Lost Planet 01 - The Lost Planet (28 page)

“No!” shouted Chase. “Tell me! Do you know who I am? Did you know my parents?”

Asa's face had gone red. “I will not discuss this over a comm feed!”

“Then I'm going.” Chase crossed his arms. “You can find me in the Shank. I'll probably need your help by then.”

“You can't do this! Not for a Fleet soldier,” Asa yelled, grabbing the sides of his screen. “Don't—” The transmission cut out and the screen went blank.

Chase looked at Mina with a questioning frown. Had she turned off the communication, or had something happened to Asa? “Thirty-second window,” she said with a shrug. “I can't stop you from going.”

“Come on, just wait for Asa to get here,” said Parker. “Let him help.”

“I have to go now. If Rezer Bennin hasn't killed Maurus, Lennard will find him soon anyway.” Chase didn't speak his other thought—that after seeing Asa's reaction, he doubted the man would let him go after Maurus once he'd arrived. “Mina, tell me how to get back to the Shank.”

Mina gave Chase a simple list of directions and money for a jettaxi, and wished him luck. Parker looked pained as he squeezed Chase's arm. “Be careful. We'll come help you as soon as we can.”

Chase nodded and looked over at his sister lying motionless on the cot.
I'll come back for you
, he promised her in his thoughts. He headed for the door before he could stop himself.

Taking the jettaxi was easy, and the silent driver pointed Chase toward the shadowy alleyways of the Shank. Evening settled over the district as he wandered, lost in the maze of corridors, but it wasn't intimidating to him this time. He wove his way through the crowds, catching glimpses of translucent aqua skin, golden limbs, silver eyes, and deep maroon hair. Outside an eatery he spotted one of the large, pale men with the wide-set eyes. An Ambessitari.

“Take me to Rezer Bennin,” he told the man, using the boldest voice he could muster.

The Ambessitari looked down at him and scoffed. “Why should I?”

Chase flashed a confident smile. “Tell him I already escaped from him once, and I'd be happy to do it again.” The man's lip curled up in a sneer, and Chase raised his chin in challenge.

It was only a tiny flicker of the man's eye, but Chase realized a moment too late that someone was coming up behind him. Then all he saw was darkness as a cloth bag came down over his head.

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Chase sat in blind oblivion, knees smarting from where he'd been shoved to the floor. People shouted around him in a strange, coarse language. They'd left the bag over his head, but he could tell he was inside somewhere by the way the voices echoed off the walls.

The Ambessitari men who captured him had shackled his hands behind his back and shoved him into an open vehicle. Cool wind rushed by as they veered through the streets of the Shank. He'd had to fight down panic with the reminder that he was
letting
himself be taken this way, that he could easily break free and run away, and no one would be able to stop him.

The voices around him rose to a chorus of shouts that cut off abruptly, like someone had clapped a hand over everyone's mouths.

“Enough,” said an imperious voice. “Take it off.”

With a snap, the cloth bag was yanked from Chase's head. He blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted to the dim light. They seemed to be in a small storage room with only one window and stacks of crates lining the walls. Three Ambessitari men stood beside Chase, one of them holding the limp cloth bag, all facing the other side of the room. Chase turned his head.

Rezer Bennin sat at the end of a long table, an unfinished meal before him. His flat Ambessitari face looked as hard and mean as before, and there was no emotion in his beady eyes.

“I do remember you. One of the little Earthan boys that got away.” He took a sip from a gold cup and cleared his throat. “I suppose you came here about your friend.”

Chase hesitated. Was Bennin talking about Maurus? How could he know that they'd been traveling together?

As if he'd heard Chase's thoughts, Bennin said, “I
know
how you got out of the port.” He set the cup down and rested his cold gaze on Chase. “I know the Lyolian helped you escape, right around the same time the android he'd sold me was breaking my arm and sprinting out the door. What I cannot figure out is why you're all returning to me now? The smart move would have been to stay on the opposite end of the galaxy, wouldn't it?”

Chase sat up straighter. “Where is he?”

