Cold Revenge

by Jaleta Clegg

  It was not anyone I knew. I did recognize the ship patch on his shoulder. He came from the Windrigger, Everett’s ship. Family. I hoped that meant Jasyn had gotten help. There was nothing I could do for this man, whoever he was. I collected an assortment of tools and left.

  I transferred my lockpicks from my boot sole to the special pocket I’d put inside the left ankle of my shipsuit. I double checked that they were all still there and functional. I’d probably need them before long. Some gut instinct told me. I listened.

  I went back to the hatch. The sky outside was the same coppery blue, with tiny wisps of cloud and the dead sun burning in the dead sky over a landscape of dead rock. The flitter was still there. It hovered and swooped down to land.

  If the flitter was landing, they had either captured Tayvis and Doggo or they were dead. They couldn’t be dead. I ran flat out across the jumbled stone to where I’d seen the flitter land.

  I was less than halfway there when someone jumped me from behind. I sprawled on the hard rock, scraping my face. Whoever it was landed on top of me, pinning me tightly. I tried to fight, kicking and squirming. My attacker got one arm up behind me and pushed, hard.

  "Stay still," a voice whispered in my ear.

  It finally dawned on me that whoever it was, he wasn’t trying to kill me. He was only hurting me enough to keep me down. Maybe he was on my side. And maybe he was the Emperor’s cousin. I counted three slow breaths then heaved.

  I heard the flitter rising. I lifted my head, the only part of me I’d gotten loose and watched the flitter fly away. It went straight south, flying low. I pushed against the body holding me down. It moved.

  I sat up. A man wearing a rusty brown jumpsuit shifted away from me. He was good looking with thick brown hair and blue eyes. And a chin you could break rocks on. He had a pack and a laser rifle. He swept a glance over me, taking in everything in that one look. I stood up and started away.

  "You’re welcome," he said.

  I turned around. He was still sitting on the rock.

  "For keeping you from getting caught by that flitter," he said.

  "They’ve got my friends." I heard the bite in my voice and turned away. They had Tayvis. I wasn't going to lose him, not on this cursed world.

  The man's feet crunched over shattered stone. He was right beside me as I picked my way south, where the flitter had disappeared. I stopped and looked at him.

  "Who are you and why are you here?" I snapped. Curiosity had won again.

  "Commander Vyn Black. I’m assuming you’re Dace, since you match the description I was given. I’m here looking for you."

  "You found me." I started walking again.

  He grabbed my arm.

  I pulled it free. "You’re obviously Patrol. Am I under arrest?"

  "Not yet."

  "Are you threatening me?"

  "Do I need to? My orders were to find you and bring you back to the pickup point. Safe and in one piece, preferred."

  "And what about my friends? What about my crew? They’re that way." I pointed south. "I’m going that way."

  "Two days and the Patrol will be here to deal with them," Commander Vyn Black said.

  "Two days and they’ll all be dead." My hands shook as I pulled out my blaster and checked it again, reassuring myself that I wasn’t helpless. Tolun and his goons were going to pay for all the pain he’d inflicted.

  Commander Black didn’t look the least surprised to see me toting an illegal weapon. "Do you want backup or do you want to take them down all by yourself? There are at least three hundred in there."

  "You’re not going to try to stop me?"

  "And get shot? I’m not that stupid." He lifted his wrist and pushed a button on a miniature com. "I’ve found her, but she’s not coming without her friends. You up for a little reconnaissance mission?"

  The squawk must have been affirmative.

  "Meet me at the back door we found," he said and signed off. He was watching me, blue eyes steady and impossible to read.

  "Are you going to tell me I can only come if I stay out of the way and follow orders?"

  His gaze flicked over my blaster. "Like I said, I’m not stupid. I can believe the barracks stories about Vallius, now that I’ve met you."

  "Great," I muttered, "the whole Patrol is telling stories about me." I shoved the blaster back in the loop I’d sewn in for that reason. It was supposedly to hold wrenches and drivers, but it worked just fine for blasters. I started off south again.

