Infinite Justice

by Shéa MacLeod

  This time the grate rose a few inches. All Xander could see were two dark eyes and a head of bushy, white hair. He was pretty sure Jeric was human. The only other humanoid species he knew of was hairless. And blue.

  “Jeric, this is Xander. He’s going to be our rider for the Tannen job. Xander, Jeric is the Justice’s mechanic and technological wizard.” She made the introductions with the sort of grace Xander recognized as training from one of the high Houses. Between that and the tattoo he’d glimpsed earlier, she was definitely a House scion. Most likely groomed from birth to take over the matriarchy, if what he’d heard about House Lei was true. That she was captain of a tiny starship in the worst wasteland of the outer planets was a mystery he was itching to solve but later.

  “Nice to meet you, Jeric.” Xander nodded politely at the eyeballs.

  Jeric let out a grunt. The eyeballs disappeared, and the grate slammed shut.

  “That’s Jeric’s way of saying hello,” Zala explained. “He’s not much for conversation.”

  “So I see.” He bit back a laugh. Understatement of the century, that.

  “And this is Infinite Justice.” She spread her arms wide, encompassing the bridge. He could hear the pride in her voice, as though she was standing on the deck of a massive interstellar battleship instead of a puddle jumper.

  “Very nice.” He wasn’t just talking about the bridge. Zala’s extravagant movement had tightened her flight suit in all the right places, and he couldn’t help but notice she had a very impressive set of curves for such a small person. He admired the view for a moment before reminding himself he didn’t have time to get horny over the captain. He turned his attention to the ship.

  In front of the wide viewscreen at the bow was a small navigation console with a single chair. Clearly Audley’s domain, since the chair was nearly twice the size of what he usually saw at a nav station. Behind the nav chair and portside was the captain’s chair. Unlike most starships, the captain’s station on the Justice was basic and utilitarian, designed for business not flash. He wondered if the ship had come that way or if it was Zala’s doing. He’d bet the latter.

  Next to the captain’s chair, along the port wall, was a station for the weapons officer. The viewscreens were dark and, judging by the tangled cords strung across the floor, it looked like someone had jury-rigged the gunnery controls to the captain’s chair. Along the back wall were several jump seats, probably meant for additional crew or visitors. Since someone was using them to dry clothes, he was pretty sure they hadn’t had any visitors in a while.

  She caught him staring at the laundry, and a pink flush crept up into her cheeks. Other than tilting her chin a little, she gave no other indication she’d even noticed, which amused him no end. The Infinite Justice was unlike any rider ship he’d ever been on. The Syndicate goons would have thrown a tantrum over the state of the vehicle, but to Xander it felt like home.

  “All right then, Captain,” he said, turning his back, with some reluctance, on a particularly filmy piece of feminine clothing draped over one of the jump seats. “Let’s talk business. Tell me about the job.”

  For the first time since she’d let him out of the box, she looked nervous. She perched on the edge of her chair and gave him a long look. “Several days ago I was called to Formia. You’ve heard of it?”

  “Once or twice,” he said dryly. In fact, he’d spent more than his fair share of time there. It was a good place to hide from the Syndicate goons.

  “There was a murder, and the locals didn’t have the resources. Computer, pull up the Formia crime scene images.” He was treated to some frankly gruesome images of a murder scene.

  “Deity,” he muttered.

  “That’s one way of putting it,” she said. “Upon examining the body, I realized we weren’t dealing with a standard murder. This death was the work of a serial killer.”

  “How can you be certain?”

  “Computer, bring up the other Tannen crime scene images.”

  The photos were truly horrible. He was going to have to scrub his brain with bleach later. But the similarities were clear. “Why haven’t I heard of Tannen?”

  “Because he’s smart. Really smart. Flies under the radar. Chooses victims without friends or family on backwater planets. No one to miss them. No one to put two and two together. Barely any law to investigate. It’s taken me nearly three years to put the pattern together. After he escaped from lockup, I was able to track him to a planet called Bharati, but I missed him by a few days and don’t know where he is. That’s why I need you.”

