Through The Fire and Flame (The Kurtherian Endgame Book 3) Read online

  Addix snickered. “I can’t see why.”

  The children ran over, chattering and laughing.

  Addix indicated the table. “Small snack, my treasures, and then we’ll be ready for the rest of our day.”

  “Daddy wants to talk to you both,” Alexis called back over her shoulder.

  “I think we're having a sleepover!” Gabriel cheered.

  Addix made her way to the couch and stood behind it, resting her hands on the back to lean in. Eve was right beside her, her head tilted up to Michael’s face on the screen.

  Michael’s face was set in hard lines. “My children tell me they completed their lessons in good time.”

  Addix nodded. “They did. I am going to take them to visit Tabitha before dinner. How are things progressing there?”

  Michael glanced over to check that the children were occupied with their food and lowered his voice. “The situation has escalated. We are about to leave for the system in question, although we shouldn't be much longer than another day or two.”

  Addix nodded her understanding, placing a hand on her chest. “You and Bethany Anne can count on me to keep them safe and sound until your return.”

  Michael smiled fondly at Alexis and Gabriel. “I know we can—which is why I have no issue with Bethany Anne requesting Eve's presence.”

  Eve perked up. “It's about time I got to see some action.”

  Michael raised an eyebrow at Eve’s tone. “Bloodthirsty today, are we?”

  Eve shrugged. “Those bastards took our people. I care for Peter and Jian, Jian especially since we spend much time contemplating existence together. I want to get them back and destroy the ones who took them.”

  Michael nodded in understanding. “Good. Grab Akio on your way.”

  Eve tilted her head. “What about the rest of the Bitches?”

  Michael shook his head. “These aliens have mind powers, so Bethany Anne doesn’t want to risk them. Just you and Akio, as soon as possible. You have our coordinates.”

  Eve nodded and left.

  “Addix.”

  Addix looked at Michael’s stern face. “Yes?”

  “My wife and I would like to know how your investigation into our children’s kidnapping is progressing.”

  Addix’s mandibles rippled. “I will have my report ready by the time you return, Michael. I have a lesson with the children planned for tomorrow morning, and I expect to hear back from my operatives by the end of the day.”

  Michael nodded. “Make sure you include some way for the children to begin defending themselves in the real world. This incident has shaken us both, even if the children are unaffected by it.”

  “Indeed,” Addix replied with a chuckle. “To hear Alexis and Gabriel talk, you would think they had just been in the game scenario. They are resilient, as you have raised them to be.”

  “We can thank you for some of that,” Michael told her fondly. “You are a good aunt to them.”

  Devon, First City, Warehouse, Office

  Sabine stood at the railing, overlooking the party below from the walkway outside the office. The event was certainly a lot more popular than they’d planned for. Sabine would have even given Demon’s fears some credence if not for chatty Xnarlon and the guarantee that he-her-it-they would spread the news as far and wide as people were willing to pay for it.

  “We have incoming, five minutes,” Ricole called from the office.

  “Got you,” Sabine replied. She stuck her fingers in her mouth and let rip a shrieking whistle. “All right, you ugly motherfuckers!”

  There were complaints from the partygoers.

  “Who you callin’ ugly, sweetheart?” one voice called.

  Sabine fixed the Guardian with her gaze and allowed her eyes to flash. “Who are you calling sweetheart? ‘Cuz that’s a fine way to get yourself kicked out before the fun starts.”

  The Guardian had the good sense to shut the fuck up and vanish behind a few of his buddies.

  Jacqueline snickered as she came up the stairs. She joined Sabine at the railing and yelled to the Guardian Marines, “Now, thanks to Bonehead McAssface over there, we just lost our time advantage. First group is on us. Try not to hurt yourselves getting to the south yard—y’know, where the fight’s at?”

  There was a bit of a stampede as the room cleared.

  “HEY!” Sabine yelled. “What are you, a bunch of toddlers? Discipline!” She turned to Jacqueline and shook her head. “Honestly, you pour a few drinks down them and they forget how to behave. Tu vois, c'est vrai. Petits enfants, tous.”

