“I’m fully aware of where my dad resides. The guys went with him for a while.”
She stepped forward like she was going to reach for me and then dropped her hand as if she thought better of the movement. Her decision was a good call. I wasn’t exactly in a touchy-feely mood. Not with her. Not that I ever had been, at least past the age of ten.
“Your father will never let me there. That’s his domain.”
Enough was enough. “Mom, Dad doesn’t own Earth.” I didn’t think. “It’s a big solar system and if you don’t want to be with him on Earth you can go ahead and stay on Mars. I don’t really care. You’re not being consulted in this.”
The ship jolted beneath my feet, giving off the slight vibrations of Artemis speeding up. We were on the move. Whether or not that was because Nolan spotted an enemy ship or he felt like flying faster, I’d find out after I finished with my mother.
“If he gets near me, he’ll kill me.”
I didn’t know my father well, so I had no idea if she spoke the truth. “I guess you have two choices. Die on Ochoa or maybe die with Dad? Or maybe not. I really don’t know. I’d be happy to drop you off on some planet or space station and leave you to make your own way. The former commander of The Bridge shouldn’t run into too many enemies wherever she goes, right?”
“You’re being cruel to me just to do it.”
I pointed my finger in her face. “You exposed us.”
“I wasn’t perfect. I never pretended to be. But I always had the best intentions for the Nomads. You have no idea what it took to run a network like mine. There were hard choices to make. You gallivanted around the universe, making recordings, calling yourself stupid names, thwarting my every effort.” She grabbed at her chest when she spoke. “What would you know about any of it? You forced me to be the bad guy by forever shirking any responsibility to our people. My own daughter made a joke of the whole thing.”
Her words burned and I hated that she still had the power to make me feel guilty. “You stuck a bomb in my body, threatened me, cajoled me, had my husbands stolen from my ship, all to force me to marry three fat, balding nothings so you could gain some political maneuverings. My life is my own whether you like or not.”
She backed up. “Oh yes, it’s always about you, my darling.” The use of the endearment was so ridiculous I would have laughed if her hands hadn’t started shaking. “Melissa-Fucking-Alexander. The rebel princess turned memory-wiped idiot turned self-righteous mother to a child who is so damaged she won’t talk. Always holier than thou. Always making all the wrong decisions.” She reached behind her and pulled something out of her waistband. It took me a second to recognize what I saw. She had a gun, a small revolver, so tiny I’d not noted the bulge in her pants. Or maybe I was simply angry and stupid and not paying attention.
“What do you plan to do with that?” I’d been on the wrong end of a gun before but not as often as some of my former Nomads, and never unarmed. Until this time. “Where did you even get it?”
Keeping her talking seemed a good idea. I hoped it slowed whatever crazy plan she had going in her head, and it helped me stay calm. I touched my wrist, not even trying to disguise the movement because what was the point?
She sucked in her breath. “Don’t you do that. I won’t have you calling them. This is between you and me. And believe it or not, Melissa, it’s because I love you that I’m doing this.”
I moved my hand off the spot on my wrist where I could have reached someone to help me and placed my arms at my sides. “Okay, tell me. You love me. I’m listening.”
Small movements would be the name of this game. She had a gun pointed at me and she professed love. I didn’t like where this was headed.
“I’ll take care of you and then Diana. It’s too late. You have to see it. You have to know.”
She wasn’t taking care of me or my daughter in any possible way. I rushed forward. I couldn’t stand passively by while my mother took me out of the world and away from the people I loved.
We struggled for the gun. It wasn’t pretty. I elbowed her in the face, she kicked me in the knee. The room was silent other than our grunts and groans and the bangs as our bodies struck the walls, the ground, anything that got in our way. I don’t even know how long it went on.
Until the gun fired and blood splattered all over me.
I think I might have gasped. I know I didn’t scream.
* * * *
“You okay?” Dane sat on the edge of the medical bed holding my hand. “Need anything?”
I shook my head. “I’m covered in my mom’s blood. Pretty much not okay.”
