Chapter Nine
The main deck was littered with webbed mercenaries, shattered glass and a few bloody body parts. Ewww. Every muscle in my body went on alert when I noticed all the bullet holes riddling the bridge, jacuzzi and wet bar. Lots of bad guys with lots of high-powered weapons, giving me the perfect opportunity to field test my new armor. Was it inappropriate to do a happy dance? Probably.
There was no sign of Bambi or the old geezer or his babes. Knowing Hothar, he would have stashed them somewhere safe. Speaking of my honey bunny, I could feel his immense satisfaction as he beat the hell out of Tad’s hired muscle. Having a mate that enjoyed his job was a prerequisite for a successful relationship. Or so Uncle Saul said.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! A deadly volley of shots punched holes in the metal awning.
“I’m gonna kill you, you motherfucking spider,” Bambi screamed.
Crap! Where was our favorite neighborhood spider? One glance at my nifty heads-up display and I found Bey ping-ponging from the communications mast to the railing to the awning on thin strands of webbing in a desperate attempt to keep from being shot.
Bang! Bang! Click. Click. About time the idiotic bartender ran out of ammo. I frowned when I noticed Bambi had a slew of weapons stuck to her web-draped body. How fast could she pry them loose?
“You’re dead. Do you hear me? Dead!” She hurled her empty pistol at Bey. It bounced harmlessly off a wall.
Should I tell her, the “spider” was a telepathic Tabor and didn’t speak English? Nah. Where was the fun in that?
The crazy bitch tugged frantically at an Uzi glued to her chest. The gun discharged. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bullets flew wildly.
“Drop the Uzi,” I mentally commanded Bambi.
Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Hot lead sprayed in every direction. “I can’t. I can’t. It’s glued to my hand and my finger is jammed on the trigger,” Bambi cried and turned toward me.
Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz.
“Duck and cover!” I shouted at Bey as slugs pinged off my armor.
“Easy for you to say.” Bey swung around the ship like a web-slinging hero on acid. Enough was enough. I threw Bambi overboard. I sure hoped she could swim with all that spider web shit stuck to her.
“Help! Help!” Bambi shrieked, thrashing around in the ocean.
Guess that was a no. I flung a lifejacket at her. “You okay, Bey?”
“My injuries are minor, but I am feeling a bit peckish. I will eat her for dinner,” Bey replied gruffly.
Peckish? Kaylee said Tabors liked using our slang words. I checked the suit’s medical scanner. Yup. Bey had a couple of small graze wounds across his back. “Ah, before you suck Bambi dry, you might want to check with Zarek first. He’ll probably want to interrogate her.”
“A valid point.”
“Why didn’t you just bite the bitch?”
“Too many mercenaries shooting at me,” Bey snapped.
“Hmmm. Then why didn’t you web ball them all?”
Bey countered, “How many cocooned mercenaries do you see?”
“A bunch.”
“I do not have an inexhaustible supply of webbing.”
“I didn’t think spiders could run out of silk.” Color me surprised.
Bey corrected me, “I am not a spider. I am Tabor.”
“Right. My bad.” Someone was in a bit of a snit. “How long will it take you to make more?”
“Not long. Hothar is pursuing the leader of this band of fools.”
“I’ll go see if he needs any help. Where’s the old guy and the other women?”
“Below deck in something called a panic room.”
“Gotcha.” The tracking scanner showed Hothar and the remaining bad guys duking it out on the helipad. Where the heck was Tad? On the infra-red screen, a figure caught my attention. Ah, there he was. The sticky-fingered thief was busy stuffing the stolen paintings inside the helicopter.
Hot Lips was outnumbered ten to one, but did that stop him? Hell no. He kicked one attacker in the stomach, sending him flying into his buddy. A little telekinetic shove and they joined Bambi in the water. I lobbed a couple of life preservers at them.
Another soldier of fortune charged Hothar with a Samurai sword. Hothar ducked the swinging blade. The mercenary next to him didn’t.
I grimaced as the sword sliced through the mercenary’s neck like it was tissue paper. Thunk! His head hit the deck and rolled across the floor.
