from her mind. There would undoubtedly be worse to come later. Right now, she wanted to hear the whole story.

  Canute took a sip of water and wiped the corners of his mouth delicately with his fingertip. “Well, Desdemona, it all began when I heard about this energy that apparently can make a ship go fast. Really fast, faster than peacekeepers and bounty hunter ships. Faster than anything around, in fact. I thought that could come quite in handy for little sojourns into the Lawful Sector, but I wanted a bit more proof.

  That proof came to me in the form of that ship you tried to destroy with your rather reckless flying.” He tsked at her. “You're so temperamental, m'dear."

  "Please don't tell me I get it from Gracie, or I'll vomit."

  Gracie looked up angrily but kept her mouth shut.

  "Such a quick, sarcastic tongue. I'll enjoy sucking on it later."

  "Get me a bowl, quick.” And she wasn't really joking. Just the thought of him taking liberties with her body was enough to make her flesh crawl.

  I'm Simon's. Only Simon's. I don't want anyone to touch me but Simon. But she couldn't afford to think like that, not here, not now. Now she had to think of the job, the lives at stake.

  Canute laughed, though his eyes had hardened a little. “Give it time, you'll come to like it.” Taking another sip of water, he rolled it around his mouth while his gaze drifted over her body, before he looked back up at her face. “A friend gave me a ride in this ship, said he'd discovered a little piece of energy quartz that resided in a little settlement known as Tyron, just on the outskirts of the Outlaw Sector. He only knew what it was because his old uncle had heard stories of some kind of energy quartz, once used hundreds of years ago, but no one knew much about it. Old tales. But there was a picture, you see, and this piece of quartz looked just like that. So he took it to a geological technician, who identified some unknown energy. That as enough for my friend. He killed the technician, put the energy into the ship's energy core, and what do you know? The ship traveled faster than he'd ever had it travel before. Of course, once he told me, I had to find this energy myself."

  "Of course,” Des said sarcastically.

  "I tracked down a man in the inner sanctum of the Outlaw Sector who got a trace of the energy elements on a scanner, and transformed it into the geological scanner to track down the source from where the quartz had come. It took me a long time, but finally I found it. Here in Tyron. Your little settlement. Right under Sol's warehouse.

  Well, Sol was a greedy bastard, it didn't take much to bribe him into holding the geological scanner in his warehouse to measure the depth of the energy core."

  "You could have petitioned the military to dig for it,” Des said. “Why the big contingency of outlaws and attack?"

  "Come, m'dear, even you know the military would have taken over the whole energy core. Me, an outlaw, petition for the dig? Even through someone else? No, they wouldn't have allowed anyone that, and besides, I wanted it for myself. To get riches and run.” He winked. “No, not to take over the Lawful Sector. The pirate, Darcus, tried that already several years ago with disastrous results. I wouldn't be a fool and follow in his footsteps. No, this was by far the safer way for me."

  "If you say so."

  "Believe me, I know so.” Canute places the glass down on the table. “I knew the energy was in one of the four settlements—Tyron, Sharver, Calton or Merder. The other geological scanners were better hidden and retrieved when it was found that none of the other three settlements had the energy. The energy is under the ground in Tyron, right here. Enough energy to source a hundred ships or more. But of course, I had to wait until I was sure where it was, the precise location for my drilling rig outside, which even now is mining the energy core from the ground. I had to ensure I had enough men to keep watch for trouble, to hold the settlement prisoner until I'd finished. I had to hit hard and fast, which, as you can see, I have done."

  "You must be so proud of yourself.” Des sneered. Hell's bells, my wrists bloody hurt!

  "Oh, I am."

  "Let me see if I've got this right,” Des said. “While you were trying to find out where the energy core was, some of your boys got a little out of hand, raped and killed a few women, scalped a couple?"

  "Yes."

  "And the missing women?"

  "They provided me with some enter
tainment, kept me company while I was lonely. Kept my boys occupied."

  Whoops and howls met this statement, reminding Des of the howls and whoops when she and her men had been trapped in the caves. I sure wish I could shoot someone's Goddamned leg off now.

  She focused back on the immediate subject. “And Yucel here was your inside man?"

  "This plan has been a long time in the planning. It didn't take much to plant him in the system. He's worked here for the last six months.” Canute smiled broadly. “My brother makes me proud."

