Hadrian knew where each camera was hidden, watching him every moment. Echoes of the guards on the other side of the wall had taught him. He had been comfortable there once, ignoring the truth, but this small taste of freedom left him bridling. It wasn’t his home anymore.
What would he do now? He could fight. He could cut a bloody swath through the men there, but every future path he viewed ended without even a hope of success. Father’s building was too well-guarded. There were too many opponents. Also, Hadrian’s education had included little technology information. There was no way he could disable security systems and other surveillance. Only Leo’s involvement made it possible the first time, and that escape had been from Leo’s home, not there.
But why bother? Without Liam, what was the point? Freedom had no meaning without him.
With a sigh, Hadrian resigned himself to his fate. What choice did he have? He would be a good Adonirati. He would do what he was told. Somehow, he would learn to be happy again in this silk-swaddled hell. If he ever was. A lifetime of lessons couldn’t be undone in a few short weeks. He could tamp down his feelings and be the man he was trained to be.
Standing with an aching slowness, he found his balance and moved to the bedside table. With a gentle touch to the corner, a drawer slid open, whisper quiet. He shuffled the contents until he could reach the back. Cupping his hands, he kept his treasure hidden from the security feed. Opening them slightly, he peeked inside.
A folded paper bird a few centimeters long sat sheltered in his palm. With a single fingertip, he stroked the delicate neck and wing while keeping the tiny item shielded from view. More paper animals lay at the rear corner of the drawer, a tiny parchment zoo. Whoever Father had search his room after his escape apparently hadn’t seen them as important.
The antique origami was from one of his few unblocked Link sources. It was a part of an ancient Earth history lesson. The artistry was precise and elegant, and Hadrian excelled at it. He learned to keep them hidden from the time Father caught him making one when he was twelve. Father had crushed the paper trinket under his heel, saying it wasn’t a useful skill for his profession. Yet he never made an effort to block the information. That night, Hadrian had spent long hours straightening and refolding the damaged item. It was never the same, so afterward, he made them in secret and hid them, changing their location periodically so they wouldn’t be found.
Carefully, he placed the little treasure back into the drawer, hiding it again behind the boxes of balm and first-aid tech. He knew someone was coming.
The left door slid open and Donovan stepped forward with a lone armed guard at his side. Impeccably dressed, as always, he looked as if he’d come over straight from the salon. Hadrian met his cold stare and knew what was coming even as the smile curled Donovan’s cruel lips. A wave of disdain washed over him.
“DUNG NHU DA!”
Hadrian gasped as he felt the electric surge race from the base of his skull, down his spine, and out to his fingertips. Every muscle flexed and his entire body seized, refusing to release. Unable to move, he fell over, unable to cry out as he landed on his tender side.
“Not so frightening now, are you, Ronan?”
Hadrian could only stare as Donovan stepped forward and used his foot to flip him onto his back.
Stooping low, Donovan slapped Hadrian’s face with the back of his hand a few times. “Not frightening at all.”
Donovan spoke over his shoulder. “You can go. He’s useless right now.” The door slid closed with a smooth swish as the guard left the room.
Fortunately, the paralysis wasn’t absolute, but Hadrian could only take shallow breaths. He certainly wasn’t comfortable but wasn’t in pain. And he knew from experience it wouldn’t last. It would only be a matter of time before Donovan became bored…or angry.
Leaning over him, Donovan studied him with undisguised contempt. He opened his mouth and clicked his tongue piercing against his teeth. It was a crude habit Hadrian found exceptionally annoying.
Donovan sneered. “How could you have been caught halfway across the cluster? You should’ve stayed hidden.”
He tapped his teeth with the piercing a half-dozen times as his derision grew.
“I was so happy you were gone. Father could finally stop fawning over you because you weren’t so perfect anymore.” Frowning, he slapped Hadrian’s frozen face. “But you couldn’t stay gone.”
Donovan stood and began pacing. His elegant demeanor frayed further with each step. “He made you strong and beautiful, while I’ve done everything at my disposal to make him happy.” A fine spittle began to wet the corners of his mouth, his voice becoming shrill. “I am his consort! But still, he runs to collect you the moment he found a wisp of information on your location. I will always be second to you. And you’re nothing but a glorified whore!”
