King of Swords Read online

  Brief flickers of light at the far end told him all he needed to know.

  He grabbed for the nearest handholds, clipping into the rail that ran the length of most of the main transport tubes. The station’s gravity didn’t extend to the transport system so the pods could slide along with relatively little effort. It made navigating in zero G difficult for most civilians when the tubes went down, but Dave was used to operating under much worse conditions, so he knew he could guide them to a safe portal with little difficulty. The hard part would be staying ahead of pursuit and avoiding any hostiles in whatever portal they chose.

  He kept his voice low as he bent to her ear, spooning her in front of his larger body for the push off as he sent them sweeping down the tube, guided only by the utility clip on his belt, still attached to the rail.

  “I’d like to try to make it back to Alex and the guys, if we can.”

  “Sounds good.”

  “We may encounter problems before we reach them though, so be ready for anything. I’m not sure how far away we were when we stopped.” He chuckled wryly. “This little cutie was distracting me.”

  She punched his arm playfully, and with little force so as to avoid sending them tumbling in the zero G tube.

  “There was this big brute distracting me, so I don’t know either.”

  He leaned in and kissed her neck, shoving them a little further as they started to decelerate. It wasn’t the fastest mode of transportation, but it was relatively quiet and would get them where they needed to go without detection. Hopefully.

  Dave saw a few stopped pods, but the occupants were either still within or long gone. He raised his legs as they passed over the tops of the pods, Adele’s body spooned inside his perfectly. She’d followed his lead very well so far and he was impressed. For a civilian, she knew how to work as part of a team and follow direction. That was something rare, he knew.

  A light up ahead, just discernable to his eye had him reaching for the wall to slow their pace.

  “We’re one ring away from the bar,” she said softly.

  He nodded, not wanting to speak in case what he saw ahead really was trouble. Light flared as he stopped them fully. Definitely trouble.

  That flare held the unmistakable glow of rifle fire.

  With a smooth motion, he stopped their progress near a side portal.

  The smaller portals usually led to service areas of the station in civilian designs, which was a good thing in this case. He wanted to avoid the populated areas and work his way to the more vulnerable parts of the station if at all possible, but he had to find a safe place to stash Adele first. Alex, and his predecessor before him, had undoubtedly created a network of hidey holes, but Dave had to find just one.

  Unclipping from the rail, he muscled open the small portal and pushed Adele through. She was surprisingly good in zero G for a civilian and after his initial push, she managed to coast with little corrective motions off the walls, just a few feet in front of him.

  He hadn’t really intended to make her go first, but he had to close the portal manually so they’d leave no trail, and when he turned around, she was already ahead. There was no sign of trouble in this shorter tunnel and the soft glow of emergency lights allowed her to navigate safely enough, so he let her go. There were no occupied pods in this tube, though he saw a few empties in the various small stations they passed.

  “Well, look what we have here.”

  A man’s voice filled the tunnel, and a flare of blue light caught Adele by surprise. Her hand flew up to shield her eyes, but Dave’s Enhanced vision had already compensated. He was moving before the other man had even lowered his hand from switching on the portable lantern. Dave used the zero G to his advantage, letting his momentum carry him into the smaller man and into the wall behind. His opponent had the wind knocked out of him while Dave appropriated the laser cutter he’d held in one hand. Dave shifted his grip and held the man by the throat, looking into his eyes with deadly intent.

  “Holy shit! You’re not one of them, are you?”

  “One of who?” Adele had come up alongside and reached into the sleeve pocket of his coverall for his identichip.

  “One of the jits, lady. They overran my section not ten minutes ago.”

  “Jit’suku? Are you sure?” Dave shook the man slightly to regain his attention.

  “Sure as shootin’, fella.”

  “Stanlay Kowliki, biosphere maintenance tech,” Adele read from his card, then stuffed it back into the sleeve pocket. “You maintain the plantings, right? You’re a gardener.”

