No Quarter (Bounty, Book One) (25 page)

“Yes, sir.” Gar stiffened but didn’t remove his blade from the man’s throat. “Jason said to bring you to him.” The hunter coughed and stepped away from his partners. “He also asked that you don’t kill the help.”

Gar’s lips twitched into a smile. “No promises. Gentlemen, lead the way.”

Faolan fell into step by Gar’s side, not surprised to find two additional men joining them to bring up the rear of the group. Things were going to get messy.

Chapter Sixteen

I hope you know what you’re doing, Gar.

He fought the urge to snort at Faolan’s thoughts. Gar liked to think he knew his former boss very well. He knew that given a slightly different set of circumstances, it would be Gar bringing in the mark and not some low-level hunter who hadn’t earned the right to leave the Guild’s home territory yet. Still, he should be thankful the men weren’t as experienced as they could be.

Once we kick their asses, I’m going to take you out for a meal. You’re too skinny.
Gar snapped his head to look at Faolan. The stupid ass should know better than to flirt in a situation like this.

Don’t stare at me or they’ll think something’s up.

Turning to look at the back of the bounty hunter, Gar let out a short huff to express his discontent.

Stuff it, Stitt. If I’m going to die, I’m damn well going to enjoy myself.

The main entrance to the Guild wasn’t what most people expected. There were no visible high-level security nor were there any armed guards posted. Anyone could walk into the heart of the building and talk to those inside.

Getting out was what proved difficult for most.

The small, metal door was pitted on the outside from the high winds and flying rocks normally kicked up in the windstorms. The leader of the trio banged on the door three times before pressing the release and ushering them in. Gar was temporarily blinded as his eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness. It didn’t stop him from moving forward, having known the route to take from years of travel. He felt more than heard Faolan stumble, reaching out and grabbing his forearm to lead him the right way.

Don’t let me run into any walls. Be a shame to mark up my pretty face.

Gar squeezed his arm and tugged hard.

“Jason is in his office,” the leader said, voice muffled by the narrow hall. “I trust you know the way.”

“Been there a few times.” Gar pushed past the men, dragging Faolan with him. “I suggest you men go into hiding. You won’t want to get caught in the crossfire.”

His eyes had adjusted enough for Gar to see the other hunter’s sneer. “Yeah right, asshole.”

Faolan chuckled. “I’ll enjoy watching him kick your ass later. Been fun, boys.”

Each step Gar took brought his anger a bit closer to the surface. He’d given everything to this place. Done things bordering on the unacceptable, walked a tight line between what needed to be done and what his conscience could allow. The more he thought on it, the more he realized how much of himself he’d sacrificed to become a man he really didn’t like.

Jason had done this to him, pushed Gar when he tried to walk away or back down. Jason had been the one who told him his life would be forfeit if he tried to leave the Guild. Yet here he was, Jason was the one who betrayed him in the end. Gar wanted payback.

I can feel you seething from here, Gar. Keep a calm head or else they’ve won before we’ve started.

Gar almost stopped to yell at Faolan to stay out of his mind when he realized it was the other way around. How the other man had grown to know him as well as he did in such a short period of time scared him.

Turning the corner once, then again had them a short distance from Jason’s office. He knew the other man would be more than ready for them—guns, lasers and gas were all possible.
Probably all three.
He’d have to stay sharp if he was going to pull off his plan and get Faolan out in one piece.

They paused before entering the room, Faolan’s hand found his for a quick squeeze.
We’ll blast this fucker and be home for breakfast.

“Here’s hoping,” Gar muttered.

Taking a deep breath, he released Faolan’s hand and marched inside. Sitting behind the desk, hands folded neatly in front of him sat the focus of his wrath. Gar stopped a few feet away, laced his fingers behind his back and stared at his surrogate father.

“Jason.” Gar nodded.

Shit, you had a picture of him on the
Geilt
. I saw it in your quarters.

“Stitt. I see you finally brought your mark in.” Jason’s gaze never left his, nor did he acknowledge Faolan in any way.

The gray in his hair looked more pronounced than Gar had ever remembered seeing it before. Whether it was due to a sudden rush of stress or simply Gar seeing the older man in a new light, it didn’t matter. Jason had betrayed him.

“Faolan came with me.” His voice remained calm and even, despite his surging anger. “And we’ll be leaving together.”

Focus on his thoughts
, Faolan’s voice prodded in his mind.

Lifting his chin, Gar focused his attention solely on Jason, attempting to block out everything else. Jason shook his head and tsked as he pressed the not so secret button beneath his desk. The door behind them slid shut, locking them in.

“Interesting place you have here, Jason. You don’t mind if I call you Jason, do you?” Faolan sauntered to Gar’s side, thumbs hooked in the tops of his pants. “Can’t say I’m impressed with the welcome, though. Might want to do some hospitality training with your staff. I mean really, how hard is it to have them offer us a drink or something to eat? Very rude.”

Leaning back in his seat, Jason steepled his hands together and let his gaze finally move to Faolan. “Nice to finally meet the infamous Captain Wolf. I’m looking forward to collecting the bounty on your head.”

Faolan grinned. “Gar said it was two million. I almost turned myself in. Think of the shit I can buy with that much.”

“That’s for bringing you in alive. Dead, it’s much more.”

Turning to slap Gar on the shoulder, Faolan rolled his eyes. “You were holding out on me.”
Concentrate on him, Gar. Try to get into his head.

Gar released a breath and let the tension bleed from his body. He cleared his mind of everything and listened for the soft buzzing he’d felt when he’d first connected to Faolan.

“Gar was always too soft for his own good. It was his biggest shortcoming, one I tried to burn out of him for years.”

The first tremor of Jason’s mind brushing against his nearly turned Gar’s stomach. Where Faolan had been warmth and a bright touch, Jason’s sent a chill through to his soul.

