HauntingBlackie (14 page)

Gene grimaced. “What about Varion?”

“He assured me he has oxygen tanks in Medical. He was
willing take that risk.”

“I never thought I’d see the day we were willing to kill our
own.”

Blackie turned his head and stared at Eve. “Priorities
change.”

“What is it like?” Gene drew his attention.

“To have a mate or to love?”

“Both.”

“I’m whole for once in my life. All the emptiness is gone.
She makes me happy.”

Gene gave a sharp nod. “Go to her. They are safe.”

Blackie removed his boots and lay on the bunk with his mate.
He rolled to his side as Eve curled her back against his front. Holding her
close was heavenly as she rested her head on his arm.

“I love you,” she whispered.

“I love you too.”

“I just wish we were alone. I’d show you how much.”

His body responded but he used his implants to block the
ache that made him want to do more than hold her. “We’ll reach Garden soon and
lock ourselves inside our bedroom.”

“That sounds good.”

He’d need to get his home location changed. He refused to
put her in the same building as Parlis, Fleet or Jazel. Those three had been
there when he’d been freed and he could not trust them when it concerned Eve.

Eve woke when Blackie’s big frame eased away from hers. She
turned her head, watching him and Gene walk to the far corner of the cargo
hold. The other cyborg had obviously woken him. She strained to hear their
words while faking sleep should they glance her way.

“What is the trouble?”

“I’ve been monitoring communications. They were unaware of
my presence in the system. The
Vontage
showed up on the long-range
scanners two minutes ago,” Gene whispered.

“Time to interception?”

“Twenty-three minutes at current course and speed.”

Blackie ran his fingers through his hair. “What are Parlis
and Fleet thinking? It’s not logical. The council knows we have two women
aboard and we’ve been ordered to bring them to Garden.”

“That was the debate they had. Parlis suggested we shield
our signal to await further orders but Fleet argued it would appear suspicious
if we disappeared off radar and changed our heading. He recommended it would be
more believable if the women were killed in a failed attempt to escape.”

“Fuck,” Blackie hissed. His hand dropped to his side. “That
doesn’t make sense. Their freighter was too large to tow so where does he
imagine they’d try to go if they managed to escape the shuttle?”

“Humans can be illogical. He might try to argue that point.”

“That means Fleet will have to kill all four of us. He
thinks he can take us down before we realize the danger. He will have to stage
it to appear that the women deceived us, made us think we could trust them and
then they killed us. With everyone dead, there doesn’t have to be a logical
plan. There are only unanswered questions.”

“It’s a decent plan.” Gene handed Blackie one of his
weapons. “The women are from Earth. It’s reasonable to assume they’d attempt to
harm us. It’s a known fact that most of them fear cyborgs.”

“Fleet will have to act fast if he wants the
Vontage
crew to believe that’s what happened.”

“We should wake the women and alert them to the situation.”

“No need.” Danica threw off her blanket and rose to her
feet, knife in hand. “You two suck at keeping secrets if that’s the lowest your
voices go. We have damn good hearing, don’t we, Eve?”

She gave up the pretense too. “Yes, we do.” She rolled off
the bunk. “What’s the plan of defense? Fleet will obviously be coming for us.”

Blackie scowled. “You and Danica need to barricade
yourselves behind the crates in the far corner. Weapons will not penetrate the
metal contained inside the crates.”

“You expect us to just cower behind your building supplies?”
Danica turned her head to roll her eyes at Eve. “Are they for real?”

“Yeah.” Eve turned her head to glance around the cargo hold
before advancing toward the lockers marked equipment. “Let’s go with thinking
it’s cute and get irritated later, if we survive.”

“I’m not dying after a battle with a shitload of pirates.”
Danica trailed her. “Whatcha thinking? Do you have a plan? I want to hear yours
because it’s got to be way better than theirs.”

“I want you out of the line of fire. Get behind the crates,”
Blackie demanded.

Eve regarded her mate. “Your plan is going to get both of
you killed. You’re two against eleven, if the rest of the crew gets involved.
Those odds aren’t good. They could blow the doors to get inside and you’d be
massively outnumbered. I refuse to watch that go down.”

“You have so little confidence in my ability to protect you?”

She’d injured his pride. His tone said it all. “You don’t
need to die for me, Handsome. I refuse to lose you after finding you again.”
She spun away and marched to the opposite wall.

Eve jerked open the thick doors and examined the contents.
She grinned, reaching for one of the handheld grappling cannons used to attach
and tether space junk. She winked at her sister, who stepped next to her. “Find
some cable to attach to this thing. There’s got to be some around here. I need
about twenty feet.”

