Pyre Read online

  “You’re good at this.” He praised.

  “I’ve done a lot of it. At one time, Patty and I ran all thirty labs. We didn’t do any of the experiments. Actually we released prisoners whenever we had the opportunity.” She seemed nervous and he realized she mistook his anger.

  “I’m not mad at you. You did say thirty?”

  “Yes, there were thirty three labs, but three were kept under wraps. They also had five facilities where they raised the children. I heard those were the first to be shut down when the labs started getting raided.” Ladonna explained.

  “We didn’t know there were that many. The general opinion was this was the last operational lab. This is number twenty five. We’re five short plus the three super-secret labs and we need to run down the five child raising facilities.”

  “I see. You intend to completely wipe out the labs. That’s good because Patty and I intended to go after them if they were left untouched.”

  “Why did neither of you say anything?” He asked.

  “We were under the impression this was a limited attack.”

  “I don’t know why. Razar always said his goal was to wipeout the labs and anyone that dealt with them willingly. That was one reason our people came on board. None of us can stand to see the innocent taken advantage of.”

  “We thought it was just to make money from the missions.”

  “We make no money from the missions. Money is disbursed to the victims. Many have started businesses. Razar pays for the cost of these missions and Cash and his crew work for cost. Even the Earth government agency that was helping gained nothing from doing so. They can’t help anymore because the collapse of the government is imminent. Those behind the labs may have to flee the planet.”

  “I have heard the environment is barely habitable.”

  “That’s true. Those that don’t have domes to live in are going underground. Razar is helping a rogue group build several underground facilities.”

  “He’s doing a lot to help. I know he’s a nice guy, but he must be getting something out of it.”

  “Yes, he is. The rogue leader is allowing him to take any females that volunteer to Oison. You know his planet is short on females. They are trained for the job of their choice and given a place to stay on a planet with clean water and air. If they have close male relatives, and of course any children, they are taken as well.”

  “They aren’t forced to mate?”

  “No, but nature has been taking its course. Eighty percent mate in the first six months. If they are unhappy after six months, they may go back if they choose. Mating is not a requirement, only doing something to contribute to society.”

  “Razar is very reasonable. He’s a good leader.”

  “Now, tell me your plan about those renegades that have taken over your station.”

  “Why do you call them renegades but the humans on Earth rogues?”

  “Renegades of their type reject laws in favor of whatever benefits them. Rogues have often been given a bad image too especially on old Earth, but the more recent urban definition has been those who stand against the establishment by whatever means necessary to force positive change. I would have used the term rebel, but the people themselves prefer rogues.”

  “I agree rebel would be more suitable, but I see the modern meaning you’re talking about. It seems your friends have changed the dictionary.”

  Now he realized that faraway look she got was her accessing the computer. That was amazing and more than a little scary. As far as work was involved, she could do the job of a group of computer hackers and information gurus, but on a personal level she would always know what he was up to because they were surrounded by cameras.

  Since she knew he was a Phoenix, he had no secrets, but it was still intimidating to feel constantly watched. Her abilities might also put off a lesser male, but he was confident in his own talents and didn’t mind in that respect. Now he needed to decide how best to use those talents. There wouldn’t be much to decide since she’d already taken it upon herself to limit the access the bad guys had at her station.

  That didn’t worry him because these guys had nowhere to go. They’d still be there when they arrived unless she decided to jettison them into space. He had no doubt she could, but he didn’t think she would.

  “You are aware we plan to arrest these guys, right?”

  She grinned. Ladonna had dimples and they were adorable. His breath whooshed out of his body and he just stared at her. Damn! He might be a lost cause. All he wanted to do was bury his hands in her long soft looking hair while his mouth claimed hers.

  “What?” She asked.

  “Huh?”

  “You were staring at me.”

  “Oh, sorry. I was thinking and didn’t even realize it.” He claimed. Yet he knew he was a liar.

  Chapter 2

  Males Are Crazy

  She didn’t believe him. Unsure what it meant, he had stared at her intensely and it made her heart beat faster. There was little doubt she was aware of him and she finally felt like there was progress in their relationship. The moment she’d met him she had decided he was the one but he’d been so standoffish.

  The only reason that hadn’t worried her more was the Tar had been that way in the beginning too but Patty had worn him down. Now it was her turn to go through it and it didn’t seem quite as funny as it had then. She was patient, but was that good enough? At least he finally seemed to appreciate her abilities.

  “Let’s look at that room with one person in it.” Pyre said and she immediately searched for it.

  “Oh, my God! That’s Randi.”

  “Who is Randi?”

  “She’s one of the children they took from us. This may mean they are connected to the lab.” She pointed out.

  “Couldn’t it mean she escaped and they captured her?”

  “That’s what happened, but they still may be connected to the lab.”

  “How can you possibly know that?”

