Lunar Heat: 1 (The Heat Series)

by Susan Kearney

  If Cade got mad enough, would his own Quait strengthen enough to break Jamar’s grip? The idea took hold.

  She couldn’t move. But her brain still worked. She could speak. Cade was already furious. Shara would prod Cade into a rage so hot, he’d break free.

  Trevor had told her enough about Jamar to understand the best way to appeal to the First’s disgusting mind. Jamar preferred to make his underfirsts do things against their will. When he used Quait, they didn’t suffer enough.

  Knowing she was bargaining with the devil, she still spoke up. Jamar would never release Cade, but she could bargain for the lives of her friends. “If you allow Jules and Lyle to live, I will do whatever you ask of me, for as long as you want me.”

  “Of course you will.”

  “You won’t have to use Quait.”

  “Noooo!” Cade roared.

  Delighted, Jamar grinned and folded his arms across his chest, confident that he could stop her from harming him. He released her. “I accept. My first request is that you shoot Cade.”

  Horror crawled down her spine. “Wouldn’t you rather keep him alive to watch what you do to me?”

  “No. Shoot him.”

  “Don’t you want Cade to suffer? You really want me to kill him?”

  “Only in the shoulder.” So Jamar had been toying with her. He didn’t want Cade dead.

  Oh . . . Cade . . . “I might miss. I’m not a very good shot.”

  “That’s not what I heard.” Jamar shoved her toward Cade. She stumbled forward. “Place the gun right against his shoulder.”

  Her hands shook so hard, she had to brace the one holding the gun with the other. If she shot Cade, if he feared the pain, would his Quait kick in? Would it be enough to break Jamar’s monstrous hold?

  Heart ramming up her throat, palms slick, lungs burning, she pressed the gun against Cade’s shoulder.

  Jamar rubbed his hands in glee. “Oh, this is so much fun. Maybe even worth my trip to this barbaric planet.”

  Her betrayal, Cade’s anger and hurt with her, and his silent treatment fell by the wayside. They’d shared too much for her to escape her own deep feelings for him. Shara yearned with her entire being to miss.

  But if she went back on her word, she’d lose this opportunity.

  Her heart was screaming for her to save Cade, to turn the weapon on Jamar. But Jamar was too fast; he’d use his Quait to prevent her from shooting him. Mouth dry as Lamenium ash, she angled the gun slightly away from his shoulder and toward the fleshy part of the upper arm.

  She closed her eyes.

  “Do it,” Cade’s voice snapped the order.

  Shara pulled the trigger.

  The blast rocked her back a step. Bitter bile rose up her throat.

  Cade roared in pain. The smell of burned flesh and blood made her dizzy. Shaking, sick, Shara forced open her eyes. Cade’s torn flesh looked raw and nasty. Blood streamed down his arm. Pain glazed his eyes, and his mouth twisted tight. Nausea hit her hard.

  “Now the other shoulder,” Jamar ordered.

  “What?”

  “You want your friends to live? Then stop stalling. I expect immediate obedience.”

  Oh, my God. How many charges did the gun have? Shara didn’t know. Her mind was hazy. Tears rained down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry.”

  “I know.” Cade closed his eyes, obviously bracing against more pain.

  What did Shara have to do for Cade’s Quait to kick in? How much more would it take? She swore at Cade. “Damn you. Don’t just stand there.”

  “He’s an underfirst, inferior and stupid. He can do nothing but obey.” Jamar strode over to Lyle and kicked him in the ribs. “The next kick is for Jules.”

  Cade’s eyes steadied, his will strong as granite. “Pull the damn trigger.”

  Shara shook with terror. If she wanted Jules and Lyle to live, she’d have to shoot Cade again, perhaps empty the gun into him.

  Again, she pulled the trigger. Cade swore. Flesh mangled, his wound seeped with blood. He swayed on his feet, his face ashen.

  “Now his knee.” Jamar gloated, enjoying her mental anguish as much as Cade’s pain.

  This was hell. “Come on, Cade. Do something.” Why wasn’t his Quait kicking in? She spoke softly, tears streaming down her cheeks, praying his Quait would work. “Don’t let Jamar hurt Jules. Don’t let him have me.”

