Sunscapes Trilogy Book 1: Last Chance

by Michelle O'Leary

  "No,” was his abrupt, harsh reply.

  "Okay,” she said carefully, “what do you want to talk about?"

  He dropped his hand, and she nearly winced again at the taut strain on his face and vivid darkness in his eyes. “Nothing,” he growled. “Just leave me alone, Cass."

  She looked away to give him some measure of privacy, but she didn't leave. That look on his face gave her a strong pang of sympathy, but it also was eerily similar to Sin's. She couldn't walk away from it. “You came back with her. Does that mean she told you?"

  There was a pause, long enough to make her wonder if he would just ignore her, but with a heavy sigh, he finally answered. “Yeah, she told me. Why didn't you say anything, Cass?"

  She shrugged, uncomfortable. “It wasn't my place. So you know why we're here in Cortecan space."

  "The factory,” he said, his tone clipped.

  "And they told her the location?"

  "Yeah, they told her."

  "So it really has begun...” she said half under her breath, a keen stab of excitement and dread making her muscles tense and shudder. She'd waited so long for this, but it still was starting too soon. They weren't as ready as they could be. With a twitch of her hand, she pulled her braid over her shoulder and ran it through her fingers as if the silky twists of her hair had the power to reveal the future.

  "How deep in this are you, Cass?"

  Blinking, she glanced over at him. Seeing the sharp-edged intuition lining his face, she turned away again, caution schooling her features. There was no telling how much Sin had revealed to him. “As deep as I need to be, Del. The real question is how deep are you willing to go?"

  She knew the answer already. The kiss that she shouldn't have seen spoke volumes. The image of the two of them, lost in each other, burned its way across the eye of her memory, and she felt the sting of envy, followed closely by self-annoyance. She should have been able to control her surprise and back out of the room. She should have seen this coming, Sin's emotional control not withstanding. The signs had been there, if she'd only paid attention. Hating herself a little for it, she wondered how this would affect their plans.

  Del's impatient snort dismissed her question. “Tell me what your part is in this, little dragon."

  The best way to tell a lie is to make eye contact, Sin's voice whispered in the back of her mind as she faced him again. “I'm just their employee. No more, no less.” She couldn't tell if she'd succeeded—his expression didn't change from hard-edged stoicism. Again, she tried to shift his focus from her. “What did you do when she told you about Zeke Shay?"

  He frowned at her and then ran rough fingers through his hair, dropping his gaze at the same time. “Nothing."

  "You had no reaction? Well, I'm sure she was relieved by that,” Cassie commented, giving him a bland smile when he shot her a look.

  "What do you want me to say? The man wasn't brave enough to do his own dirty work, and it ended up biting him in the ass. He was a greedy, immoral bastard."

  "Yes, he was ... was being the operative word here. In case Sin didn't make it clear, Ezekiel Shay became a new man when he realized what he'd done. He put that single-minded purpose of his to a better cause than personal gain. Though I can't say what he did to his children was a particularly good thing. They both believe that they're responsible for the Core, that they've got a duty to heal the wound their father created.” She tipped her head to one side and studied him. “And because of our previous associations with the Core, that makes us their responsibility, too. They feel obligated to put right the wrongs that have been done to us. Do you understand?"

  He grimaced, lunging to his feet and pacing the room in aimless aggression. “We're broken, and they wanna fix us. Yeah, I understand."

  Cassie frowned, flipping her braid back over her shoulder and folding her arms. “Manny!” she muttered. “The man needs to get reacquainted with the definition of tact. We're no more broken than they are, Del. Or more accurately, we're all broken in some way. That wasn't the point I was trying to make. Let me put it another way.” Cassie paused, chewing on her lips and trying to remember diplomacy. “If you had someone that you were responsible for, would you take advantage of them?"

  He halted across the room and looked over his shoulder at her, his face darkening. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

  She bent her head, avoiding his gaze. “I'm just trying to help you see the difficulties of your ... situation,” she said carefully, tightening the arms across her chest like a woman wrestling with doubt. “If you had someone in your care, someone who depended on you, would you take advantage of a weakness of theirs? For example ... if they were attracted to you, would you—"

  "Suns curse it, Cass! I said I didn't want to talk about it,” he snarled and stalked out of the room.

