Page 17 of Chased By the Alien Mercenary
“You’re making a mistake,”Aramon drawled inside my head. Since he had Evie to speak with telepathically, his ability to project full sentences and words, rather than feelings, had greatly improved. He was stronger because of the doubling, too; the path between us had burned wide open when, in his greatest hour of need, I’d abandoned my own body to give him strength. It was an illegal practice on any Asrai world, with great risk for both parties, but I’d done it willingly. Now, for the first time, I was not so pleased by the results.
“Mistake?”I growled at him. He was wrong, this was necessary, and it was possibly our only chance. If they had not deleted this data yet, it was our first shot at getting to Jalima in years. We couldn’t miss it. Not for anything. Though it was incredibly difficult not to agree with him at least in part. Lyra was safe in that cave, and she was smart, she wouldn’t do anything as foolhardy as follow me to the mansion and put herself at risk.“We’ve worked for this for years. I’m not gonna let this chance slip by. I can do this. I’ve been in and out of that stupid mansion five times by now.”
Though the computer I needed was deep inside the building, on the upper floor and guarded by a dozen security measures—I’d been uneasy about this task from the start. Even with my brothers to guard my back, plugging into the computer would leave me exposed. They should have asked Mitnick to do it, but the hacker was not as versed in navigational data as I was. Now I had no one to guard me at all; I would be wholly vulnerable once plugged in.
“That’s not the same, and you know it, fool,”Aramon said with nothing of his usual good humor. Normally, anything could amuse my twin, especially if it involved breaking and enteringor wrecking stuff. But he was uncharacteristically serious and upset with my decision.“Your mate is more important than this. What happens to her if you die? Did you think about that?”And then he threw the hardest punch of all, a low blow I didn’t see coming but should have.“Do you want her to be alone the rest of her life?”
In answer, all I could give him was furious rage, the pain I felt at those words. That wasn’t fair; he knew how much I feared being alone, how hard that was on me. To picture Lyra suffering that kind of fate? It was the worst thing I could possibly imagine, and it almost halted me in my tracks. But vengeance for what I’d suffered, against the bastard who had crippled my life, stolen my family, and given me this burning rage...it weighed so heavily, too.
With a muffled groan, I took another step, and then I was gliding through the shadows, my mind made up. Aramon snarled this time, enraged and frustrated but helpless to act. He was up there, between the stars aboard the Varakartoom, imprisoned by the Aderians’ endless bureaucracy. There was nothing he could do to stop me, and, concluding that, he fell silent—but he did not leave my mind. He watched silently through my eyes as I scaled the wall and slipped through the shadows behind one of the mansion’s outbuildings. It was probably a guardhouse, followed by a winery for the autumn harvest.
Aderian wine was fabled, though I’d always thought it tasted too sweet. Even a mansion like this, located on prime land, would want to take advantage of the sunny mountainsides to grow the fruit that went into this drink. Jalima might only reside at this property on rare occasions, but he’d want it to be profitable. Wine was a sure way to make that happen. Now I was wonderingif Lyra liked the stuff, and if I should bring back a bottle for her. Would she be a fun drunk, or grumpy when she had too much?
Hissing at the sound of Aramon’s amusement in the back of my mind, I refocused on the mission. My twin did not think I should call this a mission—he called it a fool’s errand—but I did not want to believe that. I’d already killed a dozen guards over the past two days. They had been forced to bring in more reinforcements from the ship the Xurtal male had arrived in. That made it easier to steal a shuttle or a land vehicle from there for later tonight, but for now, that did mean the number of guards was undiminished.
Still, I knew the way—I’d scouted it before—and the Xurtal had not thought to put more guards at the door to the office I needed. At least, if Mitnick’s information was still good, and I had to believe that it was. I scaled a wall when the guards had just turned the corner, then climbed through a second-floor window that opened when I wedged a knife between the sill and the frame. The windows on the third floor all had metal hatches, but they had not bothered with the second floor, and that was their mistake.
I ran into a Ulinial servant coming out of a bedroom, but she had her back to me and didn’t see me when I ducked behind a shiny black cabinet for cover. Her long braid was wrapped around her waist, beads of wood clicking together as she walked. I vaguely recalled her scent from back when Lyra and I had been imprisoned in a cell below the mansion. She’d left the lights on for my mate, at least, I think she might have done that on purpose.
