Shades of Treason (32 page)

“You will give me the cipher, Ramie,” Jevan said. “I’ve invested too much to let it go.”

Her shirt clung uncomfortably to her chest. The bullet that had passed through her human shield and hit her collarbone hadn’t done too much damage, but it bled as if it had passed all the way through. Maybe she could convince Jevan to let Katie help her.

“I need to know what’s in it for me.” She edged closer.

“Your life and your freedom to begin with,” he said, taking the bait she dangled. “And information, Ramie. Power. You could be one of us. You want to be one of
us
. The alternative is far worse.” He looked at Katie. “For everyone.”

The temptation to let him talk hung there like a star within reach. Ash could say the right thing, encourage him to continue, and learn everything. But she was close enough now. She would bludgeon the rest of the information from him soon.

The kick she sent to Katie’s chest was quick and hard.

The doctor flew back. Ash grabbed the nearest man’s gun and aimed it at Katie’s other captor.

She fired, shifted her aim to Jevan, but he charged from the left while the other man wrapped his arms around her from behind.

Jevan got a hand on her weapon.

“Run!” Ash ordered. She didn’t see if Katie complied. Jevan put his full weight into controlling the pistol.

Ash stopped trying to keep the gun raised. The sudden change of momentum made it easy to redirect the line of fire. She squeezed the trigger, putting a bullet in the gut of the man holding her, then she slammed her head into Jevan’s nose.

Cursing, he jerked back, giving Ash the inches she needed to plant a solid kick in his stomach.

She brought the barrel of her gun to point between his eyes.

This is for Trevast and the guys
, she thought and squeezed the—

“
Hold your fire
,” Jevan hissed, both out loud and in her mind, and she felt the
tweak
in her head.

Panic made her eyes widen.

Fury made her hand shake.

She couldn’t pull the trigger.

She tried harder, straining against Jevan’s mental hold. It didn’t help.

A sick realization slid over her. She hadn’t been the only one stalling for time. Jevan had been stalling too.

Sweat glistened on his forehead. He wiped his sleeve across his bloodied nose, but managed a smile. If she could have moved enough to hit him, she would have made his white teeth scatter like pebbles on the floor.

“Gotcha,” he said.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

RYKUS GAVE UP all pretense of stealth and ran, weapon raised as he sprinted toward the sound of gunfire.

A movement to his left. He swung his weapon, tightened his finger on the trigger—

The man fell before Rykus fired, a hole in his chest.

Kalver’s work.

Rykus didn’t signal his thanks; he kept moving.

He rounded an aisle, shot down two targets, and sprinted to the next aisle. Kalver fired from behind him again, one deadly shot that dropped a man from the top of the shelving unit. They’d sprung the trap Jevan had set for them. If Rykus hadn’t had an anomaly watching his six, he’d be dead.

“Ash,” he called out. No sense in being quiet now. Valt and his men knew he was coming.

He should be close. The gunfire hadn’t been far away.

Weapon held ready, he took the next corner and found Ash. She was on her knees, hunched over in the center of the aisle.

“Are you hit—” Bullets erupted all around him. He ducked behind the shelving unit. Took a breath. Then fired two times blindly before peeking back out and aiming.

His target was in the shadows between crates. Rykus’s next shot hit.

Gunfire went off behind him. He didn’t look back—Kalver would take care of the rest of the combatants. He kept his head on a swivel and approached Ash.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Ash looked up, and his breath left his lungs.

She wasn’t there. Her green eyes, always so bright and defiant, were dull and lifeless. There was no smile on her face, no slight tease on her lips, no arrogant lift to her chin.

“Ash?”

She stood, her movements robotic. Rykus took a slight step backward and flexed his fingers around his Covar. Ash was armed too.

“Ashdyn,” he said, regulating his tone, his cadence, his entire demeanor. “
Push him out of your head
.”

A vein on her forehead stood out. Her blinks were long and exaggerated.

“
Push him out
.”

She looked over her shoulder. Then she turned and walked away.

“
Stop.”
His commands weren’t working. Either he wasn’t getting his voice right or Jevan was too solidly in control of her.

Or maybe it was both.

She stepped over one of the bodies on the floor. He’d have to tackle her, physically subdue her. He could. She wasn’t herself. She was unfocused and moving as if she were in heavy atmosphere.

He hurried after her, stepping over the same body she had. But the body didn’t remain still for him. It lurched up, grabbing his leg and flipping him to the ground.

Rykus cursed his carelessness, brought his gun across his body to take aim, but the man plunged a knife deep into his shoulder.

His artificial shoulder. It didn’t hurt as much as it should have, but his entire arm went numb.

His attacker knocked the gun from his hand.

They both lunged for it. The blade dislodged—that should have been a blinding pain—and Rykus locked his legs around the other man, holding him in position until he saw the opportunity to switch to a choke hold. He grabbed his useless left arm with his right hand, slipped it under the man’s chin and squeezed, collapsing his airway.

A movement pulled his attention away. Katie. She stumbled into the aisle. Fresh blood ran down the side of her face. She didn’t move, not even to straighten from her crouch. Rykus didn’t understand why until he saw Ash. She’d turned her cold, dead stare on Katie.

“Kill her.” Valt’s voice came from where Katie had emerged. “Then kill your fail-safe.”

