Salvage Rights (Distant Worlds Book 2) (22 page)

“Father dotes on her.” 
His voice lacked anything resembling resolve.

“His first mistake,”
Warrung said, and motioned the cyborg and the screaming Briar out of the room. 
When the door closed, the silence was absolute.

Danika could feel Kira
hyperventilating beside her; she reached over and squeezed her hands, aware
that her own were shaking from the adrenaline coursing through her system.

“Kira, my pet, I almost
missed you standing there.”  He smiled at the other woman and Danika felt Kira’s
fear perpetuate itself to full blown panic.  “You are looking as lovely as ever
bearing my mark.”  There was a cruel bite to the words that were petty and
vindictive.  His eyes caressed the scar across Kira’s cheek as he continued to
ignore Danika.  It made him seem like a dangerous child rather than a full
grown man, at least to Danika. Some of her worry left her and she stood up just
the smallest bit straighter, squeezing Kira’s hand.  “You have been away a long
time, but you know who your true master is.  You will, of course, tell me
everything I want to know about my brother and my new truthsayer, will you not?”

She felt her shiver,
and then Kira shook off the hand Danika held her with and lowered her eyes to
the floor; even her lips were quivering in her fear, and she was crying full
out now.

“Ki-ra?”  He drew out
the word into a warning.

Kira shuddered again.  “I
will tell you everything you ask of me . . .”  She closed her eyes tight, not
looking at anyone as she finished in a broken voice, “Sir.”

Danika would have liked
to think she lied and was only going along to save herself abuse, but she knew
the truth when she heard it.  Luc had been right; Kira was too scared to do
anything but what the nightmare of a man wanted her to do.  Out of fear, she
would betray them all.  And it would truly break her to do it.  Danika looked
from the cowering Kira to Cor Warrung.  His eyes with the satisfied gleam in
them moved to Danika and he smiled.  Danika met those eyes without flinching; burying
what she was feeling, she gave him nothing to smirk at.  For the first time in
her short memory, she truly wanted someone dead, because with that one
malicious look of glee, she knew deep down to her core that Cor Warrung had no
redeeming qualities.

Lucan stood on the deck
of the Fire, Tolan Lark’s gleaming high tech ship, and watched passing stars in
the view screen.  He did not see them, nor did he spare any thought to the men
who had accompanied them on the rescue.

Both Barnos and Tyber
Relian had elected to come with them in the faster ship while their own ships
stayed behind.   Though in the Jezebel’s case, only the old clunker of a space
salvager had been docked, as every member of the crew was on board with them,
including the doctor and the pretty mechanic, much to her mate’s continued
vexation.   Tolan Lark had not argued the extra passengers.  In either stealth
or fighting, their ship would have been worthless, but the guts of the crew
could not be discounted, and if Luc was in the frame of mind to think of
anything but his mate in danger, he would have acknowledged it.  As it was, he
could not think of anything but Danika.

“I’ve seen her in
action,” Tuft said coming to stand on his right side.  “She is not the soft
prey he expects her to be.”

Luc felt his jaw
tighten and turned frosty eyes to his oldest friend.  He spoke softly because
he wanted to rage.  “How did they get her off PortSea?”

Tuft opened his mouth
to respond then closed it again, looking away from his friend’s dead eyes.

“Right, we don’t know,
but Patrik and Briar Danvers of all people managed to do it, and until I lost
the bond between us, I had no idea anything was even wrong.”  Luc turned back
to the view screen and locked down the niggling emotions trying to escape.  The
only thing that was keeping him going was the distant tug he could feel on the
bond.  She was alive, and awake enough that he could feel her again, even if it
was a weak pull from across space.  If Cor harmed her before he could get her
out, he would do what he tried and failed to do as a teenager when he left the
Warrung clan for good.  He would kill his brother.

Barnos moved up to Tuft’s
other side and looked at the passing stars himself, his normally booming voice,
low and grim.  “You and I both know he is not going to hurt her until he has
you there to see it.  The point of her pain is for you to witness it.”

Tuft glared daggers at
him.  “Is that supposed to be comforting?”

Barnos’ face took on an
even more sober look when his eyes moved to Tuft’s.  “Yes,” he said simply.  “It
means she is not being hurt while we fly across the universe with our thumbs up
our asses. It means we have time to get to her.”  Luc locked down more emotions
trying to escape his grasp.   Unfortunately, he was not wrong.

He caught the look of
pain on Tuft’s face and lifted his chin his way, speaking quietly.  “What is
it?”

He turned to Lucan, and
for just a second, he caught the tortured thoughts his friend was hiding.  Tuft
clenched his jaw.  “Kira.”

