Interregnum (Children of Steel Book 2) Page 8

  She laughed, "Kyrani's probably the only innocent one in this room. I'm sure we can help."

  I sighed and smiled, "Okay."

  We went and joined them on the bench they were sitting on; I sat next to Josu as Cassandra went and sat next to Kyrani.

  "Hi, Raj, Cassy," Kyrani said smiling.

  "Hi," Cassandra and I both replied. Josu ducked his head and said "hello" rather softly.

  "So how's it going?" I asked Josu softly as Cassandra struck up a conversation with Kyrani.

  "Okay," he said looking down.

  "Don't bullshit me, Josu, I can see it's rough."

  He looked up at me, his eyes were sad, he wasn't growling, which is what I expected. I thought he'd be angry with me, not this.

  "It stinks, okay? It's lousy! I shouldn't be here! I don't deserve this!"

  I nodded, "You know they'd tell you to stop talking shit and to get on with your life if they could, don't you?"

  "And how would you know that?" he said with a slight growl.

  I smiled; anger was a bit better that just sorrow. "Because I just said it. Tell me that I'm wrong."

  "They left me! They didn't even think about me! Do you know how rough that was?"

  "I think I have a pretty good idea," I told him.

  "I doubt it!" he grumbled. "And why should you care anyway?"

  "Eh, part of being mated," I smiled at him, "you start to care about things other than getting laid and making friends. Speaking of getting laid, you and Kyrani having any fun?"

  He glared at me.

  "Josu, please do not tell me that you ignoring the charms of a beautiful female who is not only interested in you, but seriously concerned about your welfare."

  "Balizar is forcing her to be with me," he growled.

  I shrugged, "I don't know if I'd say 'forcing, 'more like he asked her to spend some time keeping you company."

  "And how would you know?"

  "Because he once did the same thing with me, had me go spend some time with someone who needed help."

  "I don't need help!" growled.

  "Josu, we all need help, sometimes more than others. As for Kyrani, well unless you ask her, or at least try to seduce her, you're never going to know, are you?"

  I saw his ears go out to the sides, flat, and his facial fur all bushed out. I got the message almost immediately.

  "When was the last time you had a lover?" I asked softly doing my best to show my concern.

  He growled, still embarrassed, but didn't say anything.

  "When was the last time you even just slept with someone else?"

  He growled a little louder and I started to wonder if Balizar knew? Probably.

  "Relax, Josu, I'm not here to embarrass you. But why haven't you? There are a lot of others who would be happy to just spend a night."

  "I don't want to sleep with anyone, I just want to be alone!" he muttered looking back at the floor.

  I looked over at Kyrani, who looked at me and shook her head, looking a little lost.

  I shook my head and sighed, "Well, if that's what you want, but if you change your mind, don't be afraid to ask for help." I got up and signaled Cassandra and Kyrani to follow me.

  "We can't just leave him there, alone," Cassandra said to me.

  "Balizar told me to stay with him!" Kyrani said looking at me nervously.

  I shrugged, "He said he wants to be alone, I don't know what else we can do. You've been with him for how many days now?" I asked Kyrani.

  "Three," She said looking dejected.

  "Has he even talked to you?"

  She shook her head, "Not really. He just tolerates me when I'm around."

  "We can't leave him alone, Raj," Cassandra said to me, "It's not healthy for him to shut himself off from everyone."

  I shrugged, "I don't know, I did it."

  "And they let you get away with it?" Cassandra asked looking at me surprised.

  A sudden thought popped in my head, "Actually no. Excuse me a moment, I'm going to call in a favor."

  They both looked at me funny and I looked around the room, until I saw Aruba. She was chatting up Hawkeye of all people.

  "Aruba, Hawkeye," I said walking up to them smiling.

  "Raj," Hawkeye nodded.

  Aruba saw me and sighed, "I know that look. What do you want, Raj?"

  I smiled wider, "It appears we have a leopard who is being very unsocial, is sleeping alone, and is refusing to do anything with anyone."

  Hawkeye nodded, "Oh yeah, Josu."

