Unchained (25 page)

Her hands moved up and gently captured him,
stroking the engorged length of him. Grey’s hands balled into tight
fists. When she took him into her mouth, he growled as he braved
the wet flames that licked and burned him. Every muscle in his body
was pushed to the limit, trembling and twitching. Each breath
expelled forcefully through flared nostrils. Her technique was
unskilled and excruciating. Heaven help him, she learned fast.
Experienced or not, she reduced him to a base sexual animal like no
other woman.

“
Am I close?” She rubbed
her cheek against him.

Grey clenched his teeth. “No, but I am.”

He reached down and hauled her to her feet.
Her eyes were hooded, her curve of a smile sexy and languid as he
undressed her in the same order she had disrobed him. Only much
faster, much rougher. His face was dark and fierce, his motions
jerky, his control lost. As soon as the last of her clothes were
shed, he gripped her around the waist and set her on the edge of
the table with the planet of Courf spinning behind her.

He pushed her legs far apart and thrust into
her, a feral growl curling his lip. Cidra clung to his shoulders as
he drove into her again and again. She wrapped her legs around him,
pulling him closer, deeper. Raw, naked, powerful lust took them.
Her climax was an explosion that careened through her body. With
one final, violent lunge he buried himself in her and shuddered,
ravaged mercilessly by his own release.

Slowly, the room came back into focus for
him. He became aware of the translucent glow of Courf’s holo image
and the low hum of equipment. Became aware of the smell and taste
of his own sweat dripping down his face. Aware of the incredible
woman whose legs wrapped around him, her head resting on his
shoulder. She was tracing one of his earlobes with her finger. He
hadn’t died after all.

“
You’re close,” he murmured
in her ear.

He felt her smile against his neck. “I
know,” she whispered back. “Decker told me it was behind your left
ear.”

There was a beat of silence before Grey
doubled over laughing.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“
Last stop. The middle of
nowhere. Thank you for flying
Calíbre
Starways,” Coon
joked.

Grey shielded his eyes
against the brilliant light of the star lines that flooded
Calíbre
’s main viewport
and bridge as they slipped out of hyperspace. After a few
disoriented seconds, the galaxy appeared with its familiar
star-sprinkled, black palette before them.

“
Any company?” Grey
asked.

“
Scanning.” Coon crisply
tapped the console. “Nothing. We are all alone as far as the
scanners can reach.”

Grey nodded. “Good. I want to know the
minute we are no longer alone.” He shot Coon an all-business look.
Coon smiled back wanly, his orders perfectly clear.

“
Is that Courf straight
ahead?” Cidra asked from behind Coon.

“
That’s it, sugar,” Coon
acknowledged. She smiled at the endearment. The man just grew on
you.

“
Pretty,” she said.
Too beautiful to be a grave
, she thought. It was more crystalline than the holo image had
portrayed and perfectly formed, almost artificial. The giant red
sun behind it gave the planet a rosy, healthy glow—clever
camouflage for its deadly environment. The forbidding, darkside
facing them revealed the planet’s true nature.

Coon’s long whistle cut
through the silence on
Calíbre
’s bridge.

Grey pulled his eyes away from the planet of
Courf filling the main viewport and walked over to Coon’s
station.

“
What’s up?” Grey leaned
over, looking at the displays on Coon’s console. Courf’s solar
system appeared in miniature, hovering above the bridge’s holo deck
before them.

Coon chuckled softly and shook his head.
“This is your lucky day, Captain. Would you believe there’s a ship
down on that rock that’s emitting a weak but persistent distress
signal?” He turned to Grey and smiled. “Looks like you did it
again. I locked the coordinates into the K12. We can be out of here
before dinner.”

Grey didn’t smile back. He didn’t even
blink. Coon tracked his eyes to holo image. “See something?”

“
I don’t know.” Grey
pointed to a section of miniature the solar system. “I thought I
saw a shadow of some sort, a ghost. Then it
disappeared.”

