Tiger of Talmare (15 page)

She nibbled on her lips trying to think this through. It didn't occur to her that he was double-crossing them in any way. Oh, no, she knew exactly what he was doing. Trying to be a bloody hero. Again!

"I love you," he said.

At the words, she looked up quickly, searching his face.

"You know, I've never said that to anyone before," he continued.

"Don't do this, Zach."

He shook his head. "I've thought it through, and I've got a plan. I figure I can get Leila out safely and kill Sanderson."

"We can do it together," she said.

"Well, you see there's a slight problem with the plan. It doesn't include me getting out of there alive. And while that's an option I'm willing to contemplate for myself, there's no way I'm taking you with me on a suicide mission."

He was toying with the small box as he spoke.

She watched him, her whole body tensing in anticipation. "I mean it, Zach, don't you dare press that button. Look, you may think you're doing this for me. But you are so wrong."

His face remained expressionless, and helpless fury welled up inside her.

How dare he even consider leaving her behind?

"You arrogant bastard," she yelled. "Why should you be the only one that gets to play hero? Leila's my friend. My responsibility. It's my job to rescue her. Get your bloody finger off that bloody button."

Zach pressed it. For a moment, ice froze her nerve-endings, then nothing.

He came to stand over her, and she forced herself to calm down, think rationally.

"Darla's asleep," he said. "I sent her off, told her I'd take over the watch."

"And she trusted you? Stupid cow!"

"She'll release you when she wakes up. I'll leave the box here. But I've altered the ship's course. By the time you get free, there'll be no point in coming after me."

"Please, Zach, take me with you." She squeezed out a tear, and his lips lifted in that lob-sided grin.

"Nice try, but not a chance." He leaned over her and kissed her briefly on the lips. "Goodbye. It's been a pleasure to get to know you after all these years. Be good."

He walked away without looking back.

"Goddamn fucking bastard. Get back here. Don't you dare leave me like this!"

But it was obvious he wasn't coming back.

The moment that truth sank in, Mel wished desperately for just one minute more. One minute to tell him she loved him. She couldn't bear the thought of him dying without knowing that.

"Darla! Darla!" She shouted until her voice was gone and she could shout no more. She twisted her head, buried her face in the pillow, and realized she was crying. She never cried. Not since she was eighteen and had discovered what life had in store for her. Now she sobbed. He was going to die, and she couldn't even move. With that thought, her anger rose again.

Whose fucking fault was it that she couldn't move? He deserved to die.

She didn't hear Darla enter the room, just looked up and there she was, standing beside the bed. She peered at Mel, saw the cuffs, and her eyes widened.

"Get these fucking things off me," Mel snarled.

"So, he's run away?" Darla said. "Didn't like the odds? You know, I never really trusted him. I mean, how can you trust someone who eats people?"

"He does not eat people," Mel ground out. "And he's gone to get Leila and kill Sanderson."

"Oh." Darla was searching around the room. "I can't see the activator. Maybe he's taken it with him."

"No, he wouldn't do that. Look harder." She tried to raise her head but apart from a slight lift, failed miserably. She let it drop back to the pillow. What the hell was Darla up to?

"Ah, here it is."

"At bloody last," she snapped. "Well, press the bloody button then."

"No need to get ratty."

"Darla..."

Relief flooded her as the life returned to her body. She swung her legs around then shot up as she sat on her blastered behind. Zach had left the anesthetic spray on the table by the bed, and she picked it up and handed it to Darla. "Would you?" She turned and sighed as the cooling spray took away the pain.

"Can we catch him up?" she asked, pulling on a pair of pants and a T-shirt. She glanced at Darla. "How come you're here, anyway? Zach said you'd gone off to get some rest?"

"I couldn't sleep. Then I remembered I hadn't warned Zach about the tertiary engine—she needs a lot of babying or she cuts out—so I went back to the bridge. He wasn't there, and I noticed the second pod had been launched. So, I came here."

"Thank God! I think I was about to spontaneously combust, I was so pissed off."

"He's only been gone an hour, we might just catch him before he gets to the rendezvous point."

"Right, let's go. But there's something we need to do first. Even if we all die, Sanderson is not getting away with this."

"So what do we do?"

"Get a wave through to the Intergalactic Agency. I need to talk to them. If they ask what it's about, tell them telepaths. Tell them we know what happened to the space liner that crashed ten years ago, and we know who did it."

