by S. J. Bryant
Kari cried out, stepping forward—too slow, she'd never make it in time. Then a roar and Ray dived in front of Piper just as the agent fired. The red plasma blast took Ray in the chest but he kept barreling forward and collided with the agent, taking them both to the ground.
The two struggled, straining. Two more blasts of red erupted between the bodies and the smell of burning flesh filled the room.
Silence.
CHAPTER 17
Piper let out a sharp scream and dived to Ray's limp body. She tugged at his thick arm, rolling him off of the agent, revealing the burnt and bloody mess that was his stomach. Wisps of smoke rose from his scorched innards and a trail of blood connected him to the dead agent, whose eyes stared fixedly at the ceiling. Piper pressed her hands against Ray's stomach, as if to hold his organs in, but she was far too late.
Kari's heart ached for her sister as she dashed across the room and wrapped her arms around Piper's shoulders. Kari tried to pull Piper away from the bodies but she refused, instead tearing from Kari's arms and shaking Ray.
"Ray! Ray! Come on."
"Piper, he's gone," Kari said.
"No! He can't. You don't understand. He's strong. He'll be okay…"
Kari rested her hand on Piper's back. Piper's cries descended into sobs, shoulders quaking. Out of the corner of her eye, Kari watched Wren let the second agent fall to the floor with a solid thud and then wipe her knife clean on his jacket.
The smell of burning flesh and blood filled the room, making it feel as though the walls were pressing in and would crush them all at any moment.
Kari's gaze fell to the dead agent's wrist. The flashing red light was gone.
Kari's stomach clenched—the life sensors. She flew to her feet and spun toward the door, expecting agents with huge guns to burst into the room at any moment.
"They'll be coming," Ryker said. "Bloody hell, now we've done it."
Kari's mind was like a blank slate, refusing to suggest even the vaguest of ideas to get them out of this mess.
"We could try running," Wren said.
"Remember how they wrecked our door?" Kari said. "By the time we get that back into shape they'll have shot us all."
"We build a barricade," Ryker said. "Make a stand here. We might be able to stop them, especially if they're trying not to kill Piper and…"
Piper's wails grew louder, like a banshee through some haunted wreckage.
"We'd never hold them off," Kari said, wishing that Piper would stop crying. How could she concentrate when it was as if Piper's heart was breaking right in front of her?
"I've got this," Atticus said.
His low voice cut through Piper's wailing and the ragged breathing of the others.
Kari spun on him. "What?"
"I've got this."
She tried to stop him but he was already running for the door. He held the metal device he'd been fiddling with all day close to his chest.
"Atticus." Kari jogged after him, reluctant to leave Piper but having no choice.
Atticus' thin legs pounded the ground as he rounded the corner and sprinted for the broken door which opened to the Imperium vessel.
Kari caught up to him as he reached the door, just in time to see him lob the metal ball through the opening.
A second later, a deep boom shook the other ship and a hot blast of air burst through the broken door. It knocked Atticus against the opposite wall and a hail of wreckage and sharp pieces of metal slammed into him. The force of the blast knocked Kari down the passage and she staggered, struggling to keep her feet.
A jagged wound opened along Atticus' temple, leaking blood down his face. The lights flashed. Everything plunged into darkness. At the same time, the engines died, spilling them into a deep silence that was almost deafening.
The dull thud of a body hitting the floor a short distance ahead. It had to be Atticus. Kari shuffled along the pitch-black passage until her foot bumped against something soft. She fell to her knees and reached out, her hand finding his thin arm, wet with blood.
"Atticus! Atticus! What the hell have you done?"
He groaned and Kari felt a surge of relief. At least the idiot wasn't dead.
"Just something I cooked up," he said, his voice strained. "Little EMP."
"An EMP? How the hell do you cook up something like that?"
A dry chuckle emanated from the darkness near Kari's face but he didn't reply.
"What the hell is happening?" Ryker's deep voice echoed up the passage. "Kari, are you alright?"
