Safe with Me, page 26
Woods was watching wide-eyed, clasping her belly.
“How many more?” I asked, a slight pant leaving my lips.
“What the fuck, Havi—uh, five. I think. Including the pilot.”
“It was too good an opportunity to pass up.”
Blocking out my complaining back, I tipped my weight forward, crawling across the floor on my elbows. I reached out and pushed a prone body out of the way, taking its space on the other side of the doorframe.
I tried to peek out of the doorway, but all I could see from my angle was a wall. Damnit.
“What do you see, Woods? Describe it.”
She bit her lip, setting her cuffed hands on the floor so she could lean out slightly.
“Three people gathered around some kind of table. A pilot and someone else in the passenger seat.”
Five on one. Or more accurately, five versus one cuffed person and a pregnant lady. It would never work.
I cursed, making Woods’ dark eyes go even wider.
“Can you fight?” I whispered. Although pregnant, she’d gone through basic defense training like the rest of us. She could be useful in case I was overpowered.
She shook her head. “It would be hard with my belly in the way, but I can hold a blaster.”
At the mention of that word, both our heads turned to Jeffries’ unmoving body.
“Is anyone heading this way?”
She shook her head. “The engine of the ship is too loud. I don’t think they heard him groan.”
Small blessings.
I slid back to Jeffries and tugged at the blaster around his waist. I also uncovered a stick-like immobilizer, which looked synonymous with the painful groove I felt in my back.
The chrono on his wrist buzzed and I touched my cuffs to it, waiting for them to unlock.
“One of the guards locked us up, Havi,” Woods whispered, and I cursed under my breath.
With my hands still bound, I shoved the immobilizer to Woods, then took a minute to find the right grip for the blaster. God, for someone who’d had point-shot training each morning since I’d turned seventeen, it had been an awfully long time since I’d held a blaster. Almost three months to be exact.
The weight in my palms felt good. Familiar. The fact that this was the exact same army-issued weapon I’d trained with every single day was definitely a plus.
“Switch with me.”
Woods nodded, making a big loop around the doorway so her shadow wouldn’t be seen moving around.
I slid to her side, pressing my cheek flat against the wall. Ah, yes, from this angle I could certainly see who we were up against. They were dressed head to toe in black and their faces were in shadow.
Okay, I needed a plan.
Watch me, I indicated to Woods, placing two fingers in front of my eyes.
I scooted backward and pulled two prone bodies on top of me, covering my legs and torso but keeping my dominant arm free. The room was dark enough that the blaster was partially concealed near my thigh.
I set my head down on the ground, hiding in the shadows.
“Scream,” I hissed into the room.
“What?” I could hear the surprise in her voice.
“Scream and make sure they’re facing you. Duck down low when I shoot.”
Her loud shriek echoed through the small room, and then there was a flurry of boots thudding around us. They stopped where Jeffries’ prone body lay.
“What the hell? You bitch,” one of them snarled. “What did you do to the captain?”
I popped one eye open slightly.
Good, the three of them were within easy shooting distance.
“I, uh, I didn’t... He... I don’t know what...”
I raised the blaster and made three consecutive shots. An arc of blue laser bullets shot through the air, shoulder-level for all three of them. There was a muted roar as they fell.
One was out just like that but two of them writhed on the ground.
Woods leaned forward and thudded one sharply on the head. Then she set the immobilizer against the other’s neck.
I crawled out from under my makeshift cover, careful to set the bodies aside gently.
There was a river of blood running from Jeffries’ black-clothed friends, and before we could stop it, it trailed out of the room.
I pressed my cheek against the wall again.
The pilot and passenger were arguing, clearly aware something was wrong. While the blaster was as silent as it was deadly, Woods’ scream had obviously alerted them to some trouble.
“Merry? Hanks?” I watched the pilot call out. “LeMars?”
The passenger was unstrapping themself from the seat, hefting a large weapon from their side.
Fuck. It was some kind of new weapon, but if its efficacy was as good as its girth...
I got Woods’ attention again by placing two fingers in front of my eyes. She mimicked my position on the other side of the doorway.
I indicated the immobilizer in her hands with a little stabbing motion.
The footsteps were getting closer.
I counted with my fingers.
Three...two...one...
I made a stabbing motion with my hand and Woods blindly followed suit, hitting the assailant in the calf. The snap of the static was almost as loud as the shot that rang out from their large weapon.
Both of us hit the ground in a fetal position, trying to block it out, but the shot ricocheted dangerously in the metal-encased room. The echo reverberated sharply in our ears.
At the corner of my eye, I watched the assailant lose their grip on the weapon, their body flopping around with the sudden burst of immobilizing electricity running through it.
In a quick move, I hopped onto my feet and grabbed the weapon in my cuffed hands, pointing it straight at the pilot.
“No sudden moves or I’ll kill you like I did the rest.”
It was a lie; they were all still alive. Even Jeffries. But I needed this man to believe I could kill him.
He wasn’t a fighter. Not from the way his throat bobbled and his hands instantly shot in the air with a universal “don’t shoot” sign.
