by C. G. Hatton
Her fingers tightened around the autoinjector in her pocket. She raised the other hand up to his neck with a gentle touch that sent shivers down his spine. He blinked slowly and moved closer, leaning in to kiss her, feeling her respond, feeling her want the moment to last. He increased the pressure, her lips soft against his, and reached into her pocket gently to steal the injector away from her grasp.
She tensed.
LC pulled back and held it up between them. He quickly tumbled the injector around his fingertips until it was the right way round then stabbed it into his neck, feeling the ampoule pulse whatever the hell she was trying to dose him with into his bloodstream.
She was too slow to react to stop him.
He felt the drug dissipate, filtering through his system in the same hazy way that the realisation of what he’d just revealed to her started to dawn on him. He pulled her close again and whispered into her ear, “Now we’ve got that out of the way, I need you to trust me. Let me do this then I’ll go with you wherever you want. I told you that.”
He left Sean in the cargo bay, staring after him and wondering what had just happened. He was wondering what had just happened.
He made it up to the crew quarters, feeling his internal temperature rising fast, heart racing and hands shaking. He slipped into his cabin, stripped and stood in a cold shower, letting the icy water stream over him until he was numb. He leaned his head against the cubicle wall and let the water pour down his back. God, he’d never been caught before. Except for that one time on Kheris, which hadn’t been his fault. This time he’d given himself up willingly. For Sean. And knowing that he’d do it again in a heartbeat scared the crap out of him.
Chapter 28
“How tender are the emotions of these creatures.” The Man refilled the goblets.
NG tried not to smile. The Man had always found it hard to fathom the intricacies of human relationships. And the field operatives out of everyone tended to fall wholeheartedly into complex and volatile partnerships.
Not surprising considering what they did every day.
“LC was lucky that he had good people around him,” he said. It was hard to admit, none of them being guild, that they’d been there for him when there wasn’t a guild agent in sight.
He leaned forward, ignoring the peril the rook was in to move his bishop.
The Man lifted his goblet and drank deeply. “Is this development with O’Brien likely to compromise our use of her in the future?” he said and moved his own bishop to take the rook.
“There is no development,” NG said, watching another of his key pieces fall to the side. “LC has half a dozen girls on the go at any one time. He can’t help it. He doesn’t go looking for it. At the time, they were in a difficult situation. Heightened emotions lead to irrational actions. LC’s never been caught before. Sean rescued him. Given his nature, he had no choice but to fall for her.”
•
DiMarco knocked at the door and came in without waiting.
LC looked up, half dressed and trying to figure out if he could be bothered to lace his boots.
“Jesus,” the pilot said, “Luka, you look like shit.”
LC looked down at the black bruises colouring all round his chest and left hand side. He pulled on a shirt.
DiMarco sprawled on the bunk. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“How could I?”
“I told you, I’m not going to hand you in – however much you’re worth. Jesus Christ, eighty five million. What the hell did you do to earn that kind of attention?”
LC rooted around in his locker for another shirt. He was chilling down fast. He found the thick, long sleeved shirt he’d been wearing the night they’d hit the lab. It had tiny shrapnel holes in the back but he’d kept it because it was one of his favourites. It was clean, it was warm and it had a hood. He shrugged into it and turned to look at the pilot.
“I need to go to Redgate. This andirium Gallagher has – will he be able to sell it there?”
DiMarco laughed. “Redgate? Jesus, Luka buddy, you have a death wish.”
LC pulled a holdall out and dug in it for his spare tool kit, guild standard and nothing flash but it would do if he got stuck somewhere. He palmed it into his pocket. “I know someone there – it’s the only safe place I can think of.”
“That’s the first time I ever heard Redgate called safe.” DiMarco yawned and stood up. “Yes, he’ll be able to sell it there and he’ll be able to sell it for a fortune. Gallagher wants to see you by the way. So does Seanie. You’re mister popular today, Luka.” He walked out, throwing in a casual, “We’re leaving as soon as the kid gets the engines warmed up. You want to go to Redgate, you’d better get in there and persuade Gallagher why he should risk his ship for your ass.” He stopped at the door and looked back in. “You need to lose that tag, buddy. Eighty five million, Jesus.”
LC touched a hand to his ear self-consciously. The pilot laughed and disappeared.
Walking down the corridor to Gallagher’s office was like walking the dark hallway to see the Chief. Mendhel had always softened the way and LC didn’t get the severe chewings out that Hilyer got regularly but even so, it was never a good thing to be summoned to that room.
Bill Gallagher was a teddy bear compared to the Chief but LC paused at the door and hesitated to knock. He’d already checked that the captain was alone; Sean was on the bridge and Thom was in the engine room. He thought about getting a beer first and took a step away but the door opened and Elliott walked out, holding the door open for LC to go inside.
The tech guy initiated a private link through the Senson as LC walked past. “I’ve cleared the way for you,” he sent. “I’ve told Gallagher I can get us safely down to the surface on Redgate. I can’t wait to see why you want to go there. And I’ve got an answer for you when you’re ready.”
He walked off, leaving LC stranded by the open door. He should have known Elliott would be listening in.
