Razor's Traitorous Heart: The Alliance Book 2 (24 page)

I’m sorry, Ed. It happened so fast. Tracy
didn’t have time to get out of the way. I’m sorry, Cindy… Craig was
a good man. I’m so sorry Elaine… Todd fought hard.
How many
times had she had to say that to the men and women back home?
Dozens? Hundreds? Each one took a little piece out of her soul
until she had to force the bile back.

She reached out and grabbed the arm of one
of the men working on the bridge as he walked by. She made sure she
had her best ‘give me answers or die’ look on her face. It must
have worked because the warrior swallowed and looked nervously past
her to another male for help.

“What is going on? I’m only going to ask you
once,” she gritted out through her teeth. “Where are Razor and
Hammer?”

“I…” The warrior started to say before he
released a relieved sigh when Patch stepped onto the bridge.

“Kali, I need to speak with you,” Patch said
grimly. “I’ll take it from here.”

“Yes, sir,” the warrior replied, stepping
back and turning once Kali released his arm.

“Patch, where are Razor and Hammer?” She
asked bluntly.

Patch’s mouth tightened and he nodded toward
the Commander’s office to the left of the bridge. Kali nodded and
walked toward the room with her head held high. She would not show
how frightened she was. She needed facts, not sympathy or pity.

Once they stepped through the door and it
closed behind them, Patch stepped around her and headed for a small
bar to the side. He lifted a cup and looked at her. He grunted when
she shook her head.

Kali waited impatiently as Patch fixed
himself a hot drink. She knew what he was doing. She had done it
herself numerous times when she was trying to think of how to relay
the bad news. For her, she would rather he just spit it out. She
would deal with it afterwards.

“Just tell me,” she demanded. “Is he
dead?”

Patch’s eyebrow rose at her calm, intense
look. “No, neither one of them are dead,” he replied. “At least,
not yet.”

“What is the situation? I need complete
details,” she said, stepping toward the long table. “Start at the
beginning.”

Patch’s lips twitched before he nodded and
sat down at the table. Touching the keypad, he brought up a
hologram of the space station. With a touch, he turned it so the
section with the two red forms were facing them.

“Earlier today, Hammer and Razor took a
nondescript transport and docked it with the space station. They
were following leads trying to locate Trig and Razor’s new sister,
Jordan,” Patch said looking at the holographic map.

“Did they find her?” She asked, focusing on
the two dots and the outline of the buildings.

“We don’t know for sure. Hammer communicated
that they were follow
ing
a possible lead.
That was the last transmission we had from them,” he replied. “We
know they are alive. Both were implanted with a tracking device
before they departed.”

“So, this is where they are,” she commented,
studying the detailed image. “How do you know they are in trouble?
Besides the lack of communication,” she added. “I agree it would
seem strange for both devices to stop working at the same time
unless there was some type of electronic interference. How do you
know that they aren’t hunkered down?”

Patch’s lip curved upward. He shook his head
in amazement. This is what continued to surprise him; the way human
women looked at things like a warrior would. Chelsea had done the
same thing when the wounded started pouring in. She had divided the
most critical to the least and organized it so he and the human
doctors could care for them in the order of their injuries.

“This location is called
The Hole
. It
is where the fight rings are,” Patch explained before pointing to
the twin location of the dots. “And this, is the dungeon below it.
There is no place for them to hunker down there.”

“So, what are the plans to get them out?”
Kali asked as she enlarged the diagram.

Patch sighed, staring at the image. “Sword
wants to take a team in,” he said reluctantly. “The problem is, the
minute we send in forces, the owner of
The Hole
will more
than likely order them to be terminated.”

Kali stared at the diagram in deep thought.
She thought back to some of the strategies she and Destin had used
against Colbert and his men. Colbert was used to the methods of the
street gangs.

Understanding that, she and Destin had
decided to do the unexpected. Sometimes, they struck hard and fast,
then disappeared. Other times, they would use the street gang
approach. One thing they never wanted to be was predictable. Since
they were outnumbered, they had to keep Colbert and his men
off-balance.