“I’m just a pilot,” he babbled. “Please.”
I moved the weapon a little and he whimpered.
“Turn the ship around,” I commanded. “Back to Star Two, where you picked these people up.”
“Mizra R-Refugee Camp. Yes, I can do that.”
His head whipped back and forth to watch me as he quickly keyed the coordinates into the dashboard. I watched him do it, making sure he wasn’t playing me.
The screen lit up: 48 minutes to destination.
“I collected all their weapons,” Woods said behind me, placing a range of blasters on the table.
“Good.” My gaze still didn’t move from the pilot. “Pilot, where are the spare cuffs kept on this ship?”
He turned, wide-eyed. “In the utility cupboard. B-behind you.”
I didn’t turn.
“I’ll get them,” Woods offered, moving on her bare feet.
“I’m gonna need you to cuff everyone in that room before they wake up. Can you do that for me?”
“Yeah, Havi.”
“Remove one of their chronos and tap it to the cuffs of our pilots to release them. Let them rest easy until we get back to your camp. This guy here says the name of your camp is Mizra?”
She nodded. “Yes, that’s correct.”
“Okay, we’re about forty-five minutes away now.”
Her sigh of relief reverberated through the cockpit as she walked away with cuffs hanging loosely from her hands.
“Man, I’m just a pilot,” the guy was babbling in front of me. “I didn’t know I was going to be involved in some political shit like this.”
“Bet the money was good, huh?” I asked.
His hands fisted on the navi stick. “Shoulda known it was too good.”
I watched the minutes tick by, checking in with Woods from time to time. I refused to let my guard down around the pilot. After all, his tense and jittery personality could all be an act. The moment I looked away, he might unearth his own blaster and shoot me dead. I couldn’t see one strapped to his thigh, but you never knew.
It never paid to underestimate someone.
When the dashboard blinked twenty minutes, Woods returned to my side and tapped a chrono against my cuffs. They popped open and fell to the floor. I kicked them aside, not losing my grip on the weapon.
“Woods, could you do one last thing?”
“Yeah?”
“Cuff the pilot.
“What? Why!” he blustered. “I’m cooperating.”
I gestured with the weapon. “I know. This is just to make sure you keep cooperating.”
“B-but who’s gonna pilot the ship?”
“Me, dumbass. I’m an A3 pilot. Now, stick your hands out for Woods here.”
She made quick work of the cuffs and tugged him out of the pilot seat.
“Sit in the corner,” she ordered in a surprisingly commanding voice. Then she leaned down and cuffed his skinny legs, too.
“Good job,” I praised, watching her work.
“Thanks, Havi. You weren’t so bad yourself.”
“Here, take this.” I passed the giant blaster-type thing to her. “Keep it pointed at the doorway while I prepare for landing.”
God, I missed this. The wide-open stretch of space and stars in front of me. The feel of the jelly-like silicone coating of the navi stick under my fingers. My left hand raced across the dashboard as the right gripped the stick tight, guiding the large craft as it switched from autopilot to manual landing.
It was like coming home.
The engines roared louder than ever as the small Star came into view.
“Don’t look over,” I cautioned Woods. “Stay still with the blaster pointed at the door in case any of them get free of their cuffs somehow.”
When the ship leveled out for landing, I shouted over my shoulder, “Brace yourself against the back of the chair. Put your shoulders against it. Just in case it’s a bumpy landin’.”
Tendrils of self-doubt crept up my spine as I lowered the craft, the memory of plunging headfirst into the stadium still rife in my memory. The loss of control, the helpless fear, the worry for everyone on board the craft...
I took a deep breath, trying to push that all away as I recalled my training. My fingers moved automatically, feeling the angle of the craft, adjusting it slightly, and slowly, slowly touching the soft, sandy ground.
I hadn’t realized Star Two had a desert climate. Now Woods’ airy attire made so much sense.
The buildings we flew past had been small and squat, almost like houses built out of sand. I could already imagine the heat outside before I unlocked the doors.
The camp where we landed was similarly structured, spread out in front of us like rolling bumps in the sand.
“All right,” I said, killing the engine. Woods let out a large breath. “Enough excitement for you today and the little baby. Could you go in and call the patrol on this Star? And maybe a medic for the rest. I’ll stay here in case any of them try to escape.”
She nodded, relief creasing her skin. “Thank you, Havi. I was almost convinced there was no way out.”
I ran a hand over my scalp. “Me, too, to be honest. Glad I could get y’all back here safe and sound. And I can’t wait to stick some ice on my back.”
“I’ll get you some,” she promised, pressing a button for the door and running into what looked like the camp’s admin office.
“What do you think is going to happen to me?”
I looked over at the guy, slumped forward like a little slug.
“What do you think you deserve, after kidnapping these people against their will?”
“I really didn’t do any of that. I was behind the dashboard the whole time.”
I sighed. “Then just tell the authorities that. They might go light on you.”
And then I remembered. I hadn’t hung up on Mal.