"I'm okay," Kari called. "Atticus had an EMP."
Silence for a few moments.
"You mean we have no life support?"
Kari froze. She hadn't thought of that, but of course, everything in the ship had stopped, including the constant breeze of the life-support systems. Hell, how long would everything be down?
"You've missed the bigger problem."
Wren's voice sounded right behind Kari. She jumped so hard that her shoulder collided with the wall beside her. "Wren. Don't sneak up on people."
"Hard, when you're making so much noise. Have you seen the bigger problem yet?"
"No! No I haven't seen the bloody bigger problem. I happen to have a lot on my mind right now." Fury pumped through Kari's veins. What the hell was Wren playing at? Was she trying to be clever or funny?
"EMPs only affect the ships," Wren said.
"And?"
"The Imperium agents."
Kari's stomach dropped like a lead weight and a sick sense of panic crept up her neck, bringing with it a prickling heat. The agents. Right on the other side of the broken door; and she'd been yelling like an idiot.
"Ah," Wren said. "Now you see it."
"So we shoot them first," Kari said.
"With plasma weapons?"
"Yes."
"Have you checked your pistol?"
Kari clenched her teeth. Wren could shove her condescending tone up her ass. So what if the woman had an unnatural sense of hearing and could walk like a ghost?
Kari wrenched her pistol out of her belt and held it up, but the familiar red glow of the barrel was gone. She aimed it at the floor a few feet away and fired. Nothing happened.
"The EMP wrecked that too," Wren said.
Kari shoved the gun back into her belt. She still couldn't see a damn thing. It wasn't like when a bulb suddenly blew and your eyes grew used to the darkness. This was a night so deep, with not even the dull glow of an emergency light to break the darkness.
"I'll deal with them," Wren said.
"What are you saying?"
"I snuck up on you, didn't I?"
"Wren, there might be—" But Kari had a sudden sense of emptiness to her right and when she reached out, she felt nothing but air. Wren was gone.
Kari let out a slow breath, straining her ears. When she really tried, she could hear Atticus breathing beside her, it sounded labored but it didn't bubble. She hoped he'd be okay until the lights came on… if they came on. She stretched her senses further, a lot of banging and cursing was coming from down the passage, in the direction of the dining room which could only be Ryker. Why didn't he stay still? He'd probably discovered that none of his weapons worked. That would set him off.
Kari felt a sudden flash of cold through her body when she thought of Piper. She'd be sitting in the darkness with Ray's body. What if she was scared? Kari wanted to go to her but knew she couldn't. Agents could slip through from the other ship at any moment; what if they had torches or something that wasn't affected by the EMP? She had to guard the door.
Without her sight, Kari's other senses took over. Acrid smoke from the explosion stung her nostrils while her boots crunched on uneven rubble. She hoped that most of it came from the agents' ship and not Ghost. She couldn't afford the repairs.
She strained her ears and very faintly she thought she heard a grunt and a stifled cry. She half stood. What if it was Wren? But what could she do? She couldn't see a damn thing and she didn't have Wren's supernatural hear
ing, that apparently acted almost like sonar. What was Wren doing anyway? But Kari knew the answer to that, she just didn't want to think about it.
Time stretched on in the darkness. With nothing to look at and only Atticus' strained breathing for company, Kari was left with her thoughts. What the hell could they do now? They'd not only broken into an Imperium facility and taken two people, they'd also killed two agents—at least two. They'd be shot on sight if any Imperium official got hold of them.
Kari tried not to think about that, she tried to be happy that she had Piper back, but even that was tainted by the occasional sob that echoed through from the dining room. Apparently the sudden darkness hadn't distracted Piper from her dead friend. Kari thought she heard Ryker's deep voice occasionally offering comfort, but she couldn't be sure.
Where the hell was Wren? It felt like she'd been gone hours. What if she'd been hurt or killed? What if the Imperium agents were sneaking into Ghost at that very moment? Kari shivered, wishing she could see something, anything, in the darkness.
