Blood and Metal

by Nina Croft

  “I don’t know. But there has to be a way.”

  “I was going to take a shuttle and head down there on my own. I thought I had a bit of time before the attack. I could get in, find Stefan, and get out again without anyone knowing.”

  “If Tannis won’t allow you to go in with them, she’s not going to allow you to go on your own.”

  He held her gaze. “I know. And I think they’re watching me, so no chance to sneak away.”

  That was her fault. If she hadn’t told Rico she didn’t trust Fergal, maybe he would have had a chance to get away. But perhaps Rico wouldn’t bother while Fergal was with her. He would presume she was watching him. She couldn’t believe she was actually considering going against her own people, putting them at risk. They’d understand—wouldn’t they?

  And she didn’t really believe she would be putting them at too much risk. Because she did trust Fergal. Sort of. And she owed him her life. If it hadn’t been for her losing it back on Trakis Four, maybe his plan would have worked. Maybe not, but they couldn’t know that. So she was responsible.

  He’d told her and that meant so much. Perhaps not everything; she sensed there was still something he was holding back, but he would tell her one day.

  “I’ll help you,” she said.

  His eyes widened, and she realized while he’d been willing to try this, he hadn’t expected her help. That made her sad. She was guessing Fergal hadn’t had many people on his side over the years, though she also guessed that was mainly his fault.

  “We’ll take one of the shuttles,” she said.

  “We?”

  “I’m coming with you.”

  His eyes narrowed. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I work alone.”

  “But this time you might need a fast getaway. I can either go in with you and help, or I could stay on the shuttle, be ready to come get you or just get away fast.”

  “No.”

  “Then I’m not helping you. It’s not safe to go in there without backup. Besides, there’s another thing.”

  “And that is?”

  “I can contact the crew once we’re gone. If I’m on board, they’re not likely to blow you out of the sky if they catch up with us.” At least she hoped they wouldn’t. But maybe they would see it as betrayal and decide to terminate her as well. And there would be the added advantage of ridding the ship of the bloodsucking problem she’d become.

  Fergal pursed his lips as he thought about it, but gave an abrupt nod. “Okay, but you do what I tell you.”

  “I’m really good at taking orders.”

  “I noticed,” he said dryly.

  “When do we go?”

  “It depends. Do you have any long-range shuttles on board?”

  “We have every type of shuttle you can think of.”

  “Then I think we should go now.”

  All of a sudden, she was scared. Scared of where this was going. That the crew would see her helping Fergal as a betrayal. They’d been so good to her. But it wasn’t really a betrayal. If Fergal did anything at all she didn’t like, she’d rip his throat out. And she’d contact them as soon as they were away. Explain.

  What was the alternative? That she watched Fergal die when she could help him?

  Not going to happen.

  Her comm unit buzzed. She glanced down. Rico. She pressed to open the link.

  “Just checking in,” Rico said. “Is our friend behaving himself?”

  Now was the moment to decide. She looked across at Fergal. His face remained expressionless. Could he see her doubts? Was he letting her make her own decision?

  She chewed on her lip.

  “Daisy?” Rico prompted. Did he sound suspicious?

  Taking a deep breath, she nodded to Fergal, and relief flared in his eyes. “He’s fine,” she said into her comm unit. “Fast asleep, actually.”

  Rico was silent for a moment. “Okay. Well, inform me if you need any backup. You know, we could lock him up until this is over.”

  “I don’t think that’s necessary. He’s told me he needs to find someone, but that it will wait until after the attack.”

  “Good. But don’t take any risks.”

  “I won’t.” Guilt gnawed at her insides, but she ended the call and looked around the room. Did she need to take anything with her? She would be back. Wouldn’t she? “Let’s go.”

  Fergal nodded and got to his feet. “Thank you. I know that was hard.”

  She didn’t try to deny it. “Rico has been so good to me. He saved my life. He’s kept me vaguely sane over the last six months…”

  “And you feel like you’re betraying him?”

