Halcyon Nights (Star Sojourner Book 2) (19 page)

He winced.

”Sorry. It's my first on a human.

He managed a grin. “Should probably be your last, tag.”

“You'll be OK, soldier.” I patted his arm. “Looks like the laser already cauterized your wound.”

“It hurts like blazing hell!”

“The morphloid will kick in soon.” I glanced at the empty sky with relief. The battle hadn't reached Lisa's hiding place. “Anyway,” I told him, “pain shows that the nerves are still intact.”

“That's real encouraging,” he squeezed out.

A rebel soldier trotted toward us. She wore a white patch on her shoulder with a red cross, the same as a medic would have on Earth.

“Here comes the medic.” I stood up and waved to her, then pointed at the wounded soldier.

“Are you Jules?” he gasped. “Jules Rammis?”

“I guess my sordid reputation precedes me.”

“It's your clothes. Soldiers don't usually wear turtleneck sweaters, and you're not carrying a rifle.”

Daddy!

I'm coming, Lisa.
I started toward the ravine.

Put me down! Daddy!
she cried in my mind.
Make him put me down!

Oh my God.
Who?
I shouted the thought as I raced toward the ravine.
Who's got you, Lisa? Is it a Kubraen?

No. It's a bad man. Put me down. I kicked him, Daddy! Put me down or I'll burn you!

No, don't,
I sent. If she burned him with her mind, he might kill her.
No, I'm coming. God almighty
.
Spirit! Help her. The czar's people. They've got Lisa!

I waved frantically at an all-terrain rebel vehicle. The woman driver swung it in my direction. Her passenger, an older man with a scarf and an officer's hat, remained expressionless behind sunglasses. A gold and purple flag fluttered on a pole from one bumper. “I need help. Quick!” I shouted as I ran toward it.

It screeched to a halt. ”That's him!” I heard the driver tell her passenger.

I jumped into the back of the vehicle, stood up and held on. “That way!” I jabbed a finger toward the ravine. “They've got my daughter. Hurry up!”

“Commander?” The vehicle idled as the driver stared at her passenger.

He glanced back stiffly. “Jules, aren't you?”

“Yes,
Jules!
What the hell are you waiting for?” I shouted at the driver. “They've got my daughter! Go, goddamn you!”

She flicked me a glance and looked at the commander.

I couldn't believe it when he shook his head. He turned to me, an arm over the backrest. “Think about the situation for a minute,” he said. “If the czar took your daughter – “

“I don't care if it's a trap,” I told him. “Just go!”

Daddy!
Lisa sent.
They want you to come and get me.

I'm coming, baby. Are you still in the ravine?

I'm near the big rock.

“Are you going to help my daughter?” I shouted to the commander and grabbed his scarf'.

He yanked my hand off with surprising strength. “I intend to, but not by blundering into a czar trap. Now try to relax for a minute, and think clearly about – “

“Fuck you!” I jumped out the back of the vehicle and ran toward the ravine through a stand of trees where they couldn't follow.

“Rammis!” I heard the commander call. The vehicle swung toward me. “Get back in the jeep. We can't allow the czar to have two telepaths.”

I was beyond caring what RECOIL or the czar could allow or wanted. A plague on both their houses! Three, if you counted Spirit.

I was leaping a log when it struck. Coldness. Across my back. I hit the ground hard and rolled.
Lisa!
I cried in my mind as the sky darkened. I threw everything I had, including my tel power, into getting back on my feet. I imaged a hot ball spinning. I willed the coldness to drain from my arms and legs with the heat of a mind coil. I was on my feet and staggering toward the ravine when the crotefucker hit me again and I felt dirt in my mouth as I slammed into the ground. Then nothing.

“We have his daughter,” Carlos told Juanita, his mistress. “But we missed Rammis, thanks to that cabrón.”

“Rache?” She brushed her long red hair as she sat before the gold-filigreed mirror of the Baroque bedroom.

Carlos looked up from the small pink crystal balanced on his fingertips as he sat propped against silk pillows on the platformed bed. “That idiot Bjorn thinks Rammis is an I-DEA agent who took his daughter along on a mission to locate me and the crystal mines.”