  "Bloody families.” Des looked again at her mother.

  Yucel waved cheerfully at Des.

  "He's a genius when it comes to communications and scanner systems. Using equipment he had at home, he was able to interfere with your security cameras and steal the geological scanner without being identified on the film. He also managed to block you and your men when you regrettably stumbled upon some training exercise, until Huxley came into the Building and the panic to find you was on. He had to back off then.” Canute sighed. “You did give me a little start when you stumbled into the midst of the outlaws, Desdemona."

  "If you want an apology, come and get it,” she invited.

  Genuinely amused, he laughed. “Not right now, m'dear. Now, where was I?"

  "Being a prick?"

  He gestured to someone behind her and Des bit her lip against the sudden pain in her shoulders when she was jerked another good foot into the air.

  "Now,” he continued. “Let me see ... ah yes! Yucel came in handy when the search for the janitor's killer was on the go. He wasn't about to announce Gracie's little knifing episode, and he personally searched her room. But while Yucel operated efficiently, not everyone else did. I had to have a few men killed before they could talk. Dumb enough to get caught...” He sighed and shook his head. “Never mind. Then the military came and were hanging around, and then came the bounty hunters. I must say, Desdemona, I do think you sound more like your father than your mother."

  "Miracles still happen,” she said snidely.

  He laughed again. “True. Anyway, once they'd gone, I gave them a couple of days to clear away, checked no one was near the vicinity, and in we came. And the rest, you know."

  Getting up, he walked over to her. Des felt every hot-eyed, lecherous gaze on her as Canute put his hand up to rest on her stomach.

  "Don't you want to know, Desdemona?"

  "Know what?"

  "Why I desire you so much? Why I wouldn't let my men hurt you?"

  "Odd, I have some aches and pains."

  "That's because you're so resistant.” He shrugged, then flexed his fingers against her stomach. “You're strong, not a whiner. I haven't seen you shed a tear, even when your dear mother betrayed you into my hands. She really doesn't like you, you know."

  "Surprise me some more.” I just now realized how much.

  "But I, m'dear, well, I find you desirable. I want to break you. I want to break your intelligence, your strength, your loyalty and honor and pride. You're a challenge.” His hand went lower, fingers scraping down the front of her pants. “I want to take you here in front of everyone, so all can see the mighty Demon brought to her knees by me, Canute. Then I'm going to take you back into the Outlaw Sector and show you off as my sex slave. How do you like that, Desdemona?” He slid his hand between her thighs. “How—"

  It was all she'd been waiting for her. Jerking up her knee, she slammed it into his jaw, sending him flying backwards to crash into the table.

  There was a horrified silence as he lay, stunned, amongst the broken wreckage of wood. A pin dropping could have been heard as every eye turned to the fallen man, then switched to the woman hanging from the rope.

  Things could go very bad now. Des's muscles tensed.

  Tyson, Ruan and Zared hurried forward to help Canute, and they supported him as he stood shakily on his feet. Wiping the blood from his chin, his lip split, he raised watering eyes to look at Des.

  The seconds stretched into minutes, the tension thick in the air.

  "Kill her!” Gracie screeched. “She's made a fool of you—"

  He made a sharp gesture, a laser flared somewhere from behind him and a hole exploded out where her left eye used to be. She dropped to the floor, a smoking hole in the back of her head from the laser blast.

  Everything happened so fast, yet Des couldn't feel anything for her mother as she stared down at her body. The woman had lived and died hating her. Shouldn't I feel something? She is my mother. Her mother had betrayed her to the outlaws, left her to whatever fate and degradation they had planned for her. No, I feel nothing. Mentally she shrugged. She was no hypocrite.

  Lifting her gaze, she looked at Canute. Now the shit's going to hit the fan.

  Whatever he had been about to say or do was halted by a sudden explosion from outside. Laser fire sounded, voices yelled.

  "Attack!” An outlaw shouted from near the door. “The peacekeepers are coming in again!"

  "Get the fighters up!” Canute ordered.

  "There's another ship coming in! Big one and fast!"

  "Fast?” Canute looked puzzled. “What the—” Abruptly, he gestured to someone on the floor above and swinging around, he made for the door.

