Skyport Virgo 1 - Refuge (28 page)

Faced with the Federation gaining knowledge of his family's duplicity, Jai would likely kill Laleh anyway. She would serve no further purpose. Pike refused to let that happen.

He ran through a mental list of contacts. All of his wartime friends, men and women who would join him in an instant, were all too far away to be of any help. Pike considered the various members of his staff on Virgo.
Who would be willing to drop everything to
help Laleh?

Pike's stomach soured as a name popped into his mind. As much as it pained him, he knew there was no better man for the job. He left his transmitter on the bed and walked to their luggage. He located Laleh's transmitter in her purse. His finger flicked and scrolled through her list of contacts. Pike's teeth ground together as he touched the screen and put through the call. He made sure to keep the transmitter level with his face, keenly aware of his naked state. Four rings later, it was answered.

"Hey, Laleh!" Quinn's grinning face quickly morphed to a confused stare. "Admiral Grayson, sir."

"I need your help, Petty Officer. Laleh's been kidnapped."

Quinn's feed shook as he sat up and reoriented his transmitter. He slammed it into a stand and started pulling on black cargo pants. The backdrop of his bedroom came into view. Seriousness pervaded his features. "I'm at your disposal, sir."

"Thank you," Pike said, and he meant it. "Here's what I need you to do…"

Chapter Twenty

Laleh came to with a pounding headache. Mouth dry, she blinked and tried to focus.

Her head swam and tummy roiled. Her left side had gone numb and was pressed against something hard. A floor, she realized, as her eyesight cleared. Oppressive heat saturated the space. She could feel silk fabric clinging to her sweating skin. Heavy chains attached to cuffs on her wrists and ankles.
Where am I?

A rush of memories flooded her mind. Without moving or making noise, Laleh scanned her surroundings. She was in some kind of a small spaceship, likely a private cruiser and an older model at that. She wondered why Jai was piloting such a piece of shit. He'd always been so ostentatious when it came to his starships.

Laleh heard the shuffle of boots and shut her eyes, leaving only the tiniest sliver for watching. Shirtless and sweating something fierce, Jai entered the piloting deck of the ship. His blond hair hung limp and damp around his face. He looked as if he hadn't slept in days. Had he been following them all that time?

"I know you're awake." Jai's gruff statement caught her by surprise. "You're not the first bitch to pretend to be passed out to avoid me."

Laleh opened her eyes and started to snap back but stopped when she caught sight of Jai's chest and arms. The mutilation made her ill. Lines of metal hoops ran from just below his collarbone to a few inches above his bellybutton, following the inward curve of his pecs. He'd strung black leather laces between the hoops in a sort of skin corset.

Heavier silver hoops pierced his nipples. Dozens of scars marred his tanned skin, running the length of his arms and crisscrossing his torso. Some were tiny and thin, others big and nasty.

"What have you done to yourself?" Laleh could scarcely believe what she was seeing.

"What? These?" Jai gestured to his scars. "You wouldn't understand the ultimate pleasure to be gained from a needle piercing the skin or the tug of a hook in one's back."

"Pleasure? From hooks and needles?" Laleh shook her head. She didn't know what to say and knew she'd only anger him if she spoke her mind. "No, I wouldn't understand."

Jai smirked and leaned back against the captain's chair. "Give it some time. After what I heard in your room tonight, I'd say your starman will have you collared and eating dog food from a bowl in no time at all."

Shame blossomed on her cheeks. "We're not like that."

Jai laughed derisively. "Don't tell me what you are or aren't. You're no better than the whores I keep chained up in my harem. At least they don't beg me to fuck their asses."

Disgust rolled through her stomach. In so few words, Jai had managed to turn something beautiful and intimate into something dirty and humiliating. Avoiding her brother's mocking gaze, she sat up and rolled her shoulders. "I'm not going to defend my personal life to you."

"You can do what you like. But you honestly don't find it the least bit ironic that your mother dragged you halfway across the universe to escape the collar and the bonds, and yet you still ended up at the mercy of your starman."

"It's not like that," Laleh retorted angrily. "He doesn't abuse me. He gives me the freedom of choice. What you do is nothing short of torture. Those women you tie up and beat and cut on don't enjoy it. They aren't screaming in pleasure. They're screaming in horror."

