Up in Flames (3 page)

“Why?” Hayden asked. “And what does this have to do with me?”

Shaw handed Hayden a med scanner.

Hayden took it as he stared at Shaw in confusion. “Why are you handing me this?”

“Take a look.”

He glanced down at the screen but wasn’t sure he believed what he saw. “This can’t be right.”

“I’ve checked it twice.”

Hayden studied the tube that was barely big enough for a small person to fit into. There couldn’t possibly be anyone in there, yet the med scanner indicated faint life signs. Someone was in that damn thing?

“Get it open,” Hayden said.

“I’ve tried. I can’t figure out how.”

Hayden set the scanner down and ran his fingers along the sides of the tube. There had to be a switch somewhere to open it or a panel that hid controls. The pad of his finger brushed over a small bulge. He pushed it, changing the pressure and angle until a panel on the opposite side of the tube popped open.

Shaw squatted down to get a closer look. “I think this is it,” he said as he pressed a button.

The lid hissed and popped open slowly, emitting a white gas that filled the bay. Hayden stepped back quickly and scanned the gas. “Turn on the filters,” Hayden ordered.

Shaw put his hand over his mouth. “Computer, filter cargo bay.”

A beep sounded, and Hayden watched as the filter system pulled the gas through the vents in the ceiling and flushed it out into space. Once the area surrounding what basically amounted to a metal coffin cleared, Hayden stepped closer to examine the lifeless body inside.

“What the hell was that?” Shaw asked.

“Vorshune gas. It’s what kept her unconscious and her life signs low and stabilized. I wonder how long she’s been in there.”

Hayden studied the female figure lying in the tube. Her arms were crossed over her chest, a small electronic device clutched in her fingers. He examined her body with the medical scanner, watching the screen carefully as he ran it from the tip of her head to her toes.

“Well, she’s alive, but barely. My God.” Hayden sighed. “She’s been in this thing over forty-five days.”

Shaw took the device from her fingers. “Do you suppose this will tell us who she is?”

“Maybe.”

Hayden took a good look at the young woman. It was difficult to tell her height lying down, but her toned body was hard to miss. She had long light blue hair and eyelashes. Her complexion was fair and lips pink. Down her arms was a line of intricately entwined tattoos unlike anything he’d seen before.

“Son of a bitch,” Shaw murmured as he reached out and touched one of her tattoos. “She’s a Mundi.”

Hayden’s eyebrow rose. “A what?”

“A Mundi.” Shaw’s concerned gaze met his. “She’s an assassin.” He pointed to the designs that ran down her arms. “These tattoos indicate her rank. Her years of service. You cannot wake this up on my ship.”

Hayden narrowed his eyes in anger. “This? She’s a woman, Shaw. A woman in trouble, from the looks of it.”

“I mean it, Marcone. You can help her, but you will not wake her up on my ship. I will not have a Mundi assassin walking around free among my crew.”

Hayden held out his hand. “Give me the damn device.” Shaw placed the device in Hayden’s palm. “I’m taking her to medical. I’ll keep her sedated until I get home.”

Shaw nodded, then turned to glare at the young woman before leaving the cargo bay. As he left, Hayden heard him say, “I want two guards stationed outside medical immediately.”

Hayden shook his head in disgust. What the hell was he so afraid of? She was just a woman. He looked at the device in his hand, then back to the stunningly attractive and basically frozen woman. Perhaps he should look into just what a Mundi assassin was exactly.

Chapter Three

Hayden stared at the computer screen with a mixture of shock and concern. He hit the Rewind button to hear it again.

An older man stared frantically into the screen. “This is Cara Nubel. Daughter to Chancellor Nubel of Bellara. Our planet is on the brink of civil war. Cara is the only Nubel left. The only rightful heir to her father’s chancellorship. She must be protected. Notify Ambassador Dorn of her survival but let no one else know. If they find her, they will kill her just like they did her father. She’s the only one who can stop this war. The only one who can finalize the treaty with the galactic senate. Please see her safely to her destiny.”

Hayden shut the recording off and turned to study the young woman lying on the table. She had been under the influence of that gas a long time. As a doctor, Hayden was concerned about memory loss. Her body temperature slowly rose to normal. Her breathing and oxygen saturation levels were also rising.

