until he’s caught.”
“Boy, that’s going to piss off a lot of people.” Vicious
activated his com screen and contacted security. Once he
had all the facts, he crossed the hall to speak with the
admiral who was already up to his eyeballs in angry
complaints from the ships stuck in a holding pattern. As
the heads of the two military bodies aboard the
Valiant
,
they coordinated on the recovery effort and put their teams
in contact. While the admiral made a public announcement
to stay indoors and report any suspicious activity, Vicious
returned to his office to find Terror and Menace staring at
the bouquet.
“So now she’s got you playing with flowers?” Terror
shook his head in apparent disgust. “I’m amazed.”
“Easy,” Vicious warned. “It may be my wedding day
but I’ll still kick your ass.”
Terror laughed and turned his gaze back to the flowers.
“Don’t use tape. I’ve got something in my quarters that
will work better. I think Hallie will appreciate—”
Vicious’ com screen flashed and beeped. He tapped the
device and was greeted by Major Raze, the Special
Response Unit commander. “General.”
“Major.”
“We have a twenty on our escaped man. He’s in the air
ducts near the cargo decks. His ID chip is still active. If
you want to end this now, I’ll give the order to flush him.”
Vicious wasn’t surprised by Raze’s suggestion. The
man hadn’t become the leader of their SRU team by being
nice. “Negative. Try to bring him in alive. Besides, if we
vent him out into space, I’ll have to fill out a shit-ton of
paperwork.”
Raze snorted in amusement. “I hear you. I’ll contact
with updates. Raze, out.”
The call ended. The small relief Vicious felt at having
located Sergeant Crow faded with one look at Terror’s
face. “What?”
“What if he’s not just using the vents to move, Vee?” He
hesitated. “I’ve taken out entire crews with one canister of
gas.”
“Shit.” Vicious hit the com screen and brought back
Raze. “Vent him.”
“Sir?”
“Now, Raze. Vent him.”
“Yes, sir.” Raze stepped away from the screen and gave
the order. “My specialist is preparing the flush now.”
“Good. Terror thinks he might possibly try a gas
attack.”
Raze’s jaw tightened. “Understood.” He turned and
shouted, “Cipher, blow that vent now!”
Vicious’ anxiety level skyrocketed as he waited for
word from Raze. When he heard swearing, he knew it
wasn’t good. “Status update, Raze.”
“It wasn’t Crow. It’s a damn vacuum sphere.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m watching the damn thing floating outside now. Our
chip detector is pinging it. It looks like Crow removed his
tracking chip and placed it in the cleaning device.”
“Shit.”
“Double shit.” Raze stepped away and spoke to his
men. Back on the com screen, he said, “I’m pulling my
team. We’re fanning out. He could be anywhere.”
“No. He’ll go after Hallie or Lenny Hawk.” Vicious
believed that with every fiber of his being. “I’m going to
my wife. You secure Sergeant Hawk’s wife now.”
“Understood. Raze, out.”
Vicious was on his feet and headed toward the door
before he even realized Terror had already left. Menace,
hot on his heels, explained, “He took off the second Raze
said it was a vacuum sphere. Let’s hope he gets to Hallie
first.”
Vicious couldn’t consider any other possibility. With
Menace at his back, Vicious raced across the ship. Taking
the various stairwells and back access bridges was a
nightmare but the elevators had been shut down as part of
protocol. The similarities to the last time he’d raced
across the
Valiant
didn’t escape him. This time he refused
to be late. He would reach Hallie on time.
The attention of the two guards outside his door
snapped to his face as he and Menace burst from an access
door on the far end of the hallway. Both men saluted. He
gave them an at-ease. “My wife?”
“Safe inside, sir.”
He motioned them aside and entered his quarters.
“Hallie?”
“We’re in the bedroom, baby.”
He paused at the odd use of a pet name. It wasn’t like
her. The few times she’d used a name other than his own,
it had been
master
. He stopped and held up a hand, halting
Menace. He gave the sign for enemy. Menace tapped his
shoulder, confirming he understood, and held back to alert
the SRU that there might be a hostage situation.
Vicious headed for the bedroom as if nothing were
wrong. “Kitten, there’s a small problem. We may not be
able to get married on time.”
“Yes, I know,” she answered weakly, her voice
quaking.
His heart seized in his chest when he stepped inside
their bedroom.
Hallie stood in front of their bed. Sergeant Crow, wild-
eyed and thinner than Vicious remembered, stood behind
her and held a wicked knife to her neck. Already, a trickle
of blood dripped onto the blade.
Fury exploded in him at the sight but he managed to
keep it in check. For Hallie’s sake, he had to play this just
right.
“Sergeant Crow.”
“Where the fuck is my wife?”
“Not here, obviously,” Vicious replied. Where the hell
was Hallie’s sister? “Let my wife go and I’ll take you to
see her.”
“Bullshit!” Crow sweated profusely. “You took her
from me. She was mine.”
“You tried to kill her. You killed your child.”
“
She
killed the baby!” Crow spat back angrily. “She
said it was an accident and that she’d been feeling sick all
day, but I know the truth. She
hated
me. She killed our son
to get back at me for taking her away from her home.”
Vicious didn’t know if that was true or not. He didn’t
much care. It occurred to him, though, that Raze or Venom
would have known exactly what to say. As officers in the
SRU, they both had training in negotiation and excelled at
talking down crazed psychopaths. What would they tell
him right now? To find a way to connect with Crow?