  “Yeah. But I’m not. Not really. Because I trust you, and I know you better than they do. You won’t betray the attack.”

  “No, I won’t.”

  They walked down to the docking bay rather than take the transporter bubble, in case anyone was monitoring them. In the bay, she stood for a minute searching the huge, cavernous room.

  “Wow,” Fergal said. “You weren’t kidding.”

  “Callum had this ship built, and he spared no expense. She’s a beauty.”

  Around twenty shuttles were parked in the area, from small two-seater models to bigger vehicles that would carry up to ten in comfort. The bigger shuttles also had the greater range, and she headed to one standing at the end of the row.

  Fergal followed her up the ramp.

  “Open,” she murmured, and the doors slid apart.

  “You can fly all these?” he asked.

  “Yeah, they’re easy. Easier than yours, anyway.”

  “Good.”

  She gave him a sharp glance, but his face remained bland.

  The door led straight into the single circular room. Eight seats in four rows of two. The pilot’s and copilot’s were directly in front of the consoles. She sat in the pilot’s seat, flicked a few switches, and the ship came to life beneath them.

  “That’s us ready to go,” she said.

  Fergal was still standing, and she swiveled her chair to look at him.

  “Come here,” he said.

  “Why?”

  “Because I need to kiss you.”

  Need—she liked that word. Was she pathetic that she wanted to be needed? She pushed herself slowly to her feet and took the single step to eliminate the space between them. This close she could smell his now familiar scent, warm man overlaid with something slightly metallic. She breathed him in deeply, resting one hand on his chest over the rapid thud of his heart.

  He threaded his fingers through her hair and tipped back her head. As she stared up into his silver eyes, she saw the regret there. Regret for what, she wasn’t sure. Then his mouth lowered to hers, and he kissed her. His tongue pushed inside, and she sensed the darkness stir sleepily. Instead of fighting, she welcomed it, and it sank back down into her subconscious. She gave herself up to the kiss, pressing her breasts against his chest, her hips against his groin, feeling the hard length of his arousal.

  Now was so not the time for this, but she couldn’t pull away. He intoxicated her. She breathed him, tasted him, heard his ragged breath in her ears. His hands stroked down her arms, pulling her tighter against him.

  The first indication that something was wrong was the cold touch of metal against her right wrist. She went motionless, his mouth still against hers, but before she could react, he’d twisted her left wrist behind her and fastened it to the right so her hands were secured behind her back.

  She took a step away from him, and he didn’t try to hold her. Staring up into his face, she could see the determination in his eyes. She rattled the cuffs, but she was held tight.

  Fergal reached across and pulled the laser pistol from the holster at her waist. “Sorry, sweetheart, but I need a little time to get out of blaster range.” He flicked the switch to stun and stepped back. “This will hurt, but it also means you can tell them I overpowered you. Don’t mention you wanted to come along. Just go back to your life. Your frien
ds.”

  “I don’t want to tell them that. And you’re my friend. Please, Fergal, don’t do this.”

  “I have to. I can’t take you in there. There’s a 99 percent chance that this is a suicide mission. And I don’t want you to die for me. I’ve had that once in my life, and never again.”

  Who? She hated that person for turning Fergal into the cold, lonely man he was now. “Who was it?”

  He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I like you, Daisy, but I won’t let myself care for you, and I won’t let you be used against me. Besides, there are things you don’t know about me, and believe me, if you knew, you wouldn’t want to come along.”

  “There’s nothing—”

  He cut off the words by kissing her. In that moment, she knew he was going to do this. Anger rose up inside her, stirring the darkness, but anything was better than the despair that threatened to swamp her.

  This time it was Fergal who stepped back. She stared into his eyes, saw the moment of resolve, the flash of light, and all was pain and darkness.

