“Your worries are noted, Charlie, for the tenth time.”
“Sorry,” the young crewman mumbled.
“No need,” Erik replied, slapping Charlie on the back. “I don’t like it, either.”
Adam loaded the final cashbox onto the hover craft. They’d sent Dilly out of orbit with Erik’s Pryde while escaping with the hover vehicle in the only blind spot along their exit path—information Susan had given them. Following her directions, they found the hidden vault house near the mine opening. The empty vault house, now.
“All loaded,” Adam said to Erik. To Charlie he added, “We have to trust that Susan knows what she’s doing. She’s been living a far more dangerous life than we could imagine for a good many years, and she’s skilled.”
“I know, but—”
Erik jerked up his hand, signaling silence. At least three men crashed through the wooded area to the right of where they’d hidden their craft. Susan had indicated that no one but Jackal and a few chosen men ever went near the vault house. And the mine closed during the day. Due to the depths and the heat generated in the work of removing the querpher, men worked only at night, with fans blowing the near-freezing nighttime temperatures down the shafts.
With the stealth of earth-cats, the Pryde’s crew melted into the brush.
“What exactly do you hope to see up here in the middle of the day?” asked someone using a petulant tone.
“I want to see how the work’s progressing before I head back to Earth. I understand you’ve found the mother lode,” said a second man.
“We keep telling you that no work is done during the day,” said a third voice. He spit and then continued, “Jackal knows everything about the find. I’m sure he’s told you what you need to know.”
The sound of a fist striking flesh reverberated across the space separating the men from them. “Jackal tells me what he wants me to know. There’s a difference. Now that we know that little bitch is on-planet, he can take care of her. And then I intend to be more of a hands-on partner than I was before. So if you know what’s good for you, you do what I say. Do I make myself clear?”
“Sure, yeah. I didn’t know.”
“So Susan is in trouble? I like her.” The first man spoke up again.
They started toward the mine once more. “She’s an undercover DAT agent,” the second man said roughly.
The third man spoke up. “You’re a DAT agent. How do we know you’re not playing us double?”
Erik shook his head. The man was an idiot, obviously. The unmistakable spit of a Succher reached his ears.
“Gods! You didn’t have to do that!” shouted man number one.
“Learn from his mistake. I don’t like being questioned.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take you to the new vein. It’s deep, though. I hope you’re not claustrophobic.”
“Just get me the fuck down there. I can take care of myself.”
“Okay, Mr. Knowlton.” Their footfalls faded with no further talking.
“We have to get to Susan,” Charlie whispered frantically.
“Don’t fly off the handle, Charlie. We need a plan.” Erik set his synchronizer for Jackal’s home.
“Erik,” Adam calmly said, “when we went back for the last lockboxes, I set the explosives.” An explosion sealing the mine was the distraction that would allow them to escape the planet after Susan joined them and meet Dilly and Erik’s Pryde in open space.
“Can the charges be seen?”
Adam looked affronted. “Of course not. I’m just saying that, if we set them off remotely when we’re near the residence, it will give us the means of getting by Jackal and his men.”
Erik considered this. “But maybe not enough of a distraction for us to launch after we find her.”
Adam stood firmly and crossed his arms. “I vote for finding Susan and then determining a way off Heron.”
“I second,” added Charlie.
Frowning, Erik said, “I know I sometimes run the ship as a democracy, but…” He, too, crossed his arms, regarding the stubborn expressions of his crew. “Lucky for you I agree.” He held up the synchronizer. “Let’s get started.”
* * * *
Rope bound her wrists to a chair, though her ankles were free. That was a mistake Jackal would pay for if she could get her boots anywhere near his nuts.
She kept her eyes closed, feigning unconsciousness a few moments longer until she gained more knowledge of her surroundings. The scent of cigars still lingered, so he hadn’t moved her from the office. She didn’t sit in the same chair as when she arrived, though. This one was hard with solid, wooden arms. Definitely not the “guest” chair.
