Quantum (22 page)

“We’ll have to take the body. I’ll find somewhere to dump it a few blocks away so it liquefies before anyone sees it.” Not that he wanted to touch the thing, but unless he didn’t care about seeing this planet turned to dust, he didn’t have much of a choice.

Shutting his mind down against the task, he bent and hauled the body up, slinging it across his shoulders. He walked ahead of Ella and ducked out into the deserted street. A few people peered cautiously out of windows and doorways as they hurried away from the building. Obviously, the commotion inside the law offices had sent the locals into hiding.

No one tried to stop them as they headed back to the
Imojenna
. In fact, they pretty much didn’t come across another person. Halfway there, he found a big enough waste disposal unit to dump the body. Rian kept glancing over his shoulder, sure that if there’d been one Reidar, there had to be another somewhere just waiting to take Ella and him down. But they made it to the empty field of the spaceport without trouble. He huffed a sigh of relief as he slapped at the atmospheric door controls.

Zahli came down to meet them on the cargo bay floor. “What the hell happened?”

“Reidar.” He brushed by Ella and jogged up the steps two at a time. “The IPC military might be on their way. We need to leave,
now
.”

“But what about the charges?”

“That’s the last of our frecking problems right now.”

Rian made it to the bridge as the ship rumbled to life. He dropped into the captain’s chair and swiveled toward Lianna.

“Making a run for it, are we?” Lianna asked calmly, getting the
Imojenna
off the ground and bringing her up and around to gain altitude.

“Do we ever leave a planet any other way?” He leaned back in his chair and blew out a long breath, shoving his hair off his face.

“We’ve got company,” Lianna reported in an even but urgent voice.

“What are we looking at?” He sat forward again as short-range scan data flickered across the viewport.

“One ship. IPC Ravager class. Fully loaded armaments, counting six personnel onboard, coming in hard and fast.”

“A specialized tact team.” Obviously the IPC backup Faulkner had been talking about. But was it IPC or a shipload of Reidar here to take Ella and him? There were no IPC outposts anywhere near this system, so a tactical or retrieval team couldn’t have gotten here this fast if Faulkner had only called them this morning. It would have taken days—which meant they’d already been on their way.

The Reidar wanted Ella and him like no one’s business, so why hadn’t Faulkner made her move as soon as they’d hit dirt on this backwater world? Because she’d been waiting for her backup to arrive? It was the only explanation that made sense.

“Bring the mannequin into play.”

Lianna nodded and half swiveled her chair to access another area of her control screen. Sometimes when they were in the central systems, they traveled under forged registration beacons. If a passing IPC ship or outpost scanned them, the registration file had to hold up across several layers of information. It took time to swap out the
Imojenna
’s real registration with the fake ones. But when they needed a cloak, and fast, they used Callan’s override they called the mannequin. For a quick scan, it would give the impression they were a different ship entirely.

“Mannequin is online. Thirty seconds to crosswire.” Lianna swiveled back to face the viewport, where the two separate dots of the
Imojenna
and the Ravager class ship tracked closer together. Rian closed his hands around the edge of his console, leaning forward as the two dots came together, and Lianna cleared the viewport to show sky. The Ravager streaked toward them on an adjacent angle. In another moment it had flashed from sight. The console beeped, alerting them to the fact they’d been scanned, but as he’d hoped, it had been a quick, superficial check.

He blew out a short breath, pushing his hair off his forehead.

Clearly taking a convoluted route across the galaxy to get to Barasa had been a massive waste of time—they’d still run afoul of the Reidar. Had the damn bastard aliens infiltrated every planet in some way? He should have put more thought into exactly why he’d wanted to land here after getting that hinky feeling.

He scrubbed both hands over his face, the latent frustration forever simmering within him heating up and pushing outward.

If the frecking aliens were everywhere, there was absolutely no point in trying to avoid them. And if what Faulkner had told him the night before was true—that some people in the IPC military questioned the intergalactic terrorism charges laid against him—then maybe he didn’t need to work so hard at avoiding his ex-employers, either.

Of course, he was going on information from a scum-licking parasite, so he’d contact a few of his old war buddies to confirm the rumor.

He braced an elbow against the armrest of his chair and set his chin against his hand. “Lianna, scrap whatever roundabout nav you set to get us to the
Swift Brion
. I want us on the most direct intercept route.”

Lianna glanced at him with a concerned expression. “But that will take us right through—”

“I don’t care where it takes us, just do it. I don’t want to waste any more time skulking through the galaxy while the Reidar do god knows what to advance their incursion.” He swiveled away from her to face the viewport, which was getting steadily darker as they reached Nadira’s upper atmosphere and headed out into the black beyond.