  Aruba eyed me suspiciously. "And what does that have to do with me?"

  "Kyrani tried and failed, so I was thinking...."

  "What? Raj, he's just a kid!"

  "Aruba," I said still smiling, "you helped me, I'm sure you can help him."

  "I helped you because you're built like a brick shithouse," Aruba said with a smirk. "Why don't you go bother Danielle, or Selenna even? Hell, Selenna could make a corporate account fake his spreadsheet!"

  I shook my head, "Because I know you can do it, that's why."

  "Oh please, there are a lot of fems here who could do it."

  I nodded, "True, but if he loses it, I know that you can deal with it."

  "Gee thanks, Raj," she growled.

  "Okay, how about this," I winked at her, "Either you do this, or I'll lay the hottest sexist kiss on you, that you can imagine."

  "Oh, I don't know, I can imagine a...." Aruba stopped suddenly. "Cassandra will dissect me with a rusty knife, won't she?"

  I nodded.

  "Bastard!" she growled.

  I nodded and smiled sweetly, "Yes, but you already knew that. Besides, if someone doesn't do something soon, that kid is going to get psyched. I'm surprised he hasn't killed himself already."

  Aruba sighed and nodded. "Okay, I'll do it. But you owe me, Raj. And if I can think of something Cassandra won't gut me for, you are damned sure going to pay it."

  I nodded, "I can live with that."

  Aruba turned to Hawkeye, "Maybe next week," she said. Then she paused a moment and taking a deep breath she schooled her expression into a rather pleased one.

  "Wish me luck, boys. I'm going in!"

  And with that she turned and strolled across the room and sat down next to Jesu who started.

  "Think she has a chance?" Hawkeye said looking at me.

  I nodded, "She got me out of my shell, so yeah, I think she does."

  7

  My intercom rang and I sat up, swinging around to put my feet on the floor.

  "Lights, ten percent," I said and yawned as Cassandra grumbled half asleep. I looked at the clock, it was three a.m. Thursday, ship time, I'd been asleep about an hour.

  I hit the switch for the intercom as it started to ring a second time.

  "Yes?" I said.

  "Get down to my cabin, Raj, I need your help."

  I recognized Balizar's voice immediately.

  "Oh my way!" I said and hit the off switch.

  "You do anything?" Cassandra grumbled half asleep.

  "Then he would have said that he has a problem," I said stepping into my ship suit and pulling up the zipper. "Go back asleep; I'll see you at breakfast."

  Cassandra grumbled softly and rolled over to face away from the light.

  "Lights off," I said and stepped out of our quarters and went directly to Balizar's. Second shift was smaller, so I didn't run into anyone on the trip. I knocked and went in when the door opened.

  "What's the prob--" I started to say to Balizar, and then stopped when I saw Aruba, she was lying on the couch and had a bandage wrapped around her chest. Sharazad was tending to her, I could smell the blood.

  I swore.

  "Josu attacked Aruba," Balizar sighed.

  "How did that happen?" I asked looking at him, and then back at Aruba.

  Aruba shook her head, "We were just laying there in bed, same way as we had the last five. He seemed like he was finally starting to get used to me being there, then suddenly he just exploded an
d attacked me.

  "I pushed him out of bed, and as I was getting up, he grabbed the stylus for my tablet off of my desk and stabbed me with it. Then he ran out the door." She sighed, "I came down here, told Balizar.

  I looked at Balizar who didn't look very happy, "He's trying to hide down in the main cargo bay. I want you to go get him, and bring him back here."

  "I'm sorry I set Aruba on him, Sir," I apologized.

  "Don't be, she was actually making headway with the boy. If this had happened with Kyrani in the room, it would have been much worse."

  "Do you know where in the bay?"

  "Lowest floor, section alpha two-three."

  "Dead or alive?" I asked softly.

  "Alive, preferably." Balizar handed me a rolled bag, a small roll of tape, and some zip ties. "Try not to let anyone see you bringing him back.

  I nodded, and sticking the ties and the tape in my pockets, I left.

