by E. R. Paskey
Anna registered a few strange looks—her clothes screamed ‘spacer chick’ and she knew it—but she ignored them. Odds are good none of these people will even remember us after the next drink or dance or two.
Toward the back of the club, a broad staircase led up to a sprawling mezzanine. This was clearly the VIP area; fewer people frequented the booths and tables scattered there. Anna saw one man stand up, his attention clearly fixed on them as they snaked their way across the dance floor. She squeezed Thabati’s arm; he flashed her a smile that gleamed in the multi-colored strobe lights.
The man—short and very broad-shouldered, so broad-shouldered Anna suspected he had to custom-order his shirts and jackets—jogged down the steps and angled across the dance floor to meet them. He moved with all the grace of grav-loader plowing its way through the room; he did not move aside for people but they moved aside for him lest they be run over.
Interesting. Wonder if he’s the owner. Anna dismissed that thought; the owner probably wouldn’t be quite so cavalier as to mow down his clientele. Somebody rich—or scary—enough that they don’t care?
The burly man extended a hand to Berenger, which he clasped.
They then exchanged a few words—though how either of them could actually hear anything was beyond Anna—and then the burly man led the way off the dance floor toward the shadows at the back of the club. Anna couldn’t tell if her heart was pounding or if it was just the bass vibrating her chest, but she did her best to look unconcerned as they followed. I hope I’m not permanently deaf after this, she thought grumpily. How can people stand to listen to this for hours?
Life aboard a spaceship could—and often was—exceptionally noisy, but unless you were in the engine room, things just never got this noisy. She wasn’t used to it. Don’t think I want to get used to it.
She swallowed, her eyes darting back and forth through the strobe lights pinwheeling through the dim light. Silver, pink, purple, red, electric blue, yellow, and green…it was dizzying. Under better circumstances, she thought she might have actually enjoyed the lighting, but right now, with the threat of death hanging over her head—either because Thabati’s employer would have them killed or because somebody intended to use the device Lobai had put together—it just made her slightly sick to her stomach.
The burly man opened a door and waved them inside. Anna half-expected Berenger to balk at this, but he did not even break stride. He disappeared through the door and she and Thabati entered after him, with the Palmer and the burly man bringing up the rear.
When the burly man shut the door, the pounding music was suddenly cut off as though someone had flipped a switch. Anna almost sighed in relief, though the absence of deafening sound left her ears ringing. She swallowed several times in a vain effort to clear them up as she looked around.
They stood in what looked like a large, elegant living room. Comfortable chairs and sofas were arranged in a broken rectangle, while a small bar section in one corner held a selection of brightly-colored glass bottles. Another door stood off to the left; Anna wondered where it led.
Thabati raised his eyebrows at the burly man. “Nice place.”
“It’s passable,” the man replied in a baritone. “This way.” He looked at Berenger. “We can help each other.”
Anna glanced sideways at Berenger in time to see what she could only describe as relief pass over his healing features. He swallowed once and then nodded. “Glad to hear it.”
Thabati eyed their host. “Are you Berenger’s contact?”
“No.” The burly man crossed to the door and entered a key code to open it. “This way.”
Thabati and Palmer exchanged glances; Palmer then looked at Berenger. “You first, Berenger.”
Shrugging, Berenger stepped through the door into a brightly-lit hallway. Anna barely restrained a cry of surprise as Thabati abruptly shoved a hand in the center of her back to push her forward to follow him. She cast him a withering look over her shoulder—So much for being a gentleman—but followed Berenger down the hall to a hydro-elevator door in time to see him hit the button.
Nothing happened.
Before Anna had time to wonder what was going on, somebody let out a guttural cry of anger. She whirled around to see Palmer slam his hands against the door—which the burly man had closed and locked as soon as they were inside. Her eyes widened in alarm—and betrayal—as she swung to look at Berenger, whose eyes had also gone wide. “What — ”
She broke off mid-sentence, the words dying in her throat as she caught sight of white mist drifting down from slit-like vents in the ceiling.