“Tell me about the owner of
The
Hole
,” she murmured. “What does he like? What does he hate? I
need anything and everything you know about him.”

“Why?” Patch asked with a frown.

Kali turned and smiled at Patch. “Because he
has something I want and I am going to get it back,” she
replied.

*.*.*

“You know, if Arindoss doesn’t kill us, that
Razor will,” Sword muttered under his breath.

Kali ignored the huge Trivator security
chief. He had been arguing and bellyaching since Patch informed him
of the new plan to rescue Razor and Hammer. For the first five
minutes after listening to Kali explain their plan of attack, he
had opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water. In truth,
the poor man had been speechless that not only was Kali in charge
but that Patch had agreed.

“Razor is not going to kill us,” Kali
replied.

“Maybe I should rephrase that,” Sword
grumbled. “He is going to kill me for letting you off the
Journey
and Patch for agree
ing
to
this crazy plan.”

“It is not a crazy plan,” Kali assured him
as she rolled her eyes.

“You don’t think just walking into
The
Hole
, demanding to speak with Arindoss and telling him to
release Razor and Hammer is crazy?” Sword asked in disbelief.

“No, I think it is ingenious!” She replied
with a grin as she swerved around another merchant and his cart of
goods. “Everything I heard about Arindoss kept coming back to the
same thing, the man appreciates and respects unusual things.”

“Arindoss doesn’t appreciate or respect
anything,” Sword growled. “This is a suicide mission. You don’t
have a clue as to what you are up against or what you are doing.
I’m taking you back to the
Journey
.”

Kali twisted as Sword grabbed her left arm.
She pushed into him, taking him by surprise, as she shoved him into
a narrow alley and up against the wall. Fear had
heighten
ed
her adrenaline levels, making
her stronger. The other two warriors with them followed in
surprise.

“Don’t disparage me,” she hissed. “I’m not
some rookie who doesn’t know how to defend herself. I was in charge
of my brother’s security back on Earth. This will work. If you
can’t handle it, then go back to the warship. I won’t jeopardize my
life or that of the other men with us with your doubts. You are
either in or out. Do I make myself clear?”

Sword looked down in surprise at the fierce
expression on the human female’s face. The look in her eyes showed
she meant every word she said. The knife in his belly told him she
knew what she was doing. For a moment, the doubt resurfaced before
he pushed it away. The plan was so preposterous it might just
work.

“I’m in,” he replied quietly.

“You’d better be,” Kali growled as she
slipped the knife back into the sheath attached to her wrist. “You
damn well better be or I swear I’ll kill you before Razor gets a
chance to.”

Turning on her heel, she stepped back out
into the busy corridor that made up the main market area of the
Spaceport. Each side of the narrow passage was lined with bars,
carts and creatures from a wide variety of star systems. Kali
glared at a large brown barrel shaped creature that was checking
her out. It must have decided she would be too much trouble because
it quickly shifted its gaze when she didn’t look away.

“I think I’d rather deal with Razor, if you
asked me,” Race murmured. “Something tells me she would take her
time killing you.”

She ignored Race’s quietly spoken words. If
she wasn’t so worried about Razor, she would have laughed. Instead,
she focused on the huge glowing sign at the end of the corridor.
That was where Razor was. Nothing else mattered at that moment, but
getting to him.

Razor paced back and forth in the small
confines of the cell. Hammer was sitting on the stone slab that
made up the ‘beds’ for the fighters. He winced as he rubbed the
back of his head. A small knot just behind his left ear was
evidence of the blow he had taken from behind.

“Are you alright?” Razor asked as Hammer sat
with his head bowed.

Hammer raised his head and nodded. Dried
blood from a deep cut on his cheekbone and another from his lip
showed he had fought hard. Unfortunately, the ten males that had
attacked them had come with stunners as well. The long rods sent a
bolt of electricity through their bodies.

