Taryn shook his head and rubbed his neck. His frown deepened. "HAWC charges?"
"That's what Claria said."
Taryn looked at his Deucalion guards. "This is weird. Then again, Devyn always stumbles into weird situations."
He rose to his feet and held out a chair for her. "Sit down and relax. We'll get this mess straightened out." He handed her a handkerchief and she quickly wiped her eyes.
Moving to his link, he punched in a series of numbers.
"Code?" a strange voice asked.
"Six million, six hundred and twenty-four thousand, five hundred and eight, Blue Rising."
"One moment for transfer."
Taryn turned around and smiled. "Don't worry. If Rina had done this on Nera, we wouldn't have this trouble now."
Before she could ask him what he meant, a man's voice boomed, "Yo, Terry, how's my run-amok kid brother?"
"I'm fine, but brother Devyn has landed himself in the proverbial verrago's hole."
"What happened?"
"HAWC trouble. I need you to run a scan and see what his charges are."
"Hold on."
Seconds ticked by, each one punctuated by the sharp beating of her heart.
Finally, the voice returned. "He's not wanted by us."
Taryn looked at her with a lifted brow.
Alix shook her head, puzzled by the denial. "That's what they said on Nera, and the HAWC Keeper I spoke with here said Devyn was a wanted felon."
"Did you hear that, Jayce?"
"I heard it, but I'm staring at the main data base and it shows a blank file. Besides, if a felonious charge had been leveled against Devyn, I would have been notified."
"All right," Taryn said. "Hold on a minute and let me run my stats on their local system and see what shines."
Alix clutched her hands together, trying to sort everything out. Suddenly, she knew. Irn. It was the only answer. Damn him and his interference!
Taryn straightened and returned to the link. "I've got three murder charges, espionage, and smuggling here."
"It's a plant," the voice said.
"Looks real authentic."
Alix clenched her teeth. "Irn did it."
Taryn looked at her. "Who's Irn?"
She sighed, suddenly so tired she just wanted to crawl under the table and sleep.
Or better, find Irn and beat him senseless. "Devyn's mother sent him to prison, and after he was released, he worked for my father." Her throat tightened and she forced herself to say the last. "I led him to Devyn and he's been after us ever since."
"Irn what?" the voice asked.
"Penisky."
"Okay. Terry, I've got one of my operatives there. I'm going to stat her Devyn's real readout and have her straighten this mess out. Meet her at the Keepers' station and make sure the Keepers haven't ruffled his fur any. If they have, get their names and numbers and let me handle it. No stupid bravado tricks," he snapped. "After the stunt Rina pulled on Nera, the High Command is blistering my neck. I'll also send out a stat on this Irn Penisky and bring him up on forgery charges and interfering with HAWC affairs. I'll bury him so deep, he'll never move against another one of us."
"Thanks, big brother. I knew I could count on you."
"Anytime."
Taryn switched off the link. "All that worry. See how easily things work out?"
A shiver ran down her spine. Nothing ever went easily for her. "If it's that easy, why didn't Rina do it on Nera?"
Taryn rolled his eyes. "My parents should have locked her up in a cage from the time she turned two. If there's an easy way to do something, she makes a point of avoiding it. And if she can run away from her nosy brothers at any time, she leaves so fast you can see the vapor trail for miles."
Alix smiled.
"C'mon," he said, "let's go find Devyn."
Devyn sat in his cell staring at the odd group around him. The man to his left had killed three members of his family and was now involved in a boasting contest with another occupant who claimed he'd killed four HAWC Keepers.
At least all six other occupants kept away from him. He just wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone. Although he did keep imagining himself strangling Alix. He couldn't believe she'd turned him in. Why? If she didn't want to wait, she could have told him. Women. Who would ever figure them out?
A guard walked to the door. "C'mon, Kell. We made a mistake."
"You made a mistake with me, too!" one of the other guys shouted.
Devyn sighed and pushed himself off the floor. Leave it to Taryn. He had known all along it would only be a matter of time before Taryn came looking for him.
As he walked out of the cell, the guard caught his arm. "Make sure you tell them we didn't do nothing to you."
"Other than slam me against the wall?" Devyn couldn't resist asking.
The man's face blanched. A twinge of guilt tweaked his conscience.
"Relax. I needed someone to slam some sense into my skull. You guys probably did me a favor."
Devyn made his way down the corridor and stopped at the window to collect his belongings. After signing the forms, he entered the waiting area and stopped.
Alix and Taryn stood by the door. Catching sight of him, Alix smiled. Amazing how people changed. Did she think him so stupid he didn't even know?
"What?" he asked as she approached him. "Did you start feeling guilty about shoving me into the grinder?"
She frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"You turned me in," he sneered. "I saw the form with your name on it."
She pursed her lips and said sarcastically, "I didn't turn you in."
"Yeah, right. I guess the Keepers just happened to choose a name to assign blame and out of all the names in the universe, Alix Garran was the one name they chose." He looked at Taryn. "Gee, what are the odds of that?"
Anger darkened her eyes. "I should have just kept on walking. I don't know why I even came back."
"Neither do I."
She clenched her fist at her side and he half expected her to hit him. Instead, her eyes narrowed. "Go rot, for all I care."
Turning around, she headed out the door and into the street.
"That was a nasty thing to do."
He turned to glare at Taryn. "What do you know about it?"
"What I know is that I was going to leave in about fifteen minutes and if Alix hadn't shown up in tears and told me you'd been taken, you would still be locked up, if not executed."
Fury burned through him. How dare Taryn stand up for her after what she'd done. "She turned me in!"
"How do you know?"
"Someone had to give them the info. If not her, then who used her name?"
Taryn frowned, then went to the processor's desk. "Excuse me, could I see the warrant on Devyn Kell?"
"Yes, Your Highness," the secretary said. "For you, anything." He shuffled through the papers on his desk until he found the warrant and gave it to Taryn.
Taryn scanned the papers, then handed them to him. "Look at the description of the informant. Male, dark hair, five foot ten inches. Gee, but I could have sworn Alix—"
"Irn," Devyn snarled, his vision clouding. And if Irn had done this, he was here.
And if he was here . . .
"Oh, my God," he breathed.
He had to get to Alix before Irn did, before Irn hurt her. Panic riding him like a demon, he ran from the building and out into the street. People surrounded him, but nowhere did he see Alix. Which way would she go?
Devyn turned around, his blood pounding. If she were hurt because of him, he'd—
Color sizzled past him, narrowly missing his arm. The crowd screamed and ducked, running all through the street.
"Kell!" a voice shouted.
He turned to see Irn holding Alix in the center of the street, a blaster aimed at her head. The smile on the man's face bordered on insane. Devyn took a step toward them, but Irn's grip tightened on the blaster. Keepers spilled out of the building and froze as they caught s
ight of them.
"I'll be in touch," Irn said.
A Keeper fired his blaster at them. Irn and Alix dissolved into wavy lines a second before they disappeared.
"Hologram," Devyn snarled.
The Prixie zoomed overhead. He knew without a doubt that it had been the hologram's source.
"Who is this guy?" Taryn asked, moving to stand beside him.
Devyn whirled around and pulled the blaster from Taryn's holster. "A walking corpse."
Chapter Twenty
"Devyn, wait!" Taryn shouted, rushing after him. "What are you planning?"
"I don't know. With any luck something will occur to me when I need it."
Taryn's face blanched. "Don't do this."
He tried to take the blaster away, but Devyn shoved him aside. "Don't try to stop me, Taryn. I don't want to hurt you."
Taryn shook his head. "I lost one brother this way. Do you want to end up like Adron?"
Devyn paused, his anger only building. For the first time, he understood why Adron had had to pursue his wife's murderer. He knew if he failed to get Alix back, he'd end up as Adron's bunkmate in the slanted zone.
"Go on and get your shipment to Terria. This is between me and Irn."
He started to move away, but Taryn caught him by the arm. "Devyn, look at yourself. You've become one of those guys you hate. You swore you'd never touch a gun when you left the HAWC. Now you're ready to kill this guy?"
"No, now I'm protecting Alix, and if that means killing him, so be it. She's lived her life in fear and terror. No one deserves her past, and I intend to guarantee her future will not be a repeat journey to hell."
"You sound like you've gone slanted."
Devyn met his gaze. "I love her, Taryn, and I'm not going to let her get hurt."
Taryn shook his head and sighed. "Women aren't worth it, but if you're determined to do this, I'm not going to let you get hurt."
* * *
Alix sat in the large rec room of a house on some forgotten planet in a forgotten corner of the universe, her hands gyved in her lap. Irn sat at a table across from her and eyed her with triumph burning in his eyes, his body encased from head to foot in a HAWC battle uniform.
"Cap'n, our spy says Kell is holed up with Taryn Kyrelle."
A glimmer of fear flashed in Irn's eyes. "It doesn't matter."
Alix bit her lip, her entire body trembling. "He's not going to come after me," she said, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. "He hates me."
"You know, boss, she might be right. What with you using her name and all—"
Irn grabbed him by the throat. "You don't think, kruna. I do. He'll come after her. Just send the message like I told you. Make sure he has all the coordinates for my brother's place."
