Shadower (31 page)

"Hell, yes, I'm looking for him. I think the bastard was responsible for Nissar."

Jarek went rigid, fury blazing from his dark eyes. "Then he's a dead man."

"Not before he suffers for all he's done," Sabin bit out, bloodlust pounding in his own veins. "He also stole Aron’s ship and turned him over to the Controllers. Where is he?"

"I don't have an exact location, although I wish to Spirit I did. I heard he's planning on hijacking an illegal iridon shipment somewhere in the sixth sector."

Not much iridon came into the quadrant, legal or otherwise. That had to be the shipment Moriah was picking up for the Leors. Apparently everyone knew about it, which made the deal even more dangerous. "What else do you know?" Sabin demanded, refusing to feel concern for her.

Jarek shook his head. "Only that the deal is going down in about six cycles. Damn, now I wish I knew more."

"That might be enough. I just happen to know someone who has information on that iridon shipment."
And I'll get that information, if I have to throttle her.

"I want to be in on this," Jarek said fiercely. "I intend to watch Galen die."

"I wouldn't mind having some backup. Galen is as slippery as a Trion eel. He's evaded me for over a season."

"He won't get away this time. When will you have more information?"

"Give me a few cycles," Sabin answered. "I'm not sure where my informant is at the moment."
But I'll have my hands on her very soon.

"Why don't I stay near the sixth sector? You can contact me as soon as you know the location and date, and I'll meet you there."

"Will do, san Ranul."

"Hey, I heard you were also looking for Pax Blacklock. Is he in with Galen?"

Unbeknownst to Moriah, Sabin had sent out requests for information on Pax's whereabouts. He'd entertained some crazy notion of making Pax pay for what he'd done to her. She didn't need a defender, he reminded himself now. What she really needed was a padded prison cell.

Yet he could still remember the look on her face the day he'd torn her rhapha, the stark terror and pain reflected in her golden eyes. And her deep, gut-wrenching panic when he'd pushed their mating too fast. She'd only been eighteen seasons old when she fell prey to Pax, far too young to have her innocence brutalized. No woman deserved the abuse that shadower seemed to enjoy inflicting.

Whatever resentment Sabin felt toward Moriah couldn’t begin to mitigate the atrocities Pax had committed, which included hunting and turning in Shielders. He was vicious and cruel; he enjoyed his work too much. Like a rabid krat, he needed to be put down.

"Pax isn't in with Galen that I know of," Sabin told Jarek. "But he poses a threat to our people. I also have a personal grievance to settle with him."

"We're well aware of his activities. I'll keep a lookout for him."

"Thanks. I'll be in touch." Sabin signed off, his blood still racing from the knowledge he was closing in on Galen, and then Pax.

Silence reverberated in the cockpit, a constant reminder that he was alone. He kept telling himself he didn't care, that he was used to it. And he almost believed it. Then he would walk through the long, gleaming corridor and empty compartments of his fancy new ship. Until he could no longer stand the loneliness echoing off the barren walls, and the isolation closed in on him. He'd never felt this way in his old ship, couldn't understand why he felt it now; when he had finally attained the spacecraft he'd always dreamed of having.

This ship was his, and his alone, not some hand-me-down from a ragged military fleet. He owned it, free and clear, and he'd earned every miteron it had cost. It had every amenity, and then some. So why wasn't he happy, damn it?

And why did this reaction always lead to thoughts of Moriah? When it did, a storm of emotions ripped through him, anger and a sense of betrayal. Why he should even care was beyond him. She was a thief and a liar, a smuggler by profession. She'd certainly been true to form.

And he was a shadower—a hunter, a predator.

He would find her. He'd make damn sure her memory got erased this time. But first he'd force her to reveal the rendezvous point for the iridon delivery. If she refused to tell him, he'd loosen her tongue with a truth serum. He could run with the best of them, if he had to.

He
would
be the victor in their next encounter.

*  *  *  *

Sabin landed on Risa, well away from the settlement his sensors indicated. He wasn't worried about a tracking/alert system, because his ship had stealth capability. But he chose to come in after dark in case Moriah kept a lookout posted, and because his long-range scanners hadn't noted much on this part of the planet that would provide cover. There were no hills or mountains, very few trees, and those were scraggly desert trees at that. The area appeared as barren as Calt, only without many buildings or people.