He waited until Lianna had set a new course, which he then double-checked.
Frecking great.
They had to fly through cold-space to get there. They’d have to skirt around, adding an extra day to their journey.

Since he’d just left Nadira with trumped-up murder charges hanging over his head, and considering the whole intergalactic terrorism thing, he couldn’t risk taking the
Imojenna
through the stretch of space the IPC had declared a no-fly zone due to some kind of outbreak that had ripped through four planets and left less than 5 percent of the population alive. The IPC didn’t want to risk the super virus getting out to the rest of the galaxy and obsessively enforced the borders with extreme and deadly prejudice.

“Adjust navs so we skim cold-space, but don’t actually cross any IPC lines.” He stood, glancing over to see her make the adjustments. “I’ll be back on deck later. Comm me—”

“If anything comes up. I know. You tell me the same thing every time you leave the bridge. I think after three years, I’ve got it covered.”

Rian shot her a hard look. “Oh, yeah? What ever happened to that ‘help wanted’ ad I had you draw up last time we were on the Rim?”

“It’s stored in the
Imojenna
’s archives.
As if
anyone would even apply to work a decommissioned Nirali class.” She cut him an unimpressed look, though he could tell she wasn’t really worried. And she didn’t need to be. It’d be a freezing day in hell if he ever replaced his nav-engineer. Without her, the
Imojenna
would have literally fallen apart years ago. Unfortunately, Lianna had a clue of just how irreplaceable she was, which was why he put up with her good-natured impertinence.

“I’d have to beat applicants off with a stick. Who wouldn’t want to be on a ship with a legendary war hero?” Yeah, he could make jokes at his own expense, but he could never quite keep the cynicism out of his voice.

“And your humility is my favorite thing about you, Captain,” she retorted as they cleared Nadira’s gravitational pull.

Rian shoved his hair back and moved around his console. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got dead alien goo to wash off.”

“Because when there’s a body, it’s just another day on the
Imojenna
,” Lianna muttered as he left.

He quickly made his way down the steps, wanting to wash and then find himself a drink while he tried to work out exactly how he was going to play the situation with the fake Zander.

As Rian reached the bottom of the stairs, Ella stepped out of the galley–slash–common room.

“Not now, princess.” He didn’t pause as he passed by her and headed toward his cabin.

Despite the growled words, she followed him into his office. “I have been thinking of all that has happened since we landed on this planet, of the pattern we walk in the greater scheme of all life, trying to assimilate where these unknown, outside forces fit into things.”

He glanced over his shoulder at her, hating it when she spouted doctrines like she was in some temple, cowing the masses. “Is that uncertainty I hear from the Arynian priestess?”

Her brows dipped, not exactly in a frown, and not exactly in confusion, but it was definitely an expression of insecurity.

“On Aryn, we are taught that all life is sacrosanct, no matter its form, even those who are
other
that we do not acknowledge or understand. But ever since I left Aryn, I have learned a great deal. I was never afraid before. There is still not really anything in this universe that does scare me, except—”

She crossed her arms, pensive gaze focused on nothing.

Rian turned to face her and leaned against the front of his desk. “There’s no shame in being scared of something. It’s part of what makes us human.”

She shook her head, still not looking at him. “It’s not that. Fear itself is not the issue. It’s what I have learned, what I have sensed of these creatures. I think the elders on Aryn can’t have really experienced these beings firsthand or they would know—”

She swallowed, the haunted shadows in her moss-colored eyes sending a shaft of alarm slicing through him. He straightened and stepped closer, a small part of him wanting to comfort her, but of course, he couldn’t bring himself to touch her.

“They would know what?”

At last, she looked back at him. “These beings view us much like we view chimps, as somewhat sentient beings but well below their level of evolution.”

“Well, that’s comforting.” Rian’s mind wasn’t able to process this latest development. Later he would think on it and work out how it fit into the Reidar puzzle. But one problem at a time. First he had to wash, and then he had to deal with the fake-ass captain admiral on the
Swift Brion
.

“Well, considering we ganked Faulkner, console yourself that it’s one more Reidar down. Only a quadrillion left to go.”

Ella didn’t even crack a smile at his lame joke. Her uneasy expression was starting to give him the bejeebees. He’d rather take on an armada of the IPC’s finest than see the usually calm and collected Ella looking so unsettled.

The foreign urge to comfort her continued building in his chest. But what did he know about comfort when his talents lay in hurting and killing?

Still, he released a quick breath as he pushed at his hair, searching for words that might help her. “I know things have been hard for you since you were taken from Aryn, but we’re safe enough onboard the
Imojenna
. And right now, there’s nothing to do besides take yourself back to the galley and make a cup of that godforsaken tea you like so much.”

