Salvage Rights (Distant Worlds Book 2) (23 page)

Kira blinked, and then
shrugged like she did not understand where Danika was going with this.  “Yes.”

“And you mean to rescue
me whatever the consequences are for you, yet you told that evil man you would
tell him everything?”  She made it a question, though she already knew the
answer.  Kira would not betray her, or Lucan, not willingly, whatever the
brothers Warrung expected.

“Everyone tells him
everything, whether they want to or not.”  She stepped back when Danika would
have taken her hand.  “Please, I would not have you see what I remember being
back in this place.  Spare me that at least.”

Danika blew out a
breath and sent a wave of peace to the other woman.  “Thank you, Kira, for
rescuing me.”  Danika smiled at the woman since she did not want to be touched,
and then with a thought, she opened the lift doors and started for them.  “Let
us find the child and leave this place.  We are both going home.  Once we get
the child, we just have to find a safe place to wait for Luc to arrive.”

Kira closed her eyes in
relief at both the words and the peace flowing through her, then lowered her
brows in question.  She started walking fast to catch up with Danika at the
lift.  “What child?”

With Danika
manipulating the controls, they were able to get where they needed to go
without being overrun with cyborgs.  Just as she had done on Lucan’s moon, she
found her way on the space station.  Unerringly leading them to the right deck,
they stopped at a door and Danika took a deep breath.  She was a little
surprised that she could feel no rising tensions or anger around the floors
they traveled.  It was as if no one knew they were missing and that made no
sense; unless the watchtower had been asleep at the job, they would have seen
Kira sliding through the halls.  But really, the chances of Cor Warrung having
a lazy security crew were slim to none — unless they were distracted by
something else that was happening.

“Is something the matter?”
Kira asked looking from Danika to the hall behind them.

Danika sighed,
realizing she was letting herself speculate unnecessarily.  “Nothing is wrong; I
was just thinking about the lack of response to our escape.  I locked down the
lifts and icoms, but someone should at least be panicking somewhere that we
have escaped.”

Kira pulled in a
breath, and the spike of her emotions had Danika turning away from the door and
facing her.  “They like to watch the disciplines,” Kira murmured, carefully
looking at the door and not Danika.  “As long as
He
is with Briar, they
will not notice we are gone.  After that, as long as we are out of the halls
and the doors are closed, they will assume we are sleeping.”  She took another
deep breath.  “No one ever tries to escape from here, the cost is too dear; so,
the security force is usually concentrating on outside threats . . . or
watching the
fun
.”  Kira’s last word had a hard bite to it that Danika
did not want to delve into further.  Suffice it to say it was good news for
them, bad news for anyone who actually had to survive here.

“I am beginning to
think Luc was adopted,” Danika murmured; with a thought, she swished open the
locked door and stepped inside.  It took a minute for her eyes to adjust and
then she caught movement in the corner.  An old woman sat in what was a
pathetic excuse for a nursery.  She was incongruous in the surroundings, as she
sat grey bun bobbing while knitting besides the crib.  Besides that, the place
more resembled a medical bay then a nursery, sterile and unwelcoming.  Danika
was happy to note that at least here the misery was absent from the walls. 
Though apathy seeped from the old woman, even when she saw two strange women at
the door, she just sat there knitting.

Danika raised a brow.  “We
are here to take this child to safety.  Are you going to try and stop us?”

The old woman stopped
her knitting and dropped the blue yarn to her lap.  “And who might you be to
the child?”

“Her mother was a
friend of mine.”

“Was?”

“She was killed by agents
of Cor Warrung.”

The lady pressed her
lips together and looked away.  “Can’t say I am surprised, though he usually
kills the mothers of his children off himself, likes the irony of controlling
both life and death in the same woman.”

Danika blinked.  “The
mothers of
his
children?”

“You didn’t know.  Avia
sent you here for her child and didn’t tell you who her father is?”

“She didn’t have the
chance,” Danika murmured, and moved closer to the crib.  Then her voice
hardened and she turned back to the lady before she could reach the crib.  “You
said children.  Are there more?”

