“What? Can’t you sense her?” Ocet sarcastically asked. Then, he screamed in agony as Xavier lashed out at him telepathically.
“Where is my wife?”
Ocet wiped at the blood dribbling from his nose. “I warned Sparrow about you. I told her that you were only using her to get to Bishop and me. Then, I made certain that she believed it. I convinced the little bird to flee the nest if she saw Enforcers or Militia entering. Then, I made sure she knew how to get away. I’m sure she saw everything on her security monitors.”
Before Xavier’s rage could take over and lead to Ocet’s death, the doors opened, and Militia streamed into the office. Xavier gave a nod to Commander Quaid Bosh and holstered his blaster. He didn’t need it. A few of Quaid’s Laconian team members had blasters aimed at Ocet. An officer bound his wrists.
“We’ve already gotten a confession from one of his captains. The Militia will take it from here,” Quaid said.
“How can you believe any evidence gained by means of this abomination?” Ocet sneered.
“This particular abomination, as you so disrespectfully refer to him, happens to be my brother-in-law.”
Xavier raised an eyebrow at Quaid. Telepathically, Xavier asked him, “Did sensor readings record Sparrow leaving the building?”
“No, she may still be here.”
Ocet stated, “I formerly request telepathic sanctuary in accordance with the Laconian Treaty of Aurilius.”
Quaid’s eyes darkened in anger. Legally, he and his men had no choice but to protect Ocet from telepathic manipulations. Turning to Xavier, he said, “We will assist you in your search for Sparrow Ponidi.”
“I want to bring charges against Trevor Ocet for brainwashing my wife, Sparrow Ponidi, to fear her own husband. You heard him admit to it.”
“I did,” Quaid said.
Xavier turned and walked past Militia officers and into the lift. The Militia had already seized the tower and taken control of its command codes. It made going up to the penthouse simple. Reaching out to Sparrow through their bond, he felt only wisps of fear and betrayal. With broken longing, Xavier called out, “Sparrow.” His search of the penthouse turned up nothing other than a frightened maid. “Where did she go?”
The maid trembled in terror of him, and he did nothing to soothe those fears. “She took the other lift down and out. The emergency one,” the maid said in a high-pitched breathy whisper.
“Show me.”
The maid half ran to a wall panel and depressed a button disguised there. The wall slid open to reveal a cylindrical lift. Xavier sensed from the maid’s mind that she had been truthful before he got inside and pressed the only command available. The lift shot down through a tube with speed equal to that of a ship lifting up to reach orbit. The tube must have been meant for emergency evacuations in the event of an explosion. Dampeners prevented him from knowing for certain until the doors opened, but he assumed the lift went straight down and underground. If the explosives were kept on the upper levels, down and out would be more prudent than up and into a conflagration.
When the doors opened, he realized that he had been partially correct. The tube had taken him down, under the planet’s surface, and away. Xavier dropped and rolled as a team of guards began firing at him. Prepared for an attack, he avoided being hit and took cover.
“He just had to have a contingency plan,” Xavier grumbled.
Sparrow had watched the security vids as everything about which Trevor had warned her had come true. She hadn’t wanted to believe that Xavier had only been using her to complete his mission. Bishop’s words that no one could ever love someone with her particular challenges haunted her. As the Galaxic Militia stormed Ocet Industries, Sparrow entered the escape tube and left.
It had opened to a luxurious mansion far from the business sector at what she assumed must be a safe distance. Sparrow had been welcomed and shown to a room. Once she was alone, she modified a vid-screen and scanned herself for tracking devices. After cutting them out of each article of clothing that she had on, she put the devices in the bed and covered them up.
“Time to return to my original plan.”
Sparrow opened one of the windows and climbed out. Soon, she walked the streets of a posh residential neighborhood where a taxi was quick to pick her up.
“Take me downtown to the tech stores. Then, I want you to drive around the city for two hours without me. Got it?” Sparrow asked while scanning a hundred credits into the driver’s account.
“Got it.”
“You never saw me,” Sparrow said as she scanned an additional five hundred credits into his account.