Lucan sucked in a
breath and for a second was reminded that Danika was not the only one in
danger.  He did not even try to come up with something encouraging.  They both
knew Cor had no reason to wait on whatever he planned for her — and there was a
plan.  If she was carried aboard the Danvers ship unconscious and not bleeding
out in the dirt with the doctor, they had a plan for her.

Luc also realized that Danika
was right.  Tuft felt more for the girl than lust.  He gave him the only
comfort he could, which was not much.  “Kira is a survivor, she always has
been.”  He turned back to the view screen willing the ship to move faster,
despite it already going faster than any ship in his fleet could have.  If they
had not had to refuel, they would have caught up with the Danvers before they
reached the station; as it was they were a few hours behind.  “We’ll get her
back.”

As soon as Tuft saw
Barnos and the others watching them, he went to parade rest with his hands at
his back, and all emotion cleared from his face.

Behind him he could
hear Mac and Sera returning from their brief tour of the engine room, and their
bunk if their mussed clothes and languid looks were any indication.

Sera saw Tyber and
smiled. “Cap, you have got to see the engine on this beauty.  I’ve never seen
anything so freaking sexy.”

Mac snorted from beside
her, but the satisfaction in his eyes made it obvious she had indeed found the
engine room sexy.  Tolan Lark grimaced and flashed a lot of teeth their way. 
Sera must have noticed the look, too, because she rolled her eyes.  “Not to
worry your fussiness, we didn’t get any grime on your shiny toy.”

Mac huffed.  “Who would
dare?  The fuckin’ place is like a medic ship just out of space dock.  Who
would have thought a Shakien cat would be so fastidious?”  He turned his
deceptively mild eyes to Tolan Lark.  “Don’t your kind roll around in the blood
of your kills and wear your enemies’ heads as hats?”

Tolan Lark smiled,
displaying a most impressive double row of shiny sharp teeth, as he fingered
the knife hilt on his belt.  His words had a bite to them that would be hard to
miss.  “Only when we get really annoyed.”

Mac, however, did not
seem overly concerned.  “Yeah, well . . . you can clean, I’ll give you that.”

Tolan growled low, but
the doctor stepped between them and cleared his throat.  “Mac, why don’t you
take a walk while you still have the use of
both
your legs.”

Mac grunted again,
never taking his eyes off the flashing lavender/blue Shakien eyes across from
him.  “If you say so, Doc.”  Then, with a bored expression, he turned and swept
a wide-eyed Sera away from the controls at the command chair. 

“Idiot,” she muttered
while she was dragged away.

The doctor sighed, then
with a briefly apologetic look for the still simmering Tolan Lark, he decided
to find his own assigned bunk.

Lore watched everything
from his place beside his Captain.  When it looked like Tolan Lark had finally
relaxed and let go of his knife handle, Lore dropped his own grip on his
blaster, and turned partially back to the conversation Tyber was listening
to.   He nodded briefly when Tyber looked from him to the Shakien and then back
again.  All under control.  His Captain turned back to the conversation, and
Lore continued to subtly watch the Shakien cat for any danger signs.  Where
Shakien cats were concerned, it paid to be on guard.

“So we know she is fine
now; we just need to figure out how to keep her that way.”  Barnos tipped his
chin down and looked at his feet.  “What do we know about the space station?”

“We know that he has
his own private section that is guarded by his private army,” Tolan Lark said
joining them.  “And we know on the opposite side of his moving space station is
the gladiator area where the Death Games are played.”

Everyone turned to look
at Tolan Lark.

He raised a brow.  “Did
you not know that your brother was the owner of the death games?”  He smirked, “Well,
don’t feel bad, it took me awhile to find that information.  And even longer to
find someone who could get me the location.”

Lucan turned to fully
face the Shakien.  “And is that why you volunteered your ship, because you knew
I could find the station?”

Tolan Lark shrugged, “That
and the damsel in distress.”

“And when we get to the
station, are you going to be focused on the damsel or the games?”  Lucan stared
the man down and all he got for his trouble was another one of those damn
smirks.  “You do, or do not, do anything that puts Danika in danger,
I
will be wearing your head for a hat.”

The mercenary bowed his
head briefly.  He never lost the smile, but he acknowledged the promise.  For
Luc that was enough for now.  Barnos cursed behind him and Lucan turned to look
at him.  “You want to add something Barnos?”

“How about the fact
that if Cor calls them, we will have the most deadly gladiators in the galaxy
to fight through?”

