Fugitive (36 page)

   With his kiss, the fiery passion that Drusilla had somehow managed to bank down suddenly erupted into an inferno and she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, wanting nothing more than to have the whole world stop while they fulfilled their mutual desire.

   "Drusilla!" Jack's voice sounded over the comstone. "Are you all right?"

   Drusilla reluctantly tapped her own stone. "Just fine," she murmured against Manx's lips. "Manx saved me."

   "Of course he did. That was a stupid question for me to ask, wasn't it?" Jack said smugly. "Say, do you think you two could come back up through the house if Tisana lays down a few fireballs to give you some cover?"

   "Sure don't want to," Drusilla muttered. "But I guess we can."

   "Okay then, get ready to run."

   "Dwell!" Drusilla called out. "Open the door to the upstairs… now!" As Tisana's fireballs began exploding all along the tree line, Manx and Drusilla made a run for the stairs. Even with the diversion, pulse beams were hitting the walls, spraying the two lovers with bits of stone and mortar as they raced to safety.

   Unfortunately, the Nedwuts weren't completely stupid. Tisana's fireballs gave away their position and she and Jack came under fire. "We've got to move!" Jack shouted, pulling Tisana along with her as Manx and Drusilla came bursting out the front door.

   Scrambling through the underbrush, the four of them retreated further into the jungle. Drusilla's clothing was totally inadequate; branches and thorny vines ripped at her exposed skin, but she kept running, holding on to Manx's hand for dear life.

   Jack led them on a straight path for several meters and then veered to the west. "We need to meet up with Cat and Leo," she said as they paused to regroup.

   Tisana's dress was torn in several places; Drusilla had a rip in her arm that looked rather nasty. She put her thumb on the spot and held pressure, unsure if it would stop bleeding without further intervention. Manx looked a bit scuffed up compared to when Drusilla had last seen him; the dog took the opportunity to sit down, panting hard, but Jack wasn't even winded. "Nice to meet you, Manx," she said pleasantly. "I'm Jack Tshevnoe, and this is Tisana."

   "Nice to meet you too."

   "You know, you really do look a lot like Cat," she remarked. "Not as handsome, of course, but—"

   "You have to forgive her, Manx," said Tisana as she fought the urge to put a hand over Jack's mouth to shut her up. "She's like this with all the new ones."

   "You don't hear me complaining, do you?" Manx asked, shaking Jack's hand. "And yes, Cark was always better looking."

   "That's a matter of opinion," Drusilla protested.

   "You seem to have lost your accent," Jack observed. "Leo has too, but Cat's hanging onto his. It's really sexy, you know."

   "I've worked hard at losing it," Manx said, smiling at Jack. "I tried to blend in wherever I was at the time."

   "Probably wise, but I still say that Zetithian accent is really hot, though perhaps Drusilla doesn't mind."

   "Um, I'd never even
heard
the accent before Cat showed up," Drusilla said. "I like the way Manx talks just fine."

   Jack sighed. "No accounting for taste, I suppose. Hey, let's see that pistol you've got there, Manx." As he held it out, Jack let out a low whistle. "Well, would you take a look at that? It's a Nedwut pistol—about the only kind that can actually stun one of them. Most others have to be set to kill to even slow them down." Looking at Drusilla, she added, "And you said Lester gave this to you?"

   "Yes," Drusilla replied. "He said it had been confis cated from an offworlder."

   "A Baradan getting a Nedwut to give up a weapon," Jack said with a mixture of awe and disbelief. "Now that I'd like to see."

   "Speaking of Cat," Tisana said. "Shouldn't we be telling them we've got Manx?"

   "Oh, yeah, right," said Jack. Tapping her comstone, Jack whispered, "Hey Cat, we've got them both safe. Want to retreat, or keep going?"

   "We have accounted for five of them," said Cat, "and Manx got one, so there are only three of them left. We have taken their weapons, but—"

   "Wish you could have gotten that slimeball's gun, Drusilla," Jack lamented, cutting off Cat's reply. "Would have been a big help about now."

   "Sorry," Drusilla said, then added under her breath, "Not the most important thing on my mind at the time."

   "I didn't catch that," Jack prompted.

   "You heard her," Tisana said darkly. "And I'm surprised she didn't slap you upside the head when she said it."