Rage twisted his features. Donovan’s beauty was a facade at best. True ugliness sat at his core. Which swelled with each passing moment. Unable to move, Hadrian cringed inside. He knew what was coming next.
“I’m going to make you miserable. I’m going to make you suffer. You’re going to wish for death before I get bored of you, brother.”
Donovan kneeled and turned Hadrian’s face to ensure eye contact. His cold blue eyes burned into Hadrian’s.
“Father won’t protect you. You’re not in favor anymore.” The air from Donovan’s angry whispers fell mere centimeters from his lips as he stroked Hadrian’s cheek with manicured fingertips. A single lock of Donovan’s well-kept hair fell forward, touching the edge of his cruel smile.
Hadrian braced himself.
“GUI CHO TOI!”
Every raw and open nerve was flash-dipped in molten metal. Pain seared each square millimeter of his flesh, burning his mind and eyes. If Donovan was watching, Hadrian couldn’t know. Even the paralysis couldn’t stop his writhing convulsions on the floor. Tears spilled down his cheeks, as he was unable to open his mouth to scream.
LIAM DOUBLE-CHECKED the route back to Luxoria. The navigation monitor calculated his location in the planetary cluster on its monochromatic display. The faster-than-light engines were functioning normally, but from this point, it would still take almost two days to reach the planet. He hoped he hadn’t lost too much time.
The raiders’ ship—which he had renamed Hadrian’s Hope—was a sturdy little craft. She wasn’t much to look at, but she could do the job. So much of the tech had been spliced together from other sources, the inside had a strange patchwork quality. Hadrian’s Hope was a small, silent, maneuverable craft with stealth capabilities that were beyond illegal. Liam was convinced the full visual camouflage and sensor cloak meant he could hover and fly between buildings during the night without ever being spotted.
The ship was small, more the size of a shuttle than a spacecraft. Liam shook his head trying to imagine seven grown men holed up in there for two days straight. He was feeling boxed in already and it had only been a few hours.
Settling back in the pilot’s chair, he browsed the data pad Mac had given him. The weapon inventory was still in its storage compartment along the back wall, and Liam’s eyes had gone wide over the insane artillery stash the raiders traveled with. Military-grade machine gun, incendiary grenades, surveillance tech, dozens of handguns, thousands of rounds of projectile ammunition… Who carries all this shit around?
Not that he minded. He planned to use any tool at his disposal to either rescue Hadrian or avenge him.
“Please let him be alive.”
Liam shook his head. Now was not the time for caving in to despair. He didn’t know Hadrian’s status, and speculating was useless. A lot of planning needed to be done before nearing the planet. He couldn’t go barging in and get them both killed.
Unfamiliar with the control panel, Liam scanned the surface until he found the button to activate the voice command. A green light flashed as the computer chirped at him.
“Secure Subspace Link to Luxoria. All data on Ambassador Phillip Chien.�
��
A few moments passed and data began flooding the screen. There was a lot to work through, but Liam had time. He had just begun to read when the communication system beeped.
He was being hailed. Recognizing Mac’s encrypted signal, he answered the transmission and his spine went rigid. Danverse looked back at him from the screen, sitting shirtless at his desk in the dark, the dim monitor providing the only light in the room. His dirty blond hair was disheveled, and Liam prepared himself for an angry tirade. Only, the rage wasn’t there.
“Liam, are you all right?”
“I’m fine. How did you get this frequency?” Liam eyed the captain with suspicion. With the last words they’d spoken to each other, he hadn’t expected to hear from Danverse any time soon. In fact, he hadn’t expected to speak to him until the whole affair was done, one way or another.
“Mac gave it to me once he was sure I wasn’t pissed off anymore.”
Liam’s eyebrow cocked in doubt. “So you’re not mad?”
“Not anymore.” Danverse shook his head. “And I shouldn’t have been in the first place.”
Liam said nothing. This apology, if that’s what it really was, would have to be good.
