Chep's mouth opened in what Dray had come to understand was the Fitalian version of a smile. “Well, no. But I have a feeling this is going to make things considerably worse.”
Dray bared his teeth. “That is just too bad.”
The doors opened and they stepped out into a plush space that was floor to ceiling windows with magnificent views over the cliffs. The Tecran must have attached large spotlights just below the clifftops. They shone down onto the water below, illuminating the waves as they raced to smash themselves against the cliffs and the weightless foam that leapt for the sky as it hit the rocks that stood out at sea.
Dray went straight toward the double doors in front of them, guarded by two soldiers who straightened to attention as he and Chep approached.
Instead of asking for identification, they both raised their shockguns. Dray slowed his step. There was something very wrong here.
“You have to know we're part of the UC leadership team.” Dray narrowed his eyes at them. “The ambassador is expecting us.”
They shared a look and Dray felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. They were nervous, and they were unsure what to do. As if they had not been expecting company.
Chep brought his shockgun out of the holster attached to his thigh in one smooth move, and Dray waited a beat, waited for their focus to be on the Fitalian, before he did the same. He didn't wait for a standoff. There was no way to win that, and he didn't have the time.
Every moment they stood here, Lucy was being dragged even further away from him.
He shot the guard nearest him and leaped, shoving the guard's limp body into his partner, and kicked in the door.
He saw the flicker of purple to his left, and guessed Chep had opened fire, as well.
Both the guards would be wearing protective clothing, but his new shockgun would be enough to take the one he'd shot out for a while.
He came to a halt just inside the door.
Everyone in the room was staring at him with varying degrees of shock on their faces.
The Tecran general, Suu Ulima, was standing beside a seated Dimitara, and two members of Dray's military team were lying facedown, their hands secured behind them. Dimitara's hands were also pulled behind her.
Four Tecran soldiers stood around the room, shockguns pointed at Dray and Chep.
Dray let his gaze drift over to the three politicians who Dimitara had come over to the building with.
They were sitting squashed together on a long couch, and Dray noted they seemed unharmed, and no one had bothered to keep a shockgun on them.
All hopes that he could appeal to someone in the military to help him track down the rogue team and find Lucy died.
This wasn't just a rogue team going off script.
This went all the way to the top.
Probably always had done.
“Record everything,” he murmured to Bane. “And loop Cossi in, so she can see what's happening here, and try to get us out.”
“Yes.” The chill in Bane's voice said it all.
“So, you were in on it, too, were you?” he asked the politicians.
One of them opened their mouth in outrage. “How dare--”
“They were.” Dimitara shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “They might not have understood the full scope of it, but they definitely knew they weren't accompanying me to question General Ulima. They set me up to come here so that he could question me.”
“You are on our planet. This is our business.” The politician stood, and one of the soldiers shifted his weapon to aim at him.
The politician shut his mouth with a snap, eyes huge, and slowly sat down.
Dray laughed. “Oh dear, they don't seem to respect you any more than I do.”
“They gave away our sovereignty.” Ulima gave them a cold, disgusted look. “They can rot as carrion for baug as far as I'm concerned.”
There was a moment of absolute silence. Then Ulima turned to Dray with a smile.
“I'm glad you could join us, Commander. I thought you were either dead or hidden away somewhere on the peninsula, but it appears I was wrong, and no one here was courteous enough to let me know.”
He toed one of Dray's subordinates with a boot.
Dray felt the familiar tension and calm that came over him just before he engaged in military action. This time, though, the stakes were higher. He wasn't just responsible for his team. Lucy's life hung in the balance.
“Virn's dead. Most of the rest of them are, too.” Dray shrugged.
Ulima blinked. “And the Earth woman?”
“Why would I tell you that?” He didn't know, Dray realized. The general had been busy up here, interrogating Dimitara, and he hadn't seen the visual comms on the screens in the square, hadn't heard from his teams down below.
Ulima didn't know his people already had Lucy.
What had the Tecran who'd grabbed Lucy said? That getting comms through was hard. Cossi and Chep had obviously been taking control of the system.
“You will tell me,” Ulima said, and casually shot Dimitara in the leg with his shockgun, “or I'll keep doing this until you do.”
Dimitara screamed, bending forward in her chair, her arms straining behind her.
Dray couldn't help the step he took forward, and he heard Chep make a strange sound beside him.
“Lower your weapon.” Ulima raised his shockgun and pointed it at Dray's face. “Hand it to Cryn.”
One of the soldiers stepped forward and pulled the weapon from his hand, then took Chep's, as well.
“Now, where is the Earth woman?”
“I don't know.” Dray looked straight at Ulima as he spoke, and the general shot Dimitara's other thigh.
This time she didn't scream, the noise was more a low, animalistic moan of pain.
“We were separated in the square.” Dray kept to the truth as much as he could. There was no reason to let the general think he had her already. “I came into headquarters looking for help to find her.”
“She's out there, right now? On her own?” Ulima frowned.
