Shades of Honor (An Anomaly Novel Book 2)

by Sandy Williams

  Rage shot through Rykus. “She hasn’t violated any laws.”

  “She injured a Javerian soldier.”

  “It’s a broken nose.”

  “She evaded arrest.”

  “She chased a telepath, a telepath who infiltrated your security forces.”

  His father’s eyes hardened. Rykus had hit at his pride, his military expertise.

  The general clenched his jaw and stared out the window. “How much does her release mean to you?”

  “She can sense telepaths and the people they’ve affected,” Rykus said. “We need her.”

  “That’s not what I asked.” He slowly brought his gaze back to his son. “What does she mean to you?”

  And expertly his father had laid the trap. Rykus had two choices: lie or tell the truth, the truth that he’d admitted to Ash just a few hours ago. The truth that had wrapped chains around her and kept her at his side.

  “I’ve risked my life and my career for her,” Rykus said. “I’d risk both again. I’d risk everything.”

  The smile that touched his father’s mouth held disappointment, not humor. Rykus tried not to bristle at that. He’d stopped caring what his father thought of him a decade ago.

  “I want you to resign from the Fighting Corps,” the general said. “Remain on Javery.”

  “You don’t want me on this planet.” If he were forced to remain on Javery, he’d make his father’s life hell.

  “You can work with your sister.”

  “Taya doesn’t want me in her business.”

  “Darek has business interests as well.”

  Tersa took a step forward. “Gentlemen—”

  Rykus made his voice cold and harsh. “You do this, General, and I promise you we will never speak again.”

  “You—”

  An alarm rang from his father’s comm-cuff.

  The general’s mouth shut. Reaching to his ear, he tapped on his voice-link. “What?”

  His face froze, then turned red. He locked his gaze on Rykus. “Is this your doing?”

  Rykus recognized that look of rage-filled disbelief. He glanced at the voice-link, then at the comm-cuff that was suddenly in his father’s hand. He put the clues together, and then he started to laugh.

  16

  Ash snorted her nose filters into her palm, then held them out to the man seated in the skimmer across from her. He started to reach for them, then stopped when he realized what they were. He crossed his thick arms over a chest that was well-defined even beneath his loose-fitting shirt, and then he scowled. The Saricean, who’d settled onto the bench next to him, didn’t look any happier to be there.

  Beside her, Taya extracted her filters, then dropped them into the bag the Saricean held out. He motioned for Ash to do the same. Ash shrugged and dropped them in.

  “Well?” the man sitting across from Ash said. He wasn’t Saricean, and from his not-quite-concealed accent, he didn’t sound Javerian either. He must have been someone Taya met off planet.

  “I haven’t asked yet.” Taya toyed with the zipper on her jacket.

  “Ask,” the man said. Ash needed him to speak in more than one-syllable phrases. Something about his voice and his slate-gray eyes tugged on a memory. She wasn’t sure if she knew him specifically, or if he just reminded her of someone from her past.

  “Ask me what?” Ash raised her eyebrows at the man, hoping he would answer, but Taya stopped her fidgeting.

  “I’m going to need a favor.”

  Ash turned her head just enough to look at Taya but also keep the slate-eyed man in view. “Oh yeah. The ‘help’ you needed. I was really hoping you were rescuing me out of a sense of familial obligation.”

  Guilt crossed Taya’s face. “I’m sorry—”

  “No need to apologize. It’s brilliant. And stupid. Rip is going to be pissed.”

  Taya’s face hardened, and the other man—Slate—leaned forward. “Her brother won’t hear about this.”

  There was that subtle accent again.

  “I’m pretty sure he will when I tell him,” Ash said.

  “You’ll give us your word you won’t, or we’ll turn this skimmer around and take you back to where we found you.”

  “You could do that,” she agreed. “And I could still tell Rip about you.”

  Slate’s face reddened. “Or we can just take you out—”

  “Stop,” Taya said. “We’re here for a reason. Let’s not screw it up by being overbearing jerks.”

  Slate’s narrowed eyes said he was not pleased, but he didn’t put Taya in her place, which suggested that Taya’s place just might be at the head of this gang. It would fit the profile of little-sister-gets-away-with-everything.