“Lady, I’ve never seen anybody who looks anything like you.” He pushed a button. “Oh, no. My recording data has gone offline.”
“Thanks,” Sparrow said as he dropped her off. She worried it was a mistake to return to the tech store she had visited with Xavier, but she was desperate. The shopkeeper recognized her as soon as she entered. “I’m in a hurry.”
He waved her to go into the back. Before she could even enter the secret supply room, white robotic hands grabbed her. Bishop appeared out of the shadows. “Come to Daddy,” he said.
A sharp prick and a puff hit her neck, and then there was darkness. When Sparrow regained awareness, she found herself reclined back in a chair.
“Sparrow, the two of us need to have a serious discussion. I realize that our falling out is partially my fault for treating you as though you were still a child. I was in error. You are no longer a little girl.” Bishop sat across from her. His cybernetic eye moved chillingly as it followed her movements when she switched the chair to an upright position. “Have you met Juju? She is a bounty hunter.”
Sparrow turned her head and froze in apprehension. The redheaded bounty hunter was secured in an upright position to a plastic gurney. Her pain-filled eyes were tired but defiant. Bishop stood and walked across the room to Juju. With his robotic hand, he grabbed Juju by the throat and squeezed. Juju made choked gasps for air as her face turned a red to rival her hair.
“Stop it! Stop it!” Sparrow said as she stumbled over to Bishop and the object of his torture.
Bishop released Juju’s throat and smiled at Sparrow. “Now, wasn’t that easy? If you, Sparrow Bishop, do what I want, I will do what you want and allow this piece of filth to continue to live.”
For the first time in her life, Sparrow looked into Parker Bishop’s eyes without looking away. “Trevor Ocet made me a better deal.”
“Oh, is that why I caught you running away from the safety of his estate?” Bishop asked.
“You know why I ran. Xavier is looking for me and intends to turn me over to the Militia. This is all your fault. I never knew that what I was doing, making weapons for you, was wrong. I was just completing the tasks given to me.”
Bishop glared down at Sparrow. “No, you are the one who ran away from home, got yourself captured by a Parvac operative, and cost me our secret installation, years of work, and several AIs.”
“You ordered the destruct sequence with me and everyone else still on the base. Sentient life means nothing to you. You might as well be an AI. You have the compassion of one.”
Coldly, Bishop reached out and stroked his fingers across Sparrow’s cheek. Then, he turned and struck Juju viciously across the face. “You are partially correct,” he said as Juju spit out blood that a hover bot immediately cleaned. “I was forced to destroy evidence linking me to weapons manufacturing along with my use of less than willing employees. However, your life has always mattered to me. You are the only humanoid with whom I feel any connection. Let us discuss business. Cooperate, and I will hide you from both the Parvacs and the Militia.” Bishop turned and stood with his hands clutched behind his back.
“Ocet offered me my own lab, my own team of engineers, unlimited funding, and the freedom to choose my own projects,” Sparrow countered.
“Ocet is in custody.”
“He assured me that if he were arrested,
he would be free by the next day at the latest.”
“Not this time. Learn from my mistake. I trusted Ocet, and he betrayed me by trying to lure you away.”
“It didn’t take much effort. I ran away. Remember?”
“Regardless, he is no longer an option for you. Let me make myself clearer.” He turned, reached down, and broke Juju’s index finger.
“Stop it!” Sparrow screamed as she futilely attempted to pull him away.
“When you obey me, this piece of space trash is yours to do with as you will. When you defy me, she will be punished. Should she die, I will replace her with another humanoid. Who knows? If you continue to defy me, you may become as unfeeling as you claim me to be. Wouldn’t that be grand? Like father, like daughter. I will leave you alone with your new pet.” Bishop left.
Locks clicked into place with the closing of the door.
“It’s almost like he entombed us down here,” Juju rasped out.
Sparrow hurried to free Juju from the restraints and helped her lower herself into a chair. Then, she found a medical kit. “I was closing in on him when he fired a thermo-resonator missile at my ship. The crew and I had time to escape, but the bastard snagged my pod. I thought it was to get Oona to back off.”