How long she’d been out she didn’t know. She did know pain filled her body from head to foot. Jackal must not have let up on her even after she passed out. What she needed to do now was work through the pain and concentrate on getting the hell out of there. After beating the crap out of that son of a bitch Jackal, of course.
“I can see you’re awake,” he said, far too close judging by the sound of his voice.
She didn’t answer, hoping her silence pissed him off.
“Why, Susan? Why did you have to be the traitor to our cause?”
She kept track of his walking the room by the sound of his shoes and swoosh of his clothing. Jackal always paced when he was frustrated or angry. Criminy. She’d better open her eyes and keep a bead on him. She said a silent thank-you to Adam and hoped he heard. If he was right about the Omnian knife, she might not be stuck here much longer.
“Why?” She repeated his question. “Because you sell poison to the universe.” Slowly, she maneuvered her hand to the edge of the chair arm. With her fingertips, she nudged the knife from the bottom of her jacket pocket to the top.
“I simply provide the supply to the universe’s demand. I thought we did that.”
“Sorry to let you down.” Almost there. Then she fingered the handle. Yes!
She had to keep him talking and distracted. “You asked ‘why’ of me, so I’ll ask you something. Couldn’t you have found something honest to do?” She pricked the tip of her finger on the blade and fought to hide her grimace. After what felt like a lifetime, she fixed the knife blade on the rope.
He snorted a laugh. “I can’t see myself spending years saying, ‘Space fries with that?’ Can you?”
He had a point there. His taste was far too expensive for ordinary income. Too bad he hadn’t spent some of the millions he earned on wire to bind his enemies instead of rope. Thanks to Adam, she had one hand free.
“We made a great team, Susan. There was no sex, none of that romance shit that always spoils a partnership between a man and woman. And then you had to go and be DAT. What a waste.”
“You might not believe this, but there are qualities about you I like. Even admire.”
She flipped her arm back onto the chair arm just in time. Jackal turned and looked at her, brows raised. “Yeah?”
“You treat your people reasonably well. You’re hardworking. What you do is criminal, but you put your heart and soul in it. It’s hard not to respect that kind of passion. Too bad you didn’t use it to make people’s lives better instead of destroying them.”
He shrugged and turned away. “Some people choose to be a Venutian gnat. I choose to be the shuttle viewing window where it splats.”
Quickly she cut through the rope binding her right hand. When Jackal finally came toward her, she shifted her hands to the side of the arms, hoping he wouldn’t notice immediately that he no longer held her captive.
Jackal sighed. “Well, the sad fact is you have to die, Susan. I can’t let you go, you realize that, right? And your little playmates on Erik’s Pryde are being taken care of, too. No witnesses.”
“You don’t have to do this.”
“You don’t believe that.” He carried a small rectangular box. Susan didn’t know why, but the sight of that box filled her with fear, paralyzing her.
Breathe, my mate.
Don’t lose focus.
Adam! For the moment, at least, he lived, and if he did, Charlie and Erik probably did, too. She followed his advice and took a breath.
“How did you find out about me?” she asked.
“My partner. He’s a wealth of information.” Jackal gave her a wicked smile. “Of course, his usefulness won’t last forever. Someday he might find himself at the bottom of a shaft out in the mine.” Shrugging, he added, “But then, more for me.”
He set the box on the corner of the desk and gave her his back for a few seconds. Not long enough for her to attack, though she held the knife in her palm and at the ready. “Is that what you have in mind for me? A trip to the mine?” She pictured Erik, Charlie, and Adam very near the mine shaft. Were they waiting for her, coming for her, or about to enter into a fight of their own? She pushed them from her mind. She had no time or energy for anything other than getting out of here.
“No. Something more apropos.” Jackal came toward her, carrying a syringe.
“Along with his interesting news, my partner brought a new strain of Pheron. Now, I’ve never known anyone to take Pheron in the vein and live to tell about it, but their screams have always made me think it’s quite painful.” He moved in front of her. “So I’d like to say this will hurt me more than it will hurt you, but honestly, it won’t be true.”