“Kills them, too, in
the experiments.  Loves to tinker in the lab, always has.”  The woman started
rocking again, going back to her knitting, her voice turning thoughtful if
cold.  “Only one child ever survived as far as I know, but he’ll be dead
himself soon enough.  Ladon doesn’t like loose ends.”

Danika canted her head
and narrowed her eyes.  “Ladon?  Are you telling me Ladon Warrung is the father
of this child, not Cor?”

The woman halted mid-rock,
her eyes shuttering, her face paling.  “I meant Cor; my mind likes to jump back
in time.”

Danika raised a brow.  “Back
in time two hundred years?  That is quite the reach; just how old are you to
have known a man who died hundreds of years ago, and what is your relationship
to a two-hundred-year-old dead man?”

“Must be all those
stories I heard as a child.”  Her voice had turned a touch frantic.  “I don’t
know what I was thinking.”

Danika heard the lies
even as they were falling from the woman’s lips.  Stepping forward with
purpose, she grabbed the gnarled arm at the bare wrist.  Immediately, she was
inundated with emotions, flashes of memory, and shocking secrets that had her
dropping the feeble arm and jumping back as if stung.

So many memories and
questions going through her head, Danika was having a hard time sorting them.  “I
don’t know who is worse, him for doing it, or you for letting fear of death
lead you to allow these unspeakable acts.”  She was shaking with adrenaline and
the fear spiking in the room.  She almost wished that she could turn back time
and never have touched the old woman, but she could not close the door now that
it was opened.

“I take care of the children.”

Even the sound of that
belligerent voice had her shuddering, knowing what was in that head.  “You call
letting them be experimented on and killed taking care of them?”

“They are his children,”
the old lady said, her eyes hard behind her spectacles.  “Better they don’t
survive.”

Danika could feel she
spoke the truth, she could also feel the hate behind those dead eyes.  “We are
taking this child out of here,” she said with purpose, her voice firm.  “Do you
intend to try and stop us?”

“Why would I do that?  You’ll
be dead soon enough and the child with you.”

Danika shook her head
and moved to the side of the crib and the baby resting so peacefully there. 
Such a tiny thing, and so innocently stretched out on her belly, her butt
sticking up and her thumb in her mouth.  She was a beautiful child with her
mother’s gold hair and pale skin.  At this age, her mother’s skin tone looked
almost translucent.  Danika picked up the surprisingly weighty bundle and
rocked with her cradled in her arms when she appeared to be on the verge of
waking up.  She looked one last time at the old woman.  “When you have no more
children to watch for him what will your brother do to you?”

The old lady fell back
into her chair and it rocked with the movement.  Whether it was the question
itself or the knowledge it revealed, it shook the old woman to the core.  But
Danika did not give her time to speak again; everything that came out of the
woman’s mouth was a lie anyway.  She was more than through with the woman, her
secrets, and this sad excuse for a nursery.  “Kira, grab everything we will
need for the baby.  Use the other blanket to carry it all.  We are leaving this
place.  Now.”

***

Tolan Lark pulled the
ship out of star drive and checked his instruments.  Then he checked them
again.  Watching him, Lucan noticed the move.  “What is it?”

The mercenary shook his
head and did the readings again.  “We are at the coordinates, there’s the space
station,” he said pointing to the view screen and the sight of the rotating
space station taking up most of it.  “According to the readings, all icom
systems are down, along with the security field.  They are flying blind out
there with no way to see who is coming to visit.  He turned to Lucan and
noticed the smile that was slowly spreading across his face.  Lucan knew it was
a little scary around the edges, but the relief was instantaneous.  “Doesn’t
seem your brother’s style to bait a trap this well.  He is arrogant but far
from stupid.”

“It’s not Cor.”  He
looked at Tuft and the man returned his smile with a hard version of his own.  “Danika.”

“Looks like however
they got her off PortSea, they got a little more than they bargained for.”

The mercenary looked
intrigued. 

“Are you saying that
your little girl did this?” Barnos asked in doubt, checking the sensors
himself.  “How?”

“Where Danika is
concerned, I have come to the realization that asking how or why is
unnecessary.  But from what I have seen, yes, she would be capable of shutting
a space station down.”

“Then I suggest we land
so you can find your mate, and I can take care of what I need to take care of.”

