The gray in his hair looked more pronounced than Gar had ever remembered seeing it before. Whether it was due to a sudden rush of stress or simply Gar seeing the older man in a new light, it didn’t matter. Jason had betrayed him.
“Faolan came with me.” His voice remained calm and even, despite his surging anger. “And we’ll be leaving together.”
Focus on his thoughts, Faolan’s voice prodded in his mind.
Lifting his chin, Gar focused his attention solely on Jason, attempting to block out everything else. Jason shook his head and tsked as he pressed the not so secret button beneath his desk. The door behind them slid shut, locking them in.
“Interesting place you have here, Jason. You don’t mind if I call you Jason, do you?” Faolan sauntered to Gar’s side, thumbs hooked in the tops of his pants. “Can’t say I’m impressed with the welcome, though. Might want to do some hospitality training with your staff. I mean really, how hard is it to have them offer us a drink or something to eat? Very rude.”
Leaning back in his seat, Jason steepled his hands together and let his gaze finally move to Faolan. “Nice to finally meet the infamous Captain Wolf. I’m looking forward to collecting the bounty on your head.”
Faolan grinned. “Gar said it was two million. I almost turned myself in. Think of the shit I can buy with that much.”
“That’s for bringing you in alive. Dead, it’s much more.”
Turning to slap Gar on the shoulder, Faolan rolled his eyes. “You were holding out on me.” Concentrate on him, Gar. Try to get into his head.
Gar released a breath and let the tension bleed from his body. He cleared his mind of everything and listened for the soft buzzing he’d felt when he’d first connected to Faolan.
“Gar was always too soft for his own good. It was his biggest shortcoming, one I tried to burn out of him for years.”
The first tremor of Jason’s mind brushing against his nearly turned Gar’s stomach. Where Faolan had been warmth and a bright touch, Jason’s sent a chill through to his soul.
Stupid brat. Will enjoy making him suffer.
The venom behind the thought nearly sent him staggering. Gar squeezed his hands together and let the pain help keep him focused on the task at hand.
Lifting his chin, Gar stared his former mentor down. “Enough of this shit, Jason. Why did you want me killed?”
He can’t know the truth. “It was clear you weren’t living up to your end of the bargain, Stitt.” Jason narrowed his gaze, focusing his cold eyes on Gar. “You’ve been around here long enough to know the penalty for betrayal is death.”
“I followed your orders to the letter. I was on my way to get the stone for you.” Gar’s throat tightened and his body shook from the strain of holding his temper in check. “You sent ships to blow me out of space!”
Was my best chance. Finally clean up this mess. “It was necessary,” Jason said with finality.
“Did you even want the bloody thing?” Gar’s head couldn’t keep up with the barrage of thoughts flying through it. It became difficult to know whose mind was whose.
“Of course I wanted it.” The stone can’t be real. Wolf was bluffing. “But not at the risk of your betrayal.” He’d kill me. “I’d rather it be blown to space dust than to let you or that pirate use it against me.”
Faolan stepped between Gar and Jason, his hand on the hilt of his sword. “And why is that? What were you trying to keep him from learning?”
“Why would you assume I was keeping something from him?” Gods, they fucking know. Gar must know!
Gar moved toward Jason without thinking. “Know what?” Faolan’s hand on his chest stopped him from closing the distance so he could wrap his hands around Jason’s neck. “Tell me!”
Jason’s eyes widened and he dropped his hands to his lap. “What?” No, he couldn’t realize. I made sure he never connected me to their deaths.
The universe around Gar paused before everything slotted into place. “No,” he whispered.
Sliced her throat to get him to talk. Framed him for her death. Jason’s smile twisted into a scowl. “It was so easy to manipulate you, the other guards. All I had to do was sit in the background and let it all play out.”
“You killed them,” Gar’s voice shook as he squeezed Faolan’s hand and forearm. “My parents.”
“You’re just like your father—too proud for your own good. He agreed to steal something for me and then tried to go back on the deal. I thought by killing his wife he’d give in. Fucker wouldn’t.” Felt good, blade going in. She cried and cried and pleaded.
