by Lolita Lopez
“A baby!”
“I’m so happy for you!”
“Congratulations,” Brook said with genuine happiness.
“Thank you.” Hallie beamed at them. “We haven’t told anyone but Menace and Naya.” She bit her lower lip and then confessed, “And it’s not just a baby. We’re having twins.”
Another round of squeals erupted, and Brook was infected with their contagious excitement. Twins! That was an incredible blessing.
“How far along?” Dizzy asked, her hand cupping her more prominent bump.
“Eleven weeks.”
“How are you feeling?” Ella asked.
“Tired mostly,” Hallie answered. “My morning sickness is worse in the afternoons, but the nausea meds seem to work well.”
“They were the only thing that kept me going,” Dizzy said. “I was practically living in the bathroom until I found the right dose.”
As Dizzy and Hallie shared morning sickness stories, Ella joined her at the sink. She bumped their hips together and smiled. “You and Cipher planning to try for a little bundle of joy soon?”
Brook blushed and shrugged. “We’ve talked about it for the future.”
“I haven’t known Cipher long, but I think he’ll be an amazing dad.”
“I agree.” She had first-hand experience with his patience, kindness and love for teaching.
“They can be a little weird up here about fertility,” Ella explained, her voice softer now. “Hallie and the general had to basically smuggle fertility drugs onto the ship for her.” She looked sad as she added, “Raze has some medical issues that make it almost impossible for us to conceive. We’ve been working with Risk, though.”
“I hope whatever you try works.”
“Thank you.” She shrugged and confessed, “We are already planning to adopt. A biological child would be a wonderful addition to our family, but our hearts are wide open and ready for a child that grew in another mother’s belly.”
“Are there a lot of orphans in The City?” She knew Ella was heavily involved in charitable works there.
“So, so many,” Ella replied sadly. “We’ll never be able to find families and homes for all of them, but we have to try. Every child deserves to be safe and loved.”
Brook could see how important this work was to Ella. When she left a short while later, Cipher’s cake in hand, she wondered if she had what it took to be an adoptive mother. It wouldn’t be easy, especially if the child was older and had suffered neglect or abuse, but she imagined it would be the most natural thing in the world to love and protect any child.
Safe in their home, she placed the cake in the refrigerator for Cipher to enjoy later. Thoughts of sad and abandoned children led her mind to thoughts of Terror aimlessly wandering the ship. The fact that he was wearing ear plugs worried her. How much emotional pain was he in right now? How alone did he feel?
Knowing that she was the only one he had spoken to since his rescue and concerned that he was at risk of falling into a deep depression, she decided she had to try to find him. Her gaze moved to Cipher’s workroom. The glasses!
She retrieved the glasses from the drawer where she had found them the other day and slipped them into place. She tapped the rim of the right lens until the correct overlay was in place. She could see the blueprints of the plumbing and electrical wires on each wall.
Cipher had explained that there were hidden access points on every floor of the ship. She just had to find the one on this floor to get into the secret corridors where Terror had taken up residence.
Fully aware that Cipher was going to be upset but unable to abandon Terror again, she left their quarters and wandered down the hall until she found an access door to the left of the elevator. She wasn’t sure how to open it until she noticed a diagram of two wires leading to a single spot about four feet from the floor.
When she touched it, there was a soft hiss and then a click as a panel in the wall moved. She stepped through the small space created and found herself in a seemingly endless hallway. Miles of metal grate gangways stretched as far as she could see in front of and behind her. Looking down, there were multiple levels of walkways. Looking up, it was the same thing.
The panel slid closed behind her, and suddenly she was committed to her admittedly bad idea. She was in a labyrinth of metal with no idea which way to go. Left? Right? Stay on this level or move up or down?
Remembering what Menace had said about Terror appearing near the shooting range, she tapped the glasses until they displayed a 3-D layout of the ship. She found the armory and shooting range and noticed it was accessible if she walked the corridor for almost a mile and then took a ladder down three floors. Glad she was wearing flats, she set off on her impromptu adventure.
