Rayven's Keep (26 page)

Tru ached all over from muscles refusing to relax. She could barely stand to let Nick out of her sight. She recoiled with disgust that she was being such a coward, but she couldn’t seem to help it. Not yet, anyway. Mind carefully blank so she didn’t think about the events of the last couple of days, she followed him to the bridge and slid into her seat.

Chief Sharpe had been true to his word and had provided a snow skimmer for transport to their ship. The weather had cooperated and weak sunlight made the landscape glitter. Under different circumstances, she would have enjoyed the stark beauty surrounding them, but not today. Her sole focus had been getting back to the ship and the safety it represented to her.

“Welcome back, Captain Rayven.” Siren’s melodious voice greeted them. Dim ship’s lights created a soothing cocoon after the harsh light of the snowy landscape over which they’d skimmed to reach the ship.

“Run through a preflight check, Siren,” Nick responded while he settled into his chair. “Then secure lift off permission and set a course for Bretonne.”

“Acknowledged.”

The ship’s engines came online, the vibrations jarring before settling into a familiar powerful thrum. Information flowed across the console screen and he scanned it quickly.

“All systems ready, Captain. We have been cleared to leave.”

“Excellent. Take us out, Siren.”

Once through the atmosphere, Tru wilted into her chair. Her breath whooshed out in a thankful sigh as Killjoy and the planet Kaydet grew smaller in the viewscreen. The blackness of space was a profound relief.

“How are you doing?”

Nick’s question was a low rumble, startling her. She glanced his way, not quite meeting his eyes, before she returned her gaze to the view she’d been contemplating.

“Fine.” She knew it wouldn’t be enough to satisfy him, but it was all she could manage at the moment.

He gripped the arm of her chair, swinging it toward him. All his movements were controlled and slow as if he were afraid to alarm her. Although, she recognized some of it was due to his injuries, she also understood he was being too careful of her. She was beginning to get annoyed with herself, particularly when she couldn’t prevent the startled squeak she uttered.

He searched her face and she knew what he was seeing. She’d seen her reflection in the viewscreen windows of the ship when she sat down. Her eyes were huge above the bruised-looking shadows under them. She was pale. And looked thinner, burned down to an ember of her normal self. Where was all the determination and excitement she usually felt? Why was she allowing herself to wallow, to let Anto Geir win?

“We have a long trip to Bretonne. Why don’t you go back to the crew quarters and rest for a bit?” The words were a gentle suggestion, but he made sure there was no doubt if push came to shove he would personally escort her to her bunk and see she lie down.

“I don’t want to lie down. I’m not an invalid, Nick,” she replied surprised and pleased to hear the acerbic tone. The slight burst of temper felt good. She sat a little straighter in her seat.

“The medic said you should rest,” Nick pointed out. “You’ve had a difficult time of it. You need to–”

Tru exploded from her chair. “Do not tell me what I need, Nick Rayven! I’m not a two-year-old to be ordered about,” she stormed. Looming over him, she poked a finger into his chest to emphasize her words.

Anger boiled up nearly choking her with its fury. It burned through her, sweeping away all the tears she’d cried and fear which had nearly paralyzed her. It was liberating, like riding a comet, setting her on fire and then sweeping her heedlessly into its maelstrom.

“I know what you are thinking. Why you don’t want me on the bridge with you! You think I brought this all on myself by going to Lodestone in the first place! You think my actions are to blame for all of this.” She made a sweeping gesture and Nick leaned back in his chair, barely avoiding her flailing hand. She relished the sound of her own voice, hearing the brittle and hard-edged quality.

“What are you yelling about? I never–”

“Stop! You hear me? Just stop. I know it is true. Do you think you would have been injured like this if it weren’t for me? Do you? Do you have any idea how I felt when I thought you would die? I couldn’t bear it, Nick, I couldn’t bear it if something happened to you. It would have been my fault. Mine!”

Appalled at the words pouring out of her mouth, Tru slapped trembling fingers across her mouth to stop the flow. The fury was gone as quickly as it had arrived leaving her awash in guilt that made her continue in a broken whisper, “Do you think others would have died if I’d minded my own business and stayed home instead of trying to prove something to my family?”

Nick lunged from his chair and pulled her roughly into his arms. “Shh, sweetheart. You can’t take responsibility for Anto Geir’s madness. There was no way you could have known any of this would happen.”

“He hurt you, Nick. I had to watch Crowder and his men beat you unconscious and I couldn’t stop it.” Tru touched his face with her fingertips. She felt the stubble on his cheeks, lightly traced the healing cuts and skimmed over the multi colored bruises seeking reassurance. “How do I live with that?” Limp and defeated, she dropped her hand. “I’m sorrier than you can possibly know you were injured because of me.”

Nick couldn’t bear to see her like this. He knew how destructive guilt could be, how the past could weight a person down until there was no room for anything else in your life. He’d fought those demons after the war on Tonlith. He’d survived when so many others had died, had watched, helpless, as his world burned and could do nothing to stop it. But not Tru, not if he could help it.

“Listen to me, okay? Because of you, countless lives have been saved. Twist is no longer being shipped from Lodestone. You helped close down one avenue. If you hadn’t gone to Lodestone, Anto Geir would still be filling the pipeline with his poison.”

Nick spoke with conviction and determination, holding her gaze with his own, wanting her to understand. “You have helped expose a bigger problem than any of us suspected existed and now we know about it, we will track down the ring leaders and stop it.”

