Fools Rush In (The Interstellar Rescue Series Book 3)

by Donna S. Frelick

  Like Solitary, the infirmary doors stood at the end of a separate hallway, the unmanned security comp standing guard outside. Cameras above the entrance monitored who entered and exited. At this hour, deep in the night, there was no movement in and out of the hospital wing—no visitors, no injuries or illnesses to deal with (aside from the rare emergency created by a fight in the barracks or a collapse from life in this hellhole), no deliveries. The staff inside would likely be dozing, the patients, including her target, sleeping.

  Rayna took another quick look up and down the hall from her hiding place in the shadow of a doorway and aimed the device she carried at the security cams. The green lights on the cams winked out. Rayna sprinted for the security computer, keeping the time count in her head while she entered the code. She’d just counted “nine” when she ducked through the doors and pushed them closed behind her. Now the cameras would be safely back on, showing the corridor empty once again.

  Ahead, through a small lobby, a wide hallway separated two examining rooms on the left from the walled-in reception desk on the right. The tall counter at reception faced the hallway, not the door; Rayna couldn’t see if anyone was there. She slipped around to the right and waited.

  Seconds later someone woke up and stuck a head across the counter. “Anybody there?”

  Rayna hit the anti-cam device just in case and rushed the woman, slamming her head into the plasteel counter before she had a chance to move back or protect herself. The nurse was a big girl, but she went down in a boneless heap. Rayna knew she wouldn’t stay out long; she hadn’t hit her head that hard. She found some gauze bandaging in an exam room and tied the nurse to her desk with a gag across her mouth. She murmured an apology to the unconscious woman and turned to survey the patient monitors.

  Empty. All the rooms were empty. Where the fuck was the Thrane? Her mind raced with the possibilities—he was dead; he’d been transferred back to the barracks; he was out somewhere in the factory leaving his packages; he’d heard the ruckus she’d made dispatching the nurse and was lying in wait for her. The last possibility chilled her bones and raised the hairs on the back of her neck. She gripped the shiv tighter in her fist and studied the monitors again.

  One bed in the eight-bed infirmary barracks had been made with less than military precision. The pillow at its head was rumpled, and there was an extra blanket at its foot. Someone was using it, someone who was absent at the moment. Not a patient—there were no IV tubes snaking from the wall or medications on the nearby table. If the Thrane had been injured or ill when he was taken from the factory floor, he’d long since healed. The infirmary bed was just a base of operations. Rayna’s search for him would have to start there.

  She aimed her device at the two cameras covering the hallway and watched the operating lights blink out, then jogged down the floor toward the Thrane’s room. She paused at his door and peeked through the small, square observation window. The monitoring camera was mounted high in the corner. She took it out and confirmed the room was otherwise unoccupied, then ducked inside before the hall cams switched back on. Knowing she’d need more time in the room, she climbed on a chair and turned the room cam toward the wall. By the time Central Monitoring was alerted, she’d be gone.

  Rayna jumped down from the chair and scanned the room for the bed she’d seen on the monitor. It was the last one in the row, furthest from the door, and as she approached it, every instinct told her she was descending into a pit of vipers. The Thrane hadn’t bothered to hide the tools of his trade or the base materials of mass destruction. Was his mind really that powerful that he could keep the infirmary staff blind to all this? Stored neatly under the bed he slept in were thin plastic bags of explosive strips, packs of the delicate vials of chemical accelerant, lines of inactive nanoprocessor links, these in black, gray and white. A shallow tray held cases to contain his packages, simple black or gray plastic boxes that would attach to the back of a pillar or the underside of a girder.

  There was an extra laser knife, too. Rayna stuck it deep in the side of her boot.

  There was little else in the area of the bed to tell her what she needed to know: where was the Thrane now? She could wait for him here and risk discovery as the watch turned and the day staff came on, or she could seek him out in the little time she had left tonight. She blew out a curse and headed for the door.