A commando wearing a spiffy camouflage uniform tripped over it. Arms flailing, he struggled to regain his balance.
Splat! A web ball knocked him over the railing. Bey was back in the fight.
“Where did you find the armor?” Hothar chopped one mercenary in the throat, punched another and dodged a laser bolt.
I tossed the idiot shooting at my honey bunny in the ocean. “In the girl’s closet. Pretty cool, huh?”
“That armor was stolen from the Askole High Commander.”
Dang, and I was wearing it. The one thing you never wanted to do was make an Askole warrior angry. They usually ripped your head off first and asked questions later. “No worries. We’ll just take it back to Zarek’s warbird and let Sariel know it has been recovered. He might even give us a reward.”
“Doubtful. The minute you activated the suit, you triggered its tracking device.” Hothar disarmed a mercenary coming at him with a hunting knife and followed up with a palm strike to his chin. The bad guy bounced off the helicopter.
I caught him and pitched him overboard. Time to end this heist before we were neck deep in Askole warriors. I took control of the pilot’s mind. “Shut the helicopter down, take the keys and jump overboard.”
The engine died. Twenty seconds later, the pilot climbed out of the chopper and dove over the side of the ship.
Tad shrieked like a spoiled child. “Who did that? Who did that?”
I waved at him and said in my best ditzy blonde voice, “It was me. Twinkles. Psychic to the stars and mistress of manipulation.”
“Do you have a death wish Casey?” Hothar’s tone was a mixture of aggravation and anger.
“Nope. I have this awesome Askole armor to protect me.”
“Armor you do not know how to use properly.”
“A minor detail.”
“Kill that damned Coletti,” Tad shouted, pointing at Hothar. “I’ll take care of the bitch.”
Me? A bitch? I grinned. You bet your ass I was, and proud of it.
The last mercenary standing jumped on Hothar’s back and did his best to choke out my guy. At the same time, the sticky-fingered jerk pulled his laser pistol and fired.
Oh crap! Before I could even move, the red bolt hit me dead center in the chest, knocking me back a step. To my amazement instead of turning into a zillion fireflies, the armor had dissipated the energy. I was so keeping this suit.
Hothar broke the mercenary’s neck and stalked toward us.
“You stupid bitch! That’s my armor,” Tad shouted, his face red with rage.
“Finders, keepers and if you wanted it so badly, why did you shoot me?”
“To see if the suit worked. Now give it to me, you little whore.”
Now he had done gone and pissed me off. “You want it, take it from me.”
“I have a black belt in karate.” Tad, the moron, yelled as he stomped across the helipad.
What part of indestructible armor didn’t he get? “So, what? I have a level nine black belt and this awesome suit. You want to punch it, feel free.”
“Take off the armor and I’ll let you live.”
I burst out laughing. “You’re too funny. If I did that, you’d shoot my ass.”
“You have my word as a gentleman, that won’t happen.” Tad was oblivious to the fact that Hothar was standing right behind him.
I laughed harder. “A gentleman? You’re nothing but a pimp and a murderous thief.”
“The last person who defied me is buried in a shallow grave,” Tad snarled.
“Gee, is that supposed to scare me? Because I know for a fact that the only one dying is you.”
Tad snorted. “You’re going to kill me?”
“Nope. He is.” I pointed at Hothar.
Tad spun around.
Hothar punched him in the face.
There was a nasty cracking noise as Tad’s nose broke. His eyes rolled back, and he toppled over like a pole-axed steer.
“I told you to stay below deck,” Hothar grumbled.
“You also said if I found some body armor, I could help. I did, and here I am.” Prickles stormed up my back. Shit. More bad guys?
Hothar stiffened. “Wazzock’s piss.”
We were suddenly surrounded by Askole warriors. They resembled seven-foot-tall medieval knights with black-horned helmets and plated armor suits.
Where in the hell had they come from? I hadn’t seen any glittering blue transporter beams. Their ebony armor seemed to absorb the light until all I saw was their glowing yellow eyes. What an awesome effect. Did my suit do that too?”
“Do not move a muscle,” Hothar warned.