  The man nodded as Dave let up on his collar a bit. “They came in through the biosphere hatch. Backed their ship right up to it and docked, though it wasn’t made for such use. Usually only garbage chutes are attached to the hatch, leading out scows that haul waste organics away planetside.”

  “How did you get in here?”

  “Service portal J-32.” The man pointed behind him. “They hadn’t found the service corridors yet on this side. Or maybe they bypassed ‘em. Not much over this way, after all. I heard on the comms they were subduing the civilian areas first. Locking ‘em down and gassing a few parts of the more heavily populated areas.”

  “Do you have a plan from here?” Dave asked.

  Stanlay nodded. “I’m heading for my rooms. My wife is there with our son and I’d like to be with them should the worst happen.”

  Dave nodded and let the man go. Adele handed him his light that she’d retrieved. “Don’t use the main tube. They’re in there already. Use the side tubes and you should be okay for a while.”

  “I don’t have to go far. Only the next ring.” Stanlay assured them as he clipped in to the rail on the upper portion of the tube. Dave handed him the small laser.

  “God speed.”

  “Thanks, mister. Sorry I surprised you, miss.”

  “I’m sorry I clobbered you.” Dave shook his head and chuckled.

  Civilians. The man was eyeing him like he was a monster and seemed relieved to have escaped with his life.

  “Good luck,” Adele said as the man pushed off and shuttered the light.”Will he make it?”

  She nodded. “I think so. The question is, will we?” She smiled up at him and his breath caught. He leaned down and placed a quick, hard kiss on her lips.

  “We will if I have anything to say about it.”

  Chapter Six

  When the first explosion rocked the station, Alex hit the lockdown command on his bar and broke out the weapons. The men, bless their combat-ready hearts, were with him every step of the way. Luckily, aside from the vets and Della, the bar was empty. No civilians to worry about except Della, and she seemed more than willing to follow Alex’s lead when he unveiled the secret passage he’d cut into the station’s architecture over the past few months.

  It led from behind the bar down into the lesser-used service conduits of the station, then into some hidden areas only a true professional would be able to find. It was there, in the bowels of the station, Alex had set up his lair.

  He was more than just a simple barkeep, though the civilians running the station knew very little about why his ‘former’ bosses in the spec ops community had placed him there and set him up in business.

  The bar was a drop-off point and Alex was the conduit through which high-level intelligence was passed.

  He had hidey holes all over the inner workings of this part of the station. They would definitely come in handy now. Leading his little group through the cramped passages, he was surprised at how well Della kept up.

  “How are you doing, sweetheart?” Alex paused at yet another doorway to key in his special code on a well-hidden lock. Della panted softly beside him. She was a little out of breath from the quick-time pace they’d set through the conduits, but otherwise she looked all right.

  “I’m good. Where are we going?”

  “Someplace safe while we figure out the extent of the attack and what we can do about it.”

  D
ella reached out and touched his arm as he entered the last of the complex code. “What about my niece?”

  Alex could see the worry in her beautiful eyes. “If I know Dave, he won’t let your girl out of his sight and he’s probably doing the exact same thing we are. He’s looking for a safe place to assess the situation and make plans. If he’s close enough, he’ll probably rendezvous with us. Don’t worry. He’s a good man and an excellent strategist. He’ll keep her safe.”

  “Colonel,” Perkins sidled up next to them, “movement in the next tube over.”

  Alex nodded briefly and opened the hidden hatch. Relieved to see all was clear, he motioned them through, careful to close and lock the hatch behind.

  They were in a small chamber. It was the first of his secret compartments and it led to several other escape routes, but for right now, they’d be safe enough to discuss preliminary plans. Plus, there was a secure computer hookup they could use to monitor what was happening on the station.

  “Jake,” he ordered quietly, “power up and jack into the system.”

