“Like what?”
It was a simple question, a normal progression of their conversation. Uncertainty clawed at his insides, threatening to shatter the fragile peace he’d created. Counting to five in his head to calm his sudden nerves, Sean leaned forward and kissed her forehead.
69
“Well, there was one time in the mines we found this device that could make you tell the truth about anything.”
Amy’s eyes grew impossibly wide. “You’re kidding.”
“Ask Ryan if you don’t believe me. We had no idea where it came from and we eventually had to turn it over to Eurus security, but yeah, complete truth.”
“Did you use it? Shit, I don’t think I’d be brave enough.”
“Are you kidding? I was the one who wanted it out of there. But not before we found out Ja’aoc was hoarding extra rations, Gavin was sleeping on his shifts in a special hideout he’d made and Michaels had a crush on our medic.”
Amy’s laughter chased away any doubts he’d had over sharing the story. The invisible weight that had been pressing down on his heart lifted a tiny bit. He’d never felt he could simply be himself before. There were no expectations with Amy, allowing him to relax. He chuckled along with her, enjoying the closeness. God, this almost felt…
normal
.
Sean closed his eyes and pressed his head back a bit further into the pillow. It was odd to think he could do this, relax and simply enjoy another person’s company. His mind was just starting to drift when the ship’s warning siren sounded. They both sat bolt up in bed, Amy moving to the computer panel in the room. He did his best to ignore her naked ass and concentrate on the problem.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, reaching for his clothing as he went.
“Not our ship. Alert is coming from the hangar bay computer. There’s a problem out there. Major emergency.”
They were both dressed in a matter of minutes and ran through the ship to the outside. The claxon was loud, reverberating in the large space of the hangar. More than just the two of them had come out to see what was going on. Pilots, engineers and the other crew he’d become familiar with over the past few days were all milling about, trying to find the source of the emergency. It wasn’t until people saw the smoke that the voices changed to ones of panic.
“Fire!”
“Oh Gods,” Amy muttered. “It’s the supply lockers. The whole place will burn.”
There was no time to wait and certainly no time to panic. Pushing past the onlookers, Sean ran over to the closest group of people and started barking out orders.
“You get out of here and notify security from the corridor of the problem. Can’t guarantee they know about this. You and you grab as many people as you can. Fire suppression should have kicked in by now. There’s a good chance it’s been disabled.
We need to do this the old-fashioned way, with buckets, hoses and water.”
Everyone was moving, following orders. Sean ran to the water station, pressing his hand to the door release control. Nothing happened.
“Fuck,” he growled, turning to face Amy who was suddenly by his side. “Move back, need to break this.”
70
He knew from his experience in the mines the glass was extra thick to prevent an accidental crack from the air pressure changes with the ships landing. Finding a pipe, he ran back and began to beat it against the flat surface of the door. On the third hit, the impact splintered the glass. On the sixth, it shattered. Using the edge of the pipe to knock away the sharpest of the shards, Sean reached in and typed in the security code to release the hoses and open the emergency water supply.
“Take these and start on the fire. Aim high and get as much spread as you can.”
Amy was the first to grab the hose, yanking it toward the burning supply room.
Panic hit him hard, but he had no time to dwell, let alone act on the feelings. They needed everyone to help or more than their ships would be at stake. If the fire suppression system failed here, there was a chance this entire section of the station was at risk.
He lost track of time as they all worked to douse the flames. If someone were to ask him later what he remembered, it would only be a series of images—the feel of the heat on his skin, the burn of smoke in his lungs. At some point, Eurus security, including both Taber and Haylie, arrived and began to help. They managed to get the fire mostly under control when someone finally got the systems back online, allowing the computer to send out the signal to smother the fire with chemical suppressant.
The cheer from the crowd rivaled the earlier roar of the fire. Men and women applauded and shouted, while others cried, their relief clear. Medical personnel arrived once security gave the all clear. Many of the people helping were coughing, the smoke having filled their lungs, making it hard to breathe. There were also a few minor burns and several cases of shock. Thank Gods there were no deaths.
