Kieran (Tales of the Shareem) (21 page)

Blocking the way into the dockyards was Kieran, huge and formidable, a stun gun in his hands. He’d already picked off a couple of the patrollers, and others were trying to flank him.

Felice knew from the looks in their eyes the patrollers wouldn’t bother arresting him. They had shock rods ready, the weapons buzzing with deadly intent. They could, legally, shock him until he died.

“Do I have to say it again?” Kieran was shouting. “No one’s stopping that ship.”

“Too late, Shareem!” one of the patrollers yelled. Overhead, a small transport buzzed by, making for the freighter, lights flashing.

The patrollers advanced on Kieran. “No!” Felice heard herself scream. She tore off her robes, did a running handspring, and ended up in a crouch in front of Kieran. “Don’t you touch him.”

“Nice.” One of the patrollers grinned. “The missing fighter. I smell a reward.”

“And more Shareem,” another said. “You’re all under arrest for violating codes 489234 and 289032. It will be a pleasure to see you terminated.”

“Not that we’ll come quietly,” Braden said. He flashed a Shareem smile. “In fact, we’re pretty noisy when we come.”

“Filth,” one of the patrollers spat.

“Felice, get out of here,” Kieran growled behind her.

“Not gonna happen.” Felice whirled and kicked the shock rod out of one woman’s hands.

The rod stung Felice as it made contact with her leather-clad foot, slowing her down slightly, and she saw another rod coming for her. Stun guns went off as she rolled out of reach, their buzzing like angry insects, missing her but making her skin tingle.

Felice sprang to her feet, whirled, kicked, jabbed. More patrollers ran to join the fight, another patrol vehicle whizzed overhead. More lights. Shareem shouting and fighting, Kieran telling Felice she was in for it when he got her alone.

Felice kept fighting. Her heart was breaking at the same time, because she knew the odds. She could only fight so many, they had weapons, and more patrollers were coming. She saw Braden fall, taken by a stun weapon. Ky shoved a patroller away from Aiden, then let out a stream of profanity when a shock rod bit into his thigh.

Felice couldn’t see what the hell happened to Rees, but Kieran was at her side, shooting the stun gun, or kicking and punching, as though having the time of his life.

Felice kicked away from another shock rod, but it got her leg, making her stumble and go down. Kieran stood over her, snarling in fury.

Felice lay in the dirt, willing herself to rise and fight, but the only thing that came to her was dust. Lots and lots of dust.

Around them, over the yelling, the firing weapons, and the roar of the freighter’s engines, came the blare of sirens. Warning, terrifying sirens that cut through every other sound. On top of that was a whirling, shrieking noise.

From her place on the ground, Felice saw the patrollers’ boots dart every which way, then vanish into a cloud of yellow that poured down on the dockyards and everything in it.

This was what they meant, Felice realized, as her breath cut off, when Bor Nargans said
sandstorm.

The freighter above was buffeted in the wind and spun around once, twice. It abruptly righted itself, and then Felice felt the full force of a takeoff blast burning down from the sky. The freighter pilot must have decided to stop waiting for his safety window and get the hell out of there. Felice bade the Shareem inside the ship a silent farewell.

The next moment, she was crushed by the weight of Kieran, the man she loved, and then sand obliterated everything.

Chapter Sixteen

Air forced its way into Felice’s lungs. She gasped, then fought, as whatever monster clung to her face tried to strangle her with its merciless tentacles.

A hand grabbed her hair and the tentacles held tighter. Felice kicked out, hitting someone who made an
oof
noise, but the hand in her hair didn’t let go. She snapped alert, ready to fight.

She couldn’t see much of anything beyond the dirty windows over her eyes. The hand in her hair was giant, strong, and felt familiar.

“Kieran!” she tried to shout, but the air whooshing into her lungs choked her.

The hand released her hair and pulled off the mask. Felice dragged in more air—foul-smelling, dust-coated air, but it was free of the sand grains that had tried to drown her.

