Salvaged Destiny (14 page)

She didn’t have much. She didn’t even have much of a kitchen—more
like a corner of her living area that contained some appliances, a meter of
counter space and a narrow sink. It was crowded with mismatched cookware and
canisters of dry ingredients. Lazlo looked over the contents of her chiller,
which was mostly bare. There was nothing fresh like fruit or juice.

He returned with a plate and the bag of pastries that he had
brought along with the coffee. Del picked out one and unenthusiastically began
to eat.

“Did you sleep well?”

“No. I kept waking up.”

Lazlo hadn’t slept much either—his dreams had been disturbing
mishmashes of rocks falling on him and Del running away. It was difficult to
reconcile how proud he had been when they’d succeeded at their mission and how
ashamed he felt that she’d been hurt while he was responsible.

Remembering what else he’d brought, Lazlo reached into his
pocket and removed the mineral specimen he’d stashed in his pack the day
before. Del’s eyes lit up when she saw it and he felt marginally better. At
least he’d managed to deliver her rock.

“Here is your mido bonium or whatever you called it.” Lazlo
handed it to her and watched as she looked it over. She rubbed her fingertips
over the glittering inclusions and nodded. “We did well—or you did well, at
least. Major Sekar said that your payment should be in your account by the end
of the day. He wanted me to congratulate you.”

“You did well too.”

“Hardly. I didn’t maintain good surveillance, I was involved
in an assault resulting in arrests and injuries to a civilian, and somehow I
made the politically destructive act of arresting the sheriff of Sayre. I’ve
never heard of someone arresting a colonial sheriff.” It was bad enough when he
had been thinking about it all evening, night and morning. Saying it out loud
made it even worse. How did he keep ending up in these disastrous situations?
All of those events weren’t even the worst of it. “And you were hurt.”

“How is any of that your fault? It’s not your fault those
asses were following us and it’s not your fault that Harata pulled a stunner on
us. You didn’t hurt me. Avo Kirk did.” Del sounded irritated—with him or with
her enemies, it was hard to say. But angry was better than sad. He could deal
with angry.

“If I had done my job better, those things wouldn’t have
happened.”

“Blast and afterburn,” Del scoffed and frowned at him. Good,
she was exasperated. The pastry and coffee seemed to be helping. “Is your
commander angry with you about all of that?”

Lazlo shook his head slowly and sat back on her sofa, as far
as he was able. It didn’t really fit his frame very well. There was nowhere to
put his shoulders. “He didn’t say anything last night. But he did tell me to
report in this afternoon, wherever he happened to be.”

Shaking her head, she ate another bite and tapped him on his
knee with her free hand. “Don’t worry about it. You did a great job and I’ll
tell him that. Are they getting the weapons out now?”

“Already done. I wish you could have been there last night
when they moved some rocks—”

All of the lights and electronics in her apartment
flickered, interrupting his thoughts, and then they faded and went black. He
looked at Del who seemed to be as surprised as he was. She tried to activate
her non-functioning datpad several times.

“Try yours,” she requested and Lazlo found that his was dark
and blank as well. He reviewed several possibilities but there was only one
explanation.

“Someone’s dampered us.”

“Harata’s men,” Del replied, looking pale as her face
tightened with worry.

“Get some shoes on,” Lazlo ordered and then moved to her
door. With no video feed to the outside, he had to listen closely. Muffled
sounds of shouts and metallic crashes were barely audible through the old
synthboard door. As he tried to decide if he should risk opening it, Del
shuffled back to his side, leaning close to him to listen as well. She put one
hand on his shoulder and pressed her ear against the door, eyes closed.

“I hear my pa shouting and my ma,” she whispered. “Do you
think—” A crashing thump at her door cut her off and someone male bellowed. They
both leaned back from the vibrating panel.

“Open up or we blast,” the unseen man roared.

Del looked at him and Lazlo had the irrational urge to kiss
her again. The first time had been so brief and tantalizing and he wanted to
again while he had the chance. Shaking his head at the thought, he instead
indicated that she should open up. There was no need for her door to be broken
by a rampaging deputy.