Susan tried her best to contain her panic. Her heart pounded and her palms sweated. Letting Jackal see any of it would bring him too much pleasure, though, and if this was indeed the end for her, she refused to give him anything more.
“Before you send me off to meet my maker,” she said, “tell me one thing.”
He raised his brows and smirked. “Why the fuck not? What do you want to know?”
“How does this feel?” In a blur of movement, she raised her leg and let fly with a soul-satisfying kick to Jackal’s groin.
She jumped up, dropping the knife in the process. “Damn it! I’m not used to knives!” Gathering all the strength she could, she stomped Jackal’s ankle while he curled into the fetal position.
Twisting around, she searched frantically for the Omnian blade when something hit her own ankle. Kicking backward as hard as she could, she made contact with some part of him. But not as much contact as she was going to have.
Giving up on the knife, she flipped around, kicking the syringe across the floor. She brought her foot down again, this time on his hand. He cried out and rolled away, toward the syringe. He grabbed it up and moved forward with speed a man who’d just had his nuts kicked shouldn’t be able to.
Something wasn’t right. Adrenaline surged through her, bringing rage with it. The son of a bitch had jabbed her with the needle after all. Pheron was that very moment pumping through her blood. And now she wanted to kill someone. Starting with Jackal.
Using more force than before, she kicked him again, knocking him onto his side. Damn! That felt too fucking good. She cracked her knuckles and strolled the couple of feet to where he lay on the floor.
She nudged him with her foot. “Get up and face me like a man.”
He didn’t move. She pushed again, harder. “Get up you asshole. You put this garbage in me, and now you’d better expect to deal with it.” His chest heaved with gasping breaths, but he continued to lay there.
“Are you trying to trick me, you fucker?” She grabbed his shirt and pulled him over. Eyes round, his mouth worked like a fish out of water, but no sound came out. The empty syringe hung loosely from his chest, where it must have emptied. As opposed to what Jackal said, there was no screaming, just a terrifying knowledge of death in his eyes.
“Sorry it ended like this, but you brought it on yourself.” She backed away. There was nothing to be done for Jackal, and she had enough to worry about. How much had he injected in her before she kicked him? Except for a persistent sting in her foot and lower leg, there was little pain, only fury threatening to overwhelm her. Fuck. With Jackal down, who was she going to kill?
Anger and rage were all well and good, but she wasn’t crazy enough to think she could take on however many of Jackal’s soldiers might patrol out front. She lifted the window sash and slipped out the back, looking for one, two, oh, hell, maybe three guys salivating for a beating.
“Uh-huh,” she whispered. “There are three unlucky bastards now.” Just ahead and to the south, three men skulked through the bushes. She’d have two of them down before the third knew what was happening.
Giving no warning and no quarter, she whipped around the trunk of a pfepper tree, arm raised to deliver a crushing blow. A hand like iron grasped her wrist. Two other hands grabbed her waist, holding her immobile.
Oh, shit!
Chapter Thirteen
“Susan!” Erik said her name softly but firmly. He looked at Adam. “You were right. She’s alive. But what’s wrong with her?”
“Oh, shit! Erik, get away from me. He hit me with Pheron!” Even knowing who held her, even past the joy flashing through her knowing they were safe, the Pheron pushed the need to hurt someone to the forefront. How ironic. This was what she’d expected to feel on Erik’s Pryde when she thought she’d been infected. Knowing how she responded with the real thing, there would have been nothing left of the ship or the crew if Pheron had truly been in that vial.
“Susan, listen to me,” crooned Adam in her mind.
She wanted to cry with frustration and relief. Erik still held her immobile. Charlie held a Succher, surveying the area. Today his face held no softness. He was all warrior.