Giving up the door as useless, Palmer drew his gun and advanced on Berenger in cold fury. “This is your doing.”
Berenger held up his hands. “I had nothing to do with this, I swear.” His voice sounded slurred.
Anna began to cough; she pulled the collar of her shirt up over her nose and mouth in an effort to keep from inhaling whatever was being pumped into the sealed-off hall. “We’ve got to get — ” She only got half of her sentence out before her lungs began burning and the world tilted sideways. She stumbled into the wall, her balance completely out of whack. The resulting impact was enough to make her teeth rattle, but she barely felt it.
Not again, she thought in irritation, trying to keep her eyes open. It was useless. Her vision swam as the chemicals in the white mist took full effect, and then everything went black.
She never felt her body hit the floor.
Chapter 34
ANGRY, INDISTINCT SHOUTS BROUGHT ANNA back to herself. She jerked her head upright and tried to pry her eyes open, intending to tell whoever was responsible for making such a racket to stuff a sock in it because some of them were trying to sleep, but awareness chose that moment to kick back in. She froze, her eyes still shut. Oh, this is not good.
For one thing, she had somehow been sleeping sitting up in a chair…and she was fairly certain she had been tied to the chair. No gag though. Or blindfold. It should have made her feel better, but instead it only made the gaping chasm opening up in the pit of her stomach that much larger. Wherever we are, it’s someplace nobody can hear us scream.
The angry, jumbled words continued; further listening convinced her that the male voices belonged to Thabati and his first mate, but she couldn’t as easily determine why they sounded so strange. When she ventured to open her eyes—to half-slits, just enough for her to get a glimpse of her surroundings—she realized why. They’ve been gagged.
That was…interesting.
The three of them—she couldn’t see Berenger just yet—were tied to chairs lined up on a warehouse cement floor in a puddle of light cast by a focused glowpanel high above their heads. And while she had not been gagged, her companions most certainly had.
Bafflement threaded itself through her confusion, but before she could work out what that meant, a voice cut through Thabati and Palmer’s indecipherable ranting. “I see you are awake, dearie.”
Anna had only heard that voice on one other occasion, but she recognized it. Pure shock coursed through her; she had to work her jaw twice before she could squeak out, “Lobai?”
“The one and only.” The gray-haired man stepped into the circle of light before them and regarded them for a moment, leaning on his cane.
Thabati and Palmer had both gone silent, probably also from shock.
Lobai’s dark, glittering eyes danced over each of them in turn before he returned his attention to Anna. “I imagine you weren’t expecting to meet me here, were you?”
“Not—not like this,” Anna said faintly. Clearing her throat, she narrowed her eyes at him. “Where’s Bear? What have you done to him?” A hundred different images of Berenger danced through her mind, him bleeding, bruised, or his lifeless body lying in a broken heap in an alley somewhere. He might have escaped Lobai once, but it looked lik
e he wouldn’t be able to duplicate it again.
Something in Lobai’s cold eyes deepened. “Still concerned for him even though he’s betrayed you once already?” He tilted his gray head to one side, almost like a bird. “There are those who would say your heart’s far too soft to belong to a pirate, dearie.”
Oh, for the love of—Anna blew out an exasperated breath, even as she surreptitiously tested the strength of her bonds. Lobai’s men had used rope—and they hadn’t been stingy about it. “Viktor and I are only pirates because the Federation refused to acknowledge we had a right to scavenge on that derelict.” She bared her teeth at him. “And, sure, Bear’s betrayed me once already, but that doesn’t mean I want you to kill him!”
“Good to know.”
“How did you even find us?” she demanded.
Beside her, Thabati made a muffled sound that could have been agreement.
A sharp smile creased Lobai’s face. “Oh, I have my ways.” He peered at something in the distance beyond their chairs. “You can come out now.”
Heavy footsteps echoed across the cement floor, and then … Anna’s breath caught in her throat as Berenger came into view—carrying a sleeping little dark-haired boy in his good arm.
