by Laurie Roma
“Start talking,” Skylar demanded and all eyes turned to the Henry.
“I didn’t mean for this to happen. I swear it,” he began in a shaking voice. “He made me. I didn’t want to do it, but I had no choice. You have to believe me.”
“How can we believe anything you say,” Astrid bit out.
Henry’s eyes welled with tears again. “I did it for you. All I wanted was you, Astrid.”
“What do you—” Her words were cut off as her eyes went wide with shock. “You...drugged me to bond with you? How could you do that to me? Oh my God, I’m going to be sick.”
Serra helped the gagging woman as she stumbled to her feet. “We’ll be right back.”
As they hurried from the room Officer Perez followed them out after Commander Malloy gave him the order to stay with them and protect them.
“You stole the two xili plants after they arrived here on Avox,” Skylar guessed. “How did you manage to change the logs? You had to have security clearance for that.”
“I didn’t have the clearance so I had to...” He cleared his throat. “We had originally requested twelve specimens, but after we started testing them I got the idea on how I could use it...”
“For your own personal use,” Arik finished for him.
“Astrid would never have looked at me twice if I hadn’t,” Henry cried. “Sure, we were friends, but she would have never let me claim her if I didn’t do something. But in order to take the plants, I had to make sure Catherine and Astrid thought there were only ten plants and I had to change the security logs so they matched.”
“Holy nova, I hope they fry you,” Catherine spat out.
Henry cringed as two large men rushed into the room. “Catherine!”
The doctor jumped out of her chair and flung herself into their arms. They held her close as they glared at everyone else in the room. “Why has our chosen been crying? What the fuck is going on?”
“He drugged me, Dale. Henry drugged me and Astrid.”
Director Dale Whitmer pushed Catherine into Micah Field’s arms then launched himself at Henry. The smaller man squeaked as he jumped up to hide behind Commander Malloy, who shoved the attacking man back. “We already played this game. Now, sit down and relax so we can get to the bottom of this.”
Director Dale Whitmer struggled to control his fury, but sat down in a chair next to Catherine and their other partner. “Explain.”
Skylar saw the male egos clashing as the men glared at one another and stood, taking control of the room. She recapped the situation for the newcomers, explaining their visit to Avox and what Henry had done. When Serra, Astrid and Officer Perez returned, they were silent as they listened to him explain the rest of what he had done.
Henry had created a secret compartment in his quarters where he kept the two xili plants hidden. Originally planning to only take one, he took the second to ensure that he’d have enough of the drug to use in case the plants didn’t survive in his makeshift containment area. He had used the drug in small doses on both Astrid and Catherine at first, making sure that it worked, then he had completed his plan of making Astrid fall in love with him.
Once she was his, he knew he had to get rid of the plants, but the testing they were doing in the lab intrigued him and he realized he was being short sighted. Instead of just destroying the specimens, he figured he would be able to sell them on the black market for credits. He claimed to have done so for his and Astrid’s future together, but it just sounded like the hollow excuse that it was. He admitted drugging several other officers—including Director Whitmer and Micah Fields—to alter the security logs, and also allow him access to a secured communications unit that couldn’t be traced back to him.
It took time and planning, but he finally made contact with a Tarin representative on Alpha Station: X7 who was interested in purchasing the plants for a client. Before the exchange could be made, the buyer had contacted Henry again. Because of the bragging he had done about his research while trying to make the initial sale, the representative said that the client was no longer just interested in the plants. He also wanted the formula to mass produce the drug in a synthetic form that Henry had been testing in secret.
“You see, I had no choice,” Henry swore. “They would have exposed me if I didn’t give them what they wanted, and I had to protect Astrid.”
“How would that be protecting Astrid?”
Skylar thought the man was a pathetic waste of air. It sickened her to be in the same room with him, but she needed more information before she would be finished with him. Even though he had told them what he’d done, he was being evasive about the man he had sold the formula and plants to, but she wouldn’t stop until she got a name. It had been hard enough to corral the others while Henry had given all of them his convoluted version of events. She would have preferred to clear the room for her interrogation, but she had kept everyone quiet with the threat of her boot up their asses if they didn’t behave.
“I didn’t know who I was dealing with until it was too late. Then I couldn’t turn back. The Tarin that wanted the formula is a powerful man, and he threatened to take Astrid and make her a slave on their planet if I didn’t do what he wanted. He could do it, too. He was able to send one of his men on a shuttle transferring some of the female Tarins that sought sanctuary here. The pilot took the xili specimens with him along with the formula I gave him. He told me they would kill me if I ever told anyone.”
“Give me the buyer’s name, Henry,” Skylar demanded.
“I can’t. He’d send people after me and Astrid, and I can’t risk that.”
“How dare you use me as an excuse for what you’ve done,” Astrid said softly, unable to hold herself back from scathing him with her fury. “You put countless people in jeopardy by giving a madman the ability to produce this drug.”
“I did it because I love you, Astrid!”
“Love?” she spat out bitterly. “You don’t know the meaning of the word. You’re a monster!”
