Star Kissed (31 page)

“To do both what?” Cesar chimed in, anger in his tone.

“I plan on getting rid of the gods once and for all. Starting over. Rebuilding humanity,” Urik said. He pulled free from her and began walking. “You are now on the ground floor of the next evolution of our planet.”

“Getting rid of the gods?” Mandy echoed. “Even Akkadi?”

“All of them.”

“Helen is you aunt and Akkadi supplies you with everything you have,” she countered.

“I won’t hurt my family. But I’ll make damned sure they know to leave the Earth alone,” Urik replied.

Alarm built inside her. She didn’t know how he was able to do that without blowing up the station, which would hurt everyone inside.

“Urik, you said –”

“Quiet. I’m serious about people trying to find you,” he called over his shoulder. “They tracked you the first time I had you. This time, if someone grabs you, Akkadi won’t be there to save you if I can’t.”

His words stung. He had no idea how much, and Mandy fell quiet. He was right. She really was on her own this time. She’d taken the energy cells only to have them taken from her. She was too tired and frustrated to be angry with Urik, too upset over Akkadi to consider what happened when he woke and had a reason to hate her. Akkadi lost the ability to find a cure, and she had no way home.

Self-absorbed.
Maybe her agent was right about her. She knew taking the cells would prevent Akkadi and had done it anyway. Why didn’t she just leave them there and come to the planet, accepting this was her fate, to stay here?

It was her worst day yet in the future.

Urik guided them through the underground tunnels for an hour before stopping beneath an open manhole. He whistled, and a rope dropped from the top.

Pinal climbed up first and then lowered a harness down. Urik took Mandy’s arm and lined her up under the opening, fastening the harness around her.

“We’re doing a quick check with the healers before we move on,” Urik said loud enough for Cesar to hear. He concentrated on tightening the straps of the harness around her. “Sometimes, space travel can cause stress on humans. The more human, the more stress. Those cargo ships are the worst when it comes to space radiation.”

Mandy shivered, not liking the sound of being irradiated. She gripped the rope above her head. Urik tugged on it and stepped back. She was lifted to the top, where Pinal and another man in black reached down to take her arms and haul her out. He unfastened her and handed her a water box. Mandy forced herself not to think about the beetles she’d seen in her water on the planet and sipped as they waited in the shadows of the door. She passed it to Cesar when he was safely in the room.

Urik scaled the rope last, gathered it, and tossed it to the side. He unslung a weapon of some sort and went to a wide crack in the black block in front of them.

“Clear,” he said, peering out. “Let’s go.”

They ventured into the street.

Mandy drew deep breaths, finding it much harder to breathe the planet’s tainted air than she remembered, and trotted behind Pinal. They wove through the streets for several blocks before passing through a massive barrier lined with armed men into a compound bustling with men and half-men in black.

Urik gripped her shoulder, pulling her back against his body.

“This is a rough crowd that knows who you are. If they believe you to be under my protection, they’ll be less likely to sell you off to whoever has a bounty on your head,” he said to her quietly. “Cesar, you know what to do. Act like you belong.”

The Hispanic man nodded. They made their way through the crowded ground floor to the second floor.

“You’re serious about there being a bounty on me?” Mandy asked Urik, aware of the penetrating looks she was receiving from those they passed. They were the gazes of men who knew there was a winning lottery ticket in their midst.

“Very.”

She shivered. She didn’t want to imagine what savagery awaited her if she was captured by anyone else.

Pinal led them into a small room, where a man with familiar healing tools waited. He motioned for her to sit. Mandy and Cesar sat together against one wall.

“Are you both well?” Urik asked, stripping off his weapons.

“Like you care,” Mandy snapped. “You got what you wanted.”

Urik met her gaze. “At what point have I ever put anything but your welfare ahead of anything? Even my own safety or that of my men?”

Mandy sighed.

“You know how many I’ve lost keeping you two safe so far?” he demanded. “I know this isn’t easy for you, Mandy, but I’m trying to save humanity.”

“So is Akkadi,” she replied before she could stop herself.

“With a cure? Did he tell you why his people are so desperate to find it?” Urik asked in a hard tone. “It’s not a disease. It’s a blood borne pathogen, a weapon created by the Naki to use against their enemies and tested here on our planet a thousand years ago. They had no fucking idea they were about to wipe out eighty percent of the population of our galaxy and have been trying to stop what they started.”

