Phantom of the Wind (15 page)

Musky, alluring, infinitely interesting smells were coming from the two humanoids. The scent of the male’s essence, the welcoming spice of the female’s bathing his cock in warm, wet ooze wafted to the feline. There was a slight hint of humanoid sweat coming from the male and blending with his natural scent only made him the more alluring.

It was the cries of delight that came from the humanoids at the moment of release that made Munchkin jump up and run back into the sleeping quarters to hide in embarrassment for her humanoid. The male threw back his head and howled his completion. The female trilled hers then together they made little groaning, moaning, whimpering sounds that should not have been heard by any other ears save their own.

Coming to his senses as the last squeeze of her warm, velvety fist pulsed around him, Quinn lay there as though every bone in his body had dissolved. He was panting, sweat glistening on his upper body. Her arms and legs were wrapped protectively around him, holding him captive against her and he was a willing prisoner. What lay beyond her door could wait, for at that moment nothing mattered except Kendall and the unrestrained love she had given him.

“Do you forgive me now?” he managed to ask.

“Not yet,” she said, her breath coming in little pants. “You’ve a long way to go before I grant you forgiveness, Phantom.”

He smiled as he rested there with his cheek pillowed on her satiny breast. The fingers of her right hand were weaving spirals through his hair, her left hand smoothing up and down his back.

“I love you, wench,” he pledged.

“I love you too, Phantom,” she replied.

He knew he had to go. There was a job left undone. There was danger in the form of a StarDestroyer blocking his path. He had a few hours to get the task done and escape, taking his lady with him.

“Pack what you absolutely have to have,” he ordered her. “Do you have a kennel for the Elfinish?”

“Aye,” she said, slipping her arms around him, holding him to her as though she never intended to let him go.

“Then have everything ready. I hope to have Aleyn transported to the
Lhong Shee
before Morrison realizes he’s missing. I’ve got to get him and Shanee safe first before I can come back for you.”

“Is Paton captaining your ship?” she asked.

“Aye. I’ll give him the coordinates of your quarters so be ready to leave before that 0900 deadline.” He eased out of her embrace, holding himself above her, looking down into her eyes. “I don’t leave here without you, Kendall, so don’t leave these quarters under any circumstances. Do you hear me?”

“What if—?”

“Under any circumstances!” he interrupted her. “If you are not here, if we don’t time this just right…” He shuddered. “Just be here,
Lhiannan
.”

“I will be here,” she swore to him.

He pushed himself up, retrieved his pajama bottoms and dragged them up his long legs. With one last long look at her, he simply vanished.

Kendall sat up, feeling as bereft as she had when he had pushed her out of his life so long ago. Though she had—at last—her answers to why he had done such a thing, had hurt her so deeply, she would not breathe easy until Munchkin and she were safe on the
Lhong Shee,
fleeing the wrath of the Coalition.

Slipping her tunic and pants back on, she looked around the room. There was precious little in her quarters that she really cared anything about. Since her breakup with Quinn, she had either sold or given away most everything of a personal nature, preferring to be free and unencumbered should she ever decide to just melt into the galaxy. The only thing she really cared about was Munchkin for the Elfinish had been a gift—one she could not return to the giver once the feline had made a place in Kendall’s heart for herself.

“What do you think it will be like on Theristes?” Munchkin asked as she came into the living area.

“I don’t know,” Kendall answered. She was still sitting on the sofa, trying to decide what she could fit into one bag that was worth even taking with her.

Munchkin hopped up beside Kendall and stood there gazing into her humanoid companion’s eyes. “Must I ride inside that smelly kennel?”

“It would be safer for you until we get on the
Lhong Shee.”

“Do Reapers eat Elfinish?”

“I wouldn’t think so,” Kendall said.

The feline curled her lip, drawing the scent of the lovemaking into her Jacobson’s organ. “I want my own mate, humanoid.”

Kendall reached up to scratch the Elfinish behind her ears. “I’ll find you one.”