  Cassie watched him go and then sighed. “Meddling again,” she muttered to herself. Her mother had warned her about that. But she had never been good at ignoring problems. She had an obsessive need to fix them. It's what made her good at her job. It's also what had gotten her into this mess in the first place.

  With another sigh, she pushed to her feet and headed for the exit. She also had never been good at giving up. That trait was what had kept her alive. And sometimes problems had more than one solution. With a grim press of her lips, she headed for the control room.

  Sin didn't turn to look at her when she entered, the tense lines of her slim back a shout of forbidding. Cassie didn't let it stop her. Seating herself in the second's chair, she scanned the sensors. “I see the troller has left."

  Sin's only response was a noncommittal hum in the back of her throat.

  "So they got the Abantium loaded?"

  "Yes,” Sin answered in a distant voice, as though she was somehow light years away and her visual presence was an illusion.

  Cassie pursed her lips and let the silence lengthen for a long moment. Then she took a deep breath and met the subject head on. “What will you do, Sinsi?"

  "About what?"

  Cass turned her head, willing Sin to meet her gaze. “About Del,” she said gently. She watched Sin go still, and thought of Father Shay with a certain measure of bitterness. No, he hadn't done his children any favors. They were admirable, the both of them, their ideals driving them to perform impossibilities which they managed as easily as breathing, but they hurt themselves so terribly and thoughtlessly in the process. As if their own lives meant less than nothing.

  "We've got a couple of hours before we need to get moving,” Sin answered in a toneless voice that was painful to hear. “Go get some rest, Cass."

  "Sin,” she breathed in protest, but when her friend's eyes met hers, she fell silent.

  "Your objection is noted,” Sin murmured gently.

  Cass shook her head. “It wasn't an ob—” she tried to say, but Sin interrupted.

  "Go get some rest. At least one of us should be clear-headed for the trip back.” Sin's mouth twisted in a rueful smile, but her green eyes were distant, and Cassie grimaced, knowing defeat when she saw it.

  Still, her mind sifted through a thousand different arguments as she rose to her feet, her stubborn nature difficult to surmount. But in the end, she left in silence, knowing that any comment of hers would be taken as an admonition, because that's how Sin viewed her own actions.

  On the trip back to Shay headquarters, Cassie discovered a new level of discomfort. In very little time, Quan and Jinx became aware that something was wrong. Not surprising, all things considered. Sin's emotional withdrawal extended to all the crew members, and they weren't blind to the tension between Del and Sin—it was hard to miss Del's protests and Sin's bleak responses. And Del's own eventual withdrawal was impossible to miss, as he took to camping out in his Shadow. Quan and Jinx also seemed to believe that Cassie knew what was going on and pestered her relentlessly about it.

  It only got worse when they met up with the other hauler and she had to deal with Manny.

  "What's wron
g with my sister?” he demanded to know as they circled the haulers in group formation.

  "What do you mean?” Cassie asked in as normal a tone as she could manage.

  He ignored her evasion as if she hadn't spoken. “Something happened. What was it, Cass?” His voice was hard with warning.

  Cassie grimaced into the privacy of her Shadow. Manny was not going to be easy. “Don't make a fuss, but she got hit in the mouth."

  There was a long silence and Cassie held her breath. This particular twin had an uncanny ability to smell deception.

  "And?” he asked, his tone not softening in the slightest.

  Gritting her teeth, Cass loaded up on impatient affront as she retorted, “What do you mean, and? What the hell kind of brotherly response is that? She's got a big fat lip and a spectacular bruise, and all you can say is and?"

  "Don't give me shit, Cass. She's had worse. What really happened?"

  "I told you; one of them hit her. I'm sure it doesn't feel good.” Pausing for effect, she added with a fine touch of reluctance, “And I think she's annoyed that she let it happen."