“They don’t know I gave them a flawed formula,” Henry said in a rush. “I still haven’t figured out a way to replicate the effects of the xili plant exactly. They don’t know it will eventually fail.”
“What does that mean?” Skylar demanded, shooting Astrid a quick look that told her to keep her mouth shut.
“The formula I gave them is based partly on our experiments for the creation of the new version of the enhancements, but every time we accelerated the process, the formula broke down over time. We figured it was because the plant itself doesn’t remain viable for long if not under the proper conditions. All my experiments have shown that the synthetic drug will break down over time and leave those who have been given a dose free and clear of the effects in a matter of months.”
“They would have killed you when they found out.”
Henry nodded, his lips trembling. “They insisted on conducting a few tests before they paid me. The tests worked to their satisfaction, but I planned to be long gone by the time they figured out the effects wore off. I would have taken Astrid somewhere where they wouldn’t have found us. Nothing that was done with my formula wouldn’t eventually be fixed.”
“But first, you needed Catherine and Astrid’s help perfecting the drug. You wanted a product that actually worked the way it was supposed to long term,” Skylar guessed. She could tell that she’d hit the mark when his face paled.
“I just needed enough so I could get us away safely.”
Skylar slammed her hand down on the table, making him jump in his seat. She leaned forward and got in his face, letting him see all the anger and disgust she felt for him. “Bullshit. You were planning on selling it again, weren’t you? You liked the credits and the power it gave you, controlling people like that. You’ve killed people, Henry.”
“No! I didn’t hurt anyone!”
“You have. Those tests they’ve been doing on X7 and X15 have gotten people killed. You’ve betrayed your chosen, drugged others to hide what
you’ve done, handed over the means to destroy countless lives even if the effects are only temporary. I want the buyer’s name.”
Sweat dripped down his face in rivulets. “He’ll find me. Even if you lock me up, he’ll find me.”
“Your life is over. You took payment while handing over the means to destroy the Alliance and everything we’ve work toward. But if you love Astrid like you say you do, you’ll give us the name. She’ll never be safe until we stop him. I’m done fucking around with you. Now, give me the fucking buyer’s name!” Skylar demanded again, refusing to give him any quarter as she ruthlessly used his weak spot again.
He sobbed out a breath. “It’s Lord Lobo Khan. But you can’t stop him. He’s a powerful Tarin lord with spies everywhere. No one even knows where he lives. He’s a ghost.”
Skylar’s smile was feral. “Oh, I’ll find him. And when I do...I’m going to end him.”
That was a promise.
***
Chapter Ten
Love was a bitch.
It was true that love made people do crazy things, but the level of crazy had to do with the sanity of the people involved.
Henry Atwood’s love for Astrid had turned into an obsession of epic proportions, and what he’d done to make her love him in return was nothing short of a clusterfuck with monumental ramifications that would haunt countless lives over the course of many years to come.
After Skylar got the name of the buyer, Officer Perez had taken him into custody so he could bring him back to the Stargazer for further questioning by Dom, Jax and Archer. The D’Aire ship arrived soon after Officer Perez and Henry left Avox, and they came down to the surface to help Arik interview all of the Alliance personnel on the base to see who else had been drugged.
The interviews took hours, and when they were satisfied that they had found all the soldiers who had been tainted with the xili, the real work began. In total, there were twelve elites that had been victims of Henry’s machinations. It wasn’t a surprise that all twelve individuals wanted to kill Henry for what he had done, and that was part of the reason they had removed him from the planet as soon as they could.
The mass chaos that followed the explanations of what had been done to them was expected, but it still took time to sort out. Each of the individuals who had been drugged was scanned by the D’Aire to ensure that all the shadows of the drug were eradicated from their minds. Since they had been drugged with the xili straight from the plant, it was harder for D’Aire to find the memories that had been altered in each individual.
While the D’Aire were at their task, Skylar followed up on a hunch and took Serra back with her to the females-only section of the resort to find Deidre. The woman was sitting in a lounge area that looked like some sort of strange, indoor zen-like garden. Deidre looked up from the small tablet she was reading from and smiled as they approached.
“Skylar, Serra. It’s a pleasure to see you again so soon.”
“I don’t know if you’ll still think that in a minute. Deidre, we need your help.”
Deidre’s smile faltered as Skylar and Serra sat down across from her. “I will do what I can to aid you. What is this about?”
“Lord Lobo Khan.”
Skylar knew her intuition had been right when Deidre flinched violently, the tablet tumbling from her lap. Skylar caught it before it hit the ground, but she could see she had rattled the woman by bringing his the name.
“I don’t wish to speak of him.”
“I’m sorry that this causes you pain, but we wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t truly necessary.”
“He is a monster,” Deidre said in a voice filled with anger. “The Alliance has never cared what he had done before, why now?”
“The Alliance has a policy which states we cannot interfere with other planets unless there is a direct threat to Earth and its people. We couldn’t interfere with the civil war going on even if we wanted to—” Serra said, but Skylar cut her off.
“Deidre, I know that Alliance regulations suck sometimes. Believe me, I know better than most people, but we really need your help.”
