“Get me down there,” he ordered. “Now!”
“I can’t, Steel,” Khurda said, his eyes never leaving the screen.
“Why the hell not?” Steel shouted, watching as Astra turned into an alley, his heart leaping into his throat when he realized it was a dead end. They were trapped.
“Because if I transport you down there, I won’t be able to transport them up for another three minutes,” Khurda said tightly, his fingers racing over the console before him. “I’ve got their location, but I need Astra to activate her transport beacon before I can get a positive transport lock.”
Both men watched, their hearts pounding, nervous sweat dotting their faces as they waited. A light turned green on Khurda’s console and he jammed his finger down on the transport activation key so hard that it cracked. “Thirty seconds,” he bit out.
“It’s not fast enough,” Steel said as he watched the petite woman through Astra’s cam, every cell in his body screaming with the need to be down there, on the ground, where he could protect both women.
***
Tani’s heart sank when she saw that the alley was a dead end. She looked around for an escape route. A door, a window, some way for them to climb the wall behind them, anything, but the buildings on either side of them were locked and empty for the summer. They were well and truly trapped. “Tell me what’s going on, Astra.”
“Those men following us are going to try to kill or abduct me,” Astra said, tapping rapidly on the comm device strapped to her wrist. “The Stray is locked onto my beacon,” she said a moment later. “But I don’t think we’ll transport out of here fast enough.”
Tani watched as both men turned into the alley and started toward them, their pace steady, but not hurried, their hands drawing the knives hanging from their belts. “How much time do you need?”
“Thirty seconds.”
“Stay here,” Tani said, then took off running straight up the alley toward the men, startling them enough that their steps faltered, then stopped altogether as they watched her.
Good boys, just stand right there and stare for another couple of seconds, Tani thought as she ran a little bit further, veering sharply to the right where several crates were stacked against the wall. She took a running leap at the crates, then pushed off the top of the pile with one foot and leapt again, this time kicking off the top of a garbage can. She kicked off of that, aiming for a spot on the brick wall a couple of feet in front of the two big men and about level with their height. She hit her mark with the ball of one foot, then pushed off, twisting her body so that she landed on one man’s broad shoulders, her legs straddling his neck.
She locked her legs together and, using all of her body’s momentum, twisted hard. The big man’s neck broke with a sharp crack. She relaxed her legs and threw herself off of him, flipping in the air so that she landed on her feet a couple of yards in front of the remaining attacker.
He was watching in open mouthed disbelief as his companion fell lifelessly to the ground, so Tani took advantage of the extra couple of seconds to run back to the garbage cans and grab one of the lids. She held it by the edges in both hands, tilted it upward at just the right angle, and planted her feet before twisting her body sideways just as the second man started for her, roaring furiously with one big knife in each fist. When he was about six feet away, Tani swung the lid around with all of her power and released it. If the man had been further away, it might not have done much damage since it was so big. As it was, it struck the big man right in the Adam’s apple with enough force to crush his larynx, just as she’d intended. He raised both hands to his throat as he began gagging and gasping for air.
Tani started to relax just as two more men entered the alley, both identical to the first two. At the same time Astra shouted. Her choices were simple. Go with Astra and get transported out of the alley, or let the big guys have her.
She spun around and raced back to where Astra stood waiting for her. “How much time?”
“Five seconds,” Astra whispered. Tani reached into her pocket for her student pass and dropped it on the ground just as both men reached to their belts, raised their arms and threw something at them. Astra shoved her aside, and Tani felt something hit her arm with a sharp sting. She heard Astra grunt, then everything turned black.
***
Steel saw the petite woman’s lips move as she spoke to Astra just before she took off running straight for the Nomen who’d just turned into the alley.
“What is she doing?” Khurda demanded, but Steel could only shake his head, too surprised to speak. They watched in silence as the small woman ran directly at the Nomen. Then she…did something. They missed it when Astra moved suddenly, raising one arm which blocked the cam on her collar. Then the arm went down and they gasped as the small woman seemed to fly up the wall, then throw herself at the nearest Nomen. Steel’s mouth dropped open when she landed on the Nomen’s shoulders, then flipped off of him, landing lightly on her feet in front of them. The Nomen fell lifeless to the ground, but the small woman was already moving again. They watched in disbelief as she took the other Nomen out…with the lid of a trash can for star’s sake!...then ran back to Astra.
“Five seconds,” Khurda said tightly just as the petite woman reached Astra, clearing their view of the alley from the micro cam. Steel’s heart stopped beating altogether as he watched a new pair of Nomen reach for weapons and, half a second later, release them.
“NO!” Steel and Khurda both shouted at the same time. Then Khurda hit another button and the feed from Astra’s cam went black.
“They’re up,” Khurda announced, but Steel was already out the door. He ran down the corridor toward the transport room as fast as he could, praying that he’d find both women alive and well when he got there, but already knowing that he wouldn’t.
***
Nica Fadden stepped out of the bathroom, still tying her bathrobe as she hurried to the hand vid on the dresser. Normally she would have let it go to message until she was finished with her shower, but not this time. Something was warning her that she needed to get this call. She pressed the Accept button, not completely surprised by the face that appeared on her screen.
