Tiger of Talmare (2 page)

"Yeah!"

"Do we get to kill people?" Leila asked.

"Yes," Mel replied, "but only if we don't like them."

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10 years later

Mel dodged a blaster beam and dived for cover.

She peered out into the main room. The fighting was over. The crew of the transport ship were either down or huddled in the corner trying to avoid being hit by the random shots that still bounced off the walls. Another blast nearly blew her head off, and she ducked.

"Goddamn it," she yelled, "they've surrendered! Stop shooting."

She was going to be seriously pissed if she got shot by one of her own trigger-happy crew.

It took a few more minutes, but finally the room fell silent. "Thank you."

Mel stood up, brushed herself down, and noticed the large solid object she had taken refuge behind. "Shit!"

She swung around to stare at her crew. "Okay, which one of you morons shot the goddamn cryotube?" No one answered. "Did I not make myself very, very clear? Did I not say, 'do not shoot the cryotube'?"

"Sorry, Mel," someone muttered.

Leila swaggered across the room, holstering her pistol. She came to a halt in front of Mel and looked down at the coffin-shaped container.

Wisps of liquid nitrogen were already seeping from the broken seals, and a film of ice crystals covered the glass front. "Is it a problem?" she asked.

Mel rolled her eyes. "Read my mind. Of course it's a goddamn problem. The client's orders stipulated one intact cryotube plus contents, untouched and definitely not shot to bits."

"I still don't see that there's a real problem." Leila nodded at the cryotube. "You know Sanderson wants him dead. We just did that part for him."

"Yeah, right," Mel replied, making no attempt to hide her sarcasm. "Perhaps you should ask him for a bonus. The problem is, I think he wants to do the killing himself."

"Well, I can understand that. All the same, he still gets what he wants."

"But not what he paid for. I have a reputation to think about you know."

"Actually, Mel, your reputation sucks."

Leila had a point. Mel always prided herself on completing her missions, but lately things seemed to be going a little haywire. Not her fault, merely a run of bad luck. Which she should have broken with this job.

But maybe all wasn't lost. Maybe this wasn't him. Maybe there was another, unbroken cryotube hiding somewhere. The one she really wanted.

"Are we sure it's him?" Leila asked, echoing her own thoughts.

Mel moved closer and used the sleeve of her jacket to wipe the frosting from the glass. For a moment, she could see nothing but the swirl of white mist. It cleared slightly, and a face appeared. She stared at it, stepped back, and gestured to Leila to look. She peered in. "Oh yeah, it's him." She grinned. "Who would have thought it? Captain Zachary Knight, aka 'The Tiger of Talmare'. How the mighty have fallen."

"Well, he's going to be the dead Tiger of Talmare if we don't revive him fast. Come on, let's get him back to
The Revenge
and wake him up."

Leila didn't move. "You know we're stuck with him once he's awake. The Cryo unit of
The Revenge
is broken. Again. And Darla doesn't have the stuff to fix it."

"Tell me something I don't know," Mel grumbled.

"Anyway, my point is, wouldn't it be much easier to let him freeze? We could always pretend we didn't notice."

Mel glanced at the blaster burns that crisscrossed the cryotube. "Somehow I don't think that's an option."

She forced herself to think rationally about Leila's suggestion. Should they do nothing and let him die in the tube? She nibbled on her lower lip. It was important to get this right; she couldn't afford not to get paid for this job. But what would Sanderson prefer? A dead and definitely unconscious Tiger of Talmare, or an alive and wide awake one? The mist shifted again, revealing his face, and she made up her mind. "No, we'll take him back to
The Revenge
and wake him up."

Leila didn't budge. "Remember, he's dangerous, and he doesn't like you."

"I'm sure he would if he knew me better."

"I'm not."

"Well, we'll just have to put him in restraints. Look," she snapped when Leila still looked dubious, "who's captain here?"

"You're the captain, Mel. But I still think you'll live to regret this. So, if we can't kill Tiger, can we shoot them?" She nodded in the direction of the transporter crew who were still huddled under the watchful eyes of Angie and Grace.

"No, we can't shoot them." Mel shook her head; it was a source of constant amazement to her how someone as sweet and innocent appearing as Leila could have such homicidal tendencies.

Leila pouted. "You never let us have any fun."

"Okay, you can stun them, but only for a few hours. We need a head start. Not that I think they'll come after us. He's"—she waved in the direction of the cryotube—"such an embarrassment to the administration, they'll probably welcome his disappearance."

****

The Revenge
was equipped with a cell, even if it had never held a prisoner. At the moment, it was used as extra storage space for anything they couldn't offload. Plunder, Mel called it, rubbish according to everyone else. It took a few seconds to kick stuff aside and make enough space for them to put the cryotube down and still be able to close the door.

