Proxy

CHAPTER 07

MINUTES LATER JETH WAS PILOTING THE TRUCK OVER THE palace grounds to the entrance. He’d put on Danforth’s discarded uniform, swearing to himself that he would bathe in turpentine the first chance he got. Shady sat beside him in the passenger’s seat, while Lizzie, Celeste, and Flynn were in the cargo hold, standing out of sight of the door. They didn’t bother getting back into the barrels. The security measures were focused on incoming vehicles, not outgoing.

Jeth sat up straighter in his seat as he approached the gate. Half a dozen sentries lined each side. He slowed the truck, waiting to be waved through. He was, and as Jeth accelerated, he called for Lizzie.

“Make a left at that next street,” she said, sitting in the passenger’s seat after Shady vacated it.

Jeth took the turn easy, not yet adjusted to the truck’s controls. But the moment he was straight again, he pushed it hard, ignoring the posted speed limits. Lizzie sent him down several other streets, a winding path that didn’t make any sense to Jeth. He figured Danforth and his crew would be heading out of the city as soon as possible. But then again, they probably didn’t have a spaceship with a functioning stealth drive waiting. They would have to charter a flight off planet through one of only a handful of ports, hoping they could smuggle the ruby out successfully.

“Oh my,” Lizzie said.

Jeth glanced at her. “What?”

“The signal separated.”

“What does that mean?”

“That someone using that comm split off from the main group. Looks like the person is heading down an alley.”

“An alley?” Jeth frowned, trying to make sense of it.

“The first signal stopped just around the corner,” said Lizzie.

Jeth pulled back on the controls, slowing the truck. Fortunately, the street they were on was empty of other vehicles. “Let me see it.”

Lizzie held up the screen, and Jeth examined the map that showed the two red dots of the comm system they were tracking as well as the outline of the buildings and streets around them. Sure enough, one of the dots was moving down an alley, the progress too slow to be a vehicle, Jeth guessed. The other dot had come to a stop completely a short distance beyond the alley.

A hunch came to Jeth as he remembered Danforth’s silence after his taunt about Soleil handing him over to Hammer. It hadn’t been an unfounded taunt at all, and Danforth might have realized it. Or maybe Aileen and her giant of a partner had decided to eliminate him now that they had what they wanted. That was the trouble with criminals—one could always trust them to be untrustworthy.

Returning his focus to the front, Jeth piloted the truck forward, accelerating hard.

“What are you doing?” Lizzie said as they passed the street where their quarry had turned. “They’re back there.”

“I have an idea.” He made a left on the next street. “Let me know when we’ve reached the alley the second signal is heading down.” He leaned forward and switched off the truck’s autopilot override, a feature designed to take over control of the truck if it ventured too near any objects.

“Oh!” Lizzie said, catching on. A few seconds later she pointed to the left. “It’s there.”

Jeth steered the truck up onto the sidewalk. The anticollision alarms began to sound, filling the truck with a piercing wail. “Celeste, grab me a stunner,” Jeth called over his shoulder.

By the time he brought the truck to a stop, blocking the alley as well as he could, Celeste was handing one to him. “Take over,” he said, standing up.

Celeste stepped into the cab, assuming his place in the pilot’s seat as he exited the truck. Jeth primed the stunner and headed into the alley.

Within seconds he saw Danforth running his way. He looked crazed, his eyes wide and his mouth open in a silent scream.

“Stop, Danforth,” someone shouted from down the alley. “It was an accident. We aren’t going to hurt you, I swear!”

So they did try to kill him, Jeth thought. And the slimy bastard had gotten away.

Danforth slowed when he saw Jeth, stumbling over the litter-strewn alley floor. Behind Danforth, Aileen was closing in with the Luke 357 in her hand. So much for not hurting him.

“Duck,” Jeth said, raising the stunner. As Danforth did so, Jeth took aim. The stunner was small, meant for short range, but Jeth was a good shot. He exhaled, a calm spreading over him. Time seemed to stretch as he watched Aileen’s eyes register his presence and her hands raise the gun in response. It didn’t matter. Jeth was in his element. He pulled the trigger, and the stunner bolt burst out from the end of the gun in a flash of brilliant blue light.

