Cal gripped the metal bars surrounding Dania’s bed. Geron was the prince who had personally called for Cal’s head. Filluck Palogivan had been that prince’s best friend.
Cal glared at Dania, making sure she was actually asleep. If she hadn’t mentioned this, she probably still was bound to Geron Bane’s orders to kill him.
His veins iced. He’d actually felt sorry for her, but it had all been a ploy to get his guard down.
Once an enforcer, always an enforcer. They meddled, they connived, and they killed. She was no better than the one who’d killed his father.
“Wait. It gets worse.” Doc pointed at the monitor. “From what I was able to extract from the royal archives, Dania DuBane took to her calling with flying colors, becoming the youngest and most lethal enforcer in recent history.” He turned from the screen, looking at each one of them individually. “We are not dealing with a novice, but a full-blown general.”
Alanna gasped, stepping away from Dania’s bed.
Ty narrowed his eyes, moving closer to the unconscious death machine. “That’s impossible. If that were true, those cuffs wouldn’t be able to hold her.”
“Could she be faking it?” Ethan asked.
The ice in Cal’s veins turned to heat. Yes, she could definitely be faking it. Enforcers were heartless. She was capable of anything.
Alanna rubbed her shoulder. “She was able to help Ethan, even with the cuffs on. Maybe there is more power there?”
Cal had to wonder, though…the way she’d screamed after helping Ethan, that hadn’t seemed like an act. The steel was doing its job. Maybe too well.
He’d seen enforcers salivate, fighting over the honor of killing someone on the king’s blasted dead-man list. If this woman was at her full power, his head would already be staring at them on a platter. Especially if the order had come from her own prince, a man who apparently owned her. Paid for her. Or, rather, had received her as a gift from dear-old-Dad.
Cal forced down the bile building in his throat.
Back on the supply station, Dania and the other enforcers must have been looking for him after all, and Ty had played right into an elaborate trap. Now here he was, harboring the very general he’d been running from all this time.
He considered the handcuffs still firmly clasped around her wrists. He hoped they were actually holding her, because if they weren’t, the clock was ticking, and when she decided he and his crew were guilty of whatever crime annoyed her, she’d slit their throats and probably laugh about what fools they’d all been.
Ty pushed away from her bed. “Nothing’s changed.”
“What?”
Ty pointed at her. “She’s still an enforcer, just a much more dangerous one. We can still prove to her that we’re good people. We can still clear our names.”
Alanna shrugged. “She has been nice.”
“While she’s been plotting all your deaths,” Cal pointed out.
Ty raised his hand. “I still vote for bringing her with us on the supply run. All in favor?”
Alanna raised her hand, and then Doc did the same.
Ethan shifted nervously.
Good. At least one of them hadn’t lost their minds.
“She saved your life,” Doc told Ethan.
“But to what end?” Ethan asked. “I think I’m with Cal on this one. That silver hair scares me.”
More than her hair scared Cal. He grabbed Doc’s arm. “Have you done enough research to create a bio shield that would be able to hold her?”
“You want me to do surgery on her or something?”
“No. I want you to build something to contain her, just in case those cuffs stop working.”
“Wow. That would be all kinds of illegal.” Doc stared at her until a monomaniacal grin appeared on his face. “Sounds like fun. She’ll kill me for it, though.”
“I’ll take the blame.” Cal turned from the room. “Keep her sedated if you can. Let me know if she wakes up.”
Because once she did, things were going to get messy.
14
Dania
A bright light stung Dania’s eyes. She blinked and groaned as a deep pounding seared through her brain. She grabbed her head.
The pain was maddening. If this was what Matara had gone through when they’d taken her, would the girl have had the inner strength to survive?
“Are you okay?” the doctor asked, dimming the overhead lamp.
If she were okay, she wouldn’t be grabbing her head. “What happened to me?”
“You passed out.” He turned the lamp away. “I think you caught a small bug on Midway Station. I’m treating you with a broad-spectrum antibiotic. You should be better in no time.”
His temperature increased slightly, but she sensed no malice in his voice. It seemed the doctor truly wanted to treat her. If that were true, though, then why lie? Maybe he knew something he didn’t want Dania to find out.
She held out her arms. Her uniform shimmered as if she’d just received it from the tailor. “My clothing is no longer soiled.”
The doctor pointed at a machine on the far side of the room. “I have a laundry recycler. I usually use it for sterilizing sheets, towels, and gloves, but it worked like a charm on your uniform as well.”
Which meant, he’d undressed her…
He rolled his eyes with over-zealous abandon. “Oh, please, sweetie. What kind of a doctor would I be if I didn’t make sure you were clean?” He waved his hand at her. “Don’t worry, all of the other guys were on the far side of the ship.”
The room spun, and she scrunched her eyes closed.
“Whoa there,” the doctor said. “Take it easy. Let the medicine do its work. You’ve had a rough night.”
She rubbed her temples. “I’ve never been sick. I highly doubt I’ve caught something. I think you’re wrong.”