  The mine rumbled, and the ground directly beneath her feet shook, cracked. She stumbled. Cade toppled backward. Somehow, Jamar stayed on his feet. But the mine fired rocks into the air, and one almost hit Jamar. He ducked, lost his footing and flailed his arms.

  And Quait grabbed Shara hard, forcing her to raise the gun. Oh, my God. She closed her eyes as Quait forced her to aim. To pull the trigger.

  This time the recoil had her staggering back and falling hard.

  She’d expected another shriek but heard nothing. Her eyes flew open, expecting to see more blood on Cade. Instead, she saw that she’d aimed at Jamar. A hole the size of her fist had decimated Jamar’s chest. Blood was everywhere, staining the entire front of his shirt.

  He was dead.

  Slowly she gathered her wits, and what had happened sank in. Cade’s Quait had grabbed her, forced her to aim the gun and shoot Jamar. Together, they had defeated Jamar.

  Stunned, trembling, knocked off her feet, Shara’s thoughts reeled. Jamar’s sightless eyes stared at the sky. She’d shot him.

  Jules rushed over and embraced Shara, but she couldn’t feel her touch. She was numb, in shock, shaking too hard. And despite the heat of the Lamenium burning, her bones felt frozen.

  Jules hugged her, rocked her. “You’ll be okay.”

  Wrong. As Shara’s gaze swept past Cade—who had risen to his feet despite his two bleeding wounds—to the steadily flowing Lamenium lava, Shara didn’t think she would ever be okay again. Haven had become a hellish inferno.

  The mine and her asteroid were clearly about to erupt. About to shoot out of orbit and strike Earth.

  Lyle crawled over, clearly in pain. She’d seen Lyle take a brutal kick to the ribs, but he appeared more dazed than injured.

  At least Jules was thinking clearly. She shredded Jamar’s shirt and used it to bind Cade’s wounds and stop the bleeding.

  Cade remained calm, his tone businesslike. “We need the third sphere. You and Jules must find it and bring it back here.”

  Lyle frowned. “I don’t understand.”

  “Right now the two spheres with different programming are fighting for dominance. The third sphere will end the stalemate between the two opposing programs—programs that will rip Earth apart.”

  “I thought you didn’t know how the spheres work?”

  “I don’t. It’s like the difference between writing vidlink code and working inside a finished program.”

  Jules looked up from the ground where she was hugging Shara. “Where’re your backpack and the third sphere?”

  “I kicked it in the same direction that Trevor fell.”

  Cade swayed on his feet, his gaze avoiding Shara as if he couldn’t bear to look at her.

  It shattered something deep inside her that craved him. And she felt more bloodied and damaged than his wounds.

  Lyle groaned and grabbed his ribs. “We’ll go look.”

  “I’ll go with them.” Shara wanted to run away from Cade’s rejection, his pain, and his coldness and shoved to her feet.

  “Are you sure you want to help?” Cade asked her, his eyes fierce.

  There was so much buried rage and bitterness in his words that it clawed her insides, shredded her emotions, ripped at her dignity. Hoping he couldn’t see the arrow he’d speared in her heart, she raised her chin. “The more of us looking, the better our chances.”

  “Cade, my vision finally revealed it was Jamar we were supposed to stop. Not you.” Jules hung her head. “I’m sorry. What Shara did was my fault.”

  “It was my decision,” Shara said firmly and turned to Cade. “I shouldn’
t have tried to stop you. I never meant . . . I’m so sorry.”

  “There’s no time for this,” Cade muttered, his expression bruised and hard.

  Shara nodded and stumbled away. He hadn’t forgiven her, but he would. If she had to spend the rest of her life proving to him that she was trustworthy, she would do it. He was worth it.

  Somehow she would get past the fact that she’d shot another man she’d loved. And he would forgive her. Or her broken heart would never mend.

  Cade was still alive. And that gave her the strength to go on.

  Strangely, she had no qualms at all that she and Cade had killed Jamar. The son of a bitch had deserved to die. She felt no sorrow over his death. No guilt.

  It was shooting Cade that made her break into a sweat. First she’d betrayed him in the Caribbean. Now, she’d shot him. She’d been desperate, ruthless, and she’d fired a gun into the man she loved. Shot him twice.

