Delivery (Star Line Express Romance Book 3) Page 9

  “I’ve got two kids of my own and I’d say your baby is more like an hour away,” he says.

  “Nonsense,” I say. “Aymee’s fine.”

  “A Chorynean baby born on Engra,” says Ozker. “Should be interesting.”

  “Big World,” Aymee says, holding up her left wrist.

  “Ah,” Ozker says when he spots her marriage band. “Doesn’t matter, then. You and the baby will be protected.”

  “What’s going on at the palace?” I say as we make our way back to the control room. I’d better find out as much as I can before I rush over there to save Lasson Birtak, someone I’ve seen images of, but I’m not totally sure I’d recognize him. And he might not recognize me either.

  “I think the rebellion’s finally taking hold,” Ozker says. “And about time too. It’s taken them forever to get any traction.”

  “We have to get to the palace,” I say. “Can you lend me your s-car?”

  “You have to stay away from the palace,” Ozker says. “Word is there are troops gathered there.”

  “They are,” Aymee says. “But our friend is trapped there and we’re the only ones who can rescue him.”

  “Damn,” says Ozker. “I can’t leave my post. My shift’s due to start in less than an hour and, well, Niya, you understand.”

  I nod. I understand. Even though Ozker’s here as a special favor to me, he has to be here on his regular schedule. Not because of his job—although that’s important—but because he’s responsible for the lives of everyone on all the inbound and outbound traffic tonight.

  “Here,” Ozker says, handing me the card for his s-car. “I shouldn’t be encouraging you, but it’s better than arguing with you about it.”

  “Thanks,” I say. “I’ll be careful.”

  “Just get your friend,” Ozker says. “Think like your pal Joston would and damn the rest.”

  Ozker says pal like he means something else entirely, and he and Aymee exchange a conspiratorial glance.

  “Let’s go,” I say to Aymee, who’s listening on her comm.

  “I’ve got Lasson again! He says he can’t get to the roof—too many guards there. He’s going to try to get out through the delivery entrance.”

  Wherever that is, I think. But we’ll find it. We have to. I have to. For my friend Chlo. She just can’t lose her life mate. Not now. Not so soon after they found each other.

  As Aymee and I get into Ozker’s nondescript—thank goodness—s-car, even though we’re about to ride into a war zone and even though I have no idea how we’re going to get to Lasson or even where he is, all I can think about is one thing: Joston Lynar.

  Because I can’t lose him. Not now. Not so soon after we met.

  Taking Ozker’s advice, I think like Joston—Lynar, not Parst—and drive faster than I thought I could. Who knows how much time we have?

  And after Aymee loses Lasson on the comm again, I drive faster still.

  Chapter 18

  Joston

  I’ve tried reaching Niya on the comm a few times, just for a second here and there. But her comm’s been off, although I thought I’d almost raised her once. Yet I hadn’t. She’d better still be in that theater, watching the worst vid ever made.

  “Joston, you foolhardy genius,” says Nik under his breath as I set transport raft three down on the roof of the palace’s outlying wing. It’s dark here, away from the main action—although there’s very little action so far, but the stage is well set.

  “Chlo,” I say. “There’s no chance that your friend would do anything stupid?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Like decide to fly another transport raft down here when she notices we left without her.” For some terrible reason I think that’s exactly what she’s done.

  “I don’t think she knows how to fly a transport raft,” Chlo says. “Or anything, really.”

  “Does Aymee?” I say to Nik.

  “Damned if I know,” Nik says. “But I wouldn’t put it past her.”

  “Fuck,” I say.

  “I’m turning my comm on,” Chlo says. “I have to see if I can find Lasson.”

  “She wouldn’t,” I say to Nik.

  “Joston, you’re awfully concerned about someone you’re not all that interested in,” he says.

  “I just don’t want anyone else to worry about,” I say, even though now I’m worried about Aeryen too.

  “Shhh,” Chlo says. She’s listening to something—to someone.

  “I told him to stay there,” Chlo says. She and Lasson are on instant comm, their special open channel. No words necessary.