“I know.” He sighed. We were alone, with the lights dimmed. A low buzz sounded from one of the machines in the room.
I took a deep breath. My mother had shot herself straight through the heart. By the time the ship’s computer had registered the gunshot and notified the guys, she had been too gone to save. Even for Dane.
“Do you think she would have shot me?” I held up hand. “Don’t answer that. I know she would have.”
He wrapped his arm around me, drawing me closer. “Melissa, your mother was psychotic. I’m sure I could be more technical if I felt like expending the energy. But basically, when it comes down to it, she was unwell. I don’t know if that helps or hurts but it is what it is.”
I tried to swallow and when I couldn’t, I finally asked the question that had haunted me most of my life but I’d never voiced. “Do you think I have it? What she did? What made her the way she was?”
Dane never got to answer as C.J. stormed into the room like the world’s troubles chased on his heels. He shook his head. “No, M. You don’t. She was always that way. Don’t get me wrong, before I got to know your dad I would have said you had her manipulation, but knowing him now? You’re just like him only kinder and not nearly as closed minded.”
“Thanks?” I wasn’t sure if he’d complimented or criticized me. As this was C.J., it was probably both. Only I didn’t have an ounce of ability to manage anything complicated like questioning exactly what he meant.
He bent over to kiss me on the mouth. “You’re amazing and I love you.”
“I know you’re not sorry she’s dead.” Some people didn’t like to speak badly of the departed. Once they’re gone, all of a sudden everyone was a flawless angel. But I didn’t feel that way. I’d always thought it was better to remember people as they were and not some fixed-up version we might have preferred them to be. “I’m not sorry she’s gone either. But Diana will be. And I wish my second act with her could have gone better.”
C.J. pressed his forehead to mine while Dane squeezed my arm. It was C.J. who finally spoke. “Fair enough.”
“And just because she wasn’t my favorite person doesn’t mean I’m not going to have some kind of grief over this. I mean, I don’t know. I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to handle this.”
Wes entered the medical bay. He didn’t speak but walked forward and hopped on the table next to me on the other side of Dane. “This sucks. I’m just so sorry it had to end like that.”
“Thanks, Wes.”
Just then the vicinity alarm went off. There was a ship approaching. Almost in unison, all four of us jumped forward.
C.J. answered the question I would have asked before I could get it out. “Di’s with Nolan. In the control room.”
“Thanks.” I ran down the hall that way, with C.J. close on my heels. Wes went in the opposite direction and Dane stayed in the medical bay. As I ran into the control room, the sight in front of me brought me up short. My heart fell into my stomach. A fast-moving, new-looking, stealth ship from Ochoa was on our tail.
“Time ‘til it intercepts?” I stepped up next to Nolan who helmed Artemis, taking Diana from his arms. Her eyes widened as she stared at me. That was when I remembered I was covered in blood. My heart fell into my stomach. Someday I would be able to protect her, wrap her in a bubble, and make sure she didn’t have to see horrible things anymor
e. “It’s not my blood, baby. Don’t worry. Everyone’s fine.”
Some days I just had no choice but to lie. It wasn’t like she was going to ask me where the blood had come from.
Nolan answered my question, cutting off my mommy guilt. “Ten minutes.”
Not much. “Okay. Here’s how this is going to work. Nolan, get up. I’m going to pilot.” I wasn’t great at fixing Artemis or updating her, but I could pilot with the best of them. “Take Diana. Get in one of the shuttles. Don’t even tell me which one. If you guys picked up new ones while I wasn’t with you, please use one of them. Get her far, far away.”
Nolan didn’t argue but took Di from me. “I’ll see about grabbing the other kids, too. And the passengers. If they want to go into hiding with us, I’ll get them there. No one’s touching Diana, baby. We’ll meet back up. I’ll find you. Count on it.”
He leaned over to kiss me, a quick press to my lips, the growth of his beard scratching my skin. “Don’t let them, Nolan. Whatever it takes.”
