With a hard punch of his elbow in the guard’s stomach, Tairan shook him off, then reached Ricread in two wide leaps.
“Saryal . . .” Ricread grunted as Tairan fisted his hand in the braids on the back of his head and yanked back, pressing the handle of the switched-off laser knife to Ricread’s exposed throat.
“Silence,” Tairan gritted through his teeth, giving another firm tug at the Professor’s hair. “Stand back!” he ordered the guards and glanced around the room, noting their positions as he backed up to the wall with his hostage. “He dies if anyone moves a muscle.”
The research team seemed frozen on the spot. The hands of the guards twitched, though, as they glared at him, obviously going through ways to neutralize him in their heads.
“Sikril, get out.” Tairan jerked his chin in the direction of the entrance mark on the wall. “Take your pawns with you. Doctor,” he addressed Saroyan as the security team moved to the door. “How many assistants do you need to save my family?”
“Um . . .” She blinked, recovering quickly. “An anesthesiologist, a nurse, an assistant . . . Someone who knows exactly what all of these are.” She waved her hand at the robots aligned along the bed.
Tairan swept the research team with an assessing stare. He knew all of them and quickly tried to assess their skills and level of integrity before making a selection.
“Ires, Zavis . . .” He gestured to the women to join Saroyan then faced the remaining members of the research team. “The rest of you, out.”
“You’ll never see your son again, Saryal,” Ricread croaked against the knife handle shoved at his neck, as his team was exiting.
“I won’t let you kill her,” he replied, his voice eerily calm even to his own ear. Steel grey, he recalled Isabella describing it, and his throat tightened.
“She is as good as dead already. And soon, I’ll make you wish you were, too.”
“That’s enough!”
Letting go off Ricread’s hair, Tairan unclipped the stun gun with his free hand. Taking a step back, he quickly shoved the gun in the other man’s neck and pressed the trigger.
With a jerk, Ricread collapsed to the floor at Tairan’s feet.
“Much better,” Tairan muttered. “Valran.” He stopped the man on his way out of the room. “You’ll stay. Seal the door and show your screen to me once done. Doctor . . .”
Already bringing her small team into action, Saroyan glanced at him over her shoulder.
“I want both the mother and the baby alive. Please.”
She nodded briefly and turned back to Isabella. The doctor seemed collected and in control, he noted with relief.
Tairan dragged Ricread’s motionless body to the corner. Intimately familiar with the effects of the stun gun himself, he knew it would take Ricread at least a couple of hours to come to.
Standing tall, he then surveyed the room again. Following the quick commands of Saroyan, the women were busy. The scanner sensors on Isabella’s belly transmitted grey images to the white screen by the bed. Ires put a mask over her face, delivering the anesthetic. Tairan also spotted thin tubes attached to one of the medical robots, guessing these were in preparation to stop the bleeding and provide blood supply.
He caught the confusion on Saroyan’s face as she glanced at that and some other pieces of equipment, obviously not familiar with them.
“The entrance is secured,” Valran put the screen of his arm device in front of Tairan.
“What’s your clearance code?” Tairan demanded, punching the numbers in when told, then coded the door with his own DNA imprint. Now, no one would be able to enter for at least a few hours until they would figure out what he’d done then find a way to override his instructions. He hoped this would give the doctor enough time to complete the surgery. “Shall I neutralize you, too?” He narrowed his eyes at Valran. “Or will you be willing to assist her?”
Valran met his gaze straight on. “I will assist.”
“If she dies, I’ll kill you all.” Said in a calm, quiet voice, the threat came out more like a promise—one he fully intended to keep if anyone hurt Isabella. “Go, do your work.”
Tairan watched Valran join Doctor Saroyan as she was getting ready to make the incision. Feeling suddenly exhausted, he fought to stay upright instead of sinking to the floor, next to the motionless Ricread.
It wasn’t over yet.