I could sense the hostility emanating from Askole warriors. “Not moving. Don’t worry, they can’t hurt me as long as I’m wearing this suit.”
“They have the ability to override the armor’s command systems.”
“Say what?” Snikt. Schlik. Schlik. Schlik. Schlik. Schlik. Within seconds my wonderful armor had retracted until there was nothing left but the belt. I flinched when a very sharp sword was suddenly pressed against my neck. There was a stinging sensation as the blade cut into me. Shit! “Don’t I get a trial?”
“You were found in possession of the armor. The punishment for theft is death,” a deep voice rumbled in my head and I could feel the warmth of my blood as it ran down my chest.
Bellowing a terrifying war cry, Hothar teleported and all hell broke loose.
The sword at my throat vanished and I was abruptly flying across the deck. I turned my forward momentum into a diving roll and somersaulted to my feet.
The Askole warriors attacking Hothar moved so fast all I could see were black blurs. Hot Lips popped in and out in a deadly dance; ducking, dodging and evading their deadly talons.
I frantically punched the red control gem on my belt, but nothing happened. They had deactivated the suit. I could feel Hothar’s power level dropping even further. This was one battle Hothar couldn’t win. The Askole warriors were lightning fast and tremendously strong.
Bey spat web ball after web ball at the Askole warriors, but every one of them missed.
Drawing on every ounce of energy I had left, I dropped my shields, and an instant before I unleashed my telekinetic shock wave, Uncle Saul roared, “Don’t do it!”
“But they’re hurting Hothar.” I fought to control the power surging through me.
“Stand down Casey. Now! The Overlord will deal with the situation,” Uncle Saul exclaimed as he mentally enforced his command.
“Yes, sir.” I quickly raised my shields.
Tremendous power roiled across the ship and Zarek commanded, “Cease fighting!”
Everyone stopped moving. They reminded me of toy soldiers frozen in mid-strike.
I looked up. Zarek, Uncle Saul and Sariel, the Askole High Commander, stood on the upper deck in full battle armor. I sagged against the wet bar in utter relief. About friggin’ time.
“Put your weapons away,” Sariel instructed.
The Askole warriors quickly obeyed.
Zarek added, “You too, Hothar.”
“They tried to kill Casey.”
“Yeah, before we even had a chance to explain we had just found the stupid armor,” I added.
“The mole deliberately created this confrontation in an attempt to shatter our alliance,” Uncle Saul said.
Horror knotted my stomach. It had almost worked too. Killing a Coletti warrior’s mate would have been considered an act of war. “How did they know we were on this ship? It wasn’t a planned stop, and we were out of contact with you and Central Command.”
“They tagged you with a tracker,” Zarek stated.
“What?” I stared down at my body. “Where is it? I’ll cut it out.”
“That will not be necessary.” Zarek tapped his warrior’s bracelet and a sharp, needle-like pain flared in my shoulder. “It has been rendered inert.”
“Thank you, sir.” I racked my brains, trying to figure out when I had been microchipped like a dog.
“To escalate the situation even further, my command center received a message from General Jones’s office stating the thief was a known operative of Earth First and was selling our armor to a Rodan representative. You activated the suit’s tracking system a short time later,” Sariel said as he walked down the stairs. He stopped in front of me. “Give me the belt.”
I quickly took it off and handed it to him. “Gotta say your armor is amazing, I took a direct hit from a laser pistol and there isn’t even a burn mark. I mean, wow.
“Be quiet Casey,” Zarek commanded.
“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”
Zarek turned to Hothar. “You have my gratitude for finding our prototype.”
“I did not locate the suit. Casey, my mate, did,” Hothar replied with a strong emphasis on the mate part.
Sariel pushed an emblem on his gauntlet. His helmet shrank away, revealing an alien nightmare. His long tentacles knotted and unknotted around his black snakelike features. “Your offspring, General, has much in common with Kaylee and Sarah.”
“They were raised together,” Uncle Saul said as he surveyed the wreckage. “You made a mess.”
“Me? Why do you always think I’m responsible for this shit? Talk to Hothar and Bey.”