The longer she walked, the more she realized the hidden corridors and interior levels of the ship were almost identical to the mines she had spent her life inside. It was hot, cramped and poorly lit. There were strange smells and hazards like low ceilings and uneven flooring.
Lost in memories of the mines, she became suddenly aware of heavy footsteps. She froze and listened carefully. The footsteps were below her. Was it Terror? The possibility that it wasn’t him kept her quiet.
A man came into view, and it wasn’t Terror. It was Reckless!
Crouching down, she tried to make herself small and unnoticeable. Shocked to see the mean old doctor, she wondered what he was doing here. Wasn’t he supposed to be in a cell? Why was he wearing a guard’s uniform? And what was he carrying in that big first aid bag?
The answer to the last question came as he stopped near a blinking red sensor. He unzipped the large duffel bag slung over his shoulder and retrieved a small oxygen bottle and mask. He placed them over the sensor and taped them in place.
Her stomach dropped. If those were the gas sensors Cipher had placed as an early warning system, the clean air being blown across them would mask a gas attack!
Reckless wasn’t just an asshole. He was a terrorist. He was in league with the Splinters!
And then it all made sense. He must have been in the mine that day she was on recon. He may have had his face covered and voiced muffled by a gas mask, but her subconscious mind had recognized him. That was why she had had the brief flash of a memory after her treatment in the chamber.
Torn between fleeing and trying to stop him, she chose the latter. If she could find out where the gas was stashed, she might have a chance to alert Cipher before Reckless could disperse it. If she ran and tried to get help now, they might not be able to find him in this maze of gangways and ladders.
The crazy bastard started to whistle as he walked on, swinging his duffel bag on his arm. She slipped off her shoes and left them on the platform, determined to be as quiet as possible. Staying behind him so as not to cast any shadows he might see, she trailed him through the ship, growing more and more worried every time he covered a sensor.
Thinking about the gas he might have hidden somewhere on the ship, she tried to imagine how he planned to disperse it. It couldn’t be a coincidence that he was covering sensors here in the mated officers housing section. He wanted to kill families. He wanted to hurt the men on this ship in the worst possible way.
The HVAC system!
That had to be his endgame. It would be the easiest way to widely disperse the gas. Was there a central control nearby? A main unit that served the apartments allotted to couples and families?
She tapped the glasses until she found the list of mechanical systems. She flicked her finger in front of her face, letting the lenses read her movements to scroll through the list until she reached the HVAC listing. When she found it, she tapped the air and opened the file. It gave the location and had a link to a navigational overlay that would take her there.
Her destination chosen, she quietly climbed a ladder to another level and let Reckless disappear from view ahead of her. She had somewhere else to be than trailing him like a shadow.
When she reached the correct leve
l, she walked as fast as she could while staying as silent as possible. Her bare feet started to ache from the constant pressure of the sharp grates, and she prayed she wouldn’t start bleeding all over the place. Leaving Reckless a trail of bread crumbs to follow wasn’t going to help her get back to Cipher in one piece.
Before she reached the HVAC central unit, she found—to her absolute horror—an actual fucking bomb. Her horror increased when she realized there were more bombs placed along the gangway to the HVAC unit. He must have planned to cut off all access to the unit to prevent anyone from shutting it down to halt the spread of the gas.
Ripping off the glasses, she moved closer to inspect the situation. The lower grade explosives were eerily familiar to her. They were the sort used in the mines to widen tunnels or bring down a curtain of rock in an emergency situation. The brand was one her father had used many times, but it had been phased out of use by the time she started working on her own.
Knowing how volatile old explosives were, she gingerly approached the first device and quickly identified the parts. Explosives. Ignitor. Switch. Power source. It was a simply built bomb, very similar to the ones she had learned to build as a young child. It wouldn’t be powerful enough to knock a hole in the wall of the ship, but it would be enough to cause the gangway to collapse. Eyeing the other explosives, she could see that was the intent. Each successive explosion would destroy the walkways and cut off the HVAC section where Reckless likely planned to disperse the gas.