  At the reception desk, the big nurse was just beginning to rouse. Rayna stepped behind her and put an arm around her throat and her hands at her carotid arteries. The nurse promptly went back to sleep. Rayna untied her hands, but left the gag on and her feet tied, just to slow her down. She turned for the exit—

  --and felt flames rocket up her spine and explode in her brain. She crumpled to her knees, the shiv loose in her grip, a scream gathering in the back of her throat. She was blind with the pain, deaf with it, unable to move or to think.

  Until she heard a voice somewhere in the air above her head. “I wondered when you would come. You owe me a debt of pain, Rayna Carver. And, believe me, you will pay before you die.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Daniel Chang leapt off the D-mat platform wearing a glower as dark as unending space. Security Chief Chen and Javin Darto, who’d been sent to fetch him from the planet surface, followed at a slower pace, rolling their eyes at their captain.

  “What the hell is this, Murphy? You know being seen visiting your ship can blow my cover, right?”

  “After we’ve done what I’ve come to do, it won’t matter.” Sam turned and swept through the hatch into the corridor, dismissing his crew and leaving the Rescue agent no choice but to follow him.

  “What are you talking about?” Words spilled out of the agent in a strained whisper as he struggled to keep up. “I got no details from headquarters on Madras—just that the mission was compromised and I was to wait to hear from you. What’s going on? Is Ray in danger? Perai! Murphy! Stop!”

  Sam pulled up in front of the lift. “Of course she’s in danger, you mulaak sonofabitch. You put her there. We both put her there, when we allowed her to take this shalssiti mission.” His teeth were clenched so tight he could barely open his mouth to speak. “Not that she gave us any choice.”

  “Are you going to tell me, or am I supposed to guess?”

  The lift arrived, and they crammed into a space that Sam thought was much too small for the two of them and all their anger, too. “Those Thranes that were aboard my ship? They’re in the factory. She’s an assassin; he’s a munitions expert given the mission of blowing up Kinz on behalf of the Minertsan government.”

  Light dawned in Daniel’s expression. “Because Kinz has been producing weapons for the Gray rebels. How do you know all this?”

  The lift arrived at the bridge level, and Sam led the way to his command room. “It’s a long story that I’m tired of telling. What’s important is that we need to get Ray out of there—now.”

  Inside the cabin, Gabriel looked up from the data pad he’d been studying and nodded. “Gentlemen.”

  Sam let Daniel and Gabriel make their own introductions. He slipped behind his desk and called up the data he’d asked Mo to put together on Kinz on his desk screen. It didn’t amount to much—yet.

  He looked up and called the meeting to order. “Well?”

  Daniel shrugged. “Normally, I’d say getting Rayna out of Kinz would be easy. There’s no dematerializing in or out of the compound, of course, due to the security shield, but I have people on the inside. I contact them with the pull order, and they send her out. I pick her up. Done.”

  Gabriel shifted in his seat. “I’m hearing a big ‘but.’”

  “But she’s not going to want to leave without eliminating those operatives.” Daniel caught Sam’s gaze and held it. “We couldn’t keep her from going in. I don’t think we’ll get her to come out without a fight.”

  Sam cursed, his body itching for the physical release of pacing, but unable to move in the cramped space. “Damn stubborn little hellcat.”
>
  “And there’s the question of what to do with the workers. We have a guard on the inside, but he’s nowhere near command level. I doubt he’d be believed if he said there was a saboteur planting bombs in the factory.”

  “We have to risk it anyway,” Sam said. “We have to evacuate that factory. And once we get the LO’s on the outside, they’re mine.”

  Daniel stared at him. “You’re planning to liberate the factory, too? You’re insane! What would you do with 1500 slaves—spirit them away on the Shadowhawk?”

  “Your boss is sending a ship.” Sam crossed his arms, realizing all at once what he had to do. “If Ray won’t come to us, we’ll have to go to her.”

  “Now I know you’re crazy!” Daniel’s head swiveled from Sam to Gabriel. “You! You tell him! This is a high-security labor facility. It’s a prison. You don’t just walk around inside and chat with whomever you please!”