  “I’m listening,” Ash said. “I’d love to hear about whatever scheme you’re running so I can report the details straight to my fail-safe.”

  Slate gave Taya a pointed look that the woman ignored, and Ash lounged against the ripped seat back. The skimmer was a dilapidated piece of junk. Small confines, cracked data-screens, stained upholstery, and enough exterior noise from the howling wind to make it sound like there was nothing between them and the city outside, which flew by in streaks of light.

  Taya turned halfway in the seat so she faced Ash. “You were on the right track before. I told you I’m an environment specialist for Herson Capsules. I inspect communal areas and cargo holds, specifically the temperature-controlled bays. I’m always assigned to routes that go in and out of the Nevsa System, and that happens to be where felithin is manufactured. I inspect the refrigerated holds, and a few doses of the drug always seem to go missing. I connect it with the people who need it. People like Cullo and others who’ve fled Saricean-held space.”

  A covert philanthropist? For the enemy? Except Taya had used the word “fled.” Every standard year, hundreds of Sariceans sought asylum on Coalition worlds. It was such a small number it wasn’t talked about much, but without felithin, those immigrants would die.

  Ash kept her expression neutral when she looked at the Saricean, Cullo. “Doesn’t look like it’s helped him much.”

  “The last supply I picked up was tainted. It worsened the radiation poisoning. We think TessonPense, the manufacturer, discovered someone skimming the supply and deliberately contaminated it.”

  “Do they know it was you?” Ash asked.

  “No.”

  Slate made a noise, and Taya sighed.

  “I don’t think so. But look, it doesn’t matter at this point. The radiation poisoning is killing Cullo. He needs the felithin. Others like him need it too.”

  “You don’t have to steal felithin to get access to it. You could ask.” She looked at Cullo. “Or you could just go home.”

  “Returning to the Saris System isn’t an option.” Taya’s voice turned cold. “As for asking, the Coalition and planetary governments control the drug. If anyone asks for it, they’re databased as Sariceans and watched. Their neighbors know what they are. So do potential employers. Admitting you’re Saricean is a guaranteed way to end up in poverty or dead.”

  “And because of the battle at Ephron, the hatred has worsened.” Slate’s voice, or rather the phrase hatred has worsened, fully triggered the old memory in Ash’s mind. It took effort to keep her expression neutral, but she knew who he was now. She’d encountered him on Glory, which happened to be a routine stop for the scum of the universe. Slate had been muscle at a spaceport. She didn’t know if he worked for one of the smuggling cartels that stopped dirtside or if he worked for a precinct boss. If she could just remember his name…

  “We need your help obtaining more felithin,” Taya said.

  “As a favor?” She was almost certain Slate was a Glory native. He had that I’ve-survived-hell defiance holding up his shoulders.

  Taya’s nod pulled Ash’s attention back to her.

  “Okay. Let’s say I agree to do this favor sometime in the future. You’re going to just trust my word and let me go?”

  “We don’t have to tr
ust it,” Slate said. “Your fail-safe is Taya’s brother. All I have to say is her life will be in danger if you don’t respond when we call.”

  Ash made sure her smile was menacing. “Threatening Taya isn’t a good way to endear me to your cause. It is, however, a great way to end up dead.”

  “He’s not threatening me,” Taya said. “He’s stating a fact. We’re going after the felithin with or without you, but our chance for success increases exponentially with the help of an anomaly.”

  Slate’s steel face flickered halfway through that last sentence. Ash studied his body language again, the set of his jaw, the tension in his muscled shoulders, and the anger in his gray eyes. The man didn’t want to be sitting there in the skimmer, and that wasn’t because she was an anomaly or a Coalition soldier.

  “You don’t want to do it,” she said.

  The way the hollow of his cheek jumped when he clenched his teeth confirmed her assessment. Going after the drugs wasn’t his idea. Rescuing Ash hadn’t been either. All of this was Taya’s doing.

  “Why are you here then?” Ash asked him.