Jai shrugged as if he could care less. "They exist for my entertainment."

In that one statement, Jai summed up the prevailing attitude of the Hezman ruling class toward all women. The oppression was so ingrained Laleh wondered if it would ever be broken. Was there any hope for women on her home planet?

"What does Dari want with me?" Laleh changed the subject, knowing she'd get nowhere discussing women's rights with him. "I sent the damn letter."

"This isn't about our father."

She stared blankly. "Then what is it about?"

"I need the jewelry."

"You?" She frowned. "Why do you care about the wedding jewelry Dari gave my mother?"

"Because I bought the damned stuff!"

Laleh's mind worked quickly. "You're the one with ties to the Scourge." She couldn't squash the smirk spreading across her lips. "And you know if Dari finds out he'll have you strung up so quick your head will spin."

"That's a fair assessment of the situation," Jai allowed.

"Why did you do it?" Laleh couldn't fathom why he'd have risked his cushy life on something so stupid. "You couldn't have been—what—sixteen at the time Dari married my mother."

Jai nodded. "I was young and hungry. I wanted more, deserved more. Our father ruled with too light a hand. Our people need to be led in the same way one leads a whore—with a gentle fist."

"So what? You made a deal with the Scourge?"

"They showed me what real domination was," Jai said. "They would crush and annihilate at will. They promised to prop me up when the time came in exchange for safe haven in our system as they prepared for war."

Laleh's eyes widened. "You were going to kill Dari."

"He's far passed his expiration date." He seemed amused by his own crassness. Then his expression turned grim. "Unfortunately, the Scourge weren't nearly as lethal as they'd bragged to be. Ultimately, they were no match for Spacefleet." He turned his sneer on her. "For your starman."

Laleh's chin lifted proudly. "I've never met anyone to match Pike."

Jai's nose wrinkled. "Spare me the sappy romantic fluff." He reached behind his back and produced a weapon from the waistband of his leather pants. It was a handgun, the kind of gun that had been outlawed in Federation territory centuries earlier. It fired bullets, not paralyzing pulses, and was lethal. "We'll see if he's a match for this."

Laleh went cold with dread.
Oh, god, not Pike. Please, not Pike.

* * * *

That old ripple of adrenaline surged through Pike's veins as the rear of Jai's cruiser came into view. He hadn't felt it since the Faltador Campaign. Though it would have pained him to admit it to anyone else, Pike realized he'd missed the excitement of the unknown, the fear of heading into battle. He glanced at Quinn and saw the same tension in his face. "All right?"

Quinn nodded and sat forward in his chair. "You'll have to let me out soon. I'll make the jump between our ships on the port side of his cruiser. That model only has visibility out the front windshield. I'll stick close to the underside of our ship."

"How do you plan to board?"

"There's an access panel on the belly of that model. It leads into the ventilation system. I should drop out in the engine room. They're likely in the control deck. The other spaces on that ship are tiny, a galley and a bathroom as far I remember."

"Good to know." Pike grudgingly admitted to himself he couldn't have chosen a better wingman than Quinn. The man was a consummate professional and the best Omega in the entire Spacefleet.

Pike steered their
borrowed
vessel toward the left side of Jai's ship. He slowed their approach speed to give Quinn enough time to hop into his space suit. As they drew closer, Pike noticed the smoke spewing from the starboard side of Jai's ship. "Looks like he's broken down."

Quinn looked up as he hopped and zipped himself into the pressurized suit. "You know what that means."

"He's going to need this ship to escape." His worst fears confirmed, Pike swiveled in his captain's chair to stare at Quinn. "You and I haven't been on the best of terms, but I know you're the only person whose concern for Laleh mirrors mine."

"I do care about her, Grayson, but I do realize I crossed a line." Quinn smiled wryly.

"I also realize she'll never look at me the way she does you."

Pike found the other man's statement oddly comforting. He was glad to have their somewhat rocky history behind them before they plunged into the unknown together.

"Whatever happens on that ship, I need you to promise me you'll get her off alive."

Quinn set his jaw. Pike expected him to protest but he simply nodded. "I will."

"Thank you." Pike cleared his throat and turned back to the controls. He slid an earbud into his ear canal. "Ready?"

Quinn pulled on his helmet and moved to the drop hatch. He sealed himself in the pressurized tube. Quinn's voice filtered through the earbud. "Ready."