“I wouldn’t be too
concerned about that,” Tolan interrupted.  “Most of the gladiators are
prisoners, and forced to be there.  If Cor wants to let them out, he will have bigger
problems then a salvage crew, a pirate, and his brother to deal with.”

“Well, what about a
Shakien cat?  Will he have that problem to deal with?” Barnos asked him point
blank, his eyes narrowing and his tone sarcastic.  “I mean, since we are
listing our assets and all.”

Tolan Lark turned to
the big pirate and Lucan watched him smile again.  Barnos cursed and turned to
pace the confines of the bridge.  Luc didn’t bother, he meant what he said.  If
anything happens to Danika and Tolan Lark could have stopped it, he would kill
him, along with the Danvers, his brother, and anyone else who hurt his mate.

***

Danika paced across her
plush prison and back again.  The room was vaguely reminiscent of the blue room
before the transformation, just on the small side, as befitting a political
prisoner.  The irony of Briar Danvers and Cor Warrung having the same atrocious
taste in furnishings was not lost on her.  Danika breathed and tried not to
touch anything.  Everything in the room seemed to be saturated with negativity
and after one attempt to sit on the red velvet chair, she had firmly decided
not to touch anything anywhere on this miserable space station.  After the
first illuminating meeting with Cor Warrung, she had been deposited here by a
cyborg guard who looked to be a good seven feet tall, and from his vacant
stare, more than half machine.  She heard nothing from outside the room and
would not be surprised if all his rooms were soundproofed so
he
didn’t
have to be bothered with the screams when he was relaxing.

She knew people were
passing by outside her room, because she sensed them there as the sedative wore
off, but everyone seemed shut down emotionally.  There were a few sparks of
life here and there around her in the distance, but mostly the place seeped
fear and degradation.  She wanted to give the place time to settle around her
and really get a read on her surroundings when the sedative was fully gone, but
the emotions, and in cases the lack of them, were biting her nerves.  She was
not going to be able to stay much longer on this cursed station, at least not
in this room.  Too many people had suffered here, from what she could feel,
most of them women.

Danika waited a small
while to make sure no one else was coming; then, she sent out feelers with her
temporary limits.  Since she had never intentionally called on this kind of
energy, she had to focus and learn as she went.  A great deal of information
came back to her and most of it was bad.  The whole room was sectioned off with
sensors.  She could unlock the door and leave very easily; she could even turn
off the sensors, could feel the energy arching if she concentrated, but either
of those things would cause someone to come looking, possibly multiple someones
with more sedatives.  She needed to have a plan, and she had not seen enough of
the space station to have formed a good one.

She sent her energy out
farther than she thought she could, and felt the small spark she was looking
for.  It was faint at this distance, but she knew which direction she would
need to go, so that at least was helpful.  Then she felt something else.  Briar
was a dark red stain to her senses; different from the angry selfish cloud she
had been, now she was all pain and fear.  Whatever Cor had been doing to her in
the last few hours, she was clearly not enjoying it.  Danika fought against the
desire to do something.  The woman had betrayed them all, including Lucan.  She
had chosen Cor Warrung as her ally knowing what he was.  After making note of
the direction and mechanics of the room they were in, she moved her senses
away.  Part of her might think it poetic justice that Briar reap what she had
sown; she had killed the doctor and delivered Kira and Danika to the devil, but
if she continued to feel what was happening in that room, she might risk
everything on an ill-conceived and, let’s face it, undeserved rescue.

Thinking of Kira made
her aware that the woman was coming down the hall.  Danika tilted her head and
concentrated.  She was alone and trying her best to be sneaky; unfortunately
for her, she was not aware that the hallway had sensors.  Knowing that they
would already have seen enough to send guards, Danika unlocked the doors and
blocked the sensors at the same time.  She walked out of her prison and came
face to face with a startled Kira.  The woman first looked relieved and then
hung her head.

“Lady, I came to get
you out.”

Danika felt the worry
she tried to hide, “How did you get away from Patrik?”

“I knocked him out with
a lamp.”

Danika raised a brow at
that.  At the same time, she cut off communication to the room Cor Warrung was
presently in with Briar, and locked all the lift doors.   “You knocked Patrik
out?”

“I am sorry I had to
let you think I was betraying you, but
He
would have never left me alone
if he did not think I was still broken.”  Kira breathed out a deep breath. 
Then she lifted her chin and met her eyes.  “I will rescue you. I know you do
not trust me now, and I will not ask you to take me with you back to PortSea,
but I will get you away from this terrible place.”

Danika shook her head
at the other woman’s words.  “You tried to warn me when they were there to take
me.”