Chapter 34
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Two weeks later
Arin ducked into the mobile dwelling, the door banging behind her as she escaped the fierce wind outside. Tiny stinging particles of sand had hit her, and now they coated her face, hair, and lower arms.
The dust-storm had rolled in from the west, blackening the sky and engulfing everything before it.
She shrugged off her coat, dropping it in the small foyer as she kicked off her boots and brushed off the sand. She walked through to the living area, appreciating the relative coolness of her surroundings.
The dwelling was a sturdy structure made from wafer-thin semi-concrete. It had a bedroom, a living area, all the mod-cons one could desire, and it had been assembled in a little under two hours.
It was superbly insulated too, specially designed to withstand the heat of the North African desert.
When the Kordolians had proved themselves useful and the public had expressed their approval, the Federation had suddenly become very kind to them, providing them with state-of-the-art accommodation and a surprising amount of logistical support.
The only people who’d really objected to the First Division’s presence had been the archaeologists working on the dig site called Gara.
Gara was a network of ancient temples and tunnels beneath the desert sands that had been invaded by Xargek.
But in the end, they’d acquiesced, because everyone knew the Xargek would do far more damage to the historical site than the Kordolians.
Arin reached the lounge, the auto-lights switching on as she entered the room. “Network on,” she commanded, and a flatscreen came to life. Arin sank down into a low chair and watched as a news bulletin came on.
“Latest reports from the Gara archeological dig site in Naea are that the Kordolian warriors are finally managing to hold the Xargek terror at bay. Xargek-related deaths in the nearby settlement town of Fadar have dropped sharply over the past week, and so far, fears of a Kordolian-fronted invasion have yet to manifest. In other news, the prime investigation into the Department of Planetary Security continues. At the center of the scandal is a recently confiscated surveillance ship reported to contain highly incriminating evidence. Several employees allegedly involved in violations of Federation law have been stood down, pending further investigation…”
Arin sighed and switched off the flatscreen.
So far, none of the news networks had mentioned the carnage Rykal had wrought onboard the Silvermist. Her mother had handed the ship over to the prime investigator, and once the Federation had realized exactly how effective the Kordolians were at fighting the Xargek, certain problems had mysteriously disappeared.
Except for one.
Arin reached for her link-band. “Yo, Riana,” she said.
“Yo, Arin,” her former junior officer replied, picking up on the first ring.
“Any leads?”
“Plenty of leads. It’s just a case of figuring out which ones are genuine. Have you heard of Scarabus?”
“Not at all.”
Riana’s voice dropped to a conspiratorial near-whisper.
“This is deep shit, Sarge, secret society shit. It’s an organization of sorts, and there are some very powerful people behind it.
Political people. Corporate people. Off-planet people.
Government people. Most of the leads I’ve picked up from the Fortuna Tau explosion trace back to them. ”
“Huh.”
“Huh is right. I’ve gone as far as I can go electronically. The rest will have to be done on the ground. I should get my brother to look into it. He’s got his PI license, even though he never uses it.”
Arin brushed a stray sprinkling of sand off her pant leg.
Outside, the dust-storm raged, its full fury hitting the sturdy walls of the dwelling.
“The Kordolians will want to send one of theirs to help out. This is personal for them, too. They see revenge as their bloodright, but trust me, the benefit will be all yours. They can come in very, very handy.”
“Blood-right?” Riana sounded a little panicked. “You’re beginning to sound like one of them, Sarge. It’s because of that boyfriend of yours, isn’t it? You’ve been hanging out with them for too long.”
“When they let me know who they want to send, I’ll get him to contact you.”
“Me?” Riana’s voice rose an octave. “Y-you can’t let them contact me. I’m just the socially awkward IT girl. I’m not going to go traipsing across the planet searching for secret organizations with some stone-cold killer.”
“But Riana,” Arin said, her voice taking on a teasing note, “you’re the best genius hacker I know, and besides, they’re guests on our planet. It’s our job to show them around, make them feel comfortable, make sure they don’t kill anybody-”
“Arin,” Riana protested, “I am not going to help you with this mission anymore if you force me to work with one of them.”
“There’s that small matter of all that illegal porn that was mysteriously downloaded on Fortuna Tau and sold for significant profit. I have witnesses.”
“But Sergeant-”
“I’m not ‘Sergeant’ anymore, Riana. They DD’d me as soon as I set foot on sweet Earth soil.
” She’d been expecting the dishonorable discharge, but the speed with which the military had dumped her had stung a little.
She hadn’t even been able to put in her resignation notice, and just like that, her dream of a military career had been over.
At first, all she’d ever wanted was to prove herself in the military; to walk in her mother’s shadow and become a brilliant officer, so that the high-flying General Varga would finally acknowledge her.
But life had a funny way of changing direction when you least expected it.
Not that Arin was so bothered about it now.
She had bigger and better things to look forward to, and she’d won the biggest prize of all.
Her tone softened. “Don’t worry, Riana. It’ll be fun, trust me. Kordolians aren’t as bad as they look. Well, they are, but they aren’t. You’ll see what I mean.”
“Arin!” Terror flooded Riana’s voice. “You can’t-”
“I’ll let you know when he’s coming over. Thanks again, Riana.” Arin terminated the comm as the door flew open, revealing a vortex of wild red dust whipped up by the hot desert wind.
Sand was streaming into the foyer.
And on the threshold stood a familiar black figure.
He was in full warrior mode, his helm concealing his features, his body bristling with weapons. He was a terrifying sight against the murky, shadowy red backdrop of the dust storm.
“Shut the damn door,” Arin yelled, struggling to be heard above the howling wind. “You’re letting sand into the house again.” The figure inclined his head and slammed the door shut, dropping all his weapons and stalking across the floor to where she sat.
He loomed above her, a menacing figure in his obsidian exo-armor. He peered down at her through his impenetrable black visor, his features completely concealed.
Of course, there was a good reason for his appearance.
He’d been fighting Xargek again.
Arin glared at him, even though heat was pooling between her thighs. “You do that on purpose just because you know it irritates me, don’t you?”
Little by little, the black armor started to melt away, fading into minuscule particles that were swallowed up by his skin until he stood before her in all his naked silver glory.
“Don’t you, Rykal?”
He didn’t say a word. His expression was deadly serious, his golden eyes glimmering with dangerous heat.
“Rykal?” He was starting to make her nervous, and completely fucking aroused.
Arin yelped as he scooped her up in his powerful arms and carried her to the bed.