A small web ball splattered over my hand, gluing it to the wet bar and Bey groused, “The mercenaries are responsible for the damage.”
I shrugged. “They did come onboard with guns blazing.”
“Bey and I simply defended the ship and its passengers,” Hothar declared.
Zarek raised a brow. “By throwing them in the water?”
“That magnetic storm drained Hothar’s powers.” My already iffy temper flared to life and I bared my teeth in a predator’s snarl. “Did you think I would stand idly by and let him get hurt?”
A faint smile touched Zarek’s mouth. “No, I did not.”
I tried to free my hand from the sticky spider silk. “Got any of Shrek’s pam spray Uncle Saul?”
“I never travel without it.”
“The spray is not necessary. It would be my honor to free you.” With one razor sharp talon, Sariel cut away the webbing. “You decided to use my armor after the battle started?”
“Yes, sir.” I rubbed at the pieces of webbing still stuck to my left hand.
Uncle Saul stuffed a chocolate bar in my right hand. “Do you know who took Sariel’s armor, Casey?”
“Paul Gabaldon, the owner of this boat, might know.” I ripped the paper off the candy bar and took a big bite. God, that hit the spot.
“Where is this Paul Gabaldon?” I didn’t like the way Sariel’s tentacles were squirming. It meant he was madder than hell, and when an Askole got angry, people died.
“He is hiding in the panic room with his females,” Hothar answered, snagging the rest of my chocolate bar.
Before I could punch him, Uncle Saul handed me another one. I shoved the entire thing in my mouth, wrapper and all.
Hothar gave me his best sad puppy dog eyes. “Mates share everything.”
“Not working.” Chocolate was the only thing standing between me and a killing spree. My uncle understood the joys of PMS. Hothar didn’t. Yet.
Sariel bared some evil-looking fangs. “Show me this panic room.”
“This way.” Hastily eating his chocolate, Hothar stepped through the shattered remains of the door. Sariel, Zarek, Bey and the Askole warriors followed him.
This should be interesting. I took one step and a strand of webbing dangling from the wet bar snagged my hand. Dang. Not again. I yanked and tugged.
“Hold on.” Uncle Saul sprayed my hand with Shrek’s famous spider pam and the webbing dissolved like magic.
“Thanks.” I started after Hothar.
Uncle Saul grabbed my arm. “Hold on a minute, young lady. I want to look at your throat. That’s a nasty cut and it’s still bleeding.” Presto! Out came his prized healing wand.
I was beginning to think he slept with it. A sigh of relief broke from me as a healing warmth bathed my neck.
“There. Good as new and what’s with the swimsuit?”
“I got kidnapped by a fake Coletti,” I muttered around the candy bar.
“I can’t understand a word you’re saying. Take that candy out of your mouth.”
I spat the candy bar out and said, “A fake Coletti kidnapped me from sick bay and this was better than wearing that see-through medical jumper.”
“Where is this “fake” Coletti?”
“Dead.” I tore the paper off the candy bar. “Bey bit him.”
“Show me the encounter,” Uncle Saul instructed.
I linked minds with my uncle and recalled the series of events; including finding the quantum logic belt and fleeing as the magnetic field destabilized.
“I told you no shenanigans,” Uncle Saul all but thundered.
Holy crap! I thought I had blocked those memories. I crammed the candy bar back in my mouth and mumbled incoherently.”
“Nice try,” Uncle Saul growled mentally.
“It was only a couple of kisses.”
A couple of kisses, my ass. Hothar had his hands all over you and you had psychic sex.”
“Uh. Kinda.”
“Kinda?” Uncle Saul did the eyebrow thing. He was hanging around Zarek way too much. “I know psychic sex when I see it.”
I duplicated the eyebrow thing. “Do tell?”
“Not funny. I’m your father and your commanding officer. I don’t have to explain myself to you. Care to justify your actions?”
Not really. “When Hothar takes my blood it’s very orgasmic.” I could feel my face getting hot.
My Uncle blew out a long breath. “I see. In the future you will only give him blood in cases of extreme emergencies.”
