Atrophy (31 page)

Something in her voice pulled him up short, and he skidded to a stop a mere few feet from her. “It’s invisible, but it’s there. Some kind of electromagnetic field. It’ll knock you out if you touch it.”

He scanned around her, looking for any telltale shimmer or disturbance in the atmosphere. “I hacked into their systems. Took them all off-line.”

Including the security system, so that would mean no invisible cage…he hoped.

He crouched down so he was eye level with her, edging forward. She shook her head frantically, tears welling in her eyes.

“Please, Tannin, don’t. You can’t let them catch you. I can’t sit here and watch that happen.”

His ribs clamped around his lungs, shoulders yanking tight as tension turned his muscles to stone. “It’ll be fine, Zahli. You trust me, right?”

She jerked a nod, tears spilling over to streak down her cheeks.

“I trust you,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around her knees and scrunching into a ball.

“Then it’ll be fine. We’ll be fine. You just have to believe me.”

She gulped a stuttered breath and he leaned forward, stretching out a hand. A tremor cascaded down his arm, making his hand shake as he got closer to her. His lungs locked up, and he couldn’t find any air as he inched closer, sure that any second now, he’d get zapped and be down for the count, not able to even help himself, let alone her.

But nothing happened, and then the tips of his fingers brushed her jaw, and he slid his hand to the back of her neck. She tumbled forward, landing against his chest, even as he yanked her tightly against him.

“Oh god, Zahli.” He gripped her tighter, aware he might be crushing her, but unable to make his arms unclamp from around her. But she was hugging him back just as tightly, her short nails digging into his shoulder blades even though his borrowed jacket and shirt.

She shuddered, her whole body quaking against him, and he wanted to give her a moment to gather herself, but they didn’t have the time. His twenty minutes were rapidly dwindling and the IPC authorities would be on their way.

Chapter Twenty-Five

“C
ome on, Rian’s waiting outside.” Tannin pulled her up, but typical of Zahli, once she was on her feet, some of the determination and strength he’d seen in her that first day on Erebus returned. She glanced down at the gun on his hip and wiped both hands over her face.

“Do you have a spare weapon?”

“No.” He pulled out the nucleon gun and handed it over to her. “But you take this one. You’re probably a better shot than I am.”

She nodded and took the weapon in a two-handed grip. But before they could even take a step, the door to the lab opened and the man in the white coat he’d seen leaving earlier stepped in.

Tannin hadn’t even started forming a thought about what to do when Zahli brought the gun up and shot him, damn near perfectly in the center of his forehead. The man jerked back into the door he’d just closed and slid to the floor.

“Zahli—” Shock froze his brain and his tongue, because no other words followed her name.

“He was one of
them
.” Her expression scarily reminiscent of her brother, she stepped closer and fired off several more rounds into the man’s chest, though he didn’t think the guy would have been getting up from that head shot, even if he had been Reidar.

“Okay, he obviously deserved that, but let’s try not to leave a trail of bodies on the way out, otherwise we might not get out.”

He walked over to the door and closer inspection revealed that the doctor had definitely been Reidar. With a grimace, he shoved the body out of the way, then held a hand out for Zahli.

She wrapped her fingers around his in a firm grip, and slipped the gun into the small of her back, under her shirt.

Out in the hall, they paused while he did his door-scrambling routine again, and then it took him a second to remember which way they needed to go to get out. Halfway back, it occurred to him that he stupidly hadn’t worked out how he was going to walk Zahli past the guard at the front desk.

His coat disguise had worked once already, so he figured why not again? As they passed an empty office with the lights dimmed, he paused to snatch a white lab coat on a hat stand and then hand it off to Zahli. She shrugged into it without a word as they continued down the corridor.

As they got closer to the entrance, they passed other doctors and nurses, but no one paid them any attention. He’d actually started thinking they were brazenly going to get away with walking out the main entrance, but then they stepped into the empty anteroom with the guard at his desk.

As soon as the guard saw them, he stood up, his expression darkening.

“Hey, wait just a—”

Zahli yanked out the nucleon gun and shot him, but the guard tried to duck at the last second and she only clipped his shoulder. He went down behind the desk, but Zahli darted around the end of the counter and finished the job with lightning-quick accuracy.

“Seriously?” he muttered as she shoved the gun away again.

“In case you haven’t worked it out by now,
everyone
on this level is Reidar.”

“I thought that might be the case, but I wasn’t sure. Not sure enough to randomly shoot anyone who got in my way.”

Zahli started to turn toward him, but stopped as something on the guard’s desk caught her attention. “Tannin, what’s this?”

He stepped around the bench to see her pointing at a crystal display, where his face appeared under a flashing security warning.

