Chapter Twenty-two
“Charity!” Detodev’s cry was a roar of horror and rage as the zip rapidly became a mere twinkle in the night sky.
The man he’d knocked out and disarmed lay between his feet. Likewise, the pair Ilid and Mitag had grappled with were unconscious. Mitag’s opponent had done the Imdiko the favor of grazing his own head when his blaster had gone off as they’d fought for the weapon. Little more than a scrape ran red through his scalp, so he’d apparently fainted from the shock.
Ilid gripped the sides of his head, his horrified gaze following the zip’s path. “We’re too late, damn it!”
“We weren’t.”
Detodev whirled at Chief Groteg’s voice behind him. The enforcement officer, Dramok Dolgra, and several Kalquorian lawmen had appeared out of nowhere.
“Wilkes is an Earthtique plant. He has Charity. Do something!” Ilid commanded, marching toward the group.
The majority group of Nobeks twitched, affected by the tone of a born Dramok. Only Dolgra remained stoic. The spy raised a brow at his fellow leader type.
His com buzzed an alert, and he muttered into it. The answer was too low for Detodev to hear.
Dolgra nodded to Groteg before addressing Ilid. “A marauder has already intercepted the zip and brought it on board after stunning the occupants. Wilkes can’t resist or harm Matara Charity. They’ll confirm in a moment she’s safe.”
“You…you knew…how did you know?” Ilid spluttered.
“I’ll tell you in a moment.” Dolgra’s com buzzed again. He turned up the volume so all could hear a rough voice speak. “Safe acquisition of hostage and suspect confirmed. The Matara is bruised but otherwise unharmed. Medical is attending her now. We’ll bring her and your prisoner to you as soon as our head medic has cleared them.”
“Thank you, Captain. You have our gratitude.” Dolgra grinned at Groteg, who didn’t return the smile. “Excellent job, Chief. I commend you and your men for pulling off a flawless operation despite the surprises the perpetrators pulled. You’ll get full credit for capturing the Mercy-New Bethlehem operatives.”
“Flawless operation?” Detodev couldn’t contain a growl. It trickled through as his suspicions grew. “Charity being abducted and bruised is hardly flawless . You were phased and present at the theater, waiting for the bastards to grab her, weren’t you?”
“Wait. You used her as bait?” Ilid was red-faced as Mitag gasped and snarled a few choice foul words.
To his credit, Groteg winced at the accusations. He took care to speak their names respectfully. “Detodev, Ilid, Mitag, she decided on her own to go to the show. We took advantage of the opportunity she insisted upon. We had every intention of keeping her antagonists from her. We were simply hoping and waiting for them to reveal themselves. The fire and the danger it presented to so many disrupted those plans.”
Dolgra added, “We had no idea who was behind the attempts to abduct Charity. Despite our best efforts to uncover who might have gotten on Haven on behalf of the Earthtique agenda, Wilkes and his friends’ bona fides were impeccable. Only O’Neal, aka Kelly Kirk, failed to adequately cover his tracks.”
“In the end, we could only hope Charity’s presence at the theater could lure her hunters from hiding,” Groteg explained. “We phased and watched her carefully.”
“Our mistake was thinking your group would be attacked leaving the restaurant, theater, or club. We had no idea the Earthtiques would risk so many lives trying to take her.” Dolgra scowled.
“If it hadn’t been for a couple of men I sent to check for activity backstage, we wouldn’t have caught a few of the attackers pouring accelerant and setting the blazes.” Groteg’s frown deepened. “We had to stay behind to capture those we could and save the people in the theater. Once enough of my and Connelly’s men showed up, Dolgra, I, and my squad followed you here. Fortunately, we’d put a tracker on Mitag’s shuttle, so we were able to find you quickly.”
“I’d put a phased marauder on standby the moment we decided on this operation. I realized anyone who grabbed Charity would try to get her off Haven immediately,” Dolgra added. “It was ready to snag any ship leaving the area. The instant I had a firm takeoff location, I reported the escape craft’s identification and likely trajectory to the marauder’s captain.”
“Thanks to your help, the Earthtique agents have been captured.” Groteg snarled at the humans who were beginning to groan and stir. His men had already cuffed them. At a nod from their superior, they ordered the hovercuffs to lift the men and float them out to where the enforcement shuttles no doubt awaited.