Chapter 23
TAIRAN
The cry was nothing like he remembered. Not even a cry but a soft whimper. It took him a few moments to realize their baby was born. And she was crying.
As if a string immediately formed around his heart, reeling him in, Tairan inched to the bed.
“We’re doing well,” Saroyan gave him a brief update, immediately turning her attention back to Isabella, as Valran began sealing the incision low on her belly. “I need some help with . . . this thing here.” The doctor touched one of the tubes descending from a robot, and Ires squeezed by Tairan to assist her.
Zavis emerged from the group around the bed, with a tiny, pale, whimpering being in her arms. With a wide-eyed expression on her face, she placed his daughter into a niche in one of the robots. Lights flickered, scanning the baby, several sensors roamed over her, some touching her papery-white skin lightly to administer necessary immunity boosters and other drugs that would help her to survive.
“She is moving,” Zavis whispered, her expression that of stunned wonder as she tried to catch a tiny leg kicking in the air. “I’ve never seen a live one before—I was not with the team when Erix was born.”
“I’ve forgotten how small they are.” Tairan reached to touch a miniature foot but jerked his hand back when the baby kicked, afraid he might break it—the delicate toes seemed too fragile in their near translucency. “Will she live?”
No one in the whole of the Universe would be able to answer his question with certainty, he was fully aware of that. Still, he longed for some reassurance, anything to be able to allow himself to love this tiny being without debilitating fear. Although, love for her had already flooded every corner of his soul.
“So far, so good.” Zavis kept her voice low, as if speaking out loud would invite some evil in. “Her vitals and all other parameters are nearly within the range. Most are rapidly improving.” Her fingers tapped with quick efficiency over the control screens of the robot holding his baby. “We’ll just make sure she is warm and comfortable . . .” Zavis muttered, adjusting the controls.
The baby didn’t seem to be comfortable, though. Her pale little face scrunched into a grimace as she continued to kick wildly.
“Can I hold her?” He asked, on impulse.
“Yes,” Doctor Saroyan threw his way over her shoulder. “Can you just open your shirt first?” Hand in a bloody surgical glove, she gestured in front of her chest, imitating opening her clothing. “Skin to skin is the best.”
“How is Isabella now?” He made a move towards the bed, but the doctor gestured for him to hold back.
“I’ll give you a full update in a minute.” She waved him off.
“Commander?” He heard the soft voice of Zavis at his back and turned around.
She stood there, holding his baby in her arms.
“Your suit.” She tipped her chin at his chest, and he quickly slid his finger along the centre, opening the top part.
“Here we go,” she murmured, helping to place the baby onto his bare chest. “It may be easier if you sit down.”
Zavis walked with him to the wall and held his elbow as he sat on the floor, too distracted by the feather-light weight in his arms to bother with looking for a chair.
“I know she has a number assigned already,” Zavis said, sitting next to him, too, her gaze not leaving the baby. “But have you thought of giving her a name?”
“Elizabeth,” he replied quickly, pressing the baby closer. Turning her to face him, he found she seemed to prefer this position better. Tucking her legs under her belly, bum up in the air, she finally settled�
��her whimpering stopped—seemingly content. “Isabella wanted to name her Elizabeth.”
“I like it.” Zavis agreed.
Hand under the baby’s soft bottom to hold her in place, he leaned back against the wall, mindful to support her head, too. Gently, he stroked her damp hair—white and straight, like his own.
“She looks just like you,” Zavis pointed out. “Although her skin seems just a touch darker than Kealan. I’ll have to run some more light-sensitivity tests.” Opening her screen, she punched some notes in. “I wonder if her tolerance to sunlight is better than ours.”
Doctor Saroyan approached them at that moment. Pausing in front of him, she also lowered herself to the ground, sitting down on the other side of him.
“Sorry, we haven’t been introduced. I don’t know your name.” She stretched her legs in front of her—her white pants and canvas shoes generously splattered with dark blood. “I’m Doctor Anahit Saroyan.” She offered him her hand, now gloveless.
