Scarlet Angel (33 page)

Chapter 49
Wounds

Anger and the fear of death are the strongest of
motivators.

* * *

Jules screamed at Dax. She begged him to do
something, anything to help Scarlett. But Dax just stared at his
holodisplay. He felt as if his heart had simply stopped in his
chest.

“
She’s gone.” His words were
barely a whisper.

Jules’ hands worked furiously at her own holodisplay
hacking deeper into the station’s systems, trying to reconnect with
Scarlett’s comm. “Well, get her back dammit!”

“
We can’t.”

She shoved him aside and took over his computer. “Of
course we can.” Tears streamed down her cheeks and her words came
as sobs. “We can’t give up.”

“
There’s nothing to give up on.
Her comm is
dead
.” He spoke a little louder, his own
disbelief turning into irritation.

“
Damn you, Dax!” Jules wiped her
nose and eyes with her sleeve. “Stop making excuses.”

Something inside Dax broke. He grabbed Jules’s
shoulders and shook her. “It’s over. Her comm is dead. Not just
shut off. Dead. The electronics in her skull are fried. Look at
this signal, Jules.” He pointed to a small window in his
holodisplay.

“
That spike. That’s from a
directed electromagnetic pulse, a strong one too. She’d be lucky
not to have her brain scorched when that chip burned out. It’s
fucking over!”

Jules stared into Dax’s eyes for a long moment.
Without saying a word, she pleaded with him. He knew what she
wanted. He knew she wanted him to tell her it would be alright,
that Scarlett was okay. But he also knew they had to face the
truth. “Jules, she might already be dead.”

She sniffled and Dax handed her a tissue. “Then what
do we do? Call Agent Barnes?”

Dax turned back to his display. He stared at the
signal graph showing the end of Scarlett’s communication. Another
window nearby showed the rate of infection for his virus on the
station’s systems. He turned back to Jules and put his hand on her
knee. “Maybe we don’t need to talk to her to help. Let’s make sure
she’s still alive first, though.”

Jules sniffled again. “How?” She opened a new window
on her computer. “There aren’t any sensors in Derrick’s
office.”

He opened a few terminal windows on his own computer
and started a new bit of code. “Yes there are. There’s nothing to
track people or movement, but there’s environmental sensors.”

She squinted for a second then turned to him. Her
eyes widened. “Oxygen.”

“
Yep. Three people use more oxygen
than two.”

Jules glanced at her own window showing the
exponential growth of Dax’s computer virus. “What do we do about
the virus? It’s going to start affecting vital systems.”

Dax’s hands swiped in a blur back and forth as he
typed and shifted his holographic displays around. “Nothing. We may
still need it.”

* * *

Scarlett resisted the cough but it came anyway. Her
belly clenched, sending a fresh wave of nausea through her. The
muscle contractions moved up to her lungs. A broken rib jabbed at
her insides.

“
I want you to tell me who you are
working with.” Derrick’s voice was calm and even.

She squeezed her eyes shut and spewed forth the air
and blood from her airways. Wet spots splattered the already red
carpet. More blood dribbled from her lips as her head drooped.
“Fuck off.”

Derrick knelt down beside her. “I can’t tell you the
trouble you’ve caused me. After the accident, UDI was investigated
by OSHA, the FBI, Homeland Security and EarthComm.”

He drew her sweat-matted hair away from her face.
“All because you survived and then disappeared.” Derrick stood.

“
You poor baby.” Blood gurgled in
her throat. She smelled the coppery odor on her own breath. “I bet
it’s just been so hard for you.”

He pulled his foot back to kick her again but her
laugh stopped him. “Something funny?”

“
Yeah. You keep kicking me like
this, and I’m gonna muss up your pretty shoes.”

Scarlett stared at the floor. Her head hung limp
from fatigue, but she didn’t have to see to know the twisted
expression of rage on Derrick’s face.

“
You make a good
point.”

His words surprised her. Derrick had always been a
passionate man and quick to anger.
At least, before.

“
Mr. Smithson,” He stepped away.
“Please cause her an extreme amount of pain until she tells me who
she’s working for.”

