Flame: A Sky Chasers Novel

by Amy Kathleen Ryan

  “So he was using her.”

  “Like Mather is using you,” Jared said out of the side of his mouth.

  Kieran was silent as they descended the next flight. When they reached the level where his apartment was, he turned to face Jared. “Why are you telling me this?”

  “I want Waverly back,” the man said.

  “Then what are you going to do about it?” Kieran challenged, choosing for the moment to ignore Jared’s odd choice of words.

  The man’s face hardened. “Can you get out of your apartment tonight?”

  “Probably. I’m not under guard.”

  “Wait for my text.” Jared opened the door for Kieran. “We’re finding her tonight.”

  “How?” Kieran asked.

  Jared looked surprised. “Your plan. It’s a good one. I’ll set up the cameras. Be ready.”

  Kieran went home with butterflies in his stomach. The apartment smelled of fresh rolls, but when his mother served him one, it tasted as though it had a pound of salt in it. He spat it out and watched, astonished, as his mother ate her own roll eagerly.

  “Mom,” he whispered.

  She looked up, surprised. Crumbs from her roll clung to the corners of her lips.

  He couldn’t speak, so he wrapped his arms around her and held on. She laughed at first, tried to pull away to look at him, but finally gave in to his embrace and held him.

  Still my mom, Kieran told himself. Even if there’s no cure.

  Later, they read in companionable silence, an ancient recording of the Bach piano inventions playing over the com system. Kieran looked out the porthole just as a shooting star whizzed by. It wasn’t really a star—that was just what the adults called a stray particle that was ignited in a collision with the hull. It happened very rarely, so whenever anyone saw one, he or she’d always call out, “Make a wish!”

  “Let us find her alive,” Kieran whispered under his breath.

  “What, honey?”

  “Nothing.” What point would there be in telling her? So Anne Mather could interrogate her later?

  Lena smiled absently and went back to her reading.

  At bedtime, Kieran went to his room to wait. His com screen showed a short text from Felicity asking, Any word?

  No, Kieran wrote back, choosing not to mention his plan with Jared, for her protection. How are you?

  Worried, she responded almost immediately. Scared.

  Me too, he responded. Don’t take any chances, okay?

  You neither, she wrote back. And that was the end of it.

  It was getting late when Kieran lay down on his bed, the crook of his elbow over his eyes, waiting for Jared’s text. He was in a light doze when he jerked awake to the ping of an incoming message. He sprang to his feet and clicked the message icon.

  Storage bay, central stairwell, now was all it said.

  Kieran crammed his feet into his shoes and ran out the door, relieved that Mather still hadn’t posted guards on him. Once in the stairwell, he slid down the metal handrails, holding his arms out for balance, swinging around as he hit each landing. He hadn’t gone very far before his heart started beating madly, and he had to stop to catch his breath to keep from fainting.

  Running down the stairs would be even worse, so he kept sliding and swinging around, his heart pumping painfully, his fingertips tingling. “Thank God,” he cried aloud when he saw he was nearing the storage bay level. He was swinging around to the final landing when a dark shape whirled at him.

  “Quiet!” Jared hissed. “They might hear.”

  Kieran wanted to ask if he’d found Waverly, but he couldn’t speak. He collapsed onto the stairs, hanging his head between his knees. His stomach heaved, and he threw up a thin, bubbly phlegm and spat it between his feet. What was wrong with him?

  “You okay?” Jared asked in a whisper.

  “Not really,” Kieran said between ragged breaths. “I have a weak heart, I think.”

  He felt a hand on his shoulder. “You should have told me.”

  Kieran could only nod.

  Jared knelt and whispered in his ear. “They know me, they know my voice. They won’t talk to me. That’s what I need you for. I want you to knock on the door, pretend to be alone. Get them to open the door. I’ll handle the rest.”

  “What if they won’t talk to me?”

  “Make yourself sound vulnerable and alone. They’ll open up if they think they can shut you up themselves.”

  “Okay,” Kieran said doubtfully.

  “Come on,” Jared said, pulling on Kieran’s shirt.