  So she needed a bloodhound, huh? Well, he could do that. He’d done worse.

  “Will you help?” Her eyes were wide, almost pleading. If he hadn’t already decided to assist, she’d have won him over then and there.

  He gave her a grim smile. “I brought down House Lodai. I can track a single killer.”

  “Don’t be so cocky,” she snapped. “This man is truly evil.”

  He gave her a long, slow look. “So am I.”

  ZALA WATCHED HER NEW rider out of the corner of her eye. Had she made the right decision bringing him onboard? She was suddenly doubting herself all over again. The man was a wanted felon. A terrorist, according to the Syndicate. Although to her way of thinking, House Lodai had needed to be destroyed. Corruption had run so deep in Lodai, it was like a festering rot, leaving no other option but to be cut it out or kill the entire body. Xander had done the universe a favor. Unfortunately those in charge hadn’t seen it that way. If he could bring down one House, he could bring them all down. Xander was far too dangerous to be let loose.

  Maybe they were right about that. But she needed him. Tracking had never been her strong suit. Solving crimes? Yes. Issuing justice? Sure. Not her favorite part of the whole thing, but she managed. Tracking hadn’t been part of her training, although she’d managed to follow Tannen so far. She suspected that was because he’d let her. Going forward, she couldn’t count on that.

  Why did Xander have to be so good looking? She shifted uncomfortably in her chair. It had been a long while since she’d spent time with a man other than Audley, who was like a brother to her. Besides, she was totally not his type. He like them big, blond, and male.

  She impatiently tapped her nails on the armrest. Waiting wasn’t her strong suit either, but she couldn’t seem to settle into anything. She had mounds of paperwork, but that held zero interest. She could clean up the place, but that seemed futile. It’d be a mess in five minutes. She could take a nap, but she was too geared up to sleep.

  She snuck another quick look. Xander had her on edge. She’d never felt such instant attraction to anyone. It needed to stop. He was here to do a job. That was all.

  “Captain.” Audley’s interrupted her train of thought. “I’m getting a distress call from the freighter Invigor.”

  That was a dumb name for a freighter. “Put it on the comms.”

  A voice crackled over the system. “Mayday, mayday. This is the Syndicate freighter Invigor. We are in need of assistance.”

  “Ivigor, this is Captain Zala Lei of the Syndicate rider ship Infinite Justice. How may we be of assistance?”

  There was a pause and then a second voice was heard, filled with relief. “Thank deity, Captain. This is Captain Marcus Rule. My nav officer is sending you coordinates.”

  “What appears to be the problem, Captain?”

  Another pause. “We seem to have a murderer on board.”

  Chapter Eleven

  ZALA’S BOOTS HIT THE deck. The sound rang in the stillness of the freighter’s docking bay. The massive ship allowed the Justice to dock within it, so they skipped the whole spacewalk rigmarole. Zala didn’t mind one bit. The vastness of space freaked her out. Give her a good, solid life support system any day.

  “What do we do?” Xander asked, appearing by her side. He was still wearing that ridiculous kilt.

  “You let me do the talking. You observe and record.”

  He shrugged. “Seem
s like underutilization of my skills but whatever.”

  She whirled on him. “Listen very carefully. The last thing we need is for the Syndicate to get wind I’ve got an unauthorized rider. I’m the captain. I do the investigating. You observe and report. Ya ken?”

  He looked amused. “Ken.”

  “I’m only bringing you along in case we find something that will help you track Tannen. That’s it. Tannen is your objective. Anything else is mine.”

  He held up his hands in surrender. “Got it, boss lady.”

  She shot him a glare and stomped to the interior doors. They slid open to reveal what she assumed was the captain and some sort of honor guard. Or maybe they were a real guard. Either way, they looked more like thugs than anything else.

  The oldest of the half dozen men stepped forward and held out his hand. “Captain Lei?”