“Damn it.” He tapped at the screen, taking precious moments they probably didn’t have to access the hospital-wide system. He wished he could wipe himself from the entire IPC database, but in that second, the best he could do was delete the security alert and his picture from the hospital’s computers.

Just as he finished, the elevator arrived, Zahli having pushed the button a few moments earlier. The car was empty this time, and in a matter of seconds they were hurrying through the ground level of the building.

Outside, the rain had set in heavily again, and he grabbed Zahli’s arm, tugging her along to Rian’s waiting car.

Except when they reached the vehicle, he stopped and intercepted Zahli’s hand before she could open the door.

“Tannin, what are you—?” Her words cut off as he yanked her against him and caught her mouth in a hard kiss, laced with reckless desperation. The rain pounded around them, yet he couldn’t do anything except stand there and hold her, tasting pure, sweet, familiar Zahli, everything he thought he’d lost and would never have again.

He pulled back the slightest fraction, releasing a choppy breath. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”

She shook her head, leaning into him with a small sniff, water running in rivulets over both of them. “I’m okay, they didn’t do anything. I only got knocked out by the invisible field once. After that, I was careful. Apparently they were waiting for Rian to show up before the
fun
was going to begin.”

“Thank god,” he breathed out the words against her lips, catching her mouth with his again. He hadn’t let the thought that they might have tortured her—just like in the transmission—enter his mind, but he’d been aware of it lurking in the background shadows of his head.

“As much as I love standing around watching you two suck face, we don’t have time for it.” Rian’s voice cut through the battering rain and euphoric haze.

Zahli broke the kiss and looked around him at Rian. “How did you get here so fast?”

“Get in the car and we’ll tell you on the way to the
Imojenna
,” Rian replied.

A stubborn gleam lit her blue eyes, so Tannin took her arm and tugged her toward the waiting vehicle, sliding into the passenger seat and then pulling her onto his lap. He didn’t care what the hell Rian said. There was no way in the fiery pits of Erebus he’d be letting her go.
Ever again
.

“I thought I wasn’t allowed on the
Imojenna
anymore, and here you are taking me back.” She crossed her arms and sat with an annoyed, rigid posture, glaring at her brother.

Rian’s lips tightened into a thin line as he guided the vehicle through the streets toward the spaceport. “Obviously the Reidar have proven everyone is collateral, but if you want to stay on Dalphin and get nabbed again, be my guest. There won’t be a rescue part two.”

Zahli snorted. “Why, because it’ll get in the way of your grand plans for revenge?”

Tannin laid a hand against her cheek, gaining her attention. “Things changed in the last few weeks.”

Her gaze softened when she looked at him, as something else, something hot and delicious sparked in the depths of her eyes. She moved the slightest bit in his lap, slamming his awareness to where her hip brushed his cock, which had chosen the most inopportune moment to stir. But the lust was easy enough to shove aside as he remembered the soul-destroying moment when he thought she’d died. The way he’d walked around, less than a shell of himself, because he believed she’d left him and taken his heart, his very essence, with her.

“We thought you were dead, Zahli.”

Surprise and bewilderment touched her expression.
God
. How had he survived the last few weeks thinking he’d never again be able to study her beautiful, animated face and never hold her lush, supple body against him?

His eyes swam and he didn’t care that she’d see how broken he’d been, far more shattered and damaged than even all those years on Erebus had wrought.

“The Reidar sent us a recorded transmission of you at the Tetsu spaceport, approached by a man. After that, the footage showed a woman who looked like you being tortured and killed.”

Zahli shook her head, her eyes watering as she slid her hand around the back of his neck. He swallowed around the lump in his throat, the contact of her gentle, sure fingers bittersweet.

“I thought you were dead,” he repeated, because he couldn’t find any other words.

“Oh, Tannin.” She wrapped her arms tight around his shoulders and leaned into him, hugging him hard against her. After a moment she sat back. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I tried to call when I got home, but the message wouldn’t go through, so I figured the long-range comm was out or something. It seems so stupid now, but I didn’t try again because I was angry and upset, and didn’t want to talk to anyone—”

“Forget it,” Rian said, slowing the transporter as they reached the spaceport. “You know, your boyfriend tried to kill me. Not that he did a very good job of it, but he took a shot at beating the frecking crap out of me.”

The glare returned as she looked at her brother. “Am I supposed to feel sorry for you? You deserved it. You’ve been acting like an ass.”

Rian pulled the vehicle into a long-term parking bay in a large garage and climbed out. Zahli shoved the door open and got out. Tannin, uncomfortable in his wet clothes, shivered as the transporter’s door clicked close behind him. All he wanted to do was get back to the
Imojenna
, strip both Zahli and him out of their sodden garments, and get underneath a steaming, hot shower.