“You’d better,” Munchkin sniffed, and hopped down. “Pray put a nice padding of towels in that kennel if you expect me to get into it, and a sprinkle of catnip would not be amiss.”

* * * * *

Quinn reappeared on the sled just moments before Breen turned on the lights. He pretended to be startled, throwing up an arm to block the intrusive brightness of the overhead illumination.

“Get up, Quinn. We’ve got problems,” Breen said.

“What’s wrong?”

Breen came over to the TAOS unit. “I know damned well you were in Doc’s quarters when I informed her about Morrison,” he snapped. “The Elfinish gave you away.”

“Gods-be-damned interfering feline,” Quinn said with a sigh, sitting up. He swung his legs over the side of the sled. “I need to have a talk with the Worldly One.”

“That can wait. I’ve no faith that Morrison will wait ‘til the 0900 deadline before he sends someone after you. I’ve heard nothing from the Burgon or the others so I’m assuming we’re on our own here,” the captain of the
Sláinte
stated. He put his hands on his hips. “Is your ship nearby?”

“Close enough,” Quinn replied. He trusted Breen.

“What’s on the
Borstal
that you got yourself arrested to retrieve?”

Quinn scratched his cheek. “It’s a good thing you aren’t my enemy, Liam. You’re too observant by far.”

“I know you,” Breen snapped. “You wouldn’t be so easily taken and you certainly wouldn’t have allowed anyone to beat you up like that unless you had a good reason for it. Who did that to you and did you just stand there and let whoever it was have a field day the better to impress Kendall?”

Quinn smiled. “If I’d known that was all it would take to impress Kenni, I’d have had Paton beat the shit out of me long before now.” He shook his head as Breen started to speak. “No, Paton didn’t do it. No one did. One of the ‘bots fell on me and I went tumbling down a mountain.”

Breen snorted. “Now that I’d like to have seen.” He narrowed his eyes. “I take it the Amazeen is working with you then?”

“Aye, and I wanted her to depart with us but she believes her position as a Riezell Guardian shouldn’t be compromised. She thinks she’s in a place to help should she be needed again.”

“You spoke to her? How?”

Quinn nodded toward the ‘bots. “As soon as I came back from Kenni’s I contacted her. She’s sitting on pins and needles over there, but she intends to stay once our target is out of danger.”

“So there is someone you’re rescuing over on the
Borstal
?”

“Someone very important, but I shouldn’t tell you who it is, Liam. If Shanee wants to after we’re gone, that’s up to her. She’ll go back to Riezell with Morrison.”

“Having someone inside Morrison’s operation is helpful,” Breen agreed. “We’ve got to bring that man down once and for all.”

“He’s got powerful friends,” Quinn reminded Breen.

“Or he has incriminating intel on people who would just as soon keep him in power than have him where they can’t see him,” Breen commented.

“What about Jaborn?” Quinn asked. “How much can you trust him?”

Breen thought about it for a moment. “He has no love for the Coalition but he takes his job seriously. The only reason he remains a penal transport captain is to make sure prisoners are treated humanely. That hasn’t always been the case with Coalition internees.”

“I know that for a fact,” Quinn told him.

“Do you want me to contact Jaborn?”

“Can you do so without Morrison finding out?”

The captain of the
Sláinte
lowered his head, deep in thought. “He owes me a favor. What do you need me to tell him?”

“That I’m coming over there and that I need to extract one of his prisoners. I’ll also need to incapacitate Shanee so there’s no indication she might have helped me. I sure as hell don’t want to leave her here for Morrison to arrest.”

Breen chewed on his lower lip. “How am I to explain you not being here if Morrison decides to send someone over earlier than planned to retrieve you?”

“Hopefully I’ll have transported to my ship before that happens.” He shrugged. “I’m a S
caan
. I can disappear at will.”

“Aye, Morrison knows that and demanded to be reassured that you were strapped down, unable to get free.”

