Death Defying (Dark Desires) (22 page)

Chapter Twenty-two

Tannis decided to wait until Devlin arrived before they discussed the plan in any more detail. He expected to intersect within a couple of hours.

Daisy was doing her best to watch for anyone coming after them and also gather whatever intel they could find on Trakis Four, but they missed Janey’s expertise.

Jon was not doing well, but Tannis was sure that once they had a decent plan, he would pull himself together. Callum was confident he could take the ship, and she trusted him. Besides, she had the worst goddamn headache of her life. She had a feeling that time was running out and just hoped she would hang on until what was left of her crew was safe. After that, anything would be a bonus.

She took herself to the medical center—at least she could treat the symptoms. After dosing herself on the strongest painkillers she could find, she followed with a couple of antinausea pills because she felt sick, and she never reacted well to drugs, so chances were she was going to feel sicker any moment.

Lying down on the high cot, she closed her eyes and waited for everything to work. She supposed things could be worse. If she’d gone ahead with the treatment on Trakis Seven, her whole crew would probably be dead, and she’d face an eternity of guilt instead of what she was beginning to realize was days, rather than months or years. She could almost sense the poison in her system eating away at her. It was moving too fast. At the back of her mind, she’d had this hope that they would rescue Alex and there would be time. Time enough… She cut off the thought; it was unlikely now. She was dying.

Her headache faded, and she must have dozed off, because when her lids flickered open, she found Callum perched on the edge of the cot beside her.

“I didn’t want to wake you, but Devlin’s just boarding, and I thought you’d want to know.”

She sat up and ran a hand through her hair—at least the headache was gone. “Hey,” she said, “there’s time enough to sleep when you’re dead.”

Pain flashed across his face, and she wished she could bite back the words. Callum was trying hard to get over his bout of self-pity, and she should be helping, not making wise-ass comments about dying. But in a second, the expression was gone. He appeared to have regained his composure, and she was glad. He needed to be strong and focused right now.

She swung her legs over the side of the cot, stood, and swayed, so she had to balance herself. Callum put out a hand to help her, but she shrugged it off and straightened.

“Are you feeling worse?” he asked.

“No, actually I feel better. I’m just drugged up to the eyeballs. Go see if you can get me a stimulant. They should be in that drawer over there.”

“Are you sure you should take more drugs?”

She just looked at him, and he went to get her drugs. It was a real pity they didn’t have more time—if only she had him around longer, she might have gotten him trained.

“Pills or needle.”

Tannis shuddered. She hated needles—they reminded her too much of her childhood and all the tests and experiments, but she needed this to work fast. “Needle,” she said.

Callum handed her a syringe. Without allowing herself to think, she jabbed the needle into the muscle of her upper thigh. The effect was almost instantaneous, and she closed her eyes as energy flooded her body.

She crossed over to the small sink and ran the water, splashing her face, then patting it dry. For a second she stared at herself in the mirror, but she looked the same, and she turned away.

“Come on. Let’s go save the day, one last time.”

…

Devlin was already in the meeting room when they entered, sitting beside Skylar, his head leaning in close, talking to her in a low voice. He glanced up as Tannis entered with Callum close behind, then rose to his feet. A small frown played across his face as he stepped toward her. Tannis studied him; he appeared no different until she looked closely. Then the signs of grief were obvious—his eyes shadowed, the scar a vivid slash down his cheek, lines bracketing his grim mouth.

“I’m sorry,” she said, as he came to a halt in front of her.

“Not your fault.”

Well, that wasn’t exactly the truth. She glanced behind him at Skylar, who gave a small shake of her head. Tannis presumed that meant Devlin was unaware of Tannis’s part in the Trog’s death. “What have they told you?”

“Not much, just that he was shot trying to save Janey.” He considered her, his head cocked to one side. “Snake-lady, did you know you look like shit?”

“She’s fine,” Callum said, resting a hand on her shoulder and drawing her back against him. She thought about pulling away, but the solid strength of him behind her felt too good.

“No, she’s not. So are you going to tell me what it is I don’t know?”

Tannis sighed. She really didn’t want to go into this right now, but maybe Devlin deserved to know. If it weren’t for her, his brother would, in all likelihood, still be alive. She just hoped that by the end of this conversation, he still wanted revenge on the Church more than he wanted revenge on her. She wouldn’t blame him for hating her.