“Is that so foolish?” Juanita asked. “If he's not I-DEA, why was he interested in the underground warehouses in Lost Vegas?” She shook her mass of thick hair, and let it fall forward against her prominent rouged cheekbones, then brushed it away from lips almost too full for her fine-boned face. “Just an entrepreneur?”

If only she knew, the puta,
Carlos thought,
and that fool, Bjorn, that the crystals have such great power to control the minds of men.
He smiled as he turned the crystal and watched it catch every facet of light in the dim room. Would she bed the officer who had discovered the source-mine to get the location for herself? Someday soon he'd board his private star cruiser and leave this frigid god-abandoned world and all his loyal army. He hated the cold stone walls of Wolf Ridge, and the bottomless stupidity of his miners. One day soon he would send them all on the Big-D, the final mega-dream Trip to Death, and retire to his villa in Mexico back on old Earth.

He watched his mistress through gauzy curtains suspended from the bed's canopy. But not yet. No, there was still work to do. He would strip the source-mine of its silver crystals and use them to control the small minds of Interstel itself. “The day Rammis went to Lost Vegas, Juanita, was the day his former wife remarried. He went there to drown his sorrows.”

“The tequila cure? And call me Johanna.”

“I talked to my contacts in Interstel to find out why the hell they're still busting my balls with agents when I send them their kickbacks every month.”

“Do they want a larger cut?”

“They know better than to ask for more.” He stared, thick brows knitted into a frown, at a velvet painting of a matador. “Unless they're under pressure from the Worlds' Government and are getting ready to invade Wolf Ridge.”

“I thought they kept your operation a secret from the government? Isn't that what you're paying them to do?

“
Si
, but you put two roaches together in a garbage pail with one secret, and pretty soon a third roach in the next garbage pail hears about it.”

“That's a dumb saying.”

Carlos' thick brows pulled together. “It was one of my mother's sayings.”

Juanita stopped brushing. “If they invade Wolf Ridge,
mio amour,
is there a seat reserved for me on your private ship?”

“If you learn to behave yourself. They told me Rammis is no agent. He was in Vegas with a full credcard and those motherless rads tried to cream it from him. If they had one brain cell for every ounce of greed – When he got away they said he was I-DEA to cover their asses.”

She gazed at him with eyes as green as emeralds. “I went to see his daughter when they brought her in. Cute kid. Blue eyes. Wonder if she looks like her father?”

Carlos felt the stir of an old jealousy in his chest. He squeezed the crystal as the sting of anger heated his cheeks. “The color of your new contact lenses goes well with your personality, Juanita.”

She smiled. “That's Johanna. I thought you'd like them.”

“So? Would blue eyes make for good fucking material?” She undid the clasp of her satin robe and let the robe fall away. Her sheer violet nightgown swirled like a cape as she turned, enhancing the natural curves of her body. She tossed the brush onto her vanity and walked to the bed. “You know how I like anglo eyes.” She threw him a kiss through gauze, then drew aside the filmy curtain.

“You are a slut, Juanita, good for nothing except fucking. My mother warned me about you.”

She kneeled on the bed and leaned forward to stare at the crystal. “
Si, caro.”
The soft curve of her breasts were luminous in the crystal's glow. “But then your mother warned you against all women except herself.” She slid a hand along his thigh.

He caught her wrist and the heavy crystal dropped into his lap and scraped his thigh. He winced. “Someday your foul mouth will be shut for good.”

“At your hands?” she whispered and nibbled on his fingers, which still clutched her wrist, then clamped down on the back of his hand with teeth.

Carlos clenched his jaw, squeezed her wrist hard as pain sharpened. He cursed when he felt desire begin.

She released him and breathed through parted lips. “My mother taught me that a real man likes his women slutty.” She slipped a leg over his thighs and sat down on them. “And that a real man finds the test of competition arousing.” She moved her hand across his groin and picked up the crystal.
Madre mia.
It weighs!” She set it on the bed beside them.