Amy threw herself into Sean’s arms and squeezed him hard. “Thank the Gods.”
Every inch of Sean’s body screamed from the pain and stress of the past hour. He dropped his face to her neck, inhaling in an attempt to find the sweet scent of citrus. All he found was the stale stench of smoke.
“You need a shower,” he said against her neck.
“So do you. We should do something about that. The ship?”
He didn’t want to spend another minute in the hangar bay. “No, my place. We can get some sleep too.”
“Amy!”
They both looked up to see Gaz and Ryan running toward them. The tall man’s face was pale in contrast to the bright blue of his hair. “Oh, fuck, are you two okay? They wouldn’t let us in to help.”
Sean didn’t have time to react or pull away before Gaz wrapped his large arms around them both. Amy’s body was now crushed to his and he could hear Gaz’s frantic breathing in his ear.
“I thought it was you,” Gaz whispered.
He didn’t know why it mattered, Sean had closer friends here on Eurus, but the 71
look of panic on Gaz’s face brought tears to his eyes. Sliding his trapped hand out from between them, Sean shifted so he could squeeze the other man’s shoulder.
“It’s okay. We’re fine.”
It was another minute before Gaz released them, taking a step back. “What the hell happened?”
Amy wrapped her fingers around Sean’s forearm, but turned to face her friend.
“Someone set the supply rooms on fire. Torched everything in there, including the storage many of the ships were using. People have lost a lot.”
Gaz’s eyes grew wider. “Tyrell?”
“We’ll never prove it, but yeah. It’s the type of shit he’d pull.” Amy’s voice wavered at the end. She swallowed and squeezed Sean’s arm. “He’s really pissed a lot of us turned his
offer
down.”
And there was the crux of the matter. This Tyrell bastard wasn’t going to back down, wasn’t going to stop until he got what he wanted. Sean knew they had to do something about it, find a way to take him out of commission without putting the ships, crews, colony or the race in danger.
Simple.
Looking over Amy’s shoulder, he saw Haylie talking to Taber. It would be so easy to go to them, pull in Kamran and even Davin to help work through this. God, Davin might have more than a few opinions on what to do. He was a pilot, had probably done his fair share of avoiding men like Tyrell over the years. He was also off the radar, not likely being watched by anyone.
“I have an idea,” he said before he realized he’d come to a decision.
Both Amy and Gaz turned to look at him, a mix of concern and hope equally mirrored on their faces. It was Amy who stepped in, lowering her voice to a whisper, when he didn’t continue.
“What, Sean?”
“I need to talk to someone, a friend. He can help us come up with a plan.”
“Man, it better not be your fucking security buddies,” Gaz said, his voice a clipped whisper. “People talk when they see your friends coming around the ship. People don’t trust you. Will probably even find a way to blame you for this.”
Sean’s gaze snapped up to Gaz. “What the hell does that mean? I’m not involved.”
“But things were fine before you showed up down here.”
Sean stiffened. “Amy was attacked before I was involved.”
“It would have ended there.” Gaz stepped forward, jaw clenched. “We’d have dealt with it and moved on.”
“Gaz,” Amy warned. He didn’t listen.
“The next thing we know, ships are getting destroyed, people are getting attacked, security is down here all the time.”
72
“Gaz—”
“And now someone tried to kill everyone. Torch the fucking place. You can’t tell me fires like this happen all the time. Tyrell’s men were trying to send a message—do what I want or you’re all fucking dead!”
“Gaz!”
Amy’s voice rang loud in the hangar bay. The chatter of voices dropped and people openly stared at them. Sean couldn’t move. He couldn’t drop his gaze from the younger man’s, even if it was to look at Amy. Gaz was scared—Amy was pissed.
And he was lost.
“I’m sorry people feel that way,” he said, keeping all emotion from his voice. “I’ll make sure people know I’m not associated with your ship or crew any longer.”
He didn’t wait for a response, walking past where they stood. Sean ignored Amy’s call and kept a steady pace toward the exit. He’d forgotten how quickly she could move until he felt her fingernails dig into his arm.