“Let’s sit down.” She gestured to the chair he’d just vacated and followed him across, sinking into the seat opposite with the low table between them. Staring over his shoulder for a minute, she considered what to say.

“So?” Devlin prompted.

She spoke quickly, confessing everything, then waited for the condemnation to come. Instead, his eyes filled with pity, and she clenched her teeth.

“So that’s what’s the matter with you—you have the Meridian poisoning?”

“Yes.”

Devlin pinched the bridge of his nose, his expression bleak. “You know, we used to talk about it, Tris and me, about how with the lives we lived, there was never much hope we’d die in our beds. Tris was never cut out for this life, but at least he died for someone he cared about. I don’t blame you, and I have no intention of killing you, but that bastard, Hatcher, is going to die.”

Daisy appeared at that moment, waving a bottle in her hand. They all looked at her and some of the tension seeped from the atmosphere. “I got this from Rico’s cabin. It’s almost the last.” She placed it on the table, then leaned across and kissed Devlin on the cheek. “I’m sorry about the Trog. He was really brave.”

“Thank you.”

She nodded, then went to fetch glasses from the cabinet at the edge of the room. After pouring the drinks, she perched on the seat on the other side of Skylar, twirling a stand of long green hair. Her skin was a pale, sickly green. She was taking this hard, but then she had hero-worshipped Rico.

“Where’s Jon?” Tannis asked.

“Still in his cabin.”

“No, I’m not.” Jon stood in the doorway. He didn’t look good, but at least he was still human, and the feral glint had gone from his eyes. He lowered himself into the seat next to Callum, stretched his long legs in front of him, and reached across for a glass. He swallowed the amber liquid in one gulp. “So how are we going to do this?”

Tannis turned to Callum. “Why don’t you explain?”

Callum nodded. “Right now,
The Endeavor
is on her way to Trakis Four—”

“The Endeavor
?” Devlin cut in.

“She’s the Collective’s new flagship. Top-of-the-range stealth technology. Anyway she’s on her way to destroy the Church’s headquarters, and we plan to steal her.”

Tannis relaxed, sipped her drink, and let the rich tones of his voice wash through her. He had a beautiful voice and a way of talking that made everyone pay attention and sit forward in their seats. He was a born leader, that was obvious, and she couldn’t help but wonder what he would do after…after she was gone. And after he had fulfilled his promise to see her crew right. Would he go back and rule the Collective? He’d said he’d come to hate the job, but maybe he’d just needed a break so he could see things clearly.

“How do we steal her?” Devlin asked. “I’m presuming she must have firepower far superior to anything we can put together.”

“I’ll sort that out,” Callum said.

“Will you?” Devlin frowned. “Why would you go against your own people?”

“He will,” Tannis said. “Trust me.”

Devlin gave him a long look but then nodded.

A brief smile flickered across Callum’s face. “Okay, so we board her and between us we’ll work out how to fly her. Then we take her in to Trakis Four using the stealth technology. Meanwhile, Devlin can create a diversion with
El Cazador
and any of his people who can get there on time.”

“No.”

Callum turned to Devlin and raised an eyebrow. “No?”

“I want to be in the landing party. I want a chance at Hatcher. Tris was my brother.”

“He’s right.” Skylar spoke for the first time. “Besides, we’ll need him. The captain’s not up for this.” She glanced at Tannis as if expecting her to argue. Tannis opened her mouth, then snapped it shut again. Skylar was right, and it would be another day before they made it to the planet. Who knew what state she’d be in by then? Skylar continued, “We’ll need Devlin. That will make three of us, me, Jon and Devlin. Jon will shift—he’ll be able to find Alex better that way, but he’ll need us to watch his back and probably fight our way out of there.”

“I’m going in,” Callum said.

Everyone turned to look at him.

“I hope this isn’t some guilt-fueled suicide mission,” Devlin said.

“Hardly—I’m not that easy to kill. But I think I can be of some help. I’ve been to the Church’s headquarters before on diplomatic missions. I know my way around the place better than any of you.”