Her gaze settled on him, a small smile edging onto her lips. “You’re not actually trying to comfort me, are you, Rian?”

“Impossible. As if I ever think about anyone but myself and my own ambitions. You’re totally imagining it.”

She shook her head, though at least her expression wasn’t so troubled any longer.

“A cup of tea sounds perfect. Would you like me to make you a coffee while I’m in the galley?”

Before he could answer her, his personal comm chimed, and he flicked at it with annoyance.
Now what?
He couldn’t even get five minutes to wash off dead alien goo without getting interrupted?

“What is it?”

“Captain, I’ve received a comm from a ship called the
Ebony Winter
. Captain Qaelen Forster wants to speak with you,” Lianna replied through the device.

Qaelen Forster? What in the fiery pits of Erebus did he want? It’d been five, no, six years since he’d last talked to the man. Long before this mess with the Reidar and Forster had become one of the IPC’s most wanted marauders. He tried to imagine what could have possibly prompted the call…
Nope, got nothing.

“Did he say what it’s about?”

“He said”—Lianna cleared her throat—“he’s got information about Mae Petros and Zander Graydon.”

Rian exchanged a quick look with Ella then yanked off his shirt as he ducked into his room. He grabbed a cleanish one off a pile of clothes at the foot of his bed and shrugged into it as he took off toward the stairs. Whatever the news might be, he couldn’t imagine it’d be good, especially considering the way these past few days had played out. But come hell or invading aliens, he needed to know what had happened to two of his closest friends.

Chapter Twenty

Onboard the
Ebony Winter

Zander leaned farther over Forster’s shoulder, trying to read the data on the crystal display. “Is Rian taking the call or not?”

Forster used his elbow to shove him back a step and then glared. “I don’t know, I’m still on hold. And you getting all up in my personal space bubble like a two-credit hooker on a cashed-up dirt-leave soldier isn’t helping any. By the way, you’re totally paying me back for however much this is costing me.”

Zander took another step back and crossed his arms. “You want credits? Take it up with the alien currently in control of my bank accounts.”

Forster cracked a grin. “Is it sleeping in your bed and banging your missus, too?”

“Hilarious. I think you missed your calling as a professional comedian.” He turned his attention back to the screen before he did something totally unhelpful like punch Forster in his smarmy face.

Forster opened his mouth, probably intending to say something even more moronic, but the comm chimed.

“Forster?” Rian’s voice came through, and the viewport flickered to show him standing on the bridge of the
Imojenna
.

“Good hail, Sherron.” Forster leaned back in his chair and nodded to the side. “Got a couple of stowaways here who insisted on speaking with you.”

Rian’s gaze shifted, and Zander couldn’t help grinning at the stunned expression that flitted across his old buddy’s face. Unfortunately, it was quickly replaced by sharp suspicion.

Zander held up a hand. “Before you start trying to accuse me of not being myself, let me assure you that I’ve been almost killed more times this week than all those months we spent in the dead zones of Minnea. If you’re looking for an alien impersonating me, call up the
Swift Brion
.”

Rian hooked a hand into his weapons belt. “So you know about that, huh?”

“Yeah, and I’d be dead three times over by now if it wasn’t for Mae signing on as my admiral’s assistant. I believe the two of you know each other?”

Mae stepped forward from the back of the bridge, sending Rian a quick wave. Rian’s gaze flicked over to her then shifted away. “Yeah, I’ve known her almost as long as I’ve known you. She’s real good at saving people.”

Zander glanced down at Mae, though her expression seemed to be carefully neutral. Obviously there was a story behind their relationship. A small surge of acidic jealousy rose up, but he shoved it down. This wasn’t the time or place to get all territorial over Mae—plus, he’d tried that once before and it hadn’t gone down so well.

“I’ve got to say, Zander, I’m glad to see you’re both okay.” Rian’s stoic expression didn’t change much, but a slight tenor in his voice underlay his words. “When I commed the
Swift Brion
a few days ago to talk to Mae, I was told she’d been reassigned. And then when I asked to speak with you… Well, it was pretty obvious what had happened, and knowing how the Reidar operate, I expected the worst. We were actually just on our way to intercept your ship.”

Zander laughed. One thing that had never changed about Rian—he always went charging off into a fight without really thinking about things first.

“Oh, yeah? And what were you going to do when you caught up with them?”

Rian shrugged one shoulder, not looking too concerned about his lack of plans. “I hadn’t worked that part out yet. Thought I’d just make some crap up as I went along. You know how I operate.”