The roar deadening her brain muffled Adam’s voice. She felt more than heard him. “Listen, my mate. The tension is draining from you. There is no anger, no fear. There is only your desire to rest. You have pain. I can feel it in you, but it will disappear if you give yourself into my hands.”
Softly, he repeated the words until against all odds, some of the rage dissipated. She inhaled a deep breath, shaky but becoming calmer by the moment. The more at peace she became, the more the stinging ache in her foot and ankle dissipated, the more she felt Adam stiffen behind her. Was he absorbing it, giving her peace at his own expense?
All that was left now was getting the hell off the planet. An ear-splitting scream penetrated the air. Jackal’s death screams raised the hair on the back of her neck. Wave after wave of shrieks came from the house.
“We have to get out of here,” Charlie said.
Susan nodded once to Erik, who had lowered her arm to her side though he hadn’t yet let go. And with a clearer mind, she knew that described these three men—they wouldn’t let go of her. Not until she was able to fend for herself again. And after that? Not until she said good-bye.
* * * *
Thank God Susan was physically safe, although Erik wouldn’t give much for her mental state right now. Her breathing sounded erratic as they made their way as swiftly and silently as they could back to the hover craft, and her eyes shifted left and right in a kind of wild search for something. He was afraid to think what. Adam hung close to her while Charlie scouted a few yards ahead.
Only when they spotted the place where the craft lay hidden did he begin to feel they might make it off this goddamn planet.
Amazingly, they made it without interference. The vehicle lifted off without a rock thrown, much less a shot fired. Erik piloted it along the back paths Susan had outlined to them before they landed. A barely discernable trail led through the sun-shrouded forest and across rough mountain passes, the narrowness of which played hell with their navigation skills. She had earlier marked on a rough map where to skim the surface in order to duck below sensors.
Along with their trek off-planet, he kept an eye on Susan. Adam held her. They looked as though they communicated though they stayed silent most of the time. Maybe there was something to this mating stuff, after all.
Charlie kept up with him, complementing his actions, anticipating the need for instrument calls until suddenly they burst through the last pass. The horizon curved ahead of them. They f
lew at increasing speed over flat, arid plains, rushing toward the dark side of the planet and their rendezvous with Erik’s Pryde. For the first time since they heard Susan had been betrayed, Erik believed they might just make it.
Fifteen minutes later they hit deep space. Another ten minutes and Erik’s Pryde came into sight, parked right where they planned.
What they didn’t plan was the Intergalactic Patrol ship approaching from the opposite direction.
“Punch it, Charlie. We can’t dock after them.”
“Are they still looking for Susan?” Charlie asked in a low voice.
Erik glanced at the woman who seemed to have only a thread’s control on her emotions. “We can’t take the chance.”
The younger man pressed his lips together and focused on coaxing as much power from the shuttle as possible. “I have a plan. I know where we can hide her.”
“I’m listening.” If they got to Erik’s Pryde ahead of the cops, it would be due to Charlie’s steady hand and determined attitude.
“We need a distraction,” Susan muttered, her breath quickening. Her knuckles were white from the death grip of her fisted hands. Then she shook her head as though to clear cobwebs from her mind. “But even that won’t help if they’re looking for me. They’ll have heat detectors. There’s nowhere for me to hide.”
“Don’t you worry, Susan,” said Charlie soothingly. “We’ll take care of everything.” She met Erik’s gaze. He shrugged. What else could he do? He had no idea what Charlie had in mind.
They docked a mere hundred space miles ahead of the patrol. Adam patted Susan’s hand before taking charge of locking down the smaller craft. Charlie and Erik hustled her off and into the companionway leading to the cargo area.
Dilly met them halfway.
“Glad you got back early. I eluded the troops Jackal sent out after us, but now we have other company coming,” the cyberbot said. His gaze lasered in on Susan. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Small problem,” Erik answered at the same time Charlie said, “The biggest thing to remember, Susan, is to stay still and quiet. If you do those two things, I promise everything will be okay.”
Knight, Dee S. - Bride of the Pryde (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 10