“Gar,” Faolan’s voice was soft in his ear. “Keep it together.”
It was enough of a jolt to bring him back to their purpose. Swallowing, Gar squeezed Faolan’s hand in reassurance and stepped forward. “You killed my mother.”
“Even that wasn’t enough to convince him. You want to blame anyone, blame him.”
“What was it you wanted so badly that you were willing to tear my life apart?”
Power. “Stupid ass hid the codes somewhere in his belongings. I’ve tried to find it,” Jason said with a sneer. “I couldn’t expect someone like you to understand, Stitt.” Needed the key to control everything.
His stopwatch. Gar remembered the day his dad had handed it over to him. Telling him how special it was and to keep it safe. It was the one item he’d kept on his person most days when he was younger. Jason wouldn’t have known. If the codes were anywhere, it was there.
“Bastard.” Gar’s world spun around him, full of confusion.
“Your father was just as shortsighted as you. You’d never understand, Gar.” Bastard betrayed me, like his kid.
“Why don’t you explain it to me then?” Faolan slowly pulled his sword from the sheath, tip pointed at the floor.
Jason’s gaze flicked between them. “You think I’m scared of a sword? I’m well aware of Gar and his knives. Don’t you think I prepared for that?” Personal shield will fry them if they come close.
Gar’s hand stopped Faolan from moving too close. “He has an electro shield.”
“How did you—?” Gods, it’s like he’s reading my mind. Is the stone real?
“Answer the question, Jason.” Gar reached into his coat and thumbed the shock charge.
“Fine, you want to know?” Jason shoved his chair back and yanked out the blaster he had beneath the desk. “You were there with me when Wolf here showed up on Tybal. There was no one else around so I had to send you, else it would have looked suspicious. I couldn’t take the chance you’d figure things out once you spent time with Wolf here, so I put a bounty on your head. Figured it was about time I cleaned up that mess from ten years ago.”
“Wait a minute?” Faolan frowned, concentrating his attention on Jason. “I know you.”
Gar didn’t want to risk taking his eyes off Jason. “Faolan?”
“The reason Kayla and I were on Zeten ten years ago, the medical scam. Jason here was the bastard we cleaned out.”
Jason powered up the blaster to full and leaned forward, pointing the barrel square at Faolan’s chest. “It was a distraction I couldn’t afford. Don’t worry though, I got even.” Killed him in the end.
Faolan frowned. “What?”
Gods. Gar shook his head. “The poison. That was you?”
“Had a friend who owed me a favor. When he told me you’d shown up I got him to give you a little extra something for me. How are you feeling these days, Wolf? Headaches and weakness kicked in yet? Vomiting blood?”
“Shit.” Faolan’s voice had lost all sense of bravado.
“You’d caused me to lose track of Gar’s father, at least until little Gar was ever so helpful and led me straight to him. Figured the punishment was fitting.”
Pain and guilt made Gar sick, but not as much as the pure menace rolling through Jason’s mind.
Never got the codes. “I held your mom hostage, Stitt, as incentive to convince your father to steal the Loyalist codes to their computer mainfra
me. He was the only one on the colony who had access. With those I could have hacked in and controlled everything from the supply chain to the flow of currency.”
“He didn’t give them to you.” Respect for his dad increased tenfold. “Why keep me around? Why not kill me like you did my parents and sister?” The last thing he wanted was to let Jason know Mace still lived. She could hide forever, safe on the Belle Kurve.
“I knew your father gave you the codes. Thought if I kept you around long enough you’d let the location slip.” Wanted to make you suffer. “I could use them to learn their programming safeguards. Still hack in.”
“But if I put two and two together and realized you were the man from Zeten I’d scammed, I might put Gar on the path to realizing you butchered his family.” Faolan’s voice dropped to a harsh whisper. “You bastard.” He needs to pay.
It took Gar a second to realize the last voice in his head wasn’t Jason, but Faolan. It didn’t give him enough time to react. Faolan shoved him hard to the side as Jason fired the blaster. The beam exploded on the floor in the space where he’d been moments ago. Gar managed to roll away, avoiding the second blast, and pulled his guns from his holsters.