  "That's it?” he asked, and Cassie sagged at the hint of relief in his tone.

  She was almost in the clear. All this conversation needed was a kick in a different direction.

  "Sun's sake, Manny, could you show a little concern here, please? It's not like I'm asking you to get all gooey, but she is your sister! Sun and Stars, why the two of you seem to think that you're untouchable is beyond me. You're not gods, Manny. Can't you just for one minute—"

  "Balls, Cass! Are you trying to kill me? When you nag, your voice gets all screechy and I swear my head's gonna split wide open..."

  She grinned at the aggrieved humor in his tone, but she didn't let up for a second. “Nag? Did you just call me a nag? You callous, emotionally-challenged juvenile, you wait until we get back home! There's a whole chapter that was written just for you in one of my textbooks, and I can't wait to introduce you to it."

  "Oh, my achin’ head,” he groaned as his Shadow began weaving drunkenly.

  She laughed, ducking out of his way as he veered towards her and feeling rather proud of herself for avoiding his interrogation. It didn't last.

  When they reached safer lanes, the Shadow escort wasn't needed and they could dock with the haulers. Cassie knew she was in trouble when she saw Manny enter the Tank ahead of her.

  "Okay,” she whispered to herself as she landed and watched Sin's dark twin leave the docking bay. “No problem. I can do this.” But she didn't sound very convincing, even to herself. He was going to talk to Sin. One look at his sister would be enough for him to know that Cassie had led him down the garden path.

  In the interest of avoiding more trouble, she approached Del with a contrived air of nonchalance. He was still fussing with his Shadow, even though Cassie knew that he'd done all he could to fix it onboard. The fine-tuning and cosmetics would have to be done at HQ.

  "Hey, Del,” she greeted him, and rolled her eyes when he grunted at her, not looking up from his work inside the Shadow. Stepping closer, she made a show of studying his face, frowning in concern. “You look like hell. When's the last time you got any sleep?"

  He shot her a disgusted look, his dark eyes edged with irritation. “Cass—” he started, but she didn't let him finish. More than likely, he was going to tell her to leave him alone. Again.

  "We're on a regular lane now, so we aren't needed. Why don't you go get some rest?"

  He shook his head with a frown of impatience. “I don't need—"

  "Yeah right, you don't,” she scoffed, and then gave him her best stern glare. “If you don't go climb in a bunk right now, I'll stand here and harp at you until your ears bleed. That's a promise."

  His expression softened in a half-smile as he shook his head. “You're a real pain in the ass, you know that?"

  Cassie straightened and folded her arms, grinning down at him. “Yeah, I know. Move your ass, Givliani."

  Muttering something about bossy little fire breathers, he levered himself out of the Shadow and headed towards the exit. Cassie watched, chewing on her lip and worrying that he'd run into Manny on his way. She'd just have to hope that Sin kept her brother occupied long enough.

  Unwilling to have a confrontation with Manny in front of any of the other crew, she stayed in the docking bay, keeping her hands occupied by running a sanitizer over the skin of her Shadow to remove any space dust which might be clinging to its surface. When she'd finished with her slicer and Sin's brother still hadn't appeared, she fretfully moved on to the next Shadow. She'd cleaned nearly every slicer in the bay before Manny returned.

  Cassie took one look at his stony expression and put down the sanitizer with slow care, straightening and squaring her shoulders as she faced him. He could be a pain in the neck when he was in a playful mood, but for the most part, his reckless good nature was endearing. At those times, his charm was almost irresistible, and she had a hard time remembering why she wasn't interested in an intimate relationship with him. But when he became serious, and most especially when he was angry, she knew why. The cold glitter in his green eyes as he stalked up to her sent a shiver down her spine, and she pressed her lips together to hold back a flood of anxious words.

  "You lied to me,” he said, his voice frightening in its lack of emotion.

  "You know I didn't."

  He tilted his dark head to one side like a predator deciding which tender morsel to tear off first. “Enough evasions, Cassiopeia. What happened?"