Gallagher beckoned him into the office.
“Sit down,” he said softly.
There was nothing personal in the small cabin. Nothing on the desk and bare shelves.
LC sat. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I should have…”
Gallagher hushed him with a raised hand. “Not necessary. We look after each other here and you’ve earned a place on this ship.” He leaned on the desk. “We need to leave. Tierney said he’s grateful that you helped his niece but he can’t do much else to protect us if we stay any longer. We have three of his guys on board plus DiMarco, so I’m his whatever I decide. You need to go to Redgate?”
LC stared, cheating and reading the surface of Gallagher’s mind before he replied. The old guy was resigned. DiMarco had promised him a run to Erica once they’d brought medical supplies back to Tierney and Elliott had suggested that a call into Redgate with the andirium might bring enough revenue to make the whole run profitable. It said a lot about Gallagher that he really didn’t care in the slightest why LC had such a massive price on his head. LC had saved his life and that was good enough for him, and although he was slightly disconcerted by the fact that he had the most wanted fugitive in the whole galaxy on board his ship, he seemed to be handling it well.
LC nodded.
“We’ll take you there. Sean’s told me she needs to leave with you,” Gallagher said. “Is that right? Are you good with that?” He was wondering what Sean’s interest was. He wasn’t stupid, nowhere near as naive as people assumed he was, and he was genuinely worried about LC’s welfare. It was strange to realise that there was a place here where he was so welcome.
“It’s fine,” he said unconvincingly, hearing the waver in his voice as he said it.
Gallagher stood up. “Luka, whatever you’ve got going on, I don’t want to know. But we’ll all do anything we can to help, okay?”
LC nodded again and stood.
Gallagher walked round and slapped him softly on the back, genuine concern in his mind and a lingering regret that this kid sta
nding in front of him looking so vulnerable had to leave. “Sean’s looking for you,” he said, steering LC out of the office. “Think about staying if you can.”
Sean started querying the Senson as soon as he left Gallagher’s office. He ignored her, looked briefly in on Duncan who was sleeping and hooked up to the glucose drip, and headed for the engine room, grabbing beers on the way.
The klaxons for the countdown to launch started sounding as he worked his way to the control room. Thom was in there watching the boards.
LC stashed the beer bottles, sat down and strapped in, leaving the restraints loose to ease the pressure across his chest.
“I’ll take this shift,” the kid said, half a question in the way he said it.
LC nodded and sat back with his eyes closed, feeling the vibration of the engines change.
It was an uncomfortable ride. Thom fretted the whole way and as soon as his anxiety started to make LC feel like maybe a lot more could go wrong with space flight than he’d ever appreciated, he shut it all out and worked on lowering his heart rate, which was still too high and erratic. After effects from the FTH, he reckoned. Nothing to do with Sean.
They made orbit with no problems. Thom blew out the breath he was holding as they eased into the steady flight configuration to make clearance distance. LC opened one eye and glanced over at him.
Thom stood up and stretched. “God, this is a big ship,” he said. He looked down at LC. “You’re not an engineer, are you?”
LC shook his head nonchalantly. He unhooked the restraints and swung the chair around, reaching out two beers. He popped them open and handed one to Thom. “And you’re not just an engineer, are you?”
Thom frowned, embarrassed. “Is it that obvious?”
LC didn’t comment. He didn’t want to talk about himself so he wasn’t going to push the kid into revealing anything he didn’t want to. The beer was cold and the sugar hit well overdue.
Thom sat down and leaned forward earnestly. “Is it true?”
“What?”
“The bounty on you. Is it true you’re worth eighty five million?”
LC smiled and gave a brief shrug of his shoulders. “Last I heard it was twenty six.”
The kid was fascinated. “What did you do?”
“I was set up.” He rubbed his eye and held the cold bottle against his cheek. The swelling was going down but his cheekbone was still sore.
When he looked up, Thom was still staring, itching to ask how he’d been set up, what could be so bad that someone would set that kind of price on his head.
“Who do you work for, Thom?”
He watched the reaction and went deep into the kid’s mind as Thom tried to figure out what to say.
“It’s complicated,” he said eventually, flashing on orders and arguments, uniforms and rank. Nothing to do with LC, that was certain.
“Just don’t do anything to hurt Gallagher,” LC said.
“Good god, I wouldn’t. I’m here to look out for him.” Thom shut up abruptly as if he’d said too much.
They sat quietly for a while then Thom turned back to the boards and started running checks. LC stood up. “Don’t worry so much, kiddo. Life’s too short.”
He left the control room and climbed up to one of the subsidiary terminals deep inside the engine room. If Sean came looking for him, there was no way she’d find him in here. He settled down and hooked in, looking for Elliott. He couldn’t face hitting the barrier with his nervous system still trembling the way it was so he waited patiently until the AI turned its attention to him.
It didn’t take long.
“That was a close one, Mr Anderton.”
“Yeah. Where’s Elliott?”
“He’s busy – calculating jump. To Redgate. Who is it that you know on Redgate, LC Anderton?”
“I need to speak to Elliott.”
It pulled him in closer, blocking the way out.
