Read Forbidden Worlds - Box Set Online
Authors: Bernadette Gardner
Thankfully, the triple dose of U-4EA Tarrant had given her had worn off some time during their all-night sexual escapades. The unrequited ache in her clit had dulled now to a pleasant warmth, leaving her feeling content for the first time in a long while.
Nola stretched and yawned and tried to brush an annoying strand of hair from her eyes, but her arms wouldn’t budge.
Her eyes snapped open in panic, not because she was averse to a little bondage—in fact the thought of Tarrant tying her up and having his way with her again made her sex tingle and pulse—but because beneath her body was a cold, flat surface rather than the cushiony mattress of the enormous bed in her bungalow. Instead of luxuriating in Tarrant’s warm embrace, she now lay slumped against the bulkhead of what appeared to be the cargo container of a very small shuttle craft. Her wrists were shackled at her waist, and her ankles were bound together with a transparent length of strong tape.
Whoever had abducted her had at least taken time to dress her. She wore her short silver dress, though it was improperly buttoned. Through the gaps in the fastenings, she could see her matching silver thong, and nearby lay her silver shoes, their thin straps tangled together as if they’d been hastily dumped on the floor.
The panic that had gripped her subsided only after a few deep breaths to steady her nerves. She’d been abducted before—though usually by design, as a means to get close to her marks. She’d always managed to escape. Her training kicked in, and she took stock of the situation with the jaundiced eye of a professional, rather than that of a displaced tourist.
In the dim light of the cargo container she could make out the remnants of an insignia on the bulkhead. Only a few specks of red paint and a faint outline remained, but it was enough to identify the shuttle as having once been military issue. Probably rescued from a junk heap by the looks of things. Her captors obviously weren’t particular about the condition of their ship. That was good. Their carelessness would mean her chances for escape were a lot higher.
Rather than scream and alert her captors, Nola struggled to a sitting position and tugged on the thin chains that secured her wrists to a thick nylon strap around her waist.
There wasn’t enough give for her to reach the tape that bound her ankles or she would have used the chains to saw through the transparent material.
Instead she discovered the belt around her waist was secured loosely enough that she might be able to work it down over her hips. With a series of hops and wiggles, she managed to work the belt down partially. The effort exhausted her, though, and when she settled back against the cold bulkhead to rest, the door of the cargo compartment slid open.
“Hathan!” Nola’s temper flared at the sight of her dubious and occasional partner. At least now she knew what she was up against. Given half a chance, she could flatten the devious little schemer with a well-placed kick to the gonads. “What the fuck is this all about?”
“You’re my new assignment, dearest. Isn’t this cozy?” Hathan raked a disapproving glance over her and bent to realign the restricting belt.
Nola struggled, growling her displeasure through a litany of creative curses.
“Tut, tut. Language. Remember, you’re supposed to be a lady.”
When he rose, Nola’s bonds were tighter than ever.
“You dirty little bastard. You’re some kind of counter spy, aren’t you? Who are you really working for, Enviro-Guard?”
“No. Of course not. I’m working for the people who own you. Did you think your every move hasn’t been closely monitored since you landed your pretty little ass on Sensuron? Your handlers know you’re not happy with the generous career opportunities they’ve given you. They know you spilled everything to Kane. Shock of shocks, you actually told him the truth. What were you thinking? Maybe that Mr. Rich and Gullible would provide you with a fatter pay day than the people who’ve paid your way all these years? Maybe you thought he’d finally free you from this unfortunate life of crime.” Hathan dismissed Nola’s attempt to respond with a wave of his hand. “Don’t bother. I’m only getting paid to transport you back to In-Teron. You’ve got what you came for.” Hathan snickered. “Came for…aren’t I clever? Now you’ll deliver it to In-Teron as promised. The only difference is, I get your fee, and you’ll probably get dumped in a trash compactor once they extract your precious cargo.”
Nola ignored Hathan’s preening. He was right after all. They’d dispose of her without a second thought as punishment for her betrayal. She was nothing more than an experiment to them, one that was beginning to outlive her usefulness.
She had to get free. All she needed was the smallest opportunity, and she’d get it, but—
“Kane? What did you do to him?”
“Oh, don’t spare him a thought, sweet. A canister of anesthetic gas in the air purifier of your bungalow gave him the best sleep of his life. The rules were very clear, no harm comes to the cash cow. With all that glorious DNA of his, we might need him again in the future.”
