Colliding Worlds Trilogy 03 - Explosion (24 page)

“We’ll bring her back.”

Laze headed toward the door. “I’ll see you at the hangar.”

“Laze?”

“Yeah?”

“What’s
‘ta eani’
mean?”

Laze stopped cold. “It means ‘my heart.’” He turned and watched Jax for too long. Then he smiled, though it was strained. “We’ll get her back safely. No matter what it takes.”

Talla let go of Meyt’s hand as soon as they stepped inside his room. “I can’t believe no one was suspicious,” she said.

Meyt shrugged. “They’re probably just happy to see us together again. They’d heard you shacked up with a human and were worried you’d be a lost cause.”

Jax
. Emotions roiled within her. In this case, the rumor mill was true. “Shacking up” was all it had ever been. She lifted her head higher. “That was nothing. It’s over now.”

“Good.” Meyt stepped forward. Then took another step, forcing Talla to take a step back. He continued until her back was pressed against the wall. Lifting her chin, he lowered his head and kissed her. When she made no move to pull away, his kiss went from tentative to deeper and more passionate.

They’d done this many, many times before. After all, Meyt was the ideal Draeken. Tall, strong, gorgeous in a militant sort of way, smart, and he was incredible in bed. But this was the first time his kiss felt wrong.
Empty
. It wasn’t Meyt. His kiss was as perfect as ever. Talla had changed. She frowned, then pressed her palms over his heart and gently pushed him away.

He backed up and looked at her. “Thought so,” he said and turned away so quickly that she’d nearly missed the glimpse of hurt in his eyes.

“Meyt … ”

He held up a hand. “Otas would’ve known we were on board the moment we landed. He’ll demand me to update him soon. He’s superstitious. He uses twelve rooms, changing the room he stays in every day, so now we wait until he notifies me which room to come to.”

“It would be so much easier if he didn’t disable his tracking on his wrist-com.” Talla watched as he went about checking his weapons. She ran her fingers over a painting he’d done several years back. “Why are you helping me?”

He turned to face her, his brows furrowed in confusion.

“I need to know that I can count on you. I mean, you’ve served as Otas’s right hand for a year. Why the sudden change?”

Meyt opened his mouth to speak and snapped it shut. After what seemed to be a long internal debate, he went to his wall screen and turned on a sound dampener. Then, he approached her, held her close, and talked quietly in her ear. “We all knew Hillas’s days were numbered, but we were counting on Roden taking over. The thought of Otas never crossed my mind, never crossed anyone’s mind. No one paid him any attention.” He lowered his head. “That was our mistake.”

“What happened?”

“A few days before Hillas was killed, Otas impersonated Hillas and had everyone on the
Grax
take
pika
injections, under the pretense that they were inoculations.”

Talla covered her mouth with her hand. “I had no idea.”

Meyt pulled back and frowned, his next words coming out softly. “You thought I’d willingly follow an imposter?”

“No, maybe, I don’t know,” she stammered, running a hand through her hair. “I guess I didn’t give it much thought.” She paused. “He also injected all of Hillas’s guardsmen on the Earthside base, didn’t he? That’s why all you follow him, that’s the reason, isn’t it.”

Meyt pursed his lips before giving a solemn shake of his head. “No, he didn’t inject everyone. Just a few.”

Confusion and anger pressed her brows together. “I don’t get it. Why would you stand by and watch all the humans get scanned if you knew what Otas was doing? Did he threaten to kill you if you don’t do what he says?”

Meyt glared, stepping away from her. “You think I give a
fyet
about what he could do to me?”

“What did he do?”

Meyt turned, paced the room a couple times, before facing her once again. “At Hillas’s Earthside base, the first time Otas gave me an order, I laughed in his face. You know what he did then? He pulled up a screen and had me watch as he killed a mother and her baby on the
Grax
. He laughed as they collapsed.”

Bile rose in her throat. Draeken numbers, especially females, were far too low already. To kill a mother
and
a child spoke of an incurable sickness. She knew Otas needed to die before. Now, she craved to kill him even more, to clean their race of his darkness. “That
monster
.”

“You don’t know the half of it.”

She watched Meyt pace, and dread crept in. “Was she yours?”