After forty-five days, it was likely her muscles had atrophied. He would need to begin exercising her limbs even before she woke up. Cryosleep hadn’t been in use for centuries. With the invention of the transport gates and warp drive, it was no longer needed, which in his opinion was a good thing. There were too many side effects from cryo.

Hayden rubbed his hand over the day’s growth of whiskers covering his jaw. Who in their right mind would have willingly crawled into something so damn dangerous?

A red mark on the side of her neck caught his attention, and he walked over to study it more closely. He moved her chin to the side, allowing more light to the area he wanted to examine. A small prick mark with bruising marred her neck just below her ear. Was it possible she didn’t get in that tube willingly?

He rubbed his finger over the bruise that cryo had preserved. Whoever did it had been rough, pushing the syringe farther into the skin than necessary. The base of the syringe had pressed against the flesh, which was what probably caused the bruising.

“Looks like you were smart enough to apparently say no…at least initially,” Hayden murmured as he turned her face back to center.

He straightened and sighed. What the hell was he going to do with her?

Chapter Four

Cara shivered with cold. Why couldn’t she get warm? Every inch of her flesh burned and ached. Her head felt like it would explode any second. What was wrong with her?

Disjointed and random images flashed through her mind. Someone shoved her, forced her into a box. Cara whimpered and tried hard to fight her way out, but her limbs were so weak she could hardly lift them.

Her father lay dead on the floor, blood surrounding his body. Who would do this to him? He was all she had.

She sobbed, her body shaking uncontrollably as tears of heartache and regret slid down her cheeks.

“Daddy, no,” she cried.

“Cara,” a man called from somewhere far away.

“Daddy? Daddy, no.”

Was this his voice? He sounded so different. Had she been wrong? Had she dreamed everything? Why was she so emotional? Why couldn’t she get control?

“Cara.”

This time it was louder, closer.

“Don’t leave me,” she whispered and reached out her hand, trying to touch the soothing sound.

“Cara. Open your eyes and look at me,” the man commanded.

She wanted to. His voice sounded so soothing, so deep. It made her feel safe. She tried to open her eyes past the tears, but the light burned. She squinted them closed against it.

“Ow,” she sobbed.

The light faded, and the man whispered, “It’s out. Try again, sweetheart.”

Images faded, memories vanished. Confusion took root and wouldn’t let go. Why did she hurt so much? Why couldn’t she move? Who was this person talking to her?

A hand touched the side of her face, and she weakly shoved it away. “Don’t… I just want to sleep.”

“Cara,” he said firmly, then gave her a shake. “Wake up. Now.”

“Who’s Cara?” she mumbled.

“You are, sweetheart,” he replied.

“What?”

Cara very slowly opened her eyes. A shadow leaned over her. The image at first startled her. She never let anyone that close. She slowly raised her hand and pushed at his chest, but she was too weak to move him.

“Who are you?” she whispered as his image began to clear but not enough to make any sense of it.

“My name is Hayden. I’m a doctor. Do you know what happened to you?”

She shut her eyes and sighed. “No. I…” Her lips began to tremble as a wave of sadness washed through her. Uncontrollable emotion made her shake from head to toe. “I…” Another image of her father lying on the floor swam through her mind, and she began to sob. “My dad. He’s dead. What’s wrong with me?”

“You were under the influence of vorshune gas. Basically you were in a crude form of cryosleep.”

She frowned and sniffed back more tears. “No. I was on…” Another round of uncontrollable crying shook her. “I can’t remember what happened or how I got here. Why was I in cryosleep?” She opened her eyes and stared at the man hovering over her. Fear gripped her chest. “What’s wrong with me? Why is everything so messed up in my head?”

“You were under for over forty-five days. I’m amazed you even remember anything at all.”

She tried to sit up. “I need to get home. I need to…” Sobs again racked her body. “I need to bury my dad.”

Hayden pushed her back down. “Cara, listen to me. You’re very weak. Your muscles have atrophied. It’s going to take a few days to get you back on your feet.”