“I have those rules for a reason, Zahli.” Rian and Zahli were already a good few paces ahead, crossing the deserted parking spaces and still arguing.

“You need to learn when those rules can be bent or altered.”

“What? You think I’m going to change them just because you’re my sister? You don’t get special treatment above the rest of the crew for being family.”

“Oh, like I haven’t worked
that
out! And if it were any of the rest of the crew, wouldn’t you consider changing the rules if they came to you and said they were honestly in love and were going to make a real commitment to that person?”

A jolt of warmth sang through him despite the tense anxiety of the situation. He and Zahli had never discussed anything, never made any promises. Did Zahli
love
him? The idea hit him much the same way Rian’s punch in the face had, leaving him staggered.

Rian glanced back at him with the old
you’re-dead-next-time-we’re-alone
look. Now so wasn’t the time for any epiphanies.

“That’s just it. You didn’t come to me. I caught you screwing him on the couch in the common room. And has the scumrat actually made any promises to you, besides getting you naked?”

Zahli’s fists clenched and even he had to admit, Rian had pissed him off with that last comment. But they’d reached the spaceport and everything looked weirdly deserted. All right, he’d believe there might not be many people about in the garage, but for the actual terminal to be empty? That started ringing alarms in his head.

“How dare you—” Zahli started, but Tannin caught up and put himself between them, sliding his hand into Zahli’s.

“This isn’t the time or the place. Especially since something’s not right here.”

Rian stopped after they’d passed through the wide, crystal-pane doorway of the terminal. His right hand landed on the butt of his nucleon gun as he looked around the abandoned area. Tannin palmed his own gun as Zahli’s fingers tightened on his, and Rian backed up a couple of steps.

“Let’s take a less direct route to the
Imojenna
.” Rian unholstered his pistol, but they only got through the doorway before UAFA soldiers in black and scarlet uniforms swarmed from all directions, shouting for them to relinquish their weapons and get on the floor. They all held rifles and guns twice the size of the ones Rian and he had.

Ice-cold dread clogged his veins like he’d been sucked into the freezing, voidless non-atmosphere of deep space. It wouldn’t take UAFA long to figure out who he was, that he’d belonged on Erebus all this time. When they got to the prison planet, he and Zahli would get separated. Whatever the authorities would have in store for him after escaping, he’d be lucky to survive. There was every chance he’d simply
disappear
.

With numb, jerky movements, Tannin dropped his gun and kicked it toward the nearest soldier. Rian wasn’t so accommodating and held onto his pistol until one of the uniformed men got close enough to grab his shoulder and kick him in the back of the legs, sending him to the ground and wrenching the gun from his grasp in the same movement.

A couple more men closed in on Zahli and him, forcing him to let go of her hand as they twisted flexicuffs around their wrists.

“Frecking UAFA.” Rian managed to get back up to his knees and spat at the guy who’d restrained him. That only earned him a backhand across the face and made Tannin remember his first assessment of the guy, which had been
deranged sonuvabitch
.

The three of them were lined up by rough hands. One of the UAFA agents came to stand in front of them and another couple patted them down.

“Captain Rian Sherron, I’m UAFA Agent Cabell. You and the crew of the Nirali class ship registered nine-zero-three-six,
Imojenna
, are being detained by order of Baden Niels, CEO of Dieter Industries, for possession of stolen goods and accused of intergalactic terrorism. You’ll be taken to Erebus, where Mr. Niels will petition the IPC to have you sentenced for these alleged crimes indicted against you.”

Erebus?
His fears confirmed, acid dread lanced Tannin’s guts until he felt like he could puke on the scuffed boots of the agent holding his cuffed hands. It was bad enough he’d have to return there himself, but for Zahli to suffer that fate as well? They had to do something,
anything
to escape before they landed on Erebus, because he would not accept that doom for her.

“
Intergalactic terrorism
?” Rian laughed, resisting the soldier trying to hold him. “That’s a new one. Don’t you know who I am? I doubt the IPC is going to believe their universally respected war hero is capable of that.”

Cabell didn’t answer, but nodded to his companions, who began leading them through the empty spaceport terminal.

“I told you that your reputation wouldn’t keep saving you,” Zahli muttered.

Tannin caught her eye. She looked pale, but calm and composed. Of course, she didn’t have twelve years of experience living on Erebus haunting her.

Rian continued baiting the agents as they were marched through the public terminal and then the private docking bays, where they’d left the
Imojenna,
to the area government sanctioned ships landed and those belonging to UAFA.