Bennin wiped his mouth with a red cloth and continued, ignoring the question. “Are you looking for a silver case as well? I don't have it, whatever it is. But the timing works out brilliantly for me.” He touched a raised comm panel on the table. “Maurus, would you come in?”

The door at the back of the room opened, and Maurus walked through, taking his place by Bennin's chair. He looked straight ahead as though Chase weren't even in the room.

“Maurus?” Chase asked, confused. There was something strange about the way Maurus moved, a mechanical stiffness in his joints. Chase lurched to his feet, taking care not to slip out of the shackles on his wrists, and moved into Maurus's line of view. There, deep in the Lyolian's dark eyes, he could see the struggle that proved Maurus was still there, still himself. As soon as he saw Chase, anguish filled his eyes, and Chase could practically hear him asking,
Why did you come here?

“What did you do to him?”

Rezer Bennin's lip curled with cold humor. “I recently took receipt of a special delivery of … toys. Show him your collar, dog.” With jerky movements, Maurus reached up and pulled aside his jacket, revealing the silver gleam of a metal band pressed tightly against his neck.

Bennin lifted his gold cup and drained it. “Now, take this chalice,” he said softly, “And use it to break your own nose.”

Every muscle in Maurus's face stood out as he grasped the cup. He paused for a moment, and Chase hoped he would resist, but with a violent swing Maurus smashed the cup into his face, where it connected with a sickening crunch. Blood ran down his face and dripped off his chin, and only his wild eyes showed his agony.

“Now jump out the window,” said Bennin quickly.

Maurus turned on his heel.

“No!” cried Chase, stepping forward.

Bennin barked out a laugh and called Maurus back to his side. “You're right. This is too much fun to have it end so quickly. And besides, I have another new toy to try out when this one grows tiresome.”

A chiming sound came from somewhere. Bennin glanced at the comm panel and frowned, pressing a finger to the screen. “Saleh, this is true? When did we receive word?” he asked. A soft voice came from the panel, saying something that Chase couldn't understand. Bennin stood and placed his napkin on the table, still talking to the console. “Interesting. No, I was about to step out for a minute to check on a misplaced munitions shipment one of my men came across. Well, he's the one who wants the meeting. He can wait.”

Bennin headed toward the door, saying something to his henchmen in their coarse language. He looked over his shoulder at Chase.

“Don't go anywhere,” he said with a scary grin, and left, taking two of his hulking henchmen with him. The third positioned himself beside the door.

Chase hesitated for a moment and went to Maurus's side. He glanced over his shoulder to see if the Ambessitari would try to stop him. The man didn't move, his beady eyes staring dully at the wall. Still, Chase kept the shackles on his wrists for the moment so he could speak to Maurus without any unnecessary interference.

“Let's go,” he whispered. “I, um, I command you to come with me.”

Blood still trickled from Maurus's nose, cutting a fresh course through the brick-colored splash already drying on his chin. His eyes rolled around in their sockets, though the rest of him remained stock-still. Chase had no idea what he was trying to communicate, but guessed that
That's not going to work
was at least part of it. He examined the collar, which bit deeply into the skin around Maurus's neck, all smooth, thick metal but for one tiny hole on the side of the band.

“Get away from him,” came the henchman's growl from the doorway.

“Do you really think we're going to escape?” snapped Chase, showing his shackled hands.

Maurus stared at him helplessly, and guilt rushed over Chase for abandoning him in the alley. He'd thought that maybe the Lyolian would be locked up here, trapped somewhere that Chase could break into, like on the
Kuyddestor
. This collar was much worse than he'd expected.

“Mina and Parker have my sister,” he whispered. “We found her, and Parker's guardian is coming to get them. We also saw…” He looked down, regretting what he had to say next. “There's this guy with tattoos all over his face—we saw him last time in the port. He's the one who had your case. He brought it to Dornan while we were there.”

Through his broken nose, Maurus's breathing grew fast and slushy.

“She destroyed the disks inside. They're gone.”

Maurus made a choking noise, and tiny drops of fresh blood spattered from his nose. His eyes rolled up to the ceiling, and his skin grew ashen.