"Do we?"

"Actually, yes—it was Leila. But don't tell them that. We're going to give them Sanderson."

"And what is it you're expecting them to do?"

Mel shrugged. "You never know, maybe they'll believe us and maybe they'll have some personnel in the area and maybe they'll decide to help us."

"That's an awful lot of maybes."

Back to Table of Contents

Zach watched
The Revenge
land with a feeling of inevitability. Here was yet another plan doomed to failure. He was losing his touch.

Actually, he might have already lost it.

Still, he couldn't get over the sense of anticipation as the hatch slid open and Mel emerged into the dim light. Darla was behind her, but he hardly noticed her presence, his eyes focused solely on Mel. She was back in tight, black pants, and long boots, a gun strapped to one thigh, a knife to the other. Her fingers hooked in her belt as she swaggered toward him.

He almost smiled. He'd honestly never expected to fall in love. It was crazy. But crazy, nice. Or would be if they weren't all about to die.

That made the anger start its slow burn inside him. Why couldn't she stay put?

She came to a halt in front of him. Her eyes were narrowed, yellow, and cold. "Bastard."

Zach grinned. But his smile quickly faded. God, it was good to see her, but he wished she hadn't come. He'd thought he was reconciled to this. Now seeing her again, he was filled with an urge to pick her up, carry her back onto
The Revenge
, and fly as far away from this mess as he could. He knew it wasn't going to happen like that. Still, he could try.

"Why don't you two ladies just turn around and get yourselves back on
The Revenge
where it's safe, and let me do my job?"

"Patronizing bastard."

He shook his head. "We've been over this. There's no point in us all going down here."

"Actually," Mel said, "we've got a plan."

"Well, I suppose there's a first time for everything."

"God, I hate sarcasm in a man. Just listen, will you."

Zach listened as she spoke quickly, outlining what was supposed to happen. He was impressed. It wasn't perfect, but there was a chance, a very small chance, it would work. It really depended on them persuading Sanderson that they had no interest in coming after him. And Sanderson knew Zach too well to believe that. Still it didn't look like he had a lot of choice in the matter.

He thought it over some more and frowned. "There're an awful lot of maybes."

"So, what were you planning to do that was so much better?" Mel snapped.

Zach lifted his T-shirt, revealing the four grenades strapped around his waist. "I was going to threaten to blow us all up unless he let Leila go. Once she was away, I was going to—" he paused and shrugged "—blow us all up, I guess."

"Super plan. But I think mine's better."

He sighed. "From a personal point of view, I'd have to agree with you. Right, Darla, you'd better get back to
The Revenge
."

Both women stared at him, unmoving.

"Bossy, isn't he?" Darla said.

"What is it about a man," Mel replied, "that makes him think he's got to be in charge? Right, Darla, you'd better get back to
The Revenge
."

Darla headed off, and Mel smiled at Zach. "I guess some people have it and some don't."

Zach rolled his eyes.

****

Mel waited until
The Revenge
took off then turned to Zach. He was eating her up with his eyes.

"I didn't think I'd see you again," he said.

"Well, whose stupid fault is that? You know, I still can't believe you did that thing with the cuffs. If we get out of this I'm going to slap them on you for a month."

"Oh yeah, you and whose army?"

"You think I couldn't?"

"I know you couldn't."

"We'll see."

He moved fast. One moment he was a foot away. The next, he was right in front of her, her wrists clasped in his huge fists. He pushed her hands behind her back, transferring them both into one of his and plastered her body against him. His free hand slid up her back and into her hair. He forced her head up, and he kissed her. At the first thrust of his tongue, all thoughts of fighting vanished, and she melted, kissing him back hungrily. After a minute, he raised his head and stared down into her eyes. "See," he murmured, "easy."

"You took me by surprise. It won't happen again."

"Only because we're probably not going to live that long."

She shook her head. "You're being negative."

He leant forward and kissed her again, hard and fast, then released her. "Sanderson's here."

She glanced up and saw a pod coming in to land. It circled before setting down just outside the clearing. The hatch opened and Sanderson emerged followed by three men. Leila was with them, and Mel studied her carefully. She appeared unharmed other than the bruising on her face.

She lifted her head and stared at Mel, but her eyes held no expression.

Sanderson came to a halt a few meters away. One of the guards remained close to him. The other two moved to the side where they had a clear view of Mel and Zach.