Death Defying (Dark Desires) (11 page)

“Sorry, that one’s a no as well.”

“And we want the abomination, Callum Meridian.”

“Jesus, you don’t want much, do you?” She glanced across at Callum. “You want to go with the nice priest?”

He grinned. “No, thank you.”

“You can’t have him, either.”

“We’re giving you five minutes to surrender these three to us. Give us what we ask for and we will let the rest of you go so you can spread the word that the Church is merciful.”

“Yeah, right. Like that’s going to happen. So let’s say we don’t—what then?”

“We will obliterate your ship and all your crew.”

“Including your priestess.”

“We would prefer her returned to us, but her spirit will continue, and a new priestess will be born.”

She’d forgotten that bit. Damn—she’d thought Alex would give them some protection. She switched off the comm to give herself a second to think, then turned to Rico. “Can you get us out of here?”

“Probably.”

“That’s good enough for me.” She flipped the comm back on. “Piss off,” she said and ended the call. “Right then, get us out of here.”

“And quickly would be good,” Janey added. “They’re locking their blasters on us.”

Rico sat in the pilot’s seat and flipped off the automatic systems. I suggest you all sit down and strap yourselves in. This might get a little rough.”

Tannis flung herself into the nearest seat and fastened the harness. Everyone else did the same. With the exception of Callum, they’d all experienced Rico’s evasive maneuvers before and weren’t taking any chances.

El Cazador
turned slowly, shifting beneath them as the main thrusters engaged, and then they were heading straight for the other ship. Fast.

“Aren’t we supposed to be going in the opposite direction?” Callum asked.

“Nah,” Rico drawled. “They’ll just follow us. The ships are about evenly matched, and it will get long and boring and messy. Better to finish them quick. Put them out of the picture.”

“Can you do that?”

“He’s good, but he’s not as good as me. And I’m guessing he doesn’t want to die.”

“Er, neither do I,” Tannis said.

Rico flashed her a grin. “Hold on.” And he hit the blasters.

The other ship’s shields were up and most of the shots bounced off harmlessly. They countered, and
El Cazador
shook as the blasts took her across the bow. Tannis’s fingers tightened on the arms of her chair, but she kept her expression neutral. She wasn’t really afraid. In the past fifteen years, Rico had gotten them out of worse situations than this. She glanced sideways at Callum—he was leaning forward in his seat, his eyes gleaming with excitement. He wasn’t bored now.

“He’s holding his position. He’s got balls. I’ll give him that,” Rico murmured. “Let’s see just how big they are.” He flicked a switch, and their speed picked up, until Tannis was pressed into her seat with the force.

It looked like they were going to crash. A horrible thought occurred to her—maybe this Temperance guy was as mad as Rico.

“Come on, come on,” Rico muttered under his breath.

They were so close now. The ship filled the monitor, the black cross huge and stark on the screen. Was this it? Were they going to crash?

At the last moment, the other ship dodged sideways, but she’d left it too late, and whirled out of control.

“Ha!” Rico punched the air, then swung
El Cazador
around and blasted the spinning ship with shot after shot. Tannis could see that more hits were getting through the shields now. The other ship must have realized it as well because she turned and ran.

Rico took chase, harrying her with their blasters until Janey spoke urgently from her console.

“Rico, I’ve picked up an outgoing comm from them. They’ve got backup on the way.”

“Shit. I wanted to finish them off.”

“Next time.”

“Yeah.” Rico didn’t sound happy, but he fiddled with the controls, and
El Cazador
peeled away and headed off in the opposite direction.

Tannis drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair while she watched the ship get smaller in the monitor. “We clear?” she asked after five minutes.

“Yes, we’re clear,” Janey replied. “No one on our tail.”

Tannis scowled. She would have liked them finished off as well. “What is it about these Church types that is so fucking irritating?” She cast Callum a speculative glance. “And why do they want you? I can understand them wanting Alex and even Rico, but why you?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Have you been in contact with anyone on Trakis Five? Do you know what’s happening there?”

“No, I’ve deliberately kept shut down.”

“Well maybe you should try. I don’t like this, and I don’t like the Church. I have an unpleasant feeling they’re up to no good.”

“The Council will be able to pinpoint me if I contact them.”