Her mouth dropped open. It was the latest secret Akkadi’s family kept, one she didn’t expect to hear.

One she found hard to doubt. She hadn’t understood the fierce Naki devotion to a race they didn’t claim as their own. The final piece of the puzzle clicked. They were trying to fix what they broke so long ago.

“Okay,” she said slowly. “But Akkadi didn’t do that. He doesn’t have to stick around. His people could just leave everyone to face the plague on their own instead of trying to find a cure.” She rationalized. “He planned on using the energy cells to move to the next stage of the vaccine process.”

“You stole them to get home. Don’t you dare try to judge me,” Urik countered.

Mandy rubbed her face. He was right. She’d been selfish one last time. How many lives would it cost? Twenty billion? More?

Cesar squeezed her shoulder.

“Everyone makes mistakes,” she muttered. “I’ve got a laundry list of them.”

Urik’s gaze lingered on her. He leaned out the hallway and tossed the sash to someone. His features softened, and he sat across from her. They gazed at each other.

“I’m sorry,” he said finally. “I didn’t mean to use you. Either of you.”

“You’re right. Turnabout is fair play,” she replied. “I betrayed Akkadi, and you betrayed me. I don’t know who’s doing the right thing anymore, but it’s not me.”

“It’s not always cut and dry,” Urik replied. “Helen gave me a family when I had nothing, not even clothes that were mine. I am grateful to them, but I don’t want them messing with my world anymore.”

“I just want to get out of everyone’s hair.” Mandy considered. “I’m not saying what you want is wrong, Urik. I’m saying I think you and Akkadi want the same thing. You know his backup plan is to relocate everyone to another planet, if his people can’t defend the Earth from more aliens?”

“I figured as much. But this is our planet and our home. We shouldn’t have to leave it.”

“Right. And I shouldn’t be stuck here in the future. Sending me back is not a good use of resources and saving lives is better than fighting over a dead planet and killing everyone in the process,” she said. Hearing her words made her heart even heavier. Mandy pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes. “Whatever you think of Akkadi, you have to know he’ll do his best to protect our people.”

Urik looked away. “Akkadi is more duty-bound than any full Naki.”

Mandy heard the note of anger in his voice. For whatever reason, Urik, too, wanted Akkadi to be a little more human.

Urik motioned to the patiently waiting healer. Mandy straightened and held out her arm.

“Full scan,” Urik ordered.

The healer pressed a Pez dispenser-type medical tool to her forearm and held it there for a full minute. He pulled it back to study the lights and numbers on his watch.

“Urik, what if your plan fails?” she asked.

“I’ll make another one.”

She rolled her eyes.

The healer pressed the tool to her arm again, frowning.

“What is it, Xeno?” Urik asked. “Space travel can cause select mis-readings.”

“These are not mis-readings,” Xeno said. He withdrew the scanner and studied the face of his watch again.

“Please don’t tell me I’ve got some sort of weird future virus,” Mandy mumbled with a sigh.

“Not a virus.” Xeno said.

“Radiation,” Urik guessed.

Mandy looked down at her arms, expecting to see herself glowing. Cesar frowned, worried.

“There’s little protection from radiation in space on a cargo ship. I figured the Naki ships would be better built.” Urik said, standing. “We may need to get you both to a –”

“It’s not radiation,” Xeno reported.

“Oh, god, this is killing me!” she exclaimed. “Virus, radiation!” She leaned forward and pushed his arm down to see the lights and numbers she couldn’t read. “What does this mean, Xeno?”

Urik leaned over his shoulder.

“I, uh…” Xeno looked up finally at Urik.

“What?” Urik asked, puzzled.

“She’s, uh, with child.”

“Wait, what?” Mandy stared at him, certain she misheard.

“I’m detecting the rapid expansion of cells in your uterus and hormonal levels at eight times the normal rate. In about seven days, they’ll attach to the walls and …” Xeno’s voice grew garbled.

“I think I’m going to be sick.” Her head began to spin. She gripped it and tried to breathe deeply. Xeno’s words echoed in her thoughts. They didn’t make sense! How could they know that so soon after she’d had sex?