Coon tapped the controls frantically,
changing the filters and adjusting the frequencies to full
capacity. He spoke as he worked. “In my experience, there’s no such
thing as ghosts. I can’t see a thing. I don’t like it.”

Grey straightened. “Neither do I. That ghost
just happens to be on the other side of the planet and conveniently
blocked from sensor range. I don’t suppose there are any
transmission stations around here that we could bounce a signal off
and get a look at it?”

Coon looked mortally wounded. “Don’t you
think I’d have done that by now? I’m not an idiot.”

“
Sorry,” Grey apologized
absently, deep in thought. “How long would it take for a
surveillance probe to check it out?”

“
Too long,” Coon muttered.
“At least twelve hours.”

Grey shook his head.
“You’re right. Too long.” He paused, fighting down the common sense
that told him to retreat until they knew what was going on. “After
Cidra and I depart, I want you to take
Calíbre
out of orbit above us. Hang
back so you get a good view of any spacecraft rounding the
planet.”

“
And what if we come face
to face with a ghost?” Coon’s voice raised an octave.

“
Try not to get blown to
bits before you jump to hyperspace,” Grey replied.

Coon’s mouth dropped open. “And just leave
you here?”

“
Hopefully it won’t come to
that. I may have found a way to shake them up.” Grey smirked.
“Maybe we can get them to follow one of our own ghosts.”

“
How do you plan to do
that?” Coon asked.

Grey frowned at the holo image. “The same
way they followed us here. Get Decker for me. There’s a tracking
device somewhere on this ship and I want to know where it is.”

Major Berman stood tall and defiant in the
doorway of Plass’ quarters.

“
Why are we hiding from the
Faulkner woman?” Berman demanded, his face pinched in
anger.

Plass leaned further back in his chair and
breathed deeply. The confrontation was inevitable. His time had run
out. Actually, he was surprised Berman had held out this long.

“
Major Berman, please sit
down,” Plass replied in an even voice.

Berman scowled as he stepped inside and took
a seat as ordered. Plass eyed him. The man looked positively
explosive.

Plass leaned forward, taking a few long
moments to gather his thoughts and let Berman squirm.
Unfortunately, Berman squirmed about as much as Tausek.

Finally, he looked the man in the eye.
“We’ve been together for many years, Major. In all that time, have
you ever known me to lie?”

Berman blinked at his superior officer,
stunned by the unexpected question. “No, sir.”

Plass nodded. “Have you ever known me to be
irrational or unreasonable? To take unauthorized liberties with my
position? To do anything that would compromise the d’Hont?”

Berman shifted uncomfortably in his chair,
his initial anger dissipating rapidly. “No, sir.”

“
Good. Keep that in mind,
Major. I have an interesting story to tell you.” When Plass stood
up, Berman arose.

“
Sit,” Plass snapped as he
walked to the viewport and stared at Courf’s giant red sun. Plass
drew a deep breath and clasped his hands together behind his back.
He heard the rustle of uniform as the other man
complied.

Satisfied with the shift of power, Plass
paused and contemplated his existence against the eternity of
space. His entire life would be judged by a single day. The balance
of this mission lay before him as he took the biggest risk of his
life. He was about to gain an ally or lose his command.

“
Ten years ago, Dakru and
the d’Hont were betrayed,” Plass started.

“
I know what happened ten
years ago Commander.” Major Berman interrupted impatiently. “I was
there. Jarid Faulkner abandoned us and a million Dakruians died
including my mate and children. You don’t need to remind me of
that.”

Plass gazed out into the stars. “You’re
wrong, Major. Jarid Faulkner did not betray us.” He spun around and
pinned the Major with a look. “You did.”

“
I did no such thing,” the
Major growled, rising from his seat in a furious rush.

Plass stared down the giant of a man and
took a steady step toward him. “Jarid Faulkner sent that shipment
as agreed. You and nineteen other d’Hont pilots destroyed it.”

Major Berman’s eyes widened. His face grew
red with rage. “That’s impossible.”