One powerful bolt had knocked him to his
knees. He had been attacked from behind before he could rise again.
At least, he and Hammer took five of the bastards down first.

He turned as two armed men came down the
corridor with another prisoner. One of the men pushed the male into
the cell across from him. He took a step closer to the bars as the
male turned.

Razor watched as the male kicked out,
catching the guard in the groin with his foot. The guard fell
backwards through the opening of the cell with a grunt of pain.
Before he could attack again, the other guard pushed a stunner
through the bars and hit him in the side with it. The male dropped
to his knees on the hard floor. His head fell forward as the guard
shot another bolt of electricity into him.

Razor and Hammer both watched as the guard
who had been kicked slowly rose from where he had fallen and shut
the door to the cell. A moment later, the corridor was empty once
again. Razor reached out and gripped the bars of his cell as he
stared intently at Trig’s bent head.

“Where is Jordan?” He demanded.

Razor watched as a shudder went through
Trig’s body as he fought the effects of the powerful bolts of
electricity he had received. He slowly pushed himself up until he
was sitting. His dark, savage eyes held a haunted look in them.

“I don’t know,” he ground out, looking from
Razor to Hammer and back again. “We got separated during the
attack.”

The muscle in Razor’s cheek throbbed as rage
built inside him. His mind pulled up the delicate, quiet features
of Jordan Sampson. Her long brown hair framed her heart-shaped face
and her hazel eyes had always seemed so much older than her
years.

He knew that Jesse and her sisters had been
through a lot before his brother found them. He couldn’t imagine
how they had survived for so long with the turmoil Earth had been
in at the very beginning. His eyes darkened as he thought of how
difficult it had been for Kali. Now, Trig had exposed the young
female to even greater danger. He was going to kill the
bastard.

“When?” He bit out, knowing that every
minute meant a greater possibility that Jordan had been captured
and possibly sold to a…. “When?” He demanded again.

“Two days ago,” Trig replied, standing
stiffly and running his hand down his bruised face. “We had been to
one of the fights. Dagger was there.”

A low curse exploded from Razor’s lips. His
eyes swept over to Hammer, who had come to stand next to him.
Hammer nodded. They needed to get the hell out of there.

“What happened?” Razor asked harshly.

*.*.*

Trig stepped closer to the bars and looked
down the empty corridor before returning his attention to Razor. He
threaded his arms through the bars and leaned forward so he could
stretch the cramp in his side from where he had been hit.

Two days ago, he and the young human female
had attended a fight in the rings three levels above. He had been
against it, but the human female was a tenacious little thing. She
had disappeared while he was relieving himself. He had finally
found her waiting outside the doors to
The Hole
, two tickets
for the event in her hand. He didn’t bother asking her how she made
it through the crowded Spaceport without trouble, much less how she
was able to obtain tickets to the sold out event.

She had kept the hood of her cloak over her
head and moved with a natural grace as they weaved through the
crowded stadium. It was the third and final event of the
eve
n
ing that
had
shaken them both. The lights had dimmed and a spotlight had
shone
down on a three-head Serpentian. The
creature's sharp teeth, hard reddish-green scales and foot-long
claws dug into the metal floor, producing a loud screeching sound
that had most of the audience screaming and yelling. It was when
the light shifted to the other cell that he heard Jordan’s faint
cry of horror.

Dagger had stood in the caged area. He wore
a pair of dark brown leather trousers, dark brown boots and nothing
else. In his hands, he held two six foot swords. His head had been
bowed, but Trig would have recognized his younger brother
anywhere.

Dagger’s chest and arms were covered with
deep scars from previous battles. The roar of the crowd had been
deafening when the doors to the cages opened. The two adversaries
had circled each other, striking with a precision that resonated
above the crowds cheering.

“What happened after the fight?” Hammer
asked quietly when Trig’s voice faded. “Did he win?”

Trig looked up at Hammer and nodded. “Yes,
he won. After the fight, six guards came in with stunners. He
killed two before the other four knocked him out. If he hadn’t been
exhausted from the fight, he would have killed them all.”