“Nica, thank goodness,” Salene said with far too much relief.
“What’s wrong?” Nica asked, then gasped, knowing the answer before Salene spoke. “Tani,” she whispered. “Tell me everything, Salene.”
“I’m so glad you got your powers back, Cuz,” Salene said, then pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes for a long moment in a futile attempt to stop her tears. “Tani’s gone. She’s just…gone.”
“How long?”
“A couple of hours,” Rayne said, joining her sister in front of the vid terminal. “She went to get her guitar from the music hall, and didn’t come back. According to the professor over there, she never even showed up.”
“Campus security found her student pass on the ground in an alley a couple of blocks away from the dorm,” Salene said.
“She dropped it on purpose, so you’d know she transported off planet,” Nica said with conviction.
“Off planet?” Salene asked, stunned. “Do you know why? Or to where?”
“No, I don’t,” Nica said. “Have you called your parents?”
“Not yet,” Salene said. “We were still hoping she’d show up until her student pass was found. We decided to call you first. We don’t want our dads going into blood rages and with both of us crying, we don’t have a chance of stopping it.”
“I’ll talk to your mom, first,” Nica said. “Where are you?”
“In our dorm,” Salene said. “We missed the shuttle and the liner, but we couldn’t leave without Tani.”
“For now, stay put,” Nica said. “I’ll call your parents, then they’ll call you to let you know what they want you to do next.”
“All right Nica, thank you,” Salene said.
“Nica, do you have any…ideas…about what happened?” Rayne asked hopefully.
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“She’s alive and, for the moment, she’s safe,” Nica said. “That’s all I know right now.”
“Thank you, Nica,” Salene said as relief washed through her. “We thought so too, but we weren’t certain.”
“If I get more, I’ll let you know.”
“Okay, Cuz,” Rayne said. “Thank you.”
“No problem,” Nica said. “You two sit tight, okay? Your parents will be in touch soon. I love you guys.”
“We love you, too, Nica,” Salene said, then reached out to close the connection.
Chapter 2
Tani opened her eyes very slowly, raising one hand to the back of her head which was throbbing steadily. She blinked several times, struggling to focus as she sat up and looked around. She blinked again, this time in confusion when she saw that she was in a tiny room consisting of four metal walls, a metal floor and ceiling, a small tray table with wheels, and the narrow bed she currently sat on.
She frowned, trying to remember where she was, how she’d gotten there, and why she didn’t recognize the room in which she found herself. She pushed the lightweight blanket she was covered with aside to find that, except for her shoes, she was fully dressed. Before she could begin to formulate any possible explanations for her growing list of questions, one section of the wall in front of her slid open, revealing an enormous man with light golden brown skin, slanted black eyes, and a head shaven bare except for a top-knot that hung over his shoulder in a thick glossy black braid that reached his waist.
He was so beautiful that Tani thought she could probably stare at his high cheekbones, sensuous mouth, and dark, mysterious eyes all day long if given the chance. And if she ever got tired of his face, there was always his body. Whoa!
She’d grown up on Jasan where large, powerful males were a common sight and the atmosphere contained more testosterone than oxygen. But she’d never once felt the slightest bit of attraction to any of those men, or anyone else for that matter. For some reason, this gorgeous mountain of muscle standing before her was very different. Tani’s attraction to him was so strong, so intense, and so unexpected that for a long moment she could do nothing but stare. When she realized that she wasn’t just staring, but that her mouth had actually fallen open, she snapped it shut, lowered her eyes, and swallowed hard, her face so hot that she wouldn’t have been surprised to find that it glowed.
Get a grip, Tani, she told herself silently, using one of her mother’s favorite expressions. When she was sure she had control of herself, outwardly at least, she looked back up at the man, though she wasn’t quite ready to look at his face again just yet. Instead, she studied the gray jumpsuit he wore as though she expected to find answers to her growing list of questions written on it somewhere. Her eyes narrowed just slightly when she noticed the leather belt around his waist that held a knife with a handle so big she doubted she could wrap her hands around it. But even these attempts to ignore the racing of her blood, the hardening of her nipples, the rush of dampness between her legs, and the pounding of her heart, failed. It wasn’t until she got a whiff of the food on the tray he was holding that she was truly diverted. Her stomach immediately began growling and cramping up as though she hadn’t eaten for days. She sincerely hoped the food was for her.
All of this took only a few seconds, so when the man said, “You’re awake,” without a single indication that he’d noticed her decidedly strange reaction to him, she let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. She liked his voice, which was deep, smooth and warm. He had a slight accent that sounded familiar, though she couldn’t quite place it at the moment.
“Would you mind telling me where I am, how I got here, how long I’ve been here, and who you are?”
The man smiled and nodded as he stepped inside the room, instantly taking up over half the available space. He set the tray on the table and when she started to get up, he waved at her to stay where she was and rolled the table to her. “You probably don’t want to stand just yet,” he said. “Get some food and caffeine into you first, and then ask your questions.”
