Solar Storm (9 page)

A bead of sweat detached from his skin and rolled down the hollow of his spine. Without the air-cyclers of the upper decks, the place was nearing sauna heat. He tried to ignore it, reaching the corner and pausing to listen. No footsteps, but there was muttering coming from farther down the corridor. Sounded like the guy had decided on a little bit of pillaging while he looked for Rhys.
 

Kelwin moved around the corner smoothly, looking through his sights, finger on the trigger all the way. He hadn’t survived the war just to get sloppy now and buy the farm at the hands of some asshole pirates.
 

The corridor was empty. Two rooms down, a door was open and light streamed into the hallway. More muttering and the sound of things hitting the floor issued from inside. Kel shook his head and moved up to the side of the doorway.
 

The pirate was in the back of the room, to the right. Kel’s fingertip stroked the safety catch as he stepped into the doorway. “Hey, fucktard. Didn’t your mama ever teach you stealing isn’t nice?”

Chapter Eight

The
pfft-pfft
of energy bolts shattered the silence in the narrow corridor. Nerys jumped at the sound and bit her lip to stop herself crying out or doing something equally stupid, like dropping her gun. Despite her bravado in front of Kelwin earlier, she’d only ever had to use her weapon once before.
 

She worried her lip with her teeth. The darkness surrounded her in its comfortable cocoon of heat and dampness. She’d told him pirates were a problem. They were, but not on Icaria. Even the pirates were more sensible than to pull a heist on the most dangerous route in existence. It wasn’t a random attack, though. As soon as Kel had said “client”, she’d known.
 

Her father had found her.
 

Kelwin appeared at the corner, urging her on. Without a word, she pushed off and followed him. They didn’t speak; there was no need for words. Violence and death hung in the air like an expensive perfume. She turned the corner. Ahead, the light from an open door splashed across the darkened corridor in an oasis of color. Kel walked on ahead, his shoulders creeping up as he passed the door. Tension radiated from every line of his body as he turned to look at her. His expression was grim, the expression in his eyes resigned as he waited.
 

Unsure, she paused opposite the doorway. Why had he stopped?

“Take a good look, Rhys. This is the kind of man I am.” His voice was soft but tinged with sadness. “When this is done, I’d like to see you again…see where this thing between us goes. But I can’t do that unless you see who I am. What I am.”

He wanted more than a one-night stand. For a second, she focused just on that point, her heart leaping in joy. The fact that he found her interesting enough, pretty enough, the fact that he wanted to be with her when most of her own family had ditched her at the first sign of trouble with her father… Warmth spread out from the center of her chest, a fuzzy feeling she instantly clamped down on. She didn’t believe in love. Did she?

Curiosity won out. She glanced sideways. A quick look. Death looked back in the form of the guy sprawled out over the floor, a blast burn in the center of his chest. His open eyes stared sightlessly up at the ceiling. The smell of burnt flesh and leather lodged in her throat. Before tonight, she’d never seen death up close. In her father’s house, people just disappeared or “moved on”. She’d been eleven when she realized that meant permanently, and her charmed existence had become a gilded cage.

“Oh…”

“Breathe. It helps.”

Taking a deep breath—and regretting it as the smell crawled into her nostrils and took up residence—she turned back toward Kel. Her gaze traced the geometrical pattern of the flooring plates. She didn’t need to keep looking at the body. The image was indelibly marked in her memory. Slowly, she lifted her eyes to look at Kelwin.

Sadness framed his features, the expression on his face heart-wrenching. Whoever said guys didn’t wear their hearts on their sleeves didn’t know jack-shit. Kel’s heart was out there and bleeding on the deck.
 

She nodded, released the breath she was holding, then smiled at him. “Okay, that’s three down, one to go? You want to make him walk the plank, or should I?”