“Just a minute, getting dressed,” Del called out and then
pushed at his shoulder, whispering that he should hide. Shaking his head, Lazlo
stood and gestured for her to open the door. Where would he hide in this tiny
place, even if he were so inclined?

Del scowled at him and unlocked her door, only to have
someone outside pull it violently open, spilling her to her knees before Lazlo
could catch her. Two uniformed deputies were outside, wearing riot armor and
looking very surprised to see him there. One of them grabbed Del by the
shoulder and dragged her out of the doorway as she cried out in pain.

Lazlo felt anger start to rise in him and the other deputy
must have sensed it because he raised his stunner and pointed it directly at
his head. This had to be a new record, to be held by stunner twice in less than
twenty-three hours.

“Easy, big ox. No saving the chickie, got it?” the sweating
man drawled through the visor on his helmet.

Lazlo raised his hands and quickly glanced at Del, still
sprawled on the landing outside her apartment, tears in her eyes, wincing in
pain as the other deputy roughly lifted her to her feet. At least she had shoes
on. Tamping down his urge to batter both men and fling them over the railing
behind them, he walked slowly down Del’s staircase, glancing at her moving
ahead of him, both deputies crowding them along.

Noises of destruction and conflict filled the Browen
compound—shouts, crashing, bellowed orders. As they descended, he began to make
out the scene of several deputies rousting Del’s family from their quarters and
pushing them all to a large cleared area on the deck. The deputies not directly
engaged in moving prisoners were busy destroying anything they could touch,
provoking shouted protests from the angry Browens. The abuse of power sickened Lazlo.

Lazlo spotted Nige Browen, face red, struggling against his
zipped wrists as two deputies casually slashed the tires on all of the vehicles
parked in the bays. The young girl who had helped load the empty containers for
Del when he’d traveled along with her was sobbing while another deputy laughed
at her distress.

Most worrisome was Del’s mother, who was sitting awkwardly
against a cart, gray and sweating. She looked as if she might be having cardiac
problems and Del must have noticed because she walked faster, trying to reach
her and calling out for her. The deputy at her side shoved her back and Del
fell again, curling in pain on the metal grid beneath her, and Lazlo reacted.

Del gasped for breath, feeling much worse than she ever
thought she could. Her mother was pale and shiny with sweat, propped up against
a crate of compressed resin packing. Her father was manacled and cursing, her
sisters crying, and she was incapacitated by pain. The deputies were destroying
everything they could and despair filled her at the thought of how endangered
and impoverished her whole family was now. How would they possibly recover and
continue with their business?

She saw all of this as she was shoved toward her family,
Lazlo silent behind her. Feeling dizzy and overwhelmed, she tried to get to her
mother, but the deputy next to her objected and pushed hard on her bruised back.
The hot bolt of pain that burst through her blanked her mind for a horrible
moment.

The next thing Del knew she was huddled on the decking, yet
again at someone’s feet. There was a low grunt from behind her and she turned
her head to see Lazlo lashing out with his elbows at the deputy who had failed
to restrain him.

He landed several solid blows that made terrible crunching
sounds and the other man fell hard on the decking, harder than she had, and Del
was glad for an enraged second. Lazlo leaned to reach her and help her up when
a hollow boom filled the air and he stiffened and fell, shot by a stunner,
unconscious and limp on the deck next to her.

Dragging herself up, Del leaned toward him and everything
went black.

“Lieutenant, I thought I requested you come to me this
afternoon?” Major Sekar asked quietly after he opened the door to the tiny cell
Lazlo had woken up in about an hour ago.

During the course of that hour, he had berated himself for
yet more personal failures, worried incessantly about Del and her family and
paced until the dizziness and ear ringing from the stunner had finally worn
off.

