Ria's Visions (Hearts of ICARUS Book 6)

by Laura Jo Phillips

  “I love you too, Ria. No matter what I am always on your side.”

  “Thank you. That means everything to me, just like you mean everything to me.”

  “I’m glad, because you mean everything to me, too. Shall I come with you?”

  “I want to say yes, but I think I should do this alone. If I need you though, I’ll call and ask one of the guys to send you over.”

  “It’s a deal.”

  “I’m not going to tell them I’m going over there right now,” she said. “I can’t answer the questions I know they’ll ask. I need to do this my way.”

  “If they ask, do you want me to lie to them?”

  “You’d do that for me, wouldn’t you?” Ria asked, smiling.

  “Of course.”

  “Thanks, Star. No, I don’t want you to lie to them. Tell them the truth, and that I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  “I will,” Star said. She wished more than anything that she could go with Ria to face this threat. She understood that Vari was Ria’s sister, and that Ria loved her, but she still sensed that her pack sister was going to face a threat. Alone. Pack did not face danger alone when they didn’t have to. They formed a united front, all together on the same side.

  Star watched Ria leave the room, then turned to go back to her cubs. She would make sure that the Katres knew Ria would need support. They were pack, too, even if they didn't know it.

  ***

  Ria transported to the Bihotza and went straight to her room. Moving quickly, she took her empty suitcases from the closet and started packing everything. She began in the bathroom and worked her way around the room methodically, but she was only half finished when she received a message from Vari. She’d chosen the conference room for their meeting. Ria left her room right away, not giving herself time to think. By the time she reached the conference room Shanti and Vari were already there, waiting.

  Ria looked from one to the other, then sat down opposite them at the table after a brief greeting.

  “All right, we’re here,” Vari said, stating the obvious. Ria realized her sister was nervous, and wondered why. “Go ahead, Ria.”

  Ria nodded, then began to talk. “There was an elderly woman on the Leaper who had a great deal of trouble walking. I can’t remember her last name, but she always insisted we call her Lucille. She required two injections each day, twelve hours apart. Seven in the morning, and seven in the evening. Whichever one of us was on duty at the time went to her room to give her the injection.

  “Two days after the Doftles hijacked the Leaper I was on duty in the infirmary all day with Ferina, one of the other junior med-techs. It was my first day back on the daytime rotation and I was really tired, so even though I was the one who usually gave Lucille her injection whichever shift I was on, Ferina offered to do it.

  “We requested the medication from the med-dispenser, prepared a syringe with it, and she left. I waited an hour before I started getting worried. Ferina could be irresponsible sometimes and she’d gone off like that before, but never for more than an hour.

  “Ferina never came back. There were no comms, no voxes, nothing like that, so I couldn’t call anyone. When I went out into the corridor I discovered there weren't any people around. At all. It was like the entire ship was suddenly deserted.

  “By nine o’clock I was worried about Ferina and Lucille, both. If something happened to Ferina and Lucille didn't get her injection, that could be bad for her. It wouldn't kill her, but she would get very sick. It could be up to three or even four hours late before it became a problem, but two hours had already passed by then.

  “I decided to try to get the system to reissue Lucille’s medication. I thought I’d lock the door long enough to go check on Lucille, and give her the injection if necessary. The dispenser refused, I didn't have an override code, and had no way to find or get hold of anyone who did. I drug out every manual and procedure book I could find, tried every single approach I could think of, but nothing worked.

  “By the time I gave up trying to make the dispenser cooperate it was after ten-thirty. Shift change was at nine. I realized that the other two junior med-techs weren't coming, though I didn't know why, and I couldn't find anyone to ask. I’d been on duty for over fifteen hours and hadn't seen a soul other than Ferina in five, so I locked the infirmary doors and left…

  Ria left the infirmary and walked quickly toward the stairs, arms crossed tightly in front of her. She was nervous. Ten weeks onboard the Leaper and she'd never seen it this quiet. It was a ship carrying fifteen thousand people. It wasn’t supposed to be quiet.

