Not the Man She Thought (19 page)

Keir held up his hands.  “I completely understand. I’d
rather go with them than stay here, too.  If the Federation was able to
track us, this is exactly where they’ll be coming first.”

Rade’s mouth tightened as if he would argue further, but
Vance interrupted.  “Captain, we need to get going.  We’re already
running late.”

Rade scowled at Laken.  “Fine. You can come.  But
only because I don’t have time to argue with you about it.  And don’t even
think about moving your butt out of this transport unless I tell you to.”

Climbing into the personal transport before Rade could
change his mind, Laken settled herself into the seat just as Vance put the
vehicle in gear.

A short, but very bumpy ten minutes later, the transport
pulled to a stop in the center of a large clearing.  Laken looked around,
but couldn’t see anyone.  Maybe they were in the wrong place. She was just
about to mention that to Rade when several figures walked toward them from the
edge of the clearing.  The two parties spent several long moments staring
at each other until, at a signal from one of the men, another transport entered
the clearing. 

Laken expected there to be some complex form of negotiation,
but not a word was said as both Rade’s crew and the other men began
transferring the cases from the back of one vehicle to the
other.   

Suddenly, from overhead a piercing rumble interrupted the
quiet of the night.  Startled, Laken glanced up just in time to see three
shuttle-sized vehicles zoom past their heads.  Moments later, the ground
around them began to erupt as explosions rocked the clearing.  Around her,
chaos ensued as half the people began firing at the shuttles, while the rest
hurriedly continued to load the cases of medicine.

“Get the medicine out of here!” Rade shouted above the noise
of the explosions.  “We’ll cover you.”

Laken barely realized what was happening when a hand grab
her arm and yanked her out of the transport.  She couldn’t understand why
they would abandon their means of escape until a huge blast threw her and Rade
to the ground a few moments later.  She looked up just in time to see a
large fireball engulfing the transport.  Rade must have known they would
target the vehicle.  She wondered how he knew.

She winced as the sound of laser fire filled the air. 
The shuttles must have dropped off Federation soldiers into the forest beyond
the clearing.  She’d never actually seen real gunfire before, except on
the news-vids, and had never imagine it could be so loud.  She didn’t even
realize Rade was shouting at her until she felt him grab her shoulder.  He
thrust a gun into her hand.  Though it was a smaller version of the one he
held, it still felt huge in her hand.

“Ever used a gun before?” he asked.

Mutely, she shook her head.  She’d never even held one
before.

“It’s easy,” Rade told her.  “Just point and shoot.”

Her heart pounding in her chest, Laken’s hand tightened
around the gun as she crouched down beside Rade.  “Shoot what?”

“Anyone that’s not us,” he said.  “Finn, take Laken
with you and get back to the shuttle.  I’ll lay down some cover fire to
give you time to get away.  If I’m not thirty seconds behind you, don’t
wait for me.”

Laken had been staring at the gun in confusion, but at his
words, she jerked her head up.  What did Rade mean by that?

From his crouched position on the ground, Finn gave Rade a
frown. “You sure about that?”

“I’m sure,” Rade told him. “Go!”

Finn nodded his head, then took off at a run in the
direction of the shuttle, stopping only long enough to grab Laken by the
arm.  Glancing back over her shoulder, she saw Vance and Jorn following
behind them as they entered the woods and raced toward the area where they had
landed.

Laken was glad she had Finn to guide her.  Running as
fast as they were through the dark forest had her feeling lost and disoriented,
and she knew she never would have been able to find the shuttle on her
own.  As they ran, she kept glancing over her shoulder for Rade, but she
saw no sign of him.  Back in the direction of the clearing, she could hear
the sound of rapid laser fire.

“Where’s Rade?” she shouted at Finn.

Finn slowed, but only for a moment.  “He’s holding them
off so we can get back to the shuttle.  He’ll catch up to us if he can.”

Laken came to a sudden halt and jerked her arm from Finn’s
grasp.  Finn and the other two men stopped as well, turning to look
questioningly at her.

“What do you mean, if he can?” she demanded.

“The captain knows what he’s doing,” Vance said.  “He
knew we’d never get the shuttle off the ground if they were on our heels. 
He’s giving us time to get away.”

Laken’s breath hitched as she realized what Vance had meant
by that.  “Rade’s not coming, is he?”

The three men were silent for a moment as they all looked at
each other.

“He ordered us to go, so we should get moving,” Finn said
quietly.  “Don’t let his sacrifice be wasted, Laken.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.  “You’re
just going to leave him?”

“He’s the captain and it’s what he wants us to do,” Jorn
said.

She shook her head in disbelief.  “Well, he’s not my
captain.”

Without another word, she turned and ran back in the
direction they had come.

“Where are you going?” Finn shouted after her.

“To go get Rade!” she yelled back, not even bothering to
slow down.

Laken half expected them to try to stop her, but a quick
glance over her shoulder showed that they were already continuing in the
direction of the shuttle.  She supposed she couldn’t blame them. 
They were used to doing exactly what Rade had told them to do, and he had
clearly never steered them wrong.  But she couldn’t leave Rade like that,
not after he had rescued her so many times.  She had no idea what she was
going to do when she got back to the clearing, but she had to try and do
something.

She didn’t have to go as far as the clearing to find Rade,
however.  Following the sounds of laser fire, she found him crouched down
behind a large felled tree, shooting into the forest as quickly as his pistol
would allow.