He could see her struggle to accept what he told her, to believe he was right. Her sheltered upbringing hadn’t prepared her for the harsh realities life could deal out and he knew she was badly shaken. What must have seemed like an exciting adventure at one time had kicked her in the teeth. Life and death happened in an instant, cruelty for its own sake thrived in the shadows and her innocent view of life was gone forever.

She lowered her eyes and looked away. “Maybe you are right,” she said without much conviction. “I think I will go to my bunk and rest after all, if that’s okay with you? Maybe I’m just over tired.”

* * * *

Heartsick, Nick stepped back, allowing her to leave. He watched her as she walked away, wishing he could do more. He scrubbed a hand through his short hair then sat slowly in his chair. He turned it to face the bridge console, stared sightlessly at the lights and readouts before he took a deep breath, and opened a com channel to base. Time to fill in the team and compare notes.

“‘Bout time you checked in again, boss,” Seth greeted him with his usual cheer. “I was about ready to launch a rescue mission.”

Nick snorted. “We ran into a few problems. We were delayed a bit,” he replied. Rubbing his wounded shoulder to ease the ache, he settled into a more comfortable position in his chair.

“You want to fill me in or have me waste time guessing?”

“Anto Geir is dead.” Nick cut right to the chase.

“I see. What happened?”

“He had a surprise party waiting for us before Tru and I could get back to the ship. I discovered something before things got really interesting I want you or Callen to check out. Geir was addicted to twist, a new drug wreaking havoc on several worlds. He was transporting it through the missing Lodestone shipments.”

Seth gave a low whistle. “I thought this was only about Geotern’s mineral discovery and the missing shipments from Lodestone. It never even occurred to me drugs could be involved. Is that why he was so anxious to stop you and get Tru?”

“He was looking for a way to rise in the organization and what she found out was a threat to his ambition. The mineral gave him the edge he was looking for, something to offer whoever he worked for.” Nick kept his voice low–he didn’t want Tru to overhear. “It looks like Tru stumbled into a very nasty business without realizing what she was getting into. My guess is, there’re some powerful individuals behind the scenes and they aren’t going to like knowing a lucrative pipeline for their drug has been shut down.”

“This is all starting to make a weird kind of sense,” Callen interjected. He’d walked into the room right after Nick and Seth had begun to speak. “Malvin Sonne died under strange circumstances right after he spoke with us. No one saw or heard anything and cause of death is still under investigation. I’ve heard this drug leaves very little trace in the body once ingested, but I would be willing to bet he died of an overdose, which wasn’t accidental. I’ll contact Maddox and let him know.”

“Which leaves us with the question of who could have killed him and how did they know the business was falling apart? Get Maddox to give you a guest list as well as the names of any staff he had on site that day. We might as well start looking there,” Nick replied thinking it over.

“If what you suspect is true, then Anto Geir was a dead man regardless,” Seth added thoughtfully. “Too bad he left Lodestone before they got to him and he caused you further problems.”

“You have no idea,” Nick said with feeling. A vicious headache pulsed behind his eyes and his energy flagged. He might heal quickly, but it still took time and he’d been pushing himself hard.

“I’ve got a line on Aislinn Thorpe,” Callen said. “She was caught on a security vid leaving Sonne’s room the night he died. It looks like she’s headed for Paladin Minor. It might be worth finding her and asking some questions.”

Nick had heard the undercurrent of excitement in Callen’s voice once before and it piqued his interest. It was out of character for any emotion to come through with the other man. Obviously, this Aislinn Thorpe had gotten to him in some way.

“Was she the lead you referred to in our last conversation? What makes you think she might be involved?”

“Just a hunch.”

“Well, your hunches are usually right. Go ahead and see what you can find out. In the meantime, follow up on the guest lists, Seth. Contact me if you discover anything.”

“You might be interested to know Geotern sends its thanks for a job well done and the balance of credits they owe has been transferred, along with a hefty bonus,” Seth announced.

“Excellent,” Nick replied with no small amount of satisfaction. “What do we hear from Wulf?”

There was a slight hesitation before Seth answered, “We received a transmission from him a few days ago and he has been off grid since then.”

“What do you mean he has gone off grid?” Nick’s voice was sharp.

“He didn’t have much time to fill us in, boss. He said there was an assassination attempt on Ambassador D’Kir and her ship had been taken over. He didn’t go into details, but you know Wulf...he’ll handle whatever comes his way. He said he would contact us once he had things under control. He sounded more pissed off than anything else.”

“I’ll bet. Nothing he hates worse than for plans to go sideways.” Nick was perturbed, but until they heard from him, there wasn’t much they could do. Burke Wulfric was a force to be reckoned with all on his own, and if anyone could keep the Ambassador safe and still complete his mission, it was Wulf. “Monitor his personal frequency and let me know as soon as you hear anything.”

“Already on it,” Seth replied.

Satisfied he’d done all he could, Nick disconnected the link. He had a lot to think about and consider. There wasn’t enough information to take to the authorities and even then, which agency would have jurisdiction? More than likely, the information would end up with the judicial branch of the Unified Alliance of Planets, since several worlds were involved.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Nick closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh, opened them and reached for a tablet. There were too many coincidences to ignore about this whole situation and the best way to figure it out was to log what he already knew or suspected which would make it easier to coordinate with the others.

Thinking his way through events, he tried to put them in some kind of order, starting with Tru and Lodestone.

He added what he knew about Malvin Sonne, his sudden, unexplained death and the mysterious Aislinn Thorpe. Callen had the scent on her trail and Nick had absolute faith he would find the answers he was seeking before he was through. Which brought him to the situation with Wulf and Ambassador D’Kir.