  "Wrong direction, unless you’re planning on barging in the front door?" He looked like he thought I’d be dumb enough to do it.

  I didn’t say what I was thinking. It would have made an engineer blush. I’d have to start flossing my head soon.

  "Back door is this way," he said and started west.

  I glanced at the sun, sliding slowly to the west, and tramped after him.

  Three hours passed, guessing by the rate the sun crawled across the sky. The sky never varied, a burnt coppery blue with wisps of clouds that meant nothing. The landscape didn’t change, a jumble of broken walls and buildings that went on forever. The wind began to blow again as the sun sank.

  We reached a section that was more intact than most. The roofs almost covered portions of the walls. Commander Black spoke in his com unit, far enough away and quietly enough that I couldn’t hear what he said.

  "We’re almost there," he said to me. "We’ll move in the morning."

  "Why not now? We’ve got an hour of daylight left. And darkness won’t hurt what we’re doing."

  "How long have you been on the planet?" Blank blue eyes studied me, thoughts swimming too deep for me to read.

  "A few days. Why?" Less than two, but he didn’t need to know that.

  "And you ask me why you don’t move at night?"

  "What are you not telling me?"

  "We’ll talk later," he said, with a glance at the sun. He started off into the ruins. I had to move fast to catch up. He didn’t say anything more.

  He led me down a sloping tunnel and through a twisted maze of cramped passages. We came out into a round room with a low ceiling. Five other passages crawled away from it. Two more men were there, setting up a temporary camp. A single lamp burned dim yellow on a block of stone. They glanced at me, not saying anything. They were cooking. I sniffed and my stomach growled.

  Commander Black leaned his rifle against the wall and settled down near the lamp. "York check in yet?"

  "He said another hour," one of the men cooking answered.

  "Cutting it close." Commander Black looked over at me. "Are you going to stand there or do you want a place to sit and food?"

  "She’s the one we were sent to pick up?" the man with the food said. "Doesn’t look like much." The fact that he was dishing up food and I was hungry saved him.

  "Fights like a wet sand cat," Commander Black said. "Don’t mess with her."

  "Why is she here?" the man said, emphasis on here.

  "Because my friends are in there," I said waving vaguely, "wherever there is. And I’m going to get them out with or without the Patrol’s help." I rounded on Commander Black. "Why can’t we move at night?"

  All three of them stopped moving to stare at me.

  "Because they have some kind of psychic amplifier," Commander Black said. "They run it at night. It drives people insane. The only way to block it is to be as far underground as you can get." He was watching me, waiting for my reaction.

  I grinned, nasty and slow and promising pain for anyone associated with Targon. "Night is perfect. They won’t be expecting it." Psychic amplifiers weren’t going to affect me. I had no psychic abilities, none whatsoever.

  "Is she insane?" the man with the food asked.

  "Probably," Commander Black answered. "You heard the stories about Vallius."

  The man looked at me with new respect.

  "We aren’t moving until close to dawn," Commander Black said, his look dared me to argue with him. "York’s been scouting it o
ut. He’ll have better information on exactly what is under that heap of stone."

  "What do you know that I don’t?" I asked.

  "You tell me and we’ll both know," he said.

  "Don’t play games with me, Commander Black. I’m not in the mood for it." I was tired and hungry and frustrated and scared to death for my friends.

  "Call me Vyn. That’s Shorty," he pointed at the cook, "and Anders. As you’ve guessed," he said to his men, "this is Captain Dace of the Phoenix Rising, the one that Commander Lowell wants so badly."

  "Lowell knows?" I couldn’t stop myself from saying it. I also couldn’t stop the wave of relief and anger that swept through me. Lowell knew, that was why the Patrol were here. The dead man in my ship meant that Jasyn had gotten the Gypsies involved. We weren’t alone, I had a chance. A ghost of a chance, but still a chance. My knees gave out and I sat rather abruptly.

  "He’s assembling two battle groups and I don’t know how many Fleet divisions," Vyn said. "He should be here within two days."