“Tairan.” Shifting the baby to free one hand, he shook hers firmly. “How is Isabella? Can I see her?”
“She is out for now. I want to keep her under for at least a day, to give her body time to recover. She lost a lot of blood. The Kealan heritage of the baby has added to the complications during the labour and delivery . . . To be honest, all of this wouldn’t have been survivable had we been in one of our hospitals. Thank goodness for Kealan technology.” She rubbed her face, seemingly exhausted, then slid her headband off. “Of course, no human doctor worth his license would have ever let it go this far.” She shot a deadly glare to the corner where Ricread lay. And Tairan followed her gaze.
Dark anger rose in him, making all other emotions fade.
Clenching his jaw, he got up. Shifting Elizabeth to the crook of his elbow, he clasped the laser knife and swiftly moved to the man lying on the floor. Kneeling at Ricread’s side, he pressed the handle to extend the lethal blade. The hatred that had been building up inside him for years flared hot, guiding his hand to Ricread’s throat.
“Commander,” Zavis spoke softly, although no one made a move to physically stop him. “At this point, his murder will bring you more harm than good.”
“Right now, he is a national hero,” the calm voice of Valran sounded nearby. “Sikril is just outside the door. You will be detained and executed swiftly.”
“I must keep this monster away from my family,” Tairan gritted through his teeth.
Everything inside him rebelled against murdering an unconscious man, even if the man was Ricread, but he forced himself to focus. He had to protect Isabella and his children. “This may be my only chance to end him.”
“With you gone, what will happen to them?” Zavis crouched in front of him.
“As long as Ricread is not here to hurt them—”
“There is still the rest of The Science Group to consider,” Valran said, coming closer, too. “Those of them on Keala still trust Ricread. It’ll take some hard work and definitely more time to shake their faith in his character. Right now, there will be serious consequences to your actions.”
“You’ll turn Erix from the son of a respected Force Commander into the offspring of a convicted murderer.” Zavis reached out and lightly touched his hand. “Your execution would crush Isabella. There has to be another way . . .”
“My life is already off the table, Zavis. Ricread won’t let me live to see another day if I allow him awake.”
“He needs you,” Valran objected. “You are still an essential part for his research to continue.”
Tairan recalled Ricread’s words.
‘I’ll make you wish you were dead.’
“He doesn’t need to kill me to make me regret leaving him alive a million times over. He wouldn’t hesitate hurting my wife and children either.”
“No one, not even Ricread, would dare to harm Elizabeth now,” Zavis stated confidently.
“He almost killed her already.”
“Not anymore.” Ires came closer, the screen of her arm device open. “Yaee has just sent the media package with the live birth announcement to Keala. There is no way to stop the transmission. In a few hours, this baby will be a celebrity—our hope, loved by all. Hurting her in any way would turn Ricread from an interplanetary hero to a publicly despised criminal. He wouldn’t risk that.”
Tairan didn’t come up from his crouch, but his hand relaxed on the knife handle, extinguishing the laser blade.
Zavis was vigorously punching into her screen. “I’m requesting her to add a note to the media release that your commendable actions saved the lives of both mother and child. That would put you into the public eye again and should keep Ricread at bay in his personal vendetta against you.” She finished sending her request and met his eyes again. “As long as you stay alive, you and your family have a chance at a better future.”
In his mind, he quickly went through the options. The best solution was to get Isabella and Elizabeth away from here and out of Ricread’s reach. Thanks to the contact made with Isabella’s brother, there was a real chance for that to happen now.
Zavis was right, he needed to be alive to accomplish that, even if it meant leaving his sworn enemy live, too.
“Did you say the baby would be able to withstand sunlight?” he asked Zavis.
She flicked her short braids back. “The early tests aren’t conclusive enough, but her skin is slightly darker than ours. She could only get the pigmentation from her mother. In which case it may be assumed that the ability to withstand sunlight has passed on to her as well, at least to some degree.”