“You’re not getting into one of the space suits and going
outside.” Blackie stormed toward her.

She faced off against him, hoisting the heavy canister with
the attached flat disk pointing up. “I have no intention of leaving the
shuttle. That’s crazy. Time’s wasting and I don’t think we have a whole lot of
it.” She stepped to the right, searching for something else to use. Her gaze
landed on the bunk. “Be useful and unhook the bed from the wall. I’m going to
need it.”

“Bingo!” Danica had been checking storage units. “Will rope
work?”

“Perfect.”

“What else do you want?”

“Flame foam. Find as many canisters as you can.” Eve was
jerked to a halt on the way to disconnect the bunk when Blackie snagged her
arm.

“What are you doing? I am ordering you to get behind the
crates. Gene and I will handle anyone who tries to breach the cargo hold.”

She looked down at his hand before raising her chin to peer
up at him. “Let go. I need to work.” She jerked hard and broke away from him. “Go
guard the doors if you’re so set on standing in the line of fire and getting
yourself shot full of holes.”

“Eve.” His tone wasn’t pleasant.

She bent and placed the grappling cannon on the floor. “I’ve
got work to do and not a lot of time left. How long can cyborgs hold their
breath?” He really looked irritated. “How long?”

“Possibly up to three or four minutes,” Gene called out from
near the cargo hold entry doors. He had placed his hand on the panel there. “Why?”

“Don’t encourage them,” Blackie snapped.

“I’m a little curious as to what she is up to. Aren’t you?”

Eve turned away and reached under the bunk, finding the
brackets that attached it to the wall. It was heavier than it looked when she
pulled it off and dumped the mattress onto the floor. Danica reached her side
and placed two flame canisters nearby.

“More.”

“Shit. I think I know what you’re up to.” Danica laughed. “You’re
making a sled of hell.”

“Yeah.”

“What is that? What are you talking about?” Blackie yelled
now, his patience gone.

Eve dropped to her knees and grabbed one of the canisters. “Danica
and I have had to take on some real bad guys over the years.” She wrapped the
canister ripcord release around the grille of the bedframe. “Sometimes we’ve
had to board ships and those suckers would have the advantage. Ever had
assholes with unknown firepower holed up, trying to wait you out? It gets
pretty boring as the hours pass so we’ve had to get creative to make them come
to us.”

“Time is money.” Danica laughed, bringing two more canisters
to Eve. “How long do you think that hallway outside the doors is? Forty feet?”

“Probably,” Eve answered, attaching the other canisters. “We
need more.”

“I think that’s it.” Danica cursed. “Will four be enough?”

“We keep an extra supply in the starboard cabinets,” Gene
informed them. “What are you going to do with so much flame foam?”

Danica rushed across the room. “The shit just keeps
expanding once you spray it. Unleash enough of it and it will fill up an entire
room and that includes your nose and your mouth if you open it to breathe.”

“Unpleasant shit,” Eve agreed. “You have to close your eyes
too or it will blind you until you wash out the chemicals. See where we’re
going with this? How long do you think your buddies are going to want to stick
around in that hallway firing at us when there’s no air and they can’t see? It
takes about half an hour to disperse.”

“Got three more!” Danica rushed to her with the canisters. “I
almost feel sorry for the bastards.”

“They want to kill us.” Eve took them one by one, attaching
the ripcords.

“Okay, maybe not so much then.” Danica dropped to her knees,
connecting the rope to the end of the grappling cannon. “You could have used
something lethal. We could have attached something that would go boom! They
have cleaning chemicals we could rig into bombs.”

Eve spared a look at Blackie before holding Danica’s gaze
and quickly shaking her head.

“Oh.” Danica secured the rope to the bunk. “Got it.” Her
voice lowered. “You turning soft might get us killed if this shit isn’t enough
to make them turn tail.”

Eve agreed but she didn’t want Blackie to resent her if she
ended up killing someone he cared about. They were people he knew and worked
with. She finished her task and climbed to her feet.

“Ready. Help me stand it up, Danica. I’ll fire when the time
comes. Just don’t forget to let go. I’d hate to see you go flying out there
with it.”

“I have movement on the lift,” Gene warned.

Blackie rushed forward. He and Gene took positions on both
sides of the doors, their weapons in hand. He shot her an angry look. “Please
just get behind the crates. We can hold Fleet off long enough for the
Vontage
to reach us.”