Recognizing Oona’s name, Sparrow looked up. “It probably was until he decided to use you for another purpose.” Juju knew a lot more about Sparrow than she knew about Juju.
“Look. All we need to do is survive until either Oona or Xavier finds us. Everything is going to be okay.”
Sparrow snorted. “Yes, it will. However, I have other plans. Can you run?”
“Maybe, in a little while if there is a pain patch in there. Why?”
Sparrow dug through the medical kit until she found one. “I’m leaving. I don’t intend to be a prisoner or a slave.”
“How do you plan on doing that?”
“While Bishop was distracted with you, I hacked into his vid-screen with this and stole all of his command codes.” Sparrow held up her wrist to show off her metal bracelet.
“What is that?” Juju asked.
“A gift from Ocet in case I got caught. Are you ready?”
“Hold on. I could use a good pee.” Juju held her ribs as she slowly walked to the bathroom.
The apartment was subterranean. They could go up in the lift, but it would be guarded. Sparrow studied the building’s schematics on a thumb-sized screen concealed in her bracelet. She righted the gurney and pushed it underneath an airduct. Then, she went into the small kitchen and poured an entire canister of rice out onto the floor.
“Oh, no. Would you look at that? What a mess,” Sparrow said.
The cleaning bot whirled over and concentrated on its task. Until the rice was cleaned-up, it wouldn’t be able to focus on or report anything else. Juju walked past the kitchen and then eyed the gurney. Sparrow cautioned her to be quiet. Then, she climbed up onto the gurney and removed the decorative grate. With considerable effort, the bounty hunter joined her. Sparrow gave Juju a boost up.
It seemed to Sparrow’s knees, hands, and elbows that they had been in the ducts for hours, and she regretted that she too hadn’t availed herself of the waste unit. Eventually, their climb of zigzag upward turns terminated behind the kitchen on the first level. Carefully, Juju removed the grate while Sparrow jammed its security signal. Once Sparrow was out, she put the grate back in place. Juju motioned for Sparrow to stay low and follow her to where a few transports were parked nearby.
“They’ll be after us in seconds,” Juju warned.
“Do you know how to drive one of those?”
“Yeah.”
“Get in and be ready. I’ll create an impediment to their pursuit,” Sparrow said with a conspiratorial grin.
Juju got inside of a transport and stayed down. Her ribs were a painful distraction, and she fought blacking out.
“Go!” Sparrow said as she hopped inside and slammed her door. “Hurry! Trust me!”
Juju powered up, reversed, and sped down the driveway at full speed to the street. A series of booms made Juju flinch. “Shit!” she yelled as the transport slammed into a forcefield before they had even left the property.
Sparrow opened her eyes. Her head had hit the front console, and she felt a knot beginning to swell on her forehead. Juju was frantically searching for a weapon. A small group of blaster wielding men were running toward them.
“Drive!” Sparrow cried out as she pounded on the console.
“I can’t. The power was drained by the shield on impact!”
“Juju, I’m so sorry,” Sparrow said as tears filled her eyes. Bishop would hurt the woman, and it was all her fault. “I don’t know what to do.”
The running guards began dropping to the ground. Twisting around, Sparrow tried to understand the cause for it. Juju’s door was yanked open.
“Are there any damsels here in need of rescue?” Oona asked.
“Am I glad to see you,” Juju said as Oona helped her out.
“Come on!” Oona yelled at Sparrow. “Move that scrawny little ass.” They ran to a small shuttle while Oona’s men fired blast after blast at Bishop’s men. “Get us out of here!” Oona yelled as they all clamored inside, and the pilot took them up.
Soon, they were speeding away. Through the viewport, Sparrow could see Enforcers converging on the property. Fervently, she hoped they hadn’t spotted her as she sat back against her seat and closed her eyes.
“What’s with you? Scared of heights?” Oona asked.
Sparrow shook her head.
“Paco, fly us straight in. Then, get your ass to the bridge and get us the fuck out of here.”
“Oona,” Juju admonished.
“Sorry, babe. Please,” Oona added with a smile at Juju.