“He’s right,” Jon said and Tannis glanced at him in surprise. She’d thought he still hated Callum, just for being part of the Collective. But he nodded to Callum, instead. “Thank you. I know the only reason we’re doing this is to get Alex.”

“Not the only reason,” Devlin growled.

“Yes, but we could wait for a better time for revenge, whereas we need to get Alex now. I can feel her, and she’s hurting.”

“She’s a member of the crew,” Tannis said. “So we go after her; it’s a simple as that.”

They started discussing details, and Tannis let the conversation wash over her. It felt odd to think of them going on a mission without her. She didn’t think she’d ever been left behind before. If she wasn’t careful, she was in danger of becoming sad and pathetic.

She almost jumped when Callum reached across and rested his hand on her thigh. He squeezed gently. The touch was in no way sexual. She knew it was meant to comfort her, and the thought made her want to cry. She concentrated on keeping herself together. Finally, it was over.

“That’s it then—all we can do is wait until we intercept
The Endeavor
. And hope that we don’t just fly straight past her.”

…

Callum wanted nothing more than to just take Tannis to bed and hold her. She was being so brave, but occasionally he saw flashes of fear in her yellow eyes. He peered at her sideways, but she caught the look and scowled.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Just concentrate on what you need to do.”

What he needed to do was work with Daisy to set up the search frequencies so they wouldn’t miss
The Endeavor
when she got within distance. He wanted to leave contacting Captain Harris until the last moment. While he presumed the Council had told Harris he was to pick Callum up, he also suspected they would have given him instructions to destroy
El Cazador
. The ship had been a pain in the Council’s butt for too long now. It was unlikely they’d let her sail happily on her way when they had a chance to blow her to pieces. So he’d prefer to take
The Endeavor
and her captain by surprise. Not easy with a virtually invisible ship.

Two hours later, the bridge was empty except for Tannis and him. Everyone else had gone to try and get some sleep. She was flopped in a chair, yawning.

“You want to go to bed?” he asked.

“Hell no, there’s—”

“Time enough to sleep when you’re dead. I know.”

He was trying hard not to think about the whole dying thing, because if he did, he wouldn’t be able to function. There were times over the past few centuries when he’d regretted his immortality. He hadn’t wanted to die exactly, but living had seemed more of a chore than a good thing. Strangely though, even now he didn’t want to die. If Tannis died, the future was going to be bleak for a long time to come, but all the same, he wanted to live. He had to save Alex for her, then look after the crew, then maybe even go back and put the whole world to rights.

“What are you thinking?”

He glanced across at Tannis who, head cocked to one side, watched him.

“That you’ve taught me so much,” he said. “Given me a purpose in life again—thank you.”

She smiled. “Good, now finish your work.”

He turned to the console and did a scan, but there was nothing showing up, and he adjusted the sensors—still nothing. The trouble was
The Endeavor
was good. When he looked again, Tannis’s eyes were closed. He pressed his comm unit and got Daisy.

“Yes,” she said sleepily.

“Are you okay to come up and watch the scanners for a while?”

“Of course. I’ll be right there.

Five minutes later, she appeared in the doorway. As she glanced at Tannis, a frown flickered across her face. “Is she all right?” she whispered.

“Just sleeping.”

Callum picked Tannis up in his arms. She didn’t wake but snuggled close to him. Her skin was blue white with a fine sheen of sweat, and her lashes were dark against her pale cheeks. He hated to see her so vulnerable when she’d always been fiery and vibrantly alive.

“Shower,” she murmured as he lowered her to the bed.

He slowly peeled off her clothes, kissing her bare skin. He needed her, but was afraid she was too ill, and he should leave her alone. But as he cupped her breast, she moaned low in her throat.

“Don’t stop.” Covering his hand with hers, she held it against her.

After a few seconds, he pulled free, finished undressing her, then picked her up and carried her into the small bathroom. He turned on the water to hot, then stepped into the shower. It was a close fit with his wings, but he could hold her in the spray with one arm around her waist as he soaped her body with the other. He stroked over the softness of her breasts, lingering on the tips as her nipples tightened under the attention. Then down the flat plane of her stomach, almost concave now, her ribs clearly visible under the translucent skin, to the silky curls at the base. She opened her legs as his fingers drifted through the curls, sliding between the folds of her sex to find her warm and wet.