Greenshift (17 page)

“Go ahead,” he said.
“I’ve been waiting to see you and Ward go at it for two days.”

David exchanged looks with Sean
to see if there was something he was missing. Sean’s expression was guarded but
he gave a little shrug.

Ward didn’t need an invitation.
He rushed David, slamming his shoulder into David’s side and forcing him
backward. But the impact hadn’t knocked him down, so Ward landed a round house
kick to David’s chest, followed by a chop to his neck with the knife edge of
his hand.

All control snapped inside of
David. He blocked two more quick jabs from Ward, then took the offensive.

The contractor might be younger
and faster, but David was pissed. He absorbed Ward’s blows not worrying about
injuries, concentrating only on punishing Ward for keeping him from Mari. David
held onto Ward’s arm, then buried his fist in Ward’s kidney.

Ward returned the favor with a
knife slash across the scorched skin on David’s back.
So much for fighting
fair.
The pain was a good focus—David spun Ward around by his trapped arm
and threw him to the ground.

Ward scrambled away and lunged
for his cender, but David was right there, forcing Ward’s arm above his head. The
static tingled through David’s body a second before a sizzling shot thudded
into the cargo container, blasting hot shrapnel across the boardwalk and barely
missing Sean and Killian. David jammed his thumb into the tendons of Ward’s
wrist. Reflexively his hand opened, dropping the cender to the concrete.

David twisted Ward’s arm and
brought it down hard over his raised knee. The appendage didn’t snap, but Ward cried
out with the pain. A flash of disbelief, then fear invaded Ward’s eyes. David seized
him by the throat with one hand, slamming him back to the concrete. Then David
was on top of him, smashing his fist into Ward’s face repeatedly.

The rumors that Armadans snapped
into a crazed berserker mode when pushed too far held a bit of truth to them. That
they could switch on aggressor genes was ludicrous, a dark parable the Embassy perpetuated
to frighten children or to give themselves a false sense of control over their
own military. The spike of adrenaline and single-minded focus David was
experiencing right now had nothing to do with the switching on of genes—it was
pure bloodlust.

The more Ward’s blood splashed
onto the concrete, the more of it David wanted. He was certain the bones in his
fingers had fractured, but not as badly as Ward’s jaw and orbital socket.

“If you don’t finish him
off, I’ll just pretend he fell.” Killian’s voice barely registered.

“David.” Sean spoke up.
“That guy’s not worth it. We have a way out of this and we need to go. For
Mari.”

Those last words stopped David’s
fist mid-swing. “Why the out, Killian?”

The contractor grinned. “Ward
liked to score points with my superiors…by running his mouth. You helped me
shut his mouth.”

The son-of-a-bitch wanted me
to do his dirty work.

David stood up. “I’m not
sure Ward will remember
falling.
”

“As badly as you beat him, I’m
not sure Ward will remember much of anything.” Killian nudged Ward’s arm
with the toe of his boot. “But, I’ll make sure he remembers it the right
way.”

“Why not finish him?”
David asked.

“He’s married to my
half-sister, and she happens to be my favorite.” Killian said the last
part in a way that left nothing open for interpretation.

“What about the other
two?” Sean inclined his chin toward the female and other male sprawled
unconscious and bleeding on the concrete.

“I had to make it look legit,”
Killian said. “But I’d suggest you leave now before one of them wakes up
and sees us talking all nice-like.”

“How legit is it going to
look if you don’t have a scratch on you?” Sean asked before spinning
around and clocking Killian in the jaw.

David thought he was going to see
Sean get his head blown off, but Killian just rubbed his jaw and said between
clenched teeth, “Guess I don’t have to worry about that now.”

“Let’s go, Sean,” David
warned.

He didn’t trust Killian in the
least, but they were wasting time. He’d face the consequences of this run-in
later he was sure, but he would take the out.

Killian kept a cender pointed
between them as David and Sean backed around the cargo container to rejoin the
main dock. Then they ran for the fast track.

We can’t catch a break.

“I guess we should have
expected someone to notice a missing fast track,” David said.