He glanced up. “No,” he replied quietly, before waving his hand in the air. “Just someone on the
Grax
. But they weren’t the enemy. It was a mother
.
An
infant,
for
fyet’s
sake. They died for no other reason than for Otas to prove that he was the one with the power.”

She stepped closer, placing her hand on his arm. “I’m so sorry.”

“They weren’t his first victims, and they won’t be his last.”

Talla thought for a moment. “I take it you’re not alone in wanting Otas dead?”

Meyt belted out a laugh. “He may hold the
Grax
by its balls, but there’s not a single person on this ship who willingly supports the imposter.” His wrist-com vibrated, and he jerked away. After a moment, he typed in something. “I’ve been summoned.”

Talla swallowed. “
Leghat?
” Meyt nodded. “He’s in a sanctuary on the fourth floor. It’s not a heavily populated floor. All the rooms around him are vacant, since if anyone gets within twelve feet of him, it sets off their
pika
programming. That you don’t have
pika
must be making him nervous because he specifically said for me to come alone.”

“Onto Plan B, then,” Talla said. She stepped forward, only to pause. “There’s still one thing I don’t get.”

“And that would be?”

“Why do you need me? You’re with him every day. You are one of the most talented guardsmen I’ve seen. There had to be a moment when you could’ve killed him before he set off the
pika
programming on anyone else.”

His lips thinned. “It wasn’t a risk I was willing to take.”

“Until now, you mean.”

He nodded tightly. “I didn’t know if we had support until now. The
Grax
will do the right thing once Otas is gone. I needed to know that they would be safe.”

“Hopefully they don’t put up much fight when the others come to free them.” She glanced at her wrist-com. “Speaking of which, we’d better hurry. We have twenty-six minutes. Roden wanted the troops to engage the
Grax
three minutes before the deadline. We need to have Otas contained before we breach the core ship’s force barrier. Knowing that Otas could kill nearly everyone on this ship with the press of a button makes it all the more critical to take him out of commission.”

Meyt double-checked his weapons. “You ready to do this?”

Talla checked her blaster and blades a final time and nodded. “
Leghat
.”
Show time.

They strolled into the hallway as a couple, Meyt’s clever ruse in getting Talla on board without suspicion. Holding hands, Talla felt like a poser. When it came to Meyt, they’d always been friends. Sure, they’d also had plenty of history, but that had been to relieve tension or pass the time. After all, war could drag on and on. But, she’d never imagined anything permanent with a man, let alone
wanting
to hold any man’s hand. With Meyt, it felt awkward. She tried to imagine Jax’s calloused hand wrapped around hers, and she knew somehow that they would fit perfectly together.

As they walked, something he said earlier nagged at her thoughts. “Exactly how is it that Otas can’t see me?”

“When Otas summoned me, I notified a com-tec to replay a video of me walking alone to this particular sanctuary.”

“How’d you know that he’d be in this particular room?”

“I didn’t,” he replied. “Otas is superstitious. He uses twelve different rooms. The com-tec made videos of me walking to each of the twelve rooms alone a few days ago.”

“Not bad,” she said, impressed. “Wait, so us holding hands is for everyone else’s benefit?”

“No,” he said with a boyish grin. “That’s for my benefit.”

She huffed and pulled free. She watched him and then chuckled. “You don’t change. You’re still one to take advantage of a woman’s situation.”

He shrugged. “You’ve changed. You used to like me taking advantage of your …
situation
.”

Touché
, she thought. But that had been before she’d met Jax. And everything changed.

When they reached the fourth floor, their mood sobered. Neither spoke until they reached the door Otas stood behind.

Meyt grabbed her arms. “Otas is like a rabid
fregee
. He’s vicious, but he’s not smart. But if he has any other guardsmen in there, don’t worry. They’ll follow my lead. No matter what he does, you must disable the system on his wrist-com. Do you understand? No matter what he does in there.”

Talla cocked her head. “You don’t need me for this plan. When we talked about this mission, why did you accept?”

He brushed a hair from her cheek. “I could never say ‘no’ to you.” His gaze bore into her for a moment. Then he planted a chaste kiss to her lips. “For luck.”

Before Talla could object, he swiped his wrist-com over the identification pad, and the door opened.

Inside, Otas lounged on an opulent sofa, no one else in the room. Meyt had been right — Otas trusted him.