“Who is it there that you think can help you, LC?”
Breathing got really hard, sparks of pain jabbing through his broken ribs. He tried to push back but the connection felt too vague to grasp with any power. He sent instead, “How did you manage to persuade DiMarco that you don’t exist?”
“We told Gallagher, he told DiMarco. No one else has encountered me, why should they doubt the ship’s own tech guy when he denies my existence.” It increased the pressure. “I’m your little secret, LC.”
The link began to blur, lights flashing behind his eyes in time with his erratic heartbeat.
“Who are you going to see on Redgate, LC?”
“Screw you,” he managed to send and passed out.
He dreamed about Kheris, the heat and the dust, kneeling in the dirt with his hands tied behind his back, a gun to his head and soldiers screaming at him. A cold hand touched his neck and he almost screamed, waking in a cold sweat to see Elliott leaning over him.
He scrambled backwards and bumped up against the bulkhead, using it to get up into a half sitting position. “Shit, Elliott. Your AI is vicious.”
The tech guy rocked back on his heels and regarded LC with a curious look. “You should be more careful,” he said.
LC tried to control his breathing. “You said you had an answer.”
“You should be in medical,” Elliott said. “Your stats look precarious, LC. That was a close one back there.”
“Yeah, that’s what your AI said. Thanks for finding me.” He meant to say it sincerely but it came out with a touch of suspicion.
Elliott smiled. “You’re welcome.”
LC shifted his weight, feeling trapped. “The implant, Elliott. You said you had an answer?”
Elliott stood and reached out his hand. LC took it and let the skinny tech guy pull him up onto his feet. It took him a minute to get his balance.
“Zang,” Elliott said.
The word didn’t register. “What?” he muttered.
“Zang Enterprises. The implant was from a woman who worked for Zang Enterprises. A Wintran corporation. Big into bioweapons, I believe.”
LC stared, stomach clenching in a cold knot. It was a Wintran corporation that had sent them into the lab, that had killed Mendhel at the safe house on Earth. The lab had been on a planet firmly inside Earth controlled space.
Elliott started to walk away. “Why Redgate, LC?” he said casually.
“Do you know where they are?” LC asked, ignoring Elliott’s question and holding an arm against the bulkhead to stop himself swaying.
“Zang?” Elliott turned round to face him again. “They have facilities all over the place. Headquarters on Winter itself, bases on planets right the way out to the Between. Your friend could be anywhere. Who are you going to see on Redgate, LC?”
If getting back to Aston was out of the question, then Badger was his only chance of finding out what was going on. LC felt the blood drain from his face. Badger was the guild’s deepest undercover field agent and he’d come close to leading a bunch of complete strangers right to him.
Elliott laughed. “In your own time, LC. But if you want my help, there’s only so much I can do if you only give me half the story.” He turned away again. “I should thank you, Luka. I’ve been thinking of going back to Redgate for a long time. I haven’t been in the middle of a war zone in years.”
LC woke from a nightmare, breathing fast. It took a moment to realise where he was and a second more to realise he wasn’t alone.
He sat up, hand reaching under the pillow.
Sean was leaning around the door, not sure of his reaction and not entirely sure of her own feelings. He’d managed to avoid her for the whole trip, swapping six hour shifts with Thom and napping in the engine room to stay out of the way. He’d split once they were on the run in towards Redgate, needing some sleep which hadn’t come easy even in his own bunk.
“Hey,” Sean said softly.
She took a step into the cabin. She was holding something behind her back and for a second he thought she was going to try the i
njector again. God knows why because there was nowhere they could go. She brought her hand round quickly though and offered him a knife, hilt first.
He took it, heart quickening as he recognised it.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly, standing there awkwardly.
She didn’t know what to say, thinking that she’d lost any chance of getting him to trust her, wondering why the hell he’d given himself up for her and regretting that she’d ever agreed to the job. She was wishing she’d never met him. That wasn’t easy to overhear.
She gestured towards the knife. “I know how important that is to you. I’m sorry I didn’t have time to look for the rest of your stuff.”
LC rubbed his bare right wrist. He didn’t know how she knew what he’d done on the roof but she was trying to figure out what it meant.
He shook his head, confused, gripping the knife tightly. “It’s fine. Thank you. I thought I’d lost this.”
“I thought I’d lost you,” she said and wished she hadn’t as soon as the words were out.
He stood up and pulled her close. She didn’t resist and he held her tightly, breathing in the scent of her hair and feeling her heart pounding against his chest.
“This isn’t just a job any more,” she whispered, “and I don’t know if I can do it.”
She was tying herself in knots inside. She was thinking that he was the most valuable target she’d ever been given, the most extraordinary guy she’d ever met and the most difficult she’d ever tried to understand. He could feel the exasperation that was tearing at her.
She pulled back and stared into his eyes. “Why did you give yourself up on the roof? They could have killed you.”
“They were going to kill you. What was I supposed to do?”
She leaned her head on his shoulder. “What are we supposed to do now?”
“We go to Redgate and get Badger to help us find the bastards that did this. I know who it was. I just need to find them. Find Anya.”