Havoc (27 page)

He shoved off his headgear and goggles. “All secure, Captain."

Kels dropped into his chair. “Get us airborne."

"Done.” He risked a glance over his shoulder to check on Sayal. She huddled in the seat behind him, quivering, her knees drawn up.

Elion's hands shook from residual adrenaline as he worked the com and guided the ship through the bumpy exit. The icy air that had slipped in burned off as they zipped through the thermosphere and exosphere, then shot into the void. Would Corsair's gang give chase?

"Course, Captain?"

Kels had pulled off his goggles, and the mask hung. His mouth was a grim line, and his eyes fairly snapped fire. Saints below, he was furious. “Savoonga, Conflict Zone."

"Course set,” Elion reported. “Twelve minutes to fold.” He sat back with a heavy breath. Even if Corsair's cronies followed, they'd never catch them once they left atmosphere. Few ships were as fast as the
Nova
in the deeps.

"Right.” Kels swung to his feet, hefted the pulsar, and strode to Sayal. She hunkered down into the oversize gear while she stared up at him with huge eyes. He leveled the weapon at her.

Elion shot to his feet. “Kels. What are you doing?"

"Sit down, mate."

Elion rushed to Sayal's side, half imposing his body between her and his captain. “Quit, Kels. Can't you see you're scaring her?"

But his friend didn't budge. There was murder in his eyes, and a muscle in his jaw clenched. “Enough games, princess. Time you come clean."

"Stop this,” Elion insisted, edging farther between them. Kels had gone nuts. “What are you going on about?"

Kels grabbed him by the front of his jacket with one hand and hauled him bodily to the side, away from Sayal, then slammed him back against the wall. Shock more than anything zipped Elion's mouth.

The blunt nose of the pulsar never wavered from Sayal's chest. “How'd you kill the ganger and Corsair?"

Elion found his voice. “She didn't kill them. How could she? All she had was a disruptor."

"Exactly.” Kels's gaze shifted to him for a fraction, then magnetized back on the girl. “You touched Corsair, and she dropped like a stone. Imagine the ganger went the same. Even if you were enhanced, never heard a person could do that. So what is it, Sayal? Or should I say, what are
you
?"

"Enhanced?” Elion's focus swung to her, and Sayal would have traded anything to wipe the look of horror from his face.

Tremors racked her body, the shock of the confrontation overridden by the terror of what she'd done, what she'd known she could do, but never had. She curled her hands into fists and hid them inside the overlong sleeves of the coat.

Kels stared holes in her. “I suspected for quite a while, from the very first night in fact. You didn't know what jack was, but you managed to sober me up. Then the tattoo. I felt the pain as much as you did and the jarouki poison. There was nothing on that patch. You took the hits right along with me."

Sayal could do nothing but nod in the face of his cold fury. “It's true,” she whispered, searching his eyes for understanding, seeing nothing but suspicion and hate, all her worst fears coming true.

"You're an empath,” Kels said, eyes narrowed.

"My side,” Elion said. “You healed me, didn't you?"

"Yes, Elion."

"And you felt my warning when Corsair was going to raid the ship.” Kels didn't wait for her confirmation. “I knew you would. Somehow you linked your mind with mine. And with his?” He tipped his head toward Elion.

Her nails bit into her palms. “Yes."

"If you knew,” Elion said, staring at Kels, “why the fuck didn't you say something earlier?"

"I was putting it all together, and I did, more or less, remember? I told you she wasn't what she seemed."

"Yeah, you said she was a runaway from some richer or something. Nothing about being enhanced. Fuck the saints, Kels. You know what this means?"

"That she's illegal. That she's been toying with us, messing with our heads."

"So...nothing we've...” Elion took a moment to swallow. “Nothing we've felt for her has been real."

"Elion, no.” Sayal shook her head. “I haven't done anything like that. Please, listen to me."

Kels glared. “That's not the half of it, though, is it? How'd you kill Corsair? I knew a few enhanced soldiers, fought right beside ‘em before they were put down, and not a one could kill with a thought or a touch. What are you, next generation? Secret weapon of some sort?"

"She was going to vaporize you,” Sayal whispered, trembling all over. “Kels. She had the gun set on you. I had to do it."

"How?"