“I’m sure that hurt very much to discover your child had
died.”
“Don’t patronize me.” He pulled the knife tighter
against Hallie’s neck. Her eyes closed and a tear slid
down her cheek. Vicious tore his gaze away from her
pained face. He had to think clearly.
“I’m not patronizing you. I understand the desire to have
strong sons. It’s the only reason we take these women.”
That was a lie, of course, but he was willing to call the
sun blue and the sky green if it made this man put that knife
down.
“She didn’t understand that. She found a way to prevent
a pregnancy. I almost killed her that night I discovered
what she’d been doing but then she promised to do better.
And she did,” he added. “She took my seed and gave me a
son.”
Vicious spotted movement in the ceiling panel above
Hallie and Sergeant Crow. His gut clenched as the vent
screen moved silently. Any second, Terror would pop
through the hole. He needed to buy his friend some time.
“You must have been very happy.”
Crow faltered and gulped. “Yes.”
“You can have that happiness again.” Vicious took a
step forward, hoping to draw the man’s attention. “I’m a
general now. I can make anything happen.”
“You can’t take away my conviction. That follows me
everywhere.”
“You removed your ID chip. I’ll get you a new one with
a new identity. You can start over on another planet. Go to
the colonies. Find a woman there.” He tried to keep
talking as Terror, upside down and knife at the ready, slid
through the hole. “You can have your son. Let my Hallie
go and I’ll help you.”
“No!” He moved his wrist, as if preparing to slit
Hallie’s throat. “You took my wife. Now I’m taking
yours.”
“
No!”
Vicious lunged at the crazed sergeant just as
Terror swung forward and stabbed the man in the arm.
Terror twisted and sliced backward, severing the tendons.
Crow screamed and dropped the knife, his fingers no
longer under his control. Hallie scrambled forward and
fell into Vicious’ arms. He snatched her safe and shielded
her with his larger body as he hauled her out of the room
as quickly as possible. Terror and Crow grappled on the
floor behind them. Hallie’s hands flew to her ears as
Terror made hasty work of gutting the man and putting him
down for good.
Vicious nearly slammed into Raze and Venom, who
stood just outside the doorway. Menace was behind them
with Bernie sobbing in his arms.
He carried Hallie to his favorite chair and cradled her
on his lap. Venom came forward with a wad of gauze from
the small med kit in one of the pouches on his pants.
“Here.”
“Thank you.” Vicious lifted Hallie’s chin and dabbed at
the nick there. “It’s not very deep, Kitten. You’ll be fine.”
Hallie glanced around frantically. “Where’s Bernie?”
“I’m here.” She scurried over and grabbed Hallie’s
hand. “Why did you lock me in the laundry room? I could
have helped you!”
“No.” Hallie shook her head. “That man is crazy. The
second I heard the warning from the admiral and then that
weird thumping in the ceiling, I knew it was him. He
would have killed you, Bernie. He wanted to hurt me.
Killing you would have done that.”
“Why didn’t you hide with her?” Vicious demanded.
“I worried he’d find us both. He came through the panel
in the living room and I ran to the bedroom. He was faster.
He caught me and that was that. I didn’t dare call out to the
guards. I hoped that you’d get here in time. I knew if
anyone could save me it would be you.”
Vicious didn’t like her logic but understood why she’d
acted the way she had. “Don’t ever do that again, Halllie.
You hide. Do you understand? You hide and you stay
safe.”
She nodded. “I will. I really hope it never happens
again.”
“You and me both.” He spotted Terror coming out of the
room. His bloody shirt was a reminder of the gory scene
he’d left behind. Two medics rushed into the bedroom.
Not that they would do much good. What was needed was
a body bag, not a trauma kit.
“So about that move,” Terror said carefully as he wiped
his knife blade on his pants. “I’d probably move that up by
a few days, if I were you.”
Vicious couldn’t believe Terror was trying to joke at a
time like this. The man had the most morbid sense of
humor.
Hallie touched his cheek. “We’re moving? Off the
Valiant
?”
She looked so disappointed so he quickly shook his
head. “No. To the general’s quarters two floors up,” he
explained. “General Thorn finished clearing out his
belongings last week and I’ve had the maintenance crew
making some changes to suit us. It’s where I belong now.
We’ll have more room and I’ll have better access to the
bridge and my office.”
She frowned in consternation. “When were you going to
tell me? Don’t you think I should have been told before
Terror?”
Vicious shot Terror an annoyed glare. The man had the
decency to look contrite. “I planned to tell you this
evening after our wedding.”
Her face crumpled. “Our wedding is ruined.”
“No, it’s not. We are not letting that psychopath ruin our
day. You’re going to go upstairs to our new quarters and
change. We’ll push the ceremony back an hour but it’s still
happening, Hallie. I promised you this.”
“And you never break your promise,” she whispered,
her gaze filled with love.
“Never, Kitten.”
Chapter Twenty
“What do you think?”
Vicious turned at the sound of Terror’s voice. They
were congregated in a small ceremony room that the land
corps used for awarding medals and promotions. Just a
few short weeks ago, Vicious had stood here and received
his first star and his new rank. Now surrounded by his
closest friends, he waited to make a public commitment to
Hallie.
He eyed the bouquet of flowers Terror held. Instead of
the silver tape Menace had suggested, Terror had wrapped
the stems in bright-red ribbon. It looked surprisingly
beautiful against the pale-pink and white flowers.
“Wait,” Vicious said uncertainly. “Haven’t I seen that