“Xeno, out. Tell no one,” Urik ordered. He thrust a water box at her. “Drink, Mandy.”

She nodded, fumbling to grip it. Cesar took it and held it steady.

Urik knelt in front of her. She breathed out hard and sipped water. Tears were in her eyes again. Her head was spinning and she was trying hard not to lose the space Twinkies she had for breakfast.

“Tell me it’s not Akkadi’s,” Urik said tersely.

She met his gaze then looked down, even more agitated. Akkadi would never let her out of this place. She was shaking.

“This changes things, Mandy,” he said. “I have to tell him.”

“No!” she said through clenched teeth. “You won’t tell him, Urik.”

“What happens in a few months, when it’s obvious?” he asked.

“Tell him it’s yours,” she snapped. “I don’t give a shit.”

Urik gave a startled laugh. She focused on breathing deeply. Cesar appeared too surprised to speak while Urik was shaking his head.

“No one talks. I’ll deal with it when I have to. Got it?” she told them, looking from one to the other.

No part of her wanted to dwell on what Akkadi would do if he found out. Keep her in a closet next to his apartments until she gave birth to his heir, then let Hichele raise the kid?

No way in hell. She’d rather spend her life here on the planet. She tried to imagine what it would be like to raise a child in such a world, darting from hideout to hideout. The kid would know everything there was to know about weapons before he was three.

“This can’t be happening,” she said.

“Wow,” Cesar managed at last. “Definitely not news I expected. I’m almost afraid to know what he finds when he does my exam.”

His words struck her as funny. Mandy laughed hysterically, on the verge of crying.

Why, oh, why hadn’t she thought to use protection when she had sex with Akkadi?

Because being with him felt too natural. The reason was simple, one he would find irrational but one that made sense to her heart.

“Urik!” someone yelled from down the hallway. “You need to see this!”

The rebellion leader rose and swiftly crossed to the door. He leaned out, studying something Mandy couldn’t see, then cursed.

“Evacuate!” he bellowed.

Mandy jumped, exchanging another look with Cesar.

Urik returned to them, slung his weapons back into place, then hauled the two of them to their feet.

“Run. Fast.”

“What? Where?” Mandy asked.

“Follow Pinal. I don’t care what happens, don’t stop running.”

Fear flew through her at the gravity on his features. He pushed them into the hallway.

Mandy glanced over her shoulder. She expected to see a fire or invasion or something. All she saw was a thick bank of blue-green smoke filling the other end of the hallway.

“Run, humans!” Pinal shouted.

Alarmed by their urgency, she grabbed Cesar’s hand and obeyed.

Chapter Eighteen

They wove once more through the warriors of the rebellion who hadn’t yet been issued the same orders to run that Pinal was following. Mandy stayed close to Cesar, sensing Urik’s urgency without understanding it.

“Faster, faster,” Urik said. He grabbed her arm and yanked her away from Cesar, heading in a different direction. “Order a complete, immediate evacuation!” he bellowed.

Unable to see who he addressed, Mandy felt like a rag doll as he all but dragged her through a gate. She lost sight of Cesar and almost refused to move but was barely able to stay on her feet with the forward momentum of Urik propelling her onward.

She looked back once, trying to find Cesar again.

Blue-green smoke billowed out of the building, the plume moving steadily and quickly through the courtyard towards the surrounding streets.

“Focus!” Urik barked, yanking her arm.

She stumbled and caught herself, concentrating on placing her feet. Urik was of a mind to drag her if she didn’t pay attention.

They ran past the barricade surrounding the two blocks where Urik’s men were stationed. He gave arm signals she didn’t understand, and those at the edge of the blockade scattered. The moment Urik set foot outside the heavily guarded area, lights flashed by them.

Mandy struggled to figure out what they were. Urik’s grip on her arm was solid, and he slowed, deftly maneuvering through light flashes that left her half-blind and reeling. She fell, unable to keep up with his lightening quick maneuvers. He caught her, spun and snatched her arm, racing along once more.

Mandy stopped trying to control her body, instead concentrating on reading his. When he ducked, so did she. When he twisted his body, she mirrored his movement. She tripped, and he jerked her against him, whirling so quickly, she was dizzy.