Kaldarren.Chen-Mai had to restrain himself from giving Kaldarren a swift kick in the kidneys. After Chen-Mai had blasted that panel blocking their way into the tunnel (and then that panel just slid open, who built such a stupid mechanism?),he and Mar had crept down the tunnel, half-expecting Kaldarren to ambush them at any second. What they were not prepared for was a treasure trove. Jevonite, gold, platinum, fabulous gems: The sheer amount of treasure spilling out of rock crystal chests and heaped in piles around the red stone floor was simply dazzling. There was little doubt that they were a hair’s breadth away from being rich beyond their wildest dreams. Both he and Mar had been so awestruck they hadn’t budged until they heard Jase’s frantic cries mingled with Kaldarren’s screams.
Well, the Betazoid didlook bad. He watched as Kaldarren writhed, the cords of Kaldarren’s muscles standing out along his neck. And his screams, Chen-Mai thought, they were loud enough to wake the dead.
But he didn’t understand any of this. Chen-Mai’s look took in the chamber. Pahl, slumped in his uncle’s lap. That silver mask. Chen-Mai plucked it up between two fingers and held it up in a soft silver light that washed over the chamber from somewhere high above. (Recessed light panels, Chen-Mai thought absently.) His eyes traveled over the simple contours of what was otherwise an unremarkable piece of what? Art?
“Don’t,” said Jase. He was staring at the mask, a wild expression on his face. “Don’t put it on!”
“And why would I do that?”Chen-Mai exhaled a harsh laugh, flipped the mask with a short, quick movement. (It doesn’t look that valuable, not worth bothering over, just one of Kaldarren’s useless artifacts.)The metal clattered against stone: a dull, clicking sound. “But he found something, right? Your father? How else do you explain what’s going on here?”
“Leave the boy alone.”
Chen-Mai swung his head toward Mar, who cradled Pahl in his arms. “What?”
“You heard me,” said Mar. “Pahl’s hurt, and any fool can see the Betazoid’s sick. Leave the boy alone, can’t you? We’ve got the money. Let’s get out, now.”
“But I want to know,” said Chen-Mai. He hooked a thumb at Kaldarren. “I want to know what he’s found out!”
“Well, I don’t.” Mar gave Kaldarren a long look before his golden eyes flipped up to Chen-Mai. “And you shouldn’t either, if you’ve got any brains. Look at him. You want to end up like that?”
“The boy hasn’t.”
“But Pahl has.”Mar cupped the unconscious boy’s cheek, smooth as cold wax, in one hand. “Look, there’s no portal. You see any portal? Whatever’s going on here, it’s for these telepaths, it’s stuff we don’t understand! I say we just leave, now. We take some of the jevonite back there, to show that we mean what we say, and we get out. We rendezvous with Talma, and then she can send someone back to collect the rest. We take our money and be thankful.”
“No,” said Jase, his face streaked and shiny with tears. “No, please, don’t leave us here, don’t!”
Kaldarren moaned. “No… no!”
“No what?” Chen-Mai squatted down on his haunches. “No, we don’t leave your kid? No, we don’t take the money? What? What did you find, Betazoid?”
Kaldarren’s eyelids fluttered, his eyes roving wildly from side to side. “No good,” Kaldarren managed at last. “No good.”
Those simple words seemed to cost him. He sagged back again, panting.
“No good?” Chen-Mai repeated. He reached out with one hand and gave Kaldarren a hard poke in the ribs. Kaldarren gave a short cry. “No good about what?”
“Stop!” Jase pleaded. “Stop, please!”
“Shut up.” And to Kaldarren: “No good about what? What?”
Kaldarren’s chest heaved. “No good to you,”Kaldarren managed, his breath hitching in the back of his throat. “No portal. But they’re here, they’re here.”
“They?” Chen-Mai frowned. “What, the same ghosts your kid…?”
“Get out.”Kaldarren moved his head the way a feverish man does in a delirium. “Get… out,get out before it’s too…too late…I can’t hold them, I can’t…”
“Please,” said Jase again, clutching his father’s hand. “Please, you’ve got to helphim! Take us with you, please!”
Chen-Mai stared down at Kaldarren’s flushed, sweat-soaked face for a long moment. Then his lip curled and, cursing, he pushed himself to his feet.
“I’ll help him,” said Chen-Mai, jerking his phaser free. “I’ll help him right now.”
Jase screamed. “No!”
“Wait,” cried Mar. “Chen-Mai, stop!”
“No, no!” Uncoiling, Jase launched himself at the stocky man. Chen-Mai staggered back then cut Jase a vicious blow across the face. Jase cried out, reeling back before collapsing against a wall. Blood gushed from his mouth.
“Chen-Mai!” Mar shouted, horrified. He started to his feet. “What are you doing?”
“Shut up!” Chen-Mai threw the words over his shoulder. He leveled his phaser at Jase. “They’re trouble, don’t you understand? They’re nothing but trouble!”
“But he’s a kid!”
“So what? What, you’re going to save him?”
“No,” said Mar, faltering. He turned away, ashamed. “It’s just…”
“Then shut up, Mar!” Chen-Mai flicked his phaser to kill. “If you’ve got nothing to add, then shut the hell up!”
“Please,” Jase sobbed, blood drooling from his lips, “please, don’t hurt my dad, please.”
“Look at it this way,” said Chen-Mai, leveling his phaser at Jase. “I do you first, you won’t have to watch.”
“Freeze!”The command cut through the air like a knife. “Right there! Don’t move, don’t so much as goddamn breathe!”
Mar froze. Chen-Mai flinched then whirled on his heel, weapon hand coming up for a shot.
There was a high-pitched whine, a flash of light, and the phaser blast caught his weapon hand. Shrieking, Chen-Mai spun around; his phaser clattered to the stone floor.
“I said,” Garrett readied her phaser for another blast, “don’t goddamn move.”
“Mom?” Jase tried pushing himself from the stone floor. “Mom?”
At the sound of her son’s voice, Garrett started, blinked as if she’d been struck. An instant later, the color drained from her face. Her eyes flicked over to the far wall then down to Kaldarren.
“Jase?” she whispered in disbelief. She took a step forward. “Ven?”
“Oh, Lord,” said Stern. She stood at Garret’s elbow, her own phaser out and ready. “What the hell?”
“Ven,”Garrett said again, starting forward. “Jase, what’s wrong with your father? Ven, I don’t understand, what…?”
It was the only opening Chen-Mai needed. In a blur of movement, he had swept up his phaser with his good hand and come up behind Jase, locking the boy’s neck in a stranglehold with his forearm.
“All right,” said Chen-Mai, jamming the muzzle of his phaser against Jase’s temple. “Everyone, drop your phasers. Nice and easy.”
Chapter 34
“A shuttlepod?”Servos protesting, Bat-Levi crossed to stand behind Glemoor at his station next to Castillo. “Are you sure?”
“Positive, Commander. Sensors indicate a Vulcan shuttlepod heading for the planet’s surface, and Commander Halak’s transponder signal indicates that he is on board.” Glemoor twisted his head around to look up at Bat-Levi. “Those shuttlepods are short-range vessels.”