On the screen, Danverse fidgeted and grimaced.
“I know I said a lot of shitty things, Liam. I was out of line. I can’t even really be mad at what you said back, because it was all true.” Danverse rubbed his face, struggling to get his words out.
“I was jealous when Hadrian came along. I admit it. The second you saw him, I could see us coming to an end. I didn’t have any control over what was happening, and it rubbed me in all the wrong ways. It still does, a little, but only because I’m not as important to you anymore.
“I love you, Liam. You and I have been through a lot together and I wasn’t ready to let you go. Don’t get me wrong—I’m not in love with you, and I’m not going to say I love you like a brother because, with our history, that’s all kinds of creepy.”
Liam snorted. “Who knew you had boundaries?”
“Part of me was happy he was gone, but after I saw how hurt you were, I knew it was more than a fling with a passenger. I think I knew it was more than that from the start.” Settling his weight back in the chair, Danverse looked to the ceiling. “For fuck’s sake, he saved your life and probably all of ours too. I should have given him some credit.”
Sighing, he looked back at Liam. “As captain, you know I can’t officially tell you to go out and save Hadrian, right? You’ve always been a follower, Liam, and this is big. Bigger than anything you’ve ever been involved in. There was going to be a point where I couldn’t back you up. You had to be able to do this on your own.
“I wanted you to come up with something that wouldn’t implicate us all. I definitely wasn’t happy you involved Mac. Even so, I probably would have handled it better if I hadn’t seen that vid of you and Mac in the shower. I couldn’t see straight after that. Mac makes me a little crazy.”
“Only a little?”
The edge of Danverse’s mouth began to curl. “Maybe more than a little.”
“You know there’s nothing between us, Marc.”
“Yeah, I know. Mac made it very clear to me.”
The tension in Liam’s back began to dissipate. The anger and frustration in Danverse was gone. His eyes seemed to sparkle even in the transmission’s dim light. Despite the bruise and swollen jawline, he would swear Danverse looked…happy.
Movement in the background caught Liam’s eye. A faint shadow. A body—a man—rolling over in the captain’s bed? It was hard to tell, cocooned by the thick blankets.
“Marc. Is that Mac?”
Danverse rubbed the back of his neck and shifted his gaze away. A beaming grin bloomed across his face. If happiness were light, Liam would have gone blind. Danverse nodded like a fool. Liam knew he couldn’t get the words out.
“From the look on your face, I’d say it was all good.”
“Yeah. Really good. I wish I’d gotten over my shit sooner. We wasted a lot of time, but now that I have him, I’m going to treat him right.”
Liam felt a slight pinch in his chest. He was happy for his best friend but wished for his own luck as well.
Danverse leaned forward. “Liam. I want to help. I can’t risk the crew’s safety, and especially not Mac’s, but I’ll do what I can. I want you to get Hadrian back. You still have a home on the Santa Claus, but this can’t follow you here. You know what I mean?”
Liam gave Danverse a grim nod. “Yeah. Leave no trace. Leave nothing alive to follow you home.”
“This could get bloody, Liam. Are you ready for that, Sergeant?”
Determination swelled Liam’s chest. “Yes, sir.”
“That’s what I want to hear. Mac tracked down some information that may be useful. The first contact is a genetic engineer, Dr. Victor Saarken. He’s been connected with Phillip Chien and the Adonirati program for decades. He may be the man responsible for modifying Hadrian.”
“Saarken? That’s the name Leo Noble mentioned on the holo.”
Danverse’s brow furrowed. “What holo?”
“I found it in Hadrian’s effects. It was from Leo Noble, the man Hadrian was accused of murdering. He mentioned a Dr. Saarken and said he had a hand in freeing Hadrian. If what you’re saying is true, he may have information I can use. I’ll hack his DNA ID file in the government mainframe and put a locator on him.”
“Be careful with that.”
“Don’t worry. This isn’t the first target I’ve tracked.”
Danverse sighed. “I know. No matter how long we’ve been out of the Marines, it all comes back to you, doesn’t it?”
“Looks like it. By the way, why isn’t Mac telling me any of this?”
