Part 4 (1/2)
Hanc.o.c.k hauled out a flightpack. He led them several meters away from the lifecraft and tossed the bag to the ground.
”You're leaving us here?” the sa'aloh asked, a hint of panic in her voice.
Hanc.o.c.k nodded. ”You and the Rep will be the only two sentient lifeforms on the planet. No one ever comes here, Leith. It's under Arreisan protection. Every pirate, every rogue, every starman and starwoman knows better than to p.i.s.s off the Arreisans. They'd restrict access to Trader World in a nanosecond and no one wants that. So everyone leaves Paradise alone.”
J'Qhir felt her disappointment and anxiety. If no one dared to defy the Arreisans and visit this planet, then they were as good as dead. It must be true or Hanc.o.c.k would not chance leaving them here at all.
”How do you intend to explain our disappearance? The Commander will have an entire government looking for him. Dad knows enough people on the Galactic Alliance Board to get them involved.”
Hanc.o.c.k smiled chillingly. ”After the Rep notified his s.h.i.+p the cargo was ready for transfer, another s.h.i.+p was stolen out of the port, and a message was sent to the Zi wars.h.i.+p that the transfer had been delayed indefinitely. You see, Rep, I've been recording our meetings for a long time, preparing for this day. When you and Cameron spoke your primitive language, excluding me from the conversation, you made it so much easier for me. I had to ask Cameron to teach me so I could understand what you were saying and carefully cull the message from all those hours of recordings. At that time, my plans included your immediate demise, but things change.”
J'Qhir clenched his jaw. The Zi communications system was not state-of-the-art. They simply could not afford the latest equipment in all areas and communications was not deemed an immediate need. The crackling static of the old and worn out system would hide any signs that the message was cut-and-spliced from other recordings.
”When we return to Arreis, the s.h.i.+p will release a statement, in the Rep's own words, that he has renounced the Zi government and taken a human, Leith McClure, as hostage. Demands to be given later. Of course, another statement will never be released. The stolen s.h.i.+p will fly straight into a sun, to vaporize without a trace.” He glanced back to make sure that Phillips was still out of earshot, then lowered his voice. ”We're supposed to rendezvous with the lifecraft in a few hours, but I think we'l find the s.h.i.+p malfunctioned and poor Wiley crashed and burned with it. With Wiley gone there'l be larger shares for the rest of us and fewer witnesses.”
”No one will believe any of that!” the sa'aloh snapped angrily. ”You really have lost your mind, haven't you, Steve? The Zi government will never believe their top gun has gone rogue. Dad certainly won't believe it. He knows the Commander.”
”It doesn't matter, Leith. The situation will cause so much confusion and accusation that by the time both sides, the Zi government and the Galactic Alliance, come to some kind of agreement, the trail will be cold. There will be no follow-up statement, no trace of either of you, and everyone concerned will a.s.sume you died in an unfortunate accident.” Hanc.o.c.k shook his head sadly, but the smug smile remained on his lips. ”I'l be by Cameron and Catherine's side the whole time, grieving with them, consoling them. I'l even express guilt because I was right there and should have seen it coming. I should have sensed what the Rep was up to.”
Hanc.o.c.k broke into laughter as he called to Phillips and waited for him to key the lock open on the sa'aloh's cuffs. She rubbed her wrists vigorously. ”It won't work. How can you explain the fourteen-hour delay in reporting my disappearance?”
Steve sighed in exasperation. ”You really don't have the mental capacity for intrigue, do you? I'l tell the GPs you and the Rep were gone when I came back from repairing a malfunctioning skid. You left a message-which, by the way, I thoughtlessly erased-saying you and the Commander were going out for a while. Of course, I'l tell the GPs how well you two were getting along and wink suggestively when I say it. So I went to bed, and when you were still gone after I woke up hours later, I went looking for you. But Arreis is a huge place and filled with so many people, I couldn't find anyone who had seen you.”
J'Qhir nodded thoughtfully. ”How will you explain the sss.h.i.+p'sss disssappearance for fourteen hoursss?”
Steve frowned. ”I won't. According to the s.p.a.ceport log, the s.h.i.+p never left Bay 3.”
”It can't work,” she protested with less conviction.
”Well, let's find out, shall we?” Steve nodded again and trained his Blaser on J'Qhir. Phillips keyed the lock open while both held their weapons at the ready. ”By the way, I tossed a few things in the flightpack. There are enough protein packs for a few days plus a few other things that might or might not be useful.”
”Steve, this is insane,” she called out as they watched the two men step backward toward the lifecraft. ”What is the point?”
”Wealth, power, revenge. I have a dozen Zi jewels which will be a fortune on the market, as well as the crysium, another fortune. With you out of the way and Cameron's illness, McClure s.h.i.+pping is as good as mine. I've been trying to convince Cameron to expand, but he won't listen. He insists on staying strictly Earth-based. And revenge? I told you you'd be sorry for turning me down, didn't I?”
”And the Commander? You could have easily sold him the cargo at an inflated price and kept the difference. Dad never would have found out.”
Hanc.o.c.k shrugged. ”I just don't like Reps. Good-bye, Leith. Who knows? You two might manage to survive, after all.”
