Poisoned Pawn

by Jaleta Clegg

  “You promised that there would be no interference,” Mahoney continued, his voice sharp and accusing. “You said everything was under control here. What happened to Daviessbrowun? You were supposed to have him agreeable to whatever we proposed.”

  Luke’s lip curled. “I had his daughter. He should have given in.”

  “His daughter has been safe on his estate half the sector away. You were duped, Luke Verity. Like the amateur and idiot you are.”

  Luke raised the gun and fired. Mahoney dropped to the ground, half his face burned away.

  “Anyone else want to criticize me?” Luke asked.

  The other men looked away, shuffling through the parts and tools strewn over the floor.

  The smell of burnt flesh drifted into the ventilation system. Lowell turned away, checking his team’s reaction. Paltronis and her men watched through the vents, faces cold and set. Rinth rocked side to side, crooning very softly. Lowell patted him. Rinth took Lowell’s hand in one of his huge stubby ones.

  “Find Miya,” Rinth whispered. “Not Luke. Bad Luke. Punish Luke.”

  “I want her found!” Luke shouted.

  “We will, Rinth. We’ll find her.” Lowell pulled his hand free and turned back to the grate.

  “I want that scheming, conniving Patrol agent found. So I can kill her myself.” Luke paced around the hangar, gun clenched in his fist.

  His men found places out of sight to hide. The mechanic was under the flitter. A straggler stumbled into the room, his clothes burned by blaster fire.

  Luke turned on him. “What’s wrong now?”

  The man staggered, then collapsed to the floor. Luke grabbed him, jerking him back to his feet.

  “The doors are sealed,” the man gasped. “But not for long. They’ve brought in explosives.”

  Lowell nodded. Boline had a good explosives expert on his team. Nothing short of eight-foot-thick blast steel would hold them for long.

  “We can knock the grates out easily enough,” Paltronis whispered in his ear. “There’s only a dozen of them.”

  “And only five of us,” Lowell answered. “Let’s wait and see what we learn.”

  “We’ll lose them if they get that flitter up. I can shoot him from here,” Paltronis continued.

  “And get every gun in the place firing back,” Lowell said. “I don’t want to chance it. Besides, I want Luke Verity alive. If he doesn’t have Dace, who does?”

  “Who’s the real quarry, sir?” Paltronis studied his face.

  He studied her back. Light from the hangar striped her face. “Dace is our priority. We need Luke alive.”

  Luke shook the man, who gurgled. Luke dropped the body, throwing it away in disgust. “How long?” he demanded of the mechanic.

  The mechanic slid out from under the flitter. “You could fly it now, but…”

  Luke shot him as he wiped a wrench with a greasy rag. Luke kicked the body aside and climbed into the flitter. Huge doors at the far end of the room slid up, showing early dawn sky outside.

  “You come now,” Rinth crooned, rocking side to side. “You come now. Bad Luke. Bad Luke.”

  “Look for another way down,” Lowell ordered his team.

  The end men scrambled along the duct. Paltronis kicked the grate. The noise they made was covered by the sound of the flitter’s engines. Luke’s men, the few still alive, tried to get on the flitter before it lifted. The engine growled as the flitter headed out of the doors. One man fell from the still open door, screaming only a moment before he hit the rocks outside. The doors slid shut.

  Lowell sat back and pulled out his com. All he got was static.

  “Find Miya,” Rinth said in a very lost voice.

  “We will,” Lowell assured him. “Her name’s not Miya, it’s Dace.”

  “Not Miya?” Rinth asked, puzzled.

  “Dace,” Lowell said. “Not Miya.”

  “Dace?” Rinth huddled in on himself, digesting this new information.

  “Sir? This way,” one of the men called from deeper in the tunnel.

  Paltronis quit kicking the grate. She crawled past Lowell. Metal screeched as it was forced and clanged loudly as it hit the floor of the hangar. A trail of blue energy, blaster fire, arced across the room, hitting the wall just below Lowell. Paltronis and her men fired back. The blaster fire ended. Her team hit the floor of the hangar, weapons out, moving quickly to secure the area.