“No problem—we’re too far out for them to catch us, and we’ll be gone by the time they get here.”

“Okay.” He closed his eyes, though beneath the lids she could see them moving rapidly. After a couple of minutes, he blinked, a frown forming on his features.

“I’m guessing the news isn’t good,” Tannis said.

“I can’t get hold of the colonel—he must be unconscious. I spoke with Tyler. The whole place is in chaos. Shit, you leave them alone for five minutes and—” He broke off and ran a hand through his hair. “Fucking imbeciles.”

“So?” Tannis prompted.

“They’re under siege—pinned down. The Church has a fleet of ships orbiting Trakis Five, and my council is too fucking scared to take the offensive.”

“Sounds like the Church are taking the opportunity to try and get control while you’re off playing,” Rico said.

Callum tossed him a filthy look. “Thanks for that assessment—very insightful. Apparently, according to the Church, we’re all abominations and as such must be eradicated with extreme prejudice. We’re all to burn in the Church’s fires. Me first.”

“Ouch.”

“I told them to wake the fucking colonel up and get someone in charge who has a clue what they’re doing.”

“So we can’t expect any help from your people?”

“Once the colonel is back in charge—maybe. Until then, we’re on our own. And there’s something else.”

“Something not good I presume.”

“They’ve received intel that the Church is on their way to Trakis Seven. They plan to destroy the Meridian stocks.”

“So we need to get there sooner rather than later.”

“Isn’t there a garrison on the station orbiting Trakis Seven?” Skylar asked.

“No, we’ve been pulling people off there. Closing the place down.”

“Why?” Tannis asked.

He glanced around the room, then shrugged again. “I told you. The Meridian is finished—there are no stocks. There’s no point in anyone else being sent there to die for nothing. We’ve searched the entire planet—it’s over. And by the way, we don’t want that information spread around.”

“No,” Rico said. “I can imagine it would severely deplete your influence if that bit of news got out.”

…

Callum slumped low in his chair, his gaze fixed on Tannis. She looked so sexy strapped into that harness. Maybe he’d take her like that one day. Or one night, when they had the bridge to themselves. Again. He was definitely making progress with her. She certainly hadn’t seemed scared. She’d seemed hot and eager and… His cock twitched and his balls ached. Shifting in his chair, he forced himself to look away. Maybe he needed to get his mind on something else. Like the fact that everything was falling apart.

The Collective had ruled for four hundred years. It had taken them nearly a hundred years after the initial discovery to work out what Meridian was doing, to recognize that they weren’t aging, and were almost indestructible. After that, they had worked out a plan, how to best utilize their discovery, and they had quickly grown in wealth and power. But the Collective were still only a relatively small number compared with the overall population.

They had maintained control and kept the warring factions at bay by the promise of Meridian—anyone who went up against the Collective could kiss good-bye to any chance of immortality.

But one day, even if the Church didn’t succeed in their plan, the news would leak out that Meridian was finished. Or someone would realize there were no new members, and come up with the right answer all on their own. Then their tentative hold on that power would be lost.

He couldn’t get worked up about the idea. Mainly because he was fed up with the whole lot of them looking to him to solve their problems. It hadn’t taken him long to realize that while great wealth and power weren’t all that exciting they were hard to walk away from. Now, he’d made the first move, and it felt good. He couldn’t shake the feeling that it was time for him to try something new, and for someone else to take over.

But he didn’t want it to be the goddamn Church.

Money was no problem; he had accounts set up all over the place. He could go anywhere, do anything, maybe spend some time trying to understand what he was and what he would one day become. He stroked a finger along the tip of one wing, where it reached up past his shoulder. Was this as far as the changes went? Or would there be more in the future? What would he be in a thousand years’ time? If Temperance bloody Hatcher and his cohort of zealous fanatics hadn’t cleansed him in their fires by then.

And if Tannis got the treatment, then he’d have someone to share that journey with. He’d told her the truth, he didn’t believe in love. But he liked her, and he wanted her, liked the way she stood up to him, the way she melted in his arms, and that was a hell of a lot more than he’d felt in a long time.

So tomorrow, they would meet with Venna and head off to Trakis Seven. Hope they got there before the Church—though how they thought they could destroy the Meridian when it was a death sentence to set foot on the planet, he didn’t know.

