Star Raiders (29 page)

With her arms empty of his meager warmth, a chil went through her. Shy leaned forward and kissed him. His lips felt cold and lifeless. Carter leaned over and put his fingertips to Greyson’s throat, then straightened and shook his head.

Icy pain froze Shy’s tears. “I forgive you for your lies, but I’l never forgive you for dying. Damn you!” That was the ultimate betrayal: his dying. He’d betrayed them both.

She didn’t object as Carter tugged her to her feet. “One last thing,” the man said. He pul ed his dagger and before she knew what he planned she felt a sharp prick at the nape of her neck.

“Sorry, but Greyson was right. As long as you had this thing, ASP would continue to track you.” He dropped the bloody UTD into Greyson’s limp palm.

The man’s cold attitude over Greyson’s death made Shy want to scream and rage. She wanted to shrug off his hold and drop back next to Greyson. She wanted to hold him close and stay with him forever; instead she headed toward the door, toward an empty future. She had no choice. She had to protect Rian and her crew.

At the door she paused and looked back. Across the chasm made up of lies and guilt she whispered, “I forgive you.” She couldn’t leave without having said it.

Over the objections of Commander Jonas of the ELF fleet, Chalmer entered Dempster’s fortress along with the first wave of soldiers. Money and political clout had their benefits. It had cost him dearly in both credit and favors, but he had to find Greyson and his daughter.

The fighting was intense. ELF orders were to give no quarter. Any hostiles who didn’t immediately surrender were to be eliminated.

Because Greyson’s emergency beacon had been activated, no one at ASP or ELF expected to find him alive. Though Chalmer knew more, he’d told no one of his conversation with Greyson or of his daughter. If Anna-Shyanne were stil there, he had to find a way to protect her. Favors could only carry him so far, and he feared he’d used up most of his already.

“Hold.” The squad leader raised his hand and looked at the beacon tracker.

“I’ve got the signal. This way.”

None of the other soldiers objected as Chalmer worked his way toward the front of the squad, just behind the leader. Dust and rubble fil ed the hal s. In places, the wal s had been blown out. Cold wind whistled through these openings. Broken bodies lay buried beneath rock, wooden beams and plaster. He checked each face and breathed in relief each time it wasn’t Greyson’s.

The fighting wound down; the explosions ceased. The sounds of laser fire and men screaming grew farther apart.

“Here.” The squad leader stopped in front of an open doorway. Chalmer rushed forward but was stopped before he could actual y see into the room. “Check it out,” the squad leader said, motioning a soldier forward.

Laser rifle held ready, the soldier moved cautiously into the room. Seconds later he cried, “Al clear.”

Chalmer glared until the leader released his punishing grip. They moved into the room together.

With the chimney blocked, the fire burning fitful y in the room’s hearth belched gray smoke that mingled with the lingering dust from the crumbling plaster and stone. In the center of the room, a man lay amid the rubble on his back, eyes wide and lifeless. Blackened edges surrounded the hole in his chest. A laser wound.

But this wasn’t Greyson. It was Dempster. His heart pounding, Chalmer felt air rush back into his lungs. He scanned the room and saw there, sitting against the wal , another man. An ELF soldier knelt next to him, his body blocking Chalmer’s view.

The soldier shifted and Chalmer saw him: Greyson, his son. Though Greyson was not of his blood, Chalmer had never felt the bond between them so strongly.

His brave boy. He looked so stil . He couldn’t be dead.

He rushed forward and dropped to his knees. “Greyson?” His son’s eyes opened in his pale face. “Chalmer?”

“I’m here, son. Don’t try to talk. You’re safe.”

“Sh-Shy-anne?”

Chalmer strained to hear Greyson’s ragged whisper. “Not here. No sign of her.”

“G-good. S-safe.” Greyson’s eyelids closed as he slipped back into unconsciousness.

“Move aside, sir.” The soldier pushed Chalmer out of the way and began emergency aid. “Cal the med vacs! I’m losing him!”
Chapter Nineteen

“You have a visitor.”