Without any tools, her options were limited. She checked the device from various angles, pressing her body flat to the grate so she could see beneath and along the sides. Fairly certain it wasn’t rigged to blow if moved, she held her breath and picked it up. When it didn’t explode, she exhaled slowly and traced the wires connecting the power source to the switch and ignitor. Once she had a good idea of how it had been constructed, she grasped the wire connecting the power source to the triggering components and yanked it free.
She flinched, expecting the worst even though she was confident in her skills. With a sigh of relief, she tore the battery from the bomb and ran off to the next one. Without a power source, Reckless wouldn’t be able to hastily fix them.
One by one, she deactivated the nine remaining bombs between her and the HVAC unit. Her arms were loaded with batteries, and her feet were bleeding from the pressure of the sharp grates as she reached her destination. She put the batteries on the first available flat surface and tried to get her bearings. The gangway expanded to include a huge platform with a massive air flow unit in the center. There were so many pipes and ducts arcing off of it. She couldn’t even begin to make sense of where they all started.
But none of that mattered.
Her horrified gaze landed on the canisters of gas taped to the ducts. There were tubes connected from the tank regulators into slits in the ducts that had been sealed over with more tape. She rushed forward and checked the regulators to make sure they were closed. They were but it would only take a few seconds for Reckless to open them and set off his murderous plan.
“I thought I smelled a whore’s perfume.”
Brook whirled around to find Reckless standing behind her. His ugly face was contorted in disgust, and she shuddered as he leered at her. “I think you and I are going to have a lot of fun together on my ship.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you!”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he replied dismissively. “Do you want to stay here and die an excruciating death?” He shook his head. “You’ll come with me and keep my bed warm until I find someone who wants to buy you.”
“I’ll take the excruciating death,” she snapped.
“Suit yourself.” He took a menacing step toward her, and she retreated. It seemed to amuse him. “You want to play a little cat and mouse? Have me chase you a bit before I catch and kill you?”
As Reckless taunted her, she spotted movement behind him, just off to his left side. She schooled her features, keeping her gaze on his nasty face as Terror seemed to materialize from thin air. The one-eyed operative stalked toward Reckless, and she did her best to keep him occupied. “Your explosives were garbage. I was building better charges when I was eight.”
“I’m sure you were.”
“You won’t be able to isolate this room now. SRU will send in their techs and remove this gas.”
“No, they won’t.” He seemed so very pleased with himself. “They’ll all be dead soon. I saved the very best canister for them. They won’t even smell it coming.”
She narrowed her eyes. Had he rigged up something at a different HVAC unit? Maybe one that served the SRU? “You’re insane. Killing all these innocent people? You need help.”
Reckless snorted. “I’m insane? If I thought you had more than twenty minutes of your life left, I would explain to you how no one on this ship innocent. Not the soldiers and airmen. Not the mates. Not their grubby mix breed kids.”
Behind him, Terror raised his arm to strike—and Reckless unexpectedly spun and sprayed him right in the face with a small vial of fluid. Worried it was deathly gas, Brook screamed, “No!”
Wiping at his stinging face and slinging the fluid from his fingers, Terror pointed at Reckless with one scarred finger and laughed, sending a chill down her spine. “Riot gas? Tor and I used to spray each other in the face with that as a prank at the academy.”
Reckless’s arrogance seemed to falter. “You won’t get out of here alive.”
“Maybe not,” Terror agreed. “But she will.” He held her gaze. “And she knows exactly what to do.”
Instinctively, she backed up and gave the two men space. Something terrible and violent was about to happen.
I should have stayed home.
Chapter Nineteen
“What was so damn important you had to drag us away from dinner?” Vicious demanded as they filed into Torment’s domain.
