Survivor Planet Series 2-Book Box Set (15 page)

“He's asleep,” a man said coming up to stand near me.

“Will he be all right?” I asked, assuming he was the physician.

He was kindly looking and he actually smiled at me. “He'll be fine.”

Kenix and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Ayres' eyes suddenly began to flutter and his grip on my hand tightened. He coughed and then opened his eyes. “Amanda?”

I beamed at him. “Yes. It's me. And look, Kenix is here too.”

Ayres peered at his brother and smiled. “You're free.” Then his eyes focused on Baynar who'd moved closer to the table. “Dammit.”

“I'm glad to see you recovered, Ayres. Calixtus will rejoice,” Baynar said.

“You can't send him to Drone. He's too weak. They'll eat him alive,” Kenix said.

Ayres stared at his brother, confused. “Drone? What do you mean?”

Baynar came closer to the table. “He'll be kept in isolation until he's stronger. Besides, no one would want to damage the prize of the next tournament.”

Ayres tried to rise, but the physician gently pushed him back down. “Take it easy,” he told him. “You'll only hurt your recovery.”

“What the hell is going on?” Ayres demanded.

Baynar quickly filled Ayres in on his plans for all of us—leaving out the part of my little heroics. All the while Ayres' face grew grimmer. “Bastard,” he said.

“Say your goodbyes,” Baynar snapped. “You have five eudn.” He turned and left the room.

I took it to mean we had five minutes. Not much time.

“What happened on Taleon after I fell?” Ayres asked me.

I felt as if this was all my fault. If I hadn't been so enraged and taken off after Oro and Lissa, this wouldn't be happening. “I took your scythe and went after them,” I admitted.

“You what?” demanded Ayres. “I told you to protect yourself with it. Not to seek revenge.”

“I was so mad. Oro was fine—everything Lissa said was a lie. I saw them strolling across the field toward the Safe Zone and I couldn't let them get away with it.”

Ayres closed his eyes. “What did you do?”

“I knocked her down and waited for Oro to come at me. I didn't kill her.”

“Before Oro could get to her, Baynar intervened,” Kenix said. “He sent her back to Earth, and then hatched this little plan to have us play for your life. Calixtus went wild over Amanda. Baynar expects the ratings to skyrocket next year.”

“So I'm to go to Drone, and Amanda will return to Earth. And you?” Ayres asked.

“Baynar wants me on Calixtus where he can keep watch on me. He's worried I'll try to break you out of Drone.”

“Even if you did, he'd just use Amanda's implant to track me down.”

Damn the stupid piece of technology in my brain.

“He'll be putting one in me next, I suppose,” Kenix said.

“You guys didn't have a Plan C, by chance?” I asked hopefully.

“No. Plan B was to have me break out of Drone—no easy task—and then come for Ayres on Taleon. Everyone would think him dead anyway, so they wouldn't ask any questions.”

What about me? How did I figure into their plan?

Ayres squeezed my hand. “You would have come with us,” he said, reading my mind. “You are mine.”

I gulped. His determined stare pierced right through me.

Mine?

Was that a good thing, or a bad thing?

Our five minutes were up. It was time to say goodbye. Despite Kenix and the physician's presence, I bent and gave Ayres a lingering kiss on the lips. I couldn't believe we'd be forced to spend a year apart. And then I'd be forced to play that hellish game again, without him by my side. At least I knew he was alive.

“I'm so glad you're all right,” I said. “I'm sorry.”

“Sorry for what?”

I couldn't stand the guilt. “If it weren't for me, you guys would be free.”

“No. If it weren't for you, I'd probably be dead,” Ayres said.

“It's true. Without your tracker, I may not have found him till it was too late,” Kenix said. I knew he was being kind. He probably hadn't needed my help at all. I had the feeling he'd brought me along to save him and Ayres a trip later. With this thing in my head the authority on Calixtus would no doubt have used me to track them both, figuring they'd be together. Kenix needed to make sure I was no threat to them—one way or another.

“I shouldn't have let my guard down,” Ayres said.

“Don't worry. I got her for you.” Even though she was probably living it up right now, with Oro.