  “Captain Rule.” She gave his hand a firm shake. Not too hard as to show off, but firm enough he knew she wasn’t to be taken lightly. “Please take me to the body.”

  “This way.”

  She kept stride beside him as he filled her in on the details. “Marlana Tijan was one of my best officers. I can’t believe this happened.” He shook his head, distraught. Dark circles under his eyes gave him a haunted look.

  “When did you discover her?”

  “Minutes before you answered our hail. The ship’s doctor believes she’s been dead about four hours.”

  “No one missed her?”

  “She was off duty. Everyone would have assumed she was sleeping or, uh, otherwise occupied.”

  “Got it.” The visual was unfortunately clear. “Who found her?”

  “My first officer. When she didn’t appear for duty, he went to get her. She wasn’t the sort who was late. He found her in her cabin.” He went a little gray.

  “Why aren’t I talking to him?”

  “He had to be sedated.”

  Oh goodie, a wussy first officer. Xander cleared his throat behind her. She could almost feel his mockery radiating. She ignored him.

  “This way,” Captain Rule said, holding open a door for her.

  She entered a small medical bay crammed with equipment and a single bed. A middle-aged woman with iron-gray hair and a face unaltered by upgrades stepped forward. Her white coat had a small brownish smudge on one sleeve. Blood.

  “Doctor Havari,” Captain Rule said in a loud, blustery voice, “this is Captain Lei. She’s here to investigate the, ah, incident.”

  The doctor nodded. “Welcome, Captain. I’m glad someone has the stones to investigate this thing.” She threw Rule a nasty look. Clearly she didn’t think much of her commanding officer. “If you’ll come with me, I’ll show you the body.”

  “Thank you.”

  She led Zala and Xander through a second door into a chilly room. Zala noted that Rule and his men didn’t follow. She could understand the doctor’s derision.

  “Rule said you examined the body and concluded she’d been killed approximately four hours before discovery,” Zala said, wanting to confirm the information she’d been given.

  Havari nodded. “That is correct.”

  “Were you able to ascertain the method of death?”

  Havari looked grim. “See for yourself.” She pulled back the edges of the body bag.

  Zala barely held back a gasp. She would never have known the body inside the bag was female if Rule hadn’t told her. The woman’s face had been bashed beyond recognition. She barely looked human.

  “You’re certain this is Marlana Tijan?”

  “Absolutely. The DNA tests confirmed it,” the doctor assured her.

  Zala glanced at Xander. He was perfectly calm, unfazed by the gore as he took in everything about the scene. Maybe he would work out after all.

  If this was Tannen’s handiwork, he was escalating. He usually left the faces alone.

  She turned back to the doctor. “Other than the head wounds, were there any other injuries?”

  The doctor opened the bag farther, revealing the dead woman’s chest. Across it were neatly carved a dozen parallel lines.

  Shiyat. Shiyat. Shiyat. “Was Marlana enhanced?”

  The doctor frowned. “You mean genetically? No. That’s illegal.”

  “No. I mean did she have implants? Nanos?”

  “Oh, yes, of course. She got them for strength enhancement. Made her stronger than most men. Faster, too. Very useful when loading and unloading the ship.”

  Zala closed her eyes, sucked in a breath, then opened them. Certainty skittered through her. “It’s Tannen.”

  Havari’s eyes widened. “Mikhail Tannen? You’re sure?”

  “Certain. You’ve heard of him?”

  “Unfortunately, yes,” Havari said as she zipped up the body bag. “I was stationed on Dalcon 6 when he killed his first victims.” She shook her head. “Everyone was talking about it. People were terrified. Three bodies and then he disappeared as if he’d never been, only to pop up later and kill again. I thought he died during the prison ship explosion.”

  “So did everyone else,” Zala said.

  The doctor gave her a look edged in horror. “Do you mean to tell me he’s been travelling the stars, killing women all this time?”

  “That’s exactly what I believe he’s been doing.”

  The doctor frowned. “But how could he have been here? This ship is pretty big, but there aren’t enough crew aboard that I wouldn’t have seen him at some point. And believe me, I’d have recognized him.”

