The Price of Freedom (9 page)

He took each of her hands in his, then drew them to his mouth. He kissed her softly, then folded them tenderly together in his right hand. He reached up with his left hand, pushing a few stray locks of hair away from her forehead before dropping it to the blankets beneath her.

"Bethany," he said, his voice a sigh. "That was a wonderful gift. I'm so sorry I have to do this to you."

What? What was he talking about? Before she could even ask, she felt something against her throat.

Something cold, metallic. Sharp.

"Don't move," he said, and cold betrayal filled her. She realized his body was completely covering hers, his right hand imprisoning both of hers with ease. She tried to squirm and felt the bite of the blade against her neck.

"I'm going to tie you up," he said without emotion. “And put you in the storage room. You'll need to stay very quiet. I don't want to hurt you, but if you try and call the guards I'll have to. Do you understand me?"

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she asked.

"Escaping," he replied coolly.

"You're crazy," she whispered, searching his face for some sign this was a bizarre joke. "Do you realize there are at least fifty armed men on this station? They can kill you with their control wands, they don't even need their blasters!"

"Not if I kill them first," he said coldly.

"You're going to kill everyone?" she asked, blood chilling.

"No," he said. "Just those who get in my way. Don’t get in my way, Bethany.”

Chapter Six

The look on Bethany's face as he closed the storage room door burned him. She looked so scared, so confused.

He shouldn't have fucked her before betraying her.

But she had been willing and he'd dreamt of doing it for so long. She'd felt even better than his dreams, better than anything he could imagine. Even now, as adrenaline for the revolt was pumping through him, he felt a kind of calm and relaxation that he knew could only be there because he'd had sex with her. She might be carrying his child, he thought with primitive satisfaction. He hadn't had a birth control shot since he'd arrived at the mines. The Pilgrims sure as hell didn’t use them.

Of course, she thought she was barren. At least that’s what she’d told Bragan. But her husband had been old. He'd probably barely been able to get it up. Things would be different for them, Jess thought in satisfaction. If they survived this he wanted to have fifteen children with her, all adorable little girls who would grow into beautiful women like their mother. He shook his head to clear away the fantasy. He needed to focus on the task at hand.

He pulled on a pressure suit, carefully checking the seals, then loped down the tunnel to the mine.

Fortunately, the airlock was well out of sight of the mine-shaft head. That, combined with a thin atmosphere barely capable of transferring sound, would make it easy for him to sneak up on the guards.

At least that was the theory.

Once there, all he had to do was overpower and kill them.
Easier said than done,
he thought, grinning fiercely inside his helmet. But damned if he wasn't going to try. He waited patiently as the airlock cycled, careful to keep his breathing slow and steady. When the light flickered from red to green, he pressed the button opening the door. He was in the tunnel.

Normally he would turn on his head-lamp at this point, but any light would help them to see him coming. Instead, he stepped out into the pool of light thrown by the airlock and placed his left hand against the tunnel wall. It would guide him to the guards. The airlock door closed behind him and he was alone in the blackness.

There was something about being alone in absolute darkness that made him want to run, to scream.

Perhaps it was instinct, harkening back to the days when his earliest ancestors had prowled through the trees, hunting for food and seeking to hide from predators. The primitive parts of his brain screamed a warning; there was danger ahead.
Run.

He forced the thought away. This was no time for fear of the dark. He knew what the tunnel looked like, knew every twist and turn. It didn't matter that the darkness pressed down on him like a living thing.

He couldn’t allow himself to think about what kinds of creatures might dwell in such a place, what monsters would thrive in blackness so intense that a man couldn't see his own hands before his face.

Closing his eyes, Jess forced himself to breath deeply and move forward. First the right leg, then the left. Repeat. He started making progress, and felt a surge of satisfaction when he rounded he first corner.

Only two more turns to go, and then he would be upon them.

By the time he reached the last corner he could see a trace of their light spilling out. It seemed bright to him, and he realized his eyes had so fully adjusted to the blackness that he would be blinded if he wasn't careful. He peeked around the corner, forcing himself to stare directly into the light. His eyes watered, but they adjusted. The two guards were there all right. Sleeping. Sluggo was one of them.

The Goddess must be watching out for him, Jess thought with dark satisfaction. This was going to be easier than he'd dared dream.