Resentment burned in Deidre’s eyes. “Is this why you are here on Avox? What has he done now?”
“I can’t tell you that, but what I can tell you is that we need your help to find him.”
“Why?”
Skylar considered what to tell the woman. She couldn’t give Deidre the details of the mission, but she could give her something. “Because I’m going to kill him.”
Deidre studied her for a long moment, then nodded slowly. “Alright. I believe what you say is true. If I talk to you about him, you must promise me that you will leave the other females here alone. Many of them owe their nightmares to him, and they have finally found peace.”
“Agreed,” Skylar said, hoping that what Deidre told them would be enough. “What can you tell us about Lord Khan? We don’t have much information on him in our records.”
Deidre blew out a slow breath, using the time to gather her thoughts. “Lobo is a truly evil male...and he inherited it from his father, Gar. He had one of the largest harems on Tartarus, using his army to battle against many lords to take over their lands and enslave their females. My family was one of the fallen he had trampled in his quest for more power. I was taken as a young girl and added to Gar’s household after he killed my parents. At first I was simply a palace slave, set to cleaning and doing other odd jobs, but as I grew older I gained the attention of Lobo.”
She shivered as she thought back to a time she wished she could forget. “I was Lobo’s harem slave for three years before he lost interest in me, and I thanked the Gods he did. He is cruel and enjoys inflicting as much pain as possible on those around him. During that time, Lobo became even more unstable when his best friend was killed. He had claimed that his friend had been murdered by an Alliance spy, and that lead to both him and his father becoming obsessed with making the Alliance leave Tartarus.”
“They attacked the Hades outpost?”
“They tried, but the Alliance outpost is located in Lord Malik Rego’s domain, who is one of the strongest lords on Tartarus. Gar Khan made the mistake of challenging Lord Rego’s most powerful ally, hoping to clear the path to taking down Rego and destroying the truce that was created with the Alliance, but he was defeated and the Khan kingdom was burned to ashes.”
“What happened to Lobo after his father died?”
“He ran like the coward he is and sought refuge in the mountains. Desperate to retain the power he was accustomed to, he started selling off the slaves he had. I was given to a male who beat me and left me for dead. Luckily, I was able to recover enough to make my way to Lord Rego’s lands. I had to crawl there, but when I was discovered by his warriors who were out on patrol they took me in and cared for me until I was well enough to leave the planet.”
“You are a survivor,” Serra said softly, reaching out to grip the woman’s hand in hers. “It is a testament to your strength to know where you have come from and to see you now.”
“I got away, but many others aren’t as lucky. He is a slave trader now, operating in a secret location deep in the mountains. Hearing from others who have escaped I know that he has regained power and wealth over the years I have been away from Tartarus.” Deidre voice was strong and true, despite the tears streaming down her face. “He must be stopped. Vow it to me that you will end his reign of terror on the females of my world.”
Hearing Deidre’s story lit a fire inside of Skylar. There was something about what she’d said that had icy fingers of dread clenching around Skylar’s heart, but the pain in Diedre’s voice made her want to seek vengeance for the woman. No, not want.
Need.
There was a need to see this through and make sure that Khan never hurt anyone ever again.
She leaned forward, placing her elbows on her knees as she looked into Deidre’s tear drenched eyes. “I am going to kill him,” she swore again. “And when I do, I will think of you and all the oth
er people he and his father have hurt over the years.”
****
Unsettled after her conversation with Deidre, Skylar sought Arik out and was glad to find that he’d just finished his interview with one of the drugged security officers. As he walked out of the office he had confiscated for his private use, those iridescent eyes of his went sharp with concern when he saw her.
“What is wrong, Skylar?”
“I have the location of Khan. Well, not the actual location, but I basically know where he is.”
“That news shouldn’t make you so sad,” Arik said, rubbing his thumb gently over the space between her eyes as if to sooth away the wrinkles there. “Tell me what is wrong.”
“I don’t know!” she burst out.
Arik pulled her into an alcove so they were out of sight of prying eyes. He didn’t want anyone to see his keeper so distraught because he knew she wouldn’t like it. Pulling her into his arms, he held on to her, giving the comfort she didn’t ask for, but knew she needed. He understood his woman well, and he decided to wait her out until she was ready to tell him what had upset her.
He felt her relax against him, and barely held back his joy when she wrapped her arms around his waist. She so rarely reached out for anyone, but he silently vowed that he would always be there when she did.
Arik’s desire for her was like a gnawing hunger he needed to sate, and it grew in strength every minute. To know that she was ready to solidify their relationship had made it difficult for him to concentrate on work, but he was done waiting.
When she remained silent, Arik spoke softly. “Will you come somewhere with me?”
“Anywhere.”
His heart sang at that simple answer.
They left the lower levels of the base hand-in-hand, ignoring the calls for their attention. Taking the elevator to the main floor, he lead her out into the open air to the landing deck they had arrived on. “Will you go flying with me?”
Her eyes went wide. “Seriously?”
“I don’t believe you share Dom’s...aversion to heights.”