“It was an emergency.” I swallowed the last of the chocolate and licked my fingers clean. My psychic radar began to prickle. “Expecting company?”
“I am.”
Three Coletti warriors teleported in. Their attention immediately fixed on me.
Uncle Saul stepped in front of me. “What are you looking at?”
“Your daughter is very beautiful. She will give me many strong sons,” a powerfully built warrior proclaimed.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Do you know how to swim?”
“Enough Siv,” Uncle Saul growled. “Casey has been claimed.”
“By who?”
Hothar appeared next me and bared his fangs in warning. “Casey is mine.”
I did a double take. Bey perched on Hothar’s head like some ridiculous hat.
Siv flexed his pecs. “Does the little female know I have thirty-seven confirmed kills and I have bedded two hundred females?”
“I had more kills than that when I was twelve and if you’ve bedded that many women, you’re a man whore. Just so you know, if you two start fighting, I’m throwing both of you overboard,” I warned.
Siv started laughing. “I believe she would.”
“Casey never makes an idle threat,” Hothar grinned. They clasped forearms and pounded each other on the back.
“The entire squadron is here and eager for battle.”
“Good. We have a traitor to find, Rodan soldiers to kill and Legionnaires to hunt,” Hothar said.
I sighed. Testosterone at its finest. “How about you round up those mercenaries in the water first? They might even have intel on Earth First and the Rodan.”
“An excellent idea,” Uncle Saul said dryly. “Once you have secured them in the brig, we need to chat about the rules Hothar.”
Hothar shot me a questioning look.
“Too much touchy, feely stuff,” I said on our private link.
“You showed him?” There was a touch of shock in Hothar’s voice.
“I’m not that crazy, just tired. When I gave Uncle Saul my mental briefing on the “fake” Coletti, it kinda slipped out.”
Hothar flashed me a picture of a large rodent leaving behind an enormous pile of dung. “Zarek’s punishment for too much touchy, feely stuff is cleaning rat droppings from Tanith’s tunnels.”
“Wazzock’s poop.”
A chorus of voices screamed, “Sharks! Sharks!”
Crap. I trotted over to the railing and looked down. Three great white sharks circled the swimmers.
“What are you waiting for? Go get them,” Uncle Saul directed.
Hothar and his fellow warriors teleported. They popped in, grabbed Bambi and the mercenaries. Poof! They vanished, leaving Bey behind.
The Tabor thrashed about in the water. “I can’t swim! I can’t swim!”
“How did he fall off Hothar’s head? Is he drunk?”
“A good question,” Uncle Saul grumbled and teleported.
I watched my uncle snag Bey and vanished seconds before a great white could start chowing down. Nothing like living dangerously. Maybe the eight-legged freak would rethink his decision to ride around on people’s heads.
A few prickles climbed up my back. I turned and watched Tad get to his feet. Should I toss him overboard? He was a thief, a traitor and a murderer. Death by shark seemed appropriate.
“Do nothing until I have interrogated him,” Zarek’s stern voice commanded.
“Yes, sir.”
Tad staggered around a bit and swiped at the blood running down his face. “Fuck! My nose is broken.”
“Yep, it sure is. My honey packs quite a wallop.”
He glowered at me. “What did you do with my armor?”
His armor? “The Askole High Commander took it from me,” I answered.
“I don’t fucking believe you.” Tad pulled a derringer. “You’re no longer bulletproof bitch. Give me the suit or I’ll kill you.”
I held out my arms and did a slow circle. “Does it look like I have it?”
“No, but you know where it is. Take me to it.” Tad cocked the pistol.
“You have heard of Zarek? You know, the Overlord of the Coletti clans? He’s on this boat and if you want to live, you’ll put the gun down.”
Tad laughed. “He doesn’t scare me. Take. Me. To. The armor. Now,” Tad enunciated slowly.
Immense power spilled across the deck as the Overlord teleported in.
Tad screamed like a little girl and fired.
The bullet bounced harmlessly off Zarek’s battle suit.
“Is that the best you can do?” The quiet gentleness of Zarek’s voice was beyond terrifying.