  “Where’s there?” Nik says.

  “He’s at the delivery entrance.”

  “Where’s that?” I say.

  “I have no idea,” Chlo says, “but it certainly isn’t on the roof.”

  “Unlikely,” I say. “Nik, you stay here. Chlo and I are going to get Lasson.”

  “You seem to forget that I’m your superior officer,” First Officer Niklas Arca says.

  “I’m forgetting it until we’re back on the Marinax,” I say, even though I usually forget it there as well. And even though we may never get back on the Marinax, although I refuse to think that’s true.

  “I’m coming with you,” Nik says. “More of us to find the delivery entrance.”

  I can’t argue with that, since none of us knows where to go.

  As the three of us make our way to the roof’s stairwell door, another cannon blast stops us in our tracks for a moment.

  I open the door and Chlo walks down the steps. Nik’s next, then me.

  “Come on,” I say. I can feel the clock ticking. We have to find Lasson and get out of here before the rebellion, the war, the whatever-it-is escalates beyond a few cannons.

  Nik turns on a small torch he’s got and goes first. I follow, with Chlo just behind.

  “No!” Chlo says, no longer whispering, and I turn around to see her being held by a guy dressed all in black.

  Nik’s too far away to help, so I immediately lunge at Chlo’s attacker.

  “Doc,” says the black-clad guy holding Chlo. He lets go of her and she turns around to look at him.

  “Doc, it is you, isn’t it?” he says as I peel back my lunge to a commanding forward stride.

  “Oh, you’re all right,” Chlo says, and the two embrace. Not the sort of thing one expects in this sort of situation—to see the victim hugging the perpetrator.

  “Yes, I’m fine,” he says.

  “I think of you often,” Chlo says.

  “You saved my life,” he says. “I could never forget you.”

  “I don’t know your name,” she says just as Nik rejoins us.

  “That’s better for you,” the male says. He’s got a gentle face and a bearlike body.

  “Who the hell are you?” I say to him.

  “I’m someone who’s fighting for Engra’s freedom,” he says. “For equality for everyone. For the end of the monarchy.”

  “I’m trying to find my mate,” Chlo says. “He’s here on business and he got trapped.”

  “That’s our intent—to trap everyone inside the palace,” the big man says.

  There are a few thousand questions I’d like to ask, right after I volunteer to fly for these rebels, but we’re here to find Lasson, so I ask the most important question: “Where’s the delivery entrance?”

  “I’m going that way,” the man says. “I’ll take you.”

  In the long corridor, he and I talk as though we’ve always known each other. I like this rebel who Chlo saved.

  We get to a place where the corridor branches off and he stops.

  “That way,” he says, pointing to his left, then turns away from us, toward the right-hand corridor. “I’ll leave you here. Good luck,” my new friend says as he leaves.

  “Our luck’s been good so far,” I say.

  Let’s hope it holds.

  Niya

  “Aymee, are you okay?” When I’ve had a ch
ance to look, I’ve noticed her squirming and readjusting herself. But it might just be the pregnancy.

  “I’m fine,” she says. “Keep driving.”

  “We’re almost there,” I say.

  I’ve taken rarely trafficked streets and am planning on stopping in the back of the palace, near the rear gate, figuring the delivery entrance must be somewhere in that vicinity.

  “Wait’ll you have a baby,” she says. “You’ll get to know the joys of discomfort firsthand.”

  “That’s a long time from now,” I say. “If ever. And I’ve got Aeryen.” And that dream was just a dream. A nightmare.

  “But you and Joston will want a child too.”

  “Joston and I will want to never see each other again,” I say, but my words sound unconvincing, even to me. Especially because I’m terrified for him. I’ve tried comming him several times, but I can’t get through to him or Chlo or Nik. Neither can Aymee.

  What if they got caught up in the battle and . . . ?

  I hightail it through the streets, driving like I think Joston would, only a little slower, since I’m not used to that kind of speed.

  When we’re two blocks from the palace’s back gate, Aymee makes a dreadful noise and I stop the s-car and turn around to look at her. Her hands are clutching the dash, her face is clenched in pain, and I immediately know what’s happening.