  Lowell waited through another brief burst of blaster fire.

  “All clear,” Paltronis called out.

  “Rinth.” Lowell touched one of the creature’s hands.

  Rinth blinked. “Dace? Not Miya.” He shook all over, his fur standing out. “Dace. Find Dace. Not Luke. Bad Luke.”

  “Yes, find Dace, punish Luke. You’re getting the idea now.”

  Lowell found the grate Paltronis had forced. Lowell lowered himself through the opening and landed on the plascrete floor below. The huge doors slid apart. Paltronis stood framed against the dawn sky, hand on the controls for the door. Lowell stepped close and opened his com. This time he got a signal, still clogged with static, but understandable.

  “Luke is in a flitter,” he shouted above the static. “Have Querran send out her men after him. Use the armored flitter.”

  He had to repeat himself twice more before Jukin finally heard clearly enough.

  “Understood,” the man’s voice came back, distorted and almost unintelligible.

  “Send someone to Boline,” Lowell shouted into the com. “We’ll open the doors from this side. Don’t shoot. Repeat, don’t shoot.”

  “Tell Boline don’t shoot,” Jukin answered back.

  The signal faded out. Lowell snapped the com shut, tucking it into his belt. He’d get a full report later. He couldn’t hear Luke’s flitter in the still dark forest. The lights of the hangar spilled across the tops of the ragged pines. “Close the door before Luke decides to use us for target practice.”

  “You should have let me shoot him,” Paltronis said.

  “Don’t ever argue with me,” Lowell said, steel in his voice. “And I probably should have let you shoot him.”

  Loud banging sounds came from the other flitter. Paltronis came alert, gun at the ready. She slid around the side of the flitter while Lowell pulled out his own gun. He moved quickly, yanking the hatch open.

  Rinth huddled in the flitter, a wrench gripped in his thick hand. He smacked it against the engine housing. “Find Dace.”

  “Not this way.” Lowell holstered his blaster. He gave the all clear sign to Paltronis.

  She turned away, gathering her men and heading for the tunnels where Boline was trying to blast through.

  “Find her,” Rinth crooned. “Find Dace-Miya?”

  “Yes, but not this way,” Lowell said again.

  Rinth dropped the wrench and climbed down from the flitter. He drooped with resignation and defeat. “Bad Rinth. Punish Rinth.”

  “No,” Lowell said. “You have helped us. We know that Luke doesn’t have her.”

  “Rinth find Dace-Miya.” Rinth looked out at the hangar doors. “Rinth find Dace-Miya.” Rinth went to the doors and smashed the controls open with one hand. The doors ground partway open and jammed. Rinth reached one long arm up and hooked the edge of the door. He gave one last mournful hoot and swung over and out into the breaking day.

  Lowell watched him, knowing he couldn’t stop the creature. Maybe Rinth would have better luck than he. He turned back to the tunnels, feeling tired and old.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “What good are we doing?” Jasyn leaned against the side of the flitter, deliberately not looking at the body bags being unloaded.

  “You could always go back to the kitchen.” Clark was tired, sickened by what had happened, and just as frustrated as Jasyn.

  She pushed herself away from the flitter and walked into the dark, her arms folded around her.

  Clark regretted his impatient comment. He followed after her. “I didn’t mean it the
way it sounded.”

  She whirled on him. “Then how did you mean it?”

  “You agreed to do whatever Lowell told you to, without question. Welcome to the Patrol way of life. Follow orders, without question. If you don’t like it or disagree, too bad.”

  “Why did you join up, if you hate it so bad?” Anything was better than thinking about the piles of bodies and the damage at the mansion. She didn’t want to think about Dace in one of the bags or crushed in the tangle of wreckage.

  “Who else is going to hire a pilot who can only fly Patrol cruisers?”

  “You flew the Phoenix just fine.”

  “I learned how to fly smaller ships after I joined up.” He kicked a clump of grass, silver and black in the moonlight. The emergency lights flooded over the landing spot and the flitters parked on the grass. “My father expected me to join up. We’ve been Patrol for eight generations. I never really thought about doing anything else. What about you, Jasyn? Why a trader? What did your family do?”