  Kieran got to his feet, swaying a little, and followed Jared. They crept along a row of shipping containers, hidden in the shadows where the lights didn’t reach. Jared counted under his breath, pulling Kieran behind him until he crouched abruptly, leaning against the heavy metal side of one container. He knocked on the door.

  Not a sound came from inside. Jared looked at Kieran and raised his eyebrows.

  “Um. Hello?” Kieran called. “Jacob Pauley? I know you’re in there. It’s me, Kieran Alden.”

  No response.

  “I’m alone. I just want to talk to Waverly. I need to know she’s all right.”

  Silence. Jared looked at Kieran from under heavy black brows. His jaw was set at a square angle, and he held both hands out, facing the door, ready to pounce. He looked every inch a killer.

  “Jacob,” Kieran said, his mind racing, “I’m telling you, right now I’m alone. If you don’t open the door I’ll call Central Command and tell them where you are.”

  Kieran thought he heard a whimper escape from inside, and someone muttered under his breath. The latch on the door turned, and the door slid open a couple inches.

  “You alone?” Jacob Pauley growled at him.

  “Yes,” Kieran said.

  It was so dark in the container that Kieran could see only Jacob’s outline—his nose, some stray hairs caught in the light as he peered out from the darkness.

  “Because if you’re not alone…,” Jacob said.

  “You think I have a lot of friends on this ship?” Kieran said.

  A brief exchange of hisses sounded from inside the container, then the door squealed open and Jacob poked his head out.

  With stunning speed, Jared leapt up and hooked an arm around Jacob’s neck. He rammed the big man’s throat against the edge of the doorway with such violence that Kieran hid his face. Jacob collapsed, hacking and spitting. Jared took hold of his hair, jammed his head into the side of the container, and held it there. Jacob fought for breath on his hands and knees, sputtering.

  “Ginny!” The name came out of Jared like a howl, ending with a sneer of such contempt that Kieran took a step backward. “I’ve partially collapsed your husband’s larynx, darling. A punch in the throat will kill him. Understand?”

  A woman screamed out of the darkness: “Let him go, you murderer!”

  “What I do next depends on whether Waverly is still alive.”

  There was a brief pause, then the sounds of bodies moving around inside the container, and finally a thin, terrified voice called out, “I’m here.”

  Waverly. Kieran closed his eyes with profound relief.

  Jared said, “You may have just bought your husband’s life, Ginny.”

  “I’ll kill her if you hurt him.”

  “So we each have something the other wants.”

  Jacob tried to stand, but Jared pushed his head harder against the side of the container, and Jacob went limp.

  “How did you find us?” Ginny snarled.

  “I’ll tell you a secret, you little idiot,” Jared said. “We’ve known where you were all along.”

  Was this true? Kieran glanced at Jared and tried to read his face, but the man was encased in darkness.

  “That’s…,” Ginny began.

  “The truth, Virginia. They’ve all been waiting for your plan to reveal itself. Mather. The doctor. Your friend Thomas. Until you took Waverly, they were just waiting for the momen
t to squash you like a couple of roaches.”

  The woman was silenced by this. Kieran could feel her thinking in the dark. “Thomas and Jakey are friends,” she finally said.

  “Thomas isn’t anyone’s friend, Ginny.”

  Waverly cried out in pain, and Kieran stiffened.

  “You’re lying!” the woman screamed, and Waverly shrieked. “Why would the doctor change his mind now?”

  Kieran started to feel an uncomfortable doubt worming through the back of his mind.

  “The doctor has nothing to do with this conversation,” Jared said. “If you want to live through the night, you’ll listen to me.”

  “If everything’s over like you say, why should I talk to you? I could kill this little bitch and be done with it!”

  “I’m not here to take you down.”

  Again, silence.

  “What are you talking about?” The woman, Ginny, was trying to sound strong, but Kieran could hear tears in her voice.

  “You’ve got nothing to bargain with, Ginny. Mather wants you to kill that girl. She was going to let you do it.”

  “You think I wanted to trade her?”