Danverse blushed as he gazed back over his shoulder at the sleeping man behind him. The glowing smile came back as he wet his lips.
“He’s a little worn out.” For the first time in the conversation, Liam recognized a hint of sated exhaustion in the captain. Faint circles were visible under his eyes as he took a drink from a cup of water.
“And you’re dehydrated, I see.” Liam laughed. It had been a long time since he’d seen Danverse so content.
“We made up for lost time”—his gaze slid to the side—”and then there was the matter of overriding my protocols to deal with. I have to admit Mac takes to discipline a lot better than I expected.” Danverse looked back over his shoulder again. “I couldn’t ask for a better mate.”
Liam stiffened as a pang of jealousy shot through him. It made him feel guilty. Danverse was just as entitled to happiness as he was.
“I’m happy for you, Marc. I really am. For both of you.”
“Thanks, Liam. Now let’s work on getting your man back.”
THE NEXT TWO days were excruciatingly slow. If not for the encrypted coms from Danverse and Mac to ease the monotony, Liam might have gone mad. Hours passed in pure molasses as he pored over the data on Chien and Hadrian’s Hope’s specifications. Understanding the craft’s details would be as invaluable as being intimately familiar with the weapons cache aboard.
He was still no closer to a rescue plan but knew he had to start with surveillance. Finding Dr. Saarken would come first. Liam’s gut instincts screamed that the doctor would have the information he needed. Saarken knew how to find Hadrian. He had to. Liam told himself over and over that Hadrian was still alive. He had to believe that.
When the proximity alert went off to indicate he was nearing Luxoria, Liam’s heart gave a start.
Just another sniper stakeout. On earlier missions, he’d waited longer for a target. This was no different. Sleep had been fractured at best, but at least the nightmares seemed to be on hold.
Chewing a dry ration bar, he sat in the pilot’s seat, waiting for night to fall in the city where Dr. Saarken lived. The bar was tasteless, the consistency of recycled plastic, and made him wish for Gamin’s Bandish stew. When he found Hadrian, that was what he was going to do fi
rst: take him out to eat. On a real date. After the most amazing kiss that proved he’d never let him go again.
Hadrian’s Hope sat in synchronous orbit, fully cloaked, unseen by any. The face of the emerald-and-azure globe faded into black with the lethargic swallowing by the sunset. This final delay was the worst. At night, he could be sure the cloak would get him planetside and that much closer to Hadrian.
Once he’d hacked the doctor’s DNA scan, Liam tracked down his luxury apartment in the Prime District. The coordinates were programmed into the ship’s navigation and the handheld com Mac had provided. Liam stared at the planet’s positioning map indicator representing the Saarken home. Step one in finding Hadrian was only a few hours away.
With time to kill, his mind fell into an awful swell of loneliness. He missed Hadrian’s touch. It wasn’t fair. Their time had been too short and he wanted more. Did Hadrian feel the same way?
The alarm chimed at 21:00 hours in the Prime District’s time zone. Liam double-checked the cloak, which was functioning at peak efficiency. He couldn’t throw the ship into drive fast enough.
An hour later, he’d found a remote rooftop where he could park the camouflaged ship.
Using the com’s directions, he wove his way through the city, keeping to the shadows and trying to be as innocuous as possible. Periodically, he would duck into an alleyway to avoid well-dressed people strolling by. He swept through the streets until he came to the right building. Wealth oozed from the polished white stone making up the sleek facade. Rows of pristine windows were embedded into the exterior with perfect precision. In the dark, the skyscraper’s height seemed endless, like most of the architecture in this district. The sky was almost missing, blocked by spires of construction on all sides. As impressive as it was, Liam wanted nothing to do with it. He was bringing Hadrian home to the Santa Claus.
With a quick check of his com, Liam calculated where the doctor lived, slipping in the front door as another tenant walked out. He reached into the shoulder bag he was wearing and palmed Marley Keyes’s scrambler. It was slightly warm, as it always was when turned on. Liam was determined not to be seen on any security feed.
The Luxorian Fugitive Page 17