  “Stay there,” I say to her as I flip the back of her seat so it’s lying flat.

  “No!” she says. “No. Not now. No. You’re wrong. And anyway, I want to sit up.” She’s doing her best not to cry or scream, but there are tears streaking her cheeks and her jaw is clenched so tight it’s making me clench my jaw.

  I put the seat back up and Aymee leans into it a bit.

  “I’m fine,” she says. “I’m fine. Fine. Let’s keep going.”

  “Are you planning on giving birth while we’re driving around?” I say.

  “I hope it won’t come to that,” she says.

  “I hope not too,” I say just as I hear Chlo on the comm.

  “Chlo!” I say, practically shouting even though Chlo is whispering. Aymee’s first scream emerges.

  “What’s happening, Niya?” Chlo says.

  “Nothing much,” I say. “We’re two blocks from the palace, we’re going to rescue Lasson, Aymee’s about to give birth, and—”

  “You’re two blocks from the palace? Aren’t you on the Marinax?”

  “Not exactly,” I say.

  “I cannot believe this,” says Joston, who I can hear grumbling in the background.

  I guess everyone’s comm is on now.

  “What’s going on?” Aymee says. “Nik, are you all right?”

  “Everyone’s fine,” Nik says. The comm channels are all open now—why couldn’t they have been before?

  Then Aymee screams again. After she’s done she says in the calmest voice imaginable, “I think you’d better stop, Niya.”

  As I pull over I hear what sounds like cannon fire. Very close.

  “Chlo,” I say. “We need you.”

  “Well, the two of you figured out how to pilot a transport raft. I’m sure you can figure out how to deliver a baby,” says Joston, speaking directly to me and not just grumbling.

  “I’m a great pilot,” I say, “and unlike some other pilots I know, I wouldn’t sneak away and leave my friends to wonder where I was off to.”

  “Yet you’ve found us,” Joston says. “Go back to your house. You’ll be safe there for a while, and we’ll pick you up after we’ve gotten Lasson.”

  “You are not ordering me around,” I say.

  “Is Lasson there?” Aymee says. She’s drenched in sweat but she looks quite calm.

  “Aymee, go back to Niya’s house with her,” Nik says.

  “No one’s ordering me around either,” Aymee says.

  “Do I have to remind you that I’m your commanding officer?” Nik says.

  “It’s your fault I’m about to have this baby, so shut up,” Aymee says, smiling.

  “Duly noted,” Nik says.

  “Lasson!” Chlo says, and I hear his voice now too.

  “What the hell took you so long?” Lasson says.

  Then I hear a huge blast, the sound of a thousand cannons exploding, and my comm goes silent.

  “Nik?” Aymee says, but there’s no answer. There’s no answer from anyone.

  A cloud of impenetrable fog is spreading through the atmosphere. I’m having a harder and harder time seeing anything that’s not right next to me.

  “Hold on!” I say to Aymee as I start up the s-car and head for the back gate of the palace, driving like Joston wishes he could drive.

  Chapter 19

  Joston

  Lasson is hugging Chlo so hard I’m hoping he doesn’t break her, but, then, she seems to be hugging him even tighter.

  “Aym—?” Nik says, his voice cut off by a blast the likes of which I’ve experienced only in a vid. Not even Joston Parst himself was ever the cause of an explosion of this magnitude.

  “Niya!” I say, but it’s obvious that the comms are all dead.

  “Are those the rebels’ cannons?” I say to Chlo, who breaks her embrace with Lasson.

  “I hope so,” Chlo says.

  So do I. I love a good fight, and this seems like the best kind, the kind where an overbearing, cruel monarchy is overthrown. I want to join this bunch of renegades immediately. I figure I’ll donate the Marinax’s number three transport raft and help them out in any way I can.

  There’s just one problem: transport raft three was parked on the roof of the palace’s outlying wing. The very wing where now a thick cloud of dust and smoke has formed.

  “We have to get out of here,” says Lasson.