“
It’s true,” Plass
continued as he walked slowly to the desk, placing it between him
and the Major. “That was no refugee ship bound for Dakru. The fleet
you destroyed carried the vaccine shipment from Avion. You were
lied to. Jarid Faulkner did not betray us. Tausek did.”

The words hit Major Berman like a fist. He
looked stunned. His eyes were wild with confusion, disbelief, and
enough speculation to keep Plass hopeful. Then Berman’s eyes
narrowed dangerously at his commanding officer.

“
How do you know this?” he
hissed.

Plass smiled grimly. “You described the
Avion fleet to me yourself. Tausek was the only one who knew the
exact coordinates of the Avion shipment. Tausek alone directed the
attack.”

“
Why would Tausek do that?”
he growled.

Plass sidestepped the question with one of
his own. “Do you think Tausek would be ruler of Dakru if it were
not for the Avion incident? Do you think he would have risen to
power so quickly if half the government body wasn’t decimated and
the planet in chaos?”

“
What does that have to do
with this?” Berman demanded.

“
Think about it, Major.
Before the incident, the d’Hont were an average military unit and
Tausek, an average military man. What do you think his chances were
to change that?”

Berman scowled at him but the point was
given grudgingly.

“
That’s all you have?”
Berman accused. “Perhaps you are simply jealous of Tausek’s power.”
He crossed his arms over his barrel chest, warming up to his
subject. “Thinking you can topple the ruler with a few accusations
and circumstantial evidence?”

Plass hesitated to add his own gut feelings
and suspicions. They weren’t exactly hard proof. Bluffing seemed
the logical choice. “I have additional evidence. When we capture
Cidra Faulkner, I will have even more. That’s why we need her
alive.”

The Major held him in lethal scrutiny,
evidently deciding whether or not Plass was fit to command. Before
Berman could make a final assessment, Plass made a final, shrewd
point. “Either way, we will have her. If she has nothing to offer,
we can kill her as planned. If we kill her now, we may never
uncover our real enemy.”

Plass waited. There was nothing else he
could say or offer. The seeds of doubt had been planted.

Berman drew himself up to
his full height, bearing down on Plass. “Very well. We will capture
her alive. You will have one hour to obtain any information from
her. After that,
I
decide her fate.”

Knowing it was the best offer he would get,
Plass nodded.

Berman turned and left without another
word.

Plass stared at the door,
contemplating his next move. Major Berman covered
Expunger
’s aircrew and
Plass now had Berman’s tenuous word of honor, as well as his
unconcealed warning. Plass shook it off. At this point, his only
real fear was failing himself.

Next on the list of allies would be Major
Holtz, his Security Chief in charge of the ship’s crew. As with all
the high-ranking personnel Plass had hand-picked for this mission,
Holtz’s integrity was absolute. Not only was his service record
impeccable, he was reasonable as well.

Plass steepled his hands. Yes, securing
Major Holtz’s support and cooperation would be the next order of
business. With both forces supporting him, he would at least be
able to keep Faulkner alive long enough to find out what she
knew.

“
Sure you don’t want to
share a suit?” Grey asked as he grinned and leaned against the
landing bay wall watching Cidra fight an opponent she couldn’t
beat—an uncompressed, integral-environment survival
suit.

Cidra shot him a scathing look as she
struggled inside the massive bulk of the apparatus.

“
There’s enough room in
here for the whole crew,” she muttered, trying to locate her hands
in the meters of crisp, white material. “Now, I can believe it was
designed by a man.”

“
Hold still,” Leena said
from somewhere behind her. “You won’t be very comfortable if this
doesn’t shrink right.”

“
Are you sure about this?”
Cidra looked down skeptically at the metal collar around her neck.
“This thing is going to protect me down there on that ice
rock?”

“
Trust me. It will. I’ve
done this lots of times.” Leena straightened suddenly, her hair
swinging around her head. “When activated, the collar will radiate
a force field over your head like a helmet. Invisible. You won’t
even know it’s there, unless something comes in contact with
it.”