My fingers skittered to the tabs of my jacket, ripping it apart and letting it fall to the floor. My overheated skin sighed in relief.
“Fay? Mal?”
I adjusted the volume on the chrono.
A multitude of voices attacked me at once.
“Gods, Havi, you okay?”
“Are you safe?”
“What the hell happened?”
“It was like listening to some kind of action movie.”
I scrambled to keep up. “Who’s all here?”
“I’m here, baby. Are you okay? We’re tracking your chrono. Did you land safely at the camp on Star Two? Skinny and I are on the way.”
“Yes, angel. I’m fine. I had some help in securing these idiots. I don’t think they’re professionals ’cause I took them down pretty easily.”
“We’re here, too.” It was Emery’s voice. “We’re pressing charges for this with a nice, large compensation for sure. Did you say something happened to your back?”
I stretched, still holding the weapon to my front. “Yeah, they used an immobilizer on me. It’s sore but not too bad.”
“Wrong,” she said quickly. “It’s agonizing, excruciating...feels like you broke your spine. The more you blow it up, the more compensation you’ll get.”
“Honestly, Emery,” I said slowly. “I just want this to go away. I don’t care about compensation or any of that. I just want to be left alone with my wife.”
There was a second of silence then I heard Fay yell, “Can this thing go any faster?”
“You sure you’re all right, Havi?” This was Skinny’s voice. “That sounded intense. We heard so many blaster shots.”
“Yeah, yeah, they were mine. Don’t worry. No one’s dead, but we need a medic.”
There were sirens in the distance.
“The patrol is coming this way,” I said into the chrono. “You guys can keep listening until you get here if you like.”
“Yes, please.” Fay’s voice was like a blanket of calm on my body.
God, I couldn’t wait to get back to her again. Hold her in my arms. Press kisses to her lips. I couldn’t wrap my mind around the idea that I had come so close to losing it all.
“I’m sorry I missed dinner. Is the apartment still in one piece?”
I could feel her rolling her eyes. “Yes, although I’m not. I think I fell apart twenty times.”
I tried to stretch my back. “Can’t believe he got me. He was good; I wasn’t even expecting it.”
“What’s the big deal?” Emery interjected. “Why is he so hell-bent on getting you back to Earth? It wasn’t his ship you stole. He’s an employee just like you, right?”
“I think it’s a matter of pride. It’s embarrassing when your subordinates desert your command. And for twelve of us to do so at the same time... It probably drove him over the edge.”
“You sound like you agree with what he did,” Skinny said, and I could hear the censure in his voice.
“I don’t agree,” I hastened to assure him. “Even though Jeffries is a total maniac, a part of me just pities him, you know? He was a tough man who took his job damn seriously, and twelve of us abandoning our posts under his watch would have driven him crazy... Crazy enough to hire a group of thugs to fix things.”
“Havi...” Skinny warned. “Don’t sympathize with him.”
“I’m not,” I sighed. “I can’t sympathize. Because no matter how pissed off he was, he tried to take everything from me, Skinny. I had nothing before, back on Earth. Not a single person to look out for me, not a roof over my head, not someone to call my own. And I found all of that in this New World—more than I expected, and truly more than I deserved. Jeffries tried to take all of that from me, so no, I don’t think I would ever be able to give him my sympathy.”
“Havi...” Fay said my name in a barely there whisper, and I felt my heart lurch in return. God, I needed her back in my arms.
There was a series of loud knocks and the local patrol introduced themselves in a coordinated group of six. I finally lowered the weapon, feeling the strain in my arms as I did.
“They’re in there.” I motioned to the doorway. “And there’s another one here.”
I pointed to the restrained pilot on the floor. “All restrained.”
A small figure detached itself from the group of patrol officers, holding up an e-reader. “May I take your statement? Please give me a gist of what happened, starting with your name and ID. The person who called in mentioned a kidnapping.”
The officer motioned for me to have a seat, and I took her up on the offer, noticing how she was keeping a slight distance from me. People tended to do that sometimes—fear my size. If sitting would make her more comfortable, then sit I would.
I leaned back against the soft pilot’s chair, trying to take the sting out of my lower back from where Jeffries had immobilized me.
At that moment, a medic walked past in one of those hazmat suits Fay had worn on our “first date.” That sight alone brought back some warm memories.
“Hey, buddy?” I called out, and the medic turned, peering at me through the plastic helmet. “Could I get a pain patch? They used an immobilizer on my back.”
“Ask for two!” Fay yelled through the chrono.
“I would also advise two patches because of your size,” the medic agreed, reaching into his bag.
“Who is that on your chrono?” the patrol officer asked.
“My wife. She’s a medic, too.”
“Yes, and I have a recording of what happened on the ship, if you need proof that Jeffries kidnapped all these people,” Fay added.
The officer’s heavy brows rose. “That would be very helpful, ma’am.”
“We’ll be there in about thirty minutes. We were tracking the ship from the moment you called, Havi.”
“You’re still my guardian angel, angel,” I teased with genuine affection in my voice.