“Faolan!”
Jason twisted his gun around, shot going wide as Faolan swung his sword in a wide arc. The blast bounced off the wall, to be absorbed by the chair in the far corner. It would only be a matter of seconds before the room was flooded with bounty hunters, set on killing them. Gar grabbed the control pad from his pocket and pressed the jammer he’d set before leaving the ship. The room locked down—doors and escape panels frozen shut. No one was getting in or out of the room.
Keep him safe.
Spinning around, Gar looked in time to see Faolan lunge for Jason. “Faolan, no!” His blade connected with the wrist strap controlling the shield. The resulting explosion threw Faolan across the room and blinded Gar.
Jason’s panicked screams howled through Gar’s mind for a terrifying moment before blinking to nothingness. Gar pressed his hands to his temples, blinking madly against the pain.
“Jason?”
He was dead.
Scrambling, but failing to get to his feet, Gar crawled across the floor to where Faolan’s body lay unmoving. Pounding on the door from the hall told him the halls would be flooded with hunters, intent on cutting them to shreds. It didn’t matter. Not if Faolan was hurt. Gar had to help him, somehow save him from this mess.
Gar’s hands connected with wetness as he rolled Faolan onto his back. Blood oozed from a cut on his cheek and a large bruise was already forming on his forehead. Blinking back the sudden rush of tears, Gar wiped the blood away as best he could with his hand shaking. He couldn’t lose Faolan. Not yet.
“Faolan? Come on, you bastard, open your eyes.” Leaning forward, Gar kissed his cheek and felt for the soft in-out of breath. “Don’t do this to me.”
Scared. “Ouch,” Faolan whispered so softly, Gar almost didn’t hear him.
“I’m here. You’re okay.”
Hurts.
“I know it does. I’m going to get you out of here.”
Go.
“Will you shut the hell up and open your eyes. Now, Wolf. Faolan!”
It must have been enough to reach through the concussed fog of Faolan’s brain. His eyes were hazy and couldn’t stay focused on Gar for long, but he figured it was better than nothing. “Can you stand?”
No. “Yes.”
Ignoring his doubt, Gar hauled Faolan to his feet, waiting long enough for him to steady. “We have one shot of getting out of here. Jason always builds in a hidden passage in the event he gets raided. There are only a few of us who know about it and most of them are off planet at the moment.”
“Weapons?”
Gar pulled the stunner from his pocket. “I have this and my blaster. Blades are out of the question given your current state.”
“Better move.” Faolan swayed heavily on Gar. “Leave me if you have to.”
“Will you shut up? On our way we’re making a pit stop.”
Faolan looked up at him and blinked. Smiling, Gar looped his arm under Faolan’s and led him to the wall. “If Jason was the one who poisoned you, then I bet there is something to cure it in the med bay.”
“No time.”
“It’s on our way. Now move, Wolf, before I’m tempted to collect the bounty on your ass.”
The passageway was thankfully clear as they moved inside. Without knowing who was present at the base, this would either be an extremely easy exit or immediate death. It took longer than he would have liked with Faolan’s condition, but they eventually made it to the secret door in the med bay. Two hunters and one doctor were present, each with weapons facing the main door.
They never heard the panel slide open or saw the stunner as Gar tossed it into the room. The blinding light and high-pitched blast knocked the three to the ground.
Gar propped Faolan against the wall. “Stay here.”
“Like I could go anywhere.”
Each second he took to look was a moment less they would have to get out in one piece. Tearing apart the cabinet, Gar growled in frustration when he realized he didn’t have a clue what he was looking for.
“What did Jason poison you with?”
“Look for Ryana serum.”
Nothing. “What else?”
Pointless. Let me die. “It doesn’t—”
“What…else!”
“I don’t know!”
With no more time to lose, Gar grabbed fistfuls of vials and stuffed his pockets to capacity. “I’ve grabbed what I can. Pray there’s something in there Doc can find useful. Let’s go.”
Gar half dragged Faolan to the emergency escape hatch, pausing long enough to use his code to trigger the alarms for the building. “That will be heard from the street and will release all the locks. Should cause enough of a distraction to get us out.”