She drew her hands from the sleeves and opened them, staring at her palms. They were the same palms that had loved Kels, healed Elion, felt their heartbeats, rejoiced in their warmth... “My creator told me...that one day I would grow into my powers, and...and I would be able to end a life.” She glanced at Kels, desperate for him to believe. “I never wanted to. He tried to make me, with animals, but I never would. I was frightened, for you, for Elion. There wasn't time to do anything else."

She thought of that awful moment when the black-clad figure had raised the weapon toward Kels while he fought with the other gangers, and her finger had tightened on the trigger. Her mind as clear as empty space, Sayal had simply pressed her hand against the woman's head and pushed her life force from her body, easy as pushing closed a door.

"I knew they were coming,” she continued quickly. “I did feel your emotions through our bond, and I put on these clothes, readied the disruptor."

"You killed the ganger too?” Elion demanded.

"Yes."

"Same way?"

"Yes. I...I pushed their life forces out of them.” She lifted one shoulder in a helpless shrug. “I can't explain any more than that."

"With your bare hands,” Kels said.

She nodded.

Elion snapped, “You said creator. Who created you?"

Now they were wading into deeper territory. She turned to Kels and the formidable weapon he still aimed at her. Their eyes met, hers pleading. She didn't dare open their bond, for he would sense it, and this moment had to be honest. If he truly believed whatever they'd shared and felt had been manufactured, she was lost.

He clenched his jaw; then he seemed to reach a decision and he slowly set the weapon aside, leaning it against the wall beside Elion.

"Who was it?” Elion barked, hands fisted. Anger flowed off him, anger and hurt. Pain twisted inside her chest. Elion... She'd let herself love him, and it was all coming down around her now. Curse all the Fates that'd brought them to this.

Kels put a hand on his friend's chest. “Easy, mate.” Then to Sayal: “It's all right. We're listening.” He held up his hands. “No one's going to hurt you. I'm sorry I lost my temper. Now tell us, sweetheart. Tell us the truth so we can help you."

She forced herself to say the words—the words that would forever destroy the trust she had with these men. “My creator was a Prime. I'm a...I'm a Prime-human hybrid."

Silence as the blood drained from their faces. Then Elion choked out, “Impossible. Aliens, humans, can't interbreed."

"She didn't say that,” Kels said thoughtfully, studying her. “It's genetics. The way you said your ship's owner manipulated flowers and whatnot. Human genes spliced with Prime genes in a laboratory. They've been doing it for decades with plants and lower animals. It was only a matter of time before someone went and did it with humans.” A light went off behind his eyes. “The ship's owner—that was your Prime, wasn't it?"

She nodded, putting her face in her hands for a moment, then drawing breath.

"Then your mother was human?"

"My mother was a Dawn Goddess, what you call a Prime worshipper. She was human, but also an empath, with much greater powers than mine. At least"—she flexed her hands and stared at them—"until now I thought so.” She looked back at Kels. The heat had left his eyes, and she saw he listened. It gave her courage to continue. “The Primes watch the high games for candidates for their...experiments and for their own pleasure. They're highly sexual beings. Only humans match them in that regard. When my mother drew my creator's attention, she went to him willingly. It was an honor. She was little more than a child, only fourteen by your Earth standards, when he impregnated her.” She rubbed her forehead, where a pain was forming. “I know only what she told me. I was raised with her and two Primes, my creator and my tutor. I'm sorry. The truth I've been learning, what Elion has told me, I know you must despise me."

Instead of yelling at her, Elion whirled on Kels. “You knew, you bastard. I remember now, the night of the jarouk game. After the jack, you didn't give her Dimextrin. You handed me Solactate because you knew the Sol would offset the jack toxicity."

"Now hold on,” Kels said. “Yeah, it's true I thought there was more to it. Jack's poison to ‘hancers as well. I didn't know she was half fucking Prime."

"You knew, and you didn't tell me.” Elion sliced his hand angrily through the air. “I thought we were mates, a team. When were you planning on spilling the news? When she popped the life out of me too? What the fuck, Kels?"

"I wasn't going to jump to conclusions,” Kels snapped.

Elion jabbed his finger at him. “You knew I was falling for her. For a freak. An illegal, immoral life form."

"Calm down, El.” Kels began to inch between her and his furious friend, while Sayal dissolved into nothingness inside, Elion's biting words worse than any she'd even imagined.