Laken didn’t announce herself, but jumped down behind the
tree beside him and began firing her laser.  She was surprised by the way
the weapon bucked in her hand every time she pulled the trigger.  As
inexperienced as she was with it, she doubted she was hitting anything, but she
kept firing anyway.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Rade dart her a look,
then do a double take as he realized it was her and not one of his men beside
him.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he demanded.

“Rescuing you!” she shouted back.

Rade swore.  “Get out of here right now and go back to
the shuttle!”

Before Laken could answer, a roar came from overhead, and
she glanced up to see their shuttle flying past them at full speed.  She
looked at Rade.  “So much for that idea.”

Turning back to the forest, she began firing again, this
time even faster.  But it quickly became apparent that it was
futile.  There must have been hundreds of Federation soldiers in the woods
around them, and there was nothing either Rade or Laken could do to keep the
men from surrounding them.  Within moments, the tree they were hiding
behind became as much of a trap as it was a form of protection.

Rade grabbed Laken and pushed her to the ground.  “Get
down.”

Laken would have argued that she couldn’t shoot from that
position, but suddenly Rade grunted and she felt his hand slip from her
shoulder.  She pushed herself up to see him tumble to the ground. She
scrambled to his side, her heart in her throat.  To her relief, she didn’t
see any blood or even a scorch mark anywhere on him, but then she realized she
had no idea if a laser even left a mark.  He just couldn’t be dead. He
couldn’t be. 

Before she could lower her head to Rade’s chest to see if he
was still breathing, Federation soldiers surrounded her from all sides. 
She lifted her pistol, prepared to defend Rade no matter what, but quickly
realized it was hopeless as every man pointed his weapon in her direction.

“Drop the weapon or we’ll shoot you now!” one of the
soldiers ordered.

Laken hesitated for a moment, but then realizing she had no
choice, she slowly lowered the weapon to the ground.  Swallowing hard, she
looked at Rade still unmoving beside her.  He had to be alive.  He
just had to be.

Chapter Nine

Rade groaned.  Shit.  It felt like he’d been
kicked in the chest by a morac mule.  Stun wounds might not bleed, but
they sure hurt like a sonofabitch.  Not that he was complaining. At least
the Federation soldiers hadn’t killed him.  He only prayed they hadn’t
hurt Laken.   

Concern for the beautiful redhead immediately made him
forget about his own discomfort.  Gritting his teeth against the pain, he
started to push himself into a sitting position, only to stop abruptly when he
realized something was lying half on top of him.  Or more accurately,
someone.  Laken.   

Rade wondered if she had been stunned as well, and was
relieved when he felt her stir.  A moment later, she jerked upright to
gaze down at him.

“Rade, thank God!” She threw her arms around him and burying
her face in the curve of his neck.  “I was afraid you’d never wake up.”

Laken felt warm and soft against him, and his arms
automatically went around her.  He held her close for a long moment,
relief at finding her unharmed coursing through him.  Finally,
reluctantly, he set her away from him and sat up to look at her.  Several strands
of hair had come loose from her bun and she had a smudge of dirt on her cheek,
but other than that, she seemed fine.

“Where are we?” he asked, though from the small, windowless
room they were in, he thought he already knew the answer to that.

“On a Federation ship,” she said.  “They put us on a
shuttle, and then threw us in here.”

Here being some kind of holding cell.  “How long was I
out?”

She shook her head.  “I don’t know.  It seemed
like days, but I suppose it was probably only an hour or two.”

That was good to know.  “Did they hurt you?”

Rade held his breath as he waited for her to answer, and
when she shook her head, he let out a heavy sigh.  However, his relief was
quickly replaced by the same anger he’d felt when he discovered she hadn’t gone
with his crew like he’d ordered, but had come back to fight alongside him on
Marlon Prime.   

“I told you to go with Finn and the others to the shuttle,”
he growled.  “Why the hell did you disobey my order?  And why the
hell did Finn let you?”

For a moment, Laken seemed taken aback by his words, but
then her eyes flashed.  “I didn’t exactly give Finn much of a choice. And
I would have thought it was obvious why I came back—to help you.”

“Well, all you did was end up getting yourself
captured.”  He swore under his breath.  “I should put you over my
knee and spank you right here for being so damn foolish!”

She glared at him.  “If we get out of this, I’ll let
you.”

Rade didn’t know which of them was more surprised by what
she had said, and the words hung in the air between them for a long moment
before he felt his mouth twitch.  “I’m going to hold you to that.”

A blush crept into her cheeks.  “What is the Federation
going to do to us?”

He felt the muscles in his jaw tighten.  “Question us.”

Her brow furrowed.  “About what?”

He shrugged.  “Who we are.  What we were
smuggling.  Who we were working with.”

She was quiet for a moment as she considered that. 
“And then what?”

Then they would both be executed for crimes against the
Federation, or shipped off to an industrial camp where they would be worked to
death, Rade thought grimly.  But he couldn’t tell Laken either of those
things.  She was terrified enough as it was.  Besides, he was going
to get them out of this mess before it came to that.

“Rade...?” she prompted nervously when he didn’t answer.

Rade swore silently.  Damn it, this was exactly why he
hadn’t wanted Laken anywhere near this job.  He tried to think of
something to say that would both satisfy her curiosity and reassure her at the
same time, but before he could come up with anything, the door to their tiny
cell slid open.  Getting to his feet, Rade grabbed Laken’s hand and pulled
her upright just as a tall, broad-shouldered man wearing a Federation uniform
stepped into the cell.  From the rank he wore on his collar, it was
obvious he was some high-level officer.  He was flanked by two guards
brandishing weapons, and Rade instinctively found himself stepping protectively
in front of Laken.