Authors: Lauren Dane
Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #Erotic fiction, #General, #Adult, #Erotica, #Mercenary troops
Mesmerized (5 page)
“I’m honored. Thank you, sir.” Warmth suffused him. Not the burst of heat from anger, but pride.
“The pay raise is modest at best. The hours are even longer. I’m not doing you much of a favor. But there’s no one I trust more.” Daniel turned his head a moment, speaking to someone out of screen range. “Get me that intel, Andrei.”
P
iper eased the zipper up, banking right to avoid an outcropping of deadly, jagged rock in the narrow canyon. Asphodel rarely felt as good as it did the first minutes she returned after making a merchandise run.
iper eased the zipper up, banking right to avoid an outcropping of deadly, jagged rock in the narrow canyon. Asphodel rarely felt as good as it did the first minutes she returned after making a merchandise run.
This one had brought with it a very healthy pile of credits and no small amount of work to evade the increased Federation military presence at all portal cities. The rogue portals the mercs favored would only remain secret a while longer.
And then prices would go even higher as the job got far more difficult.
But for the time being, the sun was going down, the horizon looked calm and they’d be home shortly.
It wasn’t until she’d come around the final edge of Bristina Canyon’s west edge that she took in the sight of a trail of vehicles approaching the compound. Her radar wasn’t tracking them at all, so she uttered a curse and commed in to her command center at the compound. The Imperialists were using radar dampeners, not a sign of people out for a friendly visit. If she hadn’t been flying over right then, they would have gotten closer to the compound before they’d have alerted her people.
“Company coming. I want it all locked down. Weapons hot. I’ll be there shortly.”
Behind her, Kenner strapped in as she got lower and headed to the landing pads.
“I don’t like this, Piper,” he muttered, checking his weapons.
“Like I do? Look, follow my lead, all right? Hold on to your ass.” Opting for speed over finesse, she touched down and jumped from the cockpit as soon as the engines quit.
Eiriq met them, tossing her a las-rifle. As weapons went it wasn’t sophisticated. But it could put a hole through anyone who got in her way, which was just the sort of message she wanted to send.
“Everyone is in place. We’ve got the kids down in the shelter with the pregnant women and the elderly.”
Taryn ran up. “There are more than you first thought, Piper. This is going to be a possible problem.”
She sighed at the sight of the dust plume rising from the convoy of vehicles approaching the compound. “You can tell none of the ones in front are soldiers. They may as well have voice projectors announcing their arrival.” She glanced at Taryn. “We may have to call in some help. Be ready.”
The high, solid fencing surrounding the compound halted the vehicles’ movement.
“Cover me,” she called out, keeping to the edges of the buildings as she moved closer.
The lead conveyance opened, and Minister Cheney got out, sneer firmly in place.
“I believe I did tell you we’d be back and you’d regret not taking our offer earlier,” he called out. “Why don’t you let us in so we can discuss this privately.”
“I have no intention of inviting you into my home. I said no. I mean no. I’m not interested in what you’re peddling.”
One of the others, this one clearly a soldier of some sort, identifiable by the way he carried himself, approached the gate, pulling a weapon free.
Kenner stepped up, swinging the barrel of his blaster straight up, making his intentions unmistakable.
“Supreme Leader Fardelle does not favor these sorts of games. He is busy. Far too busy for this. Now open these gates so we can broker this contract and I can quit this place.”
Driven to anger, she spoke her mind. “I don’t give a care for your offers or your murderous boss. What your Fardelle does or doesn’t want is nothing to me and mine.” She said it loud and very clear. Her people snapped to attention all around where they stood.
“Is that what you need? To be assured this is about goods or services that won’t hurt your precious Federation? Fine, fine, that’s what it is. A humanitarian mission, if you wish.” He bowed, mocking.
“She told you to leave. Take your people and go. You’re trespassing, and trespassers get shot.” Kenner gestured with the weapon to underline that.