Sparrow watched as the shuttle entered the bounty hunter’s transport bay.
“My crew?” Juju asked.
“All accounted for, onboard, and making repairs or modifications. Space is tight. Everyone is double bunking, so you’re stuck with me,” Oona said.
Paco powered the shuttle down and opened the hatch.
“You can use the same quarters as before, kid,” Oona said to Sparrow. She gave Juju a sympathetic grimace while watching her struggle up the ladder to the next deck.
Sparrow followed them up and soon found herself back in the same quarters she had shared with Xavier. Her bladder forced her wretched feelings aside. The next physical demand her body made of her was to stretch out on the bunk. Her muscles were screaming at her for the climb up the airduct. She wanted to sleep, but it was an impossibility. Grabbing Xavier’s pillow, she held it and cried. He had never loved her. The times he had kissed her, held her hand, and made love to her had all been nothing more than a ruse. He had only needed her so he could discover the identity of Bishop’s buyer. Now that he had done so, he had no further use of her.
“You have to put him out of your mind. He never loved you,” Sparrow said to herself.
She had just managed to cry herself to sleep when a knock came to her door. Wincing from the pain it caused, Sparrow got up and answered it.
Oona stood with her hand braced against the wall. “It looks like you’ve been crying.”
Sparrow shrugged.
“Is it about Xavier?”
Sparrow nodded.
Oona walked around her and took a seat at the small table. “You’re worried about him?”
Sparrow frowned. “No, I’m sure he’s fine.”
Confused by her response, Oona asked, “What is it then?”
“He was just using me to get to Bishop and Ocet. He never really cared about me.”
Oona’s eyes bulged before she burst out with laughter. “That’s fucking hilarious. You must have hit your head pretty hard. Let’s go get you some ice. Come on,” Oona said as she stood and gently pushed Sparrow from the room. Sparrow followed her into the kitchen.
“Ouch,” Glass said as he probed Sparrow’s forehead.
She moved b
ack to get him to stop. “It’s not that bad.”
“Right,” Glass said in disbelief.
“Here you go. We’re all out of pain patches and nanites,” Oona said as she handed Sparrow a cloth sack full of crushed ice.
Gingerly, Sparrow touched it to her forehead.
“Have a seat,” Glass said as he pulled out a chair.
“Thank you,” she said as she took it.
“When’s the last time you ate?” Glass asked.
Sparrow thought about it. “Honestly, I don’t remember. Why are you being so nice to me?”
Oona sat across from her. “You risked your life to save Juju. That makes you one of us. If you need something, ask one of the crew. There’s plenty of us now to ask,” Oona said as she left.
Glass put a bowl of soup in front of her. Not bothering with the spoon, Sparrow put down the ice, picked up the bowl, and drank it down. Next, he slid a plate with a sandwich on it over to her. Asmina and Davalynn joined them just as she finished eating.
“Thank you. If it’s okay, I think I need to lie down for a little while,” Sparrow said as she picked up the ice.
“Yeah, you do that. I’ll take care of these for you,” Davalynn said of her dishes.
“Thanks.” Sparrow went back to her room, kicked off her shoes, and crawled into bed. As her thoughts returned to Xavier, her heart hurt worse than her head. With the ice smack dab in the middle of her forehead, she went to sleep.
Oona checked in on Juju to make certain that she was resting comfortably before heading to the bridge.
“Call coming in for you, Captain,” Paco reported.
Oona tapped her screen. Mismatched eyes greeted her.
“Do you have her?” Xavier asked.
“I’ve got her. She’s been fed and tucked in.”
Relief dispelled the worried lines around Xavier’s eyes. “It’s safe for you to dock. A berth has been arranged for your ship beside the Hadrian. One of her work crews will assist with your repairs.”
Oona inclined her head in acknowledgment and put her boots up on a console. She stared at the Laconian hybrid. He stared back. “Somebody did a number on your little wife, twisted her mind all up.”
Xavier’s eyes took on a feral quality that made Paco flinch and look away.
Xavier: An Omnes Videntes Novel Page 11