Stupid brat. Will enjoy making him suffer.

The venom behind the thought nearly sent him staggering. Gar squeezed his hands together and let the pain help keep him focused on the task at hand.

Lifting his chin, Gar stared his former mentor down. “Enough of this shit, Jason. Why did you want me killed?”

He can’t know the truth.
“It was clear you weren’t living up to your end of the bargain, Stitt.” Jason narrowed his gaze, focusing his cold eyes on Gar. “You’ve been around here long enough to know the penalty for betrayal is death.”

“I followed your orders to the letter. I was on my way to get the stone for you.” Gar’s throat tightened and his body shook from the strain of holding his temper in check. “You sent ships to blow me out of space!”

Was my best chance. Finally clean up this mess.
“It was necessary,” Jason said with finality.

“Did you even want the bloody thing?” Gar’s head couldn’t keep up with the barrage of thoughts flying through it. It became difficult to know whose mind was whose.

“Of course I wanted it.”
The stone can’t be real. Wolf was bluffing.
“But not at the risk of your betrayal.”
He’d kill me.
“I’d rather it be blown to space dust than to let you or that pirate use it against me.”

Faolan stepped between Gar and Jason, his hand on the hilt of his sword. “And why is that? What were you trying to keep him from learning?”

“Why would you assume I was keeping something from him?”
Gods, they fucking know. Gar must know!

Gar moved toward Jason without thinking. “Know what?” Faolan’s hand on his chest stopped him from closing the distance so he could wrap his hands around Jason’s neck. “Tell me!”

Jason’s eyes widened and he dropped his hands to his lap. “What?”
No, he couldn’t realize. I made sure he never connected me to their deaths.

The universe around Gar paused before everything slotted into place. “No,” he whispered.

Sliced her throat to get him to talk. Framed him for her death.
Jason’s smile twisted into a scowl. “It was so easy to manipulate you, the other guards. All I had to do was sit in the background and let it all play out.”

“You killed them,” Gar’s voice shook as he squeezed Faolan’s hand and forearm. “My parents.”

“You’re just like your father—too proud for your own good. He agreed to steal something for me and then tried to go back on the deal. I thought by killing his wife he’d give in. Fucker wouldn’t.”
Felt good, blade going in. She cried and cried and pleaded.

“Gar,” Faolan’s voice was soft in his ear. “Keep it together.”

It was enough of a jolt to bring him back to their purpose. Swallowing, Gar squeezed Faolan’s hand in reassurance and stepped forward. “You killed my mother.”

“Even that wasn’t enough to convince him. You want to blame anyone, blame him.”

“What was it you wanted so badly that you were willing to tear my life apart?”

Power.
“Stupid ass hid the codes somewhere in his belongings. I’ve tried to find it,” Jason said with a sneer. “I couldn’t expect someone like you to understand, Stitt.”
Needed the key to control everything.

His stopwatch.
Gar remembered the day his dad had handed it over to him. Telling him how special it was and to keep it safe. It was the one item he’d kept on his person most days when he was younger. Jason wouldn’t have known. If the codes were anywhere, it was there.

“Bastard.” Gar’s world spun around him, full of confusion.

“Your father was just as shortsighted as you. You’d never understand, Gar.”
Bastard betrayed me, like his kid.

“Why don’t you explain it to me then?” Faolan slowly pulled his sword from the sheath, tip pointed at the floor.

Jason’s gaze flicked between them. “You think I’m scared of a sword? I’m well aware of Gar and his knives. Don’t you think I prepared for that?”
Personal shield will fry them if they come close.

Gar’s hand stopped Faolan from moving too close. “He has an electro shield.”

“How did you—?”
Gods, it’s like he’s reading my mind. Is the stone real?

“Answer the question, Jason.” Gar reached into his coat and thumbed the shock charge.

“Fine, you want to know?” Jason shoved his chair back and yanked out the blaster he had beneath the desk. “You were there with me when Wolf here showed up on Tybal. There was no one else around so I had to send you, else it would have looked suspicious. I couldn’t take the chance you’d figure things out once you spent time with Wolf here, so I put a bounty on your head. Figured it was about time I cleaned up that mess from ten years ago.”

“Wait a minute?” Faolan frowned, concentrating his attention on Jason. “I
know
you.”

Gar didn’t want to risk taking his eyes off Jason. “Faolan?”

“The reason Kayla and I were on Zeten ten years ago, the medical scam. Jason here was the bastard we cleaned out.”

Jason powered up the blaster to full and leaned forward, pointing the barrel square at Faolan’s chest. “It was a distraction I couldn’t afford. Don’t worry though, I got even.”
Killed him in the end.

Faolan frowned. “What?”

Gods.
Gar shook his head. “The poison. That was you?”

“Had a friend who owed me a favor. When he told me you’d shown up I got him to give you a little extra something for me. How are you feeling these days, Wolf? Headaches and weakness kicked in yet? Vomiting blood?”

“Shit.” Faolan’s voice had lost all sense of bravado.

“You’d caused me to lose track of Gar’s father, at least until little Gar was ever so helpful and led me straight to him. Figured the punishment was fitting.”

Pain and guilt made Gar sick, but not as much as the pure menace rolling through Jason’s mind.

Never got the codes.
“I held your mom hostage, Stitt, as incentive to convince your father to steal the Loyalist codes to their computer mainframe. He was the only one on the colony who had access. With those I could have hacked in and controlled everything from the supply chain to the flow of currency.”

“He didn’t give them to you.” Respect for his dad increased tenfold. “Why keep me around? Why not kill me like you did my parents and sister?” The last thing he wanted was to let Jason know Mace still lived. She could hide forever, safe on the
Belle Kurve
.