Moving steadily and quietly, he came up and stood over Sluggo. He reached out and gently toggled the man's radio to the "off" position, then unlatched his helmet. He woke instantly, and Jess found himself in a deadly, strangely silent struggle. The man gasped for breath, his face turning purple. Jess knew that if he merely held him for several minutes he'd die of asphyxiation, but cutting his throat would be far more humane.

In an instant it was done. Blood poured down the front of the man's suit in a red river. It splashed on Jess, and to his surprise he felt a slight twinge of remorse.

Ruthlessly he pushed the emotion back. This man deserved whatever happened to him.

He dispatched the second guard with ease. It was almost too simple…they were completely unprepared for anything like this. They hadn't even had a chance to try the wand on him. In a way that was unfortunate. Bragan hadn't been able to say with 100 percent certainty that the wands wouldn't somehow activate the remaining filaments still in his spinal cord. He'd find out soon enough, though.

During the course of the revolt a wand was bound to be activated…

Toggling his radio on, he spoke quickly.

"Logan, things are going well in this sector," he said. Hopefully any Pilgrims who might hear them would think they were simply two slaves talking about their work. That was the theory, at least. "I'm ready to move on to the next blast site.”

"I've got that," Logan replied, his voice casual. "I'll see you there in a minute."

"I'll be waiting," Jess replied. He turned to the elevator controls, pressing the button to send the car down to Logan's level. It took two trips to get all the men who had had their implants removed to the shaft head. Bragan came up top, too. He would be in charge of the elevator, allowing the slaves who still had their implants to come to the surface. They would barricade themselves on the mine-side of the airlock until they knew whether the revolt was a success. No one wanted to risk being trapped down in the mine. A quick death from a wand was infinitely preferable.

Jess, Logan, and the first eight men went through the airlock together. They stayed silent as it cycled, unwilling to risk being overheard on their radios. Then the light was turning green and they stepped out into the corridor leading to the slave quarters. As soon as they were out, the door slid shut. It would take two more cycles to bring the others through.

Logan pulled off his helmet, speaking for the first time. There was a wild, almost primitive look in his eyes.

"How did it go?" he asked.

"Good so far," Jess replied, wishing he felt as confident as Logan looked. "The guard change was just like normal. Bethany's tied up in the storage room. I haven't tried getting into the blasters' lockers yet, though. Figured we'd do better to try it together, once we have something to open them with."

"Makes sense," Logan grunted. He signaled all but one of the men to follow him, and they took off down the tunnel toward the main complex.

“Remember,” Jess reminded them as they pulled off their helmets. “No radio talk unless the station loses pressure. Keep you helmets attached, ready to pull closed. Anything can happen at this point.”

The men nodded. They’d been over the drill a thousand times already. The locker room was blessedly empty when they arrived. Logan and Jess went over to the Pilgrims' lockers and studied them.

They were made of thick metal imbedded in plast-crete. The locks were forged from heavy steel, but they narrowed at one point.

"I think we could get this open with a blaster," Logan said. Jess nodded.

"If we do this right, we'll be able to get one off the guards outside the tunnel.”

"Go get the girl," Logan said. "It's time.”

Things started to seem a bit surreal to Jess as he walked toward the storage room. He hadn't been entirely sure they'd make it this far. He had left her knowing there was a good chance he might fail at the mine-shaft. He would get to see her again. A feeling of fierce, possessive joy came over him, tempered immediately with fear for her safety. He stopped at the door and turned to the others.

"Remember," he said coldly. "Not matter what happens, she's mine. Any of you touch her, you're dead. Understand?"

The men nodded, although it was small comfort. Jess was less worried about this hand-picked group then he was about the remaining slaves in the mine. There were some rough characters. Life could get ugly for the women of the station if they weren't very careful.

He opened the door slowly. She was still tied and gagged, although her eyes shot hate-filled beams in his direction. He knew without a doubt that if she had a weapon, he'd be dead.

"Calm down and you won't get hurt," he said softly. "I'm going to untie your legs and help you out into the main room. There are some other men out there. Don't do anything stupid."

She continued glaring at him as he freed her legs. He pulled her to her feet and she stumbled. He must have cut the circulation off in her feet.

They hobbled into the main room together, and he felt her body stiffen as she saw the other men.