The man struggled in Rykus’s choke hold. He was reaching for the gun. His fingers touched it. Rykus couldn’t let him go, couldn’t move, or the man would get the millimeter he needed to grab the weapon.

“Kill her, now, Ramie,” Valt said.

“
Put down the gun, Ash,
” Rykus commanded. He wanted to take her in his arms, shake her until she listened and her mind became her own again, but the asshole he was fighting wouldn’t fucking die.

Ash raised the gun. Her hands shook.

Rykus put everything into tightening his hold.

“Ashdyn,” Katie said. “Listen to your fail-safe.”

The asshole he was choking kicked one last time then went limp.

“
Lower your weapon,
” Rykus yelled as he grabbed his gun and took aim.

“You don’t want to do this, Ashdyn.” Katie sounded calm, in control, but the arms she held away from her body were shaking.

“
Put it down!
”

He saw the moment Ash lost the battle. Saw her exhale, her shoulders relax, her aim steady.

He had to take her out.
He had to. He had to. He had to.

His bullet hit her chest, knocking her backward, but she didn’t go down. She brought her gun back up as if blood wasn’t drenching her shirt, and she pointed the gun at him.

“Please, baby. Look at me. Talk to me.”

She aimed at his forehead. He could feel the crosshairs between his eyes. One of them was going to die.

Sweat ran down his face. His insides felt raw and tortured.

“I don’t want to do this,” he said.

Seeker’s God, he couldn’t do it.

He dropped his weapon to the ground and waited for her to pull the trigger.

Kill your fail-safe.

The command severed the puppet strings Ash had lived with for years. She dangled in space, disoriented and spinning as the words echoed in her ears. When she stopped spiraling, she stared at the man in front of her, the man she no longer had to obey and protect.

Kill your fail-safe.

New manacles clamped down on her free will. These had no give, no mercy. They demanded she obey and removed the obstacle from her path. The loyalty training was gone, swept out from under her as if it had never existed, and the man begging her to drop her weapon, to listen, to fight, was just that: a man.

Kill your fail-safe.

Her fingers tightened around the cold weapon in her hand, and she focused on the target. Anguished eyes stared back at her over the barrel of his gun, and something fluttered in her stomach.

No
. The man was an enemy, an obstacle, a mark.

Kill your fail-safe.

She had no fail-safe. No reason not to pull the trigger except…

The man dropped his weapon.

Rip
.

Kill your fail-safe.

His name tasted of memories, and something inside Ash broke.

Kill your fail-safe.

No!

She threw her gun to the ground. The universe roared around her, dangerous and deafening, and Ash’s mind shattered.

“Ash!” Rykus roared as he sprinted to her side. Her eyes rolled back in her head. Her body shook, spasmed.

He took her into his arms, held her as she lurched again and again. Her face contorted into a silent scream. The sight ripped through him, more painful than any bullet wound.

Her spine arched, and she bucked so hard she jerked free from his arms. He reached for her again, but she stiffened, becoming board-straight. Her eyes shot open, bloodshot and staring at nothing. She was pale. So pale.

“Ash?” He touched her arm, and she went limp.

The air pressed in on him, heavy and stifling. He couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. All he could do was crouch by Ash’s side, waiting for her to move, to speak, to blink.

No
.

No.
He wouldn’t let her die.

He placed his hands over the hole he’d put in her chest. It didn’t stifle the blood flow. The dark red liquid ran everywhere.

God, he’d done this.

He’d killed Ash.

Someone landed beside him. Rykus had no strength, no willpower, to defend himself.

“Chems. Field congealment.” Kalver dropped the items beside Ash’s body. “I’ve got your six.”

Rykus grabbed the syringe. He had to focus on something. If he didn’t, he’d lose any sense he had left.

He flicked the top off the needle, then plunged it into Ash’s thigh.

“You shouldn’t have come here, Ash,” he grated out, tearing her shirt to peel it away from her chest. “It was stupid. We were stupid.”

He squirted the tube of clear gel on the wound in her chest. It congealed—barely—but Ash didn’t react to its sting.

“Katie!” he bellowed.

“I’m here.” Katie crouched beside him.

“You have to help her.” He could barely get the words out of his raw throat. His chest felt like it would collapse.

Katie stared at Ash’s body.

“Damn it, Rhys,” she whispered. “This was close range, center mass.” She shook her head as she assessed the damage he’d done. She sounded like a doctor who was seeing her patient in a body bag.

“She wouldn’t listen.”

“I know,” Katie said. “Just go. Kill him.”

She grabbed Ash’s wrist, feeling for a pulse. When Katie’s shoulders sagged, his hope disintegrated.

His hands clenched into fists.

He stood.

He headed in the direction Valt had fled.

Rykus shut down his thoughts, his feelings; he shut down everything except his combat instinct. This had turned into a bloodier disaster than Valt had intended, and the only way he could begin to hide his involvement was to make sure Rykus and everyone else in the cargo bay was dead. Valt would be nearby.

Rykus stopped, listened. His hearing didn’t pick up a sound, but his battle sense told him to stay in place. It paid off.

Valt stepped into the aisle. He didn’t see Rykus.

Rykus aimed. Fired.

The single bullet dropped Valt to the deck.

Rykus approached and kicked the bastard’s gun away.

“I can undo the muzzle on her mind,” Valt said, blinking rapidly, face squinted in pain.