“You’re playing a dangerous game, girl. The kind of game that gets people hurt. Take your profit, keep your mouth shut and deliver the goods.”
“Profit is one thing. Betraying my government is another entirely.” She shot at the ground near his toes, satisfied when he emitted a high-pitched squeal as he jumped back. “Get the fuck outta here.”
She turned, and if she hadn’t lost her footing when she tripped over her kit bag, she’d have taken a blast to the back.
People scattered, shouting orders as the whoosh of auto-loading las-guns zinged through the air. Bullets cracked. The stench of black powder and laser off-gas from the blasters was enough to make her eyes water as she managed to get behind some shelter.
“Don’t waste ammo. Shoot to kill,” Kenner ordered into his wrist mic. Shots rained down on the Imperial soldiers from the sniper posts in the courtyard towers.
“Gas!”
She managed to grab a mask from the kit Kenner had tossed to her, her tears already flowing.
“There are two dozen heavily armed soldiers. I don’t know how I feel about these odds,” Taryn said, mouth set in a grim line.
Kenner hissed. “Eleven. Yeah that’s right, Imperialist scum! I will kill each and every one of you!” he called out.
“Gods above and below,” Taryn grumbled. “I don’t suppose I could convince you”—he paused to fire his weapon, grinning savagely as the body hit the ground—“to get down in the shelter, could I?”
“Me? This is my fault. I’m the last person who should be running right now.” They’d managed to get to one of the outbuildings. She quickly booted the compound’s vid system. “By the west fence. It’s Stahl. They’ve got him pinned down.”
Eiriq called out that he was on the way, and Taryn took off after him for backup.
“We are fucked, Piper. We gotta call in for some help. We’ve got four men down. You and I are pinned here. They’re inside now. It’s only a matter of time.” Kenner continued to pepper the advancing Imperialists with fire.
The ground at their feet took fire, sending dust skyward. “If we bring in the polis, we expose everything! We invite them into a compound they’ve wanted to search for ages.” They’d all likely end up in lockup.
“What if they think we’re working with the Imperialists? Have you thought of that, Piper? Because I have.
Fuck!
”
Fuck!
”
“Give yourselves up, and we can discuss this,” Cheney called out via loudspeaker.
“How can you think we’d work with you now? Bastards, get the fuck off my land or end up dead,” Taryn responded, and it came through, loud and clear, via her wrist mic. He was still unhurt, which eased the knot in her belly slightly.
The heat of a blast from a las-rifle stirred the hair at his temples as Piper grabbed the back of Kenner’s shirt and yanked him back.
“Guess they don’t care. Stay down!” She growled at him. “Don’t you fucking die, or I will bring you back and kick your butt.”
He sent her a crooked smile. “You’d have to do all the laundry yourself.”
“We’re stuck. On our way back to you as soon as we can break free,” Taryn spoke over the wrist mic.
Shit, shit, shit
.
.
The sound of the Imperial soldiers swarming their compound rose, though she was gratified each time they set off a trap or one of them got taken out by her people.
Inescapably, they were gaining the upper hand, and Kenner was right, she’d have to call for help, even if it meant lockup.
One of them came around the corner, training his weapon on her. Kenner brought his own up, but the soldier fell before either of them could get a shot off.
Kenner looked up, confused, but thank seven heavens he didn’t move from their little corner. They watched, shooting as they could, as, one by one, soldiers began to fall.
“Who is up there?” Kenner scrambled for his field glasses.
“Eiriq maybe?”
“No, he’s bringing Stahl back toward the clinic.”
One by one, as Piper watched the monitors, soldiers fell as they were sniped from above.
She spoke into her wrist mic. “I want that tower, the east corner, protected. Move!” She stood, Kenner next to her. “Cover me. I’m headed across the courtyard.” Before he could argue, she darted out, keeping low. Whoever was up there needed to be protected.