She lay back on Kieran’s lap, his blue eyes intent on her. Another Shareem—Justin—sat nearby, rubbing his leg and giving Felice an annoyed look. It must have been him she kicked.

“Where are we?” Felice croaked. Water would be nice, but by the expressions on Kieran’s and Justin’s faces, there wasn’t any.

“Back at the warehouse,” Kieran said.

Felice let out her breath. “Good. Safe.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Justin said.

Felice tried to see what was around her, but her eyes hurt. The only thing comfortable was Kieran’s thigh under her head—she liked his lap. “Did the first ship get away?”

“Blasted out of atmosphere,” Kieran said. “Blowing more sand on the rest of us, but anyway. They got off planet. After that . . .” He shrugged, trying to look nonchalant, but Felice felt his tension.

“Is the sandstorm over?” Felice asked. Sounded like it—no wind making that horrible screaming noise. They were underground, but she had the feeling they’d be able to hear the storm anyway.

“Yes,” Kieran said. “Over.”

“We should get to the next transports then. Where’s Rees? Did he get away?”

“Nope.”

Kieran’s subdued answers were starting to concern her. Felice pushed herself up, finding her hands bloody, and looked around.

The warehouse was full of patrollers. The Shareem stood or sat in small knots, with armed patrollers surrounding them, watching them. Small spherical bots roamed the room as well, out of reach of the Shareem, but hovering, likely recording every sound and movement.

“Holy crap,” Felice whispered.

“Calder and Katarina got away,” Kieran said quietly. “That’s the best thing. They made it.”

Justin nodded. “Even if the Bor Nargans chase them, Calder and the rest of the Shareem on that ship are out of their jurisdiction now.” He grinned. “They can suck on it.”

Kieran grinned. “Yeah. Bet it bites.”

They seemed very cheerful for men who would likely be terminated. But Felice too was glad the pregnant Katarina and glowering Calder were out of reach of the patrollers, along with Talan and the others.

“You.” A tall patroller, armed with a stun rifle that crackled at full charge, glared down at Felice. “Get up and come with me.”

Felice let out a groan. “What for? So you can arrest me? That makes me want to leap up and follow you anywhere.”

Kieran chuckled. He smoothed her hair—oh, if she could lie here forever and enjoy his comforting touch, life would be perfect.

“To process you,” the patroller said without missing a beat. “Your case has come to the attention of higher-ups. You will not be given back to TGH Corp. Their indenture policy is illegal on Bor Narga, and in fact, their ship has already departed.”

The relief that flowed through Felice at the statement made her body go limp. She felt herself falling, but the hard floor was beneath her, Kieran solidly supporting her. She was warm and loose, tension from years of torment gone. Tears filled her eyes and spilled unchecked down her cheeks.

“Come on,” the patroller said.

No way could Felice move now. Her reaction scared her—she should be dancing around, calling TGH Corp bad names, punching the air. Instead, she lay in a helpless heap and cried. She was such a wuss.

Kieran’s strong arms levered Felice up and to her feet. The patroller reached for her, but Kieran shouldered himself between them. “
I’ll
help her.”

The patroller didn’t like it, but she gave a resigned nod and led the way across the warehouse, past the other patrollers and Shareem. The Shareem stood or sat against walls, separated from each other, waiting. They knew what would happen to them, and they were taking it. She read the same attitude she’d seen in Justin and even Kieran. They might be screwed, but at least some of them had made it to freedom.

Felice didn’t see Rees anywhere.

She kept that observation to herself as Kieran helped her walk to a folding table the patrollers had dragged beside the door. Two hard chairs rested in front of the table, and three patrollers sat behind it.

No matter where in the galaxies she traveled, Felice thought as the patroller pushed her down into one of the seats, government officials would find the hardest and most unappealing chairs in existence to use for their meetings.

“You are Felice Henderson,” the patroller in the middle said. Her uniform held a badge that the others didn’t have, and Felice guessed this meant she was in charge.