Even so, their presence could be enough to stop them getting down to the surface. So they needed to move and fast because Tannis needed her Meridian and he needed answers.

Venna had been a scientist before she was changed, one of those dedicated people hungry for knowledge for the sake of knowledge, and she’d been relentless in her pursuit of the truth. Still, she’d found nothing of any use.

That was why Callum had decided to return to Trakis Seven himself. He’d never been back after that first crash landing, but he had an idea that the answers were there somewhere.

He stretched, suddenly realizing he was tired. Something else he hadn’t felt in a long while. Glancing across at Tannis, he found her watching him, and he stretched again and gave her a slow, lazy smile. “I’m going to bed,” he murmured.

Her gaze ran over the length of his body, and heat pooled in his belly. Then she looked away. “Good night.”

Maybe he hadn’t quite won her over. Yet.

Chapter Eight

The shuttle landed in the docking bay and the engines went silent. A minute later, the door slid open, and Venna strolled down the ramp. Beside him, Tannis let out a gasp, and he shot her a quick glance. Shock and something else showed on her face, but was quickly gone, her expression blanked out.

He frowned and looked at Venna, but could see nothing to cause the reaction. He was sure the two didn’t know each other—he didn’t think there was any way they could have met, and he saw no recognition in Venna’s eyes.

Venna was beautiful, but he’d always found her cold and rather calculating and so he’d never been interested in making their relationship personal. That had pissed her off; she was used to men falling over her. She was small and curvy, the complete opposite of Tannis, with a mass of blond curls and a rosebud mouth.

She gave Callum her warmest smile, then tossed Tannis a cold glance. “My luggage is in the shuttle. Take it to my room.”

She put a hand on Callum’s arm, and the smile was back.

“Take it yourself,” Tannis snapped.

Venna’s violet eyes turned icy. “Who is this…person, Callum?”

“Or better yet,” Tannis continued, “leave it on board. You can stay on your shuttle. The ship is full.”

Callum swiveled and studied her face. His first thought was jealousy, and he liked the idea. Still, he should reassure her, tell her there was nothing between Venna and him. Had never been anything.

But Tannis didn’t look jealous. He couldn’t define her expression. It was as though a mask had dropped in place. She raised an eyebrow when she caught him watching her.

“What?” she asked. “You want to give her your room—feel free.”

He frowned. “No, she can stay in the shuttle.”

“But—” Venna began, but he cut her off with a wave of his hand.

“Let’s go—you can tell me what’s been going on, and then we need to decide exactly how we’re going to do this.” The ship was already heading to Trakis Seven. He’d sensed the change in direction as soon as Venna’s shuttle had docked.

He waited for Tannis to lead the way, but she stood there, hand resting on her laser pistol, that icy-cold look in her reptilian eyes. A shiver ran through him.

“Well?” he asked.

“Well, what?”

“Are we moving? Or are we going to stand here all day?” What the hell was wrong with her?

She shrugged but then headed up the ramp out of the docking bay. Venna raised her eyebrows at him, but he ignored the implied question and followed Tannis. Venna fell in beside him.

Tannis led them to the large conference room in the center of the ship decorated in the usual black and silver with small tables and chairs scattered around the large area. They took seats around one of the tables.

“Okay,” he said to Venna. “So what’s been going on?”

She gave Tannis a quick glance and then started to give him a rundown on the past few days. But he found it hard to concentrate. There was definitely something wrong with Tannis.

She didn’t appear to be paying attention to the conversation. Instead, she gazed at the ceiling, one booted foot swinging, her fingers drumming on the arms of her chair.

“Are we boring you?” he asked.

She turned her head to look at him, her eyes cold and yellow, the pupils narrowed to mere slits. “Yes.”

Then she got to her feet and stalked from the room without looking back.

Tannis kept her pace slow until she heard the
whoosh
of the door closing behind her, and then she headed toward her cabin at a run. Her mind whirled, a whole load of disjointed thoughts and memories swirling around her head.

Venna looked like an angel. A fucking goddamn angel and something had clicked in Tannis’s head when she’d seen the other woman.

She recognized her immediately as the Collective woman who had visited the research center all those years ago.

Her angel.

The woman who had given her chocolate and awoken a dream.