“Can you let him sit down?” Chase asked the henchman. He tried to push Maurus toward Bennin's chair with his shoulder, but Maurus's muscles locked up, and although it looked like he was close to passing out, he remained standing where Bennin had left him.

The door opened and Chase turned, preparing to confront Rezer Bennin and insist that he release Maurus.

Instead, Asa Kaplan walked through the door. Exhilaration passed through Chase in a rush and he began to smile, but his mouth froze at the look of intense fury on Asa's face as he stalked into the room. He turned back toward the door, where a slender, maroon-haired woman batted her eyelashes.

“He'll be back shortly, if you could just wait here a minute,” she said in a silky voice, closing the door.

Chase stared at Asa's back for a moment, relief at his arrival mingled with dread at how angry he looked. But if Asa was here, that meant the others were safe, and he'd come to help Chase and Maurus escape. Chase glanced at the henchman, who still watched him but ignored Asa entirely, and turned sideways so that the guard couldn't see his mouth. “Help me get this collar off him,” he whispered in as low a voice as he could manage. “I can't figure out how to open it.”

Asa turned around and shook his head slowly. The anger in his hard blue eyes was unsettling. Was he really that mad that Chase had left against his wishes?

Beads of sweat were forming at Chase's temples. “I'm not leaving him. Parker said you'd help—”

Asa crossed the room in two long strides to stand directly beside Chase. “Shut up,” he hissed. “Tell me where they went.”

“Who?” A cold bolt of fear shot through Chase, and his voice faltered. “Parker, my sister … they're with you, right?”

Asa shook his head, just a tiny, deliberate tilt.

Chase's heart began to race. “Why not?” he whispered. “You were supposed to get them at the—”

“They weren't there,” Asa said through gritted teeth.

“What?” All the blood drained from Chase's head, and he started to feel dizzy. “Then what are you doing here?”

Instead of answering, Asa whirled away and stepped toward the door. A second later, it opened and Rezer Bennin walked back in with his henchmen. A smile curled across his face.

“Jonah Masters, my old comrade,” Bennin purred. “What a pleasure!”

Chase opened his mouth, about to ask Bennin to take off the collar, but confusion stopped the words from coming out. They knew each other? Who was Jonah Masters?

Asa gestured back at Maurus. “I see you're enjoying your new playthings.”

“I did wait an eternity for them to arrive, but the collar is delightful.”

Asa nodded, his face cool and unreadable. “If I'm not mistaken, you've got a rather high-profile guest here today.”

Bennin gazed at Maurus for an uncomfortably long time. “Just settling a debt. Was there a particular reason for your visit, Jonah?” he asked, his voice light.

“Bennin, you're one of my best customers. I just wanted to ensure personally that you were satisfied with this latest delivery.”

Chase looked back and forth between the two men, trying to make sense of their conversation. The collar choking Maurus had come from Asa? Did he and Bennin work together? Why was Bennin calling him by a different name? In another corner of his mind, a greater worry was gathering like a thunderstorm: Where were Parker, Mina, and his sister? Chase looked to Maurus, desperate for an ally, but the Lyolian was still locked in place, his dark eyes reflecting the turmoil that Chase himself felt.

“I'm more than satisfied,” Bennin answered. “These items were well worth the wait. In fact, I was about to try out the particle disperser next. Would you like to stick around for the demonstration?”

Particle disperser?
Where had Chase heard this term before? Something to do with teleportation—wasn't this the illegal vaporizing weapon that Mina had told him about?

“Indeed I would,” said Asa. “What were you planning to use it on?”

Bennin tilted his head with a sarcastic laugh. “Not what. Whom. I didn't spend all that money on a particle disperser to use it for clearing shrubs.”

Asa gave him a tight smile. “On whom, then?”

Chase knew what the answer was going to be, but his heart burst into a sprint when Rezer Bennin pointed across the room and calmly said, “As a warning to all who would try to swindle me, I'm going to disperse the Lyolian.”

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Disperse
. This was the word that Colonel Dornan had used to describe what had happened to Chase. This had to be the same kind of weapon that had been used on him and his parents.