The next moments passed as if she were watching it all via vid screen. One by one, the soldiers would attempt an approach. And one by one, the sniper took them out.
“They’re leaving!” Taryn called out via his wrist mic.
“Make sure of that. Have them monitored,” Kenner instructed.
It was then, through the dust, their savior emerged, long, dark hair lifting on the breeze as he walked casually toward her.
Her heart stuttered, even as she mopped her forehead and pretended to be casual.
His eyes were still serious. Still the palest of blues and still fringed with long, dark lashes. He was still so intensely beautiful it made her stomach clench.
“Dear gods, Andrei?” Kenner sounded just as surprised as Piper was.
His gaze locked on hers, not giving anything away. Eleven years, and he hadn’t changed that much. Eleven years, and the sight of him still thrilled her senses, even as anger and hurt won out.
She took one step, and then two. The last one and she’d already cocked her fist so that by the time the movement was finished, her fist had connected with his mouth. That part had been satisfying. Not so much when she said his name, meaning it to sound angry, but it was almost a plea.
Andrei wiped his lip, tasting dirt and blood. That combination took him right back to his youth. Much like seeing Piper had. “That was your one free shot.”
Taryn jogged up, and seeing it was Andrei, he shouted his greeting, grinning and clapping Andrei’s back. “Andrei! You came back at just the right time.”
Andrei looked around the yard, at the bodies and the blood soaking into the earth. “Guess so.” His heart still thundered in his chest at the thought of losing her. At the thought that she could just simply cease to exist. Thank the gods he’d arrived when he had.
When it came to her, his emotions were not so easily brought under control. He’d been a fool to think otherwise.
“What are you doing here?” Piper demanded. Hurt danced in her eyes, lancing into him.
“I would like to speak to you,” he looked to each Roundtree sibling, “to all of you. In private.”
Taryn nodded, making the choice for them. Good to see he was still in charge. He had a strong, steady hand, which was responsible for the fact that Kenner and Piper were still alive. Andrei had envied that sort of devotion, had never had anything like it.
“We need to deal with the wounded and the dead first.” Piper looked out over the carnage, blinking back tears.
“I’ll help.”
Kenner’s gaze flicked to his sister, just briefly. He grinned then, coaxing a near smile from Piper. He clapped Andrei’s shoulder. “Just like old times, huh? Andrei and Kenner cleaning up after a fight.”
Andrei snorted, tossing his jacket on a nearby fence. Body disposal was hot, hard work, but he’d done it enough that he was efficient at it. There was no need for Piper to be touched by it any more than she already was.
“Pile the bodies on that cart.” He indicated the nearby transpo. He’d take them out to the caldera where the storms would take care of the evidence. It would also get him away from the group so he could relay more intel to Daniel.
“Why are you here, Andrei?” Kenner asked, thankfully not in the way his sister had. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful to you for saving our asses today. And I’m glad to see you. But—”
“I’ll explain it when we talk.”
“All right. I want to know about your life, but it can wait until these grim deeds are behind us.” He indicated the bodies with a tip of his head. “This is insanity, Andrei. This many Imperialists here at once? Attacking us.”
Andrei said nothing, but he nodded his head briefly. Understanding lit Kenner’s eyes, and he exhaled sharply, getting back to his work, which they finished quickly enough.
“You help with the rest of the clean-up. See to the wounded. I’ll take care of this.”
Kenner thanked him and jogged off, leaving Andrei to it.
The trip out to the caldera would give him enough time to work on a plan.
And to contact Daniel.
“What?” Daniel exploded from his seat at the news of the battle Andrei had happened upon on his way to check out the Roundtree compound before he reached out to meet with them.
“Two dozen men. Four of them were Skorpios.” The Skorpios were Ciro Fardelle’s private shock troops. His special ops forces. Very well-trained and deadly. That some of the soldiers at that compound today were Skorpios meant the Federation had been correct that something integral to the Imperium’s portal collapsing device was on Asphodel.
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