Beyond (27 page)

Aimee tried to withdraw from the advancing instrument, but she could no longer even wiggle a finger. She used the only piece of her anatomy that still worked. She screamed for all she was worth.

With a sense of pleasure she noticed Salvan wince as his eyes darted towards the door, but his glance returned, along with a smug smirk. "Everyone is in the Bio Ward, Aimee. No one remains in this wing. Scream all you want. You will stop in a minute."

The prod neared her abdomen. It looked like a sharp icicle, and the man who possessed it was a blonde grim reaper. She screamed again as tears started to stream from the corners of her eyes.

Mama.
Daddy.
I miss you
.
Zak, I—

Her eyes clamped shut, awaiting that first incision, praying that her stomach was as numb as the rest of her.

There was a loud clatter, like a thunderclap, as a billow of air washed over her. At her side, the sharp point of heat pierced through the fabric of her suit and she screamed again—this time from pain.

Roused by the sound of combat, Aimee could not twist her body to locate the skirmish. She heard the distinct smack of fist against bone as the battle shifted. And then she saw him.

Zak.

Salvan swayed and nearly collapsed forward against Zak’s drawn gun.

A woman cried, “No, Zak. We don’t kill our own.”

Aimee could see Zak’s eyes now. She could read his dark thought.
I am not one of you
.

He holstered his weapon on the black belt at his waist, and instead, settled for the force of his fist. Salvan went down with a thud.

Zak was at her side.
"Aimee!”

She had enough feeling to sense his arms slip around her, and his lips trace against her cheek. "If I had been a minute later..." his voice was hoarse.

Aimee searched his face to assure that it was really Zak and not Salvan playing some sort of freakish genetic trick. But she recognized the familiar golden eyes filled with angst. Worry aged Zak, making him look more rugged—a man you would not wish to cross.

"Zak?" She wanted nothing more than to throw her arms around him. "I can't move."

Zak slipped his arm under her knees and then reached around her back, pulling her to his chest. She felt weightless in his grasp.

His grin was tight. “That’s because Salvan is too much of a coward to face you without an advantage. He knew you’d overpower him.”

She let loose a smug chuckle. “Damn right I would.”

“Damn right,” he repeated.

He turned around with her in his arms and now she could see the inert figure on the floor. Raja leaned over Salvan, performing a scan with one of her instruments. She looked up at Aimee with a weary smile. Raja’s face bore a tint of jaundice and her midsection glowed bright. "I'm so glad we made it here in time. He was just about to—"

"Raja, it's my saliva. It can save you!"

Raja stood up and cast a disgusted look down at Salvan. "Yes. We realize that now. Don't worry. I'm not going to drop right here in front of you. I have time. Enough time to work with the other scientists on a serum. Aimee—" her voice was ragged, "you may save us all."

Water welled up in Raja's eyes.

Aimee saw the desperation there—the raw desperation of a woman grasping for hope.

"Take what you need," Aimee encouraged.
"Hurry."

Swiping at her eye with the back of her hand, Raja then reached towards the cabinet. Her toe clipped against Salvan’s leg and she stumbled. After righting herself, she extracted an apparatus that resembled a vial.

"Is he dead?" Aimee asked Zak.

"No,” Zak shook his head. “He'll be out for a while. The guards will come take him away, but we have to wait. There are fewer guards in action than normal."

"Here." Raja approached with the vial in hand.
"As much as you can possibly spit up.
We only need a little bit." She held the jar out to Aimee.

Trauma had left Aimee's mouth dry. It was a feat to produce any saliva on demand. Clamping her lips shut, she relaxed and felt some liquid pool in the back of her throat. Working it up to the tip of her tongue, she leaned over as if she was in the dentist’s chair.
Now spit
.

Raja grabbed the vial. Azure eyes widened. “This is going to work. I just know it,” she enthused. “I gave you something to accelerate the sensation in your arms and legs. You’ll be back on your feet shortly.”

She glanced down at Salvan with antipathy. “Zak, you’ll watch him until the guards arrive?”

“He’s not going anywhere,” Zak affirmed.

“Okay.” Raja looked anxious. “I will communicate with you shortly.”

As she watched Raja leave, Aimee thought she should feel awkward just hanging around in Zak’s arms, but his heat and the solid thud of his heart proved reassuring.

“You can set me back down. It may be awhile before I can stand on my own.” Her grin felt strained.

“Maybe I like holding you.”

Aimee looked up into his eyes. “How did you know? How did you know where to find me?”

Zak stepped back to the elevated bed and set her down on it. He swung her legs over the edge and propped her up as he sat down beside her, settling her against his shoulder.

“That JOH that I left with you traveled all the way up to the deck to personally deliver his message. He felt that his system might have been compromised and did not want to share the information via the network. And then he told me that Raja had kidnapped you and that you were very sick.” Zak reached between them and linked his hand with hers. “That image didn’t make sense. I tracked Raja down in the Bio Ward, and with Salvan missing—it didn’t take much to conclude what happened to you.”

Aimee watched his forehead knot in consternation. “The big question," he continued, "was
where
were you
? For that we worked with JOH to track down your DNA. Salvan still had a trace of the cloaking serum in him, but he forgot to hide you. He was too obsessed and too arrogant to sort out the details.”

“What about the deck?” Aimee asked. “You couldn’t just leave it. They need you up there.”

“There are enough people remaining at their stations to assure me that we have control. And there were no Koron ships tailing us,” he added with a grin.