“Please stop,” she said, panting as she spoke. “He didn’t mean it. Gaz is just scared.
He lashes out when things like this happen.”
“That doesn’t mean he’s wrong.” He didn’t face her, simply kept his body stone still. “Things weren’t as bad as they are now before I came down here.”
Amy sighed. “You said it yourself the attacks have nothing to do with you. Look, I know you have this martyr complex, but this isn’t your fault.”
“You can’t be certain about it. My presence has made you more of a target.”
“Sean, I was a target before—”
“Let me go.”
“No, you’re being ridiculous.”
“Amy, let me go.”
The silence was heavy, but familiar. It was always like this with him—alone, separate from everyone else. Probably better that way. Still, something inside him broke a little bit more when he felt her hand drop away from him, before she turned and walked away.
That was it then.
73
The computer chime wouldn’t stop sounding. Sean’s head pounded loud in his ears and his stomach protested the very thought of movement. The bottle of Briel Hapes now lay empty on the floor, one last glass of the thick black substance sitting on the table by the couch. He’d passed out before he’d been able to finish it. Probably for the best, else Sara would be pumping the alcohol out of his system.
“Computer,” he muttered, his voice thick and low from disuse. He had to swallow several times to chase away the scratchy feeling. “Computer…who is it?”
“Davin Jagt,” the sterile computer voice spoke back.
Sean groaned as he rolled off the couch. It was harder than he’d thought to push his body to his feet and make his way across the room. The chime went off three more times before he was able to reach it. Sean pressed his forehead to the cool metal, bracing himself for the conversation he was about to have, before he found the strength to stand straight.
“Computer, open.”
Davin stood there, his gold reptilian eyes narrowing to thin slits as they landed on him. Sean didn’t move, knowing exactly what his friend was seeing and not caring in the slightest.
He’d been avoiding Davin for days. His friend was worried, he got that. Didn’t mean he wanted the fucking Raqulian to mess with his head. Pulling a heavy breath in through his nose, Sean straightened and stepped back to give Davin room to enter.
“You look like shit, buddy.” There was no hint of Davin’s normal humor in his voice. “Took you long enough to let me in.”
“Had better days. What do you want?”
Davin hesitated for a minute before pulling out a bottle of amber liquid from behind his back. “Well, believe it or not, I had the urge to get totally shitfaced and was looking for company. Looks like I’m a bit late to the party though.”
They stood there for another minutes before Sean moved deeper into his quarters, leaving Davin to do what he willed. He wasn’t surprised to hear the Raqulian enter and move directly to the kitchen area. When he sat on the couch beside Sean, he let out a disguised snort.
“Tell me you didn’t drink the entire bottle of Hapes?”
“I didn’t. Never finished the last glass.”
“Gods, I don’t know how you, Taber and Kamran drink that shit. It will burn a hole in your stomach. Now this, my friend, is what you want to down if you want to get drunk and forget your troubles.”
74
“What is it?”
“
Zheva.
Back home this particular bottle is worth about a month’s worth of credits. I plan to drink the whole fucking thing too.”
Sean wasn’t sure if he should feel annoyed or not at the assumption he needed to get drunk. Not that it was an incorrect one—Davin knew him well enough it seemed.
The pounding in his head indicated the effects of the alcohol were wearing off. He was standing on the cusp of the drink more or hydrate stage. He took a glass out of Davin’s hand.
“Don’t skimp,” he said softly.
They didn’t speak again for a while, each man leaning back into the couch nursing their cups. Sean didn’t know where to start, so he waited. It was one thing he’d gotten good at over the years. Still, it caught him off guard when Davin sat forward, arms braced on his knees while his head fell forward.
“Sara’s pregnant.”
Sean choked on his drink. “What?”
“Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction too. She didn’t even know herself, not until I…held her last night. She was giving off some strange vibes, mentally and physically, and I couldn’t stop myself from checking. I wish I hadn’t.”
