The Huntress (32 page)

He wasn’t running because he was afraid of being followed. He’d seen Maulkin die—it would take them time to get organized. What made him run as if his heels were on fire was the feel of Mea’s life trickling then flowing down his bare back. Her blood made warm tracks on his skin, and the fear that she would die pushed him to faster and faster speeds. He needed to get to the
Starfire.
The
Starfire
and Ema.

“Come on, kid! Not much further,” he gasped when Regan started falling behind. She made a wretched sound, a cross between a moan and a sob, but stayed close as they sprinted around a building and onto the landing pads. They sped by Kef’s transport. Stone didn’t even spare it a glance. Mea would die if she didn’t get on an EMU’s table right
now.
If she wasn’t dead already.

The
Starfire
came into view, and they dove for it as if it was the silver light at the end of the tunnel. Stone didn’t hesitate at the sight of two guards standing at the bottom of the ramp. As soon as he was within range he started blasting, killing one instantly. The other fired a shot that went harmlessly past them before Stone’s wild fire cut him down. Charging up the ramp with Regan not far behind, he ducked through the hatch.

“Seal and lock that!” he barked over his shoulder but didn’t slow down. Intent on reaching the infirmary, he almost fell over a body lying in the corridor.
Warren.
Stone cursed but didn’t pause, stumbling past the fallen android. A soft cry sounded behind him when Regan caught sight of the crumpled form of her friend.

“We can fix him later.”

With a muffled moan, she lurched after him into the infirmary.

“What—Stone! Is that my Mea?”

Not bothering to answer the AI, Stone slide Mea off his shoulders and laid her gently on the table, then stepped back.

“Oh, my baby girl!” Ema moaned but immediately went to work.

Mea levitated off the table as mechanical arms whirled around her. For the first time, Stone saw the damage done by Maulkin’s blast. He could understand now why she was still alive. The shot had taken her in her side, not a direct hit in the back like Kate’s had been. The pulse fire had cauterized much of it, but larger arteries broke the cautery and bled. His back was drenched with it. He watched tensely as the AI stopped the bleeding and placed tubes in her veins, healing light dancing dizzily all over her.

Regan pressed against his side and he put an arm around her with a suffocating pressure on his chest. What would they do if she was gone? Tension gripped the back of his neck like a vice.

“Dad?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you going to be okay?”

He looked down at her, confused by the unexpected question.

She tipped empty eyes up to him, face was drawn and skeletal. “Your side, Dad.”

He stared, uncomprehending. She had to put her hand out and touch his other side with trembling fingers before he noticed that he’d been hit by Maulkin’s blast after all. He had a mirror image wound of Mea’s, though not as severe. Some of the blood he’d been feeling had been his own.

With a grunt of surprise, he stared at it. He felt no pain, his side numb. Easing away from the kid, he stepped over to the wall and yanked a coag pack from storage. With careless attention, he slapped it in place over the wound and returned to Regan. Putting his arm back around her, he watched Ema fight for Mea’s life.

“She’s stabilizing, but slowly. Her vitals are still erratic. She had seconds left, Stone. Thank you very much for bringing her to me.”

“Will she live?” he asked hoarsely, bracing himself.

“Too soon to tell,” the AI muttered. After a short pause, she sighed and continued in a tense, worried voice, “Even if I can get her stabilized right now, I’m not sure I can keep her stabilized. She needs extensive medical attention, the kind you get at a fully equipped hospital or med lab. Besides the wound in her side, her body has been severely traumatized for many days. I don’t know how she didn’t succumb to shock and hypothermia before she was shot. We need to get her to a hospital, Stone. Now.”

“Can you wake her up?”

“Didn’t you hear me? She’s not in any condition to—”

“You said she needs a hospital. I don’t think the slavers will let us use any of theirs, so we have to get the hell off this rock. I can’t start this ship up without her codes, and she’s the only one who knows ‘em.”

There was a heavy pause.

“You realize what can happen if I give her too much stimulus.”

“You got another idea, I’m all ears.”

Another pause.

“All right, one chance. She’ll be conscious for a minute, but if you don’t get the codes then, there’s nothing more I can do without killing her. Got it?”