He breathed in. “You learned well at her knee, or whatever part of her anatomy you learned from.” He ran his hands up her legs and met the challenge in her eyes.

“The wisest thing my mother told me,” she said, “was that women go with the man of power, no matter the color of his eyes or the size of his jack.” She raised the crystal. “Is this for me?” She brought it to her mouth, kissed it and touched it with her tongue.

“If you earn it.”
Not by all the demons in hell!
he thought. He took the crystal, placed it inside the drawer of the night table and closed the drawer. His lips twitched into a smile as the door's lock snapped shut. “You try to fuck this Jules,” he said quietly, “and I will have you ripped open and show you your beating heart, and find myself another
puta.”
He cupped her breast and felt the nipple through thin material.

She smiled crookedly, drew her hair back behind ears with both hands, lifting her breasts with the motion, and let the hair slide through fingers. “Where,
mio toro,
on a planet of rough-kneed women in baggy shorts and hiking boots? You like that stringy scarecrow your people captured?” She kissed him lightly, continued kissing him across his lips. “Hmmm? Where will you find a real woman?”

“Willa has a certain charm. Like a fine-boned mare. Perhaps someday – “

She scratched his face lightly with long nails and he drew her down beside him. But with your propensity for making love,
pequeña
whore,” he said, “I wouldn't have to kill you.” He slipped the nightgown off her shoulder and moved his tongue over her nipple.

She arched against him. “You'd fuck me to death?”

He ran his hand up the inside of her thighs “I would make certain…” He kissed her neck, her breast, knew a moment of disgust with his own rush of desire for her body. “I would make certain that there was no one to bed you, my fine cat.” He pressed himself between her legs and felt the wetness there. “And you would dry up like an unwatered flower.”

She laughed, drew him on top of her and kissed him, again. “When are you going to shave that off?” She yanked on his wiry beard.

He winced. “When you shave this off.” He reached down and squeezed a handful of her pubic hair.

She slapped at his hand. “You are a sadist.”

“I am what you want me to be.” He thrust slowly into her. “Goddamn, you feel good.”

She drew a breath between teeth. “You always know how to end an argument.” She rubbed her hands over his strong arms, his shoulders. “Oh,
Carlitto, mia picador!
”

He cursed as she dug nails into his back. “How come you develop a Spanish accent when we're in bed?” he whispered. “Wait. Wait! Don't move so fast.” ””It's the language of love,
torero
.”

“You go through the whole goddamn bullfight when we fuck!” He grasped her buttocks, moved deeper into her and felt the beginning of orgasm. “Goddamn! Don't talk now.”

”Oh,
mia
matador!” She clung to him and pushed back. “You could never be so cruel as to leave me unloved.”

He drew in a breath as she lifted her legs around him. “Try me!” he gasped as he rolled on top of her and moved faster.

They climaxed together.

Carlos smoked a Puritan bar while they lay on sweaty sheets. “Do you love me because I am a powerful man?”

“Because you're a big man.”

“How do you deal with a man who can influence your mind? I must find out the radius of his telepathy.”

“Are we talking about Jules Rammis?”

“First he told Bjorn he was coming here to join the environmentalists. That's why he took his daughter with him, to give her a better life. When Bjorn didn't believe him, he said he was I-DEA and wanted to cut that fool in on a deal.”

“I-DEA? But you said – “

“Bjorn was going to turn him and his kid over to the dons back on Lost Vegas. He would have said anything under the circumstances.”

“Carlos, you told me yourself his father-in-law is a former W-CIA agent. That sort of coincidence sounds unlikely.”

“Still, it has to be.” He rolled over to face her and held the lit bar away. “Rammis told Bjorn something,” he said intimately, as though he didn't want anyone else to hear.

She touched his lips and frowned. “You look troubled. Tell me about it.”

He took her perfumed hand and kissed the fingers. “He told Bjorn he was really sent here to negotiate with a silver being.”

“A silver being?” She lifted off the pillow. Her iridescent eyes caught light as they widened. “I've heard rumors from the miners that the crystals are organic.”