  She glanced at the elevator doors but for some reason she didn’t want to use them. Not questioning her instincts, she pulled the stairwell door open and made her way down. Each level was split into two sets of stairs with a switchback landing, all made of steel.

  Her rubber soled shoes were quiet, but for some reason she felt the need to soften her steps so that she made no noise at all. She slowed down, walking on her toes in order to make as little contact with the metal steps as possible. She paused at each switchback, listening carefully even though she couldn’t hear much over the pounding of her own heart.

  When she reached Deck 4 she paused. This was Lucille’s deck. If Ferina hadn't given Lucille her injection, she could be in bad shape. And if she was, what could she do? She couldn't get the injection reissued, she had no communication device, and no idea where any of the real medical staff could be found.

  To top it off she was scared half out of her mind and she didn’t know why, she hadn’t seen one single person in hours, and she really wanted nothing more than to go straight to her own stateroom. She could lock and maybe even barricade the damn door against whatever or whoever was responsible for turning the Leaper into a ghost ship. To hell with the job, the money, the college credits, and the experience.

  For the first time since taking the job on the Leaper Ria was angry with the doctors and med-techs who were being paid to do a job they made the junior med-techs do. She was furious that they hadn’t even left room numbers so they could be reached in an emergency. She wasn't even supposed to touch patients.

  After a couple of minutes of ranting silently, she admitted that right or wrong, Lucille was a patient, and she couldn’t turn her back on the woman. It wasn’t Lucille’s fault that the medical staff were a bunch of useless asses. So she screwed up her courage, opened the door, and stepped onto Deck 4. She walked quickly, refusing to let herself run, her heart racing for no good reason. Aside from the soft sound of her footsteps on the thin carpeting she heard nothing. No voices, no music, not even the sound of entertainment vids seeping out from behind the stateroom doors.

  She stopped at Lucille’s door and knocked lightly. She started to call the woman’s name as usual, then stopped herself. Instead, she turned the knob and stepped inside, quickly closing the door behind her.

  The room was tiny enough for Ria to see at a glance that it was unoccupied. The bed was empty, the bathroom was empty, and there was nowhere to hide a child let alone a full grown woman. Lucille’s auto-walker was in its place, folded against the wall next to the bed which was, in a way, the oddest thing of all. Lucille couldn’t walk more than the three steps she needed to get to the bathroom without it. She looked around the room more carefully, but couldn’t find anything that looked out of place other than the fact that Lucille wasn’t in it.

  Ria stood there for a couple of minutes, trying to decide what to do next. There were no people, she had no way to find the doctors, and the officers were dead. She definitely knew better than to think the Doftle were going to help her find either Lucille or Ferina. She sighed, opened the door, and stepped out, letting it close silently behind her.

  Cold chills raced over her skin, up the back of her neck to her scalp. She’d never felt anything like it before and had no idea what it meant. Nothing good, that much was for sure. She suddenly decided her plan of barricading herself in her room was a good one, so she turned a
round and walked back to the stairwell door.

  Entering the stairwell, she once again took the time to close the door in silence. One more flight and she’d be home free. She walked down the steps, paused at the switchback, heard nothing, and quickly made her way the final few steps. She stopped there, relieved to be on the Employee Only deck. It made her feel a little safer since passengers weren't allowed down here. As far as she knew, the Doftles didn’t come down here either since the elevator didn’t come this far.

  To her left was the door that opened into the half of Deck 5 that housed the crew and employees of the Leaper. To her right was the entrance to the other half of Deck 5, which was restricted to specific authorized personnel. She’d passed it a hundred times over the weeks she’d been onboard the Leaper with barely a glance, but this time it caught her attention because the bright red armored door that was always closed and locked was now standing wide open. She took a couple of steps toward it, then stopped when she noticed that the security panel set into the wall beside the door was dark. She tried to remember if it’d been open when she passed it on her way to work that morning, but she hadn't noticed it.