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake, stop whining. It’s not like I’m planning to take a tour.” Sam put the confidence of his command in his voice. “You have people on the inside. You have ways to get people in and out. Get a message to Ray to meet us at the exit. I’ll talk to her.”

  Daniel snorted, and even Gabriel, lips lifting in a skeptical grin, had to ask, “And when she won’t come with?”

  “Maybe she can use some help taking out a couple of Thranes,” Sam suggested. “Once the evacuation begins, the place will be chaos. Think the guards will be keeping track with 1500 workers in the yard?”

  “More like 1500 targets for a madman like this Thrane,” Daniel shot back. “Have you thought about that?”

  “Mo’s working on it. Hacking the security network at one of the most secure facilities in the quadrant hasn’t been easy.” He grinned as he turned his desk comp in their direction. Red panels were turning to green all over the screen, giving his XO control of the gates of Hell. “But I think he’s almost got it.”

  The Thrane’s handsome face was twisted by a dark, furious hatred, his eyes alight with an eager fire. He stared down at her as the Devil must stare down at lost souls in their perdition, enjoying her suffering, anticipating what was to come.

  “My name is Rexus Kor of the House of Kor of Thrane. My mate was Zetana, but you know that. You are the one who ended her life.”

  Flames licked at the base of her skull; smoke obscured her vision. “Not before she tried to end mine. And if anyone owes a debt, it’s you. All those lives aboard the Shadowhawk? And the Fleeflek?”

  “Worthless! Collateral! They were nothing compared to my Zetana!” His face contorted with grief and rage, and he took a step closer to her, but, unaccountably, the pain in her head dropped.

  Rayna gathered what strength she had and lunged at him. He stepped aside and kicked her savagely in the ribs, crushing them on that side and launching her entire body into a bank of cabinets as easily as if she’d been a child’s ball. She rolled inward, trying to protect herself.

  The shiv. Where is the shiv?

  He bent close to her and held the precious thing up where she could see it. “Looking for this?” He snatched it back out of her reach before she could grab it, then he yanked on her arm. “Up. We can’t stay here. I need privacy for what I mean to do to you, little agent.”

  Rayna gasped as he pulled her up. Shit! For sure at least one of those ribs was broken. She could be grateful that the debilitating pain he’d hit her with earlier was gone. Maybe he could only maintain that kind of control for short periods. Then again, he only needed it for a second to put her on the floor.

  He gestured at the nurse. “Untie her. And get rid of the bandages.”

  She did as she was told; no reason to argue. She could only hope the woman would call in an alarm when she woke up.

  But the Thrane had other ideas. He put a hand to the nurse’s forehead.

  Rayna didn’t bother to ask what he was doing. The woman would be lucky to remember her name when she regained consciousness now. But if Rexus’s mind was engaged in wiping the woman’s memory, he might lose focus elsewhere. Rayna didn’t hesitate. She kicked out at his knee, hoping to break it. He buckled, bringing her next target to hand. She was poised to strike his temple and end it when the inside of her head went white-hot with searing pain, her heart exploded in her chest and her world went red, then gray, then deepest, darkest black.

  “You hacked the Kinz security net?” Daniel stared at Sam, his mouth agog. “Everything? Even the D-mat shields?”

  “No. Those are solid. But everything else is ours.”

  Daniel shook his head. “Our best people have never managed anything like that.”

  “You don’t have Mo.” Sam couldn’t help the note of pride in his voice.

  Gabriel’s lips quirked. “I told Sophia a long time ago that ‘the best people’ were not inclined to work for next to nothing.”

  Daniel grunted. “And I suppose you pay top credit on this bucket of bolts?”

  “Nobody’s complaining.” Sam had had enough talk, especially from the Pataran. He shot to his feet. “Time to get moving.”

  Daniel looked like he might protest the abrupt dash to the exit, but the sound of a call alert stopped him. He pulled out his comm.

  Sam felt a thrill of anticipation. “Is that your people inside?”

