His bowler flew from his head as he obeyed Holly’s command, the hat caught by a burst of energy from Magna’s gun. It tumbled through the air, turning into ash midair as the energy collided with it. The aether projectile ended in a blaze that ate through the ceiling of the corridor.
After that, the room went haywire. The hands that restrained Holly vanished as their owner dove into the battle. She grabbed the Equalizer and focused on Magna, who aimed again at Shiro.
“No rules about your stupid friends!” Magna screeched.
“Hurt him and you die,” Holly shouted.
The security officers yelled orders at each other. Bodies dodged and collided.
Shiro began to draw his sword and turned. Holly could see what he intended, but the thin blade couldn’t stop fire from an aether gun. And he would never have the chance to defend himself. Magna only needed to pull her trigger once more and Shiro would be toast. She still held him in her sights, as the chaos around her grew.
Holly stared at Magna, finding herself at an impasse. The moment to decide was now.
In the periphery, she was aware of the confusion and Constellation bodies crashing into human bodies. She had a direct line to Magna at the moment. The way was open. All that Holly needed to do was pull the trigger.
Any second, the clear shot could change as the chaos snowballed.
Magna was going to kill Shiro. She’d tried to kill Odeon. Who knew what scars he’d have after this? He’d lived. But maybe she’d always wonder if that was the best thing for him, if he ever told her what had transpired.
Magna wanted to kill Holly. The only thing that stopped her was the fear of George.
But… what decided it was Odeon and Shiro. The knowledge that Magna had tried to hurt them pulled the trigger on the Equalizer.
It was a direct hit. Magna’s gun went off as she fell backwards, the aetheric energy from the Equalizer forming a crater in her torso.
Holly clenched her teeth. The projectile from Magna’s gun hit the ceiling as the woman fell backwards. Lights flickered, creating a strobing effect in the corridor that added to the grim scene of destruction.
Holly ran to Shiro.
“You OK?” she asked.
“Yes. Let’s get out of here before things get worse.” There was a grim set to his mouth and jaw.
A sharp pain seared through Holly’s thigh. She screeched.
Magna laughed, releasing the knife she’d just planted in Holly.
“Bitch,” the woman said as she fell back and her eyes turned vacant.
Holly grabbed the knife, clenched her jaw, and yanked it out of her thigh.
It was hard to say which hurt worse—the knife going in, or the knife coming out.
“Get those two!” someone said nearby.
“They’re coming for us, Ms. Drake.” Shiro grabbed her arm and pulled her close to him.
She limped along with him as blood soaked her thigh. “Let’s find somewhere to bind it. Then get the hell out of here.”
35
“You’ve got him?” Holly asked.
“Got who?” Shiro turned down a corridor that bisected the level.
“Get us back to the Olavia Apollo. That’s where we need to go,” Holly said, ignoring Shiro’s question.
“I know,” Shiro said. “We need to lose our little security detail as well.”
“Bad news—I can’t run faster. Not sure losing them is going to work,” Holly said through clenched teeth. Her thigh would hardly move, and when it did, pain shot through her like an electrical storm on Ixion. She told the muscles to do what she wanted, but so far they weren’t listening.
“You’ve got three minutes, Holly,” Trip said over the comms.
“Get us back to you, quick, please,” Holly said.
“Take the stairs just up ahead,” Trip said. “I’ve used this route before.
“That’s not going to lose the people coming after us,” Shiro pointed out.
“Can’t you deal with them?” Trip asked.
“And how, pray tell? How would you like me to do that? I’m currently carrying Ms. Drake—”
“Not carrying,” Holly said.
“—as she limps along. And there are two of them coming after us, with no injuries and no dead weight.”
“Thanks a lot.”
“It’s not personal, lass. But you are dead weight at the moment.”
Holly could hear them too. He was right. They kept shouting for them to stop. And Holly couldn’t keep up her hopping/leaning speed much longer. The muscles of her good leg were fatigued from compensating for the injury. That leg would give out soon if she didn’t slow it down.