“You haven’t gotten those who hired them,” Detodev pointed out. “Those who’d continue to send assholes after Charity.”
“They’ll give us names,” Dolgra vowed. “They’ll be placed in the custody of the fleet’s spy division, not local law enforcement.”
“Which means what, exactly?”
“Matara Charity resides on Haven, which is in Kalquorian Empire space. We can interrogate the prisoners according to our standards, not the Galactic Council’s or Haven’s.”
“GC standards are moot anyway, seeing how we’re at war with the Darks, which have taken control of it,” Ilid muttered. Detodev could see he was a long way from letting Dolgra off the hook for Charity’s near-abduction.
“We’ll get Wilkes and his cohorts to confirm they were acting under the orders of Mercy’s and New Bethlehem’s leadership.”
“Which does what? Dark-controlled GC won’t do anything against them.”
“We can petition our allies to enact embargos until those responsible are booted out of power. It’ll hurt, maybe enough to make a difference.”
“The best news is, we have the perpetrators. Charity doesn’t have to leave Haven now.” Groteg finally managed a hint of a smile.
Detodev’s heart lifted at Groteg’s assertion. He saw Ilid and Mitag brighten as well. Though the immediate threat had ended, as a protective Nobek, he couldn’t resist bringing up a matter of concern. “Though it’s difficult for more Earthtiques to come here, especially thanks to the protocols in place to ward off the Darks and the viruses, there may be others already present elsewhere on Haven. This isn’t over.”
“It’s possible, but we caught Wilkes. There’s a good chance he knows who any additional threats are. If he does, I’ll get them from him.” Dolgra’s fanged grin was brutal enough to send a shiver down even a Nobek’s spine.
“In addition, she has you three along with me to watch over her. You all proved yourselves up to the task,” Groteg added. His expression of pride, aimed specifically at Detodev, filled the younger Nobek despite his anger.
* * * *
The marauder’s shuttle had barely settled in its landing spot at the spaceport near Sunrise when Charity surged toward the hatch. Inwardly, she cursed the shakiness of her legs. Steadying them through pure will, she forced them to hurry.
Recovery from a Kalquorian shockwave was known to be a painful ordeal, but she’d been spared the hours of agony. The marauder’s medical department had kept her sedated and anesthetized until the effects had worn off. She’d had the grim satisfaction of hearing from a flirtatious Nobek security guard that Wilkes hadn’t been afforded such kindness in his containment cell. The bastard had received a small but brutal dose of the justice coming to him.
She was wobbling not from her ordeal, but in her eagerness to return to Haven. Planet Farm Hell had become her unlikely paradise thanks to the amazing people who made it their home. She was impatient to get to them.
She’d have run down the ramp if she could have trusted her legs to not faceplant her to the port’s floor. She needn’t have worried. Ilid, Detodev, and Mitag would have caught her. They raced to claim her the instant she appeared in the shuttle’s opening. The trio shouted joyously as they lifted her in the air, swung her about, and took turns hugging her. Even Detodev’s face was alight as he welcomed her home.
Home . Charity had come to realize the word referred to those who held her heart, rather than the location where she put down roots. Gazing into those handsome, wonderful faces, she dreamed she’d be on Haven long after her enemies gave up on capturing her.
“I’m sorry we let him take you,” Ilid said. “We promised we’d keep you safe.”
“If anyone failed, it was me,” Detodev said. “I know not to trust anyone who hasn’t personally proven themselves to me. I stopped to help the man who’d fallen instead of staying with you—”
“Guys, stop.” Charity touched their strong, dear faces in turn. “I’ve seen bad shit, remember? I’m well aware those who’d give their lives for me can’t always save me. If you knew how it felt when you burst in the barn to stop Wilkes…you’d realize you have nothing to apologize for. If he’d gotten me to New Bethlehem, it wouldn’t have kept me from the gratitude you did all you could.”
“We’ll do better from now on.” Mitag’s eyes were bright from emotion. He glanced at the other two to include them. “I found paradise, and I won’t lose it again.”
Ilid nodded. Detodev did too.
Charity’s feet barely touched the ramp as her lovers bore her to the spaceport’s floor, where Clan Codab, Clan Amgar, and the children waited, beaming happiness to have her among them once more. Even the elder Nobek brutes Groteg and Gruthep hugged her enthusiastically and shouted their delight to see her home safely.