  He’d known when she spoke to Rico that there was no way he was taking her with him. Christ, for a moment he’d actually considered it. With Daisy at his side, anything seemed possible. But it wouldn’t work. And Daisy was a vampire. No way could he take her anywhere near the Church.

  She appeared so small and helpless lying on the floor of the shuttle, her long pale hair covering her face. Crouching down beside her, he smoothed aside the silky strands, stroked a finger down her cheek.

  Hopefully, she’d hate him for this.

  He had no clue how long she would be out—vampires didn’t exactly react as expected to these things. Scooping her up in his arms, he straightened and headed out the door. At the top of the ramp, he searched the docking bay for somewhere he could leave her safely, finally settling on one of the smaller shuttles.

  He carried her across. “Open,” he murmured, and the doors parted. Inside, he put her down on the floor beside the pilot’s seat, unlocked the cuff from her right wrist, wrapped it around the metal chair leg, and refastened it so she was tied to the seat. There was nothing she could reach that would help her. At the last moment, he removed the comm unit from her wrist and tossed it across the room. Apart from killing her, there was nothing else he could do. And that really wasn’t an option.

  He leaned across and kissed her on the forehead. She’d be okay. Her friends would look after her. She wasn’t alone.

  It took a force of will to step away. After closing the doors behind him, he headed back to the shuttle. He stood for a moment staring down at the console, then drew his pistol and shot out the comm unit. He had an idea Daisy would try to talk him out of this once she awoke. And he didn’t want to give in to temptation.

  Two minutes later, he was in the air. He half expected the docking bay doors to remain shut, keeping him prisoner, but as he approached, the internal doors opened. He hovered for a second while they closed and the external doors parted, and he was out in space, flying away from The Blood Hunter.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Her chest ached. Daisy raised her hand to rub it. And found she couldn’t. She was somehow unable to move.

  She shifted so she was sitting upright, blinked a couple of times. Directly in front of her was a pair of long black boots.

  “What did I tell you about not letting him tie you up?” Rico sounded resigned more than anything else.

  “I didn’t exactly let him,” she mumbled. Fuzziness filled her head, and she shook it, trying to bring back what had happened.

  Fergal had shot her. The bastard. And then he’d run off to die alone.

  She gritted her teeth. He was allowed to save her, but he wasn’t allowing her the opportunity to save him in return. Or so he thought. She had to go after him. “Could you untie me?” she asked.

  “I don’t have a key. I’ll have to shoot it out.” But he was already drawing his laser pistol. “Scoot back as far as you can.”

  She slid back on her bottom until her arms were outstretched and closed her eyes. The laser seared the skin of her wrists, but the cuffs snapped and she sat for a moment, thinking about what to do next.

  “How long have I been out?” she asked.

  “How the hell would I know?” He didn’t offer her a hand up. Despite his calm words, he was pissed.

  Hard luck. “How long since you called me?”

  “Just over an hour. I decided to check in at hourly intervals. When you didn’t answer, I came looking. So tell me, exactly how fucked are we?”

  She pushed herself to her feet and swayed, then rested a hand on the back of the seat in front of her while her legs steadied. “We’re not fucked at all.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “No?”

  She needed to get to the bridge, see if Fergal was out of contact distance. She hurried off the shuttle and into the transporter bubble. Rico was right behind her.

  “Bridge,” he said.

  Everyone was waiting as the doors slid open. Even Alex and Jon had managed to get out of bed.

  Tannis frowned as she gave Daisy a once-over. “What’s with the cuffs and where’s our friend Fergal?”

  “Gone,” Rico said.

  “Shit. How screwed are we?”

  “We’re not screwed,” Daisy ground out.

  “And how do you work that out?” Tannis snarled. “Did you actually let him go? Knowing he knows our plans?” She ran a hand through her short hair. “I can’t believe you freaking let him go.”

  They were all looking at her, and she couldn’t meet their eyes. Did they hate her? Think she’d betrayed them after all they’d done for her? But still she couldn’t lie. “I didn’t let him go. I was going to go with him, help him. But he shot me instead. He didn’t want to take me into danger. He’s a good man.”