“Shoot them?” Trip inquired. “Would that work?”
“Morally objectionable. They are only doing their jobs. Asking Ms. Drake to blast them for that doesn’t sound right.”
“The tranqs, Drake. You’ve got them, right? Please tell me you didn’t forget them.”
“Where’ve you been, Darius?” Holly asked.
“Handling other business. We’ve got Odeon,” he said.
“Shiro has the tranquilizers,” Holly said, remembering that they’d brought them.
“Yes, in my satchel. Matches the performance suit. I always forget the satchel. That’s a problem. Did I hear you right, Darius? Did you say we have Odeon?”
“What are you waiting for? Stop and shoot them!” Darius demanded. “I can’t leave this joint without you, but I don’t want to be on it when that damn bomb goes off.”
The breath of the security guards puffed along behind them.
As they continued their pace, Shiro rummaged through the satchel and pulled out the tranquilizer gun. He stopped. “You’re on your own for a moment.”
He slipped out from under Holly’s arm, which had gotten a bit sore from reaching up to cross his shoulders. He stepped into the center of the corridor, turned around, dropped his cane, and lifted the tranquilizer gun, aiming it at the human male coming up behind them.
“Whoa, hey!” The guy said, drawing an aether gun. “We just want to talk.”
“My apologies, good sir, but the time for talking has passed. Now is the time for action.”
Shiro pulled the trigger. The tranq hit the guard in the stomach.
“Good shot,” Holly said.
The guard touched the dart, which poked out of his stomach, a black and white burr on the orange uniform shirt that the base security wore. “Son of a bitch.”
His speech was already slurred.
The female skidded to a stop and tried to turn and run the other way. She launched a few volleys at them from her aether gun, causing Holly to hit the deck. The bulkhead above her exploded in the violet fire of crackling, aetheric energy.
When Holly checked, the female had fallen as well.
Shiro’s hand was suddenly in front of Holly’s face, and he was helping her into a standing position. The knife wound burned in her thigh.
“Let’s take care of this, Ms. Drake,” he said, gently, his gaze focused on her thigh.
“Not sure we have time,” she protested. But, she was beginning to feel faint. She’d been wounded enough to recognize the signs of too much blood loss.
“They can leave without us, then. I’m afraid if we don’t do something now, later will be too late.”
He grabbed his cane from the deck of the corridor and guided her into an alcove that led to doorways into probable storage rooms.
In that small space, Shiro guided her into a sitting position with the wall for support. He ripped his jacket off quickly and tore a strip from the hem around the waist.
“Shiro, your performance suit,” Holly said.
“Replaceable. You, however, are not.”
Maybe it was the fatigue or the stress, but in that moment, he suddenly seemed like more than just a suit aficionado, or a man of style and sophistication. He was a protector, a savior, and friend. And damn, that was attractive.
He crouched in front of her and laid a flat
section of the cloth over the wound. Then he looped the strip of cloth under her thigh and brought the bunny ears back to the top of her thigh. He began to tie it.
“Right here? Is this too tight?”
“Make it tight. Staunch the flow.”
When he was done, the bandage worked to slow the bleeding. More than that, it made her feel like she wasn’t just falling apart. There was a psychological comfort to it.
“Let’s go.” He took both her hands and helped her into a standing position.
“Time?” she asked. “Darius? Trip?”
“Sorry—didn’t want to interrupt that Nurse Shiro moment.” Darius’ answered. “One minute. Get here. Now. Trip?”
“There’s a lift thirty paces away. Comes right to this level. Get on it.”
They complied, racing as fast as they could toward the elevator, following Trip’s directions.
“I’m powering up the engines. The moment you’re aboard, the Olavia Apollo is out of here.”
The lift shot toward the floor where their ship waited in the bay. It stopped once, and Holly’s heart pounded. Maybe the bomb wouldn’t go off. Maybe it was a fake. Maybe… her mind raced through several scenarios and filed through endless hopeful ideas.
