land.”
In that moment Ayan understood something very important about the woman in front of her; she had to win, she had to take possession of things. “Agreed, and I hope we can work together in the future. It’ll take a little time for us to be ready, you understand. We have business of our own to settle first.”
“Yes, you will have time.” Patrizia leaned forward and kissed Ayan on the cheek before fixing her with a big smile. “Welcome to Tamber. Welcome to my home.” She let go of Ayan’s hand, leaving one of her rings behind on her middle finger.
Ayan hadn’t even noticed the woman put it there. It was a platinum piece with a gold lion’s head.
Chapter 26
'I don't know who was down here, but they're gone now.' Said Sergeant Masterson as he picked his way though the infirmary. 'Left a lot of corpses behind though.'
'I count three whole squads,' informed Private Elaine Patterson. 'They started calling him The Butcher on comms before they restricted unit to unit cross talk.'
'Put a lid on it, Patterson. The last thing we need is to get superstitious.' The darkened alcoves, empty beds and instrumentation kiosks provided too many places for the enemy to hide. Their personal lights lit the corners too briefly for anyone's comfort, and there was always the back trail. From what they had heard the squads didn't see the Butcher coming. When he hit comms went dead, squad members’ stats flat-lined, most of the soldiers were found later, decapitated. It hadn't been done with a firearm, the Butcher used some kind of garrotte. A micron thin, strong line that cut through their armour after the considerable application of physical force.
It sent a shiver down Sergeant Masterson's spine, but he'd never admit it to his squad. 'All right, fan out and set up camp at that nurse's station there. We're going to hold here until they can get reinforcements on site. I'm doing another sweep of the inner perimeter.'
'Alone sir?'
'Don't worry Ackers, I won't leave you alone in the dark, Patterson will protect you,' Sgt Masterson soothed.
'Find a plush teddy for Ackers, check,' Private Patterson teased.
'With me, Carson,' Sergeant Masterson ordered. 'Of course I'm not going on a search without someone to watch my back,' he muttered.
There were closed rooms surrounding the central organization and treatment area in the infirmary and they all had to be checked. The first two doors opened easily. Carson was a powerhouse, addicted to the weight room and fitness supplements. When it came to pulling doors open with gripper handles, he was the man. They had the first four rooms cleared in ten minutes, then they ran into a locked door.
'I'm picking up a single female's vitals inside. Looks like we're about to have a prisoner,' Sergeant Masterson said with a grin.
'Maybe we should call the rest of the squad?'
Masterson looked over his shoulder briefly and shook his head. 'Naw, the readings say she's at rest. She's not the Butcher.'
Carson shrugged and pulled a motorized pry bar from his pack. With deft, practiced hands he busted the lock and forced the door. In one smooth motion he put the pry bar in his pack and had his rifle back in hand.
Sergeant Masterson was already inside. On the bed in the centre of the modest sized treatment room laid a black haired woman. 'Wow, sleeping beauty or what?' He whispered as he scanned her through the sight of his rifle.
'You want me to leave you two love birds to get acquainted Sarge?' chuckled Carson.
'Why not? This tour's been a hell of a wash so far, may as well make a memory.'
'You kids have fun,' Carson said as he turned his back to the door.
Sergeant Masterson slung his rifle and took off his gloves, eying the sleeping young woman from head to toe. He stroked her face and pressed his cheek to hers. 'You should be in pictures, sweetheart. What're you doing way out here on a stolen ship?' he asked in an intimate whisper. A panel above the bed came to life, listing broken bones, ruptured organs and a course of treatment ending in the current status: REGENERATION COMPLETE INITIATING WAKE SEQUENCE.
“Looks like you're all better,” he smiled as he pulled the insulated sheet down slowly, baring her nude form.
As soon as the hem of the sheet reached her middle she woke with a start and snatched it, kicking and retreating. He took a firmer hold on the sheet and pulled harder, winning the battle on the second yank, thrilling at the struggling young woman. Her cries for help and terrified, dark eyes were enchanting. 'Just a taste. I'll leave you in one piece,' he begged mockingly.
'Get offa me! No!' she screamed. Her eyes focused on something behind her then, and a sudden shuffle followed by the sickening sound of something sliding through meat and bone filled the room.
Masterson whirled around in time to see Carson's headless corpse drop to the floor. He brandished his rifle as he frantically searched the room. “Someone help, he got Carson. I think he’s still in the room, but I couldn’t see him,” Masterson shouted desperately. Sweat coated his palms and forehead.
Something bumped into him from behind. The wire was around his neck. He could hear the impossibly thin, lethal strand of the garrotte sawing through his armour. He kicked, grabbed at the monster’s hands and tried to turn away. 'Son of a bitch! You won't get me! You won't-' His struggling was useless. The butcher pulled harder, and as he started to break the skin his feet came off the deck. No amount of struggling would save him, but he writhed regardless.
'You're not worth this life. I'm taking something you never deserved,' he heard the Butcher whisper through clenched teeth the instant before one final pull of the wire separated his head from his shoulders.
Ashley was frozen in stunned shock as Larry pushed the headless body of her attacker towards the door. He decapitated both soldiers like a man born to killing. It was like watching the grim reaper at work, and she would have never expected it of him. He was her copilot. A quiet, thoughtful, soulful friend who never got tired of listening to her go on about anything she liked. He even laughed at her jokes, which she knew were hit or miss.
Seeing him kill like it was second nature, like it was what he was born to do, it was unbelievable. He deactivated something on his wrists before going to her bedside and hurriedly asked; 'Are you okay?'
She stared at him. His vacsuit had cleaned itself; there was no trace of the slaughter moments before on him but the floor told the tale.
He turned and dropped a thin, round disc in front of the door and an energy barrier appeared. When he turned back to her there was deep concern in his eyes, he gently took her chin in his hand. 'Ashley, they were about to do terrible things to you, I had no choice.'
'I-' she tried to work up some saliva, her mouth was so dry. 'I know. You're the one whose been killing the spies,' she whispered.
'The West Watchers, yes. I wish I could have told you, or anyone, but it would have put you and everyone else on this ship at risk. I was assigned to the Triton after she was bought by Regent Galactic. I got onto the custodial crew and made sure that I was given a permanent place on Wheeler’s second crew.' He took a bottle of water from a dispenser beside the bed and gave it to her. “Here, drink slowly.”
She willed herself to sip the water slowly instead of greedily drawing it through the straw. Its cool relief eased her dry throat. The silence it imposed gave her more time to look around. The dim lighting in the room was enough for her to realize that she was in the ship infirmary, and even through the shield at the door she could tell it was too quiet outside. Something was very wrong. Ashley ignored her rising fear as best as she could and, instead of asking about the ship or what was going on, she decided to do what she supposed Stephanie would do; investigate the nearest possible threat. 'You're from Earth? Are you the real captain or something?'
'I'm a silent observer, or I was supposed to be, but the West Watchers were too big of a problem. They would have given away your position, eventually gotten access to people like Frost, people with control codes, so