Rico had asked her the other day what the woman had been doing there, and she’d replied she didn’t know. But since he’d asked the question, it had festered in her mind. Demanded that she come up with an answer.

So what would Callum Meridian’s head of research have been doing at a privately owned research station?

She slammed her palm into the panel, and the door slid open. Stopping just inside her room, she thought for a minute, finally hurrying over to a closet behind the bed. In the bottom, she found a box with a small scrap of material inside. It was stained brown with old, dried blood and a shiver ran through her at the memory of that day.

She smoothed the cloth out, every cell hoping she was wrong. Her fingers ran over the writing—the insignia of the research company. And everything went cold inside her. CM Research.

She crumpled it in her hand and then sank down onto the bed.

Just about all her life she had yearned to become one of the exalted Collective. She’d imagined she would be like that beautiful angel of mercy who had given the children chocolate and patted their heads. While all the time, she had been responsible for the torment they endured every day. Why hadn’t she made the connection before now?

Because she’d been only six years old and such things had been beyond her understanding. She’d grown up isolated from the world, only knowing what they told her, which had been very little. She’d needed something to cling to, some hope of a better future, and she’d picked on the Collective, idolized them in her mind. When she’d left that place with Rico she’d needed a goal, so she had clung tenaciously to that dream.

But maybe all along, deep in her subconscious, she had known the dream was flawed. That’s why she had put away thoughts of revenge, because if she’d gone after those behind the research center her dream would have shattered into a thousand pieces, leaving her with nothing.

She’d told herself she would get her revenge, but later. After she’d gotten the Meridian treatment and become one of them, one of the angels.

Shit. She was pathetic. And blind. And stupid.

And there was a good chance that Callum fucking Meridian was responsible for everything.

She flung the scrap of material across the room. Then she hurled anything she could reach until there was nothing left, and she threw back her head and screamed. Black fury filled her. She recognized it, her old friend from the research center. The emotion that had kept her going as, one by one, her friends disappeared. Her sister.

She wanted to go out and kill Callum and Venna, blast them until they were no more than smoking ashes. She leaped to her feet and paced the room, slammed her fist into the wall and cursed at the pain. But it cleared her mind and an icy rage settled over her.

What should she do? First, she had to check out her facts.

Maybe the dream was within her grasp. Just a bit altered from the original version. She could still get the Meridian treatment and her immortality, then say good-bye to them. Permanently.

The buzzer sounded, and she crossed the room and peered into the monitor, relaxing when she saw Rico standing outside.

“What do you want?”

“To come in perhaps?”

She pressed the panel. “Actually, I was just leaving. Why are you here?”

“Callum said there was something wrong. He asked me to come and check on you.”

“Did he? How sweet.” She forced a smile. “Well as you can see—I’m fine.”

Head cocked on one side, he studied her. “No, you’re not.” He peered around her into the room, his eyes widening, and she followed his gaze. The room was a tip; she’d thrown just about everything that was moveable.

“I was just doing some clearing up.”

“Really? What’s the matter?”

She thought about telling him. Rico had suffered in that place as well, and he had a right to know. But she wanted some proof first. “Just a moment.”

She crossed the room and searched among the debris for the scrap of material. She found it and stuffed it in her pocket, then returned to Rico.

“Where are they?”

“Who? Callum and his blonde girlfriend?” His eyes narrowed. “That’s not what this is about, is it? You’re jealous?”

“Hah. Did Callum suggest that?”

“No, I thought of it all on my own. There’s no need. I was just winding you up. They don’t have the look of a couple—my guess is the relationship is strictly business.”

“And you’re mistaking me for someone who gives a shit.”

His frown deepened. “Yes, I was. What’s going on?”

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “I’ll tell you once I’ve checked something. Are they still in the conference room?”

“Yes.”

“And Janey?”

“In her cabin, I think.”

“Good.”

She stalked off down the corridor, Rico following. At Janey’s door, she pressed her palm to the panel and heard the buzzer. Janey appeared a moment later.

“Can I come in?” Tannis asked.

Janey yawned. “Of course. What do you need?”

“Some information. I want you to try and get me some background stuff on a company.”

“Sure, should be no problem. Come in.”