  With a nod, the quiet man named Jake rolled back his sleeve and a flap of pseudo-skin that hid a small, state of the art interface. Along with Enhancement, Jake had undergone cybernetic implantation to augment his already incredibly sharp mind. Alex knew only a few very special brains could handle the implants and the kind of work Jake had become expert at during his time in service. Now officially “retired,” Jake reported to Alex while in the field. He was glad the man was here now.

  His expertise would come in very handy indeed.

  Jake blinked a few times as he came out of download mode. “Bad news, Colonel. Jits have docked and infiltrated.”

  “How many?”

  “At least one hundred, maybe one-twenty, judging by the ship they arrived in, and they’ve got control of environmental. I countermanded the order to flood all tubes with sleep gas, but it’ll be overridden shortly.”

  “We should be safe enough in here,” Alex reassured Della as she gasped. “There are secure scrubbers installed in all my compartments and the gas will be vented as soon as they think everyone’s been dosed, so they can move around without cumbersome gear.”

  Jake nodded. “They already gassed the main shopping concourses on all civilian rings. Lots of sleeping people everywhere on the station, and others locked in their quarters. All the civ rings are in lockdown and the station cops have been locked into their garrison. I can’t override from here.”

  “So they’ve got the run of the station already.” Alex cursed under his breath. Grave expressions met his gaze as he looked around the room at his gathered troops. “Jake, were you able to get off an alert?”

  “Affirmative, Colonel. It’s on a subfrequency they’ll probably never find. All your operatives on the station have been alerted. If they’re awake, they got my sitrep through their direct comms and if they’re sleeping, they’ll get it when they wake up.”

  “Good man.”

  “Colonel,” Jake straightened, his expression grim.

  “The environmental system just overrode my bypass command. The tubes are flooding with gas, but it’ll be a slow process because of the extent of the conduit network. Estimate at least six hours before they vent. The jits want to make damned sure everyone’s asleep before they venture out.”

  Alex turned and punched a button. A bench slipped out from the wall and he sat heavily. “I guess all we can do for now is watch and wait. Without gear we can’t move in the conduits until that stuff has vented and all my environmental gear is in the next compartment. Too far away to get to before the gas reaches us.”

  “Do we have anything useful in this compartment? Maybe something to eat?” Della asked.

  Alex smiled up at her and patted the bench next to him. She sat at his side and his smile turned wolfish.

  “We’ve got rations and something even better.” He pushed a series of hidden switches on the irregular wall surface and a secret panel slid back to reveal an arsenal. “We’ve got enough firepower to take back the station—if we use it wisely.”

  Chapter Seven

  Dave recognized one of Alex’s more obscure signs just moments after the tubes started to flood with gas. Inputting his code on the hidden mechanism, Dave managed to get the hatch open before either he or Adele gave in to the pull of the gas, but it was a close thing.

  Sealing the small compartment, the scrubbers inside the hidden chamber immediately went to work on the contaminated air he’d let in as they entered. He pulled a wide bench out from the wall and laid Adele on it. With her smaller frame, Adele had succumbed more easily to the effects of the gas and was the next thing to unconscious.

  For a moment, uncustomary fear hit him. What if it wasn’t just sleep gas? What if she’d been poisoned?

  Dave tore through the supply cupboards to find a small med unit that would monitor Adele’s heart and counteract most common poisons.

  He ripped apart the seals on her top, hesitating only briefly before slipping her sheer under-tunic down her arms, baring her breasts.

  He attached the hand-sized unit over her heart, relieved when it glowed green with health. He had to lean in to read the findings and felt even better when the small unit registered sleep inducers only. He pushed a button to administer counteragents and the unit attached itself more firmly to her skin, sliding a small compartment open and jabbing her with a very fine needle.

  Adele started coming around almost immediately. Her groggy eyes opened and Dave breathed a sigh of relief.

  “What happened?” Her voice was still weak, but Dave was happy to hear it.

  “You got a dose of sleep gas before we made it into this bolt hole.”