Walk the plank indeed. Trying to contain the sappy grin that wanted to spread over his face, Kelwin led the way up to the bridge deck and the lone remaining pirate. He had to admit, as positions went, the bridge was one of the most defensible on the ship. Technically higher ground, the only way up to it was via the two ladders at port and starboard or the hatch to the crew quarters. In the event of boarding, it was the one area of the ship that could be easily controlled with a minimal force.
 

Scouting out from the secondary access hatch on the cargo level, he trained his rifle on the balustrade above them as Rhys emerged. All it would take was for the guy to look over the side and it was game over. The skin between Kel’s shoulder blades itched, the sweat that had slicked his skin while they were below decks drying rapidly in the temperature-controlled cargo deck.
 

Feet silent on the deck-plating, Kel and Rhys moved quickly to the port ladder. Both sides were risky—once either of them set foot on the ladder, they were vulnerable to fire from above. And Kelwin had no doubt that if the pirate on the bridge saw either of them, he would shoot first and ask questions later.
 

Before Kel could signal, though, Rhys settled in by the ladder, training her rifle on the balustrade. He shot her a quick smile of approval, slid his rifle on its sling across his chest to his back and started to climb. Some of his ex-colleagues would have gone macho all the way, gun in hand, and tried to climb the ladder one-handed. Usually that way led to landing on your ass, which was not an option in front of a woman he wanted to impress.
 

His hand skimmed over the worn paint as he climbed slowly, all senses alert for any sound of discovery. Pausing for a second just below the deck, he braced himself against the ladder and swung his rifle around. He took a breath and centered himself to take the bridge.

Moving as stealthily as the Alkari he’d once fought, Kelwin climbed the last few steps and was on the bridge. The muscles in his thighs bunched, the burn of the crouch ignored as he watched the pirate through his scopes. Unaware of the red crosshairs firmly painted on his back, the guy busied himself at the navigation console.
 

“Bloody cow…encrypted lockout.”
 

Kelwin ignored the muttered cursing as he saw Rhys top the ladder out of the corner of his eye. She was stealthy but with a natural grace that fascinated him. Moving like that, she was the equal of any female soldier he’d ever seen. As she reached the top of the ladder, her trailing foot dropped a fraction and caught the top rung. The scrape of her boot across the metal rang like a rasp in the silence.
 

He froze, breath held in his chest as he watched the man across the bridge like a hawk. His finger curled around the trigger, not applying pressure but ready to.
 

Rhys mouthed
I’m sorry.

Kelwin shook his head, a slight movement as he rose to his feet and padded across the deck. The pirate looked up but didn’t turn around. Instead, he continued to punch in combination after combination to try to get around the block Rhys had erected on the main computer. Without access, the boarders would be forced to tow the
Grey Lady
with her sails furled. Which—given the size of the cargo ship—meant they were going to need some serious grunt.
 

“Where the fuck have you been? Did you find her?”

Silence stretched out for a long moment as the pirate addressed them, obviously mistaking them for one of his men returning.
 

“What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?” Stabbing at the keys a final time, he started to turn, his movements full of anger. Halfway through the turn, he caught sight of Kelwin and froze.
 

“Turn around. Slowly.” Kel kept his voice firm and commanding. No nonsense.
 

Hands rising slowly to shoulder level, the other man did as he was told. His gaze darted across the bridge, taking in the two of them in a split second before focusing on the muzzle directly in front of him. He flicked a look at Kelwin, as though assessing whether or not he had the balls to pull the trigger.
 

As soon as his brown eyes met Kelwin’s, recognition filled them. A panicked expression crossed his face, as though soiling his pants was a distinct possibility. Kel sighed—pirates weren’t what they used to be. Well, he supposed they weren’t
real
pirates.

“You’re—”

“Yeah, one of them.” Kelwin cut him off. “Soldier…killer of pirates and small children. Already had this conversation. Bored now. Who are you working for?”

