Paying the Price (Book 5 of The Empire of Bones Saga) (27 page)

That was a relief.

“There was a ship or cutter that took Breckenridge and the attackers off Orbital One. Get the operations team to work on determining which one it was and where it went.”

“Once the attack on you took place, I took that liberty. Very few vessels undocked between the time the attack commenced and when Orbital One locked down all outgoing traffic. One cutter in particular went to Avalon and landed at Capital Spaceport.

“Though I have no proof that is the ship you seek, I’d wager my as yet unpaid salary that will be them.”

Jared felt the corner of his mouth quirking up. “I’m wondering what you’d spend it on. In any case, I’ll fix that lapse as soon as possible. I’m meeting with Kelsey and we’re going to speak to the emperor. Hopefully, we can sort this mess out before it becomes a major problem.”

“Additional processor cores, larger storage, and faster memory, of course. I hope you can solve this before the situation spins out of control, Admiral. However, I submit that seldom seems to work. Perhaps planning for the worst would be an appropriate course of action.”

“Too true, Marcus. I’ll let you know when I find out anything. Keep me in the loop as far as major developments.”

“Will do, Admiral.
Invincible
out.”

The pinnace was already slicing into the atmosphere. It wouldn’t be long before he and Kelsey could talk. She didn’t know he suspected her brother of killing her mentor. Based on history, she wouldn’t take it very well. It might take more than a bit of convincing to bring her around to his point of view.

Of course, he didn’t actually need her to believe it was possible. Just being open while he talked to the emperor would be helpful.

Now all they had to do was figure this out before anyone else got killed.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Angela slowly swam back to awareness. The pain in her side was gone. Regeneration was a wonderful thing.

The medical staff was pulling her out of the regeneration unit and a doctor she vaguely remembered was checking the readout.

“Things look good, Major Ellis,” he said. “And in case you don’t remember our very brief meeting earlier, I’m Doctor John Yeager and you’re at Capital Hospital. You were shot, but your companion got you here in time. Obviously.”

He looked up from the readout. “I understand his arrival caused quite a stir. A few excitable souls said he flew in like some kind of superhero from the vids. Obviously, that isn’t what happened, but it still has people chattering.”

“Was he hurt, Doctor?” Her throat was dry.

He handed her a bottle of water. “Drink up. Your friend wasn’t injured. He and the other men are in the waiting room. Before I let them in to see you, a detective with Planetary Security wants to speak with you.”

It took no imagination to figure out why. They’d shot up an apartment and then basically vaporized it. And a van full of fleeing suspects. She was a little woozy by then, but she remembered the terrifying flight and crash.

Perhaps an avenging superhero wasn’t an entirely inaccurate assumption on the witness’ part.

“Sure,” she said. “Let me get dressed and I’ll talk to them.”

He shook his head. “I’m afraid your clothes are very bloody and also considered evidence. With your larger than average stature, I’m afraid the hospital gown will have to do. I’m told one of your men is getting something for you.”

Well, that wasn’t really a surprise. Not many nurses would match her two meter height.

“Then I guess I’m ready.”

The doctor helped her up and escorted her to a normal hospital room. “We’ll be keeping you for a short while to make certain everything is good. Lie down and let me hook up the monitors.”

Once he finished doing that, he excused himself and a grizzled man came in. He looked like a caricature of a detective.

“Major Ellis, I’m Detective Ronny Powers with Planetary Security. I have a few questions about what happened.”

She gestured to the chair. “Feel free to sit, but I can’t tell you everything. Some of it’s classified.”

“So I’m given to understand. Tell me what you can.”

Angela walked him through the attack until the hammer put in an appearance, and then she shut him down. The damned thing was far too dangerous to put into a security report.

He looked annoyed and tried to come at the situation from several angles, but she kept putting up walls.

Powers sighed and put his notebook away. “I’ll contact Admiral Mertz in the morning to see what he can tell me. At least the witnesses confirm that you didn’t start the fight, even if you were a tad excessive in ending it. That will still need to be answered for, so don’t make any plans to leave Avalon.”

“I never go anywhere unless I have orders. You might want to mention that to Admiral Mertz as well.”