With the element of surprise, he could choose his approach to the settlement. Ideally, he'd be able to keep the confrontation to a minimum, abduct Moriah under the cover of darkness, and hightail it out of there.

If it came to an encounter, he wasn't too concerned about being outnumbered. While in prison, Celie had told him only eight women inhabited the colony, and one of those was elderly. Celie didn't pose a threat, and he already knew Moriah's capabilities. She was a good fighter, but he was better. The Zarian might be a problem, and he'd have to watch out for her. The other women were unknown factors, but he was confident he could handle the situation.

He had no intention of harming the women, but he would use the stun guns strapped to his belt if he had to. Even then, he had them on a setting that would only incapacitate a person temporarily, with no serious side effects.

Lowering the special loading ramp at the rear of his ship, Sabin brought out a land skimmer. Virtually silent, the vehicle would allow him to approach the settlement without risk of detection, as well as enable a fast retreat once he had Moriah. It was fully equipped with a restraining body harness and sedatives. Standard equipment for tracking felons, and a definite necessity with her.

He jumped into the skimmer and headed across the hard, bare surface of the planet, using the navigator to guide him to the settlement. The night was warm, and sweat pooled inside his flightsuit, but he ignored it. He had traveled about thirty kilometers before he saw the faint glow of torches ahead.

Bringing the skimmer to rest on the ground, he strapped the portable body harness onto his back, slid two sedative-filled hypochambers into a special sheath on his belt, and trekked toward the colony. He wasn't sure how he could approach undetected with no ground cover, but much to his surprise, he saw some trees and underbrush ahead.

He dropped to the ground and crawled silently to the outcropping, again surprised when he felt a blanket of grass beneath him, beginning at the line of bushes, which sported large, fragrant blossoms. This was obviously an artificial oasis in the midst of natural desolation.

Crawling forward, he halted just before he reached the edge of a clearing. The tree line ended, but the lush grass extended onward and beyond a semicircle of crude huts approximately twenty meters ahead. Two solar lanterns positioned on poles in the center of the grass illuminated the area. He looked around, seeing no one. Wondering where the inhabitants might be, he lay still and listened.
There.
Voices, on the other side of the huts.

He worked his way around the clearing, snaking through the encircling undergrowth, following the voices, until he came to the other side. More solar lanterns provided light for a large dirt landing pad. A midsized space cruiser sat on the pad, with a group of people clustered near its hatch.

Sabin edged forward. He saw Celie, two females he didn't recognize, and a very tall woman he assumed was the Zarian. She looked different without her prison uniform and with her blond hair down. Moriah was nowhere in sight.

Celie tried to heft one of the crates stacked by the hatch. "I can't even lift this," she complained. "Tyna, you packed too much in here."

"Be gone with you, imp," a stout woman fussed. But she affectionately mussed Celie's hair as she spoke.

"Here," the Zarian said imperiously, stepping forward and lifting the crate. "I will load these. Celie, go pack a change of clothing for your sister." She leveled a steely look at the two older women. "Tyna, Marna, you check the supplies in the galley."

Celie headed for the huts, and the other two women went up the ramp to the hatch. The Zarian followed behind with the crate. Excitement thrummed through Sabin. He'd be willing to bet this ship was being stocked for departure, most likely to pick up the iridon shipment. His timing was perfect. Just then, Moriah strode down the ramp. Blood surged through his veins, and his pulse raced. It was only the thrill of the hunt, he told himself, fixing her in his sights.

She'd rolled up her sleeves, and opened her flightsuit partway down, exposing a generous swell of smooth skin. Her hair was piled in a brilliant jumble on her head. Heat pooled in Sabin's body, particularly the lower half. Damning his body's traitorous reaction, he forced his attention to the immediate goal of abducting her.

He scanned the area to see if anyone else was around. There were other ships beyond the dirt pad. The lighting wasn't as good there, so he couldn't determine the exact number. He saw two smaller ships, built more for speed than capacity. Then another midsized cruiser, then his ship. Right there it sat—
his ship.
Old, cantankerous, undependable, but
his.