“You could be shot.” Eve grabbed the bed and lifted, with
Danica’s help, until it was tilted at a ninety-degree angle. “You got it? Is it
too heavy?”

Danica moved behind it. The canisters lay on the surface
that used to be covered by the mattress. She gripped the sides. “Got it. Just
get the hell out of the way when I let go.”

“Twenty feet of rope,” Eve reminded her. “It’s going to go
fast.”

“I’ve got great reflexes. You’re the one I’m worried about.”

“I have to aim high. The bunk can’t hit the floor until it’s
out of the room. The impact will activate the canisters.”

Eve stood with her legs braced as she hefted the cannon to
her shoulder. She aimed between the doors leading into the cargo hold and
glanced to her right. It was free of anything that would be in her way when she
rolled to get clear.

“Damn it, Eve,” Blackie rumbled. “You’re right in the line
of fire.”

“I have to be to get a straight shot. We don’t want to miss
or have the bunk slamming into anything on the way out. It will rip the
canisters free. Don’t worry. Just keep clear of the damn doors when they open,
okay? I don’t want one of you to be hit and dragged out there when the bunk
goes flying.”

“It’s a sled now,” Danica piped in. “Sled from hell,
remember? Making it sound badass makes me worry less.”

“Fleet and any crew he might have involved should be taking
positions,” Gene informed them. “They’ll come at us two at a time in formation.”
He watched the panel and dropped his hand away. “My connection has been
severed. The controls are being tampered with.”

“Open it before they are damaged and won’t close again,” Eve
ordered. “As soon as this thing exits, seal the doors. We don’t want the foam
coming back at us.”

“I hope this works,” Danica muttered.

Gene muttered something under his breath as he reached for
the manual override lever used in emergencies. “On the count of three. One.
Two. Three.”

The doors opened and Eve saw two very surprised cyborgs. One
of them had knelt to the left of the doors, working on bypassing the locks
through the panel. Fleet stood dead center and reached for his gun. Eve flipped
on the cannon and pulled the trigger. A
whoosh
sounded next to her ear
as the metal disk shot forward.

She released the cannon and dived to the right. Something
hit her foot, causing her to groan, just before she landed flat on the
unforgiving floor. She did manage to keep her eyes open and watch as the bunk
shot forward through the air, following the high-powered trajectory of the
disk. Danica had released the frame without incident.

Fleet demonstrated his excellent reflexes when he realized
the projectile flew right at him. His eyes widened and he hit the deck, just
barely avoiding the disk. The bunk bumped his back but didn’t snag his uniform.
The cyborg who’d been trying to hack the controls wasn’t as lucky. Part of the
metal frame bumped into his shoulder and he was thrown sideways. The attachment
disk hit one of the walls and a loud clank sounded as it locked onto the solid
surface exactly as it was designed to do. The bunk hit with a screeching sound
as it scraped across the metal floor, followed by popping noises.

“Close the doors!” Danica yelled.

Eve wanted to shout the same words when foam exploded down
the hallway. She’d thought the rip cord would just pull out and leak the flame
foam but the canisters ruptured into bombs of white froth. It rapidly expanded,
coming their way as it filled the hallway.

Fleet pushed up and leaped into the cargo hold. He rolled,
coming up to his feet with a weapon in hand. Blackie moved from his position
next to the still-open doors and kicked out, hitting the guy’s arm. Fleet
managed to fire once before his gun went flying out of his hand but his aim
went wide, missing Eve by inches, the projectile scarring the floor.

“Close the doors,” Danica yelled again.

Gene seemed to be having a problem getting them to respond
as he wrestled with the lever. Eve reached for her sidearm, which she usually
kept strapped to her hip, forgetting it wasn’t there until her fingers brushed
the fabric of her pants. The doors closed before the foam reached them but
Fleet attacked her mate.

Blackie tossed his weapon to Gene to face his now-unarmed
opponent. Eve sucked in a sharp breath as the two circled each other, wishing
he hadn’t evened out the fight. They were about the same size and muscle mass
but her mate was taller and looked meaner. Gene used his weapon to shoot the
panel, completely destroying the controls. He turned, raising it to fire again.

“Don’t interfere,” Blackie ordered. “Fleet is mine. Weld
those doors shut!”

Eve stayed down as she watched both her mate and Fleet
exchange blows. Danica rushed past her, holding a welding rig. She barely took
notice when her sister and Gene worked together to fuse the doors. Her temper
simmered, wanting to push up and attack the cyborg hitting her mate but she
figured he wouldn’t forgive her. She’d already defied his orders once.