Death Defying (Dark Desires) (14 page)

“They were GMs?” Tannis asked. She couldn’t see any sign of obvious genetic engineering in the Trog, but some just didn’t show and were able to hide what they were.

“Our mother was—that was enough for the bastards. Dev was only fourteen. I was six. He looked after me.”

“He also apparently went after the Church’s extermination squad and killed every last one of them,” Skylar added. “My God—he was only fourteen—that wasn’t in the files.”

“They deserved to die,” the Trog said, his tone harsh.

“Hey, I doubt you’ll get anyone arguing with that here. What was your mother’s GM mix?”

“She was part jaguar. It was obvious in her, and in Dev. Not so much in me though, which made it easier to hide. I don’t remember her that well, so I was never as bitter as Dev. Anyway, after he’d killed the Church’s people, he went in search of the Coalition and told them he wanted to join. He made it his whole life, dedicated himself to destroying the Church, and he rose quickly through the ranks.”

“And where did he stand on killing little children?” Alex asked.

“He was against it. He’s a good man.”

“Hmm.” Tannis knew you had to be ruthless to get to the top of an organization like the Coalition. Ruthless and dedicated. “Have you been in touch with your brother?”

“Not for ten years. But that won’t matter. He told me to come back when I was ready.”

“And are you ready?” Tannis asked.

“I was never very interested in the fighting. It was always engines that interested me.” A smile flickered across his face. “You know, Dev’s a brilliant engineer as well, but he got a little sidetracked—he taught me everything. Then I made the explosive device that blew up those children, and that act made us as bad as them. I couldn’t stay. But I do believe the Church has to be stopped.” The Trog glanced at Janey and shrugged. “Am I ready to go back? The truth is—I don’t know.”

Janey crossed to him and laid a scarlet nailed hand on his arm. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“It was as much mine as anyone’s.”

The look that passed between the two of them was interesting, but Tannis decided she would think about it later. Right now she needed to work out if this was a legitimate plan, or whether it was likely to get them all killed.

“But your brother is still dedicated to the cause?”

“As far as I know. I doubt he’ll ever give it up—he hates the Church.” He cast a glance toward Callum. Tannis followed his gaze. Callum still appeared a little green, but he looked a lot better than when he’d first arrived. “Dev hates the Collective as well. He says they’re as responsible as the Church for the purge.”

“How does he figure that?” Tannis asked.

“The Collective allowed the GMs to be downgraded to nonhuman status, which allowed the Church to kill us without legal repercussions, and they did nothing to stop the purge.”

Callum sat absolutely still in his seat, his expression blank, but he didn’t defend himself or the Collective.

“Yeah well, perhaps their leader was too busy to know what was going on,” Tannis suggested. “No doubt, you weren’t important enough for his illustrious attentions, and he delegated. I’ve heard he does that a lot.”

“Dev said one thing at a time, first the Church and then the Collective.”

“Hmm, so do you think he will help us? Maybe he’d like to see Trakis Seven destroyed.”

“Maybe. But he’d rather blow a few of the Church’s ships into space dust. Plus, if what he”—he waved a hand at Callum—“says is right and Meridian is finished, then it doesn’t matter, does it?”

That was true. “Okay, so how do we do this?”

“I have a code we set up when I left. I need to send it out and hopefully he should answer me straightaway.” He sat at one of the consoles and Janey stood at his side, one hand resting on his shoulder.

Tannis forced herself to relax. She sat down but couldn’t prevent her foot tapping on the floor, her fingers drumming on the arm of the chair, while she waited. She cast a sidelong glance at Callum, just as he leaned forward and picked up Rico’s bottle, topping off his glass. He caught her gaze and held out the bottle.

“Why not?”

He filled her glass and pushed it toward her.

“Anything yet?” she asked the Trog.

“It’s been less than a minute. I don’t even know where he is, whether they’ve been active.”

Tannis turned to Skylar. “What about you. You said this guy was on your most-wanted lists—you must at least try and keep track of what the Rebels are up to.”