For a second, she was stunned into speechlessness. Then various bits of information that had been floating around in her brain began to drift into place and shock gave way to anger. Again. Shutting her eyes briefly, she dropped her chin to her chest and forced herself to breathe.
“Well,” she said after a pause, when she trusted herself enough to speak sensibly instead of scream incoherently. “I can honestly say I didn’t see this coming.” She glanced from Berenger to Lobai and back, struggling to understand and not panic. “What is this, a quadruple cross?”
“Something like that,” Berenger said quietly. One large hand was splayed on his son’s back.
Anna’s mouth opened and closed several times. Finally, she nodded to the sleeping little boy. “I take it that’s your son?”
The instant the words left her mouth, she winced—it was such an inane thing to say—but instead of replying with sarcasm, Berenger only inclined his head in the affirmative.
Anna glanced from him to Lobai to find the latter watching them thoughtfully, an enigmatic look on his wrinkled face. Exhaling heavily, she spared a look for Thabati and Palmer, who had gone quiet beside her—Probably because they’re just as confused as I am, she thought wryly—before fixing her attention on Lobai again.
Her thoughts were a mad jumble—a garish swirl of ideas and questions and strong emotions, namely anger—but one question rose to the top of the others like sea foam. “Why did you have me thrown into that cave lake?”
The penetrating stare Lobai gave her was broken when he blinked and chuckled. It was a dry, surprisingly light sound, but she did not find it very reassuring. He held out his free hand, bedecked with several large, heavy gold rings. “Of all the questions you could ask, Miss Anna, this is the one you choose to lead with?”
She shrugged awkwardly, but refused to look away. “It did kind of set everything else in motion.” She tipped her head toward the gagged men beside her. “I have a pretty good idea why you want them, but I have no idea what you thought you’d gain from stranding me on Plimus and pissing off my brother.”
Berenger emitted a sound that could have been a laugh, but he muffled it to keep from waking his son.
Lobai gave Anna a glittering, sharp-toothed smile, before he turned to Berenger. “Our business is now settled. Rodriguez will take you and your boy to the spaceport as discussed.”
“Thank you.” Berenger inclined his head in a somber nod.
Anna was hard-pressed to keep her jaw from dropping. “Wait, what? You’re leaving?” She stared incredulously at Berenger. “Just like that?”
“Just like that,” he said softly, giving her a stern, warning look that was probably intended to let her know she needed to keep her voice down, lest she awaken his child.
Anna was not in the mood for it. The notion that she and Viktor might be able to travel the galaxy as regular citizens instead of having to slip into systems like thieves in the night had sunk its hooks into her soul deeper than she realized. Setting her jaw, she glared balefully at him. “What about our deal? You promised.”
Regret passed through his eyes—quick and fleeting—before he gave her an apologetic shrug. “Null and void, kid. I made another deal.” He glanced at Lobai before looking back at her. “I think you’ll find the terms of this one in your favor, though.”
Anna just raised her eyebrows in a comical expression of disbelief.
Berenger shifted on his feet, as though he was about to close the distance between them, but seemed to think the better of it. “This is goodbye, kid,” he said gruffly. “I don’t expect we’ll cross paths again.”
“Are you sure about that?” she challenged. “The galaxy isn’t as big as you might think.” The smuggler-pirate community wasn’t that large, all things considered; word got around. And word will definitely get around about this.
Beside her, Thabati made a loud, annoyed sound of agreement.
Berenger glanced down at his son’s dark head and something in him seemed to firm and settle into place. “I’m sure.” He met Anna’s eyes. “Tell Viktor this isn’t how I meant for things to turn out, but we have to play the hand we’re dealt. Family comes first. He’ll understand.”
Scathing words rose to the tip of Anna’s tongue—she wanted to remind Berenger that up until recently he hadn’t even known he had family—but something made her swallow them. Instead, she gave him a stiff nod. “I’ll tell him.”