  Clenching her teeth around the groan of pain that threatened to slip past her lips, Des suffered silently as the rope holding her wrists was jerked and pulled, yanking her higher and higher into the air, until she dangled halfway between the landing above and the floor below. Looking up, she saw the outlaws fasten the rope to the rail, then they left.

  The room below was a moving mass of men as outlaws grabbed weapons and moved to doors and windows, looking out.

  Another explosion sounded. Canute turned and stormed across the room, Tyson and Ruan following him while Zared barked orders.

  Des had been effectively dismissed and left to hang around. She almost smiled at the thought, but it really wasn't that funny.

  Pain burned in her shoulders, and her arms were feeling numb, the pins and needles sensation having come and gone awhile ago. Looking up, she tried to get her fingers to grab the rope so she could pull herself up, but her position and the rope pulling the between her cuffed wrists up made it impossible.

  Swearing to herself, she looked down again.

  Seconds later, she felt the rope start moving again, only smoother, the motion pulling her higher and higher. The outlaws obviously had decided against leaving her hanging from the balcony, unless they just wanted her higher up out of the way.

  Looking up, she froze. Her heart thudded and she couldn't believe her eyes.

  Two cloaked and hooded giants knelt above her on the balcony. Two other giants were standing each side, lasers in their massive fists. A fifth giant was in the doorway to Gracie's room, talking into a communicator that consisted of a microphone in his ear with a wire attached to a small pin on his cloak.

  One of the kneeling giants had hold of the rope and was pulling her up seemingly without effort. The other giant pushed his hood back, and Des found herself staring up into familiar pale blue/green eyes. Eyes that burned with a mixture of worry and fury.

  Simon! She couldn't quite make out the other traders, but she didn't care who they were. They were a welcome sight, and Simon ... well Simon ... God, I'm going to kill him for coming into this hell hole! Then I'm going to kiss him! And kill him again!

  As soon as her hands touched the edge of the balcony, Simon and the other trader she now recognized as Shamon leaned over and grabbed her arms, pulling her up with a speed that nearly made her senses swim. Simon put one arm around her waist and the other under her knees, lifting her over the rails and swiftly back into the shelter of the room behind him, the other traders following, providing a shield.

  "How did you get here?” she demanded. “Goddman it, Simon, you could get killed!"

  "I wasn't going to leave you, Des,” he said fiercely. “Never!"

  Standing in the dubious safety of the room, still cradled in his arms,
she stared up at him, then leaned up and kissed him. Hard.

  He returned it, but it was too brief, the danger too real around them to linger. Pulling back, she said huskily, “We're going to talk about civilians and private frequencies later, trader."

  Simon squeezed her gently. “Looking forward to it. But right now, we have to get you out of here."

  "I'm not leaving without Canute—"

  "This whole tavern is going up very soon. We're getting out now."

  "Going up?” She looked down to see a dagger cut through the rope around the chains. Glancing up, she met Shamon's warm gaze.

  "All right, lass?” He touched her wrists. “You've been bleeding."

  "I'm fine. Simon, you can put me down—"

  Ignoring her, Simon strode over to the window and handed her through to the fifth giant, who was now standing out on the verandah. Heddam took her carefully, handing her back to Simon like a child once he was out on the verandah.

  "I can walk!” She struggled. “I don't need to be carried!"

  "Just hang on, lass. Things are going to get very rough in a few minutes.” Simon eased her down to stand on her own feet, but he kept his arm around her waist, holding her close.

  Looking down, Des saw the outlaw fighters soaring through the dawn sky, the peacekeepers close on their tails. Without the mystery ship with its incredible speed, the fighters were at a disadvantage.

  Then she saw the ships not far away. Her gaze dropped down to the scene below, and she saw the outlaws fighting. And heard whips cracking, the sound of manblasters.

  Bounty hunters crept down alleys, dropped low, fought with grim determination. Bounty hunters, scores of them, cold-bloodedly hunting the outlaws with deadly accuracy.

  Hunting outlaws, high-priced outlaws. Prime meat. And she understood. “Dad?"

  "He wishes,” Simon said. “He couldn't get here on time, but he sent some of his friends who were looking for some big dinnos."

  "He'll be here by midday,” Heddam told her. “Simon!"

  Des looked at Simon then followed his gaze upward. Her eyes widened. Coming down towards them at incredible speed was the trading ship.