He nodded. Neither he nor I were going to elaborate on what I’d just said to him yet no one would understand the risk to a child under the care of the Nobles better than Nolan. He’d lived in the pit. He wouldn’t let my daughter end up in her own version of hell.
I turned to C.J. “Grab Geoff. And Cooper and Wes. Tell them Nolan has Diana. You two need to get in the shuttle. Stealth is the name of the game. We’re never making it to the black hole now. We have no choice but to go with plan B. I don’t see any other way.”
C.J. raised his eyebrow. “Cooper on the throne.”
“That’s the one.”
He grabbed my arm. “Cooper’s not going to like this.”
“I don’t love it, either. But we’re without choices. Use the old Nomad tricks for leaving the weapons and setting the bombs. C.J., you should be able to walk around undetected. Keep your ear to the wind. In the event you hear something about me or Olivia, set me up with weapons. Geoff stays on the shuttle after the bombs are planted. Wes needs to find us some ships. If we’re doing this thing, we’re doing it.”
He grabbed my arms. “I hate to leave you here alone.”
“Oh, I’ll hardly be alone. Nolan and Diana are here. He’ll keep her safe and kill anyone who gets near her or our guests. I’m counting on you. My next couple of weeks, days, hours—they’re all going to suck. Don’t let me down. Get to Ochoa, C.J.”
He nodded once. “Done. After this, we’re never apart.”
“It’s a deal.” My stomach clenched. I’d given orders and they were taking them without question—not that I expected Cooper to be as agreeable when it came down to it—if this all went to hell, it was on me. “Tell Cooper, Wes, and Geoff I love them. I know that’s a weird thing for you to say but do it, okay?”
He rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Yeah. Call me cupid.”
I looked at the clock. “Seven minutes, C.J. Run.”
With one last look at me, he ran from the room. I sat down in the seat and picked up the controller. They’d made updates, but it didn’t take me long to get back to the screen I’d always used to navigate flying. Before I started, there was one more person I had to speak to. I tapped my wrist. “Dane, you’ll need to get onto the shuttles with the others. Be prepared to knock out the kids if need be.”
He didn’t respond right away. “I think there’s something more useful I could do.”
I took a deep breath. “What’s that? Now isn’t really the time to be creating wrinkles in this plan.”
“We need help. For the injured. After you’re successful. I need to go home. The other doctors. I know there are some who will want to help.”
He must have been stopping and starting his thoughts as his speech came through as short, choppy sentences. I smiled. In the past, I would have thought he was a coward, running away from the fight. I knew better now. Dane had more guts than just about anyone I knew.
“Do it. Get help. Be careful. In fact, I have an even better idea. Hold on.” I hit my wrist to conference Wes. “Can you grab ships on Kakstan?”
“Ah…” There was a rustling noise in the background. “I can get ships anywhere. You want me to go with Dane? I mean, I assume he’s the one going to Kakstan.”
“Yes. Wes, stealth is the name of the game. I hate sending anyone alone. Nolan will have the rest of my crew with him. Leif could fly if need be. I can’t send Dane alone.”
He laughed. “He’d get lost a couple of times before he got there and back. Yeah, I’m on it. Love you. See you soon.”
“Love you, Wes.” My voice cracked with emotion and I ignored it. Everyone was abandoning ship under my orders. I needed to give them a distraction to get away undetected. So the first thing was to…
My thoughts were interrupted as Tara charged in the room and sat down in the chair opposite my own.
“How are we going to handle this?”
I didn’t understand. I stared at my timer. Five minutes until they all had to be off the ship. “What are you doing? Why aren’t you with Nolan? You have to go.”
“I’m staying with you. You’re getting caught by Ochoa and I’m going with you.”
“Tara,” I shouted, and then forced myself to keep my voice down. “You need to go. With your family.”
She shook her head before she patted my hand. “I’m doing this for my family. If you can’t take out Olivia, I will. That’s what Nomads do, right? We support each other. When you needed help, I took you in to our group and you proved to be the best decision I ever made. We’d all be dead.” She shook her head. “We do this together, girl. That’s how it works.”