He also tried not to touch anything—the small cell was
filthy with layers of lumpy paint peeling back to reveal synthboard walls. It
smelled damp and fungal and the corners of the room weren’t even square because
of the accumulated grime. Despite a few bruises, he was ready to fight when he
saw the door start to open, but luckily his commander had spoken up before
Lazlo could slam into him.

“You did, sir. I apologize.”

“It seems you had some sort of an excuse,” the major replied
with a perfectly straight face as he tapped on the door lock keypad, then
gestured for Lazlo to exit into the narrow hallway of the grimy Sheriff’s
Department lockup. “I have to apologize as well. As soon as your transponder
alerted we tried to track you, but since you were out here the signal wasn’t
clear. Citizen Rupti worked very hard to magnify it so we could find you.”

He had been in the last cell in the corridor—all the other
doors were open as they walked by. Lazlo assumed they had held assorted Browens
until recently. An armed port security officer waited for them at the end of
the hallway, nodding as they passed her and emerged into a large waiting room. Here
stood the exhausted-looking Browens—Nige, Dee Dee holding up the younger girl,
two boys he hadn’t met. But no Del or her mother.

“Sir, where are Del and her mother?”

Sekar frowned. “The elder woman is being transported to
medical. Her condition wasn’t good. But Del Browen was not in any of these
cells.”

“She has to be here somewhere. She was with us when they
stunned me.” Lazlo moved over to her father. “Citizen Browen, what happened to
Del?”

“I don’t know, I can’t find her. They stunned her and threw
her in the cart next to you when they brought us here, but I didn’t see what
they did after.” The older man looked lost and in shock, turning away when a
medical officer reached for him and whispered to him.

Lazlo turned back to the major, his anxiety humming in every
nerve. Del had been stunned and helpless with all of those deputies intent on
revenge for his arrest of Harata. Terrible things could have happened to her.

“Sir, she has to be here somewhere. Is there another cell or
holding area?” Major Sekar looked even grimmer and called for two officers to
report and start searching the other areas of the sheriff’s office. People bustled
in and out of the barren holding area, now less crowded as the Browens had been
led out and apparently freed. The major’s datpad squawked and he gestured for
Lazlo to follow him down another narrow corridor where one of the officers
pulled on a sticky door.

“Looks as if she’s in there, sir. I’m trying to move the
door—” The officer struggled until Lazlo reached for the handle and pulled it
with all of his strength, the mottled door screeching wide as he moved inside
the dark room. It seemed to be a storage closet holding a few dusty boxes and
the crumpled, unmoving form of a slight woman lying on the floor.

Recognizing the robe Del had been wearing earlier, he
approached her and crouched down, touching her shoulder and arm. It was hard to
see in the dark, but he could make out her eyes opening as her body tensed with
a shiver. He stopped touching her, worried that she might have been assaulted
and be frightened by the physical contact, but she reached out her small hand toward
his and he grasped it, relief that he’d found her filling him. He took a deep
breath, the first in what seemed like hours.

Lazlo murmured that it was all right, he was there to help,
and with a sobbing moan Del turned and clutched at him, pressing her face into
his chest and crying. Cautiously avoiding touching her injured back, Lazlo
stroked her arms and head, trying to calm her and keep her still for a moment. All
he could think was she’d been hurt again, damaged while he had done nothing to
help her.

Lazlo sensed Sekar standing at the doorway but not moving
into the tiny room, for which he was grateful. The fewer people crowding Del
the better. After a moment she caught her breath and sat back, blinking and
looking completely exhausted.

“Are you hurt?” she asked, touching his arm. “I saw you
stunned.”

“Just a few bruises, probably from when I fell.” Lazlo tried
to be lighthearted about it. Del narrowed her eyes and touched his forehead,
which hurt.

“You have a bad bruise,” she whispered, then looked as if
she were going to cry again. “How is my mother? Where is everyone?”

“Your mother is headed to medical. It seems as if everyone
else is all right. We had a hard time finding you, Del.”

