Taking Liberty (11 page)

Shading his eyes, he scanned the hut's exterior and the surrounding area for surveillance optics. Unless Quarrel had invested in cutting-edge equipment that was undetectable to the human eye, the coast looked clear. Moving cautiously, he slipped the pac and huddle tent free of his shoulders and stacked them at the base of the boulders. If guards were inside the building, his only hope would be launching a sneak attack.

He started to inch away from the rocks just as a door recessed in the steel siding swung inward. Ducking, he watched two guards amble outside.

“I'll see you in two weeks,” the taller one said.

“Are you certain you wouldn't prefer switching shifts? I don't mind.”

“You just don't want to be around the general when he's on the rampage.” Slapping his comrade on the back, the tall Aquatican disappeared inside the hut.

The other guard made an obscene gesture with one of his tentacles. “Fish breath. Hope you get molested by a lizard.” With an irritable grumble, he stalked around the perimeter of the building and sped off seconds later in a transport rover.

Lucus stared at the plume of dust fanning behind the departing vehicle. “Shit, wish I'd seen that earlier.” Gritting his teeth, he left his hiding spot, keeping low to the ground as he approached the hut. The door remained ajar, squeaking slightly on its hinges. He spied a series of suspended cage lights leading deeper into the bowels of the station. The remaining guard was nowhere in sight.

Here goes nothing
. He pried the door open all the way, wincing when the steel issued another rusty whine. Balancing his weight so no heavy boot tread would alert the guard, he skulked past the entry. Trash littered every available surface of the small vestibule he stood in. The noxious odor of rotting kelp also fouled the air.

Too bad he didn't have a camera. It'd be a perfect opportunity to show Rini that a grosser place existed than the bridge of his ship. Venturing closer to the hallway, he pressed against the wall and peeked around the corner. No guard lurking in the shadows. So far so good. He stepped over the threshold and crept along the corridor, his senses on high alert. Muffled noise came from up ahead. It took a minute to recognize the faint strains of Jhiordan jungle music. Inching closer to the sound, he came to a room fronted by dirty windows. On the other side of the grimy film coating the glass, the guard gyrated to the throbbing beat, wearing nothing but a leopard-print thong.

That is wrong on so many levels
. Grimacing, Lucus hunkered beneath the window ledge and crab-walked past the room. A few yards farther up the hall, he came across the control hub of the station. Three enormous tables piled high with logbooks took up most of the space. Unfortunately, no central computing system was in evidence. He strode to the cabinet situated in the rear of the room and started wrenching drawers open. With each unproductive attempt, the anchor suspended from his heart plummeted lower. His hopes riding a shaky rail, he searched the final bin. He pushed the clutter aside and bit back an exultant whoop at the sight of the transmitter nestled at the bottom.

“Come to papa, you beautiful thing.” Crooning to the inanimate object, he lifted the transmitter and cradled it in his palm. He toggled the switch and a green light appeared on the face of the device. “Thank you, Jesus.”

Tucking the transmitter into the back pocket of his pants, he exited the room—the same instant the guard boogied into the hallway. They gaped at each other mutely.

Lucus was first to break the silence. “Son of a bitch.”
Do I really want to tackle a half-naked Aquatican dude
? Not giving himself time to dwell on the godawful fate staring him down, he barreled towards the guard.

Chapter Eleven

Rini eyed the pinkish underbelly of the lone cloud hovering mid-sky. “Doesn't it
ever
rain here?” Heaving a disgusted breath, she tossed another piece of splintered crate into the fire ring. She backtracked to the makeshift table and stared at her unappetizing meal of dehydrated meatloaf. Bad enough having to eat alone. Try gulping down a slab of sawdust that attempted to pass itself off as meat. Unfortunately, with the rehydrator out of commission, she didn't have much choice.

She sawed off a corner of the meatloaf and took a nibble. “Ketchup—that's what it needs.” Throwing her fork on top of her plate, she raced inside the star cruiser. A quick rummage through the galley's cupboards produced an unopened bottle of the condiment. She returned to the table outside and smothered her dinner with a thick layer of ketchup. With the meatloaf's bland flavor masked, she managed to choke down most of it.

