Ki Book One (20 page)

The Zeneethians.

“
I still don’t believe,” he began. Then he
stopped again, eyes instinctively drifting down to the comatose
soldier by his side.

She waited for him, not saying a word, gaze
keen and expectant.

Straightening his shoulders, locking a
hand on his jaw and pushing the crooked fingers into his chin, he
finally nodded. “Maybe I do believe it’s the Zeneethians. Maybe I
don’t have any other explanation for a group of soldiers with guns
that can shoot through mountains, ships that can hover in the sky,
rocks that can make you levitate, and hand-held devices that can
bring you back from the dead.”

She was smiling, but it was unlike any
expression she’d shown before. It was a complex, uncertain
move.

It cut away at his indecision like an axe
at a tree. “Alright. I believe you,” his voice was firmer this
time, because his belief was. I’m not sure I can stomach the fact
the Zeneethians have whole flying cities they are keeping from us,
but I’m willing to be proved wrong.”

She almost looked proud of him. With the
color back to her cheeks, she glowed, her smooth skin pushing up
against her dark eyes.

“
Right,” he cleared his throat suddenly.
“Let’s get going. I want you to lean down and try to take that
guy’s armor off. He’s going to think twice about harming you. Me,
he’ll just stab in the heart the first chance he gets.”

He
r glowing cheeks slumped and she raised her eyebrow in
disgust. “Stab me through the heart?”

“
No, stab
me
through the heart. Now I imagine there’s some kind of latch
behind his neck, turn him over and see.”

“
Are you sure this is a good idea?
Shouldn’t we just leave him here? Won’t they be more likely to come
after us if we have one of their own captive?” She got down on her
knees and hesitantly placed her hand on the soldier’s shoulder.
When he didn’t move, she flicked Jackson a nervous look then
finally shifted the soldier over, searching his back with a quick
and delicate hand.

Watching her move, Jackson instinctively
pressed his fingers into his shoulder. She’d been holding it when
he’d woken from the cave in. Whatever she’d been doing had felt
like heaven.

The thought making him uncomfortable, he
cleared his throat again, trying to concentrate on her words
instead. “They are going to come after us regardless of whether we
bring him along or not. They’ll do anything to get their hands on
you, that isn’t going to change. But if we have him, we can try to
find out what’s going on here. If we hand him over to the Ashkan
High Command—”

Ki stiffened, jerking her hands
back
. “You’re going to
torture him?”

“
I didn’t say that. But you need to
understand that the information this man has could mean the
difference between us winning a war or losing—”

“
We aren’t at war, Jackson. The Zeneethians
have no interest in us.”

“
They had enough of an interest in you to
track you down and kidnap you. How do you know there aren’t more
like you? Were there others in the facility? Even if there weren’t,
that doesn’t confirm anything. We don’t know anything about their
intentions, and until we can find that information out, we need to
be prepared for everything. And yes, that means we have to expect a
war.”

She didn’t look happy; her eyes
narrowed,
and she sucked
her lips into a thin and tight frown.

“
I won’t let them torture him though. We’re
not monsters, Ki.” Jackson swallowed, wiping a hand over his sweaty
top lip.

He’d just lied. Whether this man would be
tortured or not was not up to him.

Watching him warily for a moment, she
finally continued to inspect the soldier. After several seconds,
she placed her hand onto the middle of his back. With a sharp hiss,
something released, the armor suddenly coming loose in large
sections.

“
Be careful,” he nodded down slowly,
checking the scope’s scanners again just to ensure the man was
still unconscious.

“
I think he’ll be unconscious for some time
yet,” she placed a hand on the man’s shoulder as she pulled away a
section of the armor. He was wearing a thin grey shirt, and as Ki
removed the white panels from his leg, she revealed black
pants.

It was a relief. If the man had been wearing
some futuristic silver skin-tight suit, it would have been hard to
get him to the capital city unnoticed.

“
Throw the armor over there,” he nodded to
a patch of rock several meters away. It was sufficiently out of
reach that if the soldier suddenly woke he wouldn’t be able to run
to it before Jackson got off a shot.

When Ki finished, she knelt down, turned the
comatose body of the man around, and straightened up his limbs,
clearly trying to make him comfortable.

Jackson stopped himself from pointing out
that soldier had been hunting her relentlessly and did not deserve
her compassion.

She would fight him on that fact.

Standing, she took a slow breath and
turned. “What do we do now? Wait until he wakes? Won’t that leave
us exposed?”

“
What we do,” Jackson’s jaw twitched to the
side, “is you pick up the pick from the hut behind us.”

“
... What am I going to do with
it?”

“
Relax, like I said, we’re going to keep
him alive. But we need to check something first. While I’m pretty
darn sure that armor of his is rigged with tracking devices, I
wouldn’t put it past those Zeneethians to have imbedded one of
those small chip devices in this man either. Just like they did to
you.”

She bristled, cheeks turning so pale they
looked like new snow
.
“I’m not going to mutilate this man looking for one of
those.”

“
Just check the arm. That’s it. I don’t
want you to cut this guy up either, but we need to check. I don’t
see why they would implant those things in different places. If it
was just under the skin of your left forearm, maybe it’s the same
for him. Just check.”

Frowning deeply, she got down to her knees
and pulled up the soldier’s arm tenderly. Pushing her fingers into
his forearm, she checked it thoroughly.

“
I doubt that’s going to work. That thing
was small—” Jackson began.

She put up a hand quickly in a commanding
move. “I’ve found something. It’s in the same place, same
size.”

“
Right. Well....”

Without another word she got up, retrieved
the pick and nestled down next to the soldier.

Taking a calm breath, she found the chip
again, then brought the pick up.