  Jacqueline raised an eyebrow. “What exactly did you put in the punch to get Weres drunk?”

  Sabine tapped the side of her nose. “Something Tabitha sent Akio, that he passed on to me.” She ducked as a drone swooped a bit close for comfort. “Ricoooole!” she yelled.

  “Where’s my drink?” Ricole bitched from the office.

  Jacqueline inclined her head toward the door. “I wouldn’t keep her waiting if I were you.”

  Sabine growled at the next drone to buzz her. “Ricole! Quit it, or I won’t tell Mark to relieve you.” She stalked after the stragglers at the back of the group.

  One Marine—and she had to be a Marine since a Guardian would have processed the alcohol by now—lay with her back against the crate crowned by the punchbowl, snoring softly with her arms wrapped around a support beam.

  Some comedian had found it funny to ensure that their teammate was in an upright recovery position—just in case—but also that she appeared to be hugging the support beam like it was her best friend, thanks to the zip-tie they’d used to secure her.

  Drool bubbled at the corner of the Marine’s mouth.

  What the hell?

  Sabine took a couple of pictures for later use and broke into a jog to catch up with Jacqueline. There’s still plenty of food and drink down here, she told Ricole. Just be quick and you’ll be fine.

  She strode through the door after Jacqueline.

  The gangs had already made it into the warehouse by the time Sabine reached the long corridor leading to the bays. The fight raged around her and she was more than happy to lend a hand or a foot—or even her hard head in the case of the Skaine she butted into submission on her way through.

  What gang was this? It was hard to tell, since on Devon the gangs were interspecies and no fucker wore anything to distinguish themselves from the others because they all damn well knew each other by sight.

  Guess it was hard to forget a face you’d stamped on.

  She came face to face with one of the Guardians—Jai, she thought his name was. The Guardian was still in human form.

  He raised his service weapon, which she slapped away with a scornful look. “Idiot, what are you doing with that down here?” She tossed him her backup, a small multi-shot handgun she’d acquired from one of the many shady weapons dealers in the city. “You aren’t on duty tonight, so why’d you bring that here? Do you want to get brought up in front of a judge to explain yourself?”

  She drew her JD Special when she heard the whine of a blaster discharging nearby. A bolt of energy shot over her head, missing her by millimeters “Asshole!” she yelled at the Baka with the blaster.

  These damn street gangs with their mystery weapons. They had quickly become acquainted with the street gangs around the First City and their penchant for using black-market goods to acquire yet more black-market goods. The mystery was usually whether they would fire or blow up in the user’s face.

  The Baka’s seemed to be working just fine, however. It charged the blaster for another shot, but Sabine was there first. Her JD bucked in her hand and the Baka’s blaster fell to the ground.

  Sabine was about to move through the crowded corridor when her enhanced hearing picked up the whine of a feedback loop. She glanced behind and saw the dead Baka’s blaster vibrating on the ground next to its previous owner.

  Holy. Shitballs. “CLEAR THE CORRIDOR!” she screamed.

  Jacqueline reared
up from the knot of Noel-ni she was soundly beating some sense into. “Wha…” Her eyes widened when her ears picked up the whine above the noise of the melee.

  The next second, Jacqueline burst through a wall in full-on Pricolici mode. She put her head back through the hole she’d just created and shouted over the fracas. “Everyoooone oooout!”

  The invited party guests listened to Jacqueline and skedaddled through that hole and others they punched into the bay beyond.

  The uninvited ones did not.

  Twenty seconds later, the dull gray walls of the corridor had a nice new coat of red paint and Sabine had nobody left to fight.

  Ricole’s voice came from every drone. New contact, west boundary.

  Sabine headed to the west side of the warehouse, her Jean Dukes Specials at the ready. She passed Aalia and Jai on her way to the door.

  “Hey, Sabine,” Aalia called. “Nice shooting there.”

  Sabine winked. “Hurry up and you’ll get to see some more.”

  Not likely, Demon growled from the rafters above. I am on the prowl. No invader will get past me!