She pushed the uneaten portion away, her thoughts returning to Lucus. All day she'd been stressing over him, her overactive imagination conjuring all sorts of terrible scenarios. What if he took a nasty spill and broke his leg? He'd be hobbling around the desert for days, at the mercy of the relentless sun and nighttime predators. Or what if he was captured by General Quarrel and thrown back inside the death tank? Even Jeneet wouldn't be able to spring him if that ended up happening.

Rini buried her face in her hands and groaned. “
Stop it
. Imagining the worst isn't going to do anything but give me a migraine.” Jumping up from the carton, she paced in front of the fire. A few minutes of that and she started to feel like a human sponge, pouring sweat in massive quantities. Peeling Lucus's shirt off, she placed it on the crate and turned towards the washing bucket. She splashed her torso and face, blinking as fat water rivulets ran into her eyes. Reaching out blindly, she groped for the discarded shirt. Her fingers scraped against the edge of the crate and she frowned. A chorus of high-pitched chirps disturbed the peace.

Her vision blurry and waterlogged, she spun in time to catch a family of lizards absconding with Lucus's shirt into the desert.

“Come back here, you scaly thieves!” Stumbling around the crate, she dashed after the fleeing reptilians. The shirt zigzagged between a pair of cacti, one flapping arm nearly snagging on a cactus quill. Chattering away, the trio of lizards darted behind an enormous rock. Noisy squeals erupted and the exposed tail-end of the shirt started whipping wildly. Figuring the lizards were busy playing tug-of-war over ownership of their stolen prize, Rini lunged forward.

“Got you, you little—” Shock held her immobilized. A lizard at least three feet in length crouched on the other side of the rock, a flicking tail disappearing between its wickedly sharp teeth. Once the ginormo lizard finished chowing on its puny cousin, its beady eyes trained on her.

“Oh shit.” Heart tripping, Rini backed up.

An ominous hiss rasped from the beast. With dizzying speed, one of its front claws struck Rini's leg, slashing the cotton barrier of her cargo pants. Pain seared her flesh but she had no time to yelp as the lizard sprang for her throat. The weight knocked her off her feet, slamming her to the ground. She beat at the creature, trying to dislodge it and avoid its snapping jaws at the same time. Giving it a fierce pummel upside its head, she knocked the lizard from her chest. She rolled, frantically scrabbling onto her elbows. Surging to its feet, the lizard leapt at her.

A horrific scream ripped through the night and scarlet-tipped wings flapped overhead, colliding with the lizard.

Rini fell back with a gasp as the buzzard dug its talons into the lizard and carted it off with a triumphant squawk. She slumped, stunned relief forcing a laugh from her. “I can't believe Big Ugly just saved my ass.”

Her limbs wobbly, she stood and swiped Lucus's shirt. She managed two steps before a strange numbness crawled up her leg and seized her calf muscles, making her stumble. Frowning, she shuffled forward. The tingly sensation traveled to her other leg. Dragging her right foot, she scuffed towards the Liberty. Less than twenty yards from the ship, she lost all mobility in her legs and thunked to the ground like a toppled domino. Except for the sting radiating from the gashes where the lizard attacked her, everything from her rib cage down was deadened. Remembering the warnings in the various zoological textbooks she'd studied prior to her ranger training ops, she mumbled a curse, her heart rate spiking.

From the look of things, she'd just had her first encounter with a brown-bellied nictick lizard. Once infected with the nictick's venom, the victim suffered complete paralysis. She didn't need to worry about the lizard returning to savor his slow, leisurely dinner but that didn't mean she was out of the woods. Or out of the desert, to be more precise. She stared at the hulking outline of the Liberty in the distance. In her condition, the sixty feet separating her from the ship might as well be a thousand miles.

The clod of dirt beneath her cheek absorbed her anguished moan. “Fate, could you be a bigger smart aleck?”

A hungry scream echoed above.

She gulped. “Forget I asked.”

 

 

 

Lucus plowed his fist into the guard's jaw and the Aquatican reciprocated by whipping a tentacle out and slamming Lucus against the corridor wall. They'd been at it for close to fifteen minutes and it was beginning to wear on Lucus. At least that's what he told himself as he staggered sideways, his vision going wonky. Under normal circumstances, he would have kicked this eight-armed, thong-wearin' freak's ass six ways to Sunday.

“Getting tired?” A raspy chuckle trickled from the guard and he lunged forward.

