CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE #2
“Give me your gun,” I repeated, holding out my hand for it.
Unless someone was a police officer or a soldier, carrying a gun on Rendol 4 was illegal.
But I also knew for a fact that Vonnie took hers everywhere, regardless of the Ranzor security presence on the property, and now was not the time for her to be playing innocent.
I felt her press the weapon into my hand, and I could already tell from the warm vibration that she’d activated it for me.
It was a pulse projector, which would normally be used to pulverise an entire person, but with the right adjustments to the settings, it could also be used to aim a narrow laser beam at a pinpoint target.
And given that Dorral was using Kathy as a living shield, that’s what I was going to need this time.
“What setting-?” I got as far as asking, before Vonnie muttered, “Narrow. Have at the bastard.” In all likelihood, she didn’t have a clue who Dorral was.
But what she did know was that two entire planets were rooting for the death of her and her son, and with Dorral threatening an innocent woman’s life, it seemed she was more inclined to shoot first and ask questions later.
I raised the gun and lined up the red laser sight with Dorral’s head. And then I saw Kathy subtly lower her body and lean slightly away from Dorral, giving me as clear a target as possible. Clever woman.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Dorral asked. He tugged Kathy closer, trying to hide behind her noticeably shorter body. “You don’t have the balls to shoot me, you whiny little pup.” He seemed awfully confident about it, for someone with a gun pointed at his head.
Over by the shed, Borl saw what I was doing and broke cover, sprinting in my direction.
Behind me, I heard more hurried footsteps, and then I heard my master’s voice. “Xel? What are you doing?”
I had about two seconds before my master ordered me not to shoot Dorral. Because I knew he was going to. And then I would be compelled to obey him. He would want to take the route of legal justice, not vigilante retribution.
“Xel, don’t-”
I pulled the trigger. The beam sliced a neat hole right through the centre of Dorral’s head.
His legs gave out and he collapsed backwards, the gun falling harmlessly away from Kathy’s head.
She stumbled, his weight pulling her down a little before he lost his grip on her, but she managed to stay upright.
“No!” my master shouted. “Oh, god, what have you done?” He rushed over to Dorral, checking him for a pulse, though it was quickly obvious that he was dead.
“Nice shot,” Vonnie said, sounding pleased about it. “Who was he, by the way?”
I rapidly sorted through the options as to how to explain who Dorral was. “This is Kathy,” I said, as a starting point. “She’s going to be one of our new nannies for the babies. Dorral is her old employer. He was angry about us poaching his staff.”
“There’s also a good possibility he murdered Xel’s previous master,” Kathy added. “Though I doubt we’ll ever know for sure, given the bastard’s dead.”
Borl pulled to a stop beside our group, seeming a little disappointed that the drama was already over. But then he turned to me, making a loud clicking noise in his throat. “That was an excellent shot, little Vangravian. Now you have a battle story to tell! And a life that you have saved.”
That got my master’s attention. He leapt to his feet, rounding on Borl. “What? No! This is an absolute fucking mess! Xel can’t just be shooting people! That’s murder! We have laws about that sort of thing on Rendol 4.”
As much as I’d known he would object to me shooting Dorral, I was still dismayed to hear the anger and indignation in his voice. Disappointing my master sent a shaft of pain right through my chest. “Xel, you can’t just… Fucking hell!” He was dancing around the body, waving his arms in agitation.
“I would say it’s more like self defence,” Kathy muttered, glaring at my master. “Or would you rather he just let Dorral shoot me?”
“No, of course not,” my master apologised. “I’m glad you’re okay. I just…”
“I am very confused,” Borl said. “On your planet, defending an innocent person is not an honourable thing to do?” He sounded thoroughly offended by the idea.
My master shook his head. “Fuck, I don’t…
It’s complicated, okay? It can be a good thing, or it can be a very, very seriously bad thing, and I don’t want Xel to be sent to jail because of some scumbag with a vendetta!
” Ah! Now it was making more sense. He wasn’t upset that Dorral was dead.
Rather, he was concerned about the consequences for me.
And that brought a warmer sensation to my chest.
Borl swished his tail, looking from me, to Cole, to the dead body. “Xel could be in trouble because he killed this man?”
“Possibly, yes. Like I said, it’s complicated.”
“Hm. Then I apologise, Xel,” Borl said to me, as he stepped closer.