  What kind of person was she?

  As the mine thundered, and the ground shook so hard she stumbled to her knees, she thought living with herself might not be a problem. She might not live much longer at all.

  She concentrated on getting up, sliding down the cone, and looking for the third portal part. There was so much ash, the pack could be half buried. So she gave a second look to every bump, every ash-covered lump.

  Since Lyle seemed to know the direction where Trevor and the backpack had fallen, she followed him and Jules. The ash was floating down so thickly that opening her mouth to speak was nasty. She’d long since placed her shirt back over her nose and mouth. The cloth had clogged with ash so thick, drawing air through had become a problem.

  Lyle motioned for them to spread out. Head down, Shara slogged through the ash that now came up to her ankles in the low-lying hollows. Occasionally, Lamenium lava seeped to the surface, and she steered away from the cracks. One false step by any of them, and they could combust, their flesh melt from their bones. Shuddering at the grisly thought, she brushed ash from her eyelashes. Gray ash. Gray sky. Gray thoughts.

  Out of her peripheral vision, she spied a blue-tinged circular object that didn’t belong.

  Hurrying, she trudged over, bent and found the backpack. She waved frantically to Lyle and Jules, but they didn’t see her and had moved much farther down the cone. She even risked a shout. “Over here!”

  They didn’t turn, couldn’t hear her hoarse shouts over the rumbling mine. Discouraged, she spit out ash.

  Shara tugged the pack from the ground. It was heavy, the sphere inside. She sat, shrugged into the straps, and then used her legs to lift the weight. Damn, it weighed a ton.

  She didn’t know how Cade had carried two of them up the mine’s cone. Gritting her teeth in determination, she turned, searched for the boulders, and then took a step.

  And almost toppled. The climb without the pack had been difficult. With the extra weight it would be murderous. But somehow she would make it. Clenching her jaw, she strained upward. For every three steps forward, she slipped one backward. The ash was coming down so heavily, it was like a blizzard—only hotter than any day she could remember, and she’d lost sight of Jules and Lyle.

  Steam hissed from fissures that opened, and sometimes she had to sidestep to avoid a lava flow. She put one foot in front of the other, focused on just a single step at a time.

  Lungs straining to the max, heart thudding, she finally made it back to the boulders. Cade stood on the rim, his bandaged arms hanging limply at his sides. “Put the pack down, and I’ll kick it over to the lip.”

  She could carry the pack a few more steps. He was wounded and still bleeding. She’d carried the damn thing all the way up here, and he still didn’t trust her.

  But when he spoke his voice was gentle. “You’re exhausted.”

  “And you’re hurt.”

  “Don’t argue. Take off the pack.” He used his Quait, forcing her to release the pack from her shoulders.

  She slumped to the ground, too exhausted to be alarmed by the heat beneath her. Cade placed his foot through the loop of the pack, tugged until the pack caught on his ankle like a shackle. And then he dragged it to the rim. Kicked it over.

  By the time he staggered back to her, she’d recovered a bit of strength. “How long will it take to work?”

  Lava burst behind him. In the hellish light, his face appeared grave, his eyes hard. “We may have been too late.”

  “There’s nothing else to do?”

  He shook his head.

  “Jamar’s shuttle is beached one cove over from the house. We need to get off the asteroid.”

  She never knew where they found the strength to slide down the cone. They couldn’t just tumble blindly, or they might end up in a fissure, or roll into one of the lava streams. And all the while, the mountain shimmied beneath their feet, threatening to explode.

  “Is the ash decreasing?” Shara asked, daring to hope.

  “Might be the trees protecting us. I’m not sure.” Cade spoke in a raw whisper, clearly in agonizing pain.

  Agony she had caused. And with all her soul she wished she could bear the pain for him. To his credit he didn’t blame her. Instead, he nudged her with his hip, encouraged her to keep going.

  She asked no more questions.

  Eventually they reached the base. And breathing became a bit easier. She peered at Cade, worried about his blood loss. She was certain the average human being wouldn’t still be on his feet.

  Jules and Lyle had met up with Trevor and now waited at the bottom. Jules hugged Shara. “We lost you in the ash back there.”