Nola hid her relief. At least Tarrant was safe…safe and secure in his belief that she had played him for the fool.
* * * *
Kane studied the rocky landscape of Sensuron’s dark side as it receded beneath the departing shuttle. The other passengers leaving the resort for points unknown had gathered around the aft view port to bid farewell to the misshapen, partially terraformed asteroid and its tiny dwarf sun. They raised their drinks in a toast and cheered the lovely, carefree holiday they’d spent basking on the man-made beaches.
While the others chatted and bragged about their exploits, Kane settled into his flight chair with his own drink and let his dark thoughts wander back to his last night with Nola. She’d played him so well. He was torn between shame at his own stupidity and admiration for her sublime ability to make him believe her clever lies.
He’d come to Sensuron to try to forget some of his training and learn to enjoy civilian life. He’d forgotten plenty, apparently.
After an hour of brooding introspection, he opened the Com Net connection set into the arm of his chair and pulled up his personal itinerary. He’d booked cruises and safaris, tours of famous museums and historic battlefields and even a hunting expedition in the jungles of Narim. With a few keystrokes, he canceled everything. He’d wasted enough time and enough money. The thought of wining and dining another underdressed, over confident socialite made him feel physically ill. He needed a life. A real one.
And he knew exactly where he wanted to begin.
* * * *
The dark side of Sensuron was a desolate, airless place full of dusty craters and tumbles of broken rocks. Once a day, an expedition trundled out from the resort, half a dozen tourists cocooned in an environmental bubble nestled on huge rolling treads. Safe inside their habitat, they could stargaze and rock hunt, and enjoy an adventure that vaguely mirrored the early days of space exploration.
Today, the passengers of the Sensuron Space Bus would get a special treat. Amid the plumes of dust and crystalline matrixes of subsurface ejaculates, they would find a man in a battered spacesuit, like the type used on the old military shuttle craft. Lying at the base of an ancient lava column, barely conscious and sucking the last of his precious air in through bloody lips and a badly broken nose, he’d whisper that his name was Hathan and that he’d been left there by a former guest named Nola Rule.
Two Months Later
His muscles ached like they never had before. Even hours spent in a fighter cockpit, or days spent hunting the enemy in the hottest deserts or coldest flood plains of the outer colonies had never left him feeling so utterly exhausted.
And he’d never been happier.
Kane reached the wooden shack that had served as his home for the past eight weeks and drew in a welcome breath of cool evening air. The nights on Decatur were glorious, temperate, and full of the wonderful sounds of rushing water and singing night birds. What a perfect place to establish a new colony.
Today, he’d helped dig trenches for irrigation of the fields. Tomorrow, he would lay the foundation for a medical center. In another month, the first wave of families displaced from the outer colonies by the war would arrive and take up residence in these same shacks. Over time, each small dwelling would be expanded to become an estate, and a new economy would form based on the crops grown in the fertile soil of the river delta. Then, Kane would move on to another foundling colony, and another and another. In time, maybe he’d be able to say he helped rebuild the entire sector and repaid his fellows for some of the damage he’d done as a relentless military commander.
A soft whisper stilled his hand when he reached for the door of his shack. He might have swung around ready to fight the intruder, had it not been for the scent of her. A scent he’d never forget no matter how hard he tried.
“Tarrant.”
His spine went stiff and despite himself, by the gods, his cock did as well. How could she command a response like that from him after what she’d done?
He turned, his teeth clenched so tightly that the muscles in his jaw began to throb. “Ms. Rule. How did you find me?”
“I have my ways.” She emerged from the shadows, slim and pale in the light of Decatur’s moons. Her black hair shimmered and her eyes were dark and bottomless.
“If you’re looking for any of the belongings you abandoned on Sensuron, you’ve come to the wrong place. I suspect the management would have sold them by now to pay off your bill.”
If only he could make his voice sound even colder. Why did a hint of warmth creep in when she smiled at him?
“My bill has been settled, thank you. And the only thing of value I left on Sensuron…was you.”
He turned away. “You try my patience, Ms. Rule. Tell me, have you come for another sample of my sperm?”
“No. I still have the one you gave me last time.” Her voice wavered, and he battled the desire to turn back and look at her. He put his hand on the door knob and turned.
“This is public land, so technically you’re not trespassing, Ms. Rule, but while my temper is still under my control, I would ask you to be on your way. There’s nothing for you here.”
“I need your help, Tarrant. Please.”