  “Disowned me before I was old enough to understand anything.” She stopped, looking up at a sky strewn with gleaming stars. “Do you know what it’s like to be disowned by gypsies? Nobody else wants you either.”

  “Gypsies?”

  “For a lot more than eight generations. I got my nav license working for my parents. They flew a tramp trader for a while, but ended up flying insystem ore freighters. They were killed in an accident. I was still too young to know what I was doing.” She turned her back on him. “Now you know all my dirty secrets. Now you can dump me just like everyone else.”

  “Why would I dump you?” He reached for her, took her hand.

  “Because I’m not even a gypsy.” She didn’t pull her hand free.

  “And what difference should that make?”

  “You really don’t care?” She tried to kill the hope rising. “You don’t care that I passed a civ exam? I never went to the Academy.”

  “Which proves that you’re a whole lot smarter and tougher than most navigators.” Clark squeezed her hand. “What about Dace? Is she a gypsy, too?”

  “Only if Lady Rina has her way and adopts her. She’s from Tivor. An orphan. She doesn’t talk about it much. Do you really mean it, Clark?”

  “Mean what?” He pulled her closer. Out here, they were hidden by the dark night. She resisted, still unsure of him. He slipped his arms around her.

  “That my past doesn’t matter to you?”

  “Your family was stupid to disown you.”

  “And yours will disown you if you keep this up.” Her voice grew husky. “Do you know how many men have tried to kiss me?”

  “Do I really want to know?”

  “You’re the only one that’s succeeded. I don’t know why I’m telling you that. Do you know why I was working a bar on Nevira for so long?”

  He waited, watching her face. The moonlight painted it with soft silver light. She appeared mystical, almost ethereal.

  “Because every ship I got a berth on included at least one person in command who thought I was there to warm his bunk. I got tired of it.”

  “And you’re with Dace because she isn’t that kind of captain.”

  She laughed. “She believed in the same dream.”

  “You’re beautiful when you laugh,” Clark said.

  “And you’re just like all the others,” she said, shifting away from him.

  He tightened his arms, pulling her closer. “No, I’m not. Marry me, Jasyn. So I never have to let you walk away from me. So I can watch you laugh. So I can wake up to your smile every morning.”

  She stared, her face giving nothing away. He held his breath, waiting for her to break his heart. She smiled, shyly touching his cheek.

  “You really mean that, Clark?”

  “With all my heart.”

  She gave him her answer by pulling his head down and kissing him.

  * * *

  I slipped on a rock, leaving a bloody smear. I couldn’t keep back a yelp of pain or stop the tears that blurred my vision.

  Dysun turned to glare at me. “Keep her quiet,” he ordered the man behind me.

  The man lifted me off my feet and over the rock. He wasn’t gentle about it.

  Dysun looked around, hands on hips. He consulted with one of his men. I took the opportunity to sit on the rock I’d just slipped on, wincing at the pain in my feet as I brushed them free of pine needles. Dysun started off in a new direction. His men grumbled but followed. It was hot, they were all sweating. I was sweating, too, but I wasn’t about to give up Tayvis’ jacket. It was more than something to cover up the dress that was falling apart at the seams. It smelled of Tayvis, reminded me that he was here, that he’d find me. I took pains not to let that show. Dysun would enjoy ripping it away from me if he knew.

  We climbed a ridge and started down the other side. I stumbled, so much in pain I couldn’t see. The man behind me finally scooped me up, dangling me over his shoulder. I closed my eyes against the dizziness and humiliation. At least my feet didn’t hurt anymore.

  It was only a few minutes later that I heard water running. The air cooled off marginally. The man stopped and dumped me onto the ground next to the stream. Whatever had cracked in my ribcage cracked more. I groaned and rolled up to my knees, my head tucked down and my arms tight around my ribs, trying to ease the agony and catch my breath.

  “What now?” one of the men demanded.

  “You wait, and keep her here,” Dysun said. “While I find a spot where this com will actually work.”

  “And what if Luke is dead?” the man continued. “How do we get out of here?”

