Saint (Gateway Series Book 2) (14 page)

“Well, you don’t suck, Ter,” said Martin as she pulled a combat knife from her vest. “I’ll give you that.”

This time the Terillian moved first, leaping toward her with his remaining tomahawk slashing toward her neck. Martin moved in quickly, taking her body out of the arc of the tomahawk’s path. Once inside his swing, she jumped forward and brought her knee into his chest. The man recoiled but kept his grip on her leg. Ensnared by the Terillian, Martin wrapped her other leg around his neck and pulled herself onto his shoulders. From there, she brought her knife down toward his chest. The man released her and blocked the thrust but not before she felt the blade partially penetrate his chest. She heard him let out a groan but then felt his hands on her vest as he grabbed her and in a powerful motion threw her onto the ground.

Her back impacted the forest floor and a sharp jolt echoed through her ribs. Wincing against the pain, she looked up to see the pointed edge of the tomahawk coming down toward her head. She quickly rolled to her side and felt the wind from the blade as it sank into the ground where her head had been. Quickly pushing herself to her feet, she tried to block the upward swing of the tomahawk but grunted heavily as the sharp blade sliced through her left forearm. She reached for her sidearm, but a blow to her hand sent it falling to the ground.

The momentum of the warrior’s thrust caused his upper body to angle downward and Martin capitalized, driving her left hand into the jaw of the Terillian with the force of her entire body. The pain from her wound shot up her arm and through her body, but she quickly brought her right boot against the forehead of the Terillian, snapping his head backwards and knocking him to the ground.

She moved forward quickly and let out a grunt as she swung her right leg toward his head again. Just before her boot contacted his jaw, the Terillian blocked the kick and pushed upward in a powerful motion causing Martin to fall backward. Before she could stand, the Terillian was on her, bringing his knee toward her face. She blocked the move with her forearms but let out a moan of pain as the powerful knee made contact with her injured forearm. Fighting through the pain, she brought her right fist toward his knee. The Terillian was fast and blocked her punch with his right hand and while falling forward spun his body and landed a powerful elbow against her left jaw knocking her on her side.

Martin rolled onto her back and immediately felt the Terillian on top of her. The attacker brought a fist downward toward her face, which Martin blocked and returned with a quick jab to his throat. The Terillian grunted and grabbed his neck. Martin shoved him backwards and in a swift motion twisted her body to lock her legs around the man’s neck. The Terillian struggled against her leg-lock but couldn’t free himself. Feeling she might have gained the upper hand, she gritted her teeth and squeezed with all of her strength, her muscles strained to choke her opponent.

Suddenly a sharp pain shot through her right hamstring and her grip instantly loosened, allowing the warrior to kick out of her hold. She looked down to see the Terillian had driven a small blade into her leg. She scrambled to her feet, grimacing as pain radiated through her leg. Before she could react, the Terillian crashed into her body and the two tumbled down the bank and over a large boulder into the river.

Martin entered the water with the attacker on top of her and they quickly sank toward the bottom. Martin could feel the force of the current and sting of the cold as their bodies continued to descend. Still sinking, Martin’s body tightened as the Terillian wrapped his arms and legs around her body. She could tell the Terillian’s intent was to drown her, even if it meant his own death.

Deeper still and Martin could feel her nose and face start to burn from the lack of oxygen. Reaching to her side, Martin pulled her last knife from her belt and drove it into the Terillian’s upper back as the two made contact with the bottom of the river. The Terillian released his grip and disappeared into the swift, dark water.

Her head burning from the lack of oxygen, Martin pushed herself off the bottom of the river and began kicking toward to the surface. Her lungs burned and her injured leg ached as she struggled to reach the air. When she broke the surface, Martin let out a heavy gasp, sucking in a deep breath of air. Still breathing heavily, she quickly scanned for the attacker. He was nowhere to be seen.

“Damn it,” she cursed. “That guy was good.”

Grunting as she kicked her injured appendages against the current, Martin began to swim back toward the riverbank. Each stroke felt like a lightning bolt of pain, but she pushed herself onward toward land. Pulling herself onto the rocky bank, she lay on her back for a second to regain her breath and gain control of the pain pulsing through her body.

After a moment she rose and headed into the forest. Cursing and grumbling with each step, she hobbled her way back to the scene of the fight. She had just collected the last of her weapons as she heard Tacitus reach her.