“When can you confirm that?” A plan had been forming in his head, but he needed to be certain.
“She’d need to be a little older for further testing.”
“How long until you can do that?”
“A few weeks. I’ll make sure to find a way to get the results to you when I have them.”
“Thank you.” He rose to his feet, facing Doctor Saroyan.
“Tairan. I’m expecting to be taken off this station the moment this one wakes up.” She tipped her head in the direction of Ricread, without sparing the professor another glance. “Your family will need some care to recover and thrive. I’ll leave some instructions, especially in regards to the care of the baby, since Kealan knowledge on that subject is lacking practical experience. Which one of these individuals do you trust with looking after your loved ones?”
Tairan swept the room with his gaze, briefly pausing on each face, looking for a person with compassion and decency, who would think twice if ordered to harm a woman or a baby. He had no authority on the station himself, and he needed someone who did.
His gaze caught Valran’s. The other man didn’t waver under his scrutinizing stare. Nevertheless, Tairan’s skin crawled with suspicion, when he thought about seeing Valran’s face at every procedure that had ever been done on him. For years, Valran had been Ricread’s right hand in everything, standing in his shadow.
He’d heard that Valran had been demoted and therefore lost some of the authority and power he needed him to have. That said, the reason for Valran’s demotion was his authorization of painkillers for him, when he lay blinded by pain, post-surgery.
“Can you promise to keep my wife and daughter safe in my absence?” He asked Valran straight up. After what he had done today, Tairan harboured no illusions—he would be separated from Isabella and the baby just like he had been separated from Erix. But he needed some time to organize an escape for when Isabella and the baby had recovered enough.
Valran inclined his head.
“I give you my word.”
Zavis moved into his line of view. “I had been made the lead of the team appointed to take care of Elizabeth. If you let me, I’ll promise to take the best care of her.”
For one long moment, he examined her expression, searching for anything that might make him refuse her request. Not finding it in her open, eager face, he nodded, and she faced Saroyan.
“Doc
tor, I’ll gladly listen to any information you have on how to best keep Elizabeth happy and healthy.”
“Can I see Isabella now?” he asked Saroyan before she started with the instructions.
“Yes.” The doctor nodded.
He went to the bed and sat at Isabella’s side.
Her skin seemed lighter than usual, except for around her eyes where it sank into dark shadows. The tangled mess of her wild hair sprung from under the hairband the team had put on her before the surgery. Resting Elizabeth in the crook of his arm, he lifted a dark, curly strand that had fallen across his wife’s face and moved it behind her ear. Her eyelids fluttered, but she didn’t wake up.
“I love your strength.” His own words filled him with hope. No matter what the future held, he trusted Isabella’s resilience. He believed she’d cling to life the way he’d seen her cling to joy. “I love your stubborn persistence and optimism.”
Isabella had shown up in this gloomy place, like a ray of warmth and light, breaking through the darkness. She revived his senses and gave him back his zest for life. Whatever their reality had been, she lightened it and lifted him up.
“I love you, my ila flower,” he whispered in her ear, desperately wishing she could hear him.
He’d never said these words to her, afraid that uttering them out loud would make them both weaker and their enemy stronger. The feelings for her had been growing inside him, to the point that it was impossible to keep them to himself now. Astonishingly, voicing his confession made him feel more powerful than ever before. There was nothing he wouldn’t crush if it stood between them.
“I’ll get you out of here. Promise.” He kissed her gently.
“The professor is moving.” Ires warned from across the room.
“They’re attempting to hack the door code, too.” Valran stared at the screen of his device.
Tairan got up, turning to Zavis. “I want to see Isabella when she wakes up.”
She cleared her throat. “With Elizabeth’s birth, Isabella’s agreement with the professor has ended—you won’t be allowed to stay together. The next insemination is scheduled for three months from now.”
Experiment Page 19