  I rubbed my face. Two days to backup, two days. We could all be dead in two days.

  "You want some?" Shorty said, offering me a plate.

  I took it and ate. I didn’t taste it, I was barely aware of it. Everything that had happened was running through my mind. Jerimon acting so strangely, Ginni and Habim sneaking onto the ship, Jerimon warning me to get rid of them. To keep them from getting caught in his trap? It made sense now. The call I’d overheard on Shamustel. They must have moved too soon. Darien Harris and Targon had outmaneuvered Jerimon. Why had they staged all that piracy and smuggling? Revenge. On me personally. Somehow I was sure Darien Harris had been acting on his own. I’d killed his cousin, Leran Sevolis, or so he believed. So who was Tolun? Why had he taken us away from Darien? More revenge. He hadn’t planned on Jerimon helping us escape. Why had Jerimon done that? Because Lowell had arranged for him to be planted in prison where he could make contact with Targon and set me up. Jerimon wasn't the one who betrayed me, at least not on his own. Hadn't Tayvis said he was acting on Lowell's orders? That meant Jerimon was Patrol, too. And that Lowell was to blame.

  I could have cried, except I had an audience. I was very tempted to swear but stopped myself for the same reason. Whoever these men were, they worked for Lowell.

  "You want more?" Shorty asked.

  I looked up from the empty plate I was holding so tightly it threatened to bend. "No. Thank you," I forced myself to say.

  "Something bothering you?" Vyn asked, carefully casual. I wondered what Lowell had told them, what stories they’d heard.

  "Lowell set me up, didn’t he?" I said, my voice icy cold.

  "I wouldn’t know," Vyn said.

  A man slithered down one of the passages. York, I surmised. His face was pale, white and pinched. The wind moaned thinly over the ruins outside. "Bad tonight. Who’s she?"

  "Captain Dace," Vyn said, as if he enjoyed it. York’s face went even whiter.

  "If you’ve got her, why are you still here?"

  "Because tomorrow we are going to invade that place."

  York threw his head back and laughed. "Us against them? You’re crazy, Commander."

  "You’ve got something for me or not?" Vyn asked.

  York looked better, his face less white. "A way in, mostly. I didn’t go far, but it looks like we can slip in. How do you figure we can do this? There are four of us."

  "Five," I said.

  "She was planning on going in alone," Vyn said.

  "Five, then," York said. "I counted about one hundred thirty, less than estimated, but their ships keep coming in. Maybe they’re moving headquarters." He took the plate Shorty offered him and sat down. "We could bring down most of the cross tunnels with about six charges. Confuse them for a while. What’s the goal?"

  Vyn looked over at me. "How many?"

  "My crew plus two more they picked up today, I don’t know of any more. Six people," I said. Six people who meant a lot to me. Six people that I couldn’t stand to think might be dead.

  "York and Anders will set the charges," Vyn said. "Shorty will play backup, keep the escape route open. I’ll go with Dace and find her friends. We’ll move out as soon as the wind dies."

  All four of them were twitching as the wind howled louder. Whatever they felt wasn’t affecting me.

  They settled down to sleep. I didn’t think I could. I wanted Tayvis. I wanted to know Jasyn and Clark were all right. I wanted everything to be a bad dream. I wanted my ship to not be a smoking wreck. I sat back and closed my eyes.

  I slept as if I’d been drugged.

  Chapter 46

  "One woman." Gustav slammed his hand on the table. "One blasted woman that you can’t manage to kill!" He glared at Tolun.

  "She is no danger," Tolun said. "She’ll be dead within a few days. She has no help here. No food, no water, gentlemen. She’s a walking corpse. Like her friends she brought with her."

  "She was in Ricard Blake’s camp this morning," Rael objected. "She’s resourceful. She’s a Patrol agent, one of their best."

  Tolun raised one elegant eyebrow. "I find that very difficult to believe."

  "She escaped your ship," Rael said.

  "Because of a traitor," Tolun said. "I admit I misjudged Jerimon’s loyalties. One woman is the same as another to me. I forgot how strong the young feel such attractions."