Using my telekinesis, I yanked the gun out of Tad’s hand and caught it. One look at the tiny pistol and I rolled my eyes in disgust. “A single shot derringer isn’t the weapon to use when taking on the deadliest predator in the galaxy. You need a laser cannon and even that’s a bit iffy. If you ask nicely, Zarek might let you live.”
“You want me to beg for my life? It’ll never happen! You don’t fucking scare me. Your days as the Overlord are numbered,” Tad shouted.
Hoo boy! That was the wrong thing to say. I might have bought Tad’s macho demeanor if his voice hadn’t cracked so badly.
The Overlord’s power encircled Tad. “What do you know about Earth First?”
“Let go of me. Noooo!” Tad’s eyeballs bugged out. “Stop!”
I stepped back as he lost bladder control. A shudder shook me as I felt Zarek digging through Tad’s mind. Ugh. Was I capable of destroying a person mentally?
The Overlord’s cold amber gaze met mine. “You are.”
Shock rolled over me as I realized he was right. If it was necessary to stop the Rodan and Earth First, I wouldn’t hesitate. I was my father’s daughter.
“You are becoming Coletti,” Zarek corrected and allowed me to see his interrogation technique. He followed Tad’s memories, forcing him to recall his meeting with Earth First. A kaleidoscope of images flashed across his mind. Tad getting out of his car. Walking toward a large abandoned warehouse with way too many security cameras and sensors. A heavy-set, older man in a military uniform approaching him.
I’ll be damned. It was none other than General Malford and who was the tall, blonde woman standing in the doorway behind him? Why did she look so familiar? Nausea rose in my throat. No, it couldn’t be her. Mary Beth was a part of our family. She would never betray us like this. Damn, but it would explain so much. “Can you get him to focus on the blonde, sir?”
“I can.”
“Please stop. Please. It hurts,” Tad sobbed.
“I don’t care.” The Overlord forced him to concentrate on the blonde woman, until we had a clear picture of her.
My God, it was Mary Beth and as Uncle Saul’s administrative assistant, she had access to all our secrets. Why hadn’t I sensed her traitorous thoughts? Was she using those silver discs? Or some other kind of mental shield? Her Debbie Sunshine persona hid the heart of a stone-cold killer.
“Do you know who the woman is?” The fury in Zarek’s voice threatened my bladder control.
“She’s Mary Beth Dunson, an Earth First commander and spy,” Tad responded.
I asked hastily, “Do you know what she was doing at the warehouse?”
“Commander Dunson discovered Malford had sold the Askole suit to the old fool. She. She gut shot the general and left him to bleed out on the concrete. She offered me eighty thousand credits to retrieve it from Gabaldon,” Tad whimpered.
Zarek increased the pressure on Tad’s mind. “What else?”
“She gave me a weird looking belt to wear. She said once I had the armor to hit the yellow button and it would bring me straight to her.” The picture of a quantum logic gate belt formed in Tad’s head.
Holy Mother of God, Earth First did have the technology.
“Where is the belt,” Zarek demanded.
“Helicopter.” Tad made a gurgling moan and fell to the floor.
I eyed the brain fluid leaking from his skull. Shit! Zarek had literally broken his mind. “He should have listened to me.”
“His greed overcame his good sense,” Zarek said.
“I’ll say. Tad was planning on keeping the armor.”
Sariel zoomed up. “The old one and the females have been transported back to the ship.”
“Earth First sent a quantum logic gate with the mercenaries.” Zarek toed Tad’s body. “This one was to use it to bring them your new armor.”
A burning sensation crawled along my shoulders. I pointed at the little sparks of lightning dancing over the helicopter. “Are those charged particles?”
“They are.” Zarek tapped an icon on his warrior’s bracelet. “The magnetic field is starting to break down.”
“I say we return the belt to Mary Beth and let nature take its course.”
Sariel gave a toothy smile. “An excellent idea.”
“You think like a Coletti warrior,” Zarek said.
I smiled happily. High praise from the Overlord. Now if I only had some beer, chips and salsa, all would be right with the world. A wave of exhaustion rolled over me. A bed would be nice too. I was in serious need of a nap.