Coffin-like blackness pressed in.
CHAPTER 18
Wren slipped away from Kari, toward the twisted metal of the doorway that connected Ghost to the Imperium ship. Deep darkness surrounded her, too black to make out anything, so her other senses took over. Acrid fumes from the recent explosion, the tang of the EMP, the iron scent of blood heavy in the air. The hairs on her arms lifted in response to the static electricity released by the EMP. The tinker had done well to build that out of nothing.
She edged forward, dragging her feet along the floor to avoid tripping on hunks of metal and flesh that had been thrown wide by the blast. A change in air pressure ahead guided her to the next ship. She slid through, darting to the side in case anyone had a gun aimed at the opening. No noise.
Just inside the next ship, her toe bumped against the unmistakable squishy softness of a body. No breathing. Killed by the blast. She moved on, silver blade a comfort in her hand.
Confused voices echoed from the corridor ahead.
"What the hell happened?"
"How am I supposed to know? I saw as much as you."
"My damn gun is down."
"Mine too. Everything is down."
"Get those geeks in engineering to tell us what happened."
Wren edged forward. Her soft breathing would have been almost undetectable even if the enforcers hadn't been prattling on. As it was, she crept right behind the two until she was so close she could feel the heat from their bodies without them realizing it.
A quick slash. Her knife severed the first man's carotid artery. He crumpled with a dull thud.
"Jamie?"
The voice gave Wren all the direction she needed, and the second man went down as quick as the first. Wren stepped over their bodies, moving deeper into the ship. This was what she'd been born and trained for. Clean kills, the thrill of the hunt. She kept her footsteps silent as she stalked the vessel, cutting down every person she found until dried blood stuck her fingers to her knife.
Liberation filled her chest. This was how it should be, no confusing thoughts about what was right, or who worked for who, just simple kills where the better hunter won.
She'd killed eighteen people before the first sound of alarm went through the ship. Someone had found a body. Too bad they couldn't use the ship's intercom or their personal communicators to spread the warning.
Wren doubled back, following the strained voices.
"There's blood everywhere. His neck has been cut."
"There's another one over here."
From their voices and the movement of air currents, Wren counted three soldiers ahead of her. They'd have their guns out—not that it would do any good. If they were smart, they'd have found blades. Wren tilted her head, listening for the way they moved. Yes. One had a knife—the one that hadn't said anything yet. The other two lumbered back and forth across the passage, probably searching for more bodies. Their voices, footsteps, breathing, announced where they were to Wren, but the third, the third stayed still.
A thrill raced through Wren's veins. Perhaps here she'd found a worthy opponent.
"What if there are more?"
"Whoever did this is as blind as us."
"But there were no sounds of a struggle."
"We'll go to the command room. Captain might know what to do."
"Right. Flick, are you coming?"
A pause of almost silence, broken by heavy breathing.
"Flick? Are you still here?"
"She must have gone on. It's not like she needs the lights."
The two who'd been talking stomped and cursed their way down the passage, but Wren knew better than them. The one they called Flick hadn't gone anywhere. Although Wren had to give her credit, she could stay still better than most. She couldn't quite silence her breathing though, or remove her scent.
Wren tilted her nose. Recently washed. New enforcer armor but helmet off.
"You killed all these people," Flick said.
Wren tensed, ready to attack, impressed that the woman had been able to sense her. Definitely a worthy opponent. She didn't smell like anyone Wren recognized from the Guild though, so where did her skill come from? It was a mistake for Flick to talk. If Wren hadn't known exactly where she was standing, it would have given away her position. But it did more. The voice told Wren about the person: skinny, not too tall. Good; Wren wouldn't be surprised by a heavy-weight opponent.
Silence stretched between them. Wren had more patience than anyone, but she was all too aware that her window of time was shrinking. Eventually the ship's systems would come back online, then not only would the lights come on, but the ship would be able to send a distress call to the Imperium. She needed to act now.