“Small stuff, as far as I know,” Skylar said. “They’ve been quiet for a while. The consensus within the intelligence section of the Corps was that they were building up to something big. But we had no clue what. That was before I left, but I haven’t heard anything on the comms about them since then.”

Tannis took a sip of her drink. “And how well do you know this Devlin guy?”

“Well, I’ve read the files. You know we nearly caught him once?”

The Trog turned from where he stared at the screen as though willing it to give him something. “No, I hadn’t heard.”

“About five years ago. We nearly killed him, but he somehow gave us the slip. We’re pretty sure he was injured though.”

“Maybe he’s dead,” Tannis said, peering around the Trog at the blank screen.

“No. I’d know if he were dead.”

“Hey, something is happening.”

The screen was blinking. Tannis jumped to her feet so she could see the words flashing up.

Welcome back. Where and when?

The Trog turned around so he could see her. “Well?”

“It needs to be soon, and we don’t know where your brother is. Can you ask him?”

“I’d rather not. They tend to be a little touchy about giving away their location. Give me a time and a place and we’ll see if he can make it.”

“Janey, can you bring up that intel on the Church’s ship—we don’t have much time and we need to work out where to intercept it.”

Janey flicked a few keys and a 3-D screen came up in front of them. The planets of the Trakis system popped up one by one, the
El Cazador
appearing somewhere between Trakis Two and Seven. A second group of ships showed up close to Trakis Four. Tannis studied the configuration and tried to work out where would be the best place to intercept. She didn’t want to leave it too late, but on the other hand, they needed time to plan.

They also had no clue where the Rebels were based, so they might have to give a few locations before they hit one that worked. “Janey, can you put in the variables and give us a few suggestions to start with. Begin with the closest, and we’ll work our way out.”

…

Okay, so he was feeling like shit. Physically, the symptoms were fading, and he’d been starting to feel better when they hit him with the guilt thing again. He hadn’t thought he could experience guilt anymore. He’d actually believed it was part of the whole Meridian thing, a bit like the lack of sexual urges. But just like lust, the guilt had been in hiding, waiting for someone to wake it up with a few well-pointed comments.

Like he was responsible for the near genocide of a whole species.

Though the GMs weren’t really a separate species. They were as much human as…well as he was. Maybe more so, because he was still changing. Who knew what he would end up in another five hundred years? The idea excited him more than it scared him. Though it scared him, like the fear he’d felt going into combat when he was a pilot on earth. Fear of the unknown.

But back to the guilt. It was beginning to dawn on him just how much he had to be guilty about. The GM purge had been wrong, but the Council had referred to them as collateral damage, acceptable to maintain their precarious hold on power. The world thought they were all powerful, but it didn’t take much to sway the balance, and the Church had the masses behind them. All those people who knew they would never have the means to obtain immortality through Meridian. And it wasn’t only money that was required—the selection process had become strict when it was obvious that even at the exorbitant prices, there were still many more people applying than there was Meridian available.

But the need to maintain power didn’t justify anything. Why should they be in charge anyway? What made them believe they should rule the world just because they were immortal? All that meant was they could make the same mistakes over and over again.

They had forgotten that people mattered. Half the time, he hadn’t thought of them as people at all, just pieces in this game he was playing—the let’s-rule-the-universe game. He’d become distanced from everyone. Even his own people.

Christ, he was a self-pitying bastard right now.

Or maybe he was just drunk. On Earth, he’d been able to drink everyone under the table. But it had been a long time, and he could feel the alcohol like a buzz in his brain. He liked the feeling. Relaxing back in his chair, he sipped his drink and watched them all through half-closed lashes.

Tannis fizzed with energy; she was one of the most alive people he had ever encountered. At least, she hadn’t tried to kill him again, though the poison thing hadn’t been a serious effort—she’d just let him know very effectively that she wasn’t happy.

He wasn’t sure about this whole Rebel thing. He’d always considered them an unorganized rabble and not capable of being a serious threat. Look at the Trog and the balls-up that had ended with him hiding on
El Cazador
. They couldn’t even agree
who
to blow up.

But they didn’t have a lot of choices here.