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” he demanded. “Wha—” He paused as he saw Martin was injured. “What the hell happened?”

“Some…” Martin grunted. “Some fucking Ranger held me up.”

“Just one?” asked Tacitus.

“Fuck you, Tacitus. It was one of those painted-face bastards,” said Martin as she injected a neuro-med and anti-coagulate into her leg.

“Where is he?”

“I don’t fucking know,” she replied. “Maybe dead. Maybe floating down the river. Wherever he is, he’s not in any better shape than me.”

“That’s saying something,” he replied. “Because you’re pretty tore up.”

“Thanks, asshole. That Ter son of a bitch was good, but I put as many holes in him as he did in me.” Martin paused and looked up from her wounds toward Tacitus.

“What?” he asked in response to her silence.

“He spoke in our language and called me Red Wolf.”

“It’s not like there are a lot of red-haired female officers in the Guard. Sounds like you’ve made a name for yourself. And some pissed off enemies.”

“They’re already my enemy,” replied Martin.

“Well, maybe he drowned.”

“I hope not,” replied Martin as she pulled her attacker’s tomahawk from the tree. “We have some unfinished business.”

Chapter 10

“He’s over here!” shouted Stone as he grabbed the semiconscious Thay, sliding his arms underneath the wounded man’s shoulders. Stone grunted as he lifted Thay from water’s edge, the Iroqua’s waterlogged clothing only adding to the dead weight of the warrior’s limp body.

“Is he okay?” asked Henry as he and Mori reached Stone.

“He’s got a wound on his leg and looks like a broken nose,” replied Stone as he ensured his footing was sound and pulled on Thay’s torso.

As he did, Thay let out a moan.

“His back,” said Mori. “He’s got a damn knife in it.”

Stone slightly turned Thay’s body and laid him onto the ground face down.

“Where are the meds?” asked Stone.

“Here,” replied Henry as he pulled a pack from his pocket.

Stone snatched the packet from Henry and quickly opened it. It contained half a container of coagulant, a neuro-inhibitor, disinfecting spray, and an adreno-injector.

“Is this it?” asked Stone.

“That’s it,” replied Mori. “The full kit was with—” Mori paused. Stone saw her face go flat and a half-frown form on the right side of her face. “With Sandwick.”

Stone pulled the uniform apart around the blade embedded in Thay’s back. Once clear, he gripped the knife and pulled the blade from Thay’s flesh. Thay groaned and Stone quickly applied what was left of the coagulant. He slowly rolled Thay onto his back and injected the neuro-meds into his arm.

Stone saw Thay look up toward him. “It was her, the—” he said in a weak voice.

“This should help you out,” said Stone as he took the injector full of adrenaline in his hand. Stone took the cap off the injector and in a quick motion drove the device into Thay’s chest. Thay’s eyes opened wide and he sucked in a deep breath.

“You okay?” asked Mori.

Thay quickly sat up straight, grunting slightly against the pain.

“She’s here,” repeated Thay as he pulled himself erect with the help of a small tree.

“Who are you talking about?” queried Henry.

“Red Wolf,” responded Thay.

“It’s the meds. Or the injuries. Did he hit his head?” said Henry.

“She died on Juliet 3,” replied Mori.

“I saw her,” retorted Thay, clearly becoming more coherent and insistent. “We fought. I almost took her to the bottom of the river with me but—” Thay stopped again, reaching to the location where the knife had been protruding from his back.

“Who are you talking about?” asked Stone. “Who is this Red Wolf?”

“She is a guard officer—the one that killed Thay’s brother.”

“There’s no female guard officers,” replied Stone. “The only one died on Juliet 3.”

“Red hair, loud mouth, and a fighter,” Thay listed off. “I know who it was.”

Stone began to put his thoughts in order. Red hair—female—Juliet 3. “No!” he almost shouted. “She’s dead. I saw her die. She can’t be alive.”

“Well, she’s alive, brother,” replied Thay. “And she lives up to her reputation.”

Stone felt light-headed. He had seen the explosion consume Martin and Jackson.
Could she be alive?
he wondered. There wasn’t another female, or many males, in the Humani military that could have held their own against Thay. And it looked to Stone that whoever it was had more than held their own. Stone’s light-headedness started to shift to an uplifting happiness at the thought of Martin’s survival.