  “Why am I naked?” She leaned up and tried to gather the gaping cloth, but her arms were constricted by the under-tunic, still resting around her middle.

  Dave flashed her a grin. “I may have overreacted a little.” He gently pried the med unit off her skin, tracing the red marks left behind on her soft breast. “I was afraid the gas might’ve been more than just sleep inducers, so I dug up a med unit to check for poison.”

  “Was it?” Her voice had a breathless quality as his fingers continued to trace over her soft skin. “Poison, I mean.” Her gaze shot to his as he brought his palm down over her breast, squeezing slightly.

  Dave moved closer, tossing the med unit aside. “Just sleep gas, sweetheart. I administered a counteragent so you’d wake up.” He moved closer as he felt her nipple harden to a sharp point against his palm.

  “Thanks.” The word whispered against his lips as he kissed her, slow at first, then with increasing urgency. She was beautifully made, a perfect fit for his big hands. He teased her nipples, rolling them between his fingers, pleased when she squirmed and moaned into his mouth. He had to taste her.

  Breaking away from her lips was hard, but he needed the salt of her skin just as badly. He nibbled his way down her throat, pausing to suck her earlobe in a move that made her giggle. It was a hot sound, innocent and seductive all at the same time. He got harder just hearing her laugh.

  Hell, all he had to do was see her walk into that bar to make his cock stand up and take notice. She was that powerful. Like a drug to his senses.

  Dave feathered his lips over her delicate skin, his hands moving lower to push the under-tunic away completely and slide the rest of her clothing down her long, luscious legs. He’d savor them. Later. But first he had a craving he needed to fulfill. Hers…and his.

  “Do you feel it?” he asked, his lips sliding along her skin, skirting her nipple, waiting for the moment he would taste her. “Do you want me, Adele?”

  “Oh, God, yes! Yes, David.” Her whispered answer pleased him greatly.

  “Whatexactlydo you want, sweetheart? Tell me. In detail.”

  She hesitated long enough that he knew she’d never done this before. He looked up, meeting her eyes and saw fascination and a tiny bit of fear there. Fear of the unknown. But he also saw how the idea of
speaking her desires out loud excited her. He decided to push a bit further.

  “Do you want me to lick your nipples? Suck your luscious tits? Tell me, sweetheart. I won’t do anything you don’t ask for.” He dared her, enjoying the way her heart sped under his hands, her panting breaths broadcasting her excitement. “Tell me, Adele. Tell me and I’ll give you anything you want.”

  “I want—” She licked her lips and his cock twitched. “I want you to kiss me.”

  “Like this?” He teased her with little, almost chaste kisses going all around her nipples, but not touching the hard peaks that so obviously hungered for him.

  “I want you to lick me, David.” The words panted from her lips as she watched him. He could feel the soft stir of her breath against his head, making him hotter.

  “Where?”

  “My nipples, David. Please.” The last word was lengthened into a little moan so sexy, he decided to give her what she wanted. What he wanted too. He zeroed in on one nipple, plying the other with his fingers while his tongue flicked and traced the hardened peak. Adele made the sexiest little sounds at the back of her throat as he moved closer, sucking her deep, meeting her eyes as he tongued her, drawing hard and testing her reactions.

  She liked it a little rough, which surprised him, but pleasantly. It just so happened, Dave liked it too. He could give her as much as she could take.

  “David!”

  Oh, he liked the sound of that breathless plea. He pulled at her, drawing on her skin with his teeth as she moaned, then let go with a little sucking sound. He treated her other breast to a loving lick and a little nip that had her crying out in pleasure. Dave teased her soft flesh, raising her temperature.

  All the while, his hands learned her. He’d pushed the cloth out of his way and now made short work of her panties, tossing them across the compartment. His hand settled into the apex of her thighs, the middle finger parting her folds and seeking within. She was slick and hot, wet and ready. He stroked over the little bud of her clit and she squirmed, then he slid his finger inside, testing her wet warmth.