“So,” Tannis broke into his thoughts, “while we’re waiting, what does everyone think about this? Anyone got any comments or concerns—vent them now.”

She stood in front of them, hands in her pockets, legs braced while she waited for answers. She was a good leader. She asked for advice and her crew would probably follow her anywhere, trusting her to do what was best for all of them. Unlike his Council, who hadn’t trusted him one little bit. And with good cause. For the first time, he realized he hadn’t actually given his Council’s wishes any thought. He’d merely disregarded them because their ideas weren’t in line with his own. Yes, they were scared and that had irritated him. But only because they disagreed with him, and he’d gotten used to doing exactly what he wanted.

“I’ve always thought the Rebels were a load of undisciplined amateurs,” Jon said. “But if the Trog vouches for this guy, then I’ll trust him.”

“Janey?” Tannis asked. “What about you?”

She glanced up from the console. “I’m with Jon—if the Trog thinks they’re okay, that’s good enough for me.”

Callum was getting the distinct impression that there was something between Janey and the reclusive engineer. Maybe not consummated yet but simmering just under the surface.

“Alex?”

Callum waited to hear what the little priestess had to say—she’d been part of the Church all her life, they were her people, presumably people she had known well, she must have strong feeling about this.

“I think they need to be stopped. Temperance Hatcher is a fanatic. The current guy in charge might be an asshole—” She waved a hand at Callum, and he winced. “But if he makes mistakes, it’s through laziness and stupidity not through evil, which is what Temperance is.”

He winced again at the stupidity comment, but he reckoned he deserved it.

“Fair enough,” Tannis said. “Rico?”

“Let’s go for it. Any chance of blowing a few religious types into dust is my idea of fun, and we can’t do this alone.”

“Well, looks about unanimous. What about you?” She was staring straight at him, and he realized with surprise that she was actually asking his opinion

He sat up straight and placed his glass on the table in front of him. “You mean I have a say in this? I’m just a lazy, stupid asshole.”

Tannis smiled sweetly, with her mouth at least, her yellow eyes remained cold. “Yes, but you’re our lazy, stupid asshole employer, after all.”

He’d asked for that. “I say we go for it. Unless you want to say good-bye to that Meridian treatment—it’s our only hope.”

“Yeah, but don’t try and convince me you’re doing this for me, because I won’t buy it. I think you’ve blown your chance at the Mr. Caring award. You want to go to Trakis Seven as much as I do.”

For a minute, they stared at each other. Callum had an almost overwhelming urge to defend himself, to say it wasn’t his fault. But that would be a lie. Or maybe that he would try and do better in the future. But perhaps that was a lie as well. The truth was he’d always been a selfish bastard and done exactly what he wanted. Back on Earth, they’d called him a hero, but really, he’d only been doing something he loved. But he
wanted
to do better, and the thought surprised him. He just wasn’t sure he was capable of it, so he kept his mouth shut. Anyway, he reckoned words would be meaningless. He’d have to show her somehow.

“Okay, Captain,” Janey said. “I’ve got five coordinates where we could meet and still have time to intercept the ship before it reaches Trakis Seven. You want me to send them.”

“Go ahead.”

Tannis sat down opposite him, while they waited.

Five minutes later, Janey glanced up and grinned. “Okay, looks like we’re on. Second option. Hmm, they must be quite close.”

“Where and when is option two?”

“Twenty-four hours from now, on our most direct course to Trakis Seven.”

“So we meet in space.”

“Yes. Is that okay?”

“It’s fine. Better really, we can see what we’re up against—less chance for them to take us by surprise.”

“Dev won’t do anything underhanded,” the Trog said.

“Maybe, but you haven’t seen him in ten years, and I’m not taking any chances.” She rubbed her hands together. “Looks like we’re back in business.”

Callum tried to feel enthusiastic, but all he really wanted to do was lie down.

Chapter Eleven

Tannis paced the floor of the large meeting room while they waited for Devlin Starke to appear. He’d been dealing with something when they’d boarded and would be with them as soon as he could. Tannis tried to curb her impatience, but she’d never been any good at that.