“Got it,” he growled, hands fisting at his sides. Moving stiffly to the table, he bent close, watching Mea’s bloodless features. When her eyelids fluttered and she moaned, he brushed his knuckles against her pale cheek. “Mea. Wake up, honey.”

She opened her eyes, blinking slowly, gaze unfocused. “Bay?” she slurred.

“I need your codes. Can’t start the ship.”

“Codes,” she sighed, eyelids sliding closed again.

He brushed dark hair off her forehead with shaky fingers. “Come on, Hunter. I need you with me, now. Regan needs you.”

“Re-gan?”

“She’s here. She’s okay, but we’re still on slaver ground.”

Struggling to keep her eyes open, she told him the codes in a slurred, sluggish voice.

He repeated them back to her to confirm. “That right?”

“Yes,” she sighed and let her eyes close. A second later, it was clear by the slackening of her features that she was unconscious again.

Stone turned away from the table to see tears pouring down Regan’s face. She stared emptily at her mother. She’d heard how bad things were for Mea. But he had nothing to say that wouldn’t be a lie, so he pulled her gently toward the table. “You stay here with her.”

She didn’t respond. Not knowing what else to say, Stone shook his head and strode out of the infirmary. If she was cracking up, the only way he could help her—help either of them—was to get them the hell out of there.

Worrying about them both, he nearly stumbled over Warren again. “Pain in the ass android,” he muttered but picked up the front half of his body, amazed by how hellishly heavy he was. While dragging him toward the control room, he was surprised to hear banging on the hatch. The slavers had rallied quicker than he’d thought they would.

Dumping the heavy android across one of the rear seats in the control room, Stone dove for the pilot’s chair and powered up the ship, entering the codes when prompted. The
Starfire
responded as sweetly as if sentient—as if she knew what was at stake.

When the proximity alert chimed, informing him that life signs were too close to the ship to launch, he ruthlessly hit the override. He didn’t worry about killing off a few more slavers. When the ship was ready, he flicked on the intercom to the infirmary. “Regan, hold onto something. Ema, let me know if the G’s get too much for Mea.”

“Acknowledged,” Ema answered curtly and Stone goosed the
Starfire
into action.

They sprang into the night sky with a roar of engines that instantly vaporized whoever had been stupid enough to stand that close to a launching ship. He felt no pity.

Stone pushed the ship as fast as he dared, trying to judge just how much gravity Mea could take. He let up as soon as he heard the click of the intercom.

“Stone— Okay, good.”

“How is she?”

“The same.”

The com clicked off before he could ask anything else, and he grimly aimed the ship at the hunter net like a sliver arrow. Then he keyed the communications for a wide broadcast, a signal that all the hunters would hear. “This is Baynard Stone aboard the
Starfire.
I’ve got Hunter Brin and her daughter with me, so get your goddamned, itchy trigger fingers away from those controls.”

“This is Director Conley. Hunter Stone needs an escort.”

Without pause, ships began streaming down around him like rain, too many for just an escort. He tracked them. Most didn’t stop, heading for Maulkin’s headquarters as inevitably as death. The strength of the fortress was definitely going to be tested now. With the power out and no shielding because of it, their chances for survival were slim.

“Remind me never to piss you people off,” he muttered but not low enough.

“Words to live by.” The viewscreen flickered and Conley’s face appeared. “You really have them both?” He looked younger with hope lighting his features.

Instead of looking at him, Stone initiated a search for the nearest starbase with a hospital or med lab. “Yeah.”

“But?”

His tone must have given him away. The search gave a disheartening day and a half to the nearest base. He programmed the navigation and propulsion systems to that location. “But Mea’s hurt. Bad. Might die.”

He caught sight of the other man’s face and winced away from it. Pain was too mild a word for what he saw.

“Stand to. I’m boarding.” Conley’s voice was hoarse with strain.

“Can’t. We’re on a timetable here. Ema doesn’t think she can keep her stable, and she needs a real hospital. Nearest one’s about a day and a half. We need every minute.”

“Send me speed and trajectory. We’ll come alongside.”

