Galaxy's Way

by E. R. Paskey

  Abruptly yanking his hands out of his pockets, Thabati shoved off from the wall toward her. Something needle-sharp jabbed into the side of her neck, and then his arms wrapped around her like a vice. She cried out in shock and protest and immediately tried to buck, but his arms tightened painfully.

  Colin erupted in fury, lunging for Anna and Thabati, but Palmer blocked him and they grappled.

  Shock and betrayal‌—‌fresh betrayal‌—‌coursed through Anna, followed quickly by fury. “Get off me! What are you doing?!”

  “Ah, ah, ah,” Thabati said in her ear, deftly twisting to avoid being slammed in the chin by her head. “I wouldn’t fight, if I were you, Anna. You’ll only kill yourself that much faster.”

  Confusion fell over Anna like a fog‌…‌or was it something to do with the slow burn that seemed to be traveling from her neck out throughout the rest of her body? She couldn’t tell.

  Thabati’s words, however, penetrated the angry haze around Colin. “What?” He paused, his eyes narrowing as he realized the pale man had not tried to subdue him‌—‌just hold him at bay.

  “You heard me.” Thabati shifted Anna closer to the control panel and hit a button with his elbow. The hydro-elevator doors remained closed; the cab shifted direction.

  Anna would have protested, but the world seemed to have softened and blurred around the edges. No matter how many times she blinked, Colin and Palmer faded in and out of view. The slow burn through her veins continued unabated. “What‌—‌what did you do to me?”

  “Anna?” Colin seemed to have reached the same conclusion; the blood drained from his face. He lunged for Thabati again, but Palmer blocked him once more. “What did you do to her?”

  “Poison,” Thabati said matter-of-factly. “She will die in less than a half hour unless you do exactly as I say.”

  Colin’s Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat as he swallowed; his blue eyes darted from Thabati to Anna and back. “What do you want?”

  “I want you to bring Berenger to my ship.”

  “Berenger?” Colin clenched his hands into fists. “Why?”

  “Does it matter?”

  Through the pain and haze, Anna had enough awareness to gasp. In a voice that sounded slurred even to her own ears, she said, “You’re workin’ for Lobai.”

  A chuckle made Thabati’s chest rumble against her back. “Not quite.”

  Palmer glanced at his wrist. “You’ve got twenty-seven minutes.”

  Thabati made a clicking sound with his tongue. “Tick tock, Dupree.”

  Colin did not move. “You have an antidote?” There was a curious strain in his voice.

  “Of course. But she’s not going to get it until Berenger’s aboard my ship.”

  “Her brother’s going to kill you.”

  Anna made a slurred sound of agreement.

  Thabati chuckled again. “He won’t get the chance.”

  “I could bring the entire Polygon down on your head.”

  “You could, but she’ll be dead before you torture the antidote’s location out of me.” Thabati nuzzled Anna’s hair with his nose, his eyes fixed on Colin. “It’s nothing personal, my dear. If I thought your new husband’s crew would just let you walk out with Berenger, we’d have done things differently.”

  “Twenty-six minutes,” intoned the pale man.

  “You’d better get a move on,” Thabati advised, “before somebody gets suspicious about this hydro-elevator not moving.”

  “You didn’t have to poison her.”

  Anna tried to keep her eyes open, but the blur at the edges of her vision had turned to darkness and her eyelids kept wanting to slide shut. Colin’s face‌—‌taut and tense, his blue eyes furious‌—‌imprinted itself on her memory, but she couldn’t focus on it. The only thought running through her mind was that Viktor was going to birth an engine when he heard about this.

  First Bear, and now Thabati.

  Thabati just snorted. “Actually, Captain, I did.”

  “You bas — ”

  That was the last thing Anna heard before the darkness pulled her under. She had a brief sensation of the hydro-elevator spinning and twirling around her‌…‌and then nothing.

  Chapter 29

  ANNA CAME TO SLOWLY, DRAWN back to consciousness by the low rumble of voices. She was lying on something soft‌…‌and her temples were throbbing with what had to be the mother of all headaches. She couldn’t make out words, but each syllable being strung together resounded in her head like a riveting gun in operation.