“Keep your head down on Drone. Don't make any enemies, and watch your back,” Kenix told him. They grasped forearms in a warrior's farewell.

“Don't worry,” the physician said. “He'll make a full recovery.” He seemed a nice enough guy. I wondered how he'd wound up working for Baynar.

“Please be careful,” I said.

“I will,” Ayres promised. “You too.” He looked at his brother. “And you.”

Kenix nodded. Slowly we headed for the door. When we got out into the hallway the door swished shut cutting off my eye contact with Ayres. There were two guys waiting to escort us back to Baynar.

We got halfway down the hallway before all hell broke loose. An alarm went off, distracting the guards. Kenix reacted quickly, punching one man in the face, knocking him senseless to the ground. When the other guard advanced on him, Kenix spun around and kicked him in the side of the head. I stood there staring at the two unconscious men.

“What the hell are you doing?” Baynar would kill us both for this.

Kenix shrugged and grinned roguishly. “Plan C?”

A few seconds later Ayres joined us in the hall. I rushed over to him, noticing he was half dressed. He had on pants and boots and was pulling on a shirt over his bandage. “What are you doing up? You're hurt.”

“I'm well enough,” he said. I knew that look on his face all too well—he was in warrior mode.

“Physician?” Kenix handed Ayres one of the guards' weapons and had taken one for himself. They looked like mini ray guns.

Ayres nodded. “Not before he hit the alarm though.”

“You didn't kill him, did you?” I asked.

“No,” Ayres said. “How many on board?”

“Six, I believe. Judging by the size of the vessel,” Kenix said. “Three are handled.” He looked down at the guards. He fiddled with his weapon and shot a laser bolt into each of them. “They won't wake up till it's all over.”

“And here I was hoping for a challenge.”

“So where are you going now?” I asked.

“To find Baynar,” Kenix said.

The ship was small so it didn't take us long to retrace our steps to where Baynar had first teleported us. The alarm still sounded so he obviously knew something was up. When we reached the last corner, Kenix went around first. He jumped back in a hurry as a riot of laser shots swirled out—those ones set to kill, judging by the scorch marks they left. All of us flattened against the wall.

“You stay here.” Ayres gave me
that look
when I frowned at him. “Ready?” he said to Kenix.

“As I'll ever be.”

Both of them started around the corner, ray guns blazing. After a firestorm of blasting lights and curse words, finally all was silent. “You can come out now,” Ayres called. Just as I was about to join them I felt a poke in my back.

“Don't move,” Baynar's voice came from behind me.

When I failed to appear or say anything, both brothers came looking for me. They stopped dead when they saw Baynar standing behind me.

“Let her go,” Ayres said. The look in his eyes scared even me.

“You can't win,” Kenix told him. “There's no one left on board alive to help you,” he lied.

“You can't handle the ship and keep an eye on all of us,” Ayres said. “The moment you turn your back, you're a dead man.”

“Not if I kill you both now,” Baynar said.

“No!” I cried.

“That'll be bad for ratings,” Kenix told him.

“You wouldn't want to kill your star attractions,” Ayres taunted.

“You're right. I can stun you though.” I felt Baynar's weapon shift around slightly. While he concentrated his attention on keeping watch on the brothers and fiddling with the settings on his gun, I reached down. Slowly, I lifted my foot and withdrew the long thin blade from my boot. Holding the hilt in my hand I quickly flipped the blade upward so it rested hidden against the inside of my arm. I locked eyes with Ayres. He'd seen what I had done. Instead of aggravation, I saw the look of hope on his face. His lips even curled into a smile.

“What're you smiling about, idiot?” Baynar demanded. “Are you thinking about Drone? Why don't you tell him how delightful it is, Kenix? I'm sure you enjoyed your stay immensely.”

“Actually, I'm wondering how you'll enjoy spending your last days playing for survival on Taleon?” Ayres said. “That's where I plan to send you when we take your ship and leave you to rot.”