A shiver ran down Scarlett’s spine. She knew more
about Neil’s abilities to inflict pain and damage to a human body
than anyone. It was one of the reasons she was so terrified of him.
She forced her head up.

Neil turned to face Derrick. “That’s not part of our
contract. My job was to bring her to you and subdue her.”

“
Alright.” Derrick’s chair
squeaked as he dropped into the leather seat. “Another hundred
K.”

Neil’s gun thudded on the desk as he set it
down.

Scarlett rolled onto her side pushed against the
floor, trying to keep him away. Panic flooded her mind. She wanted
to reach into herself and find some shred of defiance to fight
back. Every time she thought she found one, a fresh wave of pain
and nausea would wash over her and the hopelessness would take hold
again.

Neil’s hand snatched her left wrist. He yanked her
arm up and grabbed her pinky finger. His eyes darted to her face
for a split second. He looked back at her finger, then bent it
backward with a snap.

Scarlett screamed. Pain ripped through her hand as
the tendons snapped. She swung wildly at Neil, trying to make him
let go.

Instead, he grabbed her next finger.

She barely heard Derrick’s question over her own
sobs and ragged breath.

“
Who are you working
for?”

Scarlett tried to speak, but her voice refused to
respond with more than a squeak. Finally, she gained enough
composure to say a few words. “I’m pretty… sure… I already said…
Fuck off.”

Snap.

Scarlett howled. An uncontrollable wave of nausea
slammed into her, sending a trickle of bile into her mouth. Her
client’s name appeared in her mind. A tiny voice inside screamed at
her to tell him. She knew she wouldn’t, no matter what they did.
But the voice, her own voice, kept telling her that it didn’t
matter… that she was going to die anyway, so none of it
mattered.

A new alarm sounded, different from the one before.
Somewhere on the station, something exploded, making the floor
shake. The lights flickered then returned to normal.

“
What the hell?” Derrick’s voice
sounded worried. He turned on his holodisplay then looked up at
Neil. “Don’t stop. Find out who she’s working for.”

She saw Neil’s focus settle on Derrick, and she
snapped into motion.

Scarlett reached up with her good hand and jabbed
her thumb into the top of Neil’s hand. The pressure on his muscles
forced his hand to let go. She wrenched to the side.

Neil’s arm moved with his hand, keeping her from
breaking his wrist. Scarlett kicked, slamming her foot into the
side of his head. Neil stumbled back and shook his head.

Scarlett rolled and jumped up. She snatched the
plasma gun from the desk and took aim on Derrick’s face. “You son
of a bi—”

A foot, Neil’s, appeared in Scarlett’s peripheral
vision. In slow motion, she saw Neil’s shoe slam into her hand. The
impact jolted her trigger finger and sent the gun flying. A green
blast of energy zipped past Derrick’s head and exploded into the
wall behind him.

Neil grabbed her hair and yanked.

Scarlett’s scalp burned as red locks were ripped
from her skull. Two hands seized her jumpsuit armor and flung her
across the room. She sailed through the air, screaming, and smashed
into what was left of the glass and cherry bookcase.

A new pain throbbed in her side and small bruises
ached all over. The taste of fresh blood coated her tongue.
Scarlett’s hand shook as she took hold of the eight-inch sliver of
wood sticking out from her side between two plates of her armored
body suit. She clenched her teeth and snapped off the piece still
outside of her body.

Neil snatched the plasma gun from Derrick’s desk and
aimed it at Scarlett.

She planted her good hand on the floor for balance.
Scarlett hissed through gritted teeth and struggled not to scream.
She yanked her hand back up. Sticking up from a scrap of wood was a
narrow piece of glass, dripping with her blood.

Another explosion rocked the room. Neil turned to
Derrick who was furiously swiping at his holodisplay. “What the
hell’s going on?”

Derrick’s voice was near panic. “It’s… It’s that
damn virus. It’s evaded all of our countermeasures and is
corrupting critical systems.”

Dax.
Scarlett looked at the two men then back
to the glass. When she broke the shard off, she realized how much
it resembled a knife. She placed the glass on the floor with her
bloody palm on top.