He sat beside her. “Well, you were sick at least once, when you were ten. That’s how the Banes found you.”
She lowered her hands. “What?”
“You had parents once, but the Banes showed interest in you, and it looks like your parents agreed to sell you into slavery.”
Dania’s hands balled into fists. “Ridiculous. I’m not a slave. The only family I’ve ever known is the Banes.” She should kill him now for insinuating such a thing.
Espinoza leaned against the far wall. “Why didn’t you tell me Prince Geron was your patron?”
Dania balked. She hadn’t even noticed he’d been standing there. Her senses were normally much more in tune to her environment. What was wrong with her? “Who my prince is makes no difference. You are a criminal either way.”
The smuggler stared her down and she fought not to look away. “Word has it that he personally asked for my head. Is that true?”
There was no reason to lie. “Yes.”
“Then why am I still alive?”
Good question. Her desire to wreak justice had quelled of late. Yes, she still intended to execute all these people, but she wasn’t in as much of a rush as she’d been in the past. She lifted the shackles on her wrists. Could these arcane devices have drained her too far?
It was more than that, though.
She sat up, and the med bay spun. A deep ache settled between her eyes, and she held her head as the ache started to drum.
Was this what her life was to be now—pain anytime she moved?
Espinoza still glared at her.
And they said enforcers had no empathy.
She leveled her gaze at him. “At first, I thought you were the trapper whom I’d been tasked to find and eradicate. Once I realized that wasn’t true, I was intrigued to learn why you would take me on board when there was a price on your head.” Her head continued to throb. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. “Then, of course, you provided that sealed evidence about Filluck Palogivan. I must admit, I’m intrigued. I want to know who sealed that file.”
Cal pushed away from the wall. “Intrigued enough that you won’t kill us?”
Lying would do her no good. Espinoza had proven to not be a fool. “That still remains to be seen.”
“If I set you free right now, would you be honor-bound to kill me because your prince asked for my head?”
Would she?
If she rid the galaxy of this criminal, she’d have to eradicate them all. Once their captain was gone, there would be no reason for the rest to cooperate and show her where all their illicit trading spots were.
And there was still the issue of the sealed security records proving Espinoza had not committed the crime that had led to Geron asking for the man’s head. Who’d sealed them, and why?
So many questions, and not enough answers.
The ache deepened.
If she were free, if she no longer had this blazing pain in her skull, would she be able to stop herself from carrying out her duty?
She lowered her hands from her head. “I can’t guarantee one way or another. I’m unable to ignore an order from my prince.”
“That’s probably the truth,” the doctor said. “The pathogens running through her seem to control the compulsion centers.”
Pathogens? Probably more nonsense about her being sick. At the moment, the only things causing her discomfort were the illicit steel bindings.
She steadied herself with a cleansing breath. “I would like to know who sealed the file shut that proved your innocence. Until that’s clear, I will allow you to live.”
“Only until you know who sealed the files?” The doctor frowned. “Even though you’ve seen proof that Cal is innocent?”
“He is only innocent of murder.”
“It’s all right, Doc.” Espinoza walked toward the exit. “I’ll take what I can get for now.”
15
Cal
Cal had a woman on board his ship who didn’t like him, and she’d all but admitted that she’d kill him if she decided it suited her on any given day. This trip just kept getting better and better.
Ty met him outside the door. “You know, it’s perfect that she has doubts.”
“Eavesdropping again?”
“Think about it, boss. She’s getting more and more human every day. She’s even starting to look more human. Her hair is turning more blonde, rather than the shimmering silver color.”
That part at least was true. If this kept up, she might even be able to pass for human someday.
“All we have to do is keep convincing her you’re a great guy, and she’ll have her prince drop the charges.”
Drop the charges? Why in the name of Alarean’s moons was he living in fantasyland? They were dealing with a Keveron prince. The royal family had no feelings, no remorse. It was like dealing with sentient reptiles.
Cal stopped and shoved Ty against the wall. “Don’t you get it? It’s not that simple. She’s not just gunning for me anymore. She’s gunning for all of you.”
Ty smiled that grin that had gotten them out of so many slippery places. “We’re all equally guilty of the smuggling charges. Once she sees what smuggling is really like, we’ll all be off the hook.”
“Don’t count on it.” Cal started walking again. “I still want to drop her off at the next waystation and make a run for it. Ask Alanna to rest up because she’ll probably have to jump us.”
“No.”
Cal spun on him. “No?”
“We’ve all voted. We’re taking her with us.”
Cal pointed at his chest. “Ethan sided with me. We all agreed three votes wasn’t good enough on this ship.”
That annoying smile returned. “Alanna convinced him.”
“That’s playing dirty.” He could still override them, though. This was a democracy, but this was still his ship. “In case you haven’t noticed, we have a ton of highly illegal items onboard. If you want to convince this woman not to kill us, she can’t stay here.”
“Yes, she can. This is the perfect way to show her how you can do something good with something illegal.”
“But what we have is a little more illegal than most things.”