When she headed up the stairs I needed, with silent feet, I followed her, curious to see what she was doing. She should not be up here—not at this late hour—but no doubt the upper floor did need cleaning, so she would have access. Was this the break I needed to get through the security? Ulinial were observant, often uncannily so, but they were also pacifists, simply not wired to fight or rebel. Like humans, that made them universally at risk of enslavement; and unlike humans, they no longer had a homeworld. They traveled in colonies through the Quadrant aboard outdated ships, hoping to stay under the radar and avoid capture by the unscrupulous. This female had obviously failed to stay free, as evidenced by the collar around her neck.
So, when she walked right to the security panel and disabled the alarms for the office, that caught me by surprise. Why would she do that? She still had not looked over her shoulder and noticed me. Her pace was confident and precise, as if she had walked this way many times before. She clearly knew the codes by heart, and when she ducked into the office and pulled out a duster, it was as if she was just out to do her job. I did not believe that for a minute, and Aramon agreed with me. “She’s up to no good, but it might be the right kind of no good.”
Yes, maybe she was more aware of my presence than she let on, but she should not know why I was here. She had no reason to guide me to my prize—unless, perhaps, to trap me… Suspicious, I did not enter the office behind her, but waited in the shadows until she was done. She left after at least twenty minutes of endless waiting, but I was patient this time, stalking, hunting, rather than charging. I could do that when I put my mind to it, though Aramon’s impatience was wearing on me. He would not have had the restraint to stand in the dark while she didwhatever it was she was doing inside that room. He would have peeked.
“Fuck yeah,”he said.“And that would have been a mistake.”If I was already making one mistake, I wasn’t going to risk another. On that, the two of us were united, and it made waiting easier. The female left eventually, hurrying from the room and down the hall in the other direction without her duster, I noted. She left the door ajar, but I was not sure if that was on purpose or if something had spooked her. When no guards came charging up the stairs and no alarms started blaring, I knew I could not let this chance slip me by.
The office was big, with a large bank of windows looking out over the paved courtyard three stories below. A massive desk sat front and center, and bookshelves lined the walls—filled with actual physical tomes, old and leather-bound, with golden letters in many different alien scripts along their spines. They were pretty, but they weren’t why I was here. I wasn’t much of a reader anyway; I didn’t have the patience to sit still that long, though it had always seemed like it could be a pleasant diversion.
The computer I needed sat front and center at the desk, but I didn’t rush for it, worried it might be trapped with some kind of alarm. It would certainly be locked with passwords and other protections, and without Mitnick to aid me in circumventing those… I had no clue how long this would take.
Slowly rounding the desk, I was, however, confronted with an unlocked computer and data scrolling across the screen. No password was needed, and the duster lay right beside the controls, pristine and unused. So, the female had come in to do her own bit of snooping, interesting. Aramon wanted me toprod at that some more, maybe check what she’d looked into, but I didn’t want to take more time than I already had. I could not sense her now, but I wondered if Lyra had woken yet and discovered that I was gone.
Time for me to get to work, and this was the part I hated most—but if I wanted Jalima’s location, there was no other option. I wanted it very badly. But I wasn’t stupid. Setting up a chair with a precariously balanced vase by the door would ensure a ruckus if someone came in. It would have to serve as a warning when I had my mind inside the machine. Then I knelt behind the desk and rummaged beneath the computer until I found the access panel. Pulling the spare cable free from the collar of my armor was the next step. The thin wire spooled in my hand, shimmering and glowing faintly. It looked delicate and ethereal as I brought it up to my head and let the tip worm its way into my nav port. Just like that, the world vanished around me, and I was caught in a tide of data: ones and zeroes, calculations upon calculations, code that made absolutely no sense to me at all.
This was not my home; this was not a nav-console where the universe expanded into endless possibilities. This was something else, and it was patently clear right then that I was perhaps the worst male for the job. They should have sent Mitnick for this, he would understand what I was seeing. My whole body grew tense with dismay, as my mind hung there, suspended in something so unknown, so unfamiliar that it felt as if I’d stepped into a nightmare.