  A grenade smashed through the window by the exit. Sabine didn’t even slow down. She scooped it up and returned it to its owner before it could go off.

  The rest of the windows broke as more smoke grenades were launched into the warehouse.

  Sabine calculated quickly while she grabbed the closest two and lobbed them back outside. “If you can’t take the smoke, get out of here,” she yelled, scooping up the next two grenades as they released their vile contents.

  She launched them back, satisfied at the choked curses from the intruders. She heard a voice suggest they use explosives to get in, then a sharp slap and a rebuke from another voice who wanted the prize to remain intact.

  Are you getting this on the feeds, Ricole? Sabine asked over their team link.

  Yep, Ricole replied. Hang on a minute…

  The conversations outside began to play from the drones.

  “You do not damage that building, you fungus-footed freak! Who knows where they hid the goodies we came for? You want to go through all this effort for a pile of ashes?”

  Sabine wrinkled her nose at the mention of foot fungus and decided that whoever had it was definitely not setting a single toe onto her property. She zeroed in on foot-fungus’ location with her enhanced hearing and popped up at the broken window.

  “Keep your moldy feet out there,” she yelled as she fired.

  She was a little creeped out by the appearance of the intruder she’d shot, who looked somewhat like an ambulatory mushroom. “Keep your moldy everything out there,” she qualified on seeing the dead alien disintegrate into a fine dust that spread on the breeze.

  Sabine ducked back in before she accidentally breathed any of it in. Who the hell wanted a dead mushroom guy in their lungs?

  Sabine turned to check on the status of the others. Small skirmishes were breaking out all around her. The original idea of playing defend the tower wasn’t turning out like Sabine had first imagined. The good news was that none of the intruders seemed to have discovered that the so-called prize had been taken up to the Guardian for safe keeping

  A bullet whizzed by, scoring a hot line along Sabine’s cheek. She returned a flechette of her own and the Skaine who’d shot at her hit the floor, no longer breathing.

  “Incoming from Riverside,” Ricole announced. “Lucky us, we have mercenaries to play with!”

  “Now you’re talking,” Sabine muttered. She grabbed Jacqueline on her way.

  “Get off!” the angry Pricolici growled. She turned back to the Shrillexian she was fighting.

  Sabine shot the Shrillexian, grabbed Jacqueline by the scruff of the neck, and gave her a shake. “Leave these street toughs to the others; we have mercenaries inbound. Our client’s rivals have made their move.”

  Jacqueline’s ears pricked up at that as she looked down. “Why didn’t you sssay sso?”

  Sabine rolled her eyes. “I just did. Come on, they think they can sneak in through the river gate. I want to see your traps in action.”

  They darted through the warehouse, clearing the way as they went. They reached the south bay in record time, just in time to see the first merc group cautiously enter the river gate.

  Jacqueline laughed when the net gathered up the first group to dangle from the vaulted ceiling and their buddies rushed in to save them, only to be cut down by a hail of JD ammo courtesy of Sabine’s fine shooting. “None shall pass, asshoooooles!” she yelled, remembering the scene from a story her father had told her—the one that had inspired her traps here today.

  The rest of the mercs pressed on anyway, undeterred by the woman and the Pricolici.

  “I count forty more,” Jacqueline told her. “They all stink of sweat and desperation.”

  “Not for long…” Sabine made a quarter turn and shot through the rope holding back all the barrels they’d stacked at the sides of the gate. “Now!”

  Jacqueline yanked the lever to drop the gate. Ten tons of wrought steel slammed into the water, cutting off any escape the mercs had.

  The barrels, well…barreled into the water, where they crashed into the mercs who had made it through the gate.

  The mercs floundered, fending off the churning barrels for their lives before they were crushed. To their credit, Sabine and Jacqueline did not hear panic from the soldiers.

  Jacqueline wrinkled her snout. “Aw, it’s almost a shaaame to turn this into a shoooooting gallery. They’re not eeeven afraid yet.”