“I know my name,” Felice said. Kieran stood behind her, his hands on her shoulders, and all the stern looks and patroller weapons couldn’t change that.

“I’m Captain Jarrell,” the woman said. “I’m in charge of these interrogations. To inform you, this warehouse is fortified outside by more patrollers and armed response, plus transports for when we’re done here.”

“That means there’s probably a crime spree going on in other parts of the city,” Felice pointed out. “If you’re all here guarding the oh-so-dangerous Shareem, who aren’t doing anything
that I can see.”

“They broke the law, Ms. Henderson,” Captain Jarrell said. “They know the restrictions on their movements, one of which is they remain on Bor Narga. And yet, we found them tonight, gathering in a space dock, with an aim to board transports off planet.”

“Really?” Felice said. “Did you actually see any of them walking up a ramp onto a ship? Or were they just standing around admiring fine spacecraft?”

Jarrell looked pained. “They are forbidden to be in the dockyards. And we can’t account for all the Shareem, which means that yes, a few of them did walk up ramps into ships and left the planet against strictest orders.”

“Arrest
them
, then,” Felice said, not changing expression.

“We can’t. They are now, unfortunately, out of our reach. Which they and their cohorts know.”

“So you’ll punish the rest for what a few of them did?” Felice asked. “How fair. How democratic. And here I thought Bor Narga was a free world.”

Angry, Jarrell said, “Our laws are our business. You are not Bor Nargan, and I cannot expect you to understand. You are of Old Earth—a long way from home.”

“Yeah, well, being a slave means you don’t get to pick where the ship you’re working on goes. So here I am.”

“Because the terms of your indenture were illegal on Bor Narga, they are now null and void,” Captain Jarrell said. “You are once again nothing but a free citizen of Old Earth.”

“Yes.”
Kieran rubbed Felice’s shoulders vigorously and leaned down to kiss the top of her head. “See? I knew you’d be all right.”

“However,” Jarrell broke in firmly. “You helped Shareem in activities illegal for them and resisted arrest. Seriously resisted it. Two of my patrollers have broken wrists and one has a broken jaw because of you. That’s assault. I have to arrest you for all this, but such is the treaty with Old Earth—one that hasn’t been invoked in about seven hundred years but is still valid, apparently—I can only have you deported. That will happen immediately.”

“What?” Felice jerked in her chair, her strength returning. “No, wait. I can’t go. Not yet.”

Captain Jarrell gave her an irritated look. “Under the circumstances, you’re getting off lightly. A transport is waiting to take you to a shuttle, which will fly you to a liner heading in the direction of Old Earth. Go, Ms. Henderson.”

Felice grabbed the edge of the table. “No.”

Kieran leaned down to her again. “Do it, Felice. You need to be safe.” He kissed her cheek, his breath warm, his lips shaking a little.

“No,” Felice said a little louder. “What’s going to happen to
them
? To Kieran and all the others? You’re going to kill them, aren’t you?”

Jarrell nodded. “The sentence for their violations is termination.”

“Termination,” Felice repeated. “Termination by what means? Tell me. I want you to say it.”

“We’re not inhumane, Ms. Henderson. The Shareem will be injected with a drug that puts them to sleep, then the lethal injection goes in. They’ll never feel it.”

“That makes it all right then?” Felice asked, rising in fury and anguish. “And makes you feel less guilty? Sure, ease them into death. End of problem. Genocide that lets you sleep at night.”

A big hand covered her mouth, Kieran’s voice in her ear. “Felice. Shut up.”

The captain regarded Felice without expression. “When it’s your job to patrol an unruly population of men who think they’re better than women, come and talk to me.”

“They don’t think they’re better than you,” Felice said shaking free of Kieran’s hand. “Try one. You don’t know what you’re missing.”

“You really need to shut up, sweetheart,” Kieran said, the hint of his Dom voice breaking through.
“Now.”