“Are you sure?” asked Mori.

“It’s fucking her!” responded an exasperated Thay.

“Then we need to be on the move,” declared Henry. “We have to get to cover and find a good defensive position.”

“I need to find her,” replied Thay.

“Thay,” interjected Mori. “I understand how important it is, but you are in no condition to fight her. If the Great Spirit wills it, you will meet her again.”

Stone could see the frustration on Thay’s face. “I will have my revenge—”

“Atotat!” shouted Mori, interrupting Thay. “We don’t have time for this. If you go after her you’ll endanger all of us. We’ll need everyone now that Sandwick…now that we’re down a team member.”

Stone watched for Thay’s response. The proud warrior’s face grimaced with a mixture of pain and frustrated angst. His entire body seemed contracted with a spasm of vexation. Looking toward Mori, he saw the determined face of a commander that was placing the mission and the team above the desires of one. The air seemed heavy with tension as Thay and Mori stared at one another.

“You know she’s right,” stated Henry.

Mori and Thay maintained their tight gaze on one another.

Suddenly, Stone’s happiness sank like a rock in the nearby river as a painful truth hit him; these people wanted to kill Martin—in a bad way.

Henry tried again. “Thay, you’re injured. There’s clearly more than one Guardsman in pursuit of us. And they have support units and air available. If we stay, we die.”

Stone felt his stomach fall even further. Not only did they want to kill Martin, she wanted to kill them. And him as well. Tacitus, who might be in pursuit as well, thought Stone was a traitor. Why would Martin think any different? Despite his newfound comfort with his Akota and Iroqua heritage, he knew he wasn’t ready to face Martin.

“We have to go,” Stone heard himself say without realizing it.

Stone saw Thay turn toward him, his face still distorted in anguish.

“Do you fear her, brother?” asked Thay.

“I trained her,” replied Stone. “And we all should fear her. She won’t stop and she’ll use whatever she has at her disposal to complete her mission.”

“You trained her?” asked Thay, his expression now contorting to add confusion to frustration. “Well, you trained her well,” he spat. “She killed my brother, another Ka-itsenko.”

“She was doing her duty,” shot back Stone out of instinct. “She—”

“Stop it!” shouted Mori as she moved between Thay and Stone. “This is solving nothing. This is complicated and we don’t fucking have time for complicated so I’ll make it simple.” She turned to Stone. “I know you will need to process this, but do it later. And don’t forget, regardless of what she does or doesn’t know, the Red Wolf is
our
enemy and will kill us if she gets a chance.” She next turned toward Thay. “Thayendanegea, I understand your right to vengeance. But I’m in command of this mission that you agreed to join, so you’ll follow my orders or bring shame to your clan for endangering your fellow warriors.”

The tension was even more palpable now. Stone looked toward Mori, whose back was toward him as she stared at Thay. Looking over her shoulder, he looked into Thay’s eyes.

“Does everyone understand me?” asked Mori in a slow, determined voice.

Stone saw Thay’s rigid face slowly, reluctantly loosen. He nodded ever so slightly to Stone. “Very well.”

“And you?” added Mori as she turned toward Stone.

Stone could feel her green eyes burning into his core. Emotions brought up by the realization that Martin was alive tore through him like a tornado. But that was for later.

“Yes. Of course,” he replied.

“Good,” said Mori. “Now we’re going to move to the northwest, take up a defensive position, get our comms up, and have
Hydra
get us off this rock. This shit has gone sideways.”

“Good,” Henry agreed. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

***

Astra looked down toward her son as she held him to her breast. Gently holding her hand against the child’s head, she spoke.

“Don’t worry, my little Octavius,” she whispered to her infant son. “These times will be difficult, but one day you’ll be the greatest leader our people have ever known. When they are least expecting it, I’ll take my vengeance on our Xen and Doran overlords for the death of your grandfather. By the time it’s over, I’ll have set the stage for you to become the first emperor of a galactic Humani Empire. An empire that will last for eons.” Astra paused. “But first we must find out what is keeping our little Port Royal canary from singing for us.”

“Tellia, come take Octavius,” ordered Astra to a servant standing on the far edge of the room.