"I
fucked
her,” Elion growled, his face blotched and red. “
You
fucked her. A Prime! They're the enemy; they ripped apart humanity, and that's one of them.” He stabbed an accusing finger at her. “And she's a danger, created to destroy, what? Who?” His hot blue eyes flared at her. “Are there others like you?"

Sayal's throat had closed up. She'd grabbed the edges of her coat together and pulled them tight beneath her chin. Elion—he loathed her. She couldn't bear it; her heart was breaking.

Kels turned to her, the same question in his eyes. He held Elion back with a hand on his shoulder. “Why were you created, Sayal? Why this charade? What's your real purpose? It's clear now you're going back to your creator, but why?"

His calm gave her strength. There was no point in denying anything any longer. She'd lost everything already. “I am intended to be the first of many. That's why I ran away. Sorush, my Prime creator, intends to breed or clone more like me. I was raised and trained to blend into human society, so I could get close to...targets."

"Of course,” Elion spat. “Who could resist her? The perfect assassin. She'd be able to get next to anyone, then touch them, and pow, into the next world."

"There's more,” she said, swallowing hard. “Sorush attempted several more times to create hybrids. My mother carried only one to term. My sister, Omaya. Sorush was trying to enhance the empathic qualities I and my mother shared. Omaya was to be the next generation, a true parapsychic—one who could read minds, who could destroy with a touch or...kill from a distance with just her thoughts."

"Oh fuck,” Elion moaned.

"Where is she now?” Kels asked. She gazed into his steady eyes, seeing not condemnation but urgency there.

"She died.” The pain rushed back. “When she was only a baby.” Images burned in her mind, an infant crying frantically, tiny fists clamped, a desperate need to help, a desperate feeling of helplessness. “She couldn't block out the psychic impressions around her. Everything—all the pain in the universe—flooded her. Her mind broke, and then her body failed. And then my mother...” Her voice hitched, and she bit her lower lip and turned her face into the rough collar of the coat.

Kels put his gentle hand on her head. How could he touch her? Yet she turned into his palm, craving the contact, the reassurance. “What happened to her?” he asked.

"She killed herself. She could no longer bear to be part of Sorush's experiments. I knew I was next, that he would breed...something in me. An empath must be born from a living mother. He needs me. Needs my genes and my body. And so I ran away."

"And now you're going back. Why?” Elion asked the question, his arms folded tightly across his chest.

"To destroy him. I must.” She searched their faces. “Primes are like inkmen; they keep their secrets guarded. It's possible he hasn't shared his methods with anyone else. Before he does, I must kill him."

Kels turned to Elion. “This is something the military should know about."

"No.” Sayal leaned forward, grasping the arm of the chair. “Remember I told you he fucked me in front of others?"

Kels nodded.

"There were humans there too, watching from vids. They wore the uniforms of generals. I think Sorush is working with the Terran military."

Kels looked at her, aghast, and shook his head. “Sayal..."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you from the beginning, but how could I? I knew you would despise me, as you do now.” Her fingers cramped around the chair; her words poured out in a rush. “I never meant for it to come to this. I never meant to feel for you what I do. I...” A great sob seized her.

His fingers moved over her hair. “Shh. It's all right."

"It's not fucking all right,” Elion cried. “We've got a huge problem here. She's carrying the genes that could end the human race. We'd be as relevant as Cro-Magnons in the computer age. Don't you see it? The fucking Primes are seeding the next generation.” He shoved his hands over his head.

"What do you propose we do, then?” Kels's temper rose again, burning in his tone. “Kill her? Destroy the experiment?"

"That's what we
should
do,” Elion snapped.

Kels grabbed up the pulsar and jammed it into his mate's hands. “Here. Look, I even set it on short range so nothing'll be vaporized ‘cept the chair and the girl. Go on, El.” He shoved Elion around so he faced her, the weapon gripped in his whitening fingers. “Do the deed. Save the human race."

Elion jerked up the weapon, his finger on the trigger, his legs braced in a shooter's stance. Sayal pressed back in the chair and froze.

Everything stopped, suspended in time, every detail crystal clear: the lights touching on the spiky tips of Elion's blond hair; his blue eyes going blank, seeing not her but through her; his finger tightening on the black half-moon of the trigger; Kels's impassive gaze sliding down the long, vented barrel of the pulsar to her face. Her own voice, small over her thundering heart, saying, “Do it, Elion. Do it."