“Can’t run fast.” Faolan’s words slurred as he spoke. “You go—”
“Old conversation, already dealt with. Move, Wolf.”
It took all Gar’s strength to push Faolan out the small escape door and into the throng of people milling around the Guild. Weak fingers gripped his biceps as they moved, Faolan barely able to maintain his hold. Gar looped an arm securely around Faolan’s waist and pulled him tight against his side.
“You’re not going anywhere. I’m not leaving you behind and there is no way in hell you’re dying. Do you understand me? So keep moving those feet of yours.”
Love you.
The thought flashed through his mind so fast, Gar wasn’t sure he’d heard it. Gods, not him too. He couldn’t lose Faolan and be left all alone. There was no time for an interrogation, so he kept pulling forward until they reached the edge of the city.
“See, Wolf. No one chasing us and we’re clear of the city. Just a bit farther to the ship.”
“Slave driver,” Faolan muttered, holding on a bit tighter.
“Don’t forget it.”
They didn’t stop until they reached the tree line. Faolan threw his body against the first secluded trunk he could reach, bracing his back against the thick wood. Gar took in the other man’s pale complexion, not at all liking the way his body shook or the glassy look of Faolan’s eyes.
“I think you have a concussion.”
“Nearly got my head blown off, so it’s not—”
Faolan’s sentence died in his mouth as his eyes grew wide, fixed on a point behind Gar. He didn’t need to turn around to know they’d been followed by another bounty hunter. He could hear the blaster engage as it was powered to full.
“Turn around.” The voice was familiar.
Gar held his hands up and moved so he now blocked Faolan with his body. “Byron.”
The only hunter Gar even remotely considered close to a friend stood before him with a blaster pointed directly at Gar’s chest. There was no way he’d be able to pull his own weapon up to get a shot off before Byron killed him and Faolan was
in no shape to defend anyone.
“When the word came out Jason put a bounty on your head, I couldn’t believe it. Then I saw you and that one leaving the Guild and I knew something was up.”
Get out of here, Gar. He’ll take me and leave if you offer.
He had one chance to play this right. Keeping as still as possible, Gar ignored Faolan.
“Jason’s dead. He killed my parents years ago, thought I’d find out the truth from Faolan here.”
Byron frowned. “Faolan?”
Shit. First rule of the Guild—don’t get too close to your mark. “Yes, Faolan. He’s…we’re friends.”
“You know better than that, Stitt.” His tone was harsh, but Byron eased up on this blaster.
“I know…I really don’t care. Faolan has shown me more…just let us go. Please.”
Faolan’s soft gasp, followed by the gentle hand on Gar’s shoulder told him the sentiment wasn’t lost. Byron’s gaze drifted from Gar’s face to the contact between them.
Byron shook his head and replaced his blaster in his holster. “I’ll be dammed. The iceman thawed.”
Gar stiffened, but Faolan tugged on him. “The nice man is letting us escape. Time to go.”
The realization nearly passed him by until Faolan’s gentle—take me home—brushed across his mind. Gar reached up to cover Faolan’s hand, nodding to Byron. “Thank you.”
“Don’t come back to the Guild. If Jason is gone, then someone will need to take over.”
“Can’t think of a better man for the job. Thanks, Byron.”
“Go.”
This time it was Faolan who held him as they made their way back to the ship.
Chapter Seventeen
Faolan wasn’t ready to admit he’d grown to care for the man standing in front of him—especially since the man in question was being a complete ass at the moment.
“Are you absolutely sure?” Gar’s eyes had grown impossibly wide. He hadn’t let go of some part of Faolan’s body since arriving back on the Belle Kurve, but anything resembling a conversation had been less than forthcoming. “I mean those could be anything. The chances I’d actually grab something useful…”
Doc was shocked at the meds Gar had thrown onto the exam table beside Faolan and the hurried explanation as to why they were important. Faolan hadn’t been coherent enough at the time to appreciate exactly what his lover had grabbed before hauling his ass out of the Guild or the significance of what he’d said to Doc.
No Quarter (Bounty, Book One) Page 19