“Yes, ProConsul,” replied the servant as she quickly walked to Astra and took the infant in her arms.

Astra activated the communications console. As she looked into the screen, the image of a Humani general appeared.

“Yes, ProConsul,” answered the officer. “This is General Macilli Valari. How may I serve you?”

“General Valari, Paladins Martin and Tacitus are operating in the Echo System and I must get a priority message to them. How long will it take?”

“Yes, ProConsul, of course. If we override bandwidth protocols and hierarchy, we can send a message via electron spin burst and they should receive it within the week.”

Astra sighed but even she knew she couldn’t change physics.

“Very well. Pass this message to them immediately: At the order of the ProConsul, report directly to Echo 4 and make contact with Envoy Rebecca Sterling and Praetorian Hamrahi and report status immediately via fastest communications medium.”

***

Stone’s mind raced while he slept. In addition to his normal parade of nightmares, the deaths of the young girl and Sandwick made their first appearances. It wasn’t long, however, until the vision of Martin in the Battle of Juliet 3 returned. As always, Stone was running toward the wounded Martin as Terillian soldiers rushed toward her. He raised his pistol and fired. This time, for the first time, the Terillian fell before he could strike. In a few long strides, he was with Martin and Jackson.

Jackson held the badly wounded Martin in his arms. Stone knelt down beside her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

“I made it,” he said, feeling a wave of relief flow over his body.

Martin slowly looked up toward him from Jackson’s embrace. “Good,” she replied as she suddenly swung her sidearm toward Stone’s face. “Traitor!” she yelled and there was a bright flash as she pulled the trigger.

Stone jumped from his sleep.

“You okay?” asked Mori as she knelt beside him.

Stone could feel the sweat running down his face and his heart racing. “Yeah. I’m fine,” he answered.

Mori smiled. “Liar.”

Stone felt Mori’s hand on his face as she leaned in for a quick kiss.

“Dreams?” she asked.

“Yes,” he replied as he looked into her eyes. Those powerful green eyes always seemed to make him feel better. “But my weakness is my problem.”

“You don’t have to do this alone,” she said. “I don’t know about the Humani but we don’t bottle up our dreams. And our dreams don’t mean we are weak; they mean we are human. Our dreams tell us what we need to know, not what we want to know. When we get back we’ll meet with the
wichasa wakhan.
”

“But these dreams, they haunt me—”

“Then we’ll talk about them,” interrupted Mori. “That’s how we exorcise our demons. We share them with others and they lose their power.”

“I don’t think telling other people my nightmares will help,” responded Stone with a whisper. Even though he trusted Mori, he felt ashamed at sharing his weakness.

“You’re not the only one to have the bad things we do and see follow you into your dreams,” replied Mori. Stone saw her look down toward the ground. “We’ve all seen and done a lot we regret,” continued Mori. “And had a lot done to us we regret.”

Stone instantly felt even more ashamed. He had seen his share of traumatic things but he had not lived through the hell that Mori had experienced on Capro. “I’m sorry,” he said as he put his hand on her shoulder.

“It’s okay,” said Mori as she looked up toward Stone. “When we get back you’ll see. It will help. It won’t make it go away, but it will help.” Mori paused and let out a slow breath. “But for now,” she continued. “I’ve sent a transmission to Orion with coordinates for a pickup tomorrow.”

“What’s the next move?”

“I think trying to talk with the Triad is a waste, so we’re gonna pay a visit to the bastards who seem to have their hands in everything but don’t know anything.”             

“Port Royal. And the Association,” posited Stone.

“They’re neck deep in this. I can feel it in my bones,” replied Mori. “And frankly I’m tired of their duplicitous bullshit.”

“Works for me,” said Stone, adding, “I’m ready to get off this rock.”

“Afraid you’ll run into her?” asked Mori knowingly.

Stone inhaled and exhaled heavily. “I’m over the problem I had on the slaver ship. I won’t hesitate again. But her…” He paused. “She is different.”

“Why does she matter so much? Have you two—”

“No!” interrupted Stone. “It’s not like that. She’s like a, well…” He paused again trying to find the words. “She’s…special.”

“How is she any more special than any other Humani?”

Stone could tell Mori was growing concerned with what Martin actually meant to him. “I trained her. We fought together,” he replied.

“Did you not train other officers? And fight with them?”