“Worried she'll be spotted by the good people of Fa'allen?” Dray asked. “A living, breathing reminder of why the UC is here, and why your politicians agreed to clear out the rot in your military to begin with?”
Ulima stared at him with true hatred for a long beat. “Cryn, go down to the square, find Silius or one of his people, and get them to look for her.”
Cryn handed Dray and Chep's shockguns to another soldier and moved to the door.
“Be discreet about it,” Ulima ordered.
Cryn nodded and shoved the door open with his shoulder, and gave a cry of surprise as he was yanked off his feet and disappeared beyond.
Something was thrown into the room, and suddenly understanding what it was, Dray threw himself sideways, rolling behind the big desk in the general's office.
The whomp was low, almost quiet, but it rattled his bones, and the explosion lit up the air with light so bright, even with his eyes closed, Dray was aware of it.
The brightness lasted only a second, and then was gone, winking out in an instant.
Dray rolled to his feet, orange and purple light dancing in front of his eyes while he tried to take in the change in his circumstances.
Cossi stood in the middle of the room, directing UC soldiers to restrain the Tecran. He was pleased to see that included the politicians.
She stalked forward and personally untied Filivantri Dimitara, speaking to the ambassador in quick, choppy sentences that Dray's Bukarian wasn't good enough to follow.
They both noticed him at the same time, and Cossi sent him a quick grin and turned to face him.
“Happy to save your ass, Helvan. Nice to have a little exercise after I've had to spend the last few days hunched over comms systems, trying to stop the Tecran shutting us down.”
Dray gave her a low, formal bow despite the ringing in his ears. “My thanks.”
He realized he'd spoken too loud when she winced
.
He turned his head, saw Chep slowly getting up from the floor, and offered a hand to pull him up.
Cossi stepped closer, and they stood in a tight group as Cossi's team dealt with the room.
“What now?” Chep tipped his head from side to side, as if to dislodge something.
“I have to find Lucy.”
“The sooner the better.” Bane's voice came from the massive screen on one side of the room, and everyone went still, and then turned to look.
The visual feed showed the square, and the escalating violence.
People were chanting, shoving each other, and shockgun fire flickered.
“There.” Dray concentrated on the shockgun fire on the screen. “That's Ulima's team, they're the most likely to be carrying weapons.”
Bane jumped from handheld to handheld, trying to get a better look, and Dray caught a brief glimpse of six Tecran, their faces shielded by the hoods of their cloaks, carrying a limp bundle between them.
Lucy.
They disappeared from view, and Bane made a sound of frustration that ran a shiver of fear down Dray's spine.
“No more hiding.” Bane's words were completely devoid of any inflection.
The screen went dark.
“What does that mean?” Dimitara asked. She had been put on the long couch, her legs useless for the moment, and was rubbing the circulation back into her arms.
“I think it means he's about to make his presence known.” Dray grabbed his shockgun from the ground, and turned to the door. “I can't worry about it now. I have to go down and look for Lucy.”
“I'll come with you.” Cossi patted Chep's arm. “You all right?”
Chep shook his head. “Still dizzy. I'll stay here. Do what I can.”
Dray gave a nod.
“Commander.”
He turned at Dimitara's call.
“Be mindful of our mission, if you can.”
He gave a curt nod and then strode for the lift.
“You capable of being mindful?” Cossi asked him.
He gave her a cool look.
She quirked her lips. “That's what I thought.”
Chapter 37
Lucy exploded into a writhing, squirming burden as soon as she came back to herself.
The Tecran had pricked her neck with something after Silius had destroyed her earpiece and her lens, and it occurred to her now, as they dropped her onto the road in astonishment, that they did not expect her to come out of it as quickly as she had.
Pity Silius hadn't paid more attention to Dr. Farnn's results in the facility or he'd have known nothing worked on her the way it worked on the Tecran.
Good for her, bad for the soldiers trying to carry her off quietly.
“Help!” She shouted the words as loudly as she could as she fought off the coverings they'd wrapped her in. “They're abducting me. Help me!”
As she rolled, she caught glimpses of boots and legs, the hems of long cloaks, and then faces peering down at her.
She struggled to get out of the sack she'd been put in, pushing the hood of her cloak off and exposing her face.
It was night, of course, but there were lights all around, and she heard more than one person gasp in astonishment.
“Hey!”
Someone shouted in warning as two of the soldiers grabbed her and hauled her up by her arms.
Shockgun fire flickered, and people screamed and ducked for cover.
But there was as much shouting in anger as in fear, and Lucy made herself a deadweight.
She knew they were struggling to carry her.
She was much heavier than they'd bargained for.
She let her feet drag behind her, and with a scream of frustration, one of the soldiers dropped his hold on her arm. She hung for a moment, held by her right arm, then tucked herself under and jerked out of the other soldier's hold, rolling away.
It was a good try.
It didn't work.
Silius was suddenly in her face, shockgun to her cheek.
“Get up.”
She saw in his eyes that he was close enough to the edge to shoot her, and she'd already come to the conclusion a headshot might not be quite as survivable for her as a body shot.
She lifted her hands in surrender. Shot a look past Silius to the crowd beyond.
