Unchained (9 page)

Cidra placed it back on the desk. She lay
back on the bed and contemplated the first day of her new life.
Some of it bothered her even now—the Victor battle over Avion
particularly. Some of it was wonderful.

She caught her breath as she remembered the
kiss of a lifetime. At least her lifetime. The last time she’d been
kissed was by a young man who had fumbled his way through it badly.
Grey was no boy and he certainly didn’t fumble. Even with her
limited experience, she realized it was no ordinary kiss. She
closed her eyes with a sigh.

So much intensity in one man, so
overwhelming and without warning. But more unexpected was her own
reaction to him. The strange warmth that had unfurled deep within
her. The wild recklessness that had surfaced, goading her on.

Cidra grimaced at how easily she’d
surrendered to his unspoken demands. She would have to be more
careful with him. He had a way of destroying her defenses with a
single look, a single kiss. She wondered if he had the same
devastating impact on everyone else.

Grey stretched out
restlessly on his spacious bed, locked his hands behind his head
and forced himself to close his eyes yet again. Sleep eluded him.
Even the strenuous workout in
Calíbre
’s rec center had done little
to curb his uneasiness.

This mission was unsettling. Instinct told
him there was more to it than they had seen. Something greater was
brewing, something that would change his life forever. He knew it
with the absolute confidence of a man who had ignored the feeling
before and had later regretted it.

At least his plan to deal with Sandor Wex
was on track. He smiled in the darkness. As expected, Mora had
taken the bait: the final location of the Lost Mask of Teran. Or
that’s what she thought. Knowing his little spy as he did now, the
file would be in Wex’s hands the minute they landed on Vaasa
tomorrow.

But he suspected the real reason for his
restlessness was the distraction of innocence, strength, and
stunning beauty he’d picked up on Avion. He could still smell
Cidra’s hair. He cursed Syrus yet again. The old man had set him up
with a woman he could lose a great deal of sleep over.

In the blink of an eye, she had stripped him
down to primal, elemental male with a single kiss. A kiss that
haunted him relentlessly. A major mistake on his part. He’d tasted
the fire in her that hovered just below the surface. For a brief
moment, she had unchained it and let it rise. He wasn’t sure which
one of them had been more surprised.

He exhaled hard. Forget it. It would never
work. He already had painful proof that business and ecstasy didn’t
mix, no matter how tempting or how innocent those blue eyes
appeared. He wouldn’t tolerate another Mora, wouldn’t play the fool
again.

Satisfied with his renewed determination and
self-control, he concentrated once again on sleep. Even drifting
toward it, he realized his body hadn’t heard a word.

It began as it always did. Oppressive
darkness and debilitating horror, a suffocating terror that gripped
her to the core. Cold, raw, bottomless fear.

The screaming started, blood-curdling
shrieks unleashed from the heart. Cidra was never sure if they were
her own. A mother, begging, pleading and then silenced with a
brutal blast. A sickening flurry of twisted imagination and
snippets of reality. Footsteps thundering, so loud, so close, so
fast. Fire and smoke.

Fear choked her, paralyzing her body,
freezing her legs. Frantically, blindly, she struggled to escape,
her heart pounding out the advance of the faceless encroachers.
Confusion reigned, panic clawed at her throat.

Cidra braced herself for the final scene,
the inevitable conclusion, there was no stopping it. She waited for
the pain that would rip through her, the final blast, the same
conclusion to the same nightmare she’d relived over and over again
for ten years.

She waited, but it didn’t come. Not this
time. A soft voice whispered to her. Her father’s voice. He was
there, in her mind.

Run, Cidra. Slip out as
fast as you can, and no one will see you.
His voice sounded calm and soothing. She wanted to say
something to him, anything. It had been so long. She reached out to
him.

The blast finally came and it was over.
Cidra bolted up in bed like a shot. Heavy shudders racked her body.
She was soaking wet and shaking in the darkness. She yanked the
covers off and leapt to her feet, residual energy surging through
her.

It had been different this time. Her
father’s voice, that had never happened before. The spell was
broken for some reason; the nightmare had changed. After ten years,
it had changed. Why?