  “He wouldn’t have been crew. He would have come aboard no more than a week ago, likely asking for assistance, claiming his ship was damaged.”

  The doctor clutched her med pad to her chest, a scowl furrowing her brow. “If so, I haven’t heard anything. According to protocol, I should have been informed immediately under such circumstances.”

  Zala nodded. It was as she thought. Tannen had probably entered some other way. “I’m going to get to the bottom of this. I’m going to find Tannen, and when I do, I will deliver justice.”

  “Good.” The doctor’s expression was grim. “There is only one cure for viruses like Tannen. It can’t come soon enough.”

  WATCHING ZALA WORK was an eye opener. She was focused in a way Xander had never witnessed, her sharp mind hopping from one thing to the next, making connections. He could almost see the wheels in her brain turning.

  It was such a turn-on. He willed himself to chill before he got a tent in his kilt.

  She strode from the med bay, her flight suit pulling tight across her ass. It was a very nice ass, too. Rule was waiting for them in the hall, skin a suspicious shade of green. Xander suspected he didn’t have cause to deal with dead bodies much, and Marlana Tijan’s murder had been particularly gruesome. It looked like Tannen was losing control, which might help them catch him. “Captain Rule,” Zala’s tone was whip sharp. “Did you at any time in the last several days or weeks bring aboard a non-crew member?”

  “Um....”

  “Anyone at all?”

  “No. No one.”

  “Did you answer a hail? A distress beacon? Anything?”

  He shook his head.

  “What about stops? Did you dock anywhere?”

  “We didn’t dock.”

  She was practically scenting the air like a wolf scenting its prey. It was amusing and sexy.

  “What did you do, Captain Rule?”

  The man swallowed nervously. “We stopped at the space station Valmont three days ago. It’s too small to dock a ship of our size, so we orbited it for a few hours while the crew took the shuttle over for some recreation and to obtain supplies. We left two days ago.”

  “Could anyone have come aboard while you were in orbit?”

  “I don’t see how.” The man sounded panicked. Sweat beaded his receding hairline.

  “Why don’t you check.” It wasn’t a request.

  Rule nodded and hustled down the corridor, leading them across a large bridge to the captain’s quarte
rs. The man sank into a chair behind a desk and pulled up a rickety old comp that was at least a decade out-of-date.

  “Computer, show all security footage for the time period the Invigor was at Valmont. External cams only. Display on screen.”

  “Working,” the computer responded in a flat, mechanical voice.

  A moment later the computer played several vids captured from outside the Invigor. In the distance was the space station. It was small, rundown, and not a Syndicate station, which was interesting. The Syndicate didn’t much care for competition. Xander wondered if they even knew about it.

  Something caught his eye. “There,” he said, tapping the screen.

  A small object had separated from the station and headed toward the ship. It was barely bigger than a shuttle and quickly passed from view.

  “Computer, rewind two seconds, freeze, and expand image,” Rule ordered.

  “Working.”

  An enlarged image of the ship appeared. It was definitely a ship, small but flight worthy, and faster and lighter than a shuttle. There were no markings to indicate ownership, and the paint job had been an attempt to partially camouflage it.

  “Tannen,” Zala said.

  “How is this possible?” Rule asked. “Surely we would have noticed if a ship had docked.”

  “Not if he didn’t dock. See that protrusion here?” She tapped the screen. “That’s a hatch. With the right equipment, he could attach himself to the outside of your ship, drill in, do his dirty work, and then leave without you ever knowing he’d been here.”

  “But why my ship? Dozens of ships dock at Valmont every day.”

  Xander could practically see those wheels turning again. He repressed a grin. Deity, she was sexy.

  “Did Marlana visit Valmont?” she asked.

  “Of course.” “Then there’s your answer. Tannen saw her on the station, discovered the name of her ship, and came ahead to lie in wait until the perfect moment to commit his crime.”

  “But why was that the perfect moment?” Rule asked.