Tani barely nodded as a scent unlike anything she’d ever experienced wafted over her when the man approached with the tray table. It reminded her of a forest in summer, warm and woody with hints of pine and cedar, and a healthy dose of male musk. She wanted to move closer to him just so she could breathe it in without interference from the aromas of the coffee and food in front of her. The impulse was so strong that she actually started to get up before she caught herself. The result was a hard jerk of her body that nearly sent the tray table flying. She caught it quickly with one hand, then reached for the large, steaming mug of coffee as though nothing untoward had happened.
She took a careful sip of the hot, strong brew, and forced herself to focus on her current situation, steadfastly not looking at the man now standing next to the door a mere half dozen feet away from her. As the caffeine began to do its job, memories started coming back to her. Those, combined with the slight vibration she felt through the soles of her feet, the tiny room, and the man’s jumpsuit, added more information. And more questions.
She set the mug down and uncovered the plate to find bacon and eggs with toast. Her preferred high protein breakfast. Well, accept for the toast. For some reason, she loved toast. It was one of her favorite carbs. Add a little apricot jam and she’d take it over a box of chocolates every time. Just one more thing that separated her from her sisters.
For the first time, she was able to brush off the stray thought about her sisters without the usual sadness. At the moment she was far more interested in how this man had come to know enough about her to prepare her favorite breakfast, and how he’d known to bring it right after she’d awakened. She looked at the tray again, lifted the cover to make sure nothing was under it, and frowned.
“What are you looking for?”
“Sugar, creamer, the usual things people like to put in their coffee,” she replied, displaying no more than mild curiosity after finally remembering to use some of the skills Aunt Aisling had taught her. Such as how to hide her true thoughts and feelings even while looking straight into the eyes of the most stunning man she’d ever seen.
“I apologize,” he said. “I thought you preferred your coffee black.”
“I do,” Tani said. “The question is…actually, it really would be easier if I knew what to call you. Since you know enough about me to order up my favorite breakfast, it seems fair.”
“Steel.”
“Your given name is Steel?” she asked with just a touch of doubt.
One corner of his mouth twitched and she barely managed to keep herself from smiling. “My given name, Gunji Tanjelia, is Ganzorig Khaan. In the old language of my people, Ganzorig means steel courage. I was nicknamed Steel as a child.”
“Then your given name is, in fact, Steel, and I apologize for doubting you.” Steel dipped his head in a slow nod. “What does Gunji mean, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“Princess,” he replied.
Tani reached for the utensils wrapped up in a napkin and began unrolling them. “If you’re going to call me princess, I suppose I’ll have to call you prince,” she said. “Or…no, khan is prince, khaan is king, isn’t that right?”
“Yes, that’s correct,” Steel said, his mouth twitching again. “I prefer Steel, if you don’t mind.”
“And I prefer Tani,” she said. Steel dipped his head again and this time she let herself smile. Then, before she could stop herself, she asked, “Are you related to Astra, or are you…acquaintances?”
“She is my cousin.”
“I see,” Tani said, spearing a bit of egg with her fork, carefully hiding the wave of relief that washed through her. “Was it Astra who told you how I like my coffee?”
“Not exactly. She programed our food generator for you with the few preferences she was aware of.”
“That was thoughtful of her,” Tani said, wondering why Astra had prepared for her to be on this ship. But the ti
me was not yet right for that question. “Did she also program it to know when I’d wake up?”
“I checked on you earlier and suspected you’d awaken soon,” Steel said with a tiny lift of one shoulder. “I thought you’d be hungry.”
“In that case, I thank you, because I am hungry,” she said. “So far I remember Astra leading me to the end of an alley, two men coming toward us, and her saying we’d be transported in thirty seconds. I disabled the first two men, but two more showed up, so I went back to where Astra was waiting to be transported up with her.” She popped a piece of bacon into her mouth and chewed for a moment, frowning as another memory slipped into her mind. “Both men threw something at us, weapons of some sort, I imagine. They were all carrying huge knives, like that one you wear. Astra either fell into me, or pushed me out of the way.” Her eyes widened. “Is she all right?”
“Unfortunately, no,” Steel said, and she saw the genuine worry in his dark eyes. “She was struck with a knife that I believe may have been meant for you. You got the tranquilizer meant for her.”
“I don’t understand,” Tani said. “Why would those men want to kill me and drug Astra?”
“Because they wanted to capture Astra, and you were in their way.”
“All right, more questions there obviously, but first, please tell me why Astra would take a knife meant for me? I mean, we’ve been friends for a long time, but I haven’t even seen her for a year.”
“She believed that you’re more important to our people than she is,” Steel said. “I hope that she’s right, because that’s why we went to New Oxford to begin with.”
Tani set her fork down and met Steel’s gaze steadily with her own. “I think it’s time for you to tell me what’s going on instead of waiting for me to ask the right questions.”
Steel stared at her for a long moment, and she wondered what it was he was looking for. Before she found an answer, he said, “You should know that Astra had a micro cam on her collar for safety, and we had a good view from orbit as well, so we know what happened down there.”
Tani's Destiny (Hearts of ICARUS Book 2) Page 2