  Rubbing her forehead to ease the pressure, she hurried across and sat down at one of the consoles. She flicked a few switches, and Fergal’s shuttle came up on the screen. She pressed the comm unit, but nothing happened. He must have disabled the communication system.

  “He’s still within blaster range,” Tannis said as she peered over her shoulder. “We can shoot him out of the sky.”

  “No!” Daisy’s hand reached for her pistol, but at the last moment she dropped it to her side.

  Tannis narrowed her eyes at the movement. “You’d fight me over this?”

  Daisy shook her head. “No. But please don’t do it.”

  “Give us one good reason why not. Looking at where he is now, he’s heading straight for Trakis Five. Which to my mind means he’s about to betray us.”

  “He’s not.” Daisy swiveled her chair around to face the room. “He’s not going to betray us. He just needs to contact a friend of his on Trakis Five.”

  “And who would that be?”

  “A man called Stefan Wolfe.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Fergal will die if he doesn’t.”

  Alex moved from Jon’s side to stand next to Tannis. “Stefan Wolfe?”

  Daisy nodded. “Yes. He was head scientist at Cybercom, and now he’s in prison on Trakis Five.”

  “I know,” Alex said. “I met him, but he’s not a prisoner. He’s a guest, and he’s working with Hatcher.”

  Her brows drew together. “You’re sure?”

  “Yes. Absolutely. I don’t know what they’re up to—Hatcher didn’t exactly confide in me—but they were working with someone else. That guy who appeared out of the black hole at Trakis One. The old leader of Earth.”

  “Great, just great,” Tannis muttered. “Max freaking Beauchamp. That was the worst day’s work we ever did saving that bastard.”

  Max Beauchamp had been the last president of the Federation of Nations back on Earth. He’d led the exodus, but his ship had disappeared through the black hole five hundred years ago when the fleet had first come across the Trakis system. The Blood Hunter had found the ship damaged and lifeless on the other side of the hole. They’d woken them up from
cryo, fixed the ship, and helped Beauchamp and his people get back here.

  Big mistake.

  “I never met him,” Alex said. “I don’t think Hatcher and him get along too well, so he’s not around much.”

  Tannis pursed her lips. “Pity, we could have added him to the to-do list.” She turned to Daisy. “So, it looks like your friend is double-crossing us after all. Let’s take him out.”

  “No. Wait. Fergal doesn’t know. I’d swear it. He thinks this guy is a prisoner.”

  “And you’re 100 percent sure of that?”

  She chewed on her lip. Was she? She remembered something. “Yes. He was searching the prison records looking for him.”

  Tannis frowned. “Yeah. When he got us the intel we needed on Trakis Five, the prison records came out as well.”

  Daisy’s mind worked furiously. “That’s why Fergal couldn’t find him. That’s why he wasn’t on any prison records—because he’s a guest.”

  So what was Stefan Wolfe doing? Had he turned sides? Cybercom had always been an independent company, their aim purely profits. Maybe this was just them working for the highest bidder.

  “Do you know what this Wolfe guy is working on with Hatcher and Beauchamp?” Tannis asked Alex.

  “No. Hatcher didn’t trust me—he never spoke of anything important while I was near, but it was big. Hatcher is planning an offensive that will take out the last of the opposition. And something from Cybercom is going to help him.”

  “Fergal said that the test cases had all turned into drones that could be controlled by computer input.”

  “So maybe he’s offered his army of drones to Hatcher.”

  Daisy pressed her fingertips to her forehead, trying to ease the ache of so many thoughts going round and round. She was sure that Fergal had no clue his friend was working with Hatcher. Which meant he was walking into a trap. If he did manage to find Wolfe and reveal himself, Wolfe would hand him over to Hatcher.

  “So do we zap him?” Tannis asked, interrupting her thoughts.