Cara shook her head and swallowed back another round of tears. Why couldn’t she stop crying? And more importantly, why was she crying to begin with? Mundi didn’t feel emotion. They kept them buried too deep inside. “I can’t stop. Make it stop.”

“I can’t, sweetheart, and my guess is neither can you.”

Cara rolled to her side and lost herself to the overwhelming sadness. She cried till her whole body ached. Hayden stayed with her the entire time, his hand softly rubbing her back, his soothing voice telling her everything would be okay. Why didn’t it feel like it? And why was she feeling anything at all? What had that vorshune gas done to her?

HAYDEN WATCHED CARA with mounting concern. After arriving at home on Daego, he’d done some research on the Mundi. Their ability to suppress emotion was impressive to say the least. Mundi who had grown old and lost the ability to control the emotions usually went mad. Would that be Cara’s fate, or once she became stronger, would the ability come back to her?

She was young. Theoretically, she should be able to integrate emotion back into her life if she wanted. More than likely, she’d lived without emotion for so long, the ones she experienced would be incredibly overwhelming to her. He would need to figure out a way to help her.

Now that she was awake, he needed to call Ambassador Dorn.

* * * *

Cara held on to the railing as she very slowly made her way down the stairs on shaky legs. She felt so weak, so unsteady on her own feet, she had to stop every couple of steps to catch her breath and allow her muscles to rest.

She’d never been this weak in her life, and the feeling of helplessness angered her. She’d called for Hayden, but he never came. Where was he, and for that matter, where was she?

She stopped two-thirds of the way down and took a deep breath. She wasn’t sure she could make it the rest of the way. Her legs were shaking so hard she could barely keep herself upright.

“Hayden?” she called.

The last couple of days were nothing but foggy memories and jumbled nightmares. Raw emotions had left her feeling beaten and confused. But through it all, Hayden had been by her side. He was the only anchor in her mental storm.

Was this what it felt like when the older Mundi lost their minds? Was that what was happening to her?

Taking a deep breath, she made her way down the last few steps. Finally at the bottom, she sighed in relief and looked around the room.

She stood in what appeared to be an entry hall. A massive double door led outside, flanked on either side by two large windows that overlooked a yard and trees.

She remembered Hayden saying they were on Daego. She’d heard of the small resort moon but had never visited. She’d also heard of the name Marcone but couldn’t remember from where. Part of her wondered if maybe she should be concerned. Had Hayden kidnapped her? Were they just waiting for the opposing side to show up and kill her?

That idea just didn’t feel right. She felt safe with Hayden. He took care of her, held her when she cried, soothed her fears when she would awaken from a nightmare. She’d never had nightmares her entire life, but now she seemed to be overwhelmed by them. Violent, harsh images that left her shaking and terrified.

Behind the stairs was a hallway. Noise came from that end of the house, so she began to very carefully make her way there.

The first room to the right was large with bookcases and a fireplace. A warm fire burned in the box, inviting her inside. She decided to get closer. She couldn’t seem to shake this cold.

“What the hell are you doing up?”

Cara spun too quickly at the familiar sound of the deep voice. She lost her balance and began to fall. Two strong arms snaked out, catching her around the waist and pulling her back up. She lifted her head and stared into the handsome face of her rescuer. She knew it was the man who’d helped her, for she recognized his voice, but she’d never really gotten a good look at his face. She’d been too out of it.

At least until now. Now she got an excellent view, and the chiseled contours of his masculine face left her feeling very much out of sorts.

He had long, thick platinum-blond hair that just reached his wide shoulders. Gray eyes the color of storm clouds watched her with concern, and full lips tilted up slightly in amusement at her speechless perusal. She had the oddest desire to run her fingers through that hair and see if it felt as soft as it looked.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Cara licked her lips, unsure what to say as an unusual sensation coursed through her body. She’d never felt this and wasn’t sure how to handle it.

“I’m, uh… You’re that doctor that helped me.”

“Yes. Do you remember my name?”

“Hayden Marcone,” she whispered.

Hayden smiled and pushed her away from him. “That’s good.”

“The name Marcone… I know it from somewhere.”

“Probably the senate. My brother is Christian Marcone, the senator from Tilarus.”