"Yes, Cap'n."
Irn moved to pace around her chair. "Kell's smart enough to realize you didn't turn him in. I only used your name to get under his skin."
He grabbed her face, his fingers biting into her cheeks, and forced her to look at him. "I would have had him by now if you hadn't interfered. I had everything planned so carefully, but you couldn't just sit and wait."
He backhanded her. "That's for making me take you first."
Her cheek throbbing, she stared at him. "Why do you hate me so much?"
His lips curled. "Why?" he asked, his voice high and whiny. "Are you truly that stupid?" He raked her with a glare. "Then again, I guess you are."
He returned to pacing around her. "I spent thirty years in prison taking orders—when to get up, when to go to the bathroom, when and how much to eat."
He faced her, his eyes glowing from inner madness. "There was a time when I was the one who gave orders. My brother and me were the best drug and gun runners in the universe. We had over two hundred people working for us, and then that bitch came and infiltrated our ring."
His lips curled and he raised his fist as if addressing the Lord himself. "She handed me and my brother over to the HAWC in chains. I always knew I'd get back at her for that and then when Janoff died, I knew I could never rest until she had received her true reward."
His gaze returned to her, and Alix wanted to shrink from it. "After they finally let me out, I had to earn money. Have you ever tried to find work with a prison record?"
Alix swallowed, her panic rising. She grasped at the one last chance she had to reach him. "That's right. My father and I were good enough to give you a job even with your prison record and this is how you repay us?"
He slapped her again. "You didn't hire me."
Blood ran from the corner of her mouth and her head swam from the pain throbbing along her cheek and lips. Alix closed her eyes and drew a deep, fortifying breath.
She must stay conscious and alert, or she and Devyn would die. "I told my father to hire you. I knew you had forged your credentials, and I hacked into the HAWC's computer banks. I found your prison file and hid it from my father. I was stupid enough to think you had done your time and could use a job."
"Liar!" He drew back to hit her again and she tensed, but for some reason he refrained.
Slowly, he lowered his hand, his eyes blazing. "It was you who told him about my record. You who sent him to fire me!"
She frowned in confusion. Her father had never wanted to fire Irn. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about the night he went into the Gilded Cage to fire me," he said, gripping the arms of her chair and leaning so close she nearly gagged on his putrid breath.
"He told me that he refused to have me on board his ship making passes at his daughter. He said he'd found out about my rape charges and other crimes and that you might be nothing but a slave, but you were his flesh and blood and as such he had no intention of having you harmed."
Her mouth dropped. Her father had defended her? No, it had to be a lie. Her father had never defended her, would never have defended her.
"So I gutted the ignorant bastard."
Her stomach lurched at his cold, callous words. "You were the one who killed him?"
"Of course, you fool. Who did you think ended his miserable existence?"
Pain burned through her. Her father had died protecting her? She still couldn't believe it. But why would Irn lie? He had nothing to gain. Dear Lord, it had to be true. Her father had cared for her, at least for one moment. Not once had he ever said a kind word to her and now to find out too late . . .
"You sorry—"
He lifted his hand again. "Don't tempt me, woman. The only thing keeping you alive is your lover. Though why he'd want to come after something as ugly as you, I can't imagine."
Each word tore through her, made worse by the fact that she knew he was right. She'd never understood why Devyn had wanted her, what he could possibly see in her. Then suddenly she knew.
"This is what he sees in me," she said, and kneed Irn in the groin.
Irn doubled over next to her. Jerking the keys off his belt, she quickly ungyved her hands and sprang from the chair. "Thanks, skagen," she said, and ran for the door.
She went out into the yard and pulled up short when she saw two guards headed toward the house. Dashing right, she hid herself behind a clump of shrubbery until after they'd passed. An alarm rent the air. Alix clenched her teeth. She had to get out of here and find some way to warn Devyn, to make sure that he, too, didn't die trying to protect her.
* * *
Taryn stared at Devyn in disbelief while Devyn strapped on the flexible black body armor.
Over the years, he'd seen his friend drink until he couldn't walk, seen Devyn cry by his side when they brought Adron into the hospital one heartbeat shy of death, seen him furious to the point of murder, but only years ago had Taryn seen him like this.
What Taryn faced now was the old Devyn Kell. The Devyn who had emerged from HAWC training with a purpose, who had sworn to uphold the Code. The Devyn Kell who made him look like a nice little kid. Not since Devyn had left the HAWC had Taryn seen him like this—cold, unreadable, deadly.
Devyn straightened and caught his scrutiny. "What?" he asked, strapping the blaster to his hip.
"I was thinking how much you remind me of your parents."
The League 3: Paradise City Page 27