They’d talked enough over the years. Sean knew Davin didn’t trust his own gifts, had turned away from his innate healing abilities for years. Even though he’d grown more comfortable using them since his arrival on Eurus, when it came to his wife and friends, Davin always hesitated. For him to probe someone meant an invasion of their privacy, not to mention he’d be forced to face his temptation to help where it wasn’t always wanted.
“What did she say?” Sean couldn’t imagine having kids at this stage of his life.
Fuck, he didn’t know if he ever wanted them. He’d learned from his own childhood that not everyone was meant to be a parent.
Davin let loose a soft chuckle. “Are you kidding? You’ve met my wife, right?
Blonde, cocky, has wanted babies her entire life? Fuck, she was ecstatic.”
“Not getting the same sense from you,” Sean said, sipping his drink, suddenly losing the taste for the alcohol.
Davin swirled the liquid in his glass, tapping the side of it with his finger. “It’s not that.”
Sean waited.
Davin stood, setting the glass down on the table. He walked to the bookshelf, stopping in front of it to run his fingers though his hair. “I’ve never…had a family. Not like what Sara wants. It’s not like I was close to my father and my mother died when I was young.”
“Scared you’re going to fuck it up?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
75
Sean pushed up and made his way to Davin’s side on shaky legs. Fuck, he really needed to get some water into him. And a shower. Maybe some food if he could stomach it. When he got close enough, he slapped a hand on Davin’s back.
“Look,” Sean stared, swallowing down the rising bile in his throat. “You’re going to make a great dad. You care enough to be freaked out, which is more than what a lot of guys would be feeling right now. I had shitty parents and have seen enough others to know you’ll be great.”
“I wish I had your faith.”
“Besides, Sara will kick your ass if you’re not doing something right, so don’t worry.”
Davin snorted, finally nodded after a time. “Guess I’m going to find out one way or the other, aren’t I?”
Sean turned to lean against the shelf and held his glass up in salute.
“Congratulations.”
Davin took the glass from Sean, mirrored the motion and threw back a mouthful, grinning. “Good stuff.”
“Yeah. Thanks for bringing it.”
Despite the unexpected turn of the conversation, Sean got the feeling there was more to it than that. He kept his gaze locked on the Raqulian, until Davin sighed.
“What?” Davin would have sounded innocent to anyone but Sean.
“I’m waiting for the proverbial other shoe.”
A smile slipped onto Davin’s face. “Should have known I couldn’t slip one past you.”
Sean cocked an eyebrow. “Well?”
“Taber told me about the fire and the blowup with your girl. Thought you might want to chat about what happened.”
He’d done nothing but try to avoid all thoughts of Amy, her ship and the damn race. He’d even gone so far as to ignore Taber’s reports on the fire and its fallout for several hours before morbid curiosity got the better of him. At least five ships docked at Eurus were damaged, two of which were so severe they pulled out of the competition.
Another five pulled out for fear of what would befall their ships and crews if they stayed in.
“Not a lot to talk about,” Sean said, shrugging. “My presence down there was causing problems.”
“For you or her?”
“For everyone. Some jackass named Tyrell has been trying to get people to throw the race so he can win a huge bet. He’s got people so scared no one will go to the authorities about him.”
Davin groaned and rolled his eyes. “I hate bastards like that.”
76
“How did you handle them?”
“Normally shot the hell out of their ship or beat the shit out of them while at dock,”
Davin said, grinning. “But I’m a stupid ass with more guns than brains. Not like your Amy girl.”
“She’s not mine. It was made perfectly clear it would be best for everyone if I just let her go.” Sean took the last of the drink and downed it in one gulp. “It’s not like she did anything to stop me from leaving.”
“I wouldn’t be too hard on her. From what Taber said the whole hangar was pretty much a mess. I suspect most of the pilots were pretty fucked up and emotions were running high. Can’t say I blame them either.”
“This race is going to be a joke. No one will participate who hasn’t been bought and paid for by Tyrell. The honest ones are going to be too scared to run it. I bet he’s even got bets rigged.”
“Well,” Davin said, suddenly finding the tattoo on the back of his hand very interesting. “Your girl will be running it, so there’s at least one honest pilot.”
