Oath Breaker (Death of Empire Book 1) Read online

  “Why would he chase you down?” Theo looked inclined to follow his brother’s lead.

  “He can’t keep his hands off her, the bastard.”

  Dani sighed overly loud and looked to the brothers as if she was being tremendously put out. “The fantasy of a demented teenage boy. I’ve always known he had a crush, I didn’t think it would manifest so violently.”

  “He’s still recovering from cryo, he’s been shot. You’ll have no trouble dealing with him.” Stugg glanced from her to Theo back to Frank, “Now, I want what I was promised.”

  “Why would we pay you before we know you’ve delivered?” Theo’s glare locked on Dani and she had a feeling she knew what sort of “payment” she’d get for her part in this.

  “What are you going to do to her?” Stugg finally a trace of worry in his tone.

  “She’ll sell for a high price. Even after we’re done with her.”

  Dani didn’t know if he spoke of selling her to the Pääom—it was a little late for that—or if he meant actual slavers. There were a few on the very edges of the systems.

  “You’re not going to get much for her… why don’t you make her my payment?” He laughed and ribbed Frank Mandall with his pointy elbow.

  “What part of that was funny?” Theo asked dryly.

  “I have half a mind to say yes, but then, I’d disappoint all those lovely Korelean buyers.” Frank’s smile fell on Dani and if the old bastard expected her to flinch, he’d have to come up with something worse than threats of those mercenaries.

  Dani could see the sweat beading on the boy’s forehead as he stepped toward her, his fingers twisting around a lock of hair as he swiveled behind her.

  He spoke slowly, so he didn’t slip back into his confusing mishmash. “I think you should consider my offer. I’ve done a lot for you in the past, it would be a shame if that knowledge ended up in the wrong hands.”

  “Well, since you put it that way… what do you think Frank? Should we give him the bitch?”

  “We’ll do better.”

  Stugg scoffed, sounding rather pleased with himself, “Great.”

  The bullet tore through his brain.

  Dani flinched at the sound of the bullet ricocheting off the stacked crates behind her, dropping her head to her shoulder, she breathed in slowly trying to keep her eyes shut. They fluttered open anyway when Theo Mandall kicked her chair around and fired twice more. Two in the brain pan, one in the gut.

  Lifeless, Stugg lay on the floor in a growing pool of blood. It mixed with her vomit creating an disgusting brown sludge. Her stomach roiled and Theo quickly bounced out of the way as she added to the pool of liquid mess.

  “I heard gunshots, what happened?” Nial broke through the side door, a determined look on his face until his eyes fell on Dani. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Leave now, Son. You’re not to be party to this.” Frank’s tone would brook no argument, but his son turned a hard glare on him anyway.

  “I won’t let you do this.” He moved to untie her hands and Dani heard the charge of a pulse rifle.

  “Listen to your father, Nial. We’re just having a business meeting, that’s all.” Her words were slurred as she looked up at him, her head still throbbing. She stopped herself short of telling him to let the grown-ups deal with the problem.

  “Everything’s under control, they were just teaching Stugg a lesson here. Thought he knew what was what and decided he needed to kidnap me.”

  Nial stared down at her. “Why are you protecting them?”

  “I’m not,” she said as the butt of his father’s pulse rifle cracked against the back of his skull. “I was trying to protect you.”

  “Stupid boy.” Frank said as he waved two of his guards over to drag Nial away. “He takes after his mother in that way.”

  “Let’s hope he takes after her entirely. If all you gave him was your last name, the universe is a better place already.” Dani knew what was coming, and when she saw the inevitable, she took the opportunity to get it over with quick.

  That remark resulted in the back of Frank’s hand across her face. She fought against the polka-dotting of black that suffused her vision.

  “That wouldn’t have gotten quite as swift of a response if you didn’t think what I said was the truth.” She spat out blood adding it to the pool. “Let’s be honest, you’re going to want to gag me now if that’s all it takes to set you off.”