With another nod to Anna and Lobai both, Berenger turned away. He paused after three steps to glance back at Anna over his shoulder. “You might want to keep Dupree around for a while. He likes you.”
Heat suffused Anna’s cheeks, even as she rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Oh, go on with you.” Beside her, Thabati groaned and Palmer shook his head.
Chuckling softly, Berenger passed out of the circle of light and disappeared into the darkness beyond.
When his footsteps had faded into silence, Lobai approached the three of them. The sound of his cane tapping on the cement with every step seemed suddenly loud and ominous, echoing strangely through the warehouse.
A tingle of fear skittered down Anna’s spine; she swallowed reflexively. What exactly is he going to do with us?
Coming to a stop in front of Thabati, Lobai raised the cane long enough to poke the darker-skinned man in the chest with it—hard. Thabati’s face screwed up in a wince, but he did not make a sound. “Never ceases to amaze me what human beings will do to each other for money.” Lowering the cane back to the floor, Lobai leaned on it and regarded Thabati shrewdly. “I had my guesses about who they’d send after me, and you didn’t even make the list.”
Thabati made a contemptuous sound in the back of his throat.
“And you.” Lobai’s dark eyes flicked to Palmer. “Loyal, with a streak of cruelty and a hefty dollop of greed.”
Anna gulped; her mouth had gone very dry. She found herself wondering exactly what Lobai would have to say about her.
“I’m tempted to kill you myself,” Lobai continued, “but I think it far more fitting to let you employers deal with your failure.” Another sharp-toothed smile. “Less mess all the way around, don’t you agree?”
Inside her chest, Anna felt her heart turn to ice. I don’t want to die. She bit back the cry of horror bubbling up in her chest, and locked her jaw. Has to be a way out of this. She tested her bonds again, straining the ropes against her wrist. They bit deep into her flesh-and-blood hand, but it was easier to mentally tune out the feeling in her prosthetic. She attempted to wiggle her chair, but it refused to move, somehow stuck fast to the cement floor.
Lobai reached out and yanked the gag out of Thabati’s mouth, careful to keep his finge
rs clear in case the other man attempted to bite him.
“You think you’re so smart, don’t you?” Thabati growled, his voice raspy and scratchy from the gag. “You can’t outrun them, old man.” His dark face twisted into a black scowl, the likes of which Anna had never before seen on his face.
“I’ve no intentions of outrunning them,” Lobai countered. “Simply outmaneuvering them.” He smiled; it was not a pleasant expression. “Which, so far, I have.”
Fear threatened to render Anna a petrified statue, too afraid to draw attention to herself, but she forced herself to clear her throat. In as steady a voice as she could manage, she asked, “What do you intend to do with me?”
She knew there was no way Viktor—Or Colin—could find her now. They might have been able to track them to the Rainbow Vortex, but God only knew where on Ydris they were now. For all she knew, they weren’t even in Zenca anymore. I’m on my own.
Lobai’s smile grew marginally warmer. “I’m so glad you asked, dearie. As it turns out, I have a special job for you.”
Well, I’ll be space dust if that doesn’t send fresh chills down my spine, she thought numbly, but she raised her chin defiantly. “And what would that be?”
“All in good time, all in good time.” He pointed his cane at her. “We’ll get to that later, dearie. At the moment, I’m afraid we’re on a rather tight schedule.” He whistled sharply, and four dark figures detached themselves from the shadows and came forward, though they stayed just beyond the circle of light cast on the floor.
“Gag him again,” Lobai pointed to Thabati, “and make sure their bonds are tight. I don’t want them going anywhere until their friends arrive.” He indicated Anna. “Bring her with us.”
Lobai’s henchmen circled around to do as they were bid. One of them sliced through the ropes binding Anna to the chair and then two of them seized her by her upper arms and marched her away from Thabati and Palmer. She craned her neck over her shoulder to see what was happening to them, but indeed all Lobai’s men did was check their restraints.