  “I spoke to her.”

  “What? You shouldn’t do that. She may give us away.” Pyre observed.

  “Patty and I practically raised that girl. We’ve been worried to death about her. I let Patty know I found her. I’m also sending her food and water as well as adjusting her environment. The bots are bringing her supplies to make it easier on her. She’s just a scared child.”

  “All right.” He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

  It was good he realized this wasn’t something she would give in on. She’d do a lot for her choice of mate, but allowing a child to suffer wasn’t one of those things. Randi might look grown up, but she was barely fifteen. She’d been separated from those awful males when she’d reduced the area they could access.

  Since she hadn’t realized Randi was there because she’d been curled up in a corner in misery, it was time to check every space on the station. “Would you like to look through the rooms with me to see if there is anything else hidden there?”

  “Yes, let’s do that. Can we list all people present and take stock of their supplies and any other items there?”

  She pulled up her lists and showed them to him. “We can add anything I might have missed. I worry they might have other prisoners.”

  “She was lying in a cot, Ladonna. Anyone would have missed her.” Pyre offered.

  “You didn’t.”

  “I just saw a slight movement. I had no idea it was a person.”

  She pressed her lips firmly together not allowing him to make her feel better. Randi could have died without food or water from two days ago until the time they would arrive. A mistake of that magnitude was completely unacceptable.

  Her anger at those that worked for the lab and mistreated others had made her sloppy. Thank goodness for Pyre. Now Randi had food, drink, blankets, and she’d even found a screen in the room where she could stream whatever the girl might want to see. She would be alright now and her mistake had been neutralized but she’d best ease up so anoth
er one wouldn’t be made.

  “See that guy?” Pyre asked.

  “I do?”

  “He looks familiar. It’s possible he may have been sent in undercover.”

  “How will you find out?”

  “Can you send his picture directly to Razar and Cash?”

  “You don’t want me to run it through the system?”

  “No, I don’t know if they have access. We aren’t really sure who the hell they are only that they are criminals. Are they on their own? Or do they work for an organized group? I can’t say.”

  “Pictures are sent. Razar is up and looking at it. He says there is someone in undercover, but he’s one of Cash’s guys and he doesn’t know what he looks like. I told him we already sent the picture to Cash and it isn’t urgent. Lista says he hasn’t slept much in days and should come to bed.”

  “I don’t think that last part was meant to be overheard. You’ll have to learn not to listen in on private conversations.”

  “I can’t tell the difference most of the time. That’s why I rarely communicate in the way I did with Razar. He knew I was still there and he said nothing.”

  “It will take time to learn. That’s probably what he thought as well. At least it wasn’t an embarrassing conversation.”

  “You mean like when people talk about sex?”

  “Well, yes. Sex is one of those private topics, but there are others.”

  “What are they?”

  “You’ll learn as they come up.” Pyre insisted.

  Her lips unconsciously formed a pout. Not that it did her any good. He just laughed. She sat in her chair as they continued to document every person and item left on the station. Randi was the only prisoner they found. They saw that the station had been well supplied with water, food, drink, and other items needed for comfort.

  They had moved in and were planning to stay for the long haul. That made it easy to supply Randi with whatever she needed. Most of the food was of the pouch variety, but perfectly edible and nutritious. The taste? Not the best unless you were starving.

  She quickly had the bots separate fresh food or higher quality items which they locked up for Randi. It would make her stay more enjoyable to have some fresh fruit, vegetables, juice, and dairy products. Once they made it to the station, Randi would be headed back to their base station to stay with the other children.

  Thankful that Randi had been found, she immediately had a plan in place. A nearby ship was picking her up as soon as possible. They would meet them along the way. Randi would be taken care of regardless of any plans for the criminals and they would never know she was gone because they were locked down in their portion of the station.

  A grin came to her face. By the time they arrived, those criminals would be glad to see them. She would make it easier on the undercover. He didn’t deserve the same problems the others would be presented with.

  “What are you up to, Ladonna?” Pyre asked.

  “Who, me?” She fought for an innocent expression.

  His eyes narrowed as he searched her face obviously less than convinced. “Let me explain somethings.” He began.

  “I’m all ears.” She giggled. Oops, she hadn’t intended to do that.

  Pyre gave her a serious look. “There are reasons we’re going after these guys. We’ve been hitting every lab facility we can find, but several have gone underground. The people victimized have been sent either to people to join their households as slaves or to small clinics where they continue to be tortured or experimented on.”

  She nodded as she pulled up a list. “This will help.”

  “What is this?” He had developed a tic on one eye.

  “It’s a list of those known subjects. The ones crossed out on the list have been returned to society and settled into a normal life, as normal as they wish.”

  “How the hell?” Pyre asked.