  “I’m here to keep her from getting herself killed.” His hand balled into a fist at his side. Maybe Slate-boy had become not-so-scummy after ten years away from Glory. It was possible. Just look at Ash.

  The skimmer’s engine stalled and choked, but somehow it continued to fly them half a meter above the ground. They’d left the city behind. The only lights now were from the glowing nebula that filled Javery’s eastern sky and the skimmer’s flickering running lights. The latter cast odd smears of shadows on the rocky, dry-shrubbed landscape.

  “Why, specifically, do you need my help? You have muscle.” She nodded toward Slate. “You could hire more if you needed it. And it’s a big universe. You have your choice of thousands of skilled hackers if you need help breaking into a TessonPense shipment.”

  “And every one of them would trip an alert,” Taya said. “Besides, we’re not going after another possibly contaminated shipment. We’re going to the source. The facility we’re targeting is co-owned by the Coalition. Everyone who works there has to pass a Coalition background check. You happen to have that. You’re a Caruth-trained anomaly, which means you’re granted top-priority clearances. You can get us into the manufacturing facility undetected.”

  “You’ve really thought this out, haven’t you?”

  “Thoroughly,” Taya said. “Over dinner last night.”

  Ash laughed, but she had to admire Taya for seeing an opportunity and taking it. Too bad this wouldn’t work.

  “Your plan has two major flaws,” Ash said. “First, you’ve miscalculated. You’re right in believing the loyalty training makes me feel obligated to keep you safe, but the best way to do that is to turn you over to your father.”

  “We won’t allow that,” Slate said.

  Ash gave him a patronizing smile. “Your hand isn’t near your weapon. Cullo’s is, but he’s wearing his belt wrong. The holster is too low on his hip so when he attempts to draw it, it’ll get stuck against the back of the seat. It’ll only cost him a few seconds, but that’s all it will take for me to confiscate Taya’s sidearm and shove her into your lap. But don’t worry. I’m not planning on shooting you. The skimmer’s left rear circuit board is corroded—that’s why it keeps stuttering. All I have to do is knock out the front board, and we’ll all come to a nice, smooth emergency stop. One minute max, and you’ll never see or hear from me again.”

  Slate’s eyes narrowed. His hand twitched where it rested on his thigh.

  “Want to know if anomalies bluff? Make a move.” She watched that hand. She wouldn’t mind the fight, the surge of adrenaline, but not a soul moved in the skimmer though the night outside continued to pass by in a blur of gray and black.

  “We’ll stop here,” Taya said. “You can get out. Contact your ship. No obligation. We’ll call off the raid.”

  She almost didn’t sound like Rykus’s sister. Her voice was flat, defeated, and damn it, Ash wanted to help.

  Slate’s hand moved slowly toward his comm-cuff. He tapped on it twice, and the skimmer slowed.

  “She’ll tell your brother about us,” he said.

  “Rhys won’t…” Taya pressed her lips together. “He has other problems. He can’t do anything.”

  “He can report you to the general.”

  “He and Dad don’t talk.”

  They would for Taya. If Rykus couldn’t take care of his little sister on his own, he’d tell the general Taya was hanging out with drug smugglers.

  “We’ll be off planet soon anyway.” Taya’s voice was firm now. Sure of herself again.

  Slate scowled but remained silent. He had to know Taya’s family had money. General Rykus would hire someone to find his daughter. If Ash reported her, she’d either have to give up her little hobby of saving Sariceans or become invisible to her friends and family. Even if she chose the latter, the general’s agents would eventually catch up with her.

  The skimmer came to a full stop, and Taya handed Ash a comm-cuff. “It’s unregistered. Contact your ship. You can use ours as a relay so you don’t trigger a security alert. The hailing code is already entered.”

  Ash’s fingers wrapped around the cuff. Taya’s plan wasn’t foolproof. The Javerians would monitor every signal sent to the Kaelais. Fortunately, Ash didn’t have to send a formal communication to the ship. She just had to hope a certain acquaintance on board the Kaelais was paying attention. And that the acquaintance was willing to risk a reprimand for someone she pretty much despised.