She stood in the center of her room, hugging
herself. There had to be a reason. What was it he’d said?

Run
.
Slip out as fast as you can, and no
one will see you
.

She repeated the words again and again.
Suddenly, she stilled, her eyes focusing on the micropad lying on
the desk. “Oh Lord. That’s it.”

Cidra spun around, hit the controls that
unlocked the adjoining passage and started knocking on the door.
She was about to try the comm unit when the door abruptly slid
open.

Grey stood in the doorway, his body poised
for action, laser in hand—all warrior.

“
What’s wrong? Are you all
right?” His eyes darted around her cabin checking for
trouble.

“
A back door,” she
breathed, her eyes huge.

Low light from his cabin lit her face.
Grey’s eyebrows furrowed with concern. “Cidra?”

She repeated slowly, “A back door. The
landing bay. They slipped out of the landing bay.”

He struggled to keep up with her. She was
obviously wide-awake, leaving him at a distinct disadvantage. Not
to mention that, for a fleeting moment, he’d hoped she just plain
wanted him and not to bounce some crazy idea off either.

“
Cidra, I hate to break
this to you, but we watched that holo recording four times. Nothing
came out of the landing bay,” he explained patiently, lowering the
laser pistol and bracing his other hand above the
doorframe.

She gave him a challenging look. “I have one
brilliant theory for you.”

Grey exhaled and hung his head. “It’s late,
Cidra. Can we discuss this in the morning?”

Her voice shook. “No. I need to see the
recording again.” She moved closer to him and placed her palm on
his bare chest. “I can’t wait until morning. Grey, please.”

He sucked in a breath and froze. Her hand
felt like fire on his bare skin. He gazed down into those
beautiful, pleading eyes. It was the first time she’d ever called
him by his first name, and it sounded incredibly sweet. He was
aware that parts of him were waking up faster than others. He was
also aware with every ounce of instinct in him, without a doubt, he
was in big trouble.

“
I’m going to regret this,”
he grumbled.

She withdrew her hand at once and smiled
brilliantly. “Let’s go.”

He raised his head and examined her from the
floor up with a slow, thorough gaze. Her gown was plastered to her
body, revealing every curve, every movement.

“
If you walk around
Calíbre
looking like
that, I won’t be held responsible for the actions of my crew.” His
voice was low and deliberate.

Cidra drew a blank and looked down at
herself. Her eyes shot back to him. For the first time, it dawned
on her that he was wearing only shorts. He was still standing in
the doorway with one hand braced on the top of the doorway, his
lean, powerful body now relaxed.

Suddenly, the only cohesive thought in her
head was that he was magnificent. Muscle played over muscle,
sinuous and imposing. The contours and hard planes of a superb male
physique glowed in the half-light. Broad shoulders filled the
doorway. Dark hair sprinkled over his wide chest and down a
tapering torso. She skimmed quickly over his narrow hips, watching
as his legs flexed, potent and solid under her scrutiny. She had to
force her gaping mouth shut.

Cidra drew her attention back to his face.
It was an amused, all-male smile that greeted her.

She straightened and lifted her chin. “Point
taken. Give me five minutes.” The door slid shut.

Decker wandered in the office, scratched his
head and threw himself into the closest chair. Barrios lumbered in
a second later, took one look at Cidra’s bright, perky face and
growled at Grey, “This better be good.”

Grey held up a hand in defense. “I’m just
the messenger.”

He swept a hand toward Cidra. “It’s all
yours. Let’s hear that brilliant theory that couldn’t wait till
morning.”

Cidra winced. It was going to be a tough
crowd. “Decker, please run the recording again, starting about
midway through.”

Decker grumbled something low and the now
familiar image flashed up after the Kin-sha escort was destroyed
and the dying Galena began its drift to port.

“
Stop.” The image froze.
Cidra turned to the others. “Can anyone think of a good reason why
the Galena would rotate position and try to draw the fighters to
the port side?”

Grey leaned forward. “Maybe there was a
problem with the starboard guns.” He threw Decker a questioning
glance.