So far, she was impressed with what she had seen. The ship was immaculate and appeared to be well run. She was a Mark Three cruiser like
El Cazador
, though her design and decor were more functional, less luxurious, but that was Rico’s influence.

They’d decided to keep the boarding group small, plenty of time for the Rebels to meet the rest of the crew if they agreed to help. And she was by no means convinced they would. She could only hope that they would see enough benefit in destroying the ship and hindering the Church’s plans for ultimate power.

So it was just her, Rico, and the Trog. Callum had wanted to come, but she had pointed out, quite reasonably—well reasonably for her anyway—that he might not be one of Devlin Starke’s favorite people, and their chances were better if he stayed in the background. He’d agreed—albeit reluctantly. She didn’t think Callum was a background sort of person.

Callum had been acting a little weird. If she hadn’t known him better, she would have presumed he was feeling guilty. He mostly remained in his cabin, but did join them for meals, where he stayed quiet and just watched them, usually with a slight frown on his face as though he didn’t know what to make of them. His girlfriend hadn’t shown herself, whether through choice or because Callum had ordered her to stay out of the way, Tannis didn’t know. But she was glad. Venna and her “angel” face might have been a little too much to stomach.

The door slid open, and she turned to look at the man who stood in the entrance. He hesitated a moment, spoke a brief aside to somebody behind him, then entered the room alone. He bore very little resemblance to the Trog. His hair, mainly black with streaks of blond, was pulled into a ponytail showing off his sharp cheekbones and slanted blue-green eyes. Cat’s eyes—they were the only thing he shared with his brother. He was a handsome man, but with a hard, ruthless stamp to his features, further enhanced by the scar that ran from his right eyebrow, down his cheek to the corner of his mouth, giving him a perpetual sneer. She wondered why he had never had it corrected; maybe he knew it gave him an amazingly sexy and dangerous look. The thought surprised her. Since when had she noticed that men were sexy?

He strolled toward them. Where the Trog was lanky, he appeared perfectly proportioned, with long legs and broad shoulders. He moved like a cat, on the balls of his feet, graceful for such a big man. The Rebels didn’t wear a uniform, but he was dressed in khaki pants tucked into combat boots, and a short-sleeved T-shirt. A weapons belt was strapped to his waist, and his hand rested lightly on the grip of his laser pistol.

“You’re staring,” Rico murmured from beside her.

Luckily, it didn’t matter. Devlin Starke’s attention was all on the Trog. He came to a halt in front of his brother, and suddenly his deadpan expression melted and he grinned. “Welcome home, Tris.”

Tannis turned to Rico. “Tris?” she mouthed the question.

“Tristan Starke,” he murmured. “You didn’t think his name was really the Trog did you?”

She hadn’t actually thought about it at all, but now that she did, it did seem unlikely.

“I’m not actually home as such…” the Trog replied.

“It’s good enough for me. I missed you, bro.” He wrapped his arms around his brother, hugging him tight. After a moment, the Trog’s arms came out and he hugged him back.

“I missed you, too. I just thought it was easier this way. If you knew where I was, you might have come after me.”

“I always knew where you were.”

“You did?”

Devlin nodded and stepped away, turning his gaze to her and Rico. Tannis did her best to keep her features expressionless.

“So, Tris, are you going to introduce me?”

“Sure, this is Tannis, captain of
El Cazador
.”

Devlin held her gaze. His green-blue eyes had little flecks of gold in them and a dark green circle around the iris. His lips curled into a slow smile, banishing the sneer.

“Snake-lady…nice.” His voice was a rough purr, and a shiver ran through her. When he held out his hand, Tannis slid her palm into his warm hard one. He clasped it for longer than necessary, and Tannis didn’t pull away.

Rico coughed loudly. Devlin released her hand, but slowly, his fingers sliding against hers, before focusing on the vampire. His eyes narrowed as though he couldn’t quite place who or what he was. Which was unsurprising. Not many people had come across a vampire before, and even less knew what they were facing. A few sensed the difference, that there was something not quite right, but most assumed he must be some form of GM.