  “The raft,” I say, looking up.

  “Joston, it’s gone,” Chlo says, even though I suspect that myself. But it’s only a suspicion. Not a fact.

  “We’re going to have to make a run for it,” Nik says, back in charge.

  “Let’s head for the airfield,” I say, but Chlo says, “Niya’s house.”

  “Niya’s house,” Nik says, succumbing to his own interests. He probably thinks that Niya and Aymee went there.

  I’m still in favor of the airfield. We’re going to have to get off Engra somehow, and the airfield is our best chance—before I return to help the rebellion, that is. I’ll bring back a better ship than a little transport raft with me, and . . .

  An s-car screeches to a halt in front of us, and I hope I’ll be able to tell which side its occupants are on, because I’ve already got three quarters of a plan of how to overpower them, take the s-car, and get to the airfield. The plan starts with my hand on the weapon I’ve got tucked into the back of my waistband.

  But when the s-car’s hatch opens, a female gets out, and now that I see who’s driving, I rush toward her, pick her up, and hold her close to me.

  “Damn you, Niya, you scared me nearly to death,” I say before I start kissing her. The feel of her lips on mine, her body close to me . . .

  “There’ll be plenty of time for that later,” Aymee says from the passenger seat. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “Aymee?” Nik says. “How are you?”

  “Holding steady,” Aymee says, “although I don’t know for how much longer.”

  “Get in,” Nik says to everyone, and even though there’s hardly room in here for four, everyone manages to squeeze in until I’m left outside with just Niya.

  “I’m driving,” I say.

  “You know how to get there?” Niya says.

  “You’ll show me,” I say just as another bomb blast deafens us. The smoke thickens and all the palace lights go off.

  “Get in,” Nik says, “and let Joston drive. At least he can see in all this.”

  Niya obeys Nik—if only she’d obey me so easily—and I jump behind the driver’s seat, pull down the hatch, and we speed away.

  “Airfield, right?” I say to the group.

  “Yes,�
�� says everyone.

  I accelerate while Niya leans forward and points so I can take the fastest route.

  “We’re almost there,” Niya says after a few minutes of wild turns, dodging barricades, and pushing this sorry s-car to its unimpressive limits.

  “Stop!” Aymee says, then she screams, and it’s a noise I hope I never hear again—except she does it one more time, this time even worse than the last. Louder, and more agonized.

  I am not going to stop.

  “Joston, turn here!” Niya says. “Here!”

  I turn, the s-car barely keeping steady. There’s a battle going on behind us, we’re almost at the airfield, who the hell knows how dangerous it is out there, and I’ve got momentum on my side.

  I am not stopping. Even for Aymee. Out in the open, we don’t stand a chance. She can have her baby in the s-car. And, judging by her latest set of vocalizations, she just might.

  “Chlo!” Aymee says.

  “I’m right here,” Chlo says. “You’ll be fine.”

  “I am not fine!” Aymee says. She pants for a moment, then, between pants, says, “Joston fucking Lynar, I am going to kill you right after I kill First Officer Niklas Arca.”

  “Good thing I’m being spared,” Lasson says. I’ve always admired him.

  “Me too,” Chlo says. “Think how awful it’d be if we’d rescued you and then Aymee killed you. What a wasted effort that would have been.”

  “Stop making jokes!” Aymee says. “This is serious.”

  That’s when I see the airfield. That’s when everyone sees the airfield. Can’t miss it. The place is lit up brighter than the palace was, and, as I speed by, I see that the front gates are closed.

  “Go around to the side,” Niya says, pointing again, but we quickly learn that all the gates are closed.

  “Emergency procedure,” Niya says.

  “Are you going to stop now?” Aymee says.

  I pull over into an unlit side road and stop the s-car.

  “Satisfied?” I say to Aymee.

  “No!” she says, or rather, screams. “Make it end!”

  I open the hatches and everyone except Aymee gets out.

  Nik pulls Aymee’s seat back as far as it’ll go and Chlo crouches down on the driver’s seat and does whatever it is that doctors do when babies are being born.