Sidestepping the guard's flailing tentacles, Lucus squeezed a laugh past the harsh breaths hogging his windpipe. “No. You?”

“Hardly.” A wicked gleam of excitement shone in the Aquatican's eyes as he circled Lucus with the nimble quickstep of a pugilist's dance. “Perhaps I should have warned you earlier. My cousin is Sammer the Hammer. Perhaps you've heard of him?”

The undisputed intergalactic boxing champion. Shit, who hadn't heard of him? Lucus narrowly ducked a flying tentacle. “So I take it the Hammer taught you a few tricks.”

“Only his best.”

Fuck, time to level the playing field
. Lucus twisted to the left and brought his boot up hard between the guard's legs. The Aquatican fell, his shrill, girlish shriek rattling the windowpanes.

“Learned that trick from an ex-girlfriend. Pretty damn certain you haven't heard of her.” Grasping one of the limp tentacles sagging near his foot, Lucus dragged the guard into the room behind them. He spied a steel door propped open on the farthest wall and towed the blubbering Aquatican inside what turned out to be a pantry. After grabbing four boxes of powdered soup and a bag of biscuits from the shelf, Lucus wedged a chair under the door handle, ensuring no convenient escape for the guard. By the time he exited the station, the sun had officially cozied down for the night.

He gave the star-riddled sky a wry grimace. “Seems no matter how I time it, I'm always stuck stumbling around in the dark.” Returning to the cluster of boulders, he stuffed the newly acquired rations of food in the pac-sack and reloaded himself. The good news was if he kept a brisk pace and didn't stop to sleep, he'd reach Rini and the Liberty by midafternoon.

His stiff resolve took a hike several hours later when the sleep-deprived hallucinations began setting in. Every time he came across a cactus, he damn near jumped out of his skin mistaking the plant for some chubby specter of death. Considering the cacti-filled desert surrounding him, his chances of suffering a heart attack within the next five minutes looked good. If that weren't bad enough, the load he carried started to feel about as comfortable as a walrus riding him piggyback.

Defeated, he dropped his gear and erected the huddle tent. This time no erotic dreams involving Rini played havoc with his mind. But he did get in a quick snooze, which actually made the homeward stretch of his journey less of a living hell.

The sun stood at full blast by the time he hit the outskirts of the crash site. Sweat poured off him faster than his body manufactured it. Wiping his dripping brow, he scuffed past the large forroc marking the end of the path he'd blazed. The star cruiser loomed ahead. “Honey, I'm home,” he croaked.

Ignoring the merciless pain and exhaustion draining him, he limped closer to the ship. He spotted Rini sprawled on the desert floor, not far from the shadow cast by the Liberty's tail fin. Something about the utter stillness of her form made his heart do a slow plummet to his toes.

Adrenaline renewing his energy, he jerked the pac-sack and huddle tent off and ran. He dropped to his knees beside Rini. With trembling hands, he cupped her neck, feeling for a pulse. The shallow heartbeat was weak, but it was there. His focus lowered to the bloody leg of her pants.

Rini's head shifted a tiny fraction and his attention returned to her face just as her eyelashes fluttered. “'Bout time you showed up.”

“Baby, what the hell happened to you?”

“Got into a bit of a brawl. With a poisonous lizard. Don't worry, he looks worse than me.” Her voice floated to his ears, a mere whisper. The frailty of the sound brought a lump to his throat.

“You can't walk?”

Another slight movement of her head gave him his answer. Tucking his arms beneath her shoulders and lower spine, he cradled her against his chest and stood. Pushing the strain in his muscles to the back of his mind, he carried Rini inside the Liberty and lowered her onto the lounger. “I'm going to get you some water. I'll be right back.”

“Not going…anywhere.”

She was cracking jokes. That had to be a good sign. People having the life sucked out of them wouldn't feel up to one-liners. Fortifying himself with that thought, he rushed to the galley and snagged one of the drinking jugs. When he returned to Rini he found her convulsing. He dropped the jug and it crashed onto the floor, spilling its contents. Unconcerned with the minor catastrophe with the water, he rolled Rini onto her side. Her pant leg rucked up and his gaze landed on the nasty scratches branded on her calf. Through the haze of his fear, he remembered her saying something about being attacked by a poisonous lizard.