  Without opening her eyes, she flailed a hand in the general direction of the voices. “Would you stop? My head‌—‌is killing me. Go‌—‌find another‌—‌cabin to argue in.” Even her teeth ached.

  The voices abruptly broke off, and then she heard movement‌—‌someone was scrambling over to her in a rustle of clothes that sounded obscenely loud.

  “Anna?” Fingers touched her cheek, brushed a lock of hair out of her face, before a hand cupped her cheek. “You’re awake.”

  Memory filtered through the pounding in her head. Colin. She’d never heard him sound so relieved.

  Then Anna remembered what happened.

  Her eyes flew open‌—‌and promptly started watering. The cabin light was too bright. “Colin!”

  “I’m here, lass,” he assured her, his voice soft and very close.

  Through watery eyes, Anna glimpsed him kneeling beside her‌—‌she was in a bunk, in a small, windowless cabin, albeit an unfamiliar one‌—‌and behind him, tied to a chair ‌…‌ “Bear?”

  Berenger looked a little worse for the wear, but his expression lightened a little when he realized she was looking at him. “Glad you’re awake, kid. Didn’t think you were going to come to for a while.”

  He lowered his voice, but the sound was still too loud and it made her wince.

  Colin threw the other man a dark look over his shoulder. “Keep it down,” he commanded in an undertone.

  His hand was still cupping her cheek; Anna could feel his pulse hammer against her skin. Her mouth was watering now; the pain in her head was making her nauseous. “Where‌—‌where are we?”

  “I’ll explain momentarily. For now, I need you to swallow this.” Colin removed his hand‌—‌she felt its loss keenly‌—‌but he slid an arm around her shoulders to help raise her up a fraction.

  Moving was a mistake.

  Anna had just enough time to realize this and let out a groan before her stomach rebelled. She retched, twisting away from Colin‌—‌or trying to, at any rate.

  “Here.”

  Just in time, he thrust a container beneath her and she lost the meager contents of her stomach into it. The arm wrapped around her shoulders shifted slightly so he could hold her hair out of the way. Anna squeezed her eyes shut as the nausea receded into the pain, leaving her shaky and trembling‌…‌and leaving in its wake a wave of mortification so intense she wanted to sink right through the bunk. “Oh, God … ”

  “You’re going to be fine, lass.” Colin handed her a cup of water. “Drink a little of this, rinse your mouth out.”

  Anna obeyed, taking a sip and swishing it around her mouth before spitting it into the container, which Colin promptly sealed one-handed and set aside. He then handed her a pill.

  “For your head.”

  She didn’t even hesitate to choke it down. Once she had swallowed, Colin eased her trembling body back down onto the bunk. “Relax. You’re all right.” He kept his voice soft and barely audible. The relief was gone, to be replaced by a quiet kind of urgency.

  Anna curled into a ball on her side, squeezing her eyes shut and willing the pill she had just swallowed to stay down. “Can you hit the lights?”

  “ … I’m afraid not. There isn’t a switch in here.”

  “Okay.” She couldn’t think too hard about the implications of that just now. Her head hurt too badly, like somebody kept hammering something sharp into her skull behind her left eye. The pain was bad enough
that it drove her mortification to the back of her mind.

  “This should help, though.” Another rustle of clothing, and then Colin was draping something over her eyes. A handkerchief.

  Anna would have laughed, if she’d been in any shape to do it. “Didn’t think‌…‌people carried those‌…‌anymore.”

  “You’d be surprised how often a handkerchief comes in handy,” he murmured, still kneeling on the deck beside her bunk.

  The darkness helped a little. Stretching out a hand, Anna found his shoulder and followed his arm down to his hand so she could squeeze his fingers. “Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me,” he said roughly. “Not for this.”

  She didn’t respond‌—‌couldn’t respond‌—‌it took everything she had to focus on breathing through the pain and keep her stomach under control. Within a few moments, the painkiller kicked in and her muscles slowly unclenched. With the relief from the pain came the memory of why she was in pain‌…‌or at least part of it.

  Colin did not let go of her fingers.