“I’ll be taking Kendall with me so they’ll believe she released me from the restraints. There shouldn’t be any reason for Morrison to suspect you or any of the rest of the crew.”

“And Morrison will issue a warrant for Kendall,” Breen said.

“With any luck at all, that won’t matter. We’ll be far away from Coalition control by the time they realize we’re gone.”

“I take it whoever you’re going after is also a
Scaan
so he or she can also just disappear once the fetters are removed.”

Quinn didn’t reply.

“How are you going to get from here to the
Borstal
?” Breen asked. “If we rev up the transporter—”

“If I tell you, then I’d have to kill you,” Quinn said with a grin.

Breen’s brows drew together. He stared at his old friend for a moment then his forehead smoothed out. “By the gods, Quinn! You’ve got some kind of phantom transportation device they don’t know about, don’t you?” His eyes widened. “You can transport and not be detected!”

“Let’s just say the Amhantareans have their Net, the Storians have their Web and there are more things between hell and heaven than even the Coalition can conceive.”

Breen shook his head. “You scare me, Quinn, and you’re right. Maybe I don’t want to know,” he said. “Just get going and for the gods’ sakes be careful. I’ll contact Jaborn and let him know not to interfere.”

“He won’t even know I’m there,” Quinn said. He hopped off the sled and stretched out his hands. “Thank you, Liam.”

Breen clasped the Phantom’s wrist. “May the Wind be at your back, Quinn.”

Before he released Breen’s wrist, Quinn looked the man in the eye. “If something should happen, if I manage to get my Black Cengusian arse caught, do everything you can to protect the woman we love.”

Breen’s eyebrows shot up. “You know how I feel about her?”

“I’ve always known,” the Phantom told him. “Just keep her safe. I’ve already given Paton the coordinates of her quarters and he’s locked onto her and the feline. Don’t let anyone get to her before he can snatch her up. The ‘bots will be taken up at the same time. I won’t leave them behind.”

“When did you have time to contact Paton?” Breen asked as he released Quinn’s wrist.

“On my way back up here from Kendall’s quarters. Conversing with my crew doesn’t require a Vid-Com.”

One moment Quinn was there in front of the
Sláinte
’s captain and the next he was gone. Breen stood there for a moment then spun around and walked to the Vid-Com. He ordered his communications officer to connect him with Jaborn.

A very sleepy and irritated Sayed Jaborn materialized on the Vid-Com screen. “What now?” he mumbled, sitting up in his bunk.

“I can’t sleep,” Breen announced.

Jaborn opened his eyes wide in an attempt to force the sleep from them. “What?” he asked.

“Let’s finish the game of
estrategia
we started earlier.”

Confusion spread over the Dahrenian’s face for a moment then he frowned. “You wake me in the middle of the night to finish a stupid board game with you, Breen? What the hell is the matter with you?”

“I can’t sleep,” Breen repeated. “This whole thing with the Coalition sitting parked outside my door is unnerving. Humor me, Sayed. I’m a wastrel, as you well know.”

Breen’s last sentence made Jaborn stiffen. It was a code the men had developed many years before when they had been recruits at Fleet Academy. Jaborn ran a hand over his face. “Oh all right,” he snapped as he flung back his covers. “But you’ll owe me now.”

They two men had, indeed, been playing the game they had created during their plebe year at the Academy earlier in the evening so the board with its red and gold playing pieces was on Jaborn’s desk in the living area of his quarters. Barefoot, he walked into the room and sat down before the board. “All right. The next move is yours,” the captain of the
Borstal
mumbled. “What’s it to be?”

“My
guerrero primero
to the fourth level.”

Jaborn reached for the gold figure Breen himself had carved long ago. A similar set—carved by Jaborn—was in Breen’s office on the
Sláinte
. “That’s a very costly move,” the Dahrenian commented, moving the piece.

“Perhaps but the only way the
GP
can complete his mission to rescue the
damsel justo
.”