Greyson looked up in surprise. These were the first words the little-seen but ever-present, ever-silent guard had spoken to him, the first human voice he’d heard since he’d woken up thirty-nine days ago in this detention cel . He wasn’t even sure if his guard was human. What had happened? What was going on? Why had no one interrogated him? Questions without the possibility of answers multiplied in his head.

He remembered nothing of what had happened after Chalmer found him dying in Dempster’s fortress. How long he’d been out of it from his injuries he didn’t know.

Physical y, he felt fine. When he’d woken up his wounds were healed, so it could have been days, months or years. Before that, his last memory was of Shyanne’s face as he slipped into unconsciousness. He feared she believed him dead and he had no way of letting her know otherwise. And what had happened to Chalmer?

His captors, whoever they were—ASP, ELF or C.O.I.L.—provided for his basic bodily needs: food, water, bedding and toilet facilities. Only his mind, heart and soul remained neglected. Those were shredded beyond repair.

For the first week he’d argued, screamed and pleaded for answers until he was hoarse. No one responded. They’d left him alone. He’d sat with nothing but his thoughts, his imagination, his fear.

The cel door creaked as it opened for the first time. He rose in anticipation.

Whatever came next had to be better than the boredom of waiting, though for what he had no idea.

Light spil ed into the dimly lit cel . A man stood silhouetted in the doorway. The door shut with a clank behind him. The man flinched, then stepped forward.

“Chalmer?” Greyson let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. His foster father looked tired, his features drawn, but excitement glinted in his eyes.

“What’s going on?” Greyson demanded with a gasp of relief. If Chalmer was here, he was obviously in Earth custody. “Why haven’t I been debriefed? Is the Consortium aware of Dempster’s death? Have they forgone their plans to purge the outer worlds?” Questions spil ed out of him, but he didn’t dare voice the one he most wanted answered: Was Shyanne safe?

Agitation drove Greyson to pace the smal cel , three steps one direction, three steps back. “I’ve been going out of my mind. No one wil tel me anything. I have no idea what’s happening.” He stopped in front of Chalmer. “Tel me everything.”

“Sit. There’s much to tel .” Chalmer pushed him down on the bed and sat next to him.

“I don’t know if my cel is bugged,” Greyson cautioned in a whisper. Though, since no one would talk to him, he didn’t know what anyone expected to overhear.

He supposed he might talk in his sleep…?

“No one is listening.”

Greyson grunted in disbelief. “Why am I being held? Why wasn’t I al owed to speak with counsel? What have I been charged with?”

“During the threat of C.O.I.L. intervention, the Earth Council suspended a few civil liberties with directly related personnel. One of these rights was that of independent counsel. The ASP director represented you against about a dozen charges, most minor infractions of ASP regulations. The main complaints were against conducting an unauthorized mission that put the safety of Earth at risk…

and treason.”

Greyson groaned. Al of Shyanne’s arguments about corruption in government came back to haunt him. “I’m screwed. The director has no love for me. And that stil doesn’t explain why no one has questioned me.”

“You were debriefed while you were unconscious.”

“What? How?”

“A bit of new Consortium technology, a reward for bringing down Dempster’s operation. It reads your thoughts and memories. The technology is stil experimental, so it’s taken the council a while to decipher the readings and make their ruling. So as to not skew any additional probes if they needed to delve further, you’ve been held incommunicado.”

Greyson shuddered, glad he didn’t remember the experience. The idea that his jailors had reached into his mind and now knew his secrets, his hopes, his fears, his dreams, felt like mental rape. Shyanne’s fears of invasive government were wel founded. He shook off his anger. “What did they decide?” The grin spreading across Chalmer’s face gave Greyson a prelude to his answer. “Not guilty on al counts!”

“I find it difficult to believe they cleared me of treason.” Having served with ASP, Chalmer was wel aware of the consequences of revealing one’s UTD.

Chalmer smiled. “Wel , it was strange. When I charged the Council with making public the cause of the treason charge, as mandated by Earth law, it was mysteriously dropped.” The man’s face reflected satisfaction with his legal maneuver. “The Council might not condone your actions, but they appreciated the results enough to give you a pass—this time. And to protect their secret, ASP went along.