“What are you doing talking to my miners?”

“Just
talking,
Carlos. I am not interested in rough men with dirty, cracked hands who spend their days working in mines.

For once, he believed her. “
Si.
” He sighed. “I have also heard these rumors. The miners are afraid to go into the silver streams. They say the streams are alive and the mines are haunted.”

She laid back. “This is a demon planet, Carlos. I will be happy when we leave it.” She did him a look.

He kept his face expressionless.
Then you will never be happy again,
he thought,
and
inhaled, drawing the healing smoke deep into his lungs where it targeted abnormal cells and began to destroy them.

She propped herself over him on elbows. “How could Rammis possibly know about the crystal mines? No one has gotten off-planet with that information. Have they, Carlos?” She took the bar from his fingers, inhaled and gave it back. “Have they?”

He ran a finger over her lips. “We killed the last
stupido
who tried it a few days ago at the module's landing site. And no one has access to my personal sat-link. But stupidity seems to be the norm among my people, and one of the great masters of it, Master Bjorn, told Rammis about the mines. Rammis didn't even have to ask!” He sighed disgustedly and laid back. Were Rammis and the alien already implanting subliminal commands in mega-dream systems? he wondered. “You see now why I don't use the dream crystals?”

She smiled and took his Puritan bar, puffed it and didn't give it back.

He reached for the pack of bars on the nightstand and shook out another one. “Rammis claimed the only way to communicate with this creature is through a tel-link. He told Bjorn he could keep the being happy and productive. He means to stay on Halcyon, Juanita.” He lit the bar but forgot to inhale. “That's why he kidnapped his daughter and took her along. By the way, the kid is also a tel. Interesting, no?”

She blew smoke. “Promising, too.”

“When my warriors went into the Kubraen village looking for him and his kid, he gave himself up to protect her. At least that's what they said.” He stared at the ceiling and inhaled. “I cannot believe this man would purposely bring his daughter into a bad situation. I think this silver being wants something that only a telepath can supply.” He rolled his head to stare at her, took a lock of her hair between fingers and felt its silky texture. “I have given this a lot of thought. I think Rammis was summoned here by this alien creature.”

“But if he gave himself up, why isn't he – “

“He used telepathy at the Kubraen village and all my fine young warriors got back into their mantas and left, like a pack of sheep!” He blew out a long breath of smoke. “That's some very powerful shit that
hombre
has got inside his head. If I can deal with this silver being through Rammis, perhaps I can convince this alien to supply me with all the crystals I can use.” Carlos stared at his image in the ceiling mirror. “I would be remembered as the most powerful man who ever lived, Juanita. More powerful than the president of all the worlds!”

She smiled down at him. “And I would be remembered as your First Lady. But first you must catch Rammis.”

Not my first lady and not my last one.
“With his daughter here at Wolf Ridge, I think the
hombre
will walk into my trap. In time I could run I-DEA, and get those bloodsuckers at Interstel off my back.” He sat up, rested arms on knees and stared at the undilated window which projected a holo of stars. “I-DEA is only the beginning.”

“Interstel itself?” She sat beside him and stroked the bulging muscles of his arm. “Call me Juanita if you like,” she said absently.

Carlos felt a deep sense of satisfaction and power that smoothed the ripples of fear over his ambitious plan. “First I convince Rammis to get me in touch with this alien through his telepathy. Then I find out what the creature wants in return for his crystals. Every animal that lives has desires.”

She rested her head on his shoulder. “Did your mother teach you that?”

”My mother. My mother was an alc-soaked
puta.
I grew up on the streets. I learned it for myself.”

“I grew up pampered. You learn a lot both ways.”

“We use Rammis' subliminals to convince RECOIL to lay down their weapons and go back to being whatever the hell they were before RECOIL. If Rammis fails, I bring in more mercenaries and we bury this goddamn revolution once and for all.” He ground out the bar in an ashtray.

“What if Rammis doesn't agree to act as interpreter for you? After all, he went straight to Willa Carson after he landed.”