  Ash made a mental note of Taya’s ship and its hailing frequency for later, then she closed out of that channel and opened an indirect link to the Kaelais. A smile played across her lips as she screwed with some very subtle operational coding that any good, attentive crypty would take note of.

  “Message sent,” Ash said. “Mind if I hold on to this until I get a response?”

  “Yes.” Slate reached for the cuff.

  Taya knocked his hand away. “It’s fine. Stay here. I’ll wait with her.”

  She opened the door.

  “Taya—”

  “No need to worry,” Ash said cheerfully. “I’ll protect her as if she’s my fail-safe’s sister.”

  Slate rolled his eyes but sat back and let them exit the skimmer.

  The cool, dry air tangled through Ash’s hair and raised chill bumps on her skin. They walked away from the skimmer, the sand crunching under their shoes.

  “If you’re worried about me,” Taya said, “don’t be. They’re more protective than my brother.”

  “Good.” Ash stopped beside a small, brittle-branched tree that had made a gallant but futile effort to grow out of a boulder.

  “You said my plan had two major flaws,” Taya said. “What was the second one?”

  “Even if I wanted to help, I couldn’t.” Ash snapped a twig off the dead tree. “You picked the wrong anomaly.”

  ”How so?”

  “My clearances have been revoked,” she explained. “You’re free to confirm that with your brother.”

  “Why?”

  Ash rubbed her thumb and forefinger back and forth, making the twig twirl. “For reasons that are complicated.”

  Taya leaned against the boulder and looked back at the parked skimmer. Even without the clearances, Ash could have helped. She had the training to recon the facility and plan and prep an op she had a high chance of pulling off, but Rykus would…

  Damn it, Ash wanted to help Taya. Despite not being a fan of the Sariceans, she agreed with what Taya was doing. She didn’t like her associates, and she might hate the idea of the risk she took, but it was Taya’s life, Taya’s choice, Taya’s gamble. She shouldn’t care what Rykus would want.

  “Can I have a few days?” Taya asked in that same, defeated tone she’d used briefly on the skimmer. “Before you tell my brother?”

  “Thinking about moving up your go date?”

  “I called the mission off,” Taya p
rotested.

  “Slate might believe that, but I don’t.”

  “Slate?”

  “Your overprotective friend,” Ash said.

  Taya didn’t offer his real name. The fact that Ash couldn’t remember it grated on her nerves.

  “You’re going to tell Rhys about this as soon as you get back to the ship, aren’t you?” Taya shook her head in a way that suggested she was admonishing herself for the whole idea of the jailbreak. It made Ash feel like crap.

  Ash ran a hand over her head, taming some of her long, windblown hair. She could help Taya indirectly if she had funds. She could make some calls and negate some of the risk to Taya. But her accounts were still locked and the people she’d need to contact were all acquaintances from Glory. One or more of those acquaintances had betrayed Ash. They’d sent two thugs to assassinate her. How far that betrayal had spread, she didn’t know, but it was best not to get Taya tangled up in her problems. Ash would take care of the Glory issue. Just as soon as she took care of all the other crap the universe had thrown at her.

  “Look,” Ash said. “Don’t move up your go date. Make your preps like you planned, then contact me. I’m not saying I won’t tell Rip or guaranteeing that I’ll help you, but maybe we can work something out.”

  The rejuvenated look of hope in Taya’s eyes made Ash smile.

  “Don’t get too excited. I—” The comm-cuff in Ash’s hand vibrated. No messages popped up, but the screen flickered in a series of static and blacked-out pauses. Ash measured them, arranging the coded message in her mind: Warned you not to mess with my ship’s code. Location confirmed. Extract at 0200. You’re on my shit list.

  Ash smiled. “Ride’s coming. You better go.”

  “Thank you!” Taya pushed away from the boulder.

  Ash handed her the comm-cuff. “Just go.” God, she hoped she didn’t get Taya killed.

  Taya grinned and jogged toward the skimmer. The door was still open, and a glowering…

  Oh, that was his name.

  “Hey, Taya,” Ash called. “Tell Anders he’s come a long way since the Glory docks.”

  Taya frowned. Slowly she nodded, then climbed into the skimmer. Ash settled down beside the boulder and waited for her ride.