Upon seeing Talla, Otas sprang forward. “What is this woman doing here?”

Meyt bowed. “Talla has come on board as my consort. I thought you should know she’d be staying on the
Grax
with us.”

Otas’s eyes narrowed. “Why didn’t she appear on the screens? What is going on here?”

Talla forced a fake smile and stepped forward. Adrenaline heightened her senses. “I simply wanted to present myself and ask for your blessing for me to stay.”

“Keep your distance, Talla Kohlm,” Otas commanded, reaching for his wrist-com. “Do not come any closer.”

“Talla means you no harm,” Meyt said from behind her.

Otas was still at least seven feet away. One good leap and she could be on him. She prayed it was close enough. She took one small step closer, watching the traitor fidget under her gaze.
Close enough
. Her smile became genuine. “What’s wrong, Otas? Upset because I didn’t take a
pika
injection?”

Otas glared at her and then at Meyt. “I believe you’ve outlived your usefulness, guardsman.”

“She doesn’t wish to be under your rule.” Meyt pulled out a blaster. “And neither do I.”

Otas screamed in frustration and looked down at his wrist-com. Talla lunged forward, pulling out a curved black blade the instant before she wrapped her arm around his throat. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” she murmured in his ear.

“
Nuleet
, Otas Olnek,” Meyt said. “The Grand Lord has found you guilty of treason.”

“Ha!” Otas yelled. “You kill me, and you kill everyone with
pika
programming.”

Talla tensed and she mentally kicked herself for not realizing the truth earlier.

“
Fyet
,” Meyt muttered, coming to the same conclusion as Talla.

Of course Otas would’ve wanted a safety measure for his own protection. “You’re willing to kill your own people … a quarter of the remaining Draeken blood for your insanity.”

“Of course,” Otas sneered. “If I’m dead, why would I care what happens to them?”

Talla looked up at Meyt. “Help me restrain him. If he can’t reach his wrist-com, he can’t set off the programming.”

Meyt grimaced, before leveling his gun on Otas. “I’m afraid I can’t come any closer, but I’ll cover you from here.”

Talla was just about to ask when the realization hit her. “You’ve been injected with
pika
.”

The distraction cost her. Meyt, fortunately, fired first. Otas screamed out, reaching for his wing that now sported a six-inch charred hole. Meyt hadn’t had time to switch his blaster from
kill
to
stun
. It was a dangerous gamble.

Talla tackled Otas to the ground and slammed her blade through his palm, pinning his arm with the wrist-com to the floor. He was strongly than she’d expected, and she remembered that Otas was actually much younger than Hillas Puftan had been, that he’d been surgically aged to become the Grand Lord’s doppelgänger. He managed to fling her off him, and she sailed several feet away.

“Don’t move, Otas!” Meyt yelled.

Rather than trying to free himself, Otas yanked out his blaster and began to fire madly. Meyt fired several times, hitting Otas once in the other arm, but it wasn’t enough to disarm him. Talla came back to her feet to find Otas shakily leveling the blaster point-blank at her chest with a look of pure cruel joy. It was a shot impossible to miss.

She couldn’t duck in time, so she knew to not even try. She jumped straight at Otas. Meyt flew forward the instant before Otas fired. Talla jerked, blinding hot pain burning her stomach. She stumbled forward. Otas was fighting to get out from under Meyt, who was no longer moving. It gave her time to switch her blaster to
stun
. Just as Otas shoved Meyt’s body off him, she stood over him, keeping both hands on the blaster to steady herself.

He laughed, reaching for his wrist-com. “They’re all going to die!”

She fired three shots into his chest.

His eyes widened as though he hadn’t expected her to shoot, before falling shut.

She fell to her knees with a wince. Every movement sent searing pain through her abdomen. With clinical detachment, she glanced down at the charred hole in her stomach. It hurt, but already the numbness was creeping in. The shot had hit several major organs. Without immediate repair, she was doomed.

With her vision already tunneling, she rummaged through her cargo pockets and pulled out black restraints. Leaving the blade embedded in the floor, she ripped Otas’s hand free and hogtied him, making sure to break several wing bones in the process. She cried out at the movement, but she didn’t stop.
Can’t risk him getting free
, she reminded herself when all she wanted to do was collapse.