They stared at the empty section
of waterfront where they had made their impromptu docking. Nothing but the
lapping remnants of a distant ferry’s wake. Every second they lost bouncing
around here at Shiraz ripped Mari further away from him.

“We’ll have trouble
following the
Thrall
on our own at this rate,” Sean said. “The
Bard
is faster than a freighter any day, but we’re playing catch up now.
We need help, specifically their flight plan.”

“On it.” David sent a
transmission to his brother as they headed toward the industrial dock’s exit.
Thankfully, security wasn’t as tight leaving the area.

His reporter buzzed and a screen
opened across his palm. A pretty female trooper, her blonde hair twisted into
an elegant braid crowning her head, responded to David’s call.

“Captain Anlow.”
She saluted.
“Petty Officer First Class Alexa Collins, sir.”

Habit almost had him saluting
back. He didn’t recognize the young woman, but he’d been in command of an
entire warship just last year, so thousands of troopers knew his face. Talk
about another lifetime.

“Petty Officer Collins, is
Lieutenant Anlow available? This is an emergency.”

“Your brother’s on bunk
time, but I’ll notify him immediately to report for your call to the nearest
communications port.”

“Thank you.”

“May I just say quickly,
sir, that it was an honor to serve under you on the
Protector
last year.”

A lump caught in David’s throat.
He couldn’t fall into the regret of nostalgia right now. Not with Mari’s life
on the line.

“Thank you, Petty Officer,”
was all he said before ending the transmission.

“We’re drawing our share of
attention,” Sean said.

Passersby gave David and Sean a
wide berth. Both men were dirty and bruised. Sean had blood trickling down his
arm and part of his face, and a scorch mark blazed across David’s back.

“I hope we can get out of
here without running into any guards,” David said.

“Or more contractors.”

Mari didn’t have time for them to
be questioned.

“I have an idea.” Sean
veered toward the roadway abutting the berths. Before David could ask him what
the hell he was thinking Ben’s return call came through. David didn’t wait for
him to say hello.

“I need you to track a
freighter called
Thrall 7
. Dale Zapona has Mari on that ship. It just
left berth six-two-four from Shiraz.”

Ben repeated the request to Petty
Officer Collins. If Ben were bunking this close to the command center onboard
ship, it meant he was either in the process of a multiple-day briefing or
debriefing. When David was a junior officer, he hated the latter more—higher
ups calling you in for questioning at all hours, ripping you from sleep to
confirm or deny some ridiculous detail. Then he became a ship’s captain and
found it was indeed necessary to put his officers and troopers through the same
exercise, just like he was doing to poor Ben. Except David couldn’t remember a
more dire situation.

“We’re requesting their
flight plan. As soon as I get it, I’ll transmit it to you. I’m going to match
it against their route, too, just in case it’s bogus.”
Redness rimmed
Ben’s eyes, but he never gave an indication of being bothered. Not so much as a
yawn. He was a good soldier, a good brother, and probably David’s best friend.

“Thanks.”

“What else can I
do?”

Sean suddenly zipped out in front
of a transport heading their way. David thought for sure Sean would be run
over, but the driver squealed to a halt so close to him, Sean pounded on the
hood before running to confront the man inside.

“Nothing. Unless you can
send a gunship after them.” David almost wished Ben had that kind of
power, but that would be abuse of authority. Then Ben would be in as much
trouble as David was right now.

“You know I would if I
could.”

The transport driver shouted as Sean
manhandled him out of his seat.

“I have to go, Ben. I’ll be
waiting for that flight plan.”

David joined Sean at the
transport, shoving the ousted driver aside and jumping into the passenger seat.

Mari opened her mouth to scream,
but water rushed in. She inhaled and choked. Her hands batted around her in a
panic as she forced her eyes open against the pressure of the blurring liquid.

Calloused hands jostled her out
from under the running water.

“David?” He was saving
her from drowning.

She searched for his face, but
stared at a man she didn’t recognize…at first.

