“And we want the abomination, Callum Meridian.”
“Jesus, you don’t want much, do you?” She glanced across at Callum. “You want to go with the nice priest?”
He grinned. “No, thank you.”
“You can’t have him, either.”
“We’re giving you five minutes to surrender these three to us. Give us what we ask for and we will let the rest of you go so you can spread the word that the Church is merciful.”
“Yeah, right. Like that’s going to happen. So let’s say we don’t—what then?”
“We will obliterate your ship and all your crew.”
“Including your priestess.”
“We would prefer her returned to us, but her spirit will continue, and a new priestess will be born.”
She’d forgotten that bit. Damn—she’d thought Alex would give them some protection. She switched off the comm to give herself a second to think, then turned to Rico. “Can you get us out of here?”
“Probably.”
“That’s good enough for me.” She flipped the comm back on. “Piss off,” she said and ended the call. “Right then, get us out of here.”
“And quickly would be good,” Janey added. “They’re locking their blasters on us.”
Rico sat in the pilot’s seat and flipped off the automatic systems. I suggest you all sit down and strap yourselves in. This might get a little rough.”
Tannis flung herself into the nearest seat and fastened the harness. Everyone else did the same. With the exception of Callum, they’d all experienced Rico’s evasive maneuvers before and weren’t taking any chances.
El Cazador turned slowly, shifting beneath them as the main thrusters engaged, and then they were heading straight for the other ship. Fast.
“Aren’t we supposed to be going in the opposite direction?” Callum asked.
“Nah,” Rico drawled. “They’ll just follow us. The ships are about evenly matched, and it will get long and boring and messy. Better to finish them quick. Put them out of the picture.”
“Can you do that?”
“He’s good, but he’s not as good as me. And I’m guessing he doesn’t want to die.”
“Er, neither do I,” Tannis said.
Rico flashed her a grin. “Hold on.” And he hit the blasters.
The other ship’s shields were up and most of the shots bounced off harmlessly. They countered, and El Cazador shook as the blasts took her across the bow. Tannis’s fingers tightened on the arms of her chair, but she kept her expression neutral. She wasn’t really afraid. In the past fifteen years, Rico had gotten them out of worse situations than this. She glanced sideways at Callum—he was leaning forward in his seat, his eyes gleaming with excitement. He wasn’t bored now.
“He’s holding his position. He’s got balls. I’ll give him that,” Rico murmured. “Let’s see just how big they are.” He flicked a switch, and their speed picked up, until Tannis was pressed into her seat with the force.
It looked like they were going to crash. A horrible thought occurred to her—maybe this Temperance guy was as mad as Rico.
“Come on, come on,” Rico muttered under his breath.
They were so close now. The ship filled the monitor, the black cross huge and stark on the screen. Was this it? Were they going to crash?
At the last moment, the other ship dodged sideways, but she’d left it too late, and whirled out of control.
“Ha!” Rico punched the air, then swung El Cazador around and blasted the spinning ship with shot after shot. Tannis could see that more hits were getting through the shields now. The other ship must have realized it as well because she turned and ran.
Rico took chase, harrying her with their blasters until Janey spoke urgently from her console.
“Rico, I’ve picked up an outgoing comm from them. They’ve got backup on the way.”
“Shit. I wanted to finish them off.”
“Next time.”
“Yeah.” Rico didn’t sound happy, but he fiddled with the controls, and El Cazador peeled away and headed off in the opposite direction.
Tannis drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair while she watched the ship get smaller in the monitor. “We clear?” she asked after five minutes.
“Yes, we’re clear,” Janey replied. “No one on our tail.”
Tannis scowled. She would have liked them finished off as well. “What is it about these Church types that is so fucking irritating?” She cast Callum a speculative glance. “And why do they want you? I can understand them wanting Alex and even Rico, but why you?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Have you been in contact with anyone on Trakis Five? Do you know what’s happening there?”
“No, I’ve deliberately kept shut down.”
“Well maybe you should try. I don’t like this, and I don’t like the Church. I have an unpleasant feeling they’re up to no good.”
“The Council will be able to pinpoint me if I contact them.”