Sean snapped his head up so fast he felt the pain in his neck. “What?”
Davin’s golden gaze was unwavering and Sean knew the Raqulian wouldn’t lie.
Still, Amy would have to be insane to continue after everything that had happened. The
Drake
was her livelihood, one she couldn’t afford to sacrifice, no matter how high the prize was. “Are you sure? She can’t do it without a copilot.”
“Your boy Ryan ran into Sara, tried to hit her up for extra medical supplies for the ship. Most of what they had they used on the injured pilots on the scene of the fire. The extras had burned in the storage lockers.”
Sean was on his feet, pacing across the confines of his quarters. “I can’t believe she’s still going.”
“She didn’t want to give in. I think she was hoping more pilots would stay if they saw others were willing to risk it. She’s a brave girl, that one.”
Fuck, things weren’t adding up. He didn’t know who this Tyrell really was, but the intimidation, the fire, seemed like extremes to go to just to fix a race. There were better ways to do it, ones that drew less attention to him and his operation. No, this just wasn’t right. Sean stopped moving, turned and faced Davin who was simply watching him.
“Do me a favor?” Sean knew he had no right to ask his friend to do anything, not after how he’d been treating him recently. Still, he couldn’t do this on his own.
“Man, you know you only have to ask.”
A small weight lifted from Sean’s chest and a small smile slipped onto his lips.
“Can you do some checking for me? Find out about this Tyrell. Things just seem…”
“Way too screwed up?” Davin offered. When Sean nodded, Davin stood. “Yeah, I was thinking that myself. I’ve seen my fair share of these types of guys in my day. This is a bit extreme, unless there is something else going on and Amy doesn’t want to tell 77
you.”
“If it’s simply the race, then we’ll do something about it. But if there’s something else going on…”
“Yeah. Don’t worry, I still have a bunch of contacts in the sector. Think one or two of them were going to run in the race.”
Davin moved toward the door, stopping once it opened, light from the hall spilling in. “You better go talk to that girl of yours. If she’s going to try to race without a copilot, then trust me when I say it’s a surefire way to get someone killed. She needs you there to make sure everything is okay.”
Sean nodded, unable to speak. Davin smiled and left.
The silence needled at him, making his skin crawl and prodding him into action.
Ignoring the way his hung-over body protested, Sean grabbed his jacket and emergency bag he always kept at the ready and walked purposely to the elevator that would take him to Amy, ignoring everyone and everything around him as he went.
The hangar bay was eerily silent when he finally entered. Several of the ships and their crews were now gone, departing the moment they had clearance. The entire feel of the place had changed from only a day earlier. The burned-out hulls of the damaged ships still remained, the scent of scorched metal, wires and chemicals still hung heavy in the air. Why the hell was Amy still here? Putting herself at risk like this?
He didn’t stop moving until he reached the
Drake
. The door was sealed shut and there was a security perimeter set. He could feel the energy shimmering around him, making his skin tingle. One step forward and he’d get a shock strong enough to knock him flat on his ass. Considering how badly his head ached at the moment, it was the last thing he wanted to deal with.
Sean didn’t say anything, just stood there, staring at the ship’s door. He knew they would have been alerted to his presence by the ship’s computer. They’d set up recognition protocols before the fire. The fact it hadn’t disengaged for him meant either Amy or Gaz had removed his access from the system. He’d register as an intruder and the alarms would be sounding right now. He only had to wait to see what would happen—if she’d let him in or turn the guns on his sorry ass.
They made him wait over twenty minutes before the ship’s door hissed open. Gaz stood there, arms crossed over his chest. They stared at each other, Sean memorizing everything he could about the younger man.
“You walked out on her,” Gaz finally said, his voice oddly flat.
“I didn’t think you would mind considering what you’d said.”
“I was being an ass. What’s your excuse?”
“I thought it was for the best.”
“Then why the hell are you back? You can’t just swoop in, break her heart and swoop out. She’d not a fucking toy you pick up whenever it amuses you. Asshole.”