Forster shook his head. “You always were a crazy son of a bitch, Rizza.”

“
Rizza?
” Zander glanced down at Forster.

Rian’s brow lowered into an unimpressed expression. “It’s what my friends used to call me when I was a kid. And I thought last time I saw you, Qae, I gave you a hundred credits to never call me that again.”

“Inflation.” Forster’s grin was smart-ass all the way. “It’ll cost you at least another hundred.”

“Hang on. You two knew each other as kids?” Zander interjected before Rian could reply.

Rian sighed and crossed his arms. “Qae is my cousin, on my mother’s side.”

Hot damn, he hadn’t seen that one coming. Zander glanced between the two men. In terms of build and mannerisms, they did have some similarities.

“I see being a cocky bastard runs in the family, then,” Mae muttered.

“Considering your choice in boyfriends, I think you like cocky bastards.” Forster shot her a quick frown over his shoulder.

Mae rolled her eyes. “Enough with the family reunion. In case you all have forgotten, we’ve got a small problem with an alien impersonating an IPC captain admiral armed with an entire fleet and flagship. Not to mention, Zander is currently number one on their hit list.”

Well, that sobered things right up. Although that was one of the great things about Mae—he could always count on her to be straightforward and get to the point.

“We’re hoping to rendezvous with you, Rian. We figured teaming up with you would be the smartest thing to do. As helpful as Captain Forster has been, you’ve got more experience when it comes to this sort of thing,” Mae continued, making Zander want to scoff at her diplomatic words. He had several descriptions for Forster, and none of them were anywhere near as polite as
helpful
.

Rian glanced off to his left. “Lianna, break course and wait for further instructions. We won’t be heading off the
Swift Brion
after all.”

There was a murmured reply onscreen before Rian turned his attention back to them. “Where are you now, Qae? We could meet halfway.”

“No can do.” Forster kicked a leg over his opposite knee. “I’ve got a delivery to make. Being the upstanding trader we all know you are, Rian, I’m sure you can appreciate that.”

“All right. Then where are you headed?”

“Sarolta.”

Now Rian looked even more unimpressed. “What in god’s name could possibly interest you on Sarolta? That planet would be lucky to have two credits to rub together. I can’t imagine anyone there could afford anything you’re selling.”

Forster linked his hands behind his head. “That’s my business. And it’s where your friends here will be disembarking. Makes no mind to me how long it takes you to get there.”

Zander glared at the back of Forster’s head. So the captain of the
Ebony Winter
would simply boot them off the ship and hit ether whether Rian had arrived to meet them or not? Well, what had he expected of a wanted marauder?

Rian had another short onscreen conversation before looking at Forster again.

“We’re actually not that far out from Sarolta. Two days, maybe three.”

“Then you’re closer than us.” Forster leaned forward in his chair. “We’re probably three or four.”

“I know you don’t like to be dirtbound for too long, but it’d be good to catch up with you.”

A small flash of emotion flashed over Forster’s face, softening his usual cynical expression. “Yeah, we can share a bottle of Violaine, and you can tell me how it was, exactly, you ended up being an IPC poster boy.”

“Only if you tell me why you decided to drop your pants and wave your lily-white ass at the IPC.” Rian’s expression darkened a touch. “An illegal salvager? Seriously, Qae, even I’m not that much of an idiot.”

Now it was Forster’s turn to look pissed, and Zander had to admit, he enjoyed seeing Rian take his cousin to task.

“It’s not what it looks like. We’ll talk about it when we’re on Sarolta.”

Rian nodded. “Until then, safe journey.”

They exchanged quick farewells, and Forster cut the transmission before swiveling his chair.

“Okay, people, the show is over. Clearly there’s been more than enough excitement for one day. I’m going to catch a few hours’ sleep before I’m back on deck. I assume there won’t be any drama until then?”

Zander nodded. Well, at least they could agree on that. Adrenaline had well and truly left him for dead, and exhaustion was rising like quicksand sucking at his legs.

“I think we could all use some down time.” He glanced at Mae, who nodded, thank god. Since he’d missed the tour of the ship earlier, he had no idea where their bunks were situated.

“Right, then,” Forster said as he pushed up from the chair. “See you in a few hours.”

The captain brushed by Mae and walked off the small bridge, leaving Lucie at the helm. Zander trailed Mae as she led him down through the ship until they reached a narrow room with four pull-down bunks decorating the bulkheads and not much else.

“There’s privy facilities back down the passage on the right.” Mae walked farther into the room and tapped at the clamp holding the bunk up. The cot lowered into position, and she opened the compartment in the wall behind where the bunk had been to pull out some bedding.