They both entered. Rico leaned against the wall just inside the door, his arms folded across his chest. Tannis sat down in the chair by the bed, pulled the material from her pocket, and handed it to Janey.

“Ugh. What is this?”

“The company insignia. Will it be enough?”

“Might be.” Janey sat down and flipped on the console. She placed the material on the desk beside her and smoothed it out. “CM Research.”

“What is that?” Rico asked.

“The badge I took off the guard I killed in the research center.”

“Really? And I’m guessing that CM stands for Callum Meridian.”

“You don’t sound surprised.”

“I did wonder when you told me there had been visits from the Collective. But that’s hardly conclusive evidence.”

“That’s what I’m hoping Janey can come up with.”

Gripping her hands together, she watched as Janey’s fingers flew over the board. “What do you want to know?” Janey asked.

“Could it stand for anything else? Can you find any proof that Callum Meridian is behind the company?”

“Well there’s only one company coming up. Closed now by the looks of it—in fact it closed fifteen years ago.”

“Really?”

“Let’s see if we can’t find out who’s behind it.”

She worked in silence for the next five minutes. Tannis sat and tapped her foot on the floor and tried to curb her impatience.

“What is this company?” Janey asked, her fingers not slowing.

Tannis considered ignoring the question, then she shrugged. “I was brought up in a research center.”

“You were born there?”

“No—I think I was sold to them when I was four or so. Most of my family was killed, I presume by the Church, though I don’t remember the attack.”

“Most?”

“My sister and I survived.”

Janey glanced over her shoulder, a small frown on her face. “I didn’t know you had a sister.”

“I don’t. Not anymore.” A wave of sadness washed over her as she remembered Thea, her baby sister. “She died. They did some sort of experiment on her and she…” She broke off.

“I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry about. It was a long time ago. I thought the center was run by the Church or at least funded by the Church—looking for new and better ways to kill us off.”

“No, there’s no Church connection. At least not in the ownership. There are large payments going out to the Church though. Could be buying children like yourself.” She sat back in the chair and gestured at the screen. “Come and look.”

Tannis pushed herself up and stepped closer, her legs strangely heavy, and she realized she didn’t want to see this. Didn’t want confirmation that Callum was behind the horror of her childhood, the death of her baby sister. Rico came up behind her, put a hand on her shoulder, and squeezed. He so rarely touched her, as though he was aware she found it hard. She took a deep breath and allowed a mask to fall over her features. The same mask she had worn every day in the center.

The screen blurred for a moment, and she made herself concentrate and read the words. She was expecting it, but all the same, a jolt of shock ran through her at the sight of Callum’s name clear on the screen. She read the information slowly, making sure she understood.

“So it was privately owned, not by the Collective.”

Janey nodded. “Yup, owned by our good friend Callum Meridian. There’s no connection at all to the Collective, except—there.” She pointed at a line on the screen. “Venna Harkness, chief research officer. She’s Collective. There’s a flag by her name.”

“I take it that’s Callum’s friend, currently sitting in the conference room,” Rico said.

“Yeah, and my fucking angel.”

“What?”

He sounded shocked, and she turned to glare at him. “How did you think I knew to look? Venna fucking Harkness is the fucking bitch who visited the center when I was a kid.” The rage rose up inside her again. “She gave me fucking chocolate.”

She slammed her fist into the metal wall and then winced at the pain to her already abused knuckles.

“What are you going to do?” Rico asked. “You want me to deal with it?”

“How?” She sounded suspicious.

“I’ll toss them out of the airlock.”

“They’re immortal. It won’t kill them.”

“No, but they might spend most of eternity floating in space.”

“Nah—they’re telepathic—they’ll just call up for help.” She shoved her hands into her pocket.

“Well, we do know how to finish them off for good. Jon’s done it before, I’m sure he’d do it again if you asked him nicely.”

Jon was the only person to ever permanently kill one of the “indestructible” Collective. He’d ended up in the high-security prison on Trakis One as a result, waiting for transport to the Meridian mines, until the crew of
El Cazador
had broken him out. He didn’t like the Collective. Hell, he didn’t like many people, though he’d mellowed a lot since he’s come on board. Falling in love would do that for you.

Tannis had no doubt that he would kill Callum if she asked. But she wasn’t sure yet what her plan was.

“Well?” Rico asked.