Maybe that’s why the navigational data seemed to drift from the chaos toward me, just like that. It was the only point of data that made any kind of sense to my brain: the star configurations, the planets, and the view of the constellations from their surface.Three suns, all dim and dying, a small watery planet… I was caught up in the moment, in the familiarity of that piece of information, until Aramon prodded at my mind with a hint of urgency. “Found it? Copy it, remember that part of the job, bro?”
Copy data. I vaguely remembered that part, and like swimming to the surface of a pool of muddy water, I clawed my way back to awareness and blinked open my eyes. I had a data tab somewhere on me just for this, but my fingers felt clumsy as I patted a slender pocket on my thigh to find it. The crash of noise filtered into my brain then, shouts, voices, excitement, and the scent of violence. Instincts roaring, I yanked myself free of the computer and the cable hooked in my nav port, though my task was far from done.
Nobody was at the door, but I knew that, barely gave it a glance. I spun to the windows instead, and even as I leaned down and looked, I knew what I’d see. My mind opened wide, my heart rate speeding up as adrenaline flooded my system—a fighting rage crashing through me. Lyra. They had her.
That’s when I came to the horrifying realization that vengeance didn’t matter nearly as much to me as Lyra did. I’d made a mistake coming here, just like everyone had been telling me all along. Aramon did not gloat as he realized what had happened along with me. “Save her,” was all he said. Yeah, I would. I had to make this right.
Crashing a chair through the window felt like crashing open a window inside my mind at the same time—shattering outward. Aramon’s presence at the back of my mind was suddenly gone, but I was not alone. As if all that had held us back this time wasmy divided loyalty, she was suddenly there, rising like a star inside my mind—a beacon to guide me by, the star to which my compass now pointed. “I’mcoming, Lyra. I’ve got you.”
Chapter 16
Lyra
I should have known that he would be gone when I opened my eyes. The cynical part of me—the one that was always alone and unattached—wanted to point out that this was normal. All guys had a foot out the door, and that was fine because I was exactly the same: planning my next trip before I’d even returned from the first. But this was Solear, my quiet, untamed guy with a fear of being alone. A fear that had been baked into his bones after he’d spent hours, days, perhaps even a week under rubble and fire as a young boy.
There was only a little food left after we’d eaten in between the several rounds of utterly mind-blowing sex. The nightie was torn to shreds, my thighs were still a sticky mess, and I was deliciously sore. But he was gone. If I could reach out to his twin right now and find out what the hell was going on, I would, but I wasn’t quite sure which contact to call on the comm. Considering it was a stolen device, I did not want to accidentally pick the wrong one and call one of the bad guys.
Waiting again was out of the question though, I was very done with that. So I discarded the torn clothes, forewent panties altogether, and got dressed in the clothes Solear had stolen for me. The wrinkled shirt was dry and at least soft against my bra-less boobs, and I counted my lucky stars that I was small-chested and didn’t need one for support. Stomping into the boots was slightly uncomfortable; they were still not quite dry. Then I was as ready as I could be and sat down to scarf up what remained of the fruit and bread. Solear had made sure there was alwaysfood, even when he’d stalked off in a huff. Like he couldn’t help but provide for me, I couldn’t complain about that. I just wished he hadn’t gone out and done the asinine thing everyone he knew had tried to talk him out of doing. Why was getting this info on that bad guy so important? I was resolved to have answers, and I’d make him write it down or something if all else failed.
It wasn’t a very tempting thought to crawl through that narrow, still-wet passage to the surface, but if I wanted to have any idea of how he was doing, I had no choice. I tucked the comm device into the pocket of the too-large coat, wrapped one of our blankets around my shoulders and the others around my legs—hopefully to help me stay dry—and then I set out. It felt silly, like I was a caterpillar in a cocoon, struggling to crawl out and become a butterfly. If only I could fly away when I reached the surface. That’s what we needed to do, and I vaguely recalled that there was some kind of urgency about that. What had the captain said again? Damn it! I couldn’t remember. Just that we needed to hurry. But I’d been so derailed by the whole “mate” thing that I must not have stored that rather pertinent bit of info. I hoped Solear had a better idea.