She edged forward, placing each foot so that it didn't scuff or crunch. As she closed the last few feet to Flick, she stopped breathing altogether. Better to have the element of surprise.
Wren tensed, then swung, blade aimed at where Flick's neck should be.
Wren's knife passed through empty air. The lack of resistance put her off balance, forcing her to step forward. Something hard and sharp slammed into her stomach, biting through her clothes.
The iron tang of blood—her own—joined that of the dead bodies on the floor.
Wren pulled away, the blade coming free from her stomach. Warm wetness spilled out of the wound in her gut, soaking her shirt. Her heart raced. The other woman, whoever she was, had drawn first blood. How? No one hunted the dark like Wren.
Instinct made Wren pull back. She withdrew, using big steps to get over the fallen bodies, and pressed her spine against the firm wall, ears straining. Pulsing pain at her stomach made it hard to concentrate. If the flow of blood became too much it would start dripping and the noise would give her away. She had to finish this.
Training took over, allowing Wren to push the pain down, to silence it.
Pride made Wren scowl. No one should have been able to beat her in the total darkness. No one.
Wren managed to keep her breathing quiet, despite her injury, but her opponent didn't have such training. Quick breaths, fueled by adrenalin, filled the corridor.
This time, Wren went in more carefully, as if she were fighting another Guild member. When she got close, she pretended to swipe at Flick's neck. A change in air pressure as Flick ducked. Wren brought her knife around and up, burying it deep into the bottom of Flick's chin.
A grunt of surprise. Blood poured over Wren's hand. Flick collapsed to the floor. Wren pulled her knife free and with her other hand felt Flick's face. The soft brush of her fingertips provided an image. Narrow jaw, small nose, high cheekbones. No one Wren recognized. Then Wren's fingers found the mass of scar tissue that covered Flick's eye sockets. No eyes.
Wren rocked back, resting on her heels. No wonder the woman had been a decent opponent, she'd spent her life in darkness, relying on other senses. A shame she'd been working for the Imperium; she would have made the Guild proud.
&nbs
p; Wren stood, continuing her hunt through the ship. The rest of the enforcers proved disappointing in comparison to Flick, and Wren left a trail of bodies without getting so much as a scratch. She did two laps of the ship to make sure she'd killed everyone on board, before she returned to the airlock.
The cinnamon smell of Ghost fought against the metal tang of blood that filled the Imperium vessel and clung to Wren's body. She didn't mind the smell. It meant a job well done, but she knew the others found it… disturbing. She'd have to wash before the lights came back on. And do something about the gash in her stomach. Better that no one knew she'd been hit. She had a reputation to maintain after all.
Kari still hunched inside the airlock, near Atticus. Wren eased in until she stood just behind Kari who still hadn't realized she was there.
"It's done," Wren said.
Kari flinched, swallowed. "What's done?"
"They won't be bothering us."
CHAPTER 19
Atticus woke to a sharp pain in his arm and a ringing in his head but when he opened his eyes, he was surrounded by darkness. He snatched his hands to his face but couldn't see them, even inches from his nose. His heart quickened, but then he remembered the EMP. There'd been an explosion, he'd been knocked back, then everything went dark.
He reached a trembling hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out his rusted lighter. The cold metal in his hand reminded him of spiderwebs and a monster that wasn't a monster. He shook the thoughts away as he flicked the igniter.
A bright orange flame flared to life, casting a circle of light over his wrinkled fingers. The fire danced and swayed in his breath and as his eyes grew used to the semi-darkness, he could make out bits of rubble around him and the mangled metal of the doorway. Dark spots dotted the floor. He leaned closer: blood.
His heart clenched. What had happened?
"Atticus? You got a torch to work." The voice came from the darkness somewhere to his right followed by the sound of hurried footsteps until Kari's face loomed into the circle of light.
"Just an old igniter," he said.