“Or to sell them to a foreign power.”
“No!”
Humber exhaled sharply. “Your mother did notbelieve that either. But the prosecutor convinced a jury it wastrue. Because if Aengus were an honorable man, he would haveadmitted that he shot that guard. Do you see the conundrum?”
“And then he killed himself. And Mom cried sohard. That’s the only part I remember,” Zia saidsadly. “I was just a toddler, but it’s etched in my memory. Sherarely ever cried, but she was so distraught over that. She keptsaying the same thing over and over: the world has gone crazy.”
Humber walked over and patted Zia’s shoulder.“Did you want to see anything else?”
“No, thanks.” She slid to the edge of the bedand stood up. “You should go home and make love to your wife tenmore times. I need to pull myself together before Rem gets here.Don’t tell him I watched these vids, okay?”
“Whatever you wish.” Humber followed her tothe living area. “Try to rest, Zia. Tomorrow will bestressful.”
“I’ll be fine. Take your soldiers,” shereminded him.
“And face Captain Stone’s ire?” He chuckled.“They will stay until your escort returns. Then you can dismissthem.”
She nodded, knowing he was right. Rem wouldbe upset if he thought she was under-guarded, and while the threehuman soldiers were sufficient, the presence of four hunks ofwell-trained fur would be reassuring to “her escort.”
Harada, Pao, and Jackson were seated in theliving room playing cards, but their weapons were prominent, andshe suspected that their relaxed expressions hid a high level ofawareness. The Malaran soldiers were on full alert, standing aroundthe perimeter of the room as though attack were imminent. All inall, things seemed secure enough to meet even Rem’s standards.
Walking Humber to the door, she thanked himagain for his solicitude, and would have kissed his hairy cheek ifshe hadn’t suspected it would upset the Malaran soldiers. Shesettled for shaking his clawed hand, then shooed him out the doorand wandered into the kitchen looking for something to drink.
Again, the profusion of odd appliancesbaffled her, but Harada came to her rescue. “We did some snooping.What do you need?”
“Just a glass of water. And something tomunch on before dinner.”
“Coming right up.” He opened a glass-dooredcabinet and showed her a shelf filled with dark-blue drink ware ofvarious sizes. “They’ve got coffee too, by the way.”
“Oh, yum.” She grabbed a blue mug, and as shedid so, she caught the reflection of a Malaran soldier in thecupboard door. The male’s hand had moved to his sidearm—some sortof laser blaster—just as he gave a sly nod to the Malaran acrossthe room.
She spun in time to see both hulking soldiersdraw their weapons, one aimed at Zia, the other at the tworemaining Malarans.
“No!” She tackled Harada to the groundbehind the sofa just as a spray of gas fire passed over theirheads. Harada was back on his feet in a second, his weapon blazing.Zia cringed against his leg and felt a gun-shaped bulge. Withoutthinking, she yanked a second blaster free from the ankle-holster,then stood up too, firing wildly at the attackers.
Harada had already felled one of them, andZia’s fire—combined with his—finished the other one off. She turnedto congratulate him, but he slumped against the sofa and then tothe floor. Blood was flowing from a wound in his chest, and shegrabbed a kitchen cloth from a hook, pressing it into place. Thenshe pulled a cushion from the sofa and propped it under hishead.
“Don’t move, I’ll get help,” shepromised.
It wasn’t until she had run to the front doorthat she realized the terrible truth: she didn’t know whom totrust, and certainly couldn’t dare dash into the hall. So insteadshe bolted the lock securely, then hurried over to check on herother guards.
Pao was dead. She could see that from hisvacant stare, and the blood that had oozed from his mouth. He wasthe youngest of the three soldiers—not much older than Zia—and shestared down at his innocent face in silent, speechless misery, herthroat clogged with grief.
Then she moved on to Jackson. At first, shethought he was dead too, a result of the gaping wound in his side.But at least his eyes were closed, rather than open and vacant, soshe touched his cheek and spoke his name softly.
“Jackson? Can you hear me?”
When his eyelids fluttered open, she smiledin relief. “Thank God.”
He focused on her with an agony-filledexpression. “Forgive me.”
“I’m alive, aren’t I? Thanks to you.” Shesqueezed his hand and promised to find some pain killers, thenchecked on the loyal Malaran guards, verifying what she alreadyknew—these heroes had been cut to ribbons by the traitors as theirfirst order of business.
As for the traitors themselves, one was inshreds. The other was immobilized by wounds but alive and groaningsoftly. Without bothering to think about it, Zia clubbed him withhis own weapon and was gratified when he became silent andstill.
She was about to return to Harada whensomeone pounded on the door. “Captain Quito! Let us in. Is anyonestill alive? Captain Quito!”
“Go away!” she shrieked, her voice hoarse andunfamiliar. “Get Dr. Annur. I won’t let anyone else in, so just goaway. Just get Annur! Please!”
“Zia! Open the door.” It was Humber thistime, and she dove for the lock and unbolted it, then threw herselfagainst his furry chest.
“Humber! Pao’s dead, and the others—theothers are dying!”
“We will save them,” he promised, hugging hertight. “Are you injured, Zia?”
“No.”
“You are drenched in blood.”
“It’s their blood. My guards. Yourguards too.” She burst into tears. “They died for me, Humber.”
“Shhh . . .” He cradled her trembling body.“It is over now. Forgive me, Quito.”
Medical personnel streamed into the room andbegan treating Harada and Jackson. Swarms of police were there too,making vids and growling orders.
“This Malaran is still alive,” one of themannounced.
Zia pulled away from Humber enough to seewhat was going on. “He’s one of the bad ones. A Vekzor, Iguess.”
“Good. We will question him,” Humber said.“He will regret this, I promise.”
“I want to question him first,” Zia blurtedout, then she stumbled over to the semiconscious warrior, who hadbeen placed in metal cuffs. “I want to know why he hates me so muchhe’d