Pike's hand hovered over the release button. "Three, two, one." He pushed the button and glanced over his shoulder. With a loud hiss, the hatch floor slid away and Quinn dropped into open space. Pike's stomach tightened as he waited for any reply.

A thump sounded over the earbud. "I'm hooked into place. We're good to go."

"Hang tight." Pike increased their approach speed. With the finesse of a veteran pilot, he sidled up next to Jai's clunker. Pike set the break and left the vessel idling. If they needed to escape in a hurry, he couldn't waste time firing up the engines. He released the boarding tunnel and watched the accordioned walkway attach to Jai's ship. When the seal was properly in place, a green light lit up on the dashboard.

"I'm heading in," Quinn announced. "Good luck, Grayson."

"Good luck, Quinn." Out of habit, Pike checked the controls one last time before rising from his seat. He slid the stunner into the back of his jeans. He inhaled a steadying breath and strode to the boarding tunnel. Unease coiled low in his belly. The thought of walking into a trap made him nervous, but there was no other way. Laleh needed him.

He'd do whatever it took to get her to safety.

Pike cautiously crossed the boarding tunnel and stepped onto Jai's ship. Immediately, the suffocating heat hit him in the face. He grimaced. Laleh would likely require some kind of medical attention after spending so much time in this kind of extreme heat. Pike could only hope Jai was affected by the heat, too. Perhaps he wouldn't put up too much of a fight.

Eyes peeled and ears perked, Pike proceeded down a narrow corridor. He noticed the engine room off to his right and a galley on his left. Quinn's hard breathing filled his right ear. The man said nothing as he worked his way through the ventilation system.

Up ahead, Pike spotted the control deck. He heard the unmistakable fall of pacing boots. His pulse stuttered as a shot of adrenaline filtered through his veins. His entire body hummed with defensive energy, his limbs ready to move at a second's notice. Pike approached the arched doorway and guardedly entered the deck.

"Stop right there." Jai stepped out of the shadows on his left. He pointed an antique gun at Pike's head. "Hands up."

As Pike obeyed the commands, he quickly scanned the room for Laleh. He found her on the floor, her limbs chained. The perspiration soaked pink silk of her robe clung to her naked curves. Wet strands of dark hair stuck to her face. Relief flooded his system when he saw no outward signs of injury. For the past nine hours, he'd been imagining the absolute worst. At least she'd been spared that much.

Laleh lifted her head and smiled sweetly. She mouthed the words, "I love you" and then "I'm sorry." He made a small motion with his hand, telling her not to worry.

"Where's the jewelry?" Jai demanded, the gun trembling slightly.

Face twitching at the sight of the scars and piercings on Jai's body, Pike took note of the man's slick flushed skin. He looked dehydrated and exhausted. Pike cast a wary gaze at the gun. He'd seen one before, years ago as a cadet, and knew they were bad news.

"You realize if you miss me, you're going to blow a hole in this piece of shit ship of yours. I don't need to tell you how quickly this vessel is going to decompress and crush us all."

"Then I guess you'd better do as I ask," Jai snapped back. "Where is the jewelry?"

"I'm in the engine room," Quinn said softly. "You need to move out of the doorway.

Distract him."

Pike slowly moved toward Laleh, drawing Jai's attention far away from the corridor behind Pike. He made sure to stand directly in front of Laleh, blocking her body completely with his own. He patted the front pocket of his jeans. "Give me Laleh and I'll give you the jewelry."

Jai shook his head and moved forward. His back remained to the corridor. Pike prayed Quinn would move with extreme stealth.

"Give me the jewelry," Jai countered, "and I'll give you the key." He held up the small silver key to the chains.

Pike knew exactly how that would play out and held his ground. "Get rid of the gun first."

Jai scoffed. "You don't seem to realize who has the upper hand here, starman." He gestured to the gun. "I'm giving you a chance to walk out of here alive."

As Pike stared down Jai, he felt Laleh's fingers touching the back of his jeans. She moved so quietly and so slowly Pike thought he'd imagined it at first. Out of the corner of his eye, Pike spotted Quinn. His partner had discarded his helmet and held his stunner at the ready. Pike needed to buy a little more time. "You and I both know that's a lie. Your ship is dead."