Stone did so without comment, not bothering to remind the director just how dangerous that was. He wasn’t going to deny the man his last chance to see his daughter if she was dying. Setting the autopilot, he monitored the other ship’s progress tensely. The pilot seemed to know what he or she was doing, though, skillfully jockeying the other ship into position. When he felt the vibration of the ships connecting, he jumped up
and strode down to the hatch.

Chapter 27

When Conley boarded the
Starfire,
he and Stone stared at each other in a thick silence, neither one paying attention as the hatch shut, sealed, and the other ship broke away with a faint vibration.

“You hurt?” the director asked, his tone harsh.

Stone had almost forgotten Mea’s blood and the coag pack covering the wound at his side. He shrugged. “Minor.”

With a nod, Conley stepped forward, and Stone shifted to let him pass. Without another word, they made their way to the infirmary. The director’s face went ghost white at the sight of the woman he’d raised. Regan still stood by the table, clutching it and not acknowledging their presence.

“Michael,” Ema said in soft greeting.

“Ema. Status?”

“She’s stable, but I don’t know how long I can keep her there. Are we on our way to a hospital?”

“Yes,” Stone answered her. “Day and a half.”

“That may be too long.”

“Just do the best you can, Ema. That’s all anybody can ask.”

“You know I will, Michael.”

Conley moved forward, standing next to Regan and putting an arm around her. “It’s good to have you home, squirt.”

“Don’t touch me,” she said dully, and Conley let his arm drop, hurt in his eyes when he glanced over at Stone.

“She’s been through too much,” Stone muttered and put a hand on the back of her neck with a worried frown. She didn’t seem to notice, but after a moment she sagged against him. There was still nothing but a terrible emptiness on her face. Drawing her to one side, he made room for Conley.

With a slight nod, the older man shifted into position and turned all his attention to Mea, leaning in close to lay a big hand on her pasty forehead. “Mea girl, it’s me. It’s Uncle Mike. I got you in some deep shit this time, didn’t I?” he rasped, his voice dropping to a rough whisper. “I’m sorry, baby girl.”

There was no response from her. With a sigh, he removed his hand and ran it over his face as though trying to wipe the hurt away. Then he activated a seat and sagged
onto it, putting his face in his hands. “What happened down there, Stone?”

“Don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Conley dropped his hands and looked over at Stone with anger-bright eyes. “What the hell kind of an answer is that?”

Stone pointedly looked down at the kid then back up at Conley before saying, “Don’t know exactly what happened to ‘em. I know Regan was a slave, and as far as I can tell, doesn’t have a bruise on her. Mea they chained and put in a cage. Don’t know much past that and what I can see with my own eyes. On our way out, she got hit.”

Conley looked at Regan’s unresponsive face and nodded in agreement. A full report would wait until they were alone. Then he turned his attention back to his unconscious hunter, seeing for himself what they’d done. Ema had removed the manacles from her ankles but not from her arms. Stone supposed that Ema didn’t want to pull out the bars and have her lose any more blood just now. Her knee had been straightened, but the whole leg was still terribly swollen and discolored. The blast in her side was a grisly sight, partly healed and covered with some kind of glistening goo.

“I will rip that bastard’s heart out, I swear to god,” Conley said in a guttural snarl.

“Know how you feel, but it’s not gonna happen.”

The director’s stare was intensely hostile.

Stone didn’t look away. “Found Warren. He’s not in real good shape. Maybe you could see what’s wrong with him. I put him in the control room.”

Conley got the hint, but Stone watched him struggle with the need to be by Mea’s side.

“Won’t take long.”

Conley gave a sharp nod. “We’ll bring Warren back here. This is where his diagnostic equipment is.” He got to his feet. “Come help me carry him. He’s heavier’n shit.”

“Don’t I know it. Damn near gave me a hernia.” Stone maneuvered Regan to the seat the older man had vacated and pushed her gently down onto it. “We’ll be right back, kid.”

She said nothing.

Grimacing at Conley, he left her there. Once out of the infirmary, they moved up the corridor toward the control room, Stone giving the director an abbreviated version of the rescue on the way. When Stone told him about blowing the power, Conley grunted in what could have been approval—or not. He took most of the report stoically, but his head jerked up in shock when he heard that Regan had killed the slavers’ leader.