Del glanced around her shabby cell. “I want out of here.” Nodding,
Lazlo stood and helped her up. She leaned on him and kept hold of his arm as
they walked out into the hallway. Major Sekar nodded and let them precede him
down the hallway.

“Casta, take Citizen Browen to medical and have yourself
evaluated as well. Report your medical status to me, file an initial incident
report, then take the remainder of the day off. I will reschedule tomorrow.”

“Yes sir.”

Del stopped and turned her head. “Major?” At the man’s
acknowledgement, she continued. “Lieutenant Casta has done a good job.”

“Yes ma’am,” Sekar replied with a flash in his eye. Lazlo
had a sinking feeling his commander didn’t actually share that assessment. But
Del gripped his arm again and he looked down at her disheveled head. Circling
his fingers around hers and giving them a squeeze, he helped her out of Harata’s
dirty domain.

* * * * *

“Hi, Pa,” Del said as she walked slowly and painfully into
her mother’s room at the medical center. She’d spent the last few hours being
evaluated and treated and now that she was debrided, disinfected and on more
pain relief, she’d been allowed to find her parents. Her mother was gray and
unconscious in the bed and her father was gray and exhausted in the chair next
to her. Del reached out and rubbed his arms, unwilling to be hugged. He looked
at her with sad, red-rimmed eyes.

“It doesn’t look good, pet. She hasn’t woken up.”

“What does the doc say?”

“Give her time, she’s stable, just the usual waiting
nonsense.”

“Pa, what happened?”

“From what I can gather, Harata managed to reach one of his
people from the port jail last night and set this raid up as revenge against
you. They probably felt lucky catching that Casta fella at the same time.” Del
had told her father a little of what had happened the previous day, leaving out
the secret parts, but wanting him to know Harata had been arrested and Avo Kirk
had hurt her.

When she’d mentioned what Avo had done, her father grew
quiet and thoughtful and when she’d said the sheriff’s name, he’d shaken his
head.

“I speculated that something like this might happen, just
not so soon. Harata’s the type to want to do it himself and for that he’d have
to wait for release.” Her father turned to look at his injured wife and Del was
struck with another dose of guilt.

“Has he been released?”

“No idea.” Nige reached out and patted his wife’s hand. “They
got a lot of our equipment, pet.”

“Pa, I’m so sorry the family has been hurt by what I did.”

“You did nothing but take a job. It’s not your fault those
fellas were sneaking around and forced you to defend yourself. I’m just glad
Casta was there. Hate to think of what would have happened to you otherwise.”

“I know. I’m glad he was there too. But, Pa, how are we
going to replace everything?”

“We’ll manage. The Paxes have already messaged me about
getting the gates secured and putting out the fire.”

“What fire?”

“Those noodleheads started a fire in the paper stacks. Burned
up most of them before the Paxes could put it out.”

“Thank stars for their help.”

Nige nodded and rubbed at his eyes. “Haven’t been back, not
wanting to leave your mother.” He looked at her. “How hurt are you?”

Not shrugging as she wanted, Del rolled her eyes because
that didn’t hurt. “Other than being dizzy from the stun and getting some
bruises on top of bruises, I’ll be all right.”

“Good then.” He sighed and she patted his arm yet again. He’d
been through so much. She wasn’t sure where he was going to find the stamina to
handle these current crises.

“Pa, would you like me to stay so you can check in at home? Or
would you like me to go back there and let you know what is happening?”

“Stay with me a bit longer, pet, then you should go home and
rest. The cousins will take care of things. Dee Dee has already reported all the
messes.” Del settled herself on the arm of his chair as he patted her knee
once. “Are you going to be able to tell me what you found out there?”

“Who says I found anything?”

“I do. I know you, my girl.”

“No, Pa, I can’t tell you.”

“But it was good, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, Pa, it was good.”

“Get paid well enough?”

“It seemed well enough at first, but now it’s a pittance
compared to what we’ll need to fix things.”