   Jack rolled her eyes. "Oh, now, don't get all bent out of shape—"

   "Hey, I'm not the one who paid someone to tell the Nedwuts where we were," Tisana said indignantly. "I swear by all the gods there are that if any of us get killed because of this, I'm gonna fix you a potion you'll never forget!"

   "Speaking of potions, I think you need a little fuuslak juice, Tisana," Jack said. "Might make you a little less crabby."

   Manx gave Drusilla a nudge. "Are they like this all the time?"

   "Seems like it," Drusilla replied. "I'm thinking we should have just stayed in the house and let Klog handle the Nedwuts."

   Manx looked down at her arm and gasped. "You're bleeding!"

   "Like a stuck pig," Drusilla agreed. "Think we could stay here and let the others come back to us?"

   "I'd like to," said Jack as she consulted her tracking module, "but the Nedwuts are headed this way—one of them is, anyway."

   Tisana shook her head in disbelief. "You've got a
beacon
on one of them? How?"

   "Veluka did it," Jack said absently as she adjusted the settings. "Went to a lot of trouble to tag Klarkunk for me."

   "Veluka!" Tisana exclaimed. "You mean that Nerik who tried to cheat you blind?"

   "Uh-huh," Jack replied. "He owed me one."

   "And you
trusted
him?"

   "I paid him," Jack argued. "We're even now."

   While the other two were wrangling, Manx took the opportunity to cut a strip of fabric from his shirttail and began to bind up Drusilla's arm. "What am I going to do with you?" he said. "Every time you stick your nose out, you wind up getting hurt."

   "Not every time," Drusilla said, "but you do seem to spend an awful lot of time patching me up."

   "Mmhm," said Manx. "I'd prefer you stayed in one piece from now on."

   "I'll try—and Manx?"

   "Yeah?"

   "Thanks for coming home."

   Manx grinned. "Coming home? I like the sound of that."

   "Okay," said Jack, after conferring with Cat. "Cat and Leo are headed back this way, and Klarkunk, at least, is following them. I think it might be best if they were leading the hairy bastard into a trap, don't you?"

Chapter 20

JADK DONSULTED HER TRADKING MODULE AND THEN TAPPED her comstone. "Cat, you two need to pick up the pace a little. Klarkunk is gaining on you."

   "How the devil do you know that?" Tisana demanded. "Let me see that thing." To her surprise, there were three labeled dots moving on a grid. "Three of them?"

   "You didn't think I'd let Cat and Leo go down there if I didn't know exactly where they were, did you? I might know exactly where Cat is all the time just by his scent trail, but where he is in relation to Klarkunk was more important this time."

   Tisana shook her head in wonder. "I should have known. How are they tagged?"

   "Nanobots," Jack replied. "They burrow under the skin and are completely undetectable by any scan—if you believe Veluka, that is—and they're so tiny the tagged person can't feel them, either. Not sure how long they remain functional, but we'll see."

   "This means you could track Klarkunk anywhere, doesn't it?" Manx said.

   "Yeah," said Jack. "Nice thought, isn't it? If we can't get any information out of him, we can follow his big, hairy ass all over the quadrant."

   Manx leaned in to look at the viewscreen. "What's the range?"

   "Don't know that, either," Jack replied, "but it must be pretty far or Veluka couldn't have tracked them in space. 'Course, he knew where they were headed, but—"

   "How much did you have to pay for that?" Tisana asked.

   "On the legit market, it's probably worth a fortune, but—"

   "—since Veluka undoubtedly stole it, you got it cheap," Tisana finished up, shaking her head.

   "Something like that," Jack said with a grin.

   "You're completely incorrigible, you know."

   "That's why you all hang around," returned Jack. "I keep you guessing."

   "I'd settle for being kept alive," commented Drusilla. "Shouldn't we be, you know,
doing
something?"

   "Oh, yeah, right," said Jack. "Let's do this on the road, I think. Open space, easy to defend, lots of cover, etcetera."

   "You make it sound so simple," Drusilla said.

   "The best plans always are."

   Unfortunately, to get back to the road required traipsing through more of the dense jungle. This time, however, it was Manx who led the way, and the going seemed much easier to Drusilla. Her arm had finally stopped bleeding, and she had no desire to rip it open again. Somehow having Manx with her again made her feel that there was no way they could fail. Tisana's potion was already wearing off, so her libido was back to normal, and she hoped she was no longer having a detrimentally distracting effect on Manx.