Lucan did not bother to
ask the man again what he was about; he was just grateful for the use of the
ship.  Even if he counted on them leaving the minute Danika went missing, he
would not know that the Fire would be at his disposal.  Without sensors, he had
no way of knowing they were there and his information on Lucan’s fleet would
put his fastest ship at least another two hours behind.  They might actually
have the element of surprise.

“The Flame will remain
in orbit here, while you take one of my shuttles down.  If you get into any
trouble, give me a signal on the icom.  I will be monitoring close enough to
get you out.”

“And how will you do
that,” Barnos asked with a growl, “when you are a good twenty minutes away by
shuttle?”

The mercenary was
already turning and pulling open his armory.  “Who says the second shuttle will
be on the Fire?”

“You’re going to the
arena,” Lucan said studying the wide range of weapons he was packing away, as
if he was not already well-armed to begin with.  “What makes the death games so
important to you?”

“Just let me know if
you need help,” Tolan Lark answered, ignoring the question.  “I will get there.”

Barnos snorted, but his
eyes were on the sword collection so he did not speak.  It was Lucan who said
what he was thinking.

“You’d better,” Lucan
said his voice a cold promise of retribution, “or no amount of high-priced
weaponry will be able to protect you from me.”

“Though,” Barnos said,
his eyes on a particularly nice sword that was probably almost as tall as he
was, “word of warning.  If we do have to hunt you down and kill you, I’m sacking
your armory.”  He met the other man’s narrowed eyes with a raised brow.  “I
mean if you are dead, you won’t miss it anyway.”

Tolan Lark smiled one
of those toothsome smiles that was more warning than anything else.  “You
manage to kill me with your antiquated blasters you are welcome to it.  You
could frankly use an update in hardware.”

Barnos smiled right
back at him, his eyes losing all humor as he fingered the pommel of his sword. 
“It’s not the blaster you see that you need to worry about.”

“Enough,” Lucan
snapped, already moving toward the port.  “I’m going to get my mate.  You
gentleman want to stay and compare hardware, I’ll go on my own.”

Barnos cursed, shot
Tolan one more look of warning, and then followed Lucan.

When they arrived at
the shuttle, Captain Tyber, Mac, and Lore were all waiting.  All three were
dressed in nanite armor knee boots, and bristling with weapons.  Lore went
minimalist with just the sword across his back, and besides his usual blaster,
a trio of throwing knives above the top of each of his boots.  The captain wore
his sword at his hip, a knife at his boot, and a blaster at his belt.  Whatever
else he might carry it was concealed, unlike Mac who had a blaster that
resembled a small cannon on his back, and Lucan counted at least seven other
blasters on his person.  Space marines, you have to love their tendency to
always overdo the weaponry.

“We did not come all
this way to sit around with our thumbs up our asses on the ship.  We’re coming,”
Mac said with a growl..  He fingered his blaster, “Besides, it’s been awhile
since I saw your brother.  I figure it is long past time to riddle him with
holes.”

“I get Danika out
first, my brother is secondary to that.  Is that understood?”

Tyber stepped forward. 
“No one here feels differently.”

“Too fucking right,”
Mac grumbled.  “Now, can we go get our girl before
my
mate realizes we
left?”

Without another word,
Lucan headed into the shuttle.  The rest followed him.  He sent Mac a glare
while he secured himself in.  “She is not
our
girl.”

“No need to be so
fuckin’ touchy.”

“And if someone
referred to your mate in such a way?”

Mac narrowed his own
eyes and crossed his arms belligerently, as he took his own seat.  “Point.  Let’s
go get
your
girl, before I’m forced to deal with mine.”

As soon as they were
in, Lucan fired up the engine and steered the shuttle out of cargo bay. Like
every other part of the man’s ship, it was immaculate.

“How the fuck does he
keep a shuttle this clean?” Barnos asked into the tense silence.

“I think the more
important question is,” Lore said from the gunner’s seat he had taken beside
his captain, “
Why
is a shuttle this clean?” Unlike Mac’s, his voice was
a normal volume.  He did not look up from the controls.

“Stop speaking all of
you,” Lucan bit out before Barnos or Mac could respond.  “Captain Tyber, are
you familiar enough with this ship model to fly it?”