I should argue and send her from the ship. Only, I didn’t want to. Tara was a grownup. If she wanted to come and do this crazy thing with me then so be it. We’d either win or go down together. “All right. Scan the other ship. Still five minutes?”
She picked up the tablet associated with her chair and started checking while I grabbed mine. A message flashed across my screen.
Cooper: You’re sure about this crazy plan? I don’t belong on the throne.
I shook my head. Leave it to Cooper to hack into my tablet from wherever he was. I wrote back. Little busy here. I think you’ll be a great leader. And besides, how much worse could you do? This will work out great.
Cooper: For whom?
I took a deep breath. He wasn’t wrong. Cooper had been very clear he didn’t want to be the leader. Rubbing at my eyes as I type my reply. We’ll worry about leadership later. If you don’t want to do it, we’ll find someone else. The main point is that we unseat your sister.
Unseat seemed kinder than kill. Like I had with my mother, I was certain Cooper had mixed emotions when it came to his sister. Once upon a time, she’d been a little girl he’d played with. She couldn’t have always been the psycho killer she’d become. I might be naïve, but I didn’t believe anyone was born evil.
His message back was fast. Love you.
Love you, too.
I pressed the button on my tablet to end our communication and told the ship I wanted her to turn around. If Ochoa was going to come for us, then so be it. I wasn’t running away. They needed to focus on me. We’d do that face-to-face.
“I’m going to turn on the view screen. You’re really sure about this?” Tara could still leave for about one more minute if she wanted to.
She shook her head. “Quit dawdling. Nolan is gone. I already can’t trace his shuttle, which makes me thrilled. He’s got my family with him. Let’s see. Dane and Wes have launched and I don’t see C.J. anywhere. Looks clear.”
“Great.” I pushed the screen to turn on and sent a message to the Ochoa shuttle. “My name is Melissa Alexander. You want something from me?”
Tara snickered. “You should have used the nickname. Waited to see what they did.”
“I hate that nickname. Momentary lapse in judgment that will follow me the rest of my life.” Of course, that might not be too much longer if things went badly.
“I’
m sorry about your mom.”
I shook my head. “Tara, are you going to be this chatty the whole rest of the trip?”
She snickered. “Probably. I talk a lot when I’m nervous. What do you do?”
I stopped to consider her question for a second. “Well, I guess in the past, I ran away. I’m not sure what I do now. I take care of Diana, but she’s covered.” I hadn’t said goodbye to her and that hadn’t been by mistake. I would never be able to keep it together and I knew by her silence how completely susceptible she was to internalizing my mood.
But maybe that had been a mistake.
Tara placed a hand on my arm. “You’re thinking about Diana. You always get that worried look in your eyes whenever you do. I know the feeling. I do the same thing. You’re a really good mom. She’s going to be fine.”
“Rebel ship.” The Ochoan ship finally acknowledged us. They were either horribly slow on the uptake or they’d been waiting on instructions about what to do with me. “You will allow yourself to be boarded. You will come with us, as all women do, to Ochoa where the empress will decide your fate. Resist and your ship will be blown up.”
I shuddered. I’d had a few minutes once of my fate being decided by Ochoa. The way the guards had groped me and the obscene things they’d said stayed with me. I was a tough woman. I could deliver a beat down if I had to and I knew how to wield a gun. However, being chained to a wall had made that next to impossible.
“Be advised, your presence is known not only to our own ship but also to three others in the vicinity.” Just as I’d feared. When my mother exposed us, she’d really put us out there.
“I understand, Ochoa.” After Olivia had taken over any and all of her ships had lost their individual names. All of them were called Ochoa. One name, one big giant terrible mess. “We are prepared to come aboard your ship. Can I presume you’ve spoken to Ochoa? That they know you’re bringing me in.”
A loud sigh sounded over the speaker before the man spoke. “The empress looks forward to seeing you. Apparently you were once wed to her dead brother. You were also presumed dead.”