"Can you send Darla down?" she asked Leila, as she left. "The intercom's not working."

"What is on this pile of junk?" Leila muttered.

Mel cleared some more things from the small cot, sat down, and waited. She didn't dare touch the tube herself; tech stuff wasn't her strong point. She heard the rumble as
The Revenge's
engines fired up and held her breath, but they made the jump smoothly, and a few minutes later, Darla appeared. She stood in the doorway wiping her hands on a piece of rag. "I heard it didn't go exactly as planned."

"When does it ever?" Mel nodded at the tube. "Can you wake him?"

"Probably, but you know, Leila might be right. Maybe you should just let him die."

"Leila's a bloodthirsty bitch."

"Yes, but that doesn't necessarily make her wrong. She thinks you won't because of who he is."

"Who he is?"

"She thinks you've got a soft spot for him. You're not thinking straight."

"Soft spot? You've got to be joking! The man's been a pain in my butt for the last ten years. So I humiliated him. I stole his ship. It wasn't as though it was personal." She thought for a moment. "And what do you mean 'Leila thinks'? She hasn't been reading me, has she?"

"No, you know she promised not to, but she can't help but get a sense of what you're thinking."

"Well, this time her 'sense' is all screwed up. I feel absolutely nothing for Tiger over there, except glad he's finally off my back. I'd kill him just like that." She snapped her fingers. "But it just so happens, I've carefully considered what's best for the client. And what's best is we hand him over alive."

"Of course you have."

Mel stared at her with narrowed eyes. Why did she get the impression that she hadn't convinced Darla? "Just wake him up."

"Let's have a quick look first. Maybe we can fix it." Darla stood over the tube. She twiddled a few knobs. "And then again, maybe we can't."

Mel scowled. "If they'd been aiming for it, they couldn't have done a better job."

"Don't worry, I'll wake him up." Darla pressed a few buttons and banged the side with her fist. "There, done."

"How long will it take?"

"I'm not sure—could be a few minutes, could be hours. It affects people differently. But he's a big one, so probably more rather than less." She dug into the pocket of her overalls. "Here, you might want to get these on him before he wakes." She handed a couple of bracelets to Mel.

"Restraints?" Mel asked.

Darla nodded. "Better to be safe. You've heard the stories coming out of Talmare. He massacred hundreds, mostly women and children. Some say he ate their flesh."

"Of course he did. Was that before or after he raped them all and made necklaces out of their eyeballs? You know, you really shouldn't believe everything you see on the waves."

"Okay, maybe not. But he is dangerous. There's no point in taking risks."

Mel sighed. "You're right. How do these things work?"

"Here's the activator." She handed a small box to Mel. "Slip the cuffs on his wrists. When you want him restrained, press the green button. It affects the nervous system, instant paralysis from the neck down. Press the red button and he's released. Okay?"

Mel nodded. She stuffed the bracelets into her pocket and put the activator on the small table by the cot.

"Well, then," Darla said, "I'd better get back to nursing my engine, otherwise we'll never make the rendezvous point. You know, perhaps you might consider buying me a few spare parts if you actually get paid for this job."

"Sure," Mel said absently. "Spares—they're top of my shopping list." She was looking at the cryotube. The mist of liquid nitrogen was draining away, the ice crystals melting, revealing the body inside.

Darla shook her head and left the room.

Mel waited until the door shut behind her then moved to stand over the tube. She depressed the door button and the top slid open. Cold air flooded out of the container, and she shivered. It took a few minutes to clear.

"Oh my," she murmured.

He was naked. And he was huge.

Even unconscious he radiated power, and a ripple of apprehension ran through her. She picked up his wrist. His flesh was icy cold as she slipped one of the bracelets over his hand before snapping it shut. She repeated with the other arm, breathing a sigh of relief once the restraints were in place.

Her eyes flicked up to his face, but he was still deep under, and she allowed herself to examine him. This man had been part of her life for the last ten years, never present, but still shaping her every action with his constant pursuit. Now he would never pursue her again.

She knew Sanderson meant to kill him. And he deserved to die if half the stories coming out of Talmare were true. Even so, she felt a strange sense of regret, as though a part of her life was coming to an end.

He was a hybrid, part of the Soldier Guild's breeding program. A program she knew had been discontinued when the results turned out to be too dangerous and too hard to control. It was ironic that Zachary Knight had been their one success story. Their poster boy, proof that the breeding program did work. She reckoned the Guild must have been really pissed when he lost it and ended up massacring half of Talmare.