  It took me about fifteen minutes to get down to the main hold. There are only a half dozen ways into the hold, and I zip tied five of them shut. Then I zip tied number six behind me as I went in. The ties probably wouldn't hold that long, but I was sure they'd hold long enough. I waved to one of the cameras, I'd worked this hold enough times to know where they were, which was two at each entrance.

  Normally no one watched them, because nobody came down here and the doors all had alarms on them. I checked my pockets, to make sure there was nothing in them that would make any noise, stretched a few times, and then I slowly started working my way down to the bottom deck.

  The lighting here was very low, and only along the main walkways, ramps, and the main ladder. I looked at one of the floor designators to get my bearings, then went to the opposite side of the bay and looked for an access shaft.

  All of the floors in the bay were really just pieces of heavy-duty grating, and any or all of them could be removed to allow taller cargo when required. The crews that moved and secured the floor panels needed to be able to move between the levels easily, so they set up access ways, usually along the walls, so they could climb up and down as they worked. When I found one, I started to climb down to the bottom level, using the holes for the interlocks as handholds.

  The only hard part was the poor lighting, there were no lights set up by the section where I was climbing down, and I had to be quiet.

  When I got to the last level, I stopped and listened a moment, mouth open to quiet my own breathing, and help my hearing just that little bit more. I couldn't smell him, and we'd worked this hold only a few weeks ago when we'd been at the base, so there were still a lot of other scents around as well.

  I moved slowly, creeping up on his position. I didn't know if he'd be awake, looking out for someone to come get him, or curled up asleep somewhere. I was hoping that after all the excitement of the fight and running down here that he'd be tired, and that the darkness would have lulled him asleep.

  When I got to the section where Balizar said he was, I could smell him. Alpha twenty-three was near the main hanger door, so there were several cameras here. I moved slowly and carefully now, and circled the spot. There was no sign of him on the ground, but there were several taller pieces of cargo here, so I made a second round and looked for signs of climbing.

  After I found those, I picked a different container, with lots of things I could cling to, and climbed up it slowly. When I stuck my head over the top, there he was, inches away from me, he was asleep, but before I could climb up further he woke rather suddenly, and his eyes when wide and growling he started to get up.

  Swearing loudly, I reached up and grabbed him by the arm, and pulling hard I pushed off the side of the container, and dragged him off the top as I fell.

  He started to snarl and flail at me with all his limbs, so I just whipped my arm around and slammed him into the deck as I landed on my feet.

  Then I kicked him in the face.

  He was still flailing and snarling and growling, but he was having trouble trying to stand. I kicked him in the stomach, and grabbed his head as he folded and introduced it to the floor.

  That stunned him for a moment, so I dropped to my knees, putting one of them on his butt and pulled out one of the larger zip ties, and looped it over one of his ankles, then hauled his other leg over and got that one as well, and zipped it down tight.

  He screamed and started thrashing then, probably because his left leg was broken.

  He tried to roll onto his back, and I really couldn't stop him, so I rolled off and hopped to my feet as he attacked the zip tie, trying to free his legs. So I kicked him in the head again, and pulled out another and bulled him down hard to the floor again with my body and tried to get his arms behind him and get a tie around them.

  That proved harder than I thought it would, the kid was putting up a hell of a fight, whether because he was crazy, or because he was starting to figure out what would happen to him next. I grabbed his head and turning it to the side I slammed it into the floor, once, twice, three times, then on the fourth he started to weaken. I got the ties around his wrists then, tightened them, then put a second one on, another around his legs higher up, and linked three together to pin his arms to his body.

  I dragged him over to one of the walkway lights and sat him up against a container and checked him over. He was still breathing, but he was bleeding pretty well from the side of his head. There was a first aid kit by the cargo station that the loadmaster used during loading and unloading operations, so I took him over there, turned the station lights on, and patched him up.

  When he started to growl at me, I backhanded him across the muzzle without even looking up.

  "What is your problem, Josu?" I asked and started to look at the leg. I'd have to undo the ties if I wanted to splint it, and I sure wasn't doing that while he was conscious. Hell, for all I knew Balizar was going to psych him when I brought him back. So why waste the time?