  “We once had access to everything. Occasionally we still get a hold of something. Patty is working on freeing some subjects kept on or near Earth. I’m currently working on the top subject that’s not been marked out and the station we’re headed to. Is this helpful?”

  “Can you send Razar and Cash this list? Just the ones still being held.”

  “Okay, I’ve done that. I held back the ones Patty and I are working on and I still have my copy.”

  “That’s fine. Thank you. Anything else I need to know?” Pyre wondered.

  “I’m not sure what you want to know.”

  Why would he even think she knew what he wanted when he never shared much with her? Now finally she was beginning to see what his plan was. It wasn’t a good one. The males in the station wouldn’t know much beyond their own duties. That was the way the lab ran. Information was given on an as needed basis and few needed much.

  “I need any information you have on the way the lab facilities run, any and all possible locations, any subjects being held, any money that can be traced to them and any income they have so we can cut it off. A list of employees would also be helpful.”

  “Okay, I sent that to your computer. Is that all?” She asked.

  “You’ve had that all this time?”

  “Yes, we’ve been working through it. Between what we’ve done and leaking lab locations to your people, we’ve hit them hard.”

  “Apparently.” Pyre said dryly.

  She didn’t understand this crazy male. Even if they’d had all the information she and Patty had, they could have done no more than they had been doing. She and Patty had been hard at work too. The partnership they’d had was effective. So why did he seem upset?

  “You feel like we did something wrong?”

  He sighed heavily as he started to speak several times stopping and his forehead crinkled. Finally he seemed to have his act together. “Partners share information. We’re partners, right? You and Patty and my people are working together to bring down the labs and free people who have suffered too much. It’s possible that the way you two chose to do things is the best possible way. But what if you had told us and we’d made some changes in our plan that helped free one person sooner?”

  “I can respect that. But what if you’d done something different that had alerted those running things and we’d failed to free anyone?”

  Pyre looked stunned for a moment before he started to laugh. “You are a pistol.”

  “That’s Earth speak.” She grinned.

  “I learned that in one of the movies you showed us. It fits you perfectly. We do have some failing in our system. I should know better than to try to come out ahead of you.” Pyre admitted.

  “You have all the information now. Let’s see what your people manage to do with it.”

  “Is that a challenge?”

  “If you want it to be.”

  “I’d best go to my room and get some sleep. I’m on duty in the morning. Not usually in communication, they put me there because they are an officer short.”

  “You’re probably good at it anyway.”

  “A compliment? I like it.” He offered with a grin. “I’ll see you once I’m off duty. Try not to cause any trouble until then.”

  “So I can cause trouble once you’re here to help?”

  “It’s just a saying. Let’s not have any trouble. Is that better?”

  “We’ll see.” She said with a smile. What he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him, right?

  There was much to do. She was keeping tabs on the station making sure none of the males could get to Randi. The ship was getting close and she’d told them the other doors were inaccessible because part of the station was rundown and being repaired and the rest was private quarters. The only one needing to leave was a young girl who’d visited a friend and was returning to her parents.

  They were being paid well considering they were in the area anyway. The captain had immediately agreed to take her on. She’d lied and said the girl’s father was an admiral and their warship would be rendezvousing with him. A little fear never hurt anything.

&n
bsp; Sneakily, she checked the cameras to see Pyre was in bed asleep. She knew it was wrong, but she felt better knowing he was alright. There was no way she could sleep with the ship that would be picking up Randi closing in on the station. Double checking all the locks, she made sure the criminals were all where they needed to be. The undercover guy was getting extra food and drink.

  He’d been cordoned off in another section from all of the criminals. They were spread out in three areas and struggling to get out without the slightest success. She was monitoring their communications, but not letting them go through. Those guys were so screwed without the slightest idea of how bad things were for them.

  In two weeks, this ship would be there for them. They wouldn’t be able to make a deal, they had all the information they needed. There was a working prison that made her think of the old Earth chain gangs. That’s where they were slotted to go.

  If they were good and worked hard, they might get out in five or ten years trained to work a new job. That was if they survived. Discipline was strict and that kept down injuries and fatalities, but they still happened.

  She and Patty had even discussed taking over the management of the prison. It wasn’t like anyone wanted to run the place. These guys would all be good field workers. The job was hard physical labor with little thought. At least that’s what she’d read.

  The ship finally made it and she watched everything as Randi was escorted on their ship. She already had a back way into their computer and she would watch as they made their way to meet the ship she was on in about week.

  “Ma’am, we were hired to take you to meet your parents aboard a Mazlan warship. Please follow me.” The captain said. The guy wasn’t bad looking and he was certainly dashing.

  “Thank you.” Randi said as she followed him down the hall.

  The room he opened was a luxury suite and probably the best on the ship. Once she was inside, he left her there and made his way back to the command deck. Randi locked the door and settled down on the bed. “I’m fine now.” She whispered.