Once the man was gone, Owlet poked his head through the door. “Are you up for visitors?”

She made sure the blanket covered the gown, though after the firefight he probably didn’t have too much left to the imagination. Hell, those damned vids the other versions of him had taken might have some really private moments. She repressed a shudder.

“Come in and close the door behind you. You didn’t get hit, did you?”

He sat in the chair and set the ridiculously dangerous hammer on the floor beside him “Not a scratch. I’m sorry they hurt you.”

“That wasn’t your fault. Dammit, what were you thinking? Wasn’t that thing overkill?”

Owlet shrugged. “It was the only weapon I could put my hands on. And, to follow the metaphor, the problems became nails after that.”

Well, that was certainly true. The memory of the hammer blowing a human sized hole through an apartment building to fly into his hand was going to be hard to forget. He’d been the next best thing to invulnerable after that.

“Why did you take us back?”

“Once I saw how badly they’d hurt you, I kind of let my emotions get the better of me.”

“That’s one way to describe it,” she said dryly. “Why destroy the van?”

“Actually, that was an accident. I meant to disable it with a quick flyby, but they dodged right in front of me at the last moment. This thing is agile, but even it has limits. Out of everything I did, that’s the part I regret.”

“You were in combat. Shit happens. You should’ve kept running away. Your idea to disengage was the right one. We’d have caught them later.”

“I’ll keep that in mind if this ever happens again, Major. What now?”

“I think you can call me Angela after what we’ve been through. We’ll let Admiral Mertz sort it out. You did nothing wrong.” She hesitated and then continued. “And thank you for protecting me. You shouldn’t have had to, but I appreciate the risk you took for me.”

His smile turned wry. “You’re growing on me. I can see what the other versions of me saw in you. Not that I’ll let that be an excuse to be an ass.”

Angela said nothing, but he had worn through her armor, too. Perhaps the other versions of her hadn’t been complete idiots after all. Any kind of relationship would still be totally inappropriate, but she could see her opinion of him changing.

Not that she’d ever allow him to give Princess Kelsey such a dangerous weapon. That was just crazy. Now more than ever. God only knew what the woman would do with it.

* * * * *

Kelsey was monitoring the pinnace’s scanners from the marine commander’s console when she got the word Jared was coming. His pinnace dropped down and they landed together. He joined her and sent his off to keep searching for Talbot.

He must’ve had someone get him a uniform, because she saw no sign of blood.

She hugged him. “I’m so sorry they attacked you. Any idea who it was?”

He nodded and sat down beside her. “You won’t like this. I think Ethan was behind it.”

Kelsey felt herself frowning. “My…Our brother is an ass, but he’s not homicidal. That’s crazy.”

“Is it? Someone poisoned Carlo Vega. I told you the investigation was ongoing, but I’m pretty sure it was in the candy the Palace sent. It only had to be in one piece. Poof, the evidence was gone.

“Ethan didn’t know you were coming, or he might have tried something different. After all, I might have given you the candy. Or he might have figured our mutual antipathy would keep that from happening. I have no idea. Still, tell me it doesn’t make sense.”

She opened her mouth to defend her twin, but closed it with her objections unspoken. Was he truly capable of doing something that horrible?

I think you know the answer to that.

Ned’s voice in her head startled her. He’d kept quiet for so long that she forgotten he was there.

You don’t know him like I do. He’s not a monster.

The rebellion has taught me that you don’t have to be a monster to do monstrous things. Forgive me for saying so, but your brother sounds like he has paranoid delusions or megalomania. Or both. He’s clever about hiding it, most times, but if you truly think about it, he’s sick. And sick people do terrible things.

Kelsey wanted to reject what Ned was suggesting, but a traitorous part of her mind was considering it. No, not Ethan. Ned and Jared had to be wrong.

She focused her attention on Jared. “I don’t think he’s capable of that, but if you want to look at it, well, that shouldn’t hurt anything. It’s not like you have a relationship to sour.”

“The two of us do have a relationship. A very bad one. In any case, I’m more concerned about us.”