  He hit her again, snapping her head back the other way.

  She swallowed back the bile choking in her throat and blinked back the darkness. “Listen, you want the truth? The truth is, Stugg was a bit psycho, okay? He went off his rocker on the ship, and he ended up killing my crew and kidnapping me back here. All he saw were ghosts. And now you’ve let him join them.”

  She watched the brothers stare at her impassively.

  “Don’t go looking for ghosts, and you shouldn’t find them. If you let me go back to Kosz, I can nab Obie for you and we can get back down to business.”

  “I don’t think we can trust you anymore, Danielle. You’ve been compromised somehow. How else can you explain the sudden drop in contact? The severe course changes?”

  “I told you, Stugg—”

  Theo cut her off. “Stugg’s not skilled enough to reroute your comms, not in a way you couldn’t fix.”

  “Actually, that’s real easy, it’s called a plasma blast to the central antenna array.”

  “And do you expect us to believe he could kill Kiori?” Frank laughed at the idea and, had Danielle been in a better position, she might have laughed, too.

  “You’d be surprised how much even she will let her guard down when she thinks she can trust you. She paid for that trust. It’s a price each of my crew members paid.”

  “Keep spinning your yarn, dear. We couldn’t let you go if we wanted to.” Theo turned to look at Stugg’s corpse. “Sometimes, when you work with filth, they make deals with the devil… and not even we can override those sorts of orders.”

  “I’d ask if that made you feel impotent, Theo, but we both know you’ve felt that way more than once… how many kids has Franklin managed to pop ou—”

  Theo’s hand rent the air with a heavy thud as his bear-head ring crunched against her cheek bone.

  “Where’s Osiris Bowlin, you dumb bitch?” He hit her again. “Is he on Kosz? Is that why you want to run back there?”

  She was almost certain he’d fractured her cheek with that blow.

  “Tell me what I want to know, or I’ll kill you.”

  “What do you think you’re doing?” A level voice echoed forth from behind them and Dani immediately wished they’d started sooner, wished she was already dead.

  Vôner stood in the doorway, his gaze as dark as his uniform. It pierced through the brothers and Dani saw them both recoil. “I should take your hands for touching her, your tongues for your threat. Who authorized you to lay a hand on her?”

  “We detained her for you, you never specified we weren’t allowed to interrogate her.”

  “Interrogation is a soft touch, not a balled fist.” His gaze fell on her and she felt her veins run cold as ice. It was back to this. His lip twitched up in a smile as he regarded her. “Leave me with her, both of you.” He snapped his fingers and motioned them out.

  Franklin glared at Vôner, “But—”

  “Get out, now!” Vôner’s usual calm broke as he yelled at them, showing the monster she knew he was.

  The brothers took Nial’s unconscious body and scampered away, the door shutting heavily behind them. Dani saw her last chance for a quick death go with them. If no one had begged for death from the Mandall brothers before, she would have gladly been the first.

  She struggled against the bonds and felt the tie holding her to the chair give. Nial must have loosened it. With her hands still bound, she couldn’t do anything; she worked at the restraints, trying to move as little as possible. The first hint she was unrestrained and he’d pounce. She ne
eded time.

  “I’ve missed you, Danielle. I was so heartbroken when you disappeared the last time, surely you couldn’t have thought I’d abandon you to the darkness.”

  She’d hoped he had, but she didn’t say, she couldn’t say. She clenched her jaw shut. She watched him as he moved ever closer, timidly, as though she was a dog that would spook and take for the hills. It was only partially incorrect. She was already spooked, but there were no hills to run to.

  “I told you,” he said with a low laugh, stepping toward her. “I told you, I’d always find you. I’ve spent far too long worrying about you. How could you do that, to me? I love you.”

  Dani didn’t bother trying to argue with him. They’d had this discussion before, the first time he’d controlled her. Biting back only made him more excited. And the more excited Vôner got… the more it would hurt. She almost had one wrist loose enough when he stood over her, standing with one leg on either side of hers, careful not to touch her.