“You seem quite capable of helping yourself to anything you want. What could I possibly give you that you can’t simply steal?” In another minute, he’d lose it. He opened the door, prepared to rush inside and lock the door behind him to prevent himself from tearing her apart. He was the target of his own anger, though. He’d gotten over the personal embarrassment of having been taken in by her hot little body and her gorgeous smile. Now, he only hated himself for his inability to fight the longing, the desire for that strange life they’d planned out together whereby they’d have raised his sons and forged some kind of legacy. What a fool he’d been.
“I need to get to Enviro-Guard. I’ve tried on my own, but no one there will speak to me. They don’t believe me that I’m carrying your embryos.”
* * * *
Kane turned on her so quickly she jumped back. His eyes blazed with a fury that made her blood run ice cold. “What are you saying?”
“I never went to In-Teron. I know you won’t believe me, but Hathan took me from the bungalow that night. He was the man you saw in the hotel lobby…he was assigned to bring me back to In-Teron, but I escaped from him. I’ve been looking for you ever since. I…don’t have a lot of time left. The embryos are growing. Very slowly, but eventually they will break the bio-containers. Most of them will be damaged if that happens, but they could still implant and continue to develop. They need to be removed as soon as possible.” She didn’t add that assuming the pain didn’t kill her, she would likely die before even one of the embryos reached maturity.
“Why didn’t you just go to In-Teron? Isn’t there a hefty paycheck waiting for you?”
Her body trembled involuntarily at the thought of what awaited if In-Teron’s operatives caught up with her. “I can’t go back there. They’ll kill me.”
“Oftentimes that’s the price of betrayal.” He held her gaze for a moment, letting her feel the weight of his judgment.
She came into the feeble circle of light cast by the small bulb set over the door of the hut that bore his name. “A medic can’t do the job. The canisters have to be removed intact if any of the embryos are going to survive.”
He raised his chin and looked down at her, skeptical but wavering. If anything, he’d become more handsome since she’d seen him last. Decatur’s yellow sun had bronzed his skin naturally and streaked his dark hair with golden highlights. He wore a sleeveless shirt that revealed the bulging muscles of his arms, slick with honest sweat.
“You may find this cliché, but why should I believe you? I’ve seen firsthand how cleverly you lie.”
She shrugged. “Believe me because you wanted them.” She put her hand across her abdomen. Though they were still too small to make much difference in her figure, she felt them regardless. Twelve lives that depended on her. Twelve lives that would suffer if they weren’t set free of their confinement soon. “You wanted to raise sons. They’ll all die if we don’t do something. Enviro-Guard security has turned me away twice. Just like In-Teron, they publicly deny they have a bio-crèche program. The only way in is with your clearance.”
Their eyes locked, and the argument raged silently for a moment. Nola felt as if Tarrant were searching her very soul for the truth. She sagged in relief when he nodded.
“Get inside. I’ll be back in an hour.” He swung open the door of his shack, revealing the Spartan furnishings: a narrow bed, a straight backed chair, and small table. One wall held the amenities, including a digital cooking station, sink, and waste disposal unit. She’d seen jail cells that looked more comfortable, and in fact, she’d even been inside a few.
“Where are you going?”
“I have a shuttle. I’ll get ready for launch. I have to let some people know I’ll be gone for a few days. If you’re still here when I come back, we’ll leave tonight.”
“Where would I go?” She almost laughed, but his gaze was steely and serious.
“I’ve nothing of value in there, in case you’re inclined to steal anything.” His response chilled her. Without further comment, he turned and walked away into the balmy night.
Oddly, she considered the encounter a success. She’d expected far worse than cold comfort and ready acceptance.
She lowered herself to the bed to wait for him and fluttered her fingers over her womb. “It’s going to be okay now, little boys. I promise you, we’re going to be okay.”
* * * *
Decatur didn’t have much in the way of security. In fact the place was wide open, which was why Nola had been able to just waltz up to his quarters in the middle of the night. She’d come in on the last staff transport from Laguna, according to the arrival logs which he accessed from the net hub in the common room.
The retired general in him also checked the news logs and the Earth-Sec wanted lists, but nothing came up. Nola Rule didn’t have a criminal record, and she wasn’t wanted by the authorities. He wagered that In-Teron might have been interested in her whereabouts, assuming she was telling the truth.
And why would she be? What did she have to gain by coming here? Surely In-Teron would have paid her well for her trouble.
