Every muscle in Eagle's body was on alert. He was trying to relax, trying not to reveal how much this facade of composure was costing him internally. He'd done it for years, it should have been child's play. But as Zarn strapped Telles onto the monstrous machine that would read his thoughts, Eagle wasn't sure he could maintain the mask of indifference. He leaned against the bulkhead nearest the door, arms folded across his chest, behaving merely as an interested spectator even as his mind was exploring every possible means of escape.
Eagle's gaze flickered over his friend. If Telles knew the whereabouts of the heir to the Andromedan throne and told his father now, it would destroy Eagle's plans to use her to make Zarn listen to him. If Telles didn't know, Zarn would probably kill him. The table on which the man had been strapped was tilted and he lay like one frozen as two attendants in pale blue coats attached the electrodes to his arms, chest, groin, legs and face. He stared straight ahead stoically as they readied his naked body. As always, the victim's clothes had been taken, stripped from him ignominously, leaving him even more vulnerable, more helpless.
Eagle's thoughts rushed back to his incarceration on Sky's ship and his own humiliation. Strange, the memory had dimmed against the knowledge that what she had done, she had done for her sister and for the good of Andromeda. Ironically, that was what he had to do now. For Sky, and strangely enough, for his father.
"Now, I believe we are almost ready to begin, except for our audience. We must have an audience." Zarn gestured toward the guard standing at the doorway. The man turned and pressed a series of buttons beside the door, lowering the shield protecting the room.
Eagle knew before the door slid back who would be standing on the other side. Beads of sweat broke out across his forehead and he hoped fervently Zarn didn't notice. She walked through the doorway like a queen, shoulders back, head high, her turquoise eyes snapping with ill-contained fire. Damn, she was beautiful. And brave. And strong. And everything he'd ever wanted in a woman. The realization hit him hard and it took everything inside of him to keep from reacting outwardly. Then she saw Telles strapped down and sorrow flooded her gaze briefly before the flame returned and she spun to confront him.
"You fad-mained son-of-a-bitch!" she shouted, crossing the room and slapping him hard across the face before the hand of one of the guards clamped down on her shoulder and dragged her back. "Let him go!"
Eagle rubbed his jaw ruefully. "Glad to see you too, princess."
"Who is this delightful piece of fluff, Eagle?"
So he didn't know Sky was Mayla's sister? Then maybe he had a chance at least of saving her if not Telles. Eagle couldn't help but smile at his father's words. Sky was anything but fluffy. Even cornered by her enemy, by the man who had killed her family, she stood defiantly, arms tight with muscled contours, fists clenched at her side, legs braced as if for a blow, or a battle. He regretted now his momentary weakness, the desire to see her in something besides that plain uniform she wore aboard the Defiant, that had led him to buy her the short tunic-dress she wore as a disguise. Now, sans protective cloak, the garment was almost transparent and her firm, high breasts strained against the too-tight material. He felt his own kind of strain and looked quickly away. That only brought his gaze to the short hemline and the long legs exposed beneath. Zarn's gaze heated and Eagle had to control himself not to slam his fist into his own father's face.
"She's nobody," he said shortly, dismissing the woman with a wave of his hand and crossing the room to Zarn's side. "Telles's latest girlfriend," he added, then cursed himself for a fool. His father was looking for his friend's most vulnerable spot. If he thought Sky meant anything to him . . . "Or should I say EX-girlfriend. He dumped her a couple of weeks ago but she keeps tagging along after him everywhere he goes. She showed up at the bar unexpectedly."
Zarn circled the table holding Telles, his gaze on Sky, then stepped back from the platform on which the slanted bed was positioned. His gaze locked with his son's for a long moment and, not for the first time in his life, Eagle was glad Zarn was not a telepath. His thoughts at this moment would have had him stretched out beside Telles in a matter of seconds. But when his father spoke he wondered if he had suddenly developed the talent.
"Why are you lying to me?"
Eagle was taken aback for a moment but quickly recovered. "I'm not lying to you."
"Do you think I don't know that this is Skyra Cezan? The sister to the heir of Andromeda?" His green eyes, so much like Eagle's own, narrowed as he stared at his son and suddenly he knew everything was lost. "I will ask you again, why are you lying to me? Can it be you've joined this disreputable band of renegades?"