  Jacob had stopped coughing, though his breath was still whistling in his throat.

  “Whatever your plans for Waverly were, they’re done,” Jared went on. “Regardless, I know there’s no easy way to get Waverly out of this container alive.”

  “That’s right!” the woman shrieked.

  “That’s why I brought two things to offer you.”

  Kieran squirmed.

  Jared held up a small, glowing com unit, a type Kieran had heard about but never seen. It was small enough to fit in the palm of Jared’s hand, and it glowed with an ethereal blue light.

  “Where did you get that?” Jacob whispered in awe.

  Jared gripped Jacob’s hair in his fist and knocked his head into the container. The man swayed on his hands and knees.

  “Ginny, are you listening?” Jared asked.

  “I’m listening,” she parroted.

  “When you let Waverly walk away, I’ll give you darkness.”

  “What?”

  “A blackout. This device disables all the lights on the ship for thirty minutes. As long as you avoid the infrared cameras at the air locks, you’ll be invisible.”

  After a pause, the woman said, “Interesting. But you said two things.”

  “I brought you Kieran Alden.”

  Before he saw Jared move, Kieran felt him land on his back. Kieran fell onto his stomach, kicking at the air and trying to pull his hands free, but within seconds a cord was pulled tight over his ankles, wrapped once around his neck, and then bound around his wrists. If he tried to pull his wrists or legs free, the cord tightened against his throat. In a matter of seconds he’d been totally immobilized.

  The struggle had given Jacob Pauley enough time to stand up and rub his head, but Jared pulled a small gun from a leather holder around his waist and pointed it at Jacob’s heart. The man lifted his hands, glaring.

  “Why would I want Kieran Alden?” Ginny asked.

  Kieran lay perfectly still, hoping Jared was bluffing. But if this is a bluff, why wasn’t I in on it?

  “Because,” Jared said, drawing the word out, mocking her intelligence, “Anne Mather wants Kieran Alden. Alive. Now you have something to bargain with.”

  There was another pause while Ginny thought about it. “Is he going to testify at Mather’s trial?”

  “He’s on Mather’s list of witnesses,” Jared said hesitantly, as though he didn’t quite understand the question.

  “Where’s my darkness?”

  “I want Waverly first.”

  “Fine,” the woman said, irritated.

  Jacob grunted in frustration. “Ginny! No!” His voice rattled in his injured throat.

  “We’ll get her later,” Ginny said.

  “Waverly?” Jared called.

  Kieran could hear halting footsteps from inside the container. As Waverly emerged, she sobbed and collapsed onto her knees next to Kieran. Her hands fumbled over his body, clawed at the cord around his wrists. A corona of wild hair glowed around her head in the dim light.

  “It’s okay,” Kieran tried to tell her.

  “No. No. No.” She shook her head as she desperately worked at the knots that bound him.

  A motion caught Kieran’s eye, and he turned just in time to see Jared lift the small com unit and tap the screen. The lights in the storage bay went out with a resounding boom. Kieran wriggled, but the cord tightened around his neck, swelling his face with blood until he felt woozy and he had to lie still to keep from passing out. “You son of a bitch,” he hissed at Jared.

  In the shine of the com unit, Kieran saw Jared’s dark shape pull Waverly away.

  “No!” she screamed. “You can’t leave him!” She clawed at Jared, kicking, but he lifted her by the waist and disappeared behind a shipping container. Kieran could hear her screaming and fighting until her voice disappeared behind a heavy-sounding door.

  “Let’s move,” the woman growled. “Can you walk?”

  “Yes,” Jacob said, though he was hoarse.

  “Carry him,” the woman said.

  “I’m choking,” Kieran rasped.

  “Cut the cord,” Ginny said irritably.

  Kieran felt an increase in pressure, heard a blade slide though the cord that bound his neck to his feet, and he could breathe again, though his hands and feet were still tied.

  Kieran felt himself being picked up in the man’s arms. He tried to memorize the number of steps, the number of turns, as Jacob stumbled through the darkness behind his wife. He thought they were headed to the starboard side, and he lifted his face to try and get his bearings. Without word or warning, something crashed down on his head, sending sparks across the backs of his eyes, and he couldn’t think anymore.