  Curious, she took another step. She’d always wondered what was beyond the door that required so much security. Now seemed like a good time to find out. Just before she took the final step that would put her in the doorway, she heard the door behind her open.

  She spun around guiltily, then gasped in shock, unable to do more than stare at the naked, bleeding woman who stumbled through the doorway, letting it swing shut. Her breath was coming in harsh pants that ended on little whimpers of fear and pain. Ria rushed to her just in time to catch her before she collapsed onto the floor.

  “Hide Ria,” the woman whispered, startling her. It took a moment to realize that the swollen, bloody face she was looking at belonged to Ferina. Before she could ask questions or say anything, Ferina grasped her shirt tightly. “Hide,” she hissed urgently, her teeth clenched with fear, pain, or both.

  Ria nodded, then looked around before half dragging Ferina to the small space under the stairs. It was the only place to hide, and since Ferina outweighed her by about thirty pounds, she couldn’t carry her up the stairs. Once they were both safely tucked into the narrow dark space, Ferina’s eyes closed as she struggled to catch her breath.

  Ria wished she had a sweater or jacket on so she could use it to cover Ferina at least a little. Unfortunately, all she was wearing were the white cotton pants and t-shirt with the Leaper logo that served as her uniform.

  Looking at the many bruises, cuts, and welts that covered Ferina’s body brought tears to Ria’s eyes. She had no idea what or who they were hiding from, though she assumed it was a man. Since there were a great many men on the ship, that didn’t narrow things down much.

  Biting her lip, she made a decision. “I’m going to get help,” she whispered. “Okay?” Ferina shook her head, eyes filled with fear.

  “Is whoever did this coming after you?”

  “No, coming back,” Ferina replied. She raised her wrists to point up, and Ria’s stomach did a slow roll. A set of plastic restraints encircled Ferina’s wrists with about eight inches of play between them. Her attacker had cuffed her to something, then left her. Somehow she’d broken free, but the thick, tight rings of plastic were embedded in both wrists to the bone.

  “Do you know when he’s coming back?”

  Ferina shook her head wearily. “He said he had to make a showing.”

  “Is he an employee? His room is down here?”

  Ferina nodded rapidly.

  “Then he has to come down these stairs to get back to his room. So we’ll stay here until he comes down, then we go up. All right?”

  Ferina looked at her with tired gratitude and nodded again.

  “Ferina, where is everyone? Do you know?”

  Ferina shook her head and Ria decided not to ask her more questions at the moment. Instead, she put an arm around her shoulders and coaxed Ferina to lay her head on her shoulder. “It’s okay,” she whispered, “we’re gonna get out of here. You just rest now.”

  Ferina was quiet for a few minutes and Ria thought she’d fallen asleep. When she spoke, her whisper sounded stronger somehow. “There were four more,” she whispered suddenly.

  “Four more?”

  “Women. Four more before me. He had them stashed in his room. One under the bed, two in his shower, one in his closet. That one was still alive. Barely, but she was. He killed her in front of me, then took her away. Then he came back and got the others, one by one. I don’t know where he took them, or what he did with them.”

  “May the Creators have mercy,” Ria whispered. “Do you know their names?”

  “No.” Ferina drew in a long, shuddering breath. “I don’t think I can go up the stairs, Ria.”

  “I’ll help you. Together we can do it.”

  “My hip is broken I think. And something’s wrong in my back.”

  “I’m not leaving you here, Ferina.”

  “I’ll be fine. You can run. I can't. Bring help back.”

  “I haven't seen another person on this ship since before you left the infirmary. I don't know where to find help.”

  “Maybe you can wake some passengers up.”

  Ria didn’t like the idea, mostly because she didn’t want to leave Ferina. She thought quickly, trying to come up with something.

  “How about we go to my room. There’re no stairs, and I’ll lock the door. No one will even know we’re there. In the morning I can get help, when more people are around.”