  Mustering her courage, she lifted her chin and didn't break eye contact. “Did you ask Sin?"

  "I'm asking you,” he said in a dangerous, silky murmur.

  "If you're asking me, that means she wouldn't tell you. If she didn't tell you, that means she didn't want you to know. There is such a thing as privacy,” she ended with delicate reproach, lifting her eyebrows.

  "We don't have time for privacy,” he snapped, his face and voice as hard and cold as obsidian. “The game is on, and if something's happened that'll screw with the plan—"

  "It doesn't have anything to do with—” she rushed in, but broke off with an inner curse when she saw the flare in his eyes. Damn the man, how did he always know how to play her?

  "So it was Del,” he said in a musing tone.

  "Manny—” she started, reaching out a warning hand, but he was already spinning on his heel. “Damn it! Get back here...” she muttered, darting forward to plant herself in his path, hands flat on his chest. “Where are you going?"

  "Move, Cass,” he said with unnerving calm.

  "So you can indulge in a moment of senseless violence? I don't think so. It's none of our business!"

  "She's my sister. That makes it my business,” he responded, and shifted her out of his way with gentle hands.

  Gritting her teeth in desperation, she snapped, “And what do you think your sister will do to you if you lay a hand on him?"

  He turned a black frown on her, and she felt a certain amount of relief. It was better than the cold, ruthless determination that had been there a moment ago.

  "Got a thing for him, Cass? Is that why you're protecting him?"

  She snorted, planting her hands on her hips in calculated disgust. “I want him about as much as I want you, Manny.” She raised her eyebrows at him and was rewarded with his sudden grin.

  "Ah, Cass, you know I'd love to, but it just wouldn't be right,” he purred, catching one of her hands.

  She rolled her eyes, suppressing a relieved smile with an effort. “I should have known sarcasm couldn't withstand your ego."

  His grin took on a seductive edge as he tugged her closer and slipped an arm around her waist, his green eyes mesmerizing as looked down at her. “Denial is the refuge of the fainthearted."

  "And ego is the refuge of the delusional mind,” she retorted, pulling her hand free and patting his face with a sympathetic purse of her lips. “Poor man."

  "Ouch,” he chuckled and turned towar
ds the Shadows with his arm still around her waist. “If I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to get rid of me."

  "Praise the Suns—he finally gets it,” she muttered, and then blinked her innocence at him when he tightened his arm.

  With a rueful shake of his head, he released her and tugged once on her braid before he stepped over to his Shadow. “Fine, I'm gone. Nice diversion, by the way,” he said, shooting her a knowing look over his shoulder.

  She didn't try to evade this time, merely tilting her head in acknowledgement with an unrepentant smile. “Have a nice flight."

  Chuckling, he levered himself into the slicer with leonine grace.

  With a sigh of relief, Cassie turned and made her way out of the bay as the Shadow growled to life and lifted off of the pad behind her. Feeling much more optimistic, she headed towards the common room and a sandwich that was calling her name. Quan and Jinx had tired of pestering her, and she'd headed off Manny's anger. Surely her difficulties with this particular snag were over.

  She was wrong.

  They took a more direct route home than they had on delivery and reached HQ late that evening. Relieved to be home, Cassie left the Tank and greeted the other hauler's crew cheerfully, able to ignore her weariness and the somber silence of Del beside her—until she saw the twins and heard their raised voices. She and Del exchanged a tense glance before moving in tandem toward the arguing siblings.

  "What the hell is the matter with you, Kai? You didn't have any problem with this before we left."

  "That was before you started acting like a Lana bird at hunting season."

  "You're the one who's acting like an idiot. If we wait too long, those pirates are going to crack and you know it!"

  "What good does it do to go now and have you crisp out on me?"

  The twins didn't seem to notice their approach, and Cassie cleared her throat in discomfort as she tried to intercede. “Um, Shays..."

  They ignored her completely.

  "That's ridiculous!” Sin snapped, folding her arms and glaring up at her brother. “There's nothing wrong with me, and you know perfectly well we need to go before that factory gets word that we're coming."