A soldier would be wary of her. In fact, all his instincts told him to kick her pretty ass all the way back to the space port and forget he ever saw her.
But he couldn’t.
He told himself he would help her only because, if her story was true, his limited knowledge of illegal bio-crèche technology told him that what she’d said was correct. The embryos, though they were growing more slowly than normal right now, would eventually break out of their containers, causing irreparable damage to their developing tissues, not to mention her womb. Any that survived would likely be crippled by birth defects, assuming she lived long enough to actually birth them.
He couldn’t let that happen. Couldn’t even consider it. He’d been responsible for too much destruction of life during the war.
So that was why he left the common room and strolled over to the colony’s very small landing field where his personal shuttle sat next to the recent crew transports. He could have her at Enviro-Guard’s space station in less than three days, and then he could be rid of her for good.
He left word with the colonial governor, a man named Breson who had become his ally during these months of back-breaking work. Then he prepared his shuttle for flight. Maybe she’d be gone when he got back. Maybe he’d imagined her. If that was the case, so be it. He’d deal.
She’d been pale with faint bluish circles under her eyes, but even her obvious fatigue hadn’t marred her beauty. The colonial clothes she wore, breeches and a loose tunic, hadn’t hidden her voluptuous curves very well. On his way back to his shack, he toyed with the idea of taking her tonight. He could tease her with it, make it a condition of his helping her. She would do it. She’d let him touch her, let him come inside her. He saw that in her eyes and by the gods, he wanted it. But he wouldn’t.
The soldier in him still possessed a modicum of integrity. And the man he’d become was too damn tired to fuck tonight, or play mind games for that matter. The most he could manage was not to throttle her with his bare hands.
* * * *
Nola awoke when Tarrant returned. He shouldered through the narrow doorway and gave her a dark look that made her fear for a moment that he might exact his revenge on her here, in the quiet night where none of the other exhausted colonists might hear her scream.
She sat up, clutching the blanket that smelled of him to her chest. “I’m sorry. I just needed to close my eyes for a little while.”
“Let’s go. To avoid questions, I want to leave before the morning shift begins.”
“I understand. Can I help you pack?” She looked around the quarters. Aside from a jacket and a spare pair of boots, it looked as if Tarrant Kane, one of the richest men in the galaxy, didn’t own a single personal possession. Maybe he kept all of his belongings on his shuttle.
He grabbed the jacket from the back of the chair. “I’m packed.”
“Oh. Okay. Let’s go, then.”
He remained silent. She stood, too quickly, and the room spun a little. One strong arm shot out and steadied her. “Don’t play me for sympathy, Ms. Rule.”
She gave him a sharp glance. She’d humbled herself quite enough coming here, begging for his help. If the staunch security force at Enviro-Guard had only listened to her, she wouldn’t even need him. She could have dropped off the embryos and been on her way to somewhere far away where she could begin a new life on her own, without In-Teron breathing down her neck and without guilt over what she’d tried to do to him. “I don’t need your sympathy. I just need your help. Once this is done, I’ll be more than happy to leave you to your ditch digging and church building.”
With her head high, she sauntered out of his less than modest accommodations. She kept walking all the way to the landing field without a word, never bothering to look back. Only the sound of his determined footsteps told her he was behind her all the way.
* * * *
Regret at leaving the colonists with their work only half done settled in Kane’s gut upon liftoff. Breson would understand, but the others he’d come to regard as friends might not. His place here among them had been hard won. Knowing he wasn’t one of them, knowing he had a military background and lots of money had made some of them suspicious of his motives. Many wondered if he was looking to someday own the planet by putting his stamp on the very foundation of their new world. It had taken months to convince them otherwise and now, taking off in the middle of the night, he’d just given them reason to revisit their mistrust.
He’d worry about the repercussions of this flight later, though. Right now he had to secure the cargo.
He found her seated in the passenger cabin, her shoulders square, back straight. She had the nerve to look him in the eye when he approached.
“Find yourself a comfortable spot,” he said before he turned his back and rummaged through one of the storage compartments.
“I’m fine, thank you. This will do.”
“If you say so.” He didn’t give her a chance to comment, but snapped a single security cuff around her left wrist and tethered her to her seat. “Don’t say I didn’t give you a chance for something better.”
She cursed him long and loud, and he let her go on until she’d run out of breath. He didn’t pay much attention to her words, though the diatribe ended with, “…crazy fucking bastard.”