  SETH

  The smell in the brig was unbearable. Usually with a stink, you could get used to it, but not this one. The cells were all empty, except maybe for a few in the back, and the brig looked clean to the eye. But a rank, putrid smell invaded every square inch of the air.

  And his hand … the pain was so total it erased everything else. All he could do was concentrate on breathing, in and out. Stay alive and breathe, he told himself. Don’t think about your hand.

  He had gangrene. He could feel it in the way his blood scalded the insides of his veins. His head buzzed, his chest felt weak and loose, and his heart was fluttery. He knew he had a high fever, but what he felt was horrible, bitter cold that overtook his body in spasm after spasm.

  “They’re going to let me die.” He said the words to himself, under his breath, moving his tongue behind his teeth to form the word. Die. Die. Die. He was trying to get used to the idea.

  He’d always assumed he’d end up a skinny old man like his father, though he’d hoped for a better life. He’d even thought he might try being a dad himself and treat his kids with the kindness he’d never had. Some abused kids went on to be good parents, didn’t they? But he’d wanted more than just a family. He wanted to be the best deck officer there was. He’d be so good that his dislike of Captain Jones wouldn’t stop him from someday piloting the ship. He’d make himself someone his kids could be proud of.

  That was the future Seth had imagined before everything started.

  Then, after the attack, Kieran had taken over the Empyrean and proceeded to endanger everyone on board. Watching Kieran’s mistakes and miscalculations had brought out Seth’s own brutal nature, and he’d turned into a worse brute than his father had been. That’s when Seth had seen how unrealistic his dreams of having a family were. He was too angry to be a loving father, or even a decent deck officer. Seth’s internal darkness would always engulf him; he’d always be unlikable and vicious.

  So he’d landed himself in the brig on the Empyrean. His months there taught him to let go of his dreams, to accept a far humbler future, to disappear into a lab or a field somewhere. No woman in her
right mind would want to raise a family with him, he’d thought; he’d just be grateful for his freedom, even if he was alone forever. He’d do his humble work, and live a solitary life. That seemed to be all he was good for.

  Then Waverly came back to the Empyrean. And they talked. And hope came back. Maybe he could have his dreams after all …

  Through all those imagined versions of the future, through all those compromises, he’d never considered he might not have a future at all.

  Footsteps.

  Footsteps were coming up the corridor, falling like feathers on the hard metal. A short, skinny woman with brown hair knotted at the nape of her neck peeked around the wall at Seth.

  “Oh God,” she said under her breath. She was dressed in the gray-green scrubs of a nurse.

  “Huh-huh-help,” Seth croaked through his cracked throat.

  “I need access to this cell now!” she screamed down the corridor at someone.

  “You don’t have to yell,” called a man irritably.

  “How could you let him suffer like this?” she snarled at someone who was coming up the hallway, his heavy footfalls sounding like the beat of a drum. “Anyone could tell he’s seriously ill!”

  “I’ve got other things on my plate, Nan,” the man said, but when he turned to look at Seth, his fat face fell. “Oh boy,” he said.

  “Yeah,” she snapped at him. “Open the door!”

  The guard rattled through his key chain, the woman shaking her head furiously as he fumbled. When finally the door slid open, she ran to Seth.

  “I’m a nurse. My name’s Nan,” she said as she pressed fingertips against his wrist. “Can you speak?”

  Seth nodded, tried to say “Yes,” but all he could get out was “Yuh Yuh Yuh Yuh…” The tremors from his fever shook him into silence.

  “I can’t help him here,” Nan said to the guard. “He needs the infirmary.”

  The guard shook his head. “Strict orders from the Pastor he’s to be kept in solitary.”

  “She doesn’t know how sick he is!” the woman yelled. “Call her! Tell her I’m down here. Tell her it’s an emergency!”

  The guard shook his head again but took a walkie-talkie from the belt around his sagging middle. “Central Command,” he said into it, and waited.