Laura Jo Phillips (25 page)

Za-Linq reached for the comm panel and paused, careful to ensure no hint of his amusement would sound in his voice.  Then he hit the correct button.

“I apologize, Most Glorious One,” he said, panting slightly for effect.  “I came as quickly as I could.”

“I have just received your report that the Jasani slave compound was purged,” Xaqana-Ti said without preamble.  “Please explain the meaning of this.”

Za-Linq bit back a sigh of frustration.  If she would read the report, then she would have her answer and he would not be interrupted in the middle of his
makina
maintenance to explain it to her, he thought testily.

“The human male that Za-Queg utilized as his agent for the Jasani strand went missing,” he explained, careful to hide his impatience.  “He made some mistake and fell into Jasani hands.  I had no choice but to exterminate him.  Since the Jasani military had full access to his office, I felt it prudent to purge the slave compound as well.”

“His computer system would have self-wiped the moment an unauthorized person touched it,” Xaqana-Ti said.

“You are, as always, entirely correct, Beautiful One,” he said, using just the right notes of subservience without being too obvious.  “However, there was no telling what information the human may have left lying around his office for the Jasani to find.  Humans can be so careless.  There is nothing to worry about though,” he added.  “The new compound is complete and in a far more secure location than the old one anyway.  I have not yet replaced the human agent, but notifications have gone out to all of our captains informing them that operations for the Jasani route will begin again shortly.  The new compound will soon be filled.  Everything is in order.”

Xaqana-Ti hissed, shocking Za-Linq greatly.  He had never heard such unguarded distress from her before.  “Everything is
not
in order,” she spat.  “There was a
berezi
in that compound.  The
berezi
we have only just allowed the Brethren to know we have.  And they have already paid a very large price for her.  When word gets out that we have lost yet another
berezi
....”  Xaqana-Ti broke off, but the faint skittery noises coming through the speakers told Za-Linq just how close to the edge she was. 

Za-Linq was stunned.  He’d had no idea that there was a
berezi
in the slave compound.  He opened his mouth to say so, but quickly realized how foolish an error that would be.  Jasan was his territory, and his responsibility.  That included the slave compound and everyone in it.  For him not to be aware of a
berezi
in his own territory was tantamount to dereliction of duty.

His mind raced as he tried to decide how to handle this crisis.  Suddenly, he remembered something he had noted when reviewing the compound’s files after the extermination.  He decided to gamble.

“I apologize most profusely for this upset,” he said, sincere this time.  An emotionally out of control Xaqana-Ti was not good.  Angry, yes.  Frustrated, maybe.  But distressed enough to reveal her true fear and worry?  No, absolutely not.  In this state, she might very well order her entire brood exterminated, and there would be no stopping it.  Za-Linq quickly adjusted his attitude. 

“Xaqana-Ti, most Beautiful Lady, may I assume you are referring to the
berezi
whose human name was....” he hesitated a moment, trying to pull the strange name from his memory.  What was it?  What was it?  Oh yes.  “The one called
Sum-myr-whin-tey
?”

There was a sudden silence through the speakers.  “Why do you ask this?” Xaqana-Ti asked.

“Because she was removed from the compound early yesterday morning and transferred to Badia for shipment,” he said. 

There was a long silence which, Za-Linq guessed, was due to his Ruling Female’s need to search her records for the
berezi’s
name. 

“Yes, that is what she was called,” Xaqana-Ti said finally.  “What is her current location?” she demanded.

“I am still attempting to locate her,” Za-Linq replied, thinking quickly.  “The human handled the details of this transaction.”  Za-Linq realized that Xaqana-Ti must have gone behind his back and worked with Lio on this secretly.  Therefore, she knew very well that Za-Linq had no knowledge of it.  But that was not going to get him off the hook for this.  Strictly speaking, Lio was
his
human, and he was directly responsible for everything the man did, or did not do.

“That is a serious problem.  For you,” Xaqana-Ti said with something closer to her usual calm.  “I suggest you find her, and see that she is delivered as promised.”

Za-Linq struggled for the correct response.  He wanted very much to ask how he was supposed to find a female he’d known nothing about up until this moment, and where she was supposed to be delivered.  But, from Xaqana-Ti’s current state of upset, it seemed obvious that she did not know the answer to the latter question, and the first was irrelevant. 

“I have all of my resources on this matter,” he lied smoothly, though he was fully aware that Xaqana-Ti knew he was lying. 

“How long will it take you to obtain the information?” Xaqana-Ti asked.

“Since the Jasani have certainly caused a full system wipe of Lio’s computers, I will have to contact our main buyers individually for the information.  It will take time, perhaps as long as two Standard weeks,” he said, pulling a number from nowhere.

“You have ten days,” Xaqana-Ti replied shortly.  The connection was closed with a sharp click and Za-Linq had to struggle to remain on his feet, such was his combined fear and relief.

He stumbled back across his quarters and all but fell into his chair.  He simply could not believe how quickly his situation had changed.  After all of his careful work, he was in a worse spot than even Za-Queg had been in, and it was through no doing of his own.

He did not blame Xaqana-Ti, of course.  As Ruling Female, she had the right to go behind his, or anyone’s back whenever she wished.  Ruling Females did such things all the time to keep their brood in line and it was not for him to question her, or her reasons.  No, he was not angry with her.  He was, however, furious with Lio Perry.  The little human had betrayed him.  He, Za-Linq, was Lio Perry’s superior, and Lio should have informed him of the negotiations concerning the
berezi
.  Therefore, Lio Perry was directly responsible for the position Za-Linq now found himself in.  Za-Linq wished with all of his being that Lio Perry was still alive so that he could make the human pay for his disloyalty.