“This is Ricardo Sanchez,” the Trog said. “Owner and pilot of
El Cazador
.”

“Rico is fine,” Rico said and thrust out his hand. Devlin took it but the contact was brief, and Rico raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you going to tell me
I’m
nice?” he asked.

Shit, Rico was going to be an asshole. Tannis sighed and waited, not even considering trying to deter him. When Rico wanted to be a dick, nothing was going to stop him.

But Devlin just smiled. “I suspect ‘nice’ isn’t a word used to describe you often.” He studied Rico, his head tilted to one side. “What are you?”

Rico grinned, flashing the tips of his sharp white fangs. “Guess?”

“Jesus,” Devlin muttered. “Nice friends you’ve got, Tris.”

“They’ve been good to me,” the Trog said.

Devlin pursed his lips but then nodded abruptly. “Why don’t we sit down and you can tell me just what you think we can do for you, and why the hell we should do it.”

He sank into a chair and rested one booted foot across his thigh, leaned back, and gestured to the empty seats around him.

Tannis took the seat opposite, Rico sat beside her, and the Trog took the chair next to his brother. Tannis tried to get her ideas together. Having met the man, she had to decide what was the best approach.

Direct, she decided as his fingers started tapping on the arm of his chair.

“We want you to help us intercept a ship.”

“And why should I do that?”

“Because it belongs to the Church, and you hate the Church.”

“Indeed I do. Tell me the rest.”

“There’s actually more than one ship. There’s the one we want destroyed and then five more guarding the main target. They’re all Mark One cruisers and heavily armed.”

“Where are they heading?”

“To Trakis Seven. Their aim is to destroy the planet, and the Collective’s source of Meridian.”

“And so destroy their power base and no doubt wrest control from the Collective. I heard they’re in chaos. Callum Meridian is missing and…” He broke off and frowned, then pressed the switch on his wrist and a small screen appeared. He read for a minute and then turned back to them. “I thought I recognized the name,
El Cazador
. It’s the ship that supposedly kidnapped Callum Meridian from Trakis Four.”

“We did not kidnap Callum Meridian.”

“Pity. I would have liked a chance to get at the bastard.”

Great, just great.

She decided to move past the subject of Callum for now. Time enough for that later. “So will you help us?”

“I might.” He got up and paced the room, moving with a feline grace that Tannis found very easy to watch. “I’ll need to get my inner circle to sign off on this, but I think they’ll go for it.” He glanced at his brother. “But I’m getting the distinct feeling that you haven’t told me everything yet. Tris? Anything else you want to add?”

The Trog glanced toward her, a question in his eyes, and she nodded. There was no point in trying to keep secrets if they wanted this man’s cooperation.

“There are two members of the Collective on board
El Cazador
,” Tris said.

Actually, there were technically three, if you included Venna, though if she stayed on her own shuttle…she supposed two was accurate enough.

“One is an ex-intelligence officer with the Corps—”

“Ex?” Devlin interrupted. “I thought once in, they never left.”

“Skylar’s different. But I trust her, she’s good people.”

Devlin ran a finger down the scar on his cheek. “You do know how I got this don’t you?”

Tris shook his head. But Tannis had a good idea.

“The fucking Corps. Set an ambush and nearly finished me off. They’re not my favorite people.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and scowled down at them. “And the other?”

The Trog grinned. “The other is Callum Meridian.”

“What? I thought you said you didn’t kidnap him.”

“We didn’t kidnap him. We’re working for him.”

His eyes narrowed, the greeny-gold icing over, and for the first time she saw the man who was the Collective’s “most wanted dead” terrorist. A little shiver ran through her.

“Let me get this straight,” he said, his tone equally icy. “You want me to help you do some sort of job for Callum Meridian?”

“Not exactly.”

“So explain.”

Tannis shrugged one shoulder. “Callum Meridian has employed us to take him to Trakis Seven. We’re not going to be able to do that if the Church blow the planet up before we get there. So we’re not asking you to help us take him there. We’re asking you to stop the Church from blowing up Trakis Seven. And you get to kill a few Church people in the meantime. What’s the big deal? Who do you hate the most, the Church, or Callum Meridian?