  "They left me! They're all gone!" He yelled.

  I smacked him again. "So WHAT?" I yelled at him, getting into his face. "Yeah, they're dead, they're all dead! They killed themselves to try and save others. SO WHAT?"

  He looked shocked at that. I wondered if anyone had ever raised their voice to him.

  "They... they left me! ALONE!" He wailed. "Everyone knew why! Because they were gonna EAT THEM!! anna... anna everyone thought I would TOO!" he started to cry then. "And they wouldn't talk to me, or be my friends, they all were afraid!" He growled and looked up at me again "I WANNA GO! I WANNA GO TOO!"

  I smacked him across the face, hard.

  "Too fucking bad," I growled. "We don't always get what we want kid. But if you want to piss on their graves after what they did for you, well fine. I don't care. But just wait until you're off ship and not our responsibility anymore.

  "You don't understand! No one under--" He shut up as I grabbed his muzzle and wrapped the tape around it a couple of times, silencing him.

  "Oh, I understand, kid, we all understand. That's why we're all so pissed at you. When somebody offered us help, we took it. We didn't spit in their face or stab them." He flinched when I said that. "Now I suggest you think about what you tell Balizar when I drop you at his feet."

  I got the bag out and shook it out. It was big enough to carry him, so I put him in it and cleaned up the mess and put everything away.

  Then I slung him over my shoulder and took him back to Balizar's office.

  "Anyone see you on the way back?" Balizar asked.

  I shook my head, shift change was in two hours, so there weren't too many crew up yet. Plus I had been careful. I set the bag on the floor.

  "How is Aruba?"

  "She's fine. How is he?"

  I shook my head, "He's got a broken leg, and probably one hell of a headache."

  Balizar sighed. "You can go now. Thanks, Raj."

  "Hey, there but for the grace of a lot of people, go I. But he's right; they should have let him go as well. Leaving him alone for two years, among all that fear and suspicion,
" I shook my head, "he was just too young to cope with it."

  Balizar nodded and sighed.

  I left and went back to the room, I got another hour of sleep at least before I had to get up.

  "So what happened?" Cassandra asked me as we headed down to the mess.

  "Josu lost it," I sighed and shook my head.

  Her eyes got wide, "Did you?"

  I shook my head, "Balizar had me go get him; he was holed up in the cargo hold."

  "Did he hurt anyone?"

  "Aruba, but not too badly. I think Balizar wanted the whole thing kept quiet. Maybe he's still hoping we can save the kid."

  "You don't think so, do you?" Cassandra asked softly.

  "No, I'd be surprised if he's even still with us. I think of how close I came to his fate," I shivered, "Marcus and Mist sure saved my ass."

  "But you wanted to be saved," Cassandra said.

  "Yeah, Marcus definitely gave me something to live for, so do you!" I smiled and gave her a hug, and then stopped and gave her a kiss in the hallway.

  "What was that for?" She purred smiling.

  "Don't ever give up on me, and I promise I'll never give up on you, love," I purred back.

  "Deal," She said, and we started walking again. "I'll see what I can find out from Sharazad."

  I shook my head. "Don't. Balizar looked pretty unhappy and I suspect Shar is the same. I'd rather not rub any salt into that unless they want to tell us."

  Cassandra nodded.

  "Have you talked to her, about your issues yet?" I asked.

  She stiffened for a moment and I sighed.

  "Cassy, please."

  "It's not easy, hon."

  "No, it never is. But letting it all bottle up inside isn't good."

  "I'll try."

  "That's all I'm asking for," I smiled.

  "Until the next time."

  "If I didn't ask you for things, you wouldn't know I loved you," I teased.

  She nudged me, but didn't say anything as we entered the mess.

  When we got our food and sat, Brasile, Hess, and Aruba, joined us, which was pretty normal. No one said anything about Josu, but I doubted that Brasile or Hess knew anything, and even if they did, it wasn't a subject you talked about. Having someone get psyched was a touchy subject among leopards, so it was always kept quiet.