It took Za-Linq several long minutes to calm himself enough that he could think.  Now all he had to do was find the missing
berezi
, and deliver her to whomever had purchased her.  Za-Linq shook his head.  How was he supposed to do either of those things with no information, and no Lio Perry?

But, he did have information, he realized.  He got up and hurried to the vid terminal in his quarters and pulled up the compound’s files that he’d uploaded before the purging.  After a few moments, he found the notes he’d seen earlier concerning...ah...Summer Whitney was the name.  Well, who could keep track of humans and their strange sounding names? 

The compound had received a missive from Lio indicating that the
berezi
had been purchased, and ordering them to send her to him for off-world shipment.  The file showed that they had complied with the order, sending the
berezi
to Lio early the previous morning.  Za-Linq searched carefully, but there was no further information.  They had not known who the purchaser was, or even when the
berezi
was supposed to be shipped out.  The only other notation on the file was made by the Keeper who had logged in after returning from delivering the
berezi.

Za-Linq realized that the
berezi
must have been delivered to Lio at about the same time Lio was supposed to have been attending his
board meeting
.  So Lio had not had a chance to ship the
berezi
off-world.  Such shipments were always made at night.  Therefore, the
berezi
must have been taken away with Lio by the Jasani.  He wondered briefly if Lio’s pet female had also been taken, then decided it didn’t matter.  Only the
berezi
mattered.

Za-Linq began pacing his quarters, remembering the previous day.  After he’d finally been retrieved by his ship, he had spent some time working off his frustration on his chief engineer.  By the time he had finished with that little diversion and returned to his quarters, he’d discovered that the tracking device on Lio indicated he had been taken straight to the Dracons’ ranch. 

Za-Linq had felt somewhat pleased with that course of events.  He finally had a valid reason to dispose of Za-Queg’s human.  In fact, it was required of him.

Of course, once Lio had crossed onto the Dracons’ property the tracking signal had been lost, but that didn’t matter.  The force field around the property that disrupted the tracking signal blocked outgoing transmissions, but did not disrupt the short phased digital pulse that triggered the sub-dermal explosive device.  He had activated the explosive without a moment’s hesitation, and no small amount of satisfaction.

Za-Linq stopped pacing and smiled, very pleased with himself.  The
berezi
had certainly been taken to the Dracons’ ranch along with Lio.  He was sure of it.  With the current state of heightened security around the ranch, it seemed plausible to conclude that she was still there.  There was nowhere else on that whole miserable planet that they could take her and be sure of her safety.  The only question now was, how was he going to get her back?

The female certainly had a Controller.  That was a given.  And since she was a
berezi
, she had the Prime Controller.  He tried to think of a way to use that knowledge in order to get his hands on the
berezi,
but as far as he knew, the only thing he could do from a distance was set off the self-destruct program, but he did not want to destroy the
berezi
. 

Somehow, he had to find a way to get that
berezi
off the Dracon’s ranch and onto his ship.  He didn’t know how he was going to do that, but he had managed to figure out where the
berezi
was, so his confidence was back.  One way or another, he would get that
berezi
.  He had no intention of ending up as his predecessor had.  No matter what.

Chapter
29

Summer awoke slowly, enjoying the feel of soft warmth surrounding her.  She snuggled closer to the hard body beside her and sighed contentedly. 

Hard body?  She stiffened as her eyes flew open in shock.  Yep, definitely a hard body in the bed with her.  She leapt from the bed, relieved to discover that she was still fully dressed even as her mind struggled to remember what had happened, and why she was in bed with...who?

She spun around, her eyes widening in shock to see Ran lying in her bed, his head propped up on one hand as he smiled up at her.

“What?” she demanded, unable to actually form a full, coherent sentence.

“What?” Ran asked, his smile fading as his brows lowered in confusion. 

He was confused? Summer thought.  Well, huh.

“What are you doing in my bed?” she demanded.

“You expended too much energy Healing the last woman,” Ran said as he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed.  “Maxim caught you before you hit the floor and we brought you here to rest.  We thought it would be best for one of us to keep an eye on you.”

“How does that explain your presence in the bed?” Summer asked. 

“You seemed cold,” Ran said with a grin.  “I thought I should warm you up.”

“That is what blankets are for,” Summer said coolly.

“I suppose you have me there,” Ran admitted, though he was still smiling. 

Summer gave up.  “Okay, I am awake, I am fine, and I thank you for your concern.  You can go now.”

“Actually, I was hoping for a chance to talk with you for a moment, if you don’t mind,” Ran said.  Summer frowned as she studied Ran’s face, but he seemed serious now.  More than that, she sensed his feelings, and knew that he really was serious, and worried.

“All right,” Summer agreed reluctantly.  “What is it?”

“I believe that you are able to sense our emotions, at least to some extent,” Ran said.  “Am I correct?”

“Yes, that’s true,” Summer said.  “How did you know?”

“Because it’s normal for an Arima to do that,” Ran replied.  “I also believe that’s why you think that we do not like you.”

Summer sighed and sat down in the chair be the bed.  “As you just confirmed that I can sense your emotions, then you already know the answer to that.”

“You did not feel dislike from me, Summer, nor do I think you felt dislike from Loni,” Ran said gently.  “I am sure you felt us withdraw from you, but there is a reason for that, and it is not about you.”

“Go on,” Summer said warily.

“The relationship between the brothers of a male-set is in some ways complicated, and in other ways simple.  Basically, the eldest of any male-set is the leader.  Not just because they were born first, though they always are, but because they are born with that quality in them.  The next brother is the second-in-command, and then the third.”