Dramok Dolgra was there. He stood in the background, smiling slightly as she was fussed over. When she looked at him, he bowed. “Welcome home,” he mouthed. He no doubt realized she wouldn’t hear him, thanks to the exclamations of her found family.
Haven was home. Charity wouldn’t fight it, though she could hardly believe it.
Imdiko Utber shouted to be heard above the hubbub. “You’re all invited to the farm for a special meal to celebrate our Charity’s homecoming.”
Her brow lifted to hear him use her real name. Groteg smirked, “We have reason to believe you can come out of hiding. We’ll have to remain watchful, but you can be Charity Nath from now on.”
“Thanks to you and despite me, no doubt.” She grinned. “Don’t feel bad. I give those who mean the most to me the hardest time.”
He chuckled, then sobered. “Much has happened you haven’t learned yet. Some of it, you won’t be too happy about, so we need to talk…but you are free to remain on Haven with Kalquor’s blessing.” He glanced over his shoulder at Dolgra, who nodded.
“Just try to make me leave,” she laughingly dared them.
* * * *
Charity stared at the men sitting across from her in Clan Amgar’s sitting room. She could hear noise and chatter from the kitchen and dining room as everyone else pitched in to ready for the celebratory feast Utber had prepared, but they might as well have been as distant as the stars in the night sky.
“Browning Copeland’s dead.” She’d told Wilkes the truth, though she hadn’t known it at the time. Unreality washed over her as she repeated what the spy and enforcer had told her at the start of their news.
Groteg and Dolgra nodded.
“The announcement’s being held off while Kalquor determines how to reveal it to the public.”
“We need to keep the Dark-controlled Galactic Council from capitalizing on the fact Copeland died under Kalquor’s illegal custody.” Dolgra’s gaze held steady.
“My father is asking to take responsibility for it, to erase any blame being assigned to your empire. He wants to stand trial before a jury on Earth since the GC is too dangerous to involve in the matter.” The words hissed from Charity. She had no voice to speak the awful suggestion.
Black-haired heads dipped once more.
She swallowed a lump in her throat to clear it. “How would it be possible for him to do so? To take full responsibility?”
Dolgra’s tone held its usual command, but he spoke gently, as if afraid she’d fly apart at the slightest provocation…which she felt ready to do. “His story will be that he sent his daughters to live in hiding. Then he and a group of likeminded Earthers abducted Copeland minutes ahead of Admiral Piras and Captain Kila destroying his battlecruiser. Clan Piras discovered General Nath’s daughters’ whereabouts, then took responsibility for your welfare, believing your father and Browning Copeland were dead.”
“And they ended up clanning my sister while I was sent to live on Jedver with my aunt and uncle. What a nice, neat package so far.” Charity’s tone wavered on a sneer.
It failed to demonstrate what she felt. She thought she might scream.
“Your father wants to testify he and his co-conspirators, whom he won’t name for obvious reasons—”
“Because his co-conspirators are the Kalquorian Empire.”
Dolgra continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “—held the Holy Leader prisoner in retaliation for his crimes. They did so because they were determined he wouldn’t escape justice.”
“This is bullshit.” Charity couldn’t help the furious outburst. Borey was abandoning his chance to be in her life in order to save Kalquor’s reputation with its allies. He was putting the good of the galaxy over her again. His selfless saintliness warred with her selfish need for her father. Selfishness she acknowledged but couldn’t defeat. “Someone else has to take the blame for a change. Someone else should be responsible. He’s given up too much already. You can’t let him do this.”
“We’re working on other ideas. I agree your father has sacrificed his fair share.”
“You’d better damn well believe it.” She knuckled hot tears dry. “He feels guilty for allowing so many to be hurt while he tried to find a way to stop Copeland. Maybe he was right to give up years of our lives to do so, but damn it, enough is enough!”
She swiveled so her back was to the men. She couldn’t stop grief from streaming down her cheeks. Copeland’s long-awaited death should be a celebratory moment instead of another reason to cry.
Why couldn’t Borey be less noble…be more like her? Despite those Charity had found who cared for her, she wanted to be worthy to have her father in her life.
Didn’t she deserve to not come second to the rest of the universe for once?