Decker yawned and shook his head. “Nope,
they look just fine at this point. A direct order was issued.”

Grey frowned. “Strange order.”

Cidra smiled, knowing she had his attention.
“OK, let it run. Normal speed.” The battle continued on its tragic
way.

“
Wait... wait. There. See
that flicker?” Cidra pointed as the recording jumped. She pinned
Decker. “Any idea what caused that?”

He frowned at the stats rolling by. “No, it
doesn’t look like a malfunction. Maybe a file transfer or
something.” His eyes met hers, surprised by his own
implication.

She now had Decker’s attention, too.

“
Slow it down. Speed at ten
percent,” she said. The battle was nearly over. “Decker, what’s the
status of the landing bay door on the starboard side.”

“
That’s strange. It’s
open.” He paused. “Why would they want the door open? One laser
blast from a fighter would destroy them.”

“
Anything inside the
landing bay?” Cidra was almost afraid to ask.

Decker nodded. “Looks like a couple of
transports were docked, but there’s very little data on them.”

The internal explosions had begun. Just as
the final explosion rocked the big ship, Cidra interjected. “Let it
finish. Then back up to the last frame of the image.”

Her heart was racing now. This was it, the
moment of truth. If she were wrong, no one in this room would speak
to her for a week.

The final split second of action froze.

Cidra squinted. “Zoom in here.” She pointed
to the landing bay vicinity.

The focus area enlarged.

“
Now cut the glare from the
explosions inside and the gunfire outside.”

Decker nodded and complied.

Suddenly it appeared. Cidra closed her eyes.
It was there. A very faint, very fine line coming out of the
landing bay heading into deep space. The distinct trail of a
hyperspace vortex.

“
I don’t believe it,”
Barrios gasped, his eyes riveted to the image. “They jumped a
transport into hyperspace directly off the landing bay deck. That’s
practically impossible to do.”

Cidra relaxed in her chair. Mission
accomplished. “Slip out as fast as you can, and no one will see
you,” she murmured.

Barrios chuckled and rubbed his bald
head.

Decker shook his head. “I can’t believe
they’d take such a huge risk. The chances of that transport getting
out of there in one piece were pretty slim.”

Grey leaned back in his seat and looked at
Decker. “Probably figured they didn’t have anything to lose. It was
evident they weren’t going to make it.”

Decker snorted. “Yeah, I guess when you look
at it that way, it was downright brilliant. Well, this would
explain how they got this holo recording and that one vial off the
Galena.”

“
I’ll wager they got more
than that off.” Barrios hesitated, waiting for their full focus.
“It was standard practice for a transport to handle the final leg
of each shipment. The freighter generally served as long-range
transportation and protection only. How much do you want to bet the
entire shipment of vaccine was on that transport?”

Cidra whispered. “Are you saying that whole
shipment could be out there somewhere?”

“
Impossible,” Decker
interjected. “They would have had to plan this whole scenario ahead
of time. The holo recording transfer, the transport and its crew.
Not to mention, the manifest information and no less than a
thousand vials of vaccine pre-loaded on that transport. According
to this recording, there’s no way there was enough time to do it
during the battle.”

Barrios boasted. “I told you Jarid was a
master strategist. He always had a plan for every possibility. I’ll
bet...” He stopped short, suddenly enlightened, and glanced around
the office. “Where’s the paperwork we found in Syrus’ box?”

Decker withdrew the papers from a drawer and
tossed them to Barrios. He shuffled through them furiously until he
located one small note. With a satisfied grunt, he tossed the note
in front of them. Cidra leaned forward to read it. The message was
short and hand-written, scrawled hastily across the faded
paper.

PLAN A-664 EXECUTED. DAMAGE ON ESCAPE.
COMMUNICATIONS OUT. NAVIGATION SYSTEM INOPERABLE. COORDINATES
UNKNOWN. ATTEMPTING LANDING ON SMALL GRAY AND WHITE PLANET. ONE
GIANT RED STAR VISIBLE. HOMING POD MANUALLY RELEASED. CARGO INTACT.
ORIGINAL MISSION FAILED.