by Maggie Shayne, MaryJanice Davidson, Angela Knight, Jacey Ford
"Change of heart, Alina?" he snarled, dancing backward, slamming punches into the three remaining Xer warriors who were attempting to close in on him again. "Or don't you have the stomach for treason?"
* * *
CH@%!*R 8
"I'm not a traitor!" she spat, and grunted as the Xer she was fighting rammed his baton into her side. The blaze of pain sent her to one knee, fighting to breathe.
"Lights out for you, bitch," the Xer snarled, stabbing his baton toward her unprotected neck. If it touched her spinal cord, she'd be out for hours. She threw up an arm in an instinctive block.
"Shit." Baird barreled into her opponent, taking him down hard. Alina gasped in relief and reeled to her feet. Despite the pain, she aimed a kick at the Xer's balls, as he struggled with Baird on the ground. She hit her target; he convulsed with a bellow. Baird threw him off and rolled upright as the remaining Xer closed in. For a moment, he and Alina exchanged a single, searing glance. "You can't believe I'm working for these monsters!" she spat.
She watched doubt war with their battle-tested bond. The bond won. "If I had, I'd have let him hit you." Baird and Alina moved into the fighting pose that had become habit twenty years ago—back-to-back.
Where the hell did these guys come from? Alina commed to him through her computer.
Don't know. One minute I was cutting through the park to meet somebody, then…
She caught movement coming through the trees and glanced in that direction. Rajin Kasi stepped into the clearing. The Femmat had forgone her usual aristocrat's robes for a civilian tunic and leggings. Her shimmering violet hair was piled on top of her head, held there with an intricate arrangements of combs.
But Alina's attention was focused on Galar. The boy's young face was cold with a terrible rage. Alina could almost feel the fear he was struggling to hide.
Rajin rested a hand on his shoulder in a gesture that might have been mistaken for motherly. Alina knew it for the threat it was and felt her heart catch in her chest.
The Femmat's chill silver eyes met hers across the clearing. Stop at once. The command rang through her comp's communication's unit on the private frequency Baird couldn't hear. As a Femmat, Rajin had a communication's implant, but no battle computer or cybernetics, and no more than human strength.
Sick fury rolled over Alina. "You are working for the Xer! You traitorous bitch!"
"Take him down."
Her gut turned to ice. "Who?"
"You know who." Rajin's commed voice was implacable. "The Warlord. Your lover. Take him down now, or watch the boy die now. Choose, Warfem." Something vicious rose in that metallic gaze, and Alina knew she'd do it.
But the idea of betraying Baird wrapped her in sick horror. He trusted her, had asked her to marry him.
Then an image flashed through her mind: Galar writhing in agony, his face blackening, his eyes begging her silently to save him.
"Now!" Rajin screamed. Her slender hand tightened on the boy's shoulder.
Galar's golden eyes blazed. "Don't do it," he said through his own comp. "Don't let her…"
Rajin's lip curled. "I will not tell you again. Now, or watch your precious boy shriek out his life."
Galar half-turned toward Rajin, tensing. He was going to attack her, and she'd kill him.
With a howl of anguish, Alina pivoted with all the power of riaat and slammed her fist into the side of Baird's head. He stumbled and went down.
For just an instant, the golden gaze so like their son's met hers. "Damn you, Alina," Baird said on their old battle frequency. "Damn you to hell. I believed in you!"
Before he could roll away, one of the Xer leaped forward and jammed his shock stick into the base of his skull, where spinal cord met brain. He went limp, instantly unconscious.
Sick, Alina looked away as another of the Xer stepped forward and snapped some kind of collar on him. Goddess only knew what it did.
She wanted to throw up. Then her gaze fell on Rajin. A cold, deadly rage replaced her guilt.
Galar saw his chance, and knew he'd better take it. The situation had reached critical mass, as he'd always known it would. Rajin had finally pushed his mother too far. People were going to start dying.
Galar was going to make flogging sure it wasn't him or his mother. Or the Warlord. He'd grown up hearing stories about Baird, his mother's heroic partner—and his father. He badly wanted to get to know the man who'd sired him.