Aileen tried to dodge it, but it struck her in the chest, and she crumpled to the ground. A thrill of triumph rose up in Jeth but died at once as Danforth barreled past him, heading toward the end of the alley. Jeth turned and followed after him, aiming the stunner at his back.

Shady stepped around the corner just as Danforth reached it and, with one vicious swipe of his arm, caught Danforth across the neck and sent him flying backward. Danforth’s head cracked against the pavement as he landed.

Jeth reached them, and together he and Shady hauled Danforth up and shoved him into the truck.

“Let’s go,” Jeth said when they were all inside.

Celeste punched the controls, and the truck launched forward. Jeth turned away from the front window and headed into the cargo hold, where they’d dumped Danforth in the aisle between the barrels. Jeth set the stunner on one of the barrels, and then he stooped over Danforth and began to search his pockets. The ruby had to be on him. Why else would Aileen have pursued him down the alley? Danforth had traded his Wellforth uniform for a footman’s long black jacket. A hard bulge in the right front pocket drew Jeth’s focus.

As Jeth pulled the ruby out, Danforth’s eyes flashed open. He reached for the ruby, trying to snatch it from Jeth’s hand. Jeth pulled back and then struck Danforth in the temple with the back of his fist. Danforth cried out and tried to roll away, but there was nowhere to go in the cramped space.

Jeth raised his hand, ready to hit him again, ready to leave him bloody and unconscious. But he held back as an inhuman howl issued from Danforth’s throat.

“Please,” he said, pushing himself into a sitting position. “Please, Jeth. Please don’t tell Hammer.” Danforth reached toward him, the gesture one of supplication instead of threat. “Please don’t tell him.”

Jeth took a step back, his stomach churning as he watched a tendril of black liquid slip from Danforth’s nose and into his mouth.

“Please, Jeth, please.” Danforth slowly got to his feet, his whole body trembling from something more than fear.

“It’s too late.” Pity and revulsion twisted inside Jeth’s chest like snakes. “He already knows.”

Danforth shrieked, the sound a piercing strike against Jeth’s eardrums. Then, with surprising speed, Danforth leaped forward, crashing into him. Jeth stumbled and went down, Danforth on top of him, his stinking, rotted breath hot on his face, choking him.

Danforth was a thing possessed, not man but force—desperation and madness made flesh. He clawed at Jeth’s face, trying to gouge out his eyes. Jeth fought back, dropping the ruby as he moved to protect his face. Danforth reared up, his mouth open and teeth bared.

He’s going to bite me, Jeth thought, horrified.

“Get him off!”

But Shady was already there, trying to grab hold of Danforth’s thrashing limbs. Danforth struck Shady in the nose with one wild punch, and Jeth heard the crack as it broke. Shady bellowed in pain and stumbled backward.

Flynn came at him next, but he stood little chance, still weakened from the stunner blow. Danforth struck him in the temple and he went down.

Jeth managed to get his hands on Danforth’s shoulder, holding him off but just barely. He was bigger than Danforth, but the fervor of Danforth’s addiction-fueled madness lent him unnatural strength. A wet heat slid down Jeth’s face, blood from where Danforth’s nails had cut him.

Danforth continued to thrash, his strength unrelenting. Jeth tilted his head back as far as he could, trying to keep it out of danger. Above and behind him, he saw Lizzie standing with the stunner gripped in her shaking hands, fear etched across her face.

“Shoot him!” Jeth screamed.

Lizzie hesitated a moment longer. Danforth’s mouth brushed Jeth’s arm as the man changed the focus of his attack.

“Shoot him!” Jeth felt teeth clench down on his forearm, and the skin, so soft and vulnerable, tore in a blaze of white heat.

“Shoot him, Liz! Shoot him!”

Jeth saw her expression harden. A second later a loud crack and a burst of blue light filled the cargo hold. Jeth felt the heat of the stunner shot warm his face, and then he slipped into darkness.