Aimee smiled at that, and then sobered at the sight of the charcoal scar just beneath her ribs. She wanted to touch it but there was not enough strength in her arm.

“You saved my life, Zak. He was just about to slice me open.”

Zak released her hand to rub his own over his face. It did not conceal the glimpse of ire beneath. He cast a lethal glare at the inactive figure on the floor.

“The only reason he is alive right now is because I made it here in time. I’m still struggling, Aimee.” A simple head shake could not banish his demons. “I’m struggling not to reach down there and put my fingers around his neck.”

Aimee moved her own fingers, using them as claws to drag her arm closer to him. She touched him and the connection was enough to distract him.

“You don’t kill your own, Raja said.”

Black eyebrows descended. “But—”

“Hush,” she interrupted. “My planet has too much racism. These are your people, Zak, and you know it. That is why it was so important for you to reach the main deck in their time of crisis. That’s why you needed to lead them. You will not let anything happen to anyone on this ship.
Anyone
.”
She purposely stared down at Salvan.

For a while Zak remained silent and she shared that silence with him in comfort.

Still in conflict, his gaze settled on her side. "Are you hurt?" Hoarse concern deepened his tone.

"No. It burned for a second, but now it just itches and it's driving me crazy because I can't scratch it."

He reached over and pinched the fabric of her silver suit about an inch above the black scar and then pulled the material back so that it wasn't chafing her skin. "Does that help?"

"Oh my God, that is heaven." Her eyes rolled with relief.

"The material is burned. It's digging into your skin. We'll get you a new suit as soon as you can move."

Aimee concentrated and swayed her feet as they dangled over the edge of the bed. "See, it's getting there. I can move my legs…and my fingers too." She wiggled them. "My arms just feel like cement."

"Cement?"
Zak hesitated and then lifted his eyebrows. "Ahh, we had a composite like that. It was what our dwellings were made out of.
Liquid rock.
I remember as a child asking my mother if I could go swimming in it."

"I'm guessing she wouldn't let you."

"No. But she said that knowing me, I’d find a way out of it." His smile was poignant.

"Zak, do you think I really have the power to cure this disease?"

Zak hefted off the bed and turned around to stand before her. His palms fell flat on the surface on either side of her thighs. With his dark features and riveting eyes, and that wicked grin—it was enough to make Aimee’s skin prickle with goose bumps.

"I can't tell that, Aimee. But I wouldn't mind if you experimented on me some more."

This playful side of Zak was
irresistible. She loved the brooding, intense man—but this
mischievous, sexy guy was just
irresistible.

Wait a minute, did she just say, loved?

Before that thought could register, Zak's lips were on hers and she couldn’t think. Her arms wound around his neck and she sat up straight into his embrace.

Zak's mouth pulled away from hers, just far enough that he could whisper, "I think your arms are working again."

And then he kissed her, and she was lost, clinging to him with renewed strength.

When Zak finally drew back, she could tell it was with great reluctance. She whimpered from the loss of his touch.

"I want to show you so much," he declared in a husky voice. "It scares me, Aimee. I don't share with people. I never shared with people. I am dependable. I am loyal. I do everything in my power to protect the citizens of this ship—" he
looked her in the eyes, "—but I have never shared anything of myself with anyone. And I want to now."

His hands dropped off the bed and he stepped back. "It's very alarming."

Forlorn, Aimee glanced down at the floor, wondering if she would be able to stand if she slipped off the bed.

There was only one way to find out.

Her feet hit the ground, but her legs felt like spaghetti noodles. Propping her elbow against the bed, she used her upper body to support her, and gradually the numbness receded enough to enable her to stand.

She took a step towards Zak, knowing that he would catch her if she stumbled. He was letting her do this on her own, though. The confidence in his glance motivated her. She managed one step, followed by another, and then she planted her palms against his chest and smiled up at him.

“I’m back,” she professed.

“Yes you are.” He smiled.

They were interrupted by the arrival of the guards.
Brawny men in crisp silver uniforms.
Two out of the three men exhibited red-tainted abdomens. They bent to haul Salvan to his feet as his head lolled atop his shoulders. Pallid eyes fluttered open and latched onto Aimee. There was a maniacal avarice in them—as if he was a homeless man who had not eaten in weeks and she was a rare steak.

In that instant, a JOH flitted into the room and bobbed up and down to draw attention.

“Raja needs you,” he rushed.
“In the C-3 chamber of the Bio Ward.”
He paused a second and added, “the
real
Raja.”

“Can you make it?” Zak reached for Aimee’s arm. “Are you okay to walk?”

“If it’s good news, I can fly!”

But what if it was bad news? Either way, she had to know.

“Aimee—”

Salvan’s chilled voice froze her. Her body jerked under the assault of that simple summons.

“I am not through with you.”

Zak filled the gap between her and Salvan.

“I let you live,” Zak fumed. “Don’t make me regret that.”

Aimee peered around Zak’s shoulder to see Salvan's face pinch with aversion. “You are not with her all the time. You have a ship to command, don’t you? She will be vulnerable. And if you are so patriotic, why would you deprive the Anthumians their opportunity to learn more from her composition?”

A shiver ran down her spine and she slipped behind Zak to avoid connecting with the manic blue eyes of the scientist.

Thick shoulder muscles bunched before her as Zak reached forward. She could see his hand traveling towards Salvan’s neck and she could hear Zak's lethal threat.

“They tell me that it’s not right for me to kill you. Maybe I am too
patriotic
." His hand wavered. "But if you ever touch her again, I will cut off your hands.”