  Ferina looked up at Ria with a small bit of hope in her eyes. She started to nod when a door was thrown open at least two, maybe three levels above them, slamming into the wall from the sound of it.

  Hope fled Ferina’s eyes, replaced instantly by fear. She raised her hands, stained red with her own blood, and pointed one finger at Ria. Then she pointed up.

  “Maybe it’s not him,” Ria mouthed silently. Ferina stilled, hope flickering. They listened to the man trotting down the stairs, clearly not caring if anyone heard him. That worried Ria for some reason. When the man started whistling tunelessly, Ferina’s entire body shuddered. Ria knew then that she was going to have to risk Ferina’s plan.

  A few moments later they both saw flashes of the man’s legs as he went down the steps over their heads. Then he opened the door and was gone.

  “Go now,” Ferina said, pushing her hard.

  “Come with me.”

  “No. If you hear him come back get down and hide. I won't tell him you were here. Go now, Ria. Now.”

  The urgency in Ferina’s voice forced Ria to climb to her feet and start running up the stairs. Tears streamed down her face as she ran as fast and as quietly as she could. She was one step from the fourth deck landing when the door below flew open. Ria immediately hit the floor in a controlled lunge that was completely silent, and thanked the lessons her parents had taught them all as children. How to fall, how to hide, and how to be utterly silent. The edge of the top step hit her hard in the sternum, causing her breath to leave her lungs a little too loudly, but she didn’t think anyone more than a couple of feet away could have heard it.

  She controlled her breathing, but her thoughts were frantic. The door to Deck 4 was just a couple of feet away, but there was no help there. Even if she pounded on enough doors to rouse someone, it would be too late for Ferina. And Ferina knew it.

  She closed her eyes, suddenly understanding that Ferina had wanted her to get away. She’d accepted her own fate and wanted Ria to be safely out of it. She wasn’t even sure if Ferina’s hip had been injured at all, now.

  But Ria couldn't walk away. She just couldn’t. It occurred to her suddenly that the man hadn't climbed the stairs or gone back through the door to Deck 5. Maybe he went into the restricted area.

  She got to her feet and began making her making way down the stairs in absolute silence. She heard an odd noise that she couldn’t identify. She frowned, listeni
ng intently. It was rhythmic, but entirely unfamiliar to her. She made it to the last step before the switchback and paused.

  If he was under there and she stepped down, he’d see her. She knew because she’d been there a couple of minutes earlier herself. She eased herself over to the railing and, keeping her movements as slow as possible so as not to attract attention, she peeked over the railing to the space in front of where she’d hidden Ferina.

  The sight below was so shocking, and so incomprehensible that it took her a few moments to decipher what she was actually seeing. There was a man kneeling over Ferina, who was now sprawled on the floor in the open. Her face looked like raw meat, completely unrecognizable. What had he done to her? How had that happened so fast? And why hadn't she heard it?

  The need to throw up was so strong that she tore her eyes from the sight and focused on the man. He was getting to his feet, and Ria moved her head back out of sight. She needed to do something. But what? There was no help anywhere close enough to do Ferina any good.

  She cursed herself roundly for not keeping up with her tiketa training. If her mother were here, that sick asshole would be dead already.

  She heard a dragging sound and risked another quick peek. He had one bloody hand around Ferina’s ankle and was dragging her across the floor. There was something on his hand, though. Something that dripped blood onto Ferina’s skin. Brass knuckles. That’s what he’d done to her face.

  She leaned back out of sight. Maybe he was going to take her back to his room. If so, she needed to go up a step which would take her completely out of his line of sight when he passed the foot of the stairs. Once he took Ferina through the door, she’d have time to get help.

  Then she thought of the open security door and frowned. What if he took Ferina there? If he did, she needed to move onto the landing.

  Once he passed through the doorway, same plan. She’d have time to get help. She just needed to know which way he was going first so she could stay out of his line of sight. She leaned closer to the railing again just as he started talking.