  Sabine shrugged. “We can save the next bit for another group if you like. Of course, we’ll have to stack all of those barrels again before we open the gate…”

  Jacqueline looked at the thirty-or-so large barrels. “They werrre a bitch to stack the first time.” She shook her head. “We’ll stick to the plannn.”

  Sabine lined her shot up and glanced at Jacqueline. “Ready?”

  Jacqueline’s eyes gleamed yellow in the semi-darkness. “You knowww it.”

  They backed up to the exit and Sabine fired a single explosive round into a barrel marked with a luminescent ‘X’ before they dived through the door and took cover.

  Sabine peered around the doorframe to see the results, Jacqueline joined her a second later, and they watched with wide grins on their faces.

  The barrel exploded, setting off a chain reaction that blew the mercs clean out of the water.

  Sabine’s grin faded when the rain of splintered barrels and body parts settled and she saw the damage to the bay. “Um… I don’t think we’re going to get our deposit back when we leave this place.”

  Ricole’s barked laughter came out of nowhere. Sabine and the now-human Jacqueline looked up and saw the drone.

  “Great work, ladies,” Ricole cheered from the drone. “You have Guardians incoming; try not to shoot them.”

  It was Aalia and Jai, along with Roman from Team Two.

  The three Weres stopped at the door to the bay and stared at the destruction. Jai pushed his dirty-blond hair back and let out a low whistle. “I don’t think you guys are gonna get your deposit back on this place.”

  The five of them went through the gate and began to pick off the mercs who hadn’t expired yet. Mercy and honor were still a thing. Just because the mercs had none, it didn’t mean that the teams would stoop to the level of leaving the soldiers to die slowly and painfully.

  Sabine walked along the right-hand side of the inlet pool, her eyes peeled for the mortally injured. Aalia, Jai, and Roman took the other side.

  Jacqueline snickered beside her. Oh my God, did you hear Jai? You two are made for each other, she teased over their link.

  Sabine glared daggers at her. So. Not. Happening.

  Jacqueline shrugged. What? Just sayin.’ And it’s not like there’s anyone else on the scene. Unless you’re still mooning over Akio. You know he’s gay, right? You’re totally lacking the right anatomy for him.

  Sabine looked away, her eyes filled w
ith pain. She took out a merc who had a large splinter stuck in his neck but was somehow still struggling to reach the edge of the water as she muttered, “Just leave it.”

  Jacqueline made a face. “Sorry, touchy subject.” She turned her attention to the source of agonized groans amid the jetsam floating toward the remains of the gate and fired her oversized JD Special into the center of the churning mass until the groans ceased. “You don’t need a man anyway. It’s not like you’re ready to settle down and play family, is it?”

  Sabine shrugged. “No, but some company would be nice when my bed is empty.”

  Jacqueline made eyes at Jai again. “Soooo?”

  Sabine shook her head emphatically. “No, he’s nice, but I don’t feel a connection to him.”

  The mercs dealt with, they made their way to the gate to assess the damage while the three Guardians returned to the main warehouse.

  “It’s not as bad as it looks,” Sabine decided, inspecting the slightly crumpled gate. “You can beat that back out again, right?”

  Jacqueline nodded. “Probably. We should get someone in to do the repairs, though. Do we need to stay here and guard the gate?”

  Sabine shook her head as she turned back for the door. “No. Ricole can put a drone on it.”

  Jacqueline grew once more, rubbing her claws together and grinning her wolfish grin. “Thennn let’s get back to the parrrty.”

  18

  High Tortuga, Space Fleet Base

  Tabitha walked across to Michael’s offices, frowning to herself. She had enough to worry about without having to watch her tongue around Alexis and Gabriel.

  That wasn’t fair. Now she had a baby of her own to contemplate. The more time she spent with the precocious pair, the more the prospect of becoming a mother scared the ever-living shit out of her.

  She wasn’t exactly experienced with kids. Well, there was Nickie. Her failure there still cut deep. She considered how much better a role model she’d been so far to Bethany Anne’s and Michael’s children.

  When she reached the corridor leading to the Vid-doc suite, she realized she had been holding herself distant from the twins because of her guilt over the person Nickie had become.