  "And where is Jerimon?" Gustav asked.

  "We will catch him," Tolun said. "He is here."

  "Along with how many others?" Padraic was thin, hair and eyes and voice icy in coloring and tone. "What disaster have you brought, Tolun? How did they find us here?"

  The room went still. Padraic held the real power, the others knew it. Tolun would either be dead soon or he would be demoted, depending on his reaction.

  "I have numbers," Howell spoke for the first time. He was thick through the body, running to fat as he aged. His pudgy fingers flew over a keyboard, retrieving data. He was one of the Five because of his gift with numbers and data. He had never touched a gun, never dirtied his hands with anything but information. Howell had enough on them to keep them his friends for life. They hated Howell, but respected his prowess at blackmail.

  "Five ships have landed within the last two days that are not accounted for," Howell said. "We received reports from the outer system of another three dozen downshifting. They will be here tomorrow morning."

  "Who?" Padraic’s voice was calm, still and unruffled, and colder than space.

  "Merchants, by their beacons," Howell answered.

  "They will be dealt with," Tolun said.

  "This base has been compromised," Padraic countered. "We move tomorrow. Except for you," he said to Tolun. "You will stay here." He rose, straightening the row of tiny buttons down the front of his shirt.

  Tolun stayed at the table while the others filed out. He had just been handed a death sentence. He was to stay here and sanitize the base after the others were gone so that no one would be able to trace them. No evidence left behind. After he destroyed any documents or records, he was to destroy the base, down to the last rock. And himself with it.

  He rose abruptly and whirled out of the room. He had a final chance to redeem himself.

  He keyed his second on a secure com line. The woman answered, her face was older but still smooth, still beautiful. He kept her partly for that reason, mostly for her skills. She was the closest he had ever come to actually loving a woman.

  "Full dosage to the tower tonight," he said, knowing she would understand. "We have to flush them out of cover. Have teams watching."

  She nodded and disconnected. She would dip into his personal stash of Shara, the drug that enhanced psychic power. The tower held six women, all empaths. They were kept drugged, not just with Shara, but with hallucinogens. Their nightmares fueled the stories of ghosts on Xqtl. During the day, they were kept in a luxurious suite. They believed they lived a normal life. He worked hard to maintain that illusion for them. They were to be protect
ed, to be valued until their minds burned out. More could always be bought to replace them. He shrugged that concern away.

  He entered his personal suite. The understated luxury didn’t soothe him tonight. The woman waiting in his room was young, full of curves. She took one look at his face and backed away, clutching her sheer robe around her.

  "Go." He was not in the mood for diversions. He had to think, to plan.

  She went in a flutter of glittered chiffon.

  He paced his rooms, alone.

  At midnight, there was a knock at a secret door. He opened it.

  "They won’t talk," his second said. She crossed the room, her walk smooth and elegant. Her long legs caught his eye. She poured herself a drink. She turned around, leaning against the counter as she drank. She lifted the glass and sipped, watching him with calculating eyes.

  He continued to stand, not reacting to her posing.

  "We’ve tried everything we can," she said. "The Patrol officer won’t talk at all. The short one won’t stop talking. None of it makes much sense." She reached up and pulled her hair loose from its tether. It swirled around her, a shining mass of darkness. "What would you like us to try next?"

  "They have to talk," Tolun said.

  "Drugs?"

  Tolun made a face. "Padraic won’t give me access now. What do we have hidden?"

  She shrugged, a ripple down her entire body. Tolun’s eyes followed her curves downwards. "Nothing left. Do you want me to try a softer approach? The young one knows nothing, but the Patrol officer might."

  "You find him attractive?"

  "Somewhat. You can watch, if you wish."

  He smiled, cruel and deadly.

  They crossed the room to the secret hallway. He touched her back, let that single contact express his rising excitement. Padraic be damned, he thought. Tomorrow he would find a way to kill him and the others and take over all of Targon and Blackthorne.

  Chapter 47