  “You hope he isn’t dead. If he is, we walk all the way to the spaceport. Or you can crawl to the Patrol and ask them for a lift.”

  He took two of his men and walked off through the trees.

  The pain eased to a dull ache. I sat, the rocks under my head were too hard. We were in a wide gully with a stream running along the bottom. The waterfall that I had almost fallen over in the night poured water over the stone lip to fall in a long streamer into a wide pond. The men stretched out in the shade of the trees, grumbling as they watched me. I dabbled my feet in the stream. The cold water soothed my battered feet.

  We sat while the sun crept overhead. It was hot. Bugs swarmed over the water, a thick cloud of black dots. They didn’t bite but they liked to fly into eyes and mouths. I pulled Tayvis’ jacket over my shoulders and drew my knees inside. I didn’t want to think about what Dysun was doing. He was going to give me back to Luke who knew for certain that I wasn’t Arramiya Daviessbrowun. I could only look forward to death if Luke got his hands on me again.

  I had limited options. I couldn’t run away. I wouldn’t make it three steps before either my feet gave out or Dysun’s men caught me. So I dabbled my feet in the stream, watching the waterfall while I waited and hoped Tayvis was on his way. With reinforcements.

  Dysun finally returned. He saw me and smiled. I turned away.

  “Luke’s on his way,” Dysun announced. “He got the flitter out. He’ll be here within the hour.”

  I shivered, despite the hot day. Dysun and his men ate lunch. No one offered me any. Dysun tossed the wrapper in a bush. He nudged me with his foot.

  “Get up,” he said.

  “You used to be a lot nicer.”

  “Prison changes people.” He kicked me harder. I got up. “We’re meeting Luke at the top of the waterfall. Start climbing.”

  I managed to walk without wincing too noticeably. We went up the side of the gully, before it got too steep, and circled around, coming out at the top of the waterfall. I was only too glad to sit on another rock, my feet in the water.

  Dysun stood with his hands on his hips as he studied the sky. The sound of the water drowned out anything else. Dysun looked at the area at the top of the falls. He watched me dangle my feet in the cold water and frowned.

  “Get back under the trees,” he ordered. “We’re too exposed here. Anyone can see you sittin
g there.”

  His men got up, grumbling, and headed under the shade of the trees. Dysun kicked me until I got up and limped after them. I found a spot under a tree and sat down. Dysun stood over me, glaring until he got bored and wandered away to harass one of his men.

  Time passed slowly. The heat built under the trees. Insects swarmed from the bushes to buzz around us. Dysun’s men grumbled and complained.

  “Luke should’ve been here by now,” one of them finally said. “Face it, Dysun, we’re goners here.”

  “So go turn yourself in. Or shut up.” Dysun paced under the trees, kicking the heads off flowers.

  The man shut up, at least when Dysun was looking. He started whispering with one of the other men, shooting glances at Dysun as soon as his back was turned.

  Dysun loomed over me.

  “Do I get anything to drink?” I asked. The heat was much worse. I figured my luck was gone anyway, so pushing Dysun wasn’t going to hurt anything. The worst he would do was knock me around a bit.

  He dropped a canteen on my lap. “Only because Luke wants you alive.”

  “Nice to see you’re still at least partly human,” I said. The water in the canteen was warm and it didn’t taste very good. It was wet, that was what really counted. I drank, trying to drain the canteen. I had no idea when or if I’d get another drink. Dysun jerked it away before I was even close to being satisfied.

  He screwed the cap on and slung it back around his neck. “You’re almost more trouble than you’re worth.”

  “Why are you mixed up with Luke?” I almost choked over his name. I forced myself to say it, forced myself to act as if nothing was wrong. I didn’t want to give Dysun any advantage over me. Other than what he already had.

  “Why are you?” His glance slid down to my legs, the skirt was so torn that it was impossible for me to even pretend they were covered. I acted as if I didn’t care.

  “I wasn’t given a choice.”

  “I wasn’t given much of one either. You pretty much fixed that. You promised to sponsor me.”

  “That was before you tried to shoot me.” I shifted on the ground, pulling Tayvis’s jacket farther down to cover at least my thighs. “So how was prison?”