“Tell the UC where I am!” She shouted it as loud as she could, and then the sack was over her head again and all six of the soldiers had a hold of some part of her and they were racing away, breathing heavily in exertion, and, she hoped, stress.
“We lost them.” It was Fai speaking.
Lucy heard a door opening.
“For now.” Havna, the one who'd drugged her earlier, let go of his hold on her shoulder and she tipped downward, and then fell as everyone else let go, too.
She had a real dislike for Havna.
“We can't hide here.” The soldier who spoke sounded nervous.
“Who'll look for us here?” Silius asked. “There'll be no rioters here. It's a sacred space.”
“That's the point. It's sacred,” the soldier said.
Lucy surreptitiously pulled the hood off her head, and tried to work out where she was.
“What's the problem, Carivera? You think Karn will disapprove?” There was a lightly mocking tone to Silius's voice.
The effect was interesting. The others didn't smile or support Silius. They looked away or down.
They weren't comfortable with this either.
“What? You think this is really the place where Karn lay down to die?” Silius didn't hide the derision in his voice.
“Yes,” Carivera said. “I do. And I don't like to use it as a place to commit a crime.”
“You think we're committing a crime?” Silius's question was serious now.
“You know we are,” Havna said. “We wouldn't be hiding if what we were doing was perfectly fine.”
Silius conceded with a nod. Rubbed feathery fingers over his head. “Fine, we're committing a crime, but strange, I didn't hear anyone complaining before now.”
There was silence.
“True.” Carivera sighed. “But did you see those people when the Earth woman called for help? They were looking at us like we were kol on the hunt.”
“We know what's at stake,” Silius said. “They don't. They think we're in the wrong, but we aren't. When we were using the Class 5 to expand our reach, we were being true to ourselves. Exploring the opportunities with the tools available. It was the UC who were holding us back.”
“Except, those tools aren't ours anymore, are they?” Fai said quietly.
“Thanks to her and her kind.” Silius leaned over Lucy. Regarded her with eyes that seemed a little dead.
He was going to kill her. She understood it in perfect clarity. He couldn't contact his superiors, and none of his team would be safe from the crowd if they tried to move her again.
This was where she had to make her last stand.
She had literally nothing to lose.
“There's your problem,” she said.
“What's our problem?” Silius's voice was calm and quiet.
“Thinking of Bane and his friends as tools.”
There was a startled silence.
“Just shut up. I'm very close to just ending things right now and walking away.”
He wasn't close, he was already there. There was no doubt in her mind. All he had to do was sell it to his friends.
Havna cleared his throat, and Lucy recalled he had made the same suggestion in their last hiding place, and Silius had overridden him.
Silius shot him a look and he said nothing.
So maybe he wouldn't have to do that much selling.
Lucy winced at the thought. Time was slipping through her fingers.
“We can't kill her here.” Carivera straightened. “Can you imagine the world finding her body in the base of Karn's resting place? The desecration of the site with the body of someone we should never have had in the first place?�
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There was absolute silence at his statement. Two of the other soldiers started to back away.
“If we kill her, it has to be somewhere else,” one of them agreed.
“How do we get her out of here?” Silius played the reasonable psychopath. “We set foot outside, someone will see us and kick up a fuss.”
“Then we should have done it earlier, but you wanted to wait.” The second soldier held Silius's gaze. “I'm not killing anyone in Karn's resting place.”
Silius gave a derisive snort. “Fine, I'll kill her.”
“Then you won't need us.” The first soldier had reached a door.
“Stay. Where. You. Are.” Silius lifted his shockgun. “I can't have you running around tattling about this.”
“Tattling? Have you gone mad?” Carivera walked over to stand with the soldiers by the door. “I'm having no part in this. Just let her go. It's over now. Can't you tell?”
“It is not over.” Silius sounded so sure, it sent a shiver down Lucy's spine, and the hair on the back of her neck prickled. “We are the Tecran military. Are you saying we can't take on the pampered civilians of Fa'allen?”
“We can take them, sure.” Carivera gave a bitter laugh. “But I don't want to harm my fellow citizens. And do you think the thinking system is going to just idly watch? And the UC? They're not here without resources. Or didn't you notice the battleship in our orbit?”
“We have five battleships of our own, remember?” Silius shrugged. “My guess is the three that aren't away patrolling our borders are getting into position right now.”
The others stared at him.
“They're going to destroy the UC battleship?” Fai's voice was a little faint.
“What do you think is happening here? We're being taken over by a hostile force, and the politicians are just standing by, wringing their hands over it and mildly protesting.” Silius opened his mouth, stretching it wide in what Lucy had come to realize was similar to a human exclamation of disgust. “The general got word that the Earth woman was coming back into the city with one of the Grih. It would have ended any benefit of the doubt they were prepared to give us. It would have hardened their resolve to do a thorough purge of the military. A thorough purge of your jobs.” Silius looked each of them in the eye. “The general realized the only path forward was a takeover.”
Dark Matters (Class 5 Series Book 4) Page 22