He moved to the opposite bulkhead. He’d lived in worse accommodations than this, back when he’d first joined the IPC and been shipped between postings. Then, a new recruit would think himself lucky if he even got a seat to sit on, let alone a whole cot to catch some sleep.

Zander draped a blanket over the thin padding and lowered himself to sit on the edge of his bed. “So, we’ve got four days to spend on this scuttle can, putting up with Forster.”

“Looks like it,” she murmured distractedly as she yanked the elastic out of her hair. Sleek black strands slipped free of the plait she usually wore it in, and Zander swallowed as he watched the slide of hair over her shoulder.

His fingers tingled as he recalled fisting his hand in the cool length while she’d ridden him right into orbit when they’d been holed up in that cave. His blood flash heated, and he clamped his fingers around the edge of the bunk to keep from reaching for her.

How many times did he have to remind himself that things with her were probably more complicated than they were worth? Except the more time he spent with her, even knowing she kept more from him than she revealed, the more he was beginning to think
to hell
with his logic. Maybe she
was
worth whatever trouble came with her. Certain appendages that had no sense whatsoever certainly believed that.

Secrets aside, she was beginning to look like everything he hadn’t known he wanted in a woman.

“So, what do you think?” Having finished making her bed, she moved to sit opposite him.

He focused on her smoky-gray eyes. Had she been talking to him about something? Because he hadn’t caught a word she’d said. No use pretending. “About what?”

She frowned at him, a definite edge of dismay in her expression. “About the weapon Chase is working on for us.”

“I don’t know,” he replied distractedly, not really in the mood to be discussing tactics right now. “I want to hope it’ll work on every Reidar, but until we’ve got more test subjects, we can’t be sure.”

She sighed and lowered her head. “It’d be nice to have some sort of security, to know we’ve got an easy and effective way to identify the Reidar. As it stands now, I can’t see how we’ll fight this incursion no one even knows about. The thought of what will happen if whatever plans they have for us eventuate…

“Not much has ever scared me, but this does. What does a bunch of shape-shifting aliens even want with us? And where the hell did they come from? Space was colonized hundreds of years ago. People spent decades searching, but no trace of any other intelligent life was ever found.”

“It’s the stuff of nightmares, but we’re doing everything we can.” Zander reached across the small space between them and caught her hand, giving her fingers a gentle squeeze. “Chase is calibrating those other guns for us, and we’re on our way to meet Rian on Sarolta. Right now, the best thing we can do for ourselves is try to get some sleep.”

She raised her eyes to meet his, a small, impertinent smile kicking up the edges of her lips. “Sir, yes, sir, Captain Admiral.”

A pulse of dismay echoed through him. “That wasn’t meant to be an order.”

“Really? I didn’t realize you knew how to do anything
but
give orders.” The widening grin and spark in her gaze told him she was teasing him and enjoying every second of it.

“Fine, you want me to order you about? Get your ass on this side of the cabin, Petros.”

Her gaze darkened a touch. “Oh, yeah, and why would I want to do that?”

“Didn’t we just establish that you’re meant to be following my orders?” he asked, leaning a little closer.

She shortened the space between them by gradual degrees. “Technically, you’re AWOL, which doesn’t give you the right to order anyone to do anything.”

He slid a hand beneath the fall of her dark silky hair, wrapping his fingers around the back of her neck. “Which makes you AWOL as well. So, whatever happens between us—”

“Doesn’t count,” she murmured.

“Then I’m glad we understand each other.” Zander pulled her toward him, though she didn’t take much coercing. Even as their mouths came together, Mae slid into his lap, her hands catching in his short hair.

Oh, yeah.
He needed this, needed her and the sweet torture of her weight on top of him, her body pressed against him, everything about her tormenting him toward utter mindlessness. In the chaos of everything that had happened in the past days, somehow this was the only thing that made sense.

Mae’s hands slipped down his neck, sending a shudder rippling through him. But then her fingers were tugging at his shirt, and he was only too happy to help her get the thing off. While her hands dropped to his belt buckle, he started on the fastenings of her shirt, kissing his way down her neck and then across her upper chest as the garment parted under his hasty fingers, revealing a plain black bra. The underwear was probably meant to be serviceable or functional, but with her breasts swelling at the top of the cups, he’d never seen anything sexier, and his hunger for her surged like a tidal wave.

He pushed the shirt off and clamped his hands around her waist, pulling her harder against him as he got his mouth on the curves of her chest. Mae reached behind her, and the bra dropped away to reveal peaked pink nipples.

Zander couldn’t hold back a groan as he slid his mouth down until he had the nub of her left breast against his tongue.