Fortunately, a Xer sprawled unconscious barely a meter from his sneakbooted feet. The agent's stun baton lay forgotten by his head. Better yet, nobody was watching; the agents were too busy collecting the Warlord and dealing with their injured, while his mother and Rajin were focused on the hate swirling between them.
In one smooth motion, Galar stepped forward, scooped up the baton, collapsed it by pushing on either end, and slid it into a pocket. The baton was one of several weapons his mother had trained him to use. All he needed now was a chance.
His stomach knotted at the risk he was taking, but he ignored his fear. Kid or not, he was a warrior.
Pretending to need reassurance, he moved to his mother's side and leaned against her hip. Normally she'd rest a hand on his shoulder, but now she stood coiled, almost vibrating with rage. Yet her face was perfectly cool and expressionless. Oh, yeah. She was getting ready to kill somebody. She'd put up with a lot out of Rajin over the years because of him, but this had pushed her into a meltdown.
If she went rogue… Galar swallowed. He'd seen a rogue warrior shot down once when he was six. As he'd watched the man writhe and die, Rajin had leaned down and whispered, "See what could happen to your mother…"
He had to do something.
Silently, Galar told his comp to eavesdrop on the conversation. The adults had no idea he'd figured out their private frequency and codes. It was a good thing Rajin had never thought to keep him from using his computer to its full potential. But then, she wasn't a programmer, so there wasn't much she could do about it anyway. One of her flunkies had designed the virus that installed the terminal code and programmed his computer to manufacture the neurotoxin.
Besides, she persisted in thinking of him as a normal ten-year-old, and he was careful to maintain the illusion. She hadn't known enough warrior children to realize how computer implants stimulated brain growth and intelligence. And Galar was good at playing dumb.
"What's in the file, Rajin?" his mother asked in that cool mental voice of hers. Above the clearing, a white ziptruck swooped low and prepared to land.
"That's none of your concern."
"Given that you've made me an accessory to treason, I think it is."
Rajin folded her hands, her elegant face serene. "It's nothing of great import. Not compared to the money they're paying me."
"Been gambling on Wekita, again, I assume." As Rajin's eyes widened, she smiled coldly. "Yes, I know about that. I've investigated you thoroughly."
The Femmat shrugged with an elegant lift of one shoulder. "The Wekita are not a forgiving people when it comes to so much money. They go to great lengths to ensure debts are paid."
"Yet you keep gambling there."
"The risk is part of the attraction. And there was a very pretty little dragon flying in the Soji races. Quite fast. Just not as fast as I'd hoped."
"So you betray Vardon to pay for your vices."
"I do what I must. And so will you, unless you want me to transmit a certain word to the boy."
Gelar went sick and cold. If Rajin used the command, there was nothing he could do to save himself.
His mother reached out and put her arm protectively around his shoulders. "I strongly suggest you think twice about that," she said. "I may not be able to open your file, but I can delete it. And I doubt the Xer would be particularly understanding."
The blood drained from Rajin's face. "You wouldn't dare."
"I once attacked a Xer tachyon cannon emplacement with no backup except Baird. There's very little I wouldn't dare."
"The
Xer will kill us all!"
"So be it. This isn't petty theft anymore, Rajin. Vardonese Warriors will die if you hand over military secrets to the Xer."
"What of it? We'll just make more of them." Her lip lifted in a sneer. "But can you make another Galar?"
He felt her hand tighten on his shoulders. Daring a glance up at her face, he watched cold determination flare in her eyes. "I'll make you a bargain, Rajin. I'll give the Xer the file if you erase the code and free us."
Rajin stared at her a long moment. "Very well, then, damn you. You have your bargain."
His mother's grip eased, and Galar slumped in relief.
The truck landed, and the Xer got busy loading their men into the vehicle. He hoped none of them noticed the agent's missing stun baton.
A tall, muscular Xer approached, implants shining in the sunlight. He eyed Alina dubiously, then turned to Rajin. Beyond them, a long, black zipcar landed beside the truck. "If you will accompany us, Femmat Kasi, we will make the transfer."