For the first time he saw them as they appeared to her. Tall, muscular. Their eyes were filled with hate, and their hair was shaggy. Some of the men no longer bothered with such niceties as removing facial hair.

They were terrifying.

"I'm going to pull off your gag," he said quietly. "If you make any noise, they'll kill you. Do you understand?"

She nodded, not taking her eyes off the men before her. He could feel her heart racing, and a part of him wanted to cuddle her close, comfort her. He pushed it down. They needed her fear; it was their ticket out of the mine.

Slowly he pulled off the gag. She spoke, her words hardly more than a whisper.

"Are you crazy?" she asked. “Don't you realize that all they have to do is activate the wand and you'll be dead?"

"That's not your problem," Logan said roughly. He started toward her, and she shrank back against Jess in fear. Logan raised an eyebrow at Jess, who shook his head in warning.

"In a minute you're going to walk through the tunnel to the door with me and Logan," Jess said. “He and I are going to stand to either side of the door. You are going to tell the guards that you need their help inside. Then you're going to get out of the way. Do you understand?"

"What are you going to do to the people on the station?" she asked in a low voice. "You're going to kill them, aren't you?"

"We're only going to kill those we have to kill," Logan replied coolly. "If they give up, we'll spare their lives."

"What about the women?" she asked, voice quavering. "What will happen to them, and the children?"

"We'll try to keep them safe," Jess said.

"And if they get in the way?"

"We'll kill them," Logan said, his voice icy. "Just like we'll kill you if you don't help us. We
will
take control of this asteroid. What you have to help choose is how we'll take it. If you help us get out quietly, we can disable the men and take control peacefully. If you don't help us, we'll use explosives from the mine to blow the whole place up. Believe me when I tell you I'd rather kill everyone on this Goddess-forsaken hellhole then go back to the mine."

"You're bluffing," she said. "You can't access the blasting clay. You can't break into those lockers."

"Am I?' Logan asked. "Try me."

The two glared at each other for long seconds. Jess kept one arm wrapped around her waist, simultaneously supporting her weight and squeezing her to reinforce Logan’s words. Then she gave in.

"I'll do it," she said. "But I want your word—every man's word—that you'll do this as peacefully as you can."

All the men nodded.

"And I want you to promise no women will be raped."

Jess froze, wishing she hadn’t asked that of him.

"We can't promise that," he said softly. "We can try to control the men, and we plan to isolate the female prisoners. But mistakes happen."

Logan nodded, his face serious.

“Nobody gets raped by
mistake
,” she hissed. “It’s always deliberate.”

"Preventing something like that from happening is why it's so important we do this in an orderly way," Logan said in a harsh, urgent voice. "I can control these men here. I can't speak for all the men still down at the mine. This will have to be good enough."

She nodded, and a single tear rolled down her face. Jess' gut clenched.

"Let's get on with this," he said, his voice gritty. "We're wasting time."

"You weren't so worried about wasting time before," Bethany muttered. Logan gave Jess a long look, then started toward the tunnel entrance.

"Let's go," he said.

* * * * *

Bethany shivered as she walked slowly up the tunnel between the two men. They were both about the same height, and both had black hair. Logan had the same midnight blue eyes as Jess, too. Perhaps they were brothers? How long had they been planning this? Was Jess’ attraction to her just one more part of the plan?

She knew almost nothing about this man she’d had sex with…

She’d done it because she though she would die. With sudden insight, she realized that this revolt they planned could save her. She could blame her father's death on the slaves. Relief swept over her, only to be followed by self-disgust. How could she consider betraying her people just to save her own pathetic life? Granted, she didn't feel much kinship with most of the people on the station. But the women were nice, at least some of them. Moriah, for one. And the children. They were innocent of any wrong-doing. Her gut twisted as she realized that Moriah and her baby could very well end up dead before this was over.

She had to do something to stop that from happening. She had to get away and warn the others.

She had to find a way to save Moriah…

They reached the end of the tunnel and she took a deep breath.

"Don't make a mistake," Jess said, his tone deadly. She nodded her head quickly, not needing to feign fear. Jess hardly seemed like the same man who had been so tender with her earlier.

She raised one trembling hand and knocked on the door.

"Guards, I need you," she said, her voice quavering. There was no answer at first.

Jess and Logan looked at her with questions in their eyes. She shrugged.

"Sometimes they don't stay by the door," she whispered. "I think they get bored."