Deadly Pursuit (A Blood Hunter Novel, #2) (71 page)

“We
won’t.”
Tannis
sighed.
“We’re
going
in
after
them.”

“And
we’ll
all
die,”
Rico
countered,
but
the
words
held
no
conviction.
“Just
what
her
boyfriend
wanted
to
avoid.”

Tannis
shrugged.
“Then
we
die.
I
don’t
leave
my
crew
behind.
Okay,
we
need
a
plan.”

Alex
sat,
hugging
her
knees
to
her
chest,
and
let
their
arguing
wash
over
her.

She
wasn’t
miserable
enough
to
admit
that
she
would
rather
be
dead
than
live
without
Jon,
though
it
felt
like
that
right
now.
But
she
knew
people
recovered
from
broken
hearts.
What
she
wouldn’t
recover
from
is
giving
up
on
him.
Accepting
his
death
as
a
tolerable
price
to
pay
for
her
continued
survival.

She
would
have
shot
Rico,
might
even
have
shot
Tannis,
if
she’d
thought
it
would
do
some
good.
But
she
hadn’t
wanted
to
shoot
them,
and
it
really
wouldn’t
have
helped.

They
would
get
out
of
this
somehow;
they
had
gotten
out
of
bad
situations
before.
But
she
knew
she
didn’t
believe
that.
Deep
down
she
knew
this
was
a
suicide
mission,
and
a
flash
of
guilt
shot
through
her.

If
there
had
been
a
shuttle
left,
she
would
have
stolen
it
and
gone
alone,
but
Hezrai
had
blown
up
the
first
one
and
she
presumed
Skylar
and
Jon
must
have
taken
the
other.

Her
head
pounded
while
she
searched
her
mind
for
a
way
she
could
help;
she
felt
so
useless.
Then
an
idea
occurred
to
her.
Janey
was
standing
with
the
others,
but
she
came
over
when
Alex
beckoned.

“What
is
it?”
Janey
asked.

Five
minutes
later,
Alex
had
explained
what
she
needed
from
Janey.

Janey
thought
for
a
minute
and
nodded.
“I
think
it
will
work.
Let
me
sort
out
the
details
and
I’ll
let
you
know
before
you
leave.
”

There,
it
was
done—for
better
or
worse.
Alex
just
hoped
she
wouldn’t
live
to
regret
it.
Though
things
could
hardly
get
worse
than
they
were
right
now;
she
had
a
feeling
she
was
taking
them
all
to
their
deaths.

Tannis
was
still
talking
with
Rico,
but
she
looked
up,
caught
Alex’s
gaze
and
strolled
over.
“We’re
not
doing
this
for
you,
so
you
can
stop
wallowing
in
self-pity.
We’d
do
it
for
any
member
of
the
crew.”

Alex
heard
the
truth
in
the
words,
and
her
despair
lifted
a
little.

“We
don’t
have
a
shuttle,”
Tannis
said.
“So
the
Cazador
will
have
to
take
us
in.
Daisy
will
stay
on
board—she
can
fly
her
if
we
don’t
make
it
back.
And
Janey
will
stay
as
well—”

“I
can
help,”
Janey
said.

“No,
you
can’t.
You’re
a
crap
fighter
anyway,
and
your
leg’s
still
giving
you
trouble.
Besides,
it
takes
at
least
three
people
to
run
El
Cazador
.
So
that’s
you,
Daisy,
and—”

“I’m
coming
with
you,”
Alex
said.

“I
know
you
are.
I
was
going
to
say
the
Trog.
That
leaves
me,
Rico,
and
you
to
go
in
and
presumably
Skylar
will
fight
on
our
side.”

“She’ll
fight
with
us,”
Rico
said.

“Good.
Right,
this
is
going
to
be—what
is
it
you
say,
Rico—a
piece
of
cake.”

“Where
is
it
we’re
going
again?
Corps
headquarters?
Yeah,
piece
of
cake
probably
covers
it.”
Rico
grinned.
His
earlier
temper
appeared
to
have
vanished.
“Let’s
go
get
some
really
big
guns.”

“Good
idea,”
Tannis
replied.
“Blasters.
I
definitely
believe
we
need
blasters
for
this
job.”

Alex
glanced
from
one
to
the
other—they
were
crazy.
Rico
caught
her
gaze
and
raised
an
eyebrow.
“Yeah,
I
bet
Alex’s
never
shot
a
blaster
before.
And
I
reckon
we’ve
got
a
couple
of
hours
before
we
touch
down
to
teach
her.”

Chapter
Twenty

“I’m
sorry
I
killed
your
uncle.”