  “I’m not dead,” Anna said eventually, pushing the handkerchief up just far enough for her to crack one eye open. The light was irritating, but not nearly as blindingly painful as it had been just a little while before.

  Colin was staring at the gray bulkhead opposite them without really seeing it, a dark, brooding look on his face, but at the sound of her voice he snapped his eyes to her face. “Not for lack of trying, on Thabati’s part.” His words were spoken softly, but with a bitter edge.

  Anna looked at Berenger over Colin’s shoulder; he was still tied to the chair. “You brought Bear to him.”

  “Not bringing him wasn’t an option.” Colin bent toward her, one hand reaching out as if to touch her face, but he stopped himself.

  Her breath had caught in her throat in anticipation, but Anna forced herself to breathe through the disappointment that crashed over her. “Did he really poison me?”

  Colin’s blue eyes darkened with anger, but before he could speak, Berenger piped up, “That’d be where we disagree, Anna.” He ignored the fierce glare Colin sent him. “I think Thabati used a pretty powerful tranquilizer on you, but lover boy believes otherwise.”

  “Don’t call him that,” she scolded from the bunk, pushing the handkerchief off her face. She did not attempt to sit up; she had a gut instinct it was still too early for that. “How long have I been out?”

  “Longer than a half hour.” Berenger made a face. “Much longer, given how numb my ass is from sitting on this chair.”

  Anna looked at Colin, who frowned and shook his head. “They took our comlinks,” he said by way of explanation.

  It was then that Anna realized something she kicked herself for not noticing earlier‌—‌mainly, the faint thrum of engines. She went very still as disjointed bits of information reassembled themselves inside her head. “Wait. If Bear is here, does that mean‌—‌?”

  Over in his corner, Berenger snorted loudly. “Anna, that stuff did a number on you.”

  Anna ignored him; her eyes were locked on Colin’s.

  “We’re prisoners aboard the Solace,” he said soberly.

  She blinked several times as the reality of that sunk in. Both men gave her the time to process; it was a full three minutes before she found her voice. “What happened after he dosed me?”

  A muscle in Colin’s bearded jaw twitched. “Thabati carted your unconscious body off while I went back to the Galaxy’s Way to get Bear. I brought him back here as fast as I could, and then Thabati administered what he told us Lobai was the antidote.” His fingers brushed her collar, pushing the fabric back to reveal a second puncture.

  Anna watched him swallow before he said, “You didn’t wake up for a long time.”

  “Which is why I still say it was a damn tranquilizer,” Berenger broke in.

  Frowning, Anna considered that. “I don’t understand. Why does he need you and me instead of just Bear?”

  Berenger snorted loudly. “You know why, Anna.”

  Her mouth went dry. We know too much. She looked back at Colin, taking in the tension coiling his muscles. “Here.” She eased herself over a few inches on the bunk, far enough to give him room to sit on the mattress in the space created by the curve of her body. “Sit down.”

  For a second, she thought he would refuse, but then Colin unfolded himself from the deck and sank down onto the bunk beside her. He braced himself with one arm on the other side of her body‌—‌her mouth went dry again for a completely different reason‌—‌and leaned over her to reach for his handkerchief.

  “Sure you don’t need this?”

  Anna could only nod; words wouldn’t come just then.

  He refolded it with nimble fingers and tucked it back into his pocket. Silence fell over the cabin for a few moments; even Berenger seemed at a temporary loss for words. Eventually, Anna noticed the way Colin glanced at her periodically, as though he was trying to make up his mind about something.

  She poked his thigh with her finger. “What is it?”

  Startled, he looked down at her. “What?”

  “Come on. Spit it out.” She indicated the rest of the cabin with a bored wave. “It’s not like we’ve got any other pressing matters to attend to.”

  Colin looked at her, and then his eyes slid away as he exhaled heavily and leaned forward to prop his elbows on his knees. “I couldn’t get a message to your brother.”

  Anna had figured as much, but it still caused her a twinge of pain to hear the words spoken aloud. “Let me guess. Thabati said I’d die for sure if you squawked?”

  “Something like that.”

  “He’d have done it too.” Berenger shook his head. “Never would have guessed a man who laughed so easily could screw us all over like that.”