At their level, she tumbled out with Shiro right behind her. She ignored the pain in her thigh, though it still battled against her will. Her run was a loping gait that accommodated her leg’s resistance to instructions.
People in the corridors stared at them as they rounded the corner and approached the hatchway that would let them onto the bay where the Olavia Apollo waited.
She knew they must look like a frightening duo tearing through the base. Shiro, jacketless with his satchel flying behind him and his cane held in the middle, booking it; and Holly, with a bloody bandage strapped around her thigh, running like she’d been damaged in an illegal fight club.
The sight of the ship produced a momentary exultation in her that increased her speed. She was going to make it. They were going to make it. Odeon was somewhere else, safe, and she hadn’t failed. Not yet.
Before they made it to the ship, the deck beneath her feet shook. The tremors knocked Holly off her balance. She caught herself with her hands on the cold metal deck as she fell.
Curses erupted in her ears as her crew let them fly.
“Get on the ship, now, Drake!” Darius roared.
Shiro yanked her to her feet—a bit rougher than she would have liked—and they scurried to the ship like mice in a rainstorm.
Soon they were tromping up the ramp and into the cargo hold.
“We’re on! Take her away!” Shiro yelled.
Holly glanced behind her as the ramp folded up and sealed the hull. Once it was shut, she sagged to her knees and let out a hefty sigh.
“Get to the navigation deck. We’re not out of the woods yet,” Trip said over the comms.
36
Holly took the seat she usually occupied on flights with Trip and strapped in.
“Better get that looked at, soon, Holly,” Trip said, her gaze flicking to the bandage around Holly’s thigh.
“First thing after we’re back on Kota, I will.”
“There’s first aid in the mess. Once we’re cruising, one of the boys could attend to it. Soon we’ll almost be in a position to see the base. Then we can know how much damage the bomb inflicted on it.”
“Think they’ll believe it was us who planted it?”
Trip frowned. The Centau version of a frown. Her dark eyes flicked to Holly, then back at the view screen in front of them. It was showing a camera feed from a rear-facing cam.
“It’s very possible.”
“What might that make us? Fugitives? Would there be a bounty on us?”
“Give me time to sort through this. If that is what happens, Holly, I’ll be seriously displeased.”
Holly could hardly blame her. Ditching the base just as a bomb detonated was not a good look. Didn’t seem to matter that only an idiot would plant a bomb and wait till the very last second to escape.
“So you had a back up plan?” Darius asked, entering the navigation deck and switching his comm off. He plopped into a seat and strapped in.
“Where’s Shiro?”
“Cleaning up. Don’t avoid the question.”
“I’m not. I only want to explain this once.”
“He’s not on the comm?” Darius asked.
“Apparently not.”
“Well, he was in the lavatory. Guess he didn’t want anyone seeing his tiny dick.”
Holly blushed, pushing away involuntary thoughts of Shiro like that.
“Surely it’s large,” Trip said.
“Why would you say that?” Darius asked, his voice laced with mirth.
“Aren’t all human male sex organs large?”
Darius laughed. “Oh, don’t tell me… is this some kind of rumor the Centaus have about humans?”
“Yes, it is.” Trip’s voice was completely serious. “And particularly the kind who look like Shiro.”
“You mean, Japanese humans?” Holly asked.
“Is that what they’re called?”
The hatch opened and Shiro strolled in. The conversation halted immediately.
“What?” Shiro asked, pausing, then waltzing to the seat on the other side of Holly. “What were you chaps talking about?”
“Nothing,” Darius said, snickering.
“I can tell it was something. The room went silent the moment I entered.”
“Thanks for destroying your suit to save my leg, Shiro,” Holly said, changing the subject.
“Of course. I only did what had to be done. Were there any other options, Ms. Drake?”
“We were discussing your sex organ, Shiro,” Trip said, interrupting Holly’s successful change-of-subject.
Holly sighed and shook her head.