Rajin nodded in an abbreviated Femmat bow. "It will be my pleasure, sir."
Galar followed the adults as they got into the car. As he prepared to slip inside, his mother's hand fell on his shoulder.
Coded transmission from your mother, his comp said.
"Nice work on stealing that baton," she said, her comp transmitting in the private code they'd created. "I assume you remember how to use it."
His palms were sweating. "Jam it into the base of the skull. Knocks them right out."
"Right. That's going to be a tricky spot to get to, since you're shorter than the Xer. But luckily, Rajin tells everyone you're her son, so they won't expect you to be as strong as you are. Pretend you need to go to the bathroom, then stun your guard and run. The Xer have a jamming field set up to prevent our calling out, but as soon as you're beyond it, contact the Calista authorities. Tell them the Xer have kidnapped a Vardonese agent and plan to kill him. The Calistans will set Baird free and clean up the mess."
What mess? "What about the terminal code?"
Something cold and dark flickered in his mother's violet eyes. "You let me worry about that."
Pain rolled in a searing wave from the base of Baird's spine, burning its way all the way into his skull. Despite his fight for control, it jerked all his muscles tight, arching him into a bow of agony in the chair. Somehow he kept the scream between his teeth.
One thought kept hammering in his brain, adding to his agony. Alina betrayed me. I was wrong. She's working for the Xer after all.
His beautiful Alina was a traitor. And if he escaped, he was bound by duty to kill her.
After a white-hot eternity that was probably a minute and a half, the pain faded, leaving him to slump, sweating and nauseated. But worse even than the pain was the black despair.
Alina.
"I can keep this up all night," the Xer torturer said, her voice light, almost pleasant. "And so can you. That's the wonderful thing about the collar. It doesn't break bones, it doesn't burn the skin off your body, it doesn't ram spikes into your eyeballs. It only feels like it."
Panting, Baird glared at his enemy as sweat rolled stinging into his eyes. The control collar they'd put on him felt as if it was slowly choking him, but unfortunately, it wasn't.
He wouldn't get off that easily.
They sat in what looked like a perfectly ordinary office of the kind found in private homes. Baird knew the Xer didn't have a military compound on Calista; it appeared they'd had to make do with renting a house. The carpet under his feet was thick and lush, and the walls were a soothing blue. The Xer was seated comfortably behind a faux wood control desk, while Baird sprawled in a blue, thickly upholstered armchair in front of it.
He wasn't even bound, though he might as well have been. The collar interrupted his brain's signals to his body, leaving him completely paralyzed, though his muscles responded well enough to whatever stimulation the torturer chose to inflict.
"Come on, Baird, don't do this to yourself," she said, her smile flirtatious. She could have passed for pretty with her platinum blond hair and perfect face, if it wasn't for the viciousness in her sky-blue eyes. "What do you boys know about the Femmat? We know you've been following her courier."
He licked his lips. "Look, Alina and I are old friends. We just got together for a little sex."
The torturer's perfect pink mouth drew into a bow. "Don't insult my intelligence. We know who you work for. We…"
"I want my daddy!" A child's voice rang clearly through the closed door. Apparently there was no soundproofing in here at all.
"Look, kid, your daddy's not here," the guard in the hallway said, sounding frustrated. "You go on back to the Femmat now."
"You're lying! I know you've got him in there!"
"Kid… Shit!"
Thud.
"Dadddyyyyy!" the boy yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Retar, you idiot!" With a huff of frustration, the torturer rose and stalked to the door. Baird rolled his eyes, trying to see what she was doing, but she passed out of his field of view. The door sighed open. "Retar, could you get that child under… AH!" Feet scuffled. Baird heard the distinctive buzz of a stun baton, then the thud of a body hitting the floor.
Somebody grunted with effort, followed by rustles and a series of thumps that sounded like a body being dragged across the floor. "Damn, lady, what have you been eating—ferocrete?" Baird's eyebrows rose. That sounded like the kid.
Another series of thumps, and the door closed.