  Anna sent him a withering glare. “You’re one to talk. You might not have poisoned me, but you sure left me for dead.”

  Berenger’s still-bruised face whitened around the bruises. “How many times do I have to tell you? Lobai assured me he wouldn’t hurt you.”

  “Oh, aye, he kept his word on that,” Colin said sarcastically. “Easier to let her swim around until she drowned.”

  Berenger rolled his good eye. “And we’re back to this again.”

  Anna looked up at Colin. He was close enough that in the chilly air she could feel the heat radiating from his body. Her eyes dropped to his leg again; she wanted to rest her hand on it, but wasn’t quite brave enough.

  Berenger was still talking. “There’s a reason Thabati poisoned her and not you, Dupree.”

  Colin stiffened. “Berenger — ”

  Anna gave him an odd glance. “I was closer and he figured I wouldn’t react until it was too late.” She swallowed, tasting bitterness. “He was right.”

  “Besides that.” Berenger gave her a mildly pitying look that rubbed her the wrong way before shifting his attention back to Colin. “And I don’t think he’d have actually killed her‌—‌not yet, anyway — ”

  Anna shook her head slightly. Oh, there’s a comforting thought.

  “ — but I guess you get a little credit for not taking the chance to find out.”

  There was a long pause and then Anna lifted her head long enough to inquire, “Was that an actual compliment?”

  Berenger shrugged, but was spared from answering by the sound of the cabin door sliding open. Colin immediately shifted on the bunk, angling so that most of Anna’s body was blocked behind his. Grateful for his thoughtfulness while simultaneously irritated because she couldn’t see anything, she scooted over a little to peer around him‌—‌

  ‌—‌and her eyes met Thabati’s.

  The dark-skinned man’s face broke into a relieved smile. “Oh, good. You’re awake.” He stood in the doorway armed with a pistol, the muzzle trained in Colin’s direction. Palmer stood behind him in the corridor. “I was afraid I gave you too much.”

  “Too much what?” she inquired acidly, but he ignored her in favo
r of fixing Colin with a stern look.

  “I need to talk to Anna — ”

  “So talk,” Colin interrupted gruffly. “Nobody’s stopping you.”

  “ — and I’d hate to have to shoot you, Captain Dupree, so I’ll give you one chance to cooperate.” Thabati motioned with the pistol. “Move aside.”

  Colin did not so much as blink. “She’s not in any shape to go anywhere yet.”

  “I’ll have Palmer carry her, if need be.”

  Her muscles were still a little weak, but that did not stop Anna from bristling indignantly at this.

  “Move,” Thabati commanded.

  “No.”

  Anna’s eyes widened; she shifted her gaze to the broad, proud lines of Colin’s back. A knot clenched in her gut.

  “Don’t be an idiot, Dupree,” Berenger said abruptly. “A fat lot of good you’ll be to any of us if you get yourself shot.”

  “You’ll not be taking her anywhere yet,” Colin said stubbornly.

  Anna saw the instant the humor faded from Thabati’s face, leaving resignation in its wake. He’s going to shoot him. Her gut clenched again; her eyes dropped to her captain’s back. She reached out a hand, scrunching her fingers desperately in the fabric of his shirt even while she strove to keep her voice light and easy. To not let Thabati know how much she’d come to like and respect her accidental husband. “Colin, it’s fine.”

  Colin tensed beneath her touch, before turning his head to stare at her. His blue eyes held desperation mixed with something she didn’t have the time to think about. “You were throwing up a few minutes ago.”

  She waved a flippant hand. “Because my head hurt. Now it doesn’t.” She deliberately flicked her gaze to Thabati. “You know Viktor’s going to flip over this.”

  He inclined his head. “That would be partly why I want to talk to you.”

  Anna sighed loudly. “Fine.”

  Chapter 30

  USING COLIN’S FOREARM AS A crutch, Anna pulled herself up into a sitting position on the bunk. Her head spun a little, but she kept her expression fixed. Thabati did not need to see her any weaker than he already had. Colin shifted over to give her room to swing her legs off the bunk; she gently squeezed his arm in thanks.