Baynar laughed. “What a fool you are. As you can see, I'm the one making the decisions here. You'll be the one to rot until your brother wins your freedom—if he doesn't manage to screw it up.” His other hand came up to fondle my hair. “I wonder what will happen to your little Amanda, spending days alone with your brother? Relying on him for...everything?”

Ayres, angry now, took a step forward. Baynar shifted the gun in my back. “That's far enough!” When Ayres took another step, I struck. Raising my arm, I turned the blade. With all the strength I could muster, I stabbed it into Baynar's thigh.

He screamed in agony.

Ayres leapt forward and grabbed the hand I stretched out to him. He threw me into Kenix who shoved me behind his back. Peeking around his bulk I saw Baynar grapple for his weapon. He was on his knees now and lifted his head just as Ayres punched him in the face. Baynar dropped like a stone.

“Shit!” Kenix said. “That went well.”

Ayres stared at me for a moment, perhaps making sure I was unharmed. Satisfied, he turned his attention to his foe. He grabbed Baynar and tossed him over his shoulder. “Let's get him and the others to the transporter.”

“So you really mean to leave him on Taleon?” Kenix asked.

“Yes. Something tells me the bloodthirsty crowd on Calixtus won't intervene.”

“Too bad we can't stick around and watch that,” Kenix said.

We entered the room with the transporter and Ayres laid Baynar down. He then led me to a chair and made me sit. Once seated, I realized I was shaking.

“We're going to get the others,” Ayres told me.

“There may still be a few roaming around,” Kenix reminded him. Ayres shrugged.

“They'll all be meeting the same fate soon enough,” Ayres predicted. “We won't be long, all right?”

I nodded.

Not much later, six men were piled together on the floor of the transporter and beamed down to Taleon's surface.

“Won't they be in for a shock when they wake up?” Kenix said with a chuckle.

Ayres kneeled down before me and took my hand. “Are you sure you're all right, Amanda?”

“I think so.”

“Kenix and I are going somewhere safe across the galaxy. We're both hunted men now. We can't return to Calixtus.”

Kenix shrugged. “I knew once I escaped Drone I'd be on the run. It beats the alternative.” He gave me a wink and left the room.

“I'm sorry,” I said.

“Don't be. I will not miss Calixtus. We were wrong to use your world, your people, just as we're wrong to use Taleon and the Varlings. We have no right.”

“What changed your mind?” I asked.

“You did. Getting to know you, to...love you.”

“What?” Did I hear him right? I got the feeling those words were as alien to him as I was.

He leaned forward and kissed me. “I said I love you. I meant to tell you before I passed out. Now, what I'm wondering is whether you wish to return to Earth? I can't guarantee you'll be safe there from my kind.”

I was still trying to wrap my head around the idea that he loved me. “You're afraid they'll use the device in my head to track you down.”

“They may try. They may also want to use you in the next tournament. I hear you're quite popular.”

I noticed the gleam in his eye. “But, Baynar's gone. Everyone thinks you're dead,” I reminded him.

“If Baynar isn't rescued from Taleon, there will always be another asshole to take his place. You can bet he'll tell the world what happened here—at least, his version of it. It's just a matter of time before Calixtus knows I'm alive.”

He could never return home anyway, since he was supposed to be rotting on Taleon like the rest of the contestants that lost the game—the ones who survived. “So you'll spend your life on the run?”

“Like Kenix said, it's better than the alternative. The choice is yours, Amanda. I know Earth is your home.”

Was it?
I'd been controlled and manipulated since I was a child. How long would it take for someone to hunt me down and use me again? Not that I'd be hard to find, locked up helpless in the loony bin. Even if Ayres dropped me somewhere else, what would I do? I had no skills. What I did have was a device in my head that might possibly make me unsafe anywhere on the surface of Earth. Would I be safe anywhere in the galaxy? Would Ayres?

He seemed to read my mind. “Where we're going, it'll be impossible to track us...especially if we're together,” he added.

“You don't leave me much choice,” I said.

“You always have a choice.” Seeing the determination on his face, I didn't quite believe him. After all, he'd said ‘you're mine'.

“What do you want me to do?” Part of me still feared he didn't want me by his side.

He smiled. “I want you with me. Always.”