“Because of your success in bringing an end to the pirate problem—there was a great deal of evidence in that fortress that linked Dempster to the attacks—the current ASP director has been promoted to third assistant to the Council, with a corresponding increase in pay and social standing as wel as a decrease in his workload.” Chalmer grinned. “What he doesn’t realize yet is the position has no authority or power. He’s now just a wel -paid clerk.”

“Shouldn’t bother him much. He never real y wanted to work hard, he just liked having the title and the money.” Though Wil iams was basical y an incompetent jerk, he wasn’t an evil man and he’d helped pul Greyson’s ass out of the fire. Greyson didn’t begrudge the man his reward, such as it was, but he real y couldn’t care less what happened to his former boss; his thoughts had raced elsewhere. Final y, he could wait no longer. He had to know. “And Shyanne? What happens to her? Is she safe?”

Chalmer’s smile faded. “I don’t know.”

“I told her about you. That if she needed help she should contact you.”

“She hasn’t.”

Grayson could hear the hurt and helplessness in his foster father’s voice. He’d found his daughter only to lose her again, al without ever getting to know her.

“What was the Council’s decision concerning her?”

“They were grateful for her help in the affair. Also, they were satisfied by the certainty in your mind that she wouldn’t reveal…certain information.” Despite his assurances that the room wasn’t bugged, Greyson noticed, his foster father didn’t mention the UTDs out loud. “They honored the pardons you promised her and her people on the condition that she never enter Earth or Consortium space again.

Considering her crimes, it was the best deal she could get. But no one knows where she is. Shortly before we found you, her ship appeared and disappeared from the invasion force’s sights. Fortunately, no one fired on it.”

“The scan of my mind didn’t reveal her location?”

“From what I learned through my source on the Council, that information was buried so deep in your mind that they feared they’d do irreparable damage if they tried to access it. The technology is stil experimental, remember—on humans, at any rate. Since they were already disposed to forgiving you your trespasses, and because they had other things in mind for you, they didn’t bother.”

“Thank the stars!” Greyson rubbed at the sudden pain in his temple. For a second it felt as if he could stil feel the probe digging into him. “What about…?” He let his question trail off, because he didn’t know how to reference Carter.

His foster father seemed to guess his meaning. “Some records seem to have been destroyed. ASP said something about a glitch in the system that wiped out certain recordings, certain recordings that would do no one any good should they come to light.” His voice trailed off.

Greyson gave a sigh of relief. He would check in on his friend as soon as he could, just to make sure Carter was okay. But if the Council had spared Shyanne, it was very likely they’d ignore Carter’s participation. “As soon as I’m out of here
—
I
am
getting out of here, yes?”

Chalmer nodded.

“I’l go to Shyanne with the news.” She was his first priority. But would she even be on Uta? How would she react? Would she forgive him? Surely the Council making good on his promises would mitigate his lies and betrayal. Plus, she knew now what they’d been up against. She
had
to forgive him. She had to al ow him to get to know their son. Without her, life stretched out before him without purpose or meaning.

“There’s one other thing,” Chalmer remarked.

“What else could there be?”

“Congratulations. The Council is offering you the position of ASP director.”

“What?” Excitement coursed through him. For years he’d worked toward this goal, watched in helpless frustration as the current director’s management rendered the agency less and less effective in stopping smugglers, pirates and slavers. He’d seen good men and women die or leave the agency in disgust at such incompetent leadership. Now he could do what needed to be done. With Dempster’s organization smashed, and Wil iams out of the way, Greyson could strengthen control of Earth space and keep other criminal groups from gaining strength. More than anything, he could protect people from the threat of C.O.I.L.

intervention. Everything he’d strived for, everything he wanted was within his grasp.

Everything but the one thing he needed above al else: Shyanne. And a new realization slammed into him. He couldn’t have both.

Shy stood looking out over the ocean from the same plateau where she and Greyson had made love. A seabird wheeled high above. Its keening cal sounded like the wail of a newborn baby.

Wrapping her arms around her thickening waist, she closed her eyes to the view and inhaled. The smel of brine and sea grass flooded her lungs. Like the waves crashing against the rocky beach below, memories surged, pushing her emotions to and fro. Logic had told her she had to leave him. He was dead and Rian needed her. But now grief, guilt and a tiny grain of doubt threatened to swamp her.