231. The Plot
231
The Plot
M aya
“Mel’Kan!” A’Dar’s voice is urgent as he hails his chief mechanic. “Where are you on the repairs?”
“I was just about to flip the switch! Was going to surprise you.”
“Don’t! Zedd’s on board. She’s holed up in the storage closet a few doors from the bridge along with two laser pistols and two laser rifles she brought with her as well as what looks like dozens of Xenon guns she appropriated from somewhere, probably the hallways.”
“Bitch!” I hear Anna in the background.
“We don’t know if the pulse nullified the biometric control on the weapons. Before all those extra guns are functional, I’d like to barge in and take her out,” A’Dar says.
“How do you propose to do that without loss of life?” Mel’Kan asks. “She won’t hesitate to fire at everything coming through the door until her ammo runs out.”
“All we need is one good shot. I’ll get my best males on it after they make a quick trip to the landing bay to acquire more guns from the pirate ship. We’ll be wearing armor. We’re trained military. She’s a vid personality who’ll be taken by surprise and too scared of breaking a fingernail to react until it’s too late.”
He may be a male who grew up without any feminine influence, but I think he’s got her pegged pretty accurately.
“I want to do this quickly,” A’Dar says, his face a mask of rage. “The idea she’s been on this vessel, my vessel, this entire time infuriates me.”
“That makes two of us,” Anna snarls. “I’m coming to the bridge. You can stun her, wound her, but I want to be the one who kills that bitch.”
At first, my mouth pops open at the thought. Anna wants to kill another person after all we’ve been through? Then my mouth snaps shut as pictures bombard my mind of a dozen ways I’d like to kill Jahzara Zedd. Not pictures of what I’d like to see on my vid screen from the safety of another room, but images of what I want to do with my own two hands.
“It’s not safe,” A’Dar responds to Anna’s comment at the same moment Mel’Kan says, “I don’t want to risk your safety.”
“You’re going to organize your cadre of males,” I say, my voice strong. Although in a different register than A’Dar’s, it’s just as commanding. “You’re going to go in and subdue her in whatever way you need. You’re just not going to kill her. Anna and I and Emily, if she wants, are going to finish the job.”
A’Dar tips his head in silent question, his brow furrowed. “Are you sure this is what you want?” he asks after turning off his comm so it’s just him and me having this conversation.
“Two days ago, did I want to kill anyone? No. Today? I’ve already killed several people.” My lids flutter for a moment as I picture the bloodbaths in the cellblock and the fore cargo hold. I may not have killed all those people, but I was a part of it and never regretted it. It kept me and those I care about alive.
“Maybe it’s the changes to my DNA, maybe it’s what that bitch put me through, or that she’s tried to ruin the lives of everyone on this ship, but A’Dar, I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.”
“I will make it so, then,” my mate says as he slides his palm along my nape and looks at me with pride and affection.
The moment he turns his comm back on, Anna says, “I just comm’d Emily. We’ll meet you on the bridge as soon as we can get there.”