“
Careful, the shock might wake him,”
Jackson spoke through a locked jaw, voice muffled.

Working quickly she made a small cut, prying
back the flesh and removing the device with her fingers. Her hands
didn’t tremble, and her gaze was steady and calm.

She placed the pick next to her, carefully
dropping the chip next to it. Wiping her bloodied hands on her
robe, she proceeded to use the pick to help her rip off yet another
section. If she kept on squaring off chunks of it like that, she’d
soon have nothing left.

Leaning down, she propped up the soldier’s
arm and began to wind the bandage around the fresh, oozing
wound.

She didn’t get to finish.

The man woke with a start, jolting up into
a seated position.

Ki gasped, but did not scream. Neither did
she scuttle back and try to get away from the man. Instead she
snapped her arms up, locking her fingers deep into the man’s
shoulders.

“
Ki
, get back from him,” Jackson tracked to the side,
trying to get a clear aim. When Ki had moved forward she’d gotten
in the way.

The soldier, wide eyed, did not snap forward
and grab Ki. Instead, a vein in his head began to throb, his neck
and face stiffened.

It was as if he couldn’t move.

“
Ki, get back,” Jackson snapped again,
desperate.

“
It’s okay.” She tensed her fingers
further, her knuckles white.

The soldier was still frozen, that vein in
his head raised and throbbing.

She moved off carefully, hands hovering
around his shoulders as her gaze searched him.

“
Just get back,” Jackson leaned down and
pulled her away, even though he was risking it by coming in so
close to the soldier. The man could have lashed out, kicked, or
tackled Jackson to the ground.

Yet he didn’t. The soldier sat there, back
ramrod straight, arms locked beside him.

“
What... what did you do to him?” Jackson’s
mouth dropped open as he realized the soldier was not acting. The
man couldn’t move.

Ki wiped her hands on her robe and
neatened her hair over one shoulder, holding onto it with a tight
grip. She looked uncomfortable at what she’d just done, but after a
deep breath, she loosened up. “I activated certain pressure points.
They are usually used for relieving pain. But if you over
stimulate, you can lock the muscles up.”

Jackson’s brow twitched down as he stared
at her uncomfortably
.
“What—”

“
I told you, the priestess clan safeguards
powerful and ancient techniques.” Her head straightened, her neck
elongating.

“
I thought you just meant massage and a bit
of meditation. Not... whatever you just did to him.” Jackson
scratched at his neck and gave a harsh breath.

“
You should try harder to believe me then.
You’ll find yourself having fewer nasty surprises.” She wouldn’t
look at him, her head still held up proudly.

“
Is he... going to be like that
forever?”

“
Of course not. The effects should wear off
very soon.” She took a neat step back.

Jackson followed, damping down on his
surprise and raising his gun. “Alright, you try anything,” he
pointed the muzzle at the soldier and nodded sharply, “and I’ll
shoot you.”

The soldier’s eyes shifted to the left
slowly, his gaze dark.

Perhaps this would not turn out to be a
good idea. While Jackson could appreciate how important this man’s
information might be, it would come at a risk. The man was still a
highly-trained soldier, and given the opportunity would finish
Jackson off and kidnap Ki.

As promised, after a short time, the man
began to move. At first his muscles twitched, his body convulsing
forward uncontrollably. It quickly stopped though, and with a
measured, short breath, he stretched out his broad shoulders and
cracked his neck.

“
Get up,” Jackson gestured at him with the
gun. “You’re coming with us?”

The soldier didn’t stand. Instead he
turned a
nd set his gaze
on Ki.

The man’s expression was
unreadable. It made her shudder
back though, pushing her hands up her arms and locking them around
her middle.

“
I said get up.” Jackson kicked at the
ground.

“
I heard you.” The man stood. Though his
muscles twitched, he controlled himself, his expression one of
cold, over-trained malevolence.

“
What’s your name?” Ki asked in a quiet
voice.

The soldier would not answer, Jackson knew
that. He was going to give nothing away, not unless he was
compelled to with force. Her quiet voice and soft demeanor would
not be sufficient impetus.

“
Max,” the soldier answered.

Jackson’s eyes narrowed. “Why are you
telling us this?”

“
Because she asked,” Max did not look at
Jackson as he spoke. He simply smiled at Ki.

“
A good soldier doesn’t give up information
unless he has to,” Jackson ground his teeth.

“
What do you know about being a good
soldier?” Max turned his head towards Jackson but only slowly
shifted his gaze.

It was a patently threatening move.

Bristling, Jackson stiffened his grip, ready
for anything.

“
Jackson, we should leave,” Ki kept on
rubbing her arms, her eyes no higher than the soldier’s
knee.

“
There’s no point. Don’t go anywhere with
this man. He’ll get you killed,” Max shifted his attention back to
Ki, his demeanor altering dramatically. There was a cowed, almost
awed edge to his gaze, yet he never lost his
professionalism.

She didn’t reply.

“
Get up and shut up,” Jackson snapped his
head forward. “Ki, go find something in the hut to tie this guy’s
hands with. Rummage around for supplies too. We have a long trek
ahead of us.”

“
It won’t be that long. These mine shafts
are riddled with other scouts. You’ll never make it
out.”

“
Riddled, ha? How come they haven’t found
us yet?” Jackson growled. “Ki, hurry up,” he called out for good
measure. While he really didn’t want to trust Max, Jackson could
still appreciate how perilous their current situation
was.

“
What’s your interest in this, Jackson
Walker? You’re nothing but a small-time scientist working at the
Royal Academy. You fought in the last Ashkan and Tarkan war. You
despise those people. You know she’s one of them, right?” Max
casually picked at the bandage around his arm, fiddling with it
before tightening it easily with one hand.