Anger reared and his fingers itched to wrap themselves around Moriah's deceitful neck. One more glance around to be sure the coast was clear and—
Radd?
It couldn't be. He stared at the young man working on the spacecraft to the far right.
It couldn't be!

But…it sure looked like Radd. The whistling sure sounded like his. Sabin scrabbled around in the dirt, extracting a small teleglass and studying the man through it. What the blazing hells was Radd doing here?

Then pain exploded in Sabin’s head. The mechanic and the ships and the lights went into a whirling kaleidoscope, rapidly fading into darkness.

*  *  *  *

Spirit, his head hurt. It felt like it had been put in a rocket coil and hurled against a magnasteel wall. Sabin groaned, trying to bring his hand to his throbbing temple, but his arm wouldn't move.

"Open your eyes,
shadower."

He knew that husky female voice. He knew where he was, too. Just needed to clear his mind and get rid of this damn headache, then he'd figure it out.

"I said open your eyes."

He forced his eyes open, blinking against the bright light. Another burst of pain shot through his skull. He tried to focus on the two forms before him. They blurred, merged, and blurred again. Ignoring the pain, he concentrated until the images sharpened, unifying into one person. Moriah. He shook his head, trying to clear it. Big mistake. Shards of agony bombarded him. He gasped, unable to catch his breath. His chest was constricted somehow.

"How does it feel, shadower?"

He stared at her, still confused. "My head feels like it had a bad day in the Abyss. Where are we?"

Her golden eyes narrowed, glimmered. Leaning closer, she flicked at his chest. "I don't care about your head, shadower. I want to know what you think of your body harness."

Body harness? He looked down, realizing he was in a full body restraint. That explained why he couldn't move his arms, could hardly breathe. Coherent thought began returning. He'd followed Moriah, had been watching her, planning on abducting her.

"I wanted you to see what the harness feels like," she continued. "Radd showed me how it works."

Radd?
Right. He'd seen Radd. Slowly, painfully, Sabin moved his focus from Moriah, taking in his surroundings. A number of people were gathered around, and they appeared to be in some sort of hut.

Celie, her hands twisted together, her face pinched in distress, stood to his left. Next to her was a silver-haired woman brandishing a thick Yarton branch, watching him suspiciously. The Zarian hulked nearby, dagger clutched in her hand. Next to her, barely topping her shoulder, stood Radd, his arm casually draped around her waist.

Sabin looked at Radd. The mechanic shrugged. "She asked me how to work the harness, so I told her. Didn't figure she planned to use it on ya, especially after Janaye knocked ya out with her stick."

Janaye must be the old crone holding the tree branch. She sure packed a punch. If his current level of pain was any indication, Sabin figured he'd have a headache for a lunar cycle. Forgetting the harness, he tried to move, but again found himself restrained. "All right, you've had your fun. Let me out of this thing," he demanded.

"Oh, no, shadower," Moriah sneered. "I want you to experience the helplessness your victims feel when you've hunted them, trapped them, and put them in the harness."

He frowned, trying to make sense of everything. "What is going on here?"

The Zarian stepped closer, her dagger angled. "Let me have him.
Kamta
is a very effective method of demonstrating pain."

Radd moved to her side, slipping his arm around her. "Naw, don't do that, Lionia. Ya wanted to carve me up, too, and it was kinda good ya didn't."

She growled, her venomous gaze still fixed on Sabin. But she lowered the knife. Astonished, he realized she had not only listened to Radd, but allowed him to touch her. As a rule, Zarians didn't allow anyone that intimacy.

Sabin returned his attention to Moriah. "We need to talk. Release me."

"I can't believe Janaye caught you crawling around our camp like the viper you are," she countered. "How did you find me? Why did you follow me here?"

She apparently couldn't comprehend why he might be upset with her. Lying and stealing must mean nothing to her. They must be everyday occurrence as far as she was concerned.

"You lied to me, Moriah. You gave me your word of honor—swore on Celie's life—that you'd go to a healer and have your memory altered. You broke your word. Then you stole my ship—for the second time."
You left me. Alone.
Angrily brushing away that foolish thought, he snapped, "Why the hell do you think I followed you?"