  He never touched her unless he had to.

  He scowled and traced the curve of her face, his gloved hand hovering an inch away from her skin.

  “I should kill them both now, this is not what you should have to bear. But alas, the Heinrich has use for them yet. When they’ve outlived their purpose…” he pulled the blade from its place on his hip, letting the metal slide against the ceramic sheath producing a hiss she knew all too well.

  Her skin crawled as she stared at the knife in his hand. Trying not to move as she scrambled to free her wrist from the straps, she met his eyes and tried to conceal the shiver that slid down her spine. Vôner had the unique ability to make the hottest day turn to winter.

  He ran his hand through her hair, sparking a twinge of pain as his gloved fingers passed over her bloodied forehead. “My beautiful, beautiful girl, you don’t trust me anymore. I have to fix that. You are mine. Don’t ever forget.” His fingers knotted in her hair pulling her head painfully backward. “I will protect what is mine, but only if you learn to submit.”

  The knife slid back into its sheath as his hand twisted her hair against her scalp. The icy breath of fear stroked across her skin, and she felt the bile rising in her throat again, but knew what would come if she displeased him.

  “I’ll teach you how. I know how these things can be forgotten when you’re allowed to roam free.”

  A younger Danielle had learned to bite back the pained cry that rose in her throat when he did this. But swallowing the sound could do nothing for the tears that rolled from her eyes. Her shoulders twisted against their sockets as he wrenched down harder.

  “Dearest, don’t fear me…. love me.”

  His free hand moved, but she couldn’t see it.

  Vôner stood over her, his leering smile and red-rimmed eyes locked on her.

  The needle slid into her neck and the room blurred around her.

  TWENTY-ONE

  Standing on Obie’s bridge, staring at the trajectories and arrival times for the two ships they chased wasn’t the most productive use of Osiris’ time. But he couldn’t be bothered to give a damn. Staring at things he couldn’t change—that overall did not affect the end outcome—helped to calm his nerves, if marginally.

  “Captain?”

  “Yes Obie.”

  “What will you do if we’re too late?”

  “We won’t be.” He said it through clenched teeth, but knew the ship would keep on him.

  “I am programmed to evaluate all possible outcomes of an action. There are several possibilities that would cause us to arrive at a time after Danielle has expired. There are more that suggest this is probably a trap.”

  “I know.”

  “Then you must accept—”

  “I will not.” He heard the ship pause as it considered his reaction.

  “I intercepted a transmit from a Pääom commsat band wave. The information from Danielle’s tablet is proving to be an unrelenting headache for them so far. They feel the threat of riots are high on all the center worlds… even in Pääoma.”

  “Does that surprise you?”

  “I find it an odd conclusion to suspect. Those on the capital planet are the least likely to want a change. They are comfortable. Humans as a species are the most averse to change when they are content in their present condition.”

  “We are not quite as predictable as you may think.” Si allowed himself a smile at that thought, but it didn’t last long.

  “That is a disappointment.”

  “There are many ways, Obie, that I hope to be a constant disappointment to you.”

  The news flashes from Kosz erupted on the screen, the abolitionists took over the compound within minutes of the PCN burst. Coordinated strikes fell into place across the planet’s surface.

  “You weren’t as helpless as you would have liked me to believe, were you, Mr. Blue?” He watched the footage, aired by the Abolitionists, using the PCN themselves, for a moment more before he turned to the bridge door.

  There was something he needed to do, something he’d put off for far too long. He had to tell Lyz.

  *

  The medbay was quiet as he entered. The lights at full illumination showed him Willy was out of the medbed and the two of them sat at a table tucked away into a corner. They looked up at him like two kids caught out of school. Si didn’t focus on that, his attention fell on the unfamiliar triangular playing cards in their hand.

  “Who’s winning?” Si asked as he moved to the table.