Skylar
frowned.
“What?
I
was
listening…”
She
waved
a
hand
in
the
general
direction
of
the
air,
and
he
realized
she
must
have
been
tuning
in
to
other
Collective
members
in
her
head.
He
wasn’t
sure
he
liked
the
idea.

His
pack
had
shared
an
almost
telepathic
bond,
and
occasionally
he’d
found
it
binding.
One
of
the
reasons
he’d
liked
to
get
off
planet.

“I
said
I
was
sorry
I
killed
your
uncle.”

“Don’t
be.
Aiden
wasn’t
really
my
uncle,
and
he
was
an
asshole.”

“Yeah,
I
know.
I
had
to
research
him—he
was
a
complete
dick.
I
can’t
say
I
felt
bad
about
killing
him.”

“Did
you
ever
feel
bad
about
killing
anyone?”

“Nah.
I
only
accepted
jobs
killing
dicks.
Believe
me,
there
are
plenty
of
those
around.
Enough
to
keep
me
in
business,
anyway.”

He’d
killed
a
lot
of
people,
but
most
of
the
time
he
reckoned
he’d
been
doing
the
world
a
service.
Still,
he
was
probably
only
getting
what
he
deserved.
As
far
as
he
was
concerned,
religion
was
a
load
of
crap,
but
he’d
always
believed
there
was
some
form
of
balance
in
the
universe.
You
reaped
what
you
sowed,
in
the
end.
The
thought
of
religion
brought
Alex
to
his
mind.
He’d
been
trying
his
best
not
to
think
about
her.

Christ,
he
was
in
danger
of
getting
maudlin
again.
He
took
a
gulp
from
the
flask.
“So
is
there
much
chatter
going
on
in
the
internal
airwaves?”

Her
brows
drew
together.
“No,
not
a
lot.
Which
probably
means
they’ve
been
ordered
to
shut
down.”

“Does
that
mean
they’re
keeping
something
from
you?
Is
this
going
to
be
a
problem?”
Rico
would
curse
his
dead
body
if
anything
happened
to
Skylar.

“Maybe.
I
honestly
don’t
know,
but
I’m
pretty
sure
they
won’t
harm
me.”

A
squadron
of
Corps
had
met
them
as
soon
as
the
shuttle
touched
down.
They’d
checked
him
over
for
weapons
but
hadn’t
bothered
with
Skylar,
and
she
still
wore
the
laser
pistol
strapped
to
her
waist.
Now
they’d
been
left
to
wait
in
what
appeared
to
be
an
interrogation
room.
But
it
was
large
and
airy,
and
he
could
see
the
pale
blue
sky
out
of
the
window.
Not
a
bad
place
to
die.

The
room
held
a
central
table
with
two
metal
chairs
on
either
side,
and
he
and
Skylar
sat
together
on
one
side.
He
was
trying
to
stay
cool,
but
this
was
taking
too
long.

He
jumped
to
his
feet,
too
restless
to
sit
any
longer,
and
crossed
to
the
window.
It
looked
out
on
a
concrete
courtyard,
and
the
big
double
set
of
gates
they’d
come
through
earlier.
A
couple
of
guards
stood
to
attention,
but
nothing
moved,
and
he
turned
back
to
Skylar.
Part
of
him
wished
somebody
would
come
and
get
this
over
with.
But
only
part
of
him.

“Where
the
hell
are
they?”
he
asked.

“They’ll
be
here.
The
colonel
wants
to
do
the
link
with
me
himself.”

“Who
is
this
colonel
guy?”

“My
commanding
officer.
Not
a
big
fan
of
mine
at
the
moment,
but
he—”
She
broke
off,
a
frown
forming
on
her
face
as
she
listened
to
the
comm
unit
in
her
ear.
“That
was
the
Cazador
.”

“Why
would
they
comm
you
now?”
Shock
formed
a
cold
lump
in
his
middle
as
he
scrambled
for
an
explanation.
“What’s
gone
wrong?
Has
Alex
found
out?”

“They’re
coming
for
you.”

“Who’s
coming
for
me?”

“Rico.”
She
bit
her
lip.
“And
the
captain.
Daisy
just
dropped
them
off.”

His
brain
whirled
with
a
mass
of
contradicting
thoughts.
A
rush
of
hope,
followed
by
a
flash
of
fury.
It
was
a
suicide
mission.
They
were
right
in
the
middle
of
Corps
headquarters;
what
did
the
crazy
idiots
think
they
could
do?

Skylar
was
drumming
her
fingers
on
the
tabletop,
but
otherwise
she
didn’t
appear
particularly
bothered.
In
fact…

“You
look
pleased,”
he
accused.

“Rico’s
doing
the
right
thing.
He
was
going
to
be
guilty
as
hell
over
this
when
he
thought
it
through,
and
he
would
have
been
hell
to
live
with.”