***

Manx threaded his way through the jungle with ease; this was his territory and he knew it very well, better than most Baradans, and certainly better than any Nedwut. He was still having a hard time believing he'd actu ally come face-to-face with one of them and escaped. He'd begun to see them as relentless hunters, not even mortal because there always seemed to be more of them coming after him. If he could just make it through this episode, he might never have to fear that they would come hunting him again. Drusilla had told him he would be safe on Earth, and he hoped it was true, but first, he had to get there. It might be easier to believe when he saw Cark and Leccarian again. He still couldn't quite believe that they were actually alive and well. It had been so many years since he'd fought alongside them, and thus far, they'd only been moving dots on Jack's tracking module—not real men at all.

   Jack had been talking with Cark over her comstone. Manx heard his voice, and it was undoubtedly his old friend and comrade, but it still didn't seem possible. There would be many things to catch up on, and even more things to discuss with Drusilla—a thousand details to be worked out, but first, he had to earn the right to be her mate. He'd deserted her, which was one of the worst offenses a Zetithian male was capable of. He had known the circumstances warranted it, but he still felt that he'd failed her, and even saving her from the Nedwut hadn't completely absolved him of the guilt. He'd caused her pain, and even though he'd brought pain upon himself, he knew he had a long way to go to make it up to her.

   Manx looked back at Drusilla and smiled encourag ingly. She had kissed him as though she truly understood and forgave him. He hoped nothing would happen to change that.

   The sound of weapons fire in the distance brought him up short, but Jack waved him on. "That's just Cat and Leo slowing them down," she said. "They're going to head for the house, and then if they can break out from the cover of the jungle without the Nedwuts seeing them, they'll run on up the road to us. That'll give us a little time to get our ambush ready."

   "There's a place up ahead where the road curves," Manx said. "Just beyond that would be a good place to set up. There are some trees there that are easy to climb."

   Jack nodded. "Sounds great. I'm glad we've got you with us. We fiddle-farted all over this jungle trying to find this place the first time, but I don't remember a whole helluva lot about it. The jungle all looks the same to me."

   Drusilla dropped her head to hide her smile. She would have been willing to bet that Manx knew every single tree and branch even better than Jack knew her star charts. She started to brag about how he could catch birds with his bare hands and spear live fish with uncanny accuracy, but decided against it. There would be time for that later.

   The funny thing was, she'd never had a boyfriend she'd ever felt like bragging about before. Manx was so different from any of the others, and it was more than just being from another planet. She was proud of him. Somehow she knew that this was a feeling that both Jack and Tisana would understand; comparing notes would certainly be interesting. In the meantime, just being able to see him there ahead of her was comforting.

   Manx led them unerringly to the precise location he'd mentioned. He helped Drusilla climb up on a tree limb, and then stood at the base of the tree, hidden from the road by the wide trunk. Tisana and Jack took up positions on the opposite side of the road with Tisana perched in a tree and Jack waiting nearby.

   "You know, we couldn't be far from where we left the speeders," Drusilla mused. "Seems like a better idea to just go get them and then go back to pick up Cat and Leo."

   "It might be if escape was the only plan," Manx said. "I'll have to agree with Jack on this one. I'd love to know who was responsible for the destruction of my planet, and I'd like to make sure that any remaining Zetithians would be safe from them."

   Drusilla sighed. "Yeah, you're right. It's just that it seems foolhardy to sit and wait for them to come."

   "It's a lot different from what I'm used to," Manx admitted. "I never thought I'd see the day when
I'd
be trying to capture
them."

   "It does seem odd," she agreed. "Apparently Jack's never done it either."

   Drusilla was watching Jack as she consulted her tracking device. Her eyes lit up and she waved to the others, motioning for quiet.

   Cat and Leo barely made a sound as they rounded the bend in the road at a swift pace. If Drusilla hadn't been so scared, she would have enjoyed taking the time to marvel at the fluidity with which they ran. However, just as quickly as they appeared, Jack threw out a branch to get their attention and they both veered off the road in opposite directions and immediately disappeared into the jungle. Leo slipped in beside Manx and tossed a pistol to Drusilla. Suddenly, everything was as quiet as if they had never been there at all.