Shiro cleared his throat, loudly. “Well,” he said, a bit breathless. “I’m not quite sure how that came up… ”
“That’s what she said,” Darius snorted.
“But, if you must know, remember what they say about hand-size.” He lifted one hand and looked at Holly. His fingers waggled and his eyes glinted mischievously.
“Oh, that’s not even remotely accurate,” Darius said. “I’ve seen so much evidence to the contrary. A lot. Trust me.”
“Well, I do assure you that in my case, it is very accurate.”
Trip interrupted. “I see no signs of the bomb from here.”
The pilot nodded toward the view screen. Holly tore her attention away from the entertaining—riveting really—discussion happening between Shiro and Darius, and studied the image of the base.
The Centau was right. No sign of damage. But then, the absence of atmosphere would hide any explosions. There wasn’t even debris, at least not any they could see.
“Maybe there’s a hole somewhere. Hard to say.”
“So, Drake, you want to tell us about the plan you didn’t tell us about?”
Holly took a deep breath. “I did what was necessary.”
“Not gonna argue that,” Darius said. “It got results. It’s just, I don’t know, smarts a bit. You and Iain came up with a plan without us. What else are you guys doing without us?”
Holly arched an eyebrow.
“Please, Ms. Drake, don’t answer that,” Shiro interrupted.
“It was a back up plan, Darius. We were supposed to do it without him. But, if we failed? Which we did—I didn’t want to fail. Iain was in position as a safety net. Turns out, I needed that.”
“You’re thinking of this as your failure, Drake, that’s all. That’s my issue. When we fail, we fail as a crew. It’s not just you. It’s us.”
“Fair enough.” Arguing that point was purposeless at the moment. “Look at it this way—we have a ship.”
“That’s what Iain flew?” Shiro asked.
“Yes. Our own cruiser. Like this, the Olavia Apollo. Just older. Not as sexy and sleek. But it worked.”
&
nbsp; “Does that mean you won’t need me anymore?” Trip asked.
Holly heard in the Centau’s voice, the telltale signs of being hurt. It was hard to detect, but Holly had been around the Centau long enough to catch things like that.
“Not at all, Trip. You’re a part of the crew’s fleet. That is, if you want to be.”
“You’re my crew. Of course I am in.”
“This is an exciting development, Ms. Drake. Our first ship. How did you pay for it?”
“About that,” she began, and cleared her throat. “Well, so Saanvi found it. And I used the money from Le Roi. What I didn’t spend to build the orrery that Magna crushed.” She hesitated. “I hope that’s OK. I didn’t ask you guys. I used your share.”
A heavy silence descended. The only sound were the hum of the life-support mechanisms and the faint ring of power running through the navigation deck. Worry wrapped itself around Holly’s torso, making it hard to breathe.
The view on the screen changed to the forward cams. Ahead of them, the ship Iain and Odeon were in glinted in the reflected light of Ixion and the glow of the sun.
“Is that it?” Darius asked.
“It is,” Trip said.
He let out a whoop. “Hell yes! That’s our ship!”
“Well, does it already have a name?” Shiro asked.
“Not yet,” Holly said, allowing herself to feel hopeful. “We need to pick one.”
Darius began throwing out inappropriate names and laughing at Shiro’s noisy revulsion at each one, as well as Trip’s loud confusion over the nuance of Darius’ fascination with male body parts and intimate acts.
Holly settled back into her seat. The noise of the pain in her thigh, the come-down after the adrenaline, the stress of knowing she’d kept secrets from her crew and not knowing quite how they would handle it—all of these things had distracted her from the fact that she was currently flying in space.
And not losing her shit.
Maybe things were finally looking up for the crew.
37
“She’s damn beautiful. Just gorgeous,” Darius said, running his hand along the belly of the ship.
“She?” Charly asked. “How do you know it’s a girl?”
The Colossus Collection : A Space Opera Adventure (Books 1-7 + Bonus Material) Page 145