  The pilot shook his head as he answered, throwing down his cards in defeat. “Lyz always beats me at Queens’ High. Which is why that’s all she’ll ever let us play.”

  “I let us play other things, but those things are best not discussed in the captain’s presence.” She gave Willy a suggestive wink and turned to Si with a mischievous smile. “What’s up, Cap? We saw the PCN broadcast, so it looks like Dani’s info’s finally out there. Are we all going to celebrate?”

  “I’m afraid I have bad news.”

  Mopeña’s face dropped. “Who else died?”

  “Hopefully no one. But I’ll probably kill Stugg myself when I find him.”

  It was Lyz turn to adopt the worried look. “Find hi—”

  “While we were on Kosz, he got off ship and kidnapped Dani.” Si filled them in on the rest as their faces soured. “I didn’t tell you before now, because I needed you to stay put.”

  “You didn’t want me getting in the way.” Lyz’s voice was hollow.

  “I didn’t want you trying to run off before we finished what we needed to on Kosz. You’re no good if you get yourself killed.”

  “This is Dani’s life we’re talking about. You let Stugg take her and didn’t consider what the Mandalls would do?” Her hands were clenched on the table, her eyes attempting to bore holes in the cards.

  “I did consider it. Believe me, letting her go was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Knowing that Vôner is ahead of us in this race makes it even harder to live with the decision.”

  “Well, you’re just lucky Vôner’s involved, the Mandalls won’t kill her if they’re holding her for him…. though I’m pretty sure she’d rather die.”

  “Why is she so afraid of him?”

  Lyz punched him. Hard enough to bite through the pain meds that made his arm wound bearable.

  “Dani made me swear I’d never tell anyone… but you deserve to know what you’ve done to her… because this is going to fuck her up.”

  “Tell me.” Si stared at her, not sure what he’d do if she refused.

  “He started out as a junior official assigned to the school system during the war—kiddie stuff, literally. That’s where he first met Dani. From what she’s told me… he took it personally upon himself to bring down her family.”

  “A school system official did all that?”

  Lyz looked at him as though she thought he was the stupidest person in the galaxy. “I only said he started out there. By the time you were locked in cryo, he’d worked his
way up the ladder and he got himself in charge of finding dissenters. Dani’s family was an easy enough target, after all, they were known to have associated with you. Then it was just a matter of going through all of Daniel Cholla’s friends. The Pääom liked his results… at least I assume they did, they promoted him again. He was in charge of all the sanitoriums when I met him. And I was lucky. He didn’t like me.”

  “But he liked Dani.” Si knew that much from the change in Lyz’s posture.

  “That psycho thinks he loves her. He… well, I’m sure you can imagine what he did… given his… modifications.”

  Si glared at her, sure his suspicions couldn’t be right. “What are you talking about?”

  “Have you seen him?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And you didn’t recognize the signs? Obie, pull up his Pääom file picture. Look at him, and tell me what you see. Look at the red rings around his irises.”

  “He can’t have a mind bot….”

  “He can and does,” Lyz said.

  “They’re illegal.”

  “Well, sure, they are now. Vôner’s was grandfathered in… so he gets to keep it. You know, instead of them ripping out half of his brain. The Pääom may have outlawed the devices, but they’re not going to lose one of their strongest assets just because he has illegal hardware clamped around his brainstem.”

  “So he got inside her head.”

  “He can’t change who she is, and he hasn’t broken her yet—though he came damn close before we escaped… before she found someone to purge his nanites from her system.”

  “What were they programmed for the last time?”

  “They were mostly a governor. He’d hand her a knife or a gun and tell her to shoot him, but the nanites would latch onto a nerve coil and zap her if she tried. He left me in the room once… when he did that. She never stopped trying, she’d lunge for him and the nanites would zap her. She’d hit the floor, drag herself back to standing… lunge again and hit the floor. It was the most painful thing I’ve ever witnessed, but she didn’t give up until her body gave out.”

  “And then?” Si didn’t want to know, but he needed to.