  “The third sphere?” Trevor asked.

  “It’s done,” Shara spoke, using as few words as possible. With her throat raw, speaking took too much effort. “Cade shoved it over the lip.”

  “But the mine—” Jules’s words were cut off as a huge explosion rocked them and echoed down the other side of the mountain.

  Cade placed his back against a tree to prop him upright. Lyle peered at the explosions with scientific curiosity. Jules hid her face on Shara’s shoulder. “I can’t look.”

  Red rocks and lava erupted from the peak and poured over the lip. The red flow over the dark cone looked like a scene from a holovid, but it was all too real. Shara wondered if it was the beginning of the end.

  Lyle took charge. “We need to move, people. That’s Lamenium lava snaking down the mountainside.”

  Shara refrained from saying there was nowhere to run. It seemed too defeatist, even if it was reality. If the asteroid blew, it would take Earth and the Moon with it. The Martians would last a while, but they were still dependent on Earth for critical supplies, food, and meds.

  “Let’s get to the shuttle,” Cade hurried them. “I can engage the AIS to fly it,” Cade ordered.

  “Jamar fired on our shuttle before he landed. He didn’t want us to escape,” Shara told him.

  “So we head for Jamar’s shuttle,” Jules said.

  “A lava blast took it out,” Trevor told them. “I couldn’t even touch the hatch to look for the vidlink it was so hot.”

  Shara’s gaze went to Jules, then Trevor, Cade, and Lyle. They remained silent, out of options. “Then we head for my house, pick up as much food and water as we can carry, and take the boat to the other side of the asteroid.”

  “Hurry.” The urgency in Lyle’s tone told her he expected the lava to gush. Or the entire cone to blow.

  “Look.” Cade’s voice had them stopping and looking back at the cone.

  A giant fissure opened across the top of the cone. Only this fissure was different from the others. Right in the middle of the mountain’s cone was a solid-looking structure. A shiny blue sphere spun slowly and began to pick up speed.

  Shara rubbed her eyes. Was she hallucinating?

  “What’s that?” Lyle asked, his gaze going from the giant sphere to Cade.

  “It’s the portal.” Cade grinned, his entire face lighting up with delight. “The mines’s not going to blow.”

/>   “Earth is safe?” Jules asked.

  Satisfaction and relief eked through the pain in Cade’s voice. “The Lamenium engaged the neutron energy to keep the portal open. Automatic machinery is already tapping into the ocean to send salt to Rama.”

  Shara stared at him, confusion and hope swelling in her chest as she tried to take in what was happening. “The asteroid’s not going to blow apart? The portal’s already working?”

  Cade kept his gaze on the shiny blue sphere. “Look at the cone. The ash is much less, the rumblings almost gone. That third sphere stabilized the portal. Since it works almost instantly through the folds of space and time, Rama is already receiving the first salt shipments.”

  The signs of the old mine settling down were apparent—even to her. The mine wasn’t going to explode. The asteroid was staying in orbit. The Pacific Rim wasn’t going to set off a chain reaction that tore apart the planet. Earth was safe. She was safe.

  Relief flowed through Shara. They’d done it. Haven would be fine.

  What of her and Cade? She glanced at him, but he was staring at the portal, his eyes shining with satisfaction. It hurt that he no longer wanted to share his success with her.

  “Where did the blue sphere come from?” Lyle asked Cade.

  “The portal is like a tunnel through space. It gathers energy and dust and rocks and creates the sphere. On Earth our lasers formed sea tunnels where the salt is refined, then wormholes bring the salt to the portal and send it to Rama.”

  “I’d love to study the science behind your machines.” Lyle stared in awe.

  “That can be arranged.” Cade grinned, but his smile faded as he finally glanced at Shara. “I still have to work out a long-term lease with Haven’s owner.”

  Shara couldn’t quite meet Cade’s eyes. It hurt too much. She glanced back at the mine. The explosions had halted. The lava flow had stopped near the cone. The ash in the air slowly settled, and the sky lightened.

  Jules’s prediction had almost come true, but killing Jamar had made a difference. Earth would remain whole. Cade would save his people. Trevor would get his story. And from the look on Jules’s face as she embraced Lyle, her friend had found a new love.