Neil glanced back at Scarlett then leaned over the
desk. “Is this a real problem?”

“
Yes.” Derrick continued to swipe
at the holographics in front of his face. “If this reaches the
station’s nuclear core…”

“
Can you stop it?”

Derrick turned his face up to Neil’s then back to
his display. “No.”

“
Then what now?”

“
I…” Derrick’s eyes darted around
as if he were searching for something.

Scarlett wanted to laugh. The rib poking at her lung
reminded her not to. She found a clear spot on the floor and put
the side of her hand down.

Slowly she rose to her feet. Neil’s body stood up
from the desk and wavered back and forth. Scarlett knew he was not
really swaying, it was just her dizziness that made it appear
so.

“
Alright. Just… Kill her. I have a
private shuttle.”

Scarlett’s upper lip twisted in a snarl. She held
the dagger of glass and cocked her arm back to throw. All of her
rage and pain focused her attention on Derrick.

Derrick’s gaze shifted to Scarlett and his eyes
widened. His hand flew up to point at her in horror.

Neil’s head turned, but she was already moving.
Scarlett focused all her remaining strength and brought her arm
down in one smooth motion. Instinct guided her fingers as they
released the sliver of glass. The makeshift weapon tumbled through
the air.

Scarlett didn’t need to watch to know where the
glass would hit; Neil had taught her well. She twisted to the side
as three plasma bolts scorched the wall where she’d been. In
mid-turn, her knees gave out and she fell to the floor.

Blackness pushed in at the edges of her vision.
Distantly, she heard someone gurgling and choking. A smile spread
across her face as she realized Derrick was dying.

Chapter 50
Adrift

I’ve known for a while that when I go, I’d be
kicking and screaming and covered in blood. I just didn’t think it
would all be my own.

* * *

Scarlett’s head sagged. Her leg screamed in pain as
blood dribbled from the chunk of wood buried in her side. More
blood pooled in her damaged left ear.

Her chest heaved as each breath came with effort.
She dared not move or she’d encounter the wrath of the rest of her
wounds. If she’d had any tears left, they would have been streaming
down her face.

She turned her head and looked from the corner of
her eye.

Neil stood over her, the barrel of his plasma pistol
aimed at her head. His face was flat, expressionless. He looked
back at Derrick’s dead body.

When she spoke, she tasted blood. “So… You gonna
kill me now?”

“
This is the second time I’ve
failed in a contract in ten years of doing this.” His gaze shifted
back to her. “If you survive, you’d better hope we’re not on the
opposite sides of a contract again, because there won’t be a
third.”

Neil turned and headed for Derrick’s desk. He shoved
the other man’s corpse aside. The body made a loud thump against
the floor as the chair turned over. Without even a glance at the
corpse, Neil swiped at the holodisplay. A few seconds later, he
strolled out of the room without another word.

Scarlett blinked a few times and just stared at the
floor.
Holy fuck.

A distant explosion rocked the station. A panicked
voice shouted over the station intercom. “This is not a drill. All
station personnel, evacuate. This is a code red evacuation. I say
again, all personnel evacuate. This is not a drill.”

Another explosion shook the floor, this time closer.
A minute later, the voice repeated the call to evacuate.

Scarlett was satisfied with the job she’d done.
Ruby, Cash, Emma and the kids were safe. Dax and Jules were safe.
The only thing she hadn’t done was to deliver the data core.

She could live with that.

The voice continued to echo from the station
intercom at one-minute intervals.

She let her arms lower her body to the floor and
rolled onto her back. Somehow, her eyes found more tears. She laid
her head back and tried to predict how close each of the explosions
was.

One thought nagged at the back of her mind. Project
Hermes.
If Hermes was a success, why hide it?

Scarlett counted three more explosions. Each time
she tried to focus on it, but the question kept distracting her.
Why would he hide it? If Derrick had licensed the tech, he and
UDI would have been unbelievably rich by now.

Then she remembered what Mr. Collier had told her
about the project.
Deep space, interstellar
communications.