Kelsey sighed. “Jared, I don’t think any less of you for suspecting Ethan. I’m just saying not to bet the ranch on him being your sinister mastermind. What do you want to do first?”

“I think we need to speak with your father.”

“With
our
father, you mean. Like it or not, he’s one of the links that binds us.”

“You grew up with him as a father. I didn’t. Frankly, I don’t know that I’ll ever feel comfortable around him. But, for
your
sake, I’ll try.”

She smiled. “That’s all anyone could ask. Well, let’s get this over with. The search is widening and someone will ping Talbot’s recovery beacon before long. Once that happens, I’ll need to be free to rain hellfire and damnation down on some deserving souls.”

Kelsey sent a message to the pilot to head for the Palace. Someone would wake her father. If he wasn’t awake already.

Jared rubbed his leg thoughtfully. “Speaking of hellfire and damnation, Carl destroyed his apartment building. Part of it, anyway. Planetary Security wants details he and Major Ellis aren’t willing to divulge.”

“Jesus,” she said. “How many people did these bastards attack? Was anyone hurt?”

“The collateral damage was limited to structures, bad guys, and Major Ellis. She’s going to be fine. There’s a rumor a superhero is on the loose, though.” He told her what he knew of the incident.

She shook her head. “That hammer is a little too dangerous for him, I think. He’s trashed pretty much everything he’s thrown it at.”

“But you think it’s awesome. Admit it.”

“Kind of. At least I think I might be a tad more precise in how it’s used. In any case, it saved their lives tonight, so that’s a win. What did the mastermind want with him?”

Jared shrugged. “Perhaps he was simply the one who looked easiest to grab. Big mistake on someone’s part. With that hammer, he was probably the most dangerous.

“I don’t think that device belongs in too many hands. The technology, sure, but not all rolled together. A shield for combat use. A larger scale weapon for vehicles. Even flying marine armor. Just not all in one package.”

She nodded. “I’ll take possession of it as soon as practical. Angela will howl, but you’re right. That’s too much for one person. I’ll lock it away from general use, too. It would be far too easy to use it as a crutch.”

“That might be for the best.”

The pinnace came in for a landing at the Palace. She unstrapped herself and rose to her feet. “Come on. It’s time for you to make your pitch. I don’t expect Father will be easy to convince.”

* * * * *

Elise stepped off the pinnace onto Orbital One. Surprisingly, there hadn’t been any trouble for her. The security response on Avalon had been ridiculous. Guards everywhere and armed craft circling the Imperial Senate.

She’d found out just before docking that Jared had gone to Avalon. As frustrating as that was, she’d have to accept he was okay until they caught up with one another.

Her welcome party consisted of Reginald Bell and William Hawthorne. And a significant number of Fleet security officers.

“Surely we’re not in danger here,” she said.

“I’d wager Admiral Mertz thought the same thing,” William said. “Yet someone tried to kill him in his quarters. Still, I doubt we’re targets in this unpleasantness.”

“Agreed,” Bell said. “I’ll still avail myself of the offered protection. It’s been quite a long day, but I find myself wide-awake. Shall we adjourn somewhere for a snack? I have something I’d like to discuss with you, Highness.”

She nodded. “I’ve eaten, but some tea would be most welcome.”

The three of them relocated to a restaurant with a fabulous view of Avalon. The snowcapped peaks were particularly stunning.

The security team made sure no one else was in their section. She smiled apologetically at those displaced.

Bell waited until they’d all ordered to speak on anything of substance. “I don’t know how your situation was received, but I ran into a hitch. They claim that I have no authority to negotiate with Pentagar. Even with Princess Kelsey’s blessing.”

Elise nodded. “I ran into a somewhat similar situation. I spoke with Senator Breckenridge. Yes, the ass’s uncle. It seems the Imperial Charter doesn’t recognize that a world might be separated from the Empire for any reason. So, the treaty Kelsey and I negotiated is being fought over in the senate.”

“And this elder Breckenridge stands against us,” William said. “That’s not surprising, I suppose. My situation is similarly impacted. While we recognize the authority of the Imperial Throne, the negotiations to keep our local rule in place are on shakier ground. The government must be reviewed, they claim.”