J'Qhir watched as the two men jumped into the lifecraft then s.h.i.+fted his gaze to the sa'aloh. Her round eyes were incredibly large as the doors lowered and sealed.
”Steve! Steve!” Before J'Qhir could stop her, she took flight, darting across the clearing toward the lifecraft. J'Qhir ran after her, giving in to the searing pain with each limping stride. The foolish sa'aloh would get herself killed on the spot if the craft took off with her so near. She reached it and beat her hands against the gray metal. ”You can't leave us here! You can't! Steve, there has to be another way!”
He scooped her off the lifecraft and threw her over his good shoulder, turned, and ran as if the sandpits of the Bh'rin'gha sucked at his heels.
The sa'aloh's legs churned in front of him, and her fists battered his back. The lifecraft lifted, creating a gale that reminded him of the windy season except void of grit. The force of it drove him to his knees.
The sa'aloh dropped away from his shoulder, but he could do nothing to soften her fall. He screamed as most of his weight landed on his bad knee, twisting it. He rolled to his side and doubled up, clutching the joint with both hands. Liquid filled his eyes as flames burned a path from knee to hip.
Leith landed hard, her head snapping back against the unyielding ground. White dots sprang before her eyes. She thought she lost consciousness for a moment and dreamed the primal scream of a wild animal in the distance. When she opened her eyes, a flowing black ma.s.s obliterated the sky. She blinked and focused. Birds. A flock of birds moved across the sky in a rough V-formation. When they pa.s.sed over, she rolled to her side and groaned. Her hips ached and her head pounded incessantly. She felt along her scalp and found the b.u.mp, as big and smooth as a Zi jewel.
Bruised and battered from the jarring ride on the Commander's shoulder and their fall, she dragged herself to her feet, every muscle in her body aching. She shaded her eyes against the glare of the afternoon sun. The lifecraft was gone. Steve really had left them stranded on this empty planet. She heard the Commander take a heavy, limping step behind her and whirled to face him.
”You! Why didn't you say something, anything?” she screamed at him. ”Why didn't you threaten him? Or promise to shower him with a thousand Zi jewels? Anything, anything to buy us some time until we could find a way out.”
She didn't care how awful he looked, standing on one leg, the other bent at an odd angle. She refused to allow the expression of pain on his face to move her.
”Why don't you answer me? I'l tell you why!” She flew at him and beat on his chest as she had the side of the lifecraft, emphasizing each word. ”Because-you-have-no-excuse-”
His hands moved in tandem with hers until he caught her wrists and raised her arms in the air. Her eyes flooded with tears, making her angrier.
”You just stood there, all big and inscrutable, and didn't say a d.a.m.n word!” Tears blinding her, she b.u.t.ted up against him, struggling to pull her hands free from his unbreakable grip. ”Not a d.a.m.n word!”
She slammed into him one more time, and they toppled over, cras.h.i.+ng to the ground. She landed on top of him, and his face twisted in agony. His crested brow furrowed, his eyes squeezed shut, and his mouth drew tight, but his grip never lessened. She couldn't pull free, so she threw her body to one side. He rolled with her, and once again she found herself pinned beneath his long, heavy body, his hands holding hers above her head.
Her chest heaved with each breath, from the exertion, from his weight, from the tears that dampened her cheeks. With each breath she drew she smelled him, that unfamiliar alien scent that made her body react in a most peculiar way.
”Let me go!” she demanded hoa.r.s.ely.
”Will you-ssstop fighting me?”
”Yes. No! I don't know. Let me go and we'l find out.”
His head sank to her chest, his crest resting on her shoulder. His breath came in sharp gasps, intermittent moans escaping his throat. His hands trembled against hers. Her panic had overridden everything else, but now she realized what had happened.
”You're hurt!”
”Sssss, sa'aloh-”
”I mean, you're really hurt.”
”If you do not ssstop fighting me, I will not have the ssstrength to fend you off.”
”Well, why didn't you say something? How am I supposed to know when you just stand there and don't say anything?”
”I...ssscreamed when we fell-”
”Oh. I hit my head. I thought I'd pa.s.sed out and dreamed the sound.”
”I think I have torn a mussscle in my knee.”
”You can let me go now, Commander. I promise I won't fight you any more.”
He released her hands and slid away. Slowly, he raised his head, his crest deeply furrowed. s.h.i.+fting away from her, he fell back and held the knee at an angle. He gasped for air and closed his eyes.
Leith sat up and waited for the pounding in her head to subside. She noticed the slant of the sunlight, a thinner light than Earth's Sol emitted. It was early evening as near as she could reckon. The air stirred around her, a breeze from the mountains. It was cool, almost chilly. The Commander s.h.i.+vered.
”I'm going to see if I can find the flightpack Steve left us. Maybe there's a medkit in it.”
Ignoring the headache, she stood and scanned the area for the flightpack. She prayed Steve had been in a generous mood when he packed it and left them something useful. The tall gra.s.s swayed in the quickening breeze, and her eyes moved back and forth. She didn't see any matte black against the straw-colored gra.s.s.