“Did you forget about me
already?” Carlos’ voice brought all the horrifying reality of the day
rushing back at her.

“Where are we?” She
glanced around to get her bearings. From the rancid smell, she thought it might
be a bathroom or a filthy, mildewed shower stall, but there were no walls separating
this part of the five meter square room from the rest of it. Carlos turned the
water off from a spigot sticking out of a ceramic tile wall halfway up. The
drain just below it swallowed the liquid slowly, belching some of it back. She
gagged as it brought the putrid smell up into the room.

Carlos dragged her by one arm
across the tile floor back onto a rubberized base like that in the commonway. The
unforgiving surface chafed against her bare legs. But that pain seemed small
compared to how her jaw throbbed. And her teeth felt loose. When she attempted
deeper breaths, her chest burned, so she stuck to shallow breathing—it helped
with the smell in any event.

A bunk with rumpled bedding was
fastened to one wall while a single metal chair sat in the opposite corner.

“Do I have to chain you to
that wall the whole way to Sinder Isle or are you going to do what you’re
told?” Carlos loomed over her.

She lowered her gaze, not wanting
to look at him. “I’ll do what I’m told.” She was too exhausted to do
much of anything. Besides, she would have no chance of escape if she were
shackled inside this room.

“That’s a good girl,”
he said.

She didn’t like the insinuation
in his tone.

“Stand up.”

She pushed off the floor and
tried her shaky legs, but still avoided his scrutinizing stare. She wrapped her
arms around herself, and not just to ward off the sudden chill of being soaked.

Carlos moved toward her. He pushed
her chin up to study her face. “Are those freaky eyes the first thing you
see when you look in the mirror? Chairman Zapona thinks that means your genes
are worthless. You’re no better than Lower Caste trash as far as he’s
concerned.”

She twisted away from him. The
insult stung her like a slap across the face.

Carlos reached to touch her again,
but she backed away from him.

He snorted. “You don’t have
to be shy. Your fucked up genes don’t bother me. I’ve docked my share of Lowers.
They bend over and take it just like any other woman.”

“I’m not a Lower.”

Mari attempted to put more space
between them, but realized he had backed her against the wall. Placing his
hands against the space on either side of her, he penned her in. She turned her
head to the side because she felt smothered by his chest.

He leaned down and whispered
against her neck, sending waves of nausea and fear through her stomach. “You
know, if you’re into Armadans, one is just as good as another.” He pressed
so close to her she could feel his erection through his pants. “It’ll make
the trip go faster. I won’t be as rough as Stavros will be, but I do owe you
for that kick to the balls you gave me at launch.”

Carlos jammed his hips into hers,
smashing her pelvis against the wall painfully. She tried to wedge her arms
between them to push him off, but couldn’t move.

“You’re just a tiny thing,
young too. I bet your pilot likes that. Means you’re tight.”

Mari shook, but finally looked at
Carlos with what she hoped was overwhelming defiance. “You don’t know
anything about him.”

“He was a fleet officer.
Even if I hadn’t read his official record, his arrogant bearing would have
given him away. I hated the officers when I was in the Armada, always taking
away my privileges for one infraction or another. It’s going to feel good to
take something from one of them.” Carlos sucked on her neck.

“Get away from me.” She
tried to shove him again, but he snatched her upper arms in an iron grip, then
grabbed one of her breasts so tightly it brought tears to her eyes.

She spit in his face.

He wiped the mess off with the
back of his hand slowly, then in a lightning fast motion grabbed her by the
hair and pulled tight, jerking her neck painfully to the side.

“I like your fight,”
Carlos said. “But save it for Stavros. You’ll need it with that psychopath
because no matter what I do to you, he’ll do worse.”

“That may be.”
Dale’s voice bounced around in the sparse room.
“But he’ll also want
our little blonde as pristine as possible upon delivery. Why else do you think
he wants them so young? As much debt as you have, Carlos, I’m sure you won’t
want to ruin a payday like last time. She’s not worth it. Find a Lower at a
flesh club who looks like her, then play out your revenge fantasies.”