“It’s a toss-up.”

“No it’s not,” the Trog said. “And you know it. The Church came after you because of what you are. The Collective are after you because of what you’ve done. I always remember you telling me you have to be willing to take the consequences for your actions. You broke their laws.”

“The same stinking laws that said we were animals and the Church could do what they liked to us.”

“Maybe. That doesn’t change things.”

Devlin stared beyond them for long moments, and then he nodded abruptly. “I’ll take it to my people.”

“We’re on a timetable here.”

He gave her a long, measured look. “I’ll take it to my people…quickly.”

Tannis realized the meeting was over. Beside her, Rico pushed himself to his feet. As she got up to follow, Rico touched her lightly on the arm.

She glanced up into his face. “What?”

“You might want to hold off on the hand-holding if there’s a next meeting with this guy.”

“Why?” she snapped. “It was a perfectly normal greeting.”

“He was practically drooling over you, and you did nothing to discourage him.”

“Your point is?”

“Well, I’m guessing neither our new friend over there, or Callum for that matter, are the types to cope with jealousy very well. So don’t stir up trouble. You’re pissed off at Callum right now, but this is a complication we do not need.”

“I can’t believe you’re saying this to me.”

He grinned. “I can’t believe it myself. But seems I’m turning into something of a relationship counselor, these days.”

“I do not have a relationship, and I do not need counseling.”

“Just giving you the benefit of my experience.”

“Thanks,” she said sourly.

“I thought you were on a timetable?” Devlin stood in the doorway, clearly waiting for them.

Tannis shrugged off Rico’s hand and headed toward him, pushing past and out of the door. Then she came to a halt.

A woman stood on either side of the entrance. As Devlin emerged, they moved to stand on either side of him. Dressed similar to Devlin, in khaki pants and tight T-shirts, weapons at their waists, they looked like Amazons, beautiful but fierce.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us?” Tannis asked.

Devlin grinned. “My bodyguards. Shawna and Mara. They go everywhere with me.”

“Everywhere?” She fell into step beside him as they headed down the corridor toward the docking bay.

“Yup. They sleep at the bottom of my bed. And they think you might be a threat to my person.”

“Well, I’m not.”

“No?” He cast her an amused glance. “Pity.”

They arrived back at the shuttle, and he held out his hand again. She took it and allowed him to hold it longer than necessary just to rile Rico. Who the hell was he to give relationship advice? Before he’d met Skylar, Tannis had never known him to have a relationship that lasted more than a couple of hours. And most of those “relationships” had been paid for. He’d always said he preferred whores; he knew what he was getting and so did they. Well, maybe they hadn’t known exactly what they were getting.

“I’ll contact you as soon as I have an answer.” Devlin dropped her hand and turned to the Trog. “Will you stay and talk a while, Tris? I’ll see you get back to your ship whatever our decision.”

The Trog nodded. “That okay, Captain?”

She nodded. “Of course. We’ll see you later.”

Rico was already on the shuttle readying for takeoff and she hurried after him.

…

Devlin contacted them less than an hour after they got back to
El
Cazador
. Tannis had been pacing the floor of the bridge. She knew she was driving everybody crazy with her nerves, but she couldn’t help it.

“So what’s this guy, Devlin, like?” Skylar asked Rico. “Is he as bad as his reputation?”

“Ask Tannis,” Rico said. “She was holding hands with him.”

Skylar’s glance shot to her, and she raised her brows. Tannis ignored the look, and Rico’s comment, and the stare she received from Callum, who was slumped in a chair watching her pace. She could feel his eyes on her, hot, intense.

She hadn’t forgiven him. She doubted she ever would, but her rage had drained away. He hadn’t made any more attempts to justify himself, and she liked that, mainly because there was no justification.

“It’s the Rebels calling,” Janey said. “You want to talk to them? Or you want to pace a bit more?”

“I want to pace a bit more,” she snapped.

“Okay, I’ll ignore them.”

Tannis stopped her pacing and growled.