“If I miss out on cake because of some bullshit, I’m putting you in a headlock,” Raze warned Torment.
Torment actually rolled his eyes. “Is proving Reckless has the stolen gas canisters bullshit?”
Cipher exchanged a look with Venom before asking, “How?”
Savage walked out of his office with Orion following closely behind. “The admiral sent Risk and Stinger over to the Mercy to look through the pulmonary unit. The cargo crash patients were there.” Savage grimaced. “They were basically being used as human suitcases .”
“For what?” Vicious asked.
“This.” Orion held up a dummy gas canister exactly like the ones taken from the mine. “The bodies had depressions in them the exact same size as these.” He shook his head in disgust. “He got some of the gas off the planet and onto the Mercy by implanting them in those patients.”
Cipher recoiled at the depravity of it. His mind raced, and he remembered something from the logs he had checked the day they were informed about the missing gas. “One of our medical mission ships was on the planet’s surface the day that Brook was in the mine doing recon. It was offering vaccines and medical care to a rural area.”
“And guess who was leading it?” Torment asked dryly. “Our very own xenophobic asshole.”
“That cargo ship had to have been brought down purposely.” Raze pulled the pieces together. “It dropped down right near where Reckless and that medical mission were posted. He was the first on scene. He triaged the patients and performed emergency surgery, right?”
“Yes,” Torment confirmed.
“Who were his medics?” Venom asked.
“Talon, Blitz and Rake.” Savage tapped the massive screen on the wall and displayed their files. “Talon was killed in the pulmonary unit.”
Raze crossed his arms. “The other two?”
“Blitz is dead.” Savage pointed to an image of his body hanging in his quarters. “Rake went missing.”
“After he killed Blitz,” Cipher remarked, stepping closer to the screen. It was easy enough to see the angles of his supposed suicid
e were all wrong. “There’s no way he hanged himself. Look at his boots.” He gestured to the dead soldier’s hands. “And his fingers.”
Vicious winced. “He must have been clawing at his neck trying to get loose.”
“Probably,” Cipher agreed.
“Rake either fled, or he’s come here,” Raze said, his voice tight. “We have a real fucking problem on our hands.”
“Brig to SFHQ. Brig to SFHQ. Code Red. I say again, ‘Code Red.’”
Savage glanced at the radio unit across the room. “Is that Pierce?”
“Yes.” Torment rushed over and pulled up the feed. “SFHQ to Brig. Go ahead.”
Pierce appeared on the screen. He was covered in blood, sweating and panting. “We need HAZMAT to the brig immediately. Medical, too. Get SRU spun up and shut down the ship.”
“What the hell happened to you?” Torment asked.
“I got stabbed,” Pierce snapped. “Six fucking times.” He groaned and moved his hand to his belly. “By Reckless,” he added, wincing. “He requested a medic for stomach pain. Brig officer let him have one. The medic was his accomplice. He had gas. Killed all of the guards. I came out of the interrogation room when I heard the coughing and choking. Reckless got me with a scalpel.” Pierce groaned again. “I’m locked in the interrogation room. It’s sealed, but I don’t know how long it will hold or how far the gas has gotten.”
“Hold tight, Pierce. We’re coming to get you,” Torment assured him.
Raze was already headed to the nearest communication console. He opened a line to the SRU and sent out a ship wide call. “All teams report to SRU HQ. Code Black.”
Orion crossed the room to the ship wide alarm. He lifted the lid and slapped the button before grabbing the red handset. The alarm started to blare as he ordered, “This is the admiral speaking. This is not a drill. I repeat. Not a drill. All hands to battle stations. All civilians shelter in place. I repeat. All hands to battle station. All civilians shelter in place.”
While the order repeated on a loop overhead, Orion replaced the handset and raced toward the door. He was already using his shoulder mic to contact the bridge, giving orders to shut down and isolate all the HVAC systems. “What do you mean it’s down? Get someone down there and fix it!”