“Now no, that’s your marks earned. Funds for the business
come from the business. There’s insurance, after all.” He leaned back a bit and
shifted his stiff leg. Del didn’t say anything, but knew she wouldn’t be able
to spend her reward on what she had planned. She’d have to find a way to funnel
it to her family. “And this Casta fella, what’s the word there?”

“He hired me to find things.”

“That’s all?”

“That’s all.”

“According to Dee Dee it’s not all.”

“Well, with Dee Dee explaining, everything is more exciting
than it is, isn’t it?” Not really answering the question, Del peered down at
him, noticing his thinning hair and deeper wrinkles. Her father was growing
old.

“Sometimes. So why was he coming out to see you today?”

“Just checking on me before those deputies hit.”

“Wrong place, wrong time for him then.”

Del nodded. It always was the wrong place and wrong time for
anyone who was near her. Starting with her first mother, who had left her and
the entire planet of Sayre as soon as she could after Del’s birth. Forty-eight
days was all the time her infant self had had with her mother. Then she had
been killed in an accident on another planet and Del never had the chance to
see her again.

She didn’t know why she’d thought of her birth mother just
then, other than that she might be losing the only real mother she’d ever
known.

Her father watched his wife and peered at the display
winking next to the bed. Del couldn’t tell if anything was of concern, but he
leaned back without making note of anything. “In any case, he seems a decent
one. You could do worse.”

Del’s mind whirled around, trying to understand what he
meant. Then she did and felt a chill. “Pa.”

Del tried to sound repressive—she didn’t want to have this
sort of conversation with him in these circumstances, or any circumstances. Yes,
Lazlo was an impressive-enough man, but she wasn’t interested in trying to
develop something with him or anyone. He would be leaving the planet soon
enough and she never could. Sayre was where she was born and where she would
stay. She’d be buried in the small cemetery on top of the cliff, dry land
holding the bodies of the lost. Where else would she go?

“You
have
done worse, pet.” Nige glanced up at her
and his eyes gleamed with amusement for a moment. It was likely he was
remembering some of her less-than-successful dates and semi-relationships. “You
could make a nice baby with him, give me a grandchild.”

Shaking her aching head slightly, Del rolled her eyes again.
Her father loved babies and his hints for grandchildren had grown louder over
the years. They were nearly shouts now. She guessed that was one of the reasons
her mother had felt free to leave her behind—Pa was the best caregiver on
Sayre.

If she ever did have a child, he would undoubtedly maneuver
the situation to allow himself to take on most of the raising. She’d had as
lovely a childhood as he could manage to give her. He’d waited to marry again
until he was sure he’d found a woman who could be as good a mother to her as
she would be to her own.

And that good woman was now brought low because of Del’s
actions. But his brushes with death today were undoubtedly making him want to
see his children settled and carrying on to the next generation. It was only
natural.

“Pa, enough. Making a baby is the last thing on my mind and
I’m sure he is entirely uninterested.”

“You never know until you ask. Just want you to know I
approve.”

“There’s nothing to approve, Pa.”

“Don’t be so unromantic.”

“But I’m not romantic. I’m practical. I have my work and I
have my family. I don’t believe I’m capable of more.”

“That’s a pity. Your baby would be part of your family automatically.”

Del held her tongue then. Her pa’d had a terrible day and it
wasn’t over yet, so it wasn’t appropriate for her to argue with him over such a
non-issue. And anyone who knew her could be sure romance and impulsiveness and
passion were in no way part of her personality. Determination and reliability
were, not unlike a well-used cart.

Nige sighed and patted his wife’s hand again. “You go on now,
Del, get to your home and see how much is left. One of the cousins will help
you secure the door if those bad fellas broke it.”

Wordlessly, she leaned down and hugged him, then patted her mother’s
hand and left the room, weary and blankly anticipating nothing for the
immediate future other than discovering how badly Harata’s men had hurt her
family both physically and financially. Despite her father’s assurances, she
was entirely responsible for attracting the thug’s notice and she felt as
guilty as she could considering her level of exhaustion and pain.