He laughed out loud, hands on his hips. "Of course not," he said, not hesitating even an instant. "Let me ask YOU something--why didn't you stick to our original agreement? Why didn't you let me bring the kid to you on Rigel?"
He heard Sky's quick intake of breath and when he turned, the look of raw fury in her eyes was enough to make him take an involuntary step backward.
"Are you trying to tell me that you have lied to me because I arrived on Barbaros9 unexpectedly?" Zarn asked.
Eagle shrugged. "I didn't know she who she was. Telles said she was an old girlfriend." He could feel Sky's fiery gaze boring a hold through him. Damn, damn, damn. He hated sounding like the kind of man who would lie to save himself. If he could only let her know he was lying for all of them. "But I don't like surprises," he went on, swinging around and facing his father. "And I don't like you giving me an assignment and then acting like I can't handle it."
"Or is it that you still have feelings of friendship for a man who is obviously a rebel." Zarn walked slowly around the fettered Telles, one hand to his chin, one finger tapping thoughtfully against his long, aquiline nose. "And a woman who has, perhaps, enticed you to forget where your loyalties lie?"
"We have no proof that he is a rebel," Eagle objected, running one hand through his too-long hair, brushing it back from his face. He was beginning to feel a little desperate, something his father was an expert at detecting. Stay casual. Stay calm. He took a deep breath. "I told you, the child healed him and he feels a responsibility toward her. The woman means nothing to me."
"Oh, I'm a rebel all right." Telles spoke from the table and Eagle shot him a cautioning look. The man strained against the invisible energy shackles holding him down, his eyes slightly wild. "I'm a rebel and damn proud of it! You think I'm your friend, Eagle?" He laughed, the sound harsh and angry.
"Shut up." Eagle said the words quietly. If Telles confessed to treason Zarn would have no choice but to kill him. "I don't want to hear this."
"Well, isn't that too damn bad?" He laughed again. "It's time you heard the truth! I've used our connection any way I could. Me, the friend of the son of the great and powerful Sedon!" He pushed upward, feverishly allowing the shackles to sizzle into his flesh, faint droplets of blood staining his skin as he did. "I used you. I used you to do whatever I had to do to try and overthrow your father's tyranny."
Eagle turned away, too furious to speak for a moment. Telles had dug his own grave and if they didn't get out of this somehow, Zarn would bury him in it. In the meantime he would use his friend's stupidity or ploy, whichever it was, to solidify his shaky position with his father.
"So tell me something I didn't know," he shot back over one shoulder as he walked away from the still strapped down man. "You think I didn't know it? You think I didn't have you watched constantly? Why the hell do you think I left you for dead on Alpha Centauri?"
He stopped walking and turned, hands on his hips. Sky was staring at him, the look on her face one of shock and disbelief. Surely she didn't believe what he was saying. Surely she knew he hadn't--that he couldn't--leave his friend on a distant planet to die.
"Enough." Zarn was suddenly at his side. "Get on with the probing. Kamon, I want you to do it."
Eagle blinked. That was the last thing he expected his father to say. "Me?"
"I'm anxious to see what you've learned since you've been on Station One." Zarn's gaze was hard, unyielding, suspicious. "Shall we begin?"
He ran his tongue across his dry lips and stepped up to the table. He had been fully trained on Station One in all aspects of the mind-probe. He had just refused to do it. Now he picked up the all too familiar helmet and lifted it over his friend's head, sending him a silent message of apology, feeling a vast relief when the blue eyes flickered back a second's understanding.
"You don't have to go through this you know," Eagle said as he adjusted the helmet and flipped the switch that would apply the tele-lodes beneath the helmet directly over the specific pulse-points and cranial locations known to provide entrance to the human mind. "All you have to do is tell us where you stashed the kid."
"I didn't stash her." Telles said, his usually terse lips curved up in a smile. "She stashed herself."
"You can still save yourself." Eagle drew one long tube from the helmet and inserted it into the probe's central unit. He couldn't stall much longer. "Where is she?"
"I don't know."
"Kamon," Zarn's voice was soft from the corner where he had taken himself to in order to watch the proceedings. He stood, arms folded over his chest, his tall image clothed in black, creating its own dark shadow. "Let us begin." © 1997
Get your own Free Home Page