Calculation filled the older man’s face as the seconds lengthened and Kelwin hadn’t shot him. His body relaxed a fraction. A small movement, but Kel caught it. The urge to pull the trigger and blow this piece of human excrement away nagged at him. No expensive trial at the citizens’ expense. He’d be doing society a favor.
 

“Well now, that depends.”

Irritation joined the ever-present anger swirling through Kel’s veins. Fury flared, his jaw clenching, and the mercenary flinched as though ready to flee.

“Depends on what? And make it good because I have a short attention span and a real itchy trigger finger.”

“Fuck it, he’s not going to talk. Let’s just ditch him and the rest of them overboard and get moving,” Rhys snapped.
 

Kel hid his surprise as she came level with him to glare at the man standing in front of them. Hands behind his head, their prisoner’s gaze flicked between them, and finally he smiled a particularly oily smile. Kel wanted to slap him silly just for that. Then gouge his eyes out for the lecherous way he was looking at Rhys.

“Oh, this is priceless. What’s the matter, duchess? You worried about lover-boy here?”

“Shut up or I’ll shoot you myself.” She surged forward, as though to press her rifle directly against the guy’s temple.
 

“Rhys!” Kel snapped her name sharply, stopping her in her tracks. The last thing he needed was her within reach of the pirate. If she got that close, the guy would disarm her and Kel would be facing a hostage situation. And it always got messy when a hostage was involved.

He nodded to the other side of the bridge. “Back off, stay out of reach.”
 

She wavered for a second, indecision and anger in her eyes. Kel kept his on the pirate. The instant he made a move toward her, the guy was squid bait. Finally she nodded and backed up, shooting a glare of malevolence at their captive.
 

He grinned and blew her a kiss. “Sorry sweetheart. Takes more balls than you’ve got. Awww, what’s the matter…no daddy to complain to anymore?”
 

The silence was so complete a pin drop would have been as deafening as it was cliché. Kel looked from one to the other.
 

“Go to hell.” Anger glittered in her eyes as she maintained her aim at the pirate.
 

But she didn’t fire, the end of her rifle doing a wild dance in the air. Kel released a sigh of relief as she dropped the aim. She wasn’t capable of cold-blooded murder. Even if he was, he didn’t want to think it of her.

“’Daddy’?” Kelwin frowned. “Why do I get the feeling I’m missing something here?”

“She didn’t tell you?” The pirate’s grin grew wider. “Duchess here is McQuaid’s daughter. And he wants her back.”

He was furious. Even without the telepathic ability of some of the farther flung inhabitants of the galaxy, Nerys could tell Kelwin was beyond angry with her after the pirate’s announcement. He didn’t move, just went still. An utter stillness that screamed
predator
and triggered every survival instinct she had. She needed to run—far and fast—to avoid the fallout of that anger. He didn’t even look at her. He didn’t need to. Instead, he kept his attention on the gap-toothed man in front of him.
 

“Is that true, R—” He paused, his shoulders creeping up as he turned away. His voice was dead when he carried on. “Of course it is. Rhys…Nerys. Where did the Devin come from?”

“It’s my mother’s name. Before she married my father.” She managed to force the words past the lump in her throat. Shit. He shouldn’t have found out. Not before she’d had time to work out how he felt about her—the real her—and their wedding ten years ago. Not before she’d had time to prepare him… Now the shit had hit the fan and, far from being as prepared as she normally was, she had no idea what to do. No idea how to make it right.

Watching his back, she worried at her lower lip. Tension radiated from him, the cut lines of his body unapproachable.
 

He moved, making her jump as he motioned sharply at the pirate. “You. Down the ladder. Move.”

His harsh tone made her heart take a nosedive. It was a barked order, pure and simple, with a note in it that said bad things would happen if he wasn’t obeyed.
 

“Kelwin?” She reached out to touch his arm as he passed her. He paused and cut her a glance. Jaw set, a tiny pulse jumped in the corner. His eyes, so warm and teasing before, were glacial and emotionless. Her hand dropped without reaching its goal as shivers wound around her spine.