Pandora's Chase

Chapter Forty-Eight

He didn't bother searching the drawers of the desk or the wall compartments for the items. He hadn't put them there, and he couldn't think of a reason anyone else would have in his absence. They were gone.

Did someone find me? Missing crew member from Night Hawk? No, they were dead.

Then he remembered the hand scan Caine administered while in the authority station.

IPAC agents! His chest flared with heat and from it, he focused.

Chase eased his gun from its holster and stealthily crept out of his quarters. He went straight for the mess hall, figuring that any invaders might have gathered there. As he closed in, he listened for any strange sounds.

He heard her. Paira. Not talking, but huffing and grunting, like she was struggling. He then heard someone else's muffled voice. Someone had been gagged.

Halak.

Paira struggled harder and then shrieked. Someone was hurting her.

Chase stopped next to the door of the mess hall, gun gripped tight in his hand.

Halak yelled under his gag. Something was happening that he did not like.

And that's what finally spurred Chase into action.

He took two quiet steps back. Then he ran for and jumped at an angle to the doorway bulkhead leading into the mess hall. His chest flared a deep orange under his shirt, adrenaline pumped through him as he leapt in the air feet first at the door's edge, planting his feet waist high, body parallel to the ground. He used the leverage to leap off the edge of the doorway into the mess hall, springing toward Paira and her assailant.

There were two strange men in the room.

One stood behind Halak, with a gun at his head. Halak's mouth was taped shut.

The other man had Paira pinned up against the wall, her hands already tied behind her back. He was whispering into her ear, and she was grimacing in disgust.

Chase's rebounding angle was off, but good enough to hook his arm around the assailant's neck. They both tumbled to the ground and Chase slammed the man's head against the steel floor. Unfortunately, he still had a handful of Paira's hair, and he pulled her down along with them.

Chase rolled off the man, raised his gun, and pointed at the other intruder, who was now using Halak as a human shield. Dom, unconscious but breathing, was lying on the grating in the corridor out the opening opposite of where Chase came in. Where are Scout and Cyrus?

"Cool it!" the guy yelled. "Dang, boy, slow down now."

"You cool it!" Chase snapped back. "What the hell are you doing on my ship?"

"Your ship?" The man smiled. "Boy, this ain't your ship, and we all know it. This here's my ship now. Under control given me by the Interplanetary Alliance Command."

No!

Chase glanced quickly around the room. His pack, the box, and sphere were on the table near the man behind Halak.

"Where's the map, Chase?" the man asked. "You and the map are coming with us. Do that without fuss, and your friends survive this."

Chase took a step forward to test Braider. This drew Braider's gun from Halak's head to Chase's. So he took another step.

"Don't..." said Braider, but he didn't pull the trigger.

And Chase realized that Braider knew enough of what Chase was up to; therefore, he knew Braider needed him alive. No Chase, no working map. No Chase, no disk. Braider couldn't kill him, couldn't even risk it.