Frustrated, paralyzed, Baird growled, "All right, somebody want to tell me what the hell is going on?"
To his astonishment, a ten-year-old boy walked into his field of view and sat down at the torturer's desk. The kid gave him a bright, white grin. "Hi, Dad."
* * *
CH@%!*R 9
Baird blinked in utter astonishment. He recognized the boy from a trid in his files. It was Rajin Kasi's son, Galar.
But though Baird had been paralyzed, his computer and sensors still worked. And both were telling him the boy was not the purely human child he should have been. "You're a warrior."
"Yep." The boy didn't look up, too busy peering intently at the desk's touch screen, evidently trying to puzzle out the controls.
"If you're trying to deactivate the collar, hit the red square." He'd gotten another agent out of a Xeran collar once before. "Why aren't you in a creche?"
"Because I'm a hostage." The boy touched the desk.
The collar opened and fell into Baird's lap. Cautiously, he stretched, making sure everything was working, but his attention was focused on Galar. "The Xer are holding you?"
"No, Rajin is. She's been using me to blackmail my mother."
Baird blinked, belatedly seeing the resemblance. "Alina."
The kid nodded, his blond hair the exact same shade as hers. His mouth was drawn into a familiar line Baird knew from a hundred combat missions. "And you're my father."
About to roll out of the chair to have a go at the computer desk, Baird gaped at the boy. He'd assumed Galar had been joking when he'd called him Daddy, but it sounded as if he actually believed it. "What leads you to that conclusion?"
Galar shrugged. "Mother says so." He frowned down at the desk console, frustrated. "I know all about you. She told me all kinds of stories about when you were her partner during the war."
The pain was stark and breathtaking. Alina had dared tell her son such a lie before betraying Baird and handing him over to the Xer. I never knew her, he thought in sick rage. I never knew her at all. He fought the anger down long enough to address his comp. Does he actually think I'm his father?
Sensors indicate he believes what he says.
Despite the fury sizzling through him, Baird rose and stalked to the desk. He had a job to do, which meant he needed to disable the Xerian's communication jammers so he could call the Vardonese embassy.
The child moved aside for him without being told. Baird glanced him and felt a stab of pity. None o
f this was his fault. "I don't know what they've told you, Galar, but your mother and I haven't been together for twenty years. I couldn't be your father."
Level, golden eyes met his. For a moment, it was like looking into a mirror, but he knew that was an illusion. "My mother loved you, Baird. That's why she had me."
He wanted to rage and swear, but forced himself to speak calmly instead. "She misled you. If you were my son, you'd be nineteen."
"My mother doesn't lie!" Temper flared in those too-familiar eyes. "Look, she thought Kasi House would emancipate her, but Rajin refused. Mom was still pregnant with me when the old bitch ordered my fetus surgically removed and put in cryostorage. She said Mother could have me back if she continued to work for Kasi. So she did. Eleven years ago, they thawed me out and let her have me. Rajin's been using me to manipulate Mom ever since."
Baird frowned, considering the idea. It sounded plausible. Goddess knew it sounded like the kind of thing Kasi would do.
Could this boy be his? Had Alina given birth to him as an expression of love for Baird? The thought was so staggering, so painful, he shoved it away. The little traitor had lied to her son, just as she'd lied to Baird. "Look, I don't have time to argue about this…"
"No, we don't," Galar said. Fear and impatience whitened his face, though to his credit, his voice remained controlled. "We've got to get to Mother before she tries to kill Rajin. Because if she's not fast enough, I'm dead, and even if she succeeds, the Xer will kill her."
"What are you talking about?"
As Galar explained the trap he was in, Baird used the desk unit to hack into the Xer's communications and security systems. By the time the child finished describing the death he faced if Rajin used her codes, a great deal was painfully clear. "So that's why Alina went along with Rajin's treason," Baird said. "It doesn't make it forgivable, but…"
"My mother is not a traitor!" The mouth so like Alina's drew into a mutinous line. "She didn't know Rajin was working for the Xer, and now that she does, she's going to kill her. And as many of the Xer as she can take with them!"