“Under any other circumstances, I would not do this.” He reached out and took the gun out of my hand with unexpected gentleness, for such a large and powerful creature.
Then he turned to my master, shooting a token glare at the rest of the onlookers.
Two other Ranzors had arrived, along with Leesha, who I suspected had been in the barn with Vonnie.
“I do not see what you are concerned about,” Borl stated, puffing himself up indignantly.
“Xel did not shoot anyone. See, there is not even a gun in his hand,” he said, gesturing to my now empty hands.
“How can he shoot anyone without a weapon? I am the head of security for the colony. And I saw a man threatening one of our new staff members. So I shot him. That is exactly the job my team was hired to do.”
There was a moment of heavy silence. Then Kathy blurted out, “Yes! This… large gentleman saved my life. He shot Dorral. I saw it with my own eyes.”
“His name is Borl,” I told her. “He’s a Ranzor.” She’d likely never see one before, and wouldn’t be able to identify his species by sight.
Kathy’s eyes opened wide for a moment, the fearsome species’ reputation no doubt preceding them. But then she made an effort to calm herself. “And a very diligent one at that,” she said, forcing a smile for Borl’s benefit. “He arrived just in time to save me.”
“Of course it was Borl,” Vonnie agreed. “That’s what we hired them for.”
My master glanced at Leesha, who shook her head. “I can say with one hundred per cent honesty that I arrived too late to see who shot whom,” she said, and perhaps that was a good thing. Not that she wouldn’t have been willing to lie for us, but it was better all around if she didn’t have to.
Finally, my master managed to relax a little, though he still looked rather frazzled. “Okay, okay, fine. Borl shot Dorral. All good. Kathy, are you okay?”
She shrugged. “A little shaken, but not injured. I wouldn’t turn down a stiff drink, if you happen to have one handy.”
My master gave a slight chuckle. “Come over to the cottage. I’m sure we can find something. Xel, are you okay?” He came over to me and put his hands on my shoulders, checking me over. “Did he hurt you?”
“No, I’m fine,” I assured him.
“Is what Kathy said true? Did he murder my uncle?”
“He didn’t say that outright. But he strongly implied it. He wanted to inherit me and the hotel, and he said he had some lawyers in his pocket who would help him do that.”
“Fucking hell.”
“We’ll check the perimeter,” Gatik, one of the other Ranzors, said.
“Make sure he was alone.” He and the other Ranzor headed off towards the entrance to the sanctuary, and I sent a quick message to Bo.
‘Security issue. Under control, but Ranzors heading your way.’ I didn’t want her to be startled by them.
My master wandered off a little way to call Torv, since he’d have to be informed about what had happened.
And we’d need someone to come and collect the body, though I wasn’t sure whether that would be paramedics or someone from the military.
Torv might want to keep this well away from civilian ears.
“Don’t worry, Xel,” Borl said to me, sidling up beside me while my master was busy. “We Ranzors will not forget this. We know that you are worthy. We know that you are willing to defend your family. We will pay tribute to this day, in the Great Council at the end of time.”
“Thank you,” I said. I didn’t understand quite what he’d said, or why it was so important, but it seemed that Borl felt he was paying me a compliment, so I decided to respond as such. “That’s very kind of you.” He seemed pleased by that, so I figured I’d said the right thing.
“Are you really okay?” Kathy asked me next. “I mean, about Dorral killing your master. That must be quite a shock.”
I glanced over at my master – my real master – and felt a crooked smile settle onto my face.
“I would never wish for anyone to be murdered,” I said.
“Mr Ronson treated a lot of people badly, but that doesn’t mean he deserved to die for it.
But all things considered, I think Dorral ended up doing me a favour.
If he hadn’t broken my bond with my old master, I would never have found my new one.
And this one is so much better than the first.”
“Xel, take Kathy over to the cottage and get her a drink,” my master called, briefly interrupting his conversation with Torv. “I’ll be there in a couple of minutes. And Vonnie and Leesha, you’re welcome to come as well, if you want to.”
“Yes, sir,” I said, feeling the familiar buzz of compulsion in my veins.
But I also felt a comforting warmth in my chest, knowing that I was owned by a man who cared so deeply about me that he was willing to lie to the Alliance Parliament.
It was a strange new world that we were going to be involved in, with this colony of Vangravian babies.
But I wouldn’t have exchanged a single moment of it for anything else in the world.