  The Pataran looked up at him in surprise. “No. It’s an emergency code we only use when something’s gone wrong.” He punched a pad on the unit. “Chang. You’re who? Okay. Yes, we can, but you should talk to your captain first. Hold on.” He held out the comm to Sam. “Your girl Lainie.”

  Sam’s throat closed up on him; he had to clear it before he spoke or the rasp in his voice would have given his emotions away to everyone in the room. “Lainie! Where are you?”

  “Cap? I’m in an alleyway not far from Kinz. Shore leave sucks. Permission to come aboard?”

  There was that choking sensation again. Sam swallowed.

  “You better get your tail aboard this ship, sister. I’ve got some questions for you. I’ll meet you in the D-mat room. Captain out.” He exhaled. “She sounds okay.” Fragments of information began to shift and coalesce into a pattern. “Daniel—how the hell could she have access to your comm?”

  “Obviously she’s been inside Kinz with Rayna. Looks like Ray’s managed to get her out.” The Pataran explained this as though Sam were mentally challenged. “That’s her job after all.”

  Sam’s emotions careened between relief and renewed worry. And he wanted to punch Daniel all over again, just for the hell of it.

  Gabriel clapped him on the back. “She should be able to tell us something.”

  “Let’s find out.” Sam started across the bridge toward the exit to the corridor. He paused to give final orders to his XO. “We found Lainie. Make sure she stays on this ship. In fact, she’s confined to quarters until further notice.”

  Mo’s jaw tightened. “She won’t follow anybody this time.”

  “Nice job on the Kinz security net, by the way.”

  The XO shrugged. “The locking systems are the simplest part of the system. It’s going to be a lot harder to get all those LO’s into the yard.”

  “Let me worry about that. Just be ready for my signal. Any word from Rescue?”

  “They should be at the C5 jump within a couple of hours.”

  His space buoys were lining up in a nice little row. A sizzle of anticipation ran through Sam’s chest and down his arms to his fingers. He recognized it—his body preparing for battle.

  He laid a hand on Mo’s shoulder and turned to leave. “Good. You have the conn. We’ll check in every hour.”

  “And if you don’t?”

  The captain paused at the hatch and held his friend’s gaze. “If we miss two check-ins, take this ship and get the hell out of here before the Grays show up to finish us.”

  Mo nodded, his expression unreadable. “Understood, Cap. See you on the other side.”

  The captain led his team of companions through the ship to the D-mat room. T
hey stopped at the weapons lockers in the armory first to suit up.

  Sam reached for a laze rifle, but Daniel stopped him. “No sense in taking anything bigger than a stunner. We find ourselves in a pitched battle, we’ve already lost.”

  Sam regretted that, but he had to admit the Pataran was right. He put the rifle back and chose two stunners and a pair of thigh holsters. Meanwhile, Gabriel had found an extra stunner to supplement the one he already carried on his right thigh and a lethal, black-bladed knife.

  He grinned at Sam. “Quick and quiet.”

  “I thought you didn’t need anything more than that mind of yours,” Sam drawled.

  “Mind control is too much work.”

  Sam knew better than to think his friend was lazy or lacking in any way. Gabriel might be only half-Thrane, but he’d spent a brutal childhood at the Academy on his father’s home planet honing his mental talents. He could turn your mind inside out with a thought and leave you a quivering heap of flesh and bone.

  “I hope you weren’t planning this mission without a Security detail, Cap.”

  Sam turned to see Mae Chen standing in the hatch, dressed in black fatigues and boots and already outfitted with a pair of stunners. In the corridor behind her, he could see a small squad of his people similarly attired and standing at attention. The captain of the Shadowhawk had to swallow his shock. The most uniform clothing he’d ever seen his crew wear was a tee-shirt with “Security” stamped across the front.

  Sam squared his shoulders. “What’s this about, Mae?”

  “Mo tells me you’re going dirtside, Cap—a little covert action? I was thinking you could use some help.”

  Daniel was shaking his head—NO! But Sam was already ahead of him.

  “You were right about one thing. This is covert action. I don’t need a freaking herd of psoros at my heels. Stand down, Chief.”