The compact power source that Christopher Columbus had given them could certainly be used for good, but out here, and knowing what kind of people they were dealing with, that little piece of technology could be turned into a major weapon.
They needed the money, but Cal wasn’t sure if he could live with himself if this tech got into the wrong hands. For now, though, it was all they had to trade. They just needed to hope that the person they traded it to didn’t have any disreputable intentions.
Cal wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand as Doc lowered the landing ramp. They’d traded in tons of places. Some good, some bad. Most trading posts were a combination of the two. Port Walker, unfortunately, tilted more toward the bad side of the scale.
He led the rest of his crew from the ship with Ethan and Ty flanking Dania, still in handcuffs. When the bright, natural sunlight hit her hair, it was more obvious that her natural blonde tones were taking over the enforcer silvery-white. To anyone seeing her, they’d think she was a normal prisoner. There would be no reason to suspect she was anything different.
“Where are we meeting?” Alanna adjusted the small light refractor weapon at her hip.
“Room nine seven one,” Cal said. “It’s uncomfortably far back from the landing site, but it was all we could get.”
This was one of those stations that saw a lot of trading, some legal, some far from legal. While many stations allowed transactions to happen in public spaces, as Cal preferred, this colony favored all transactions happening in private. He supposed that made things cleaner for the local government. Cal preferred being out in the open, though. It let him see what was coming. Then again, that hadn’t helped him much in the last trade.
Dania’s gaze kept flashing toward Alanna’s weapon. Certainly a being who could pull molten particles out of a man’s back without even touching him had no use for such a small sidearm. Still, Cal moved between them, keeping his eyes forward.
He would have rather left Dania on board, but the crew had agreed that she needed to see them complete this very illegal trade so she could understand the endgame. Cal could only hope that they all lived to see this through to the final trade on Kirato.
A guard held up a hand as they neared. “Pass?”
Cal held up a purple card.
“Violet, this way.” He pointed to a door on his right.
“Ready?” Cal asked them.
“Let’s do it,” Ty said.
They slipped inside. In the rear of an oversized chamber, a man sat at a lone desk with a glowing stone centered on the old-fashioned wood frame. The overhead lighting glistened off his nearly bald scalp as he shifted his substantial girth and smiled.
Cal held his hands out to his sides. “Glenn, buddy, how are you?”
“Calvin Espinoza.” Glenn stood, accepting the hug.
He smelled faintly of grease and…was that fried chicken?
Glenn sank back into his chair. “When I heard it was you, I thought someone was pulling my leg. It’s been almost a year.”
“Well, I haven’t had anything good enough for you in all this time.” Cal looked over his shoulder. He trusted Glenn, but there were a lot of shadows surrounding them, and too many places to hide.
Glenn’s grin warmed as he held up a paper cup that looked like it contained old-fashioned french fries from Earth.
“Where did you get those?”
Glenn chuckled. “A man always finds a way to get life’s little necessities.”
Only Glenn would think french fries were a necessity.
“So, my friend, did you bring what Tyler said you have to trade?”
Cal nodded. He could feel Dania’s judgmental stare boring holes through his back. “Yeah, I got it. Ty said you seemed overly interested. What do you want it for?”
Glenn plucked a french fry out of the cup and waved it around. “It’s not your concern once you’ve traded it.”
But it was a
concern, and Glenn damn well knew it.
They stared at each other until Glenn busted out in laughter. “Relax, my friend. I’m going to sell it, of course. That’s our business, right?”
Yeah, but sell it to whom? “This isn’t the kind of tech you want to send to the highest bidder.”
Glenn’s eyes widened. “Oh my, do you think I’ve taken up with terrorists now?”
“I hope not, but stranger things have happened lately.” Like dragging an enforcer along on a trade deal.
Glenn snickered and swallowed another fry. “No worries, my friend. When you called, I found a buyer in minutes.”
Cal stepped back. “Who?”
Glenn folded his hands. “The mayor of the Tigelan colony on Aster Nine just lost the main power supply for their asteroid shield, and they’re using their backup. He’s looking to get a replacement ASAP.”
Ty moved forward. “That’s not a rich colony. They can’t afford that kind of tech, unless you’re selling it way below market value.”
Glenn chucked again. “My, my, boy, are you worried about my financial stability? So kind of you.”
But Ty was right. “It is concerning,” Cal said. “You aren’t really the charitable type.”
Glenn sighed. “Cal, Cal, Cal…like you, I’m in this for the money, but the last thing I want to see on the market is a weapon that can kill children from miles away. It’s bad enough that the royal family sends out those horrid enforcers killing everyone who forgets to say God bless you when someone sneezes.”
Dania shifted behind him. Thank goodness her hair no longer moved on its own. Without that unique feature, no one would believe she was an enforcer.
Still, Cal held his breath. The uniform she wore was common enough. Several colonies’ police forces had copied the style, probably because people were so afraid of it. Still, Cal wished they’d thought to change her clothes.
He trusted Glenn, but he didn’t think even his friend would be able to resist the bounty on a captured and restrained enforcer.
Renegade Magic (Star Renegades Book 1) Page 11