To Snatch a Thief

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN



Hunter lay where he’d fallen. That single fact stopped Skye in her tracks; dropped her to her knees at his side. First King, now him. The scalding tears, the grief, they would come soon, Skye knew - if she lived that long. For now there was nothing. Nothing but a white-hot, writhing-in-her-gut hatred for the woman in that room.

‘How sickeningly sweet.’ Narelle’s lip curled. ‘Now you can die together.’

Later, Skye would remember it like a dream; a scene conjured from her own suffering mind. Hunter surged to his feet, his body already twisting as he mule-kicked the blaster from Narelle’s hand. Then, with the faintest flick of his wrist a third stunner dropped from the sleeve of his jacket into his hand. In one fluid movement, he aimed at Narelle, and fired.

‘Forrester,’ he muttered. ‘What the hell are you doing here?’

That Hunter was talking was miracle enough. The fact he wasn’t splattered all over the carpet was insane. Stupidly happy, Skye stared at the small dent in his flak jacket and managed a croak. ‘How come you’re alive?’

‘He rolled a shoulder and examined the mark. ‘Wasn’t sure how it would stand up to a RAD,’ he stated. ‘But I was willing to take the risk. Hell of a punch though.’ Limping to where Narelle was lying face down on the floor, he stood over her staring down at her crumpled form. ‘It took everything I had not to kill her,’ he said, quietly. ‘But I needed her to think she’d won. Had to get her to say it… And now I have the proof - from her own mouth.’ Letting out a long, hard breath, he turned over his collar to reveal the recorder he’d been recording every word. She and her friends will spend the rest of their miserable lives rotting in a cell on Luna I along with all the other garbage dumped there.’ Suddenly he tensed, grabbing his weapons from the table. ‘Christ, I must be more dazed than I thought. Dr Cahill - I let him take me. He’s still out there somewhere.’

‘No,’ Skye stated. ‘He’s dead.’

‘What?’

‘I met him at the stairs…. He admitted killing all those people.’ That fact had her heart singing like a fool. ‘He was going to kill me,’ she said. ‘But I got him first.’

From above came the sound of crashing masonry, sending shock waves through the bunker. Narelle stirred. Shoving Hunter’s hand away as he tried to help her to her feet, she spat full in his face. ‘You bastard, you’ll pay for this.’

‘I don’t think you’re in any position to threaten me,’ Hunter said, wiping spittle off his face with his sleeve. ‘It’s been a long wait but it’s finally over. Narelle Keating, I’m arresting you for the murder of Anya Leberdev and our unborn child… yes, she was four months pregnant when she died. Also, complicity in the murders of Shiralee, Michael and Thomas Abbott, and Sidney Moyer, to name just a few on a long list. I also arrest you for the attempted murder of a police officer, and the manufacture and distribution of an illegal substance with the intention of committing mass slaughter, and…’

‘You’ll never make that… ‘Suddenly Narelle stiffened. Pure terror flooded her eyes. ‘How long was I out? Tell me, how long?’

‘Not long enough.’ Taking a set of handcuffs from his belt, he snapped the bracelets around Navelle’s wrists. ‘A couple of minutes that’s all.’

‘Oh, my God. I-I have to get out… I set the timer… It’s on a loop. If I don’t put in a code every two minutes it switches to automatic. I can’t stop it. I have to get out now.’ Frantic, with her hands bound in front of her, she stumbled towards the door, shoving them aside in her hurry to escape. ‘I-It’s set to go off,’ she screamed. ‘The bunker’s set to blow any minute.’

They ran: along the length of the bunker, down the stone steps, and across the now empty parking area and into the mouth of the tunnel.

Even at this depth foul smelling fumes drifted down from the building burning on the surface.

‘Keep low, the air’s fresher.’ Hunter urged Skye forward, dragging a whimpering Narelle behind him. The slope steepened. Legs aching, calf muscles screaming, Skye pushed harder. There was more smoke now. She tasted it on her tongue; it stung her eyes. Ahead faint sirens wailed.

They’d reached the fork when the blast ripped through the tunnel picking them up and bowling them over like skittles. Skye felt herself flying as fireworks exploded inside her head. There was pain in her ears and she wondered if she’d busted an eardrum. She landed on her face with a thud, flinging her arms over her head as earth and stones rained down around her.

She lay where she’d fallen, assessing the damage. Gingerly she wiggled her fingers, then her toes. All working. She raised her head, spitting out grit as she stared around searching for the others. It was darker than it had been, and difficult to see anything through the pall of dust that hung in the air. One of the light squares had crashed to the floor, another swung crazily overhead. Giddy, she closed her eyes.

A horrible, high-pitched screaming snapped them open. Peering through the haze, Skye could just make out the shape of Narelle’s body lying a few feet away. She was on her back, staring at the ceiling where the massive timber support pillar pitched back and forth, rolling wildly with the vibration of aftershocks. Dear God! With her heart in her mouth, Skye watched, helpless, as it tilted to one side then, in agonising slow motion, crashed to the ground. The screaming cut off. It was the last thing Skye heard before everything went black and the tunnel collapsed around her.

‘Skye!’ Hunter’s voice thundered through the darkness.

Her head throbbed like a bitch, but it was clearing. She rolled to her knees, staggered to her feet, and found herself staring into the beam of a torch. ‘I’m here.’ Dust filled her throat. Gagging, retching, she breathed in more.

Arms wrapped around her. ‘I thought you were dead,’ Hunter breathed. ‘Oh, God, I thought you were dead.’ With his face buried in her hair, he held her tight to his chest. She clamped her own arms around his waist and tried to remember to breathe.

Outside of the torch-light everything was pitch black. By its thin beam, Skye saw they were standing on the wrong side of a huge pile of rock and soil which was blocking their way out. Giant timbers, which had been ripped from the walls, stuck through the rubble like the remains of an ancient shipwreck. Her heart kicked up a pace as she listened to the crushing silence and realisation dawned. Swallowing, she fought the rising panic that bubbled up and threatened to engulf her. They’d been buried alive.

‘Narelle?’ she mumbled into Hunter’s flak jacket, knowing her voice cracked on the word.

His hand cupped her face, turning it away from the mountain of debris. ‘She didn’t make it. Don’t think about it, now.’

It was a horrible way to die, but Skye couldn’t feel sympathy for the woman who’d killed so callously. She was glad she was dead. Glad Dr Cahill was dead. Glad she’d been the one to end him. What did that say about her? She shivered in the dark.

‘Sir, can you feel it?’

‘What?’

‘The nothing: the silence; the blackness. It’s like it’s alive. Like it’s waiting out there, watching us. Like it’s creeping in.’

He must have felt her tremble because he began stroking her cheek. ‘Shh, it’s okay,’ he murmured. ‘Everything’s going to be okay. They’ll find us, I promise. They won’t stop looking until they do. Here, hold still.’ Keeping one arm around her, Hunter reached over to position the torch on a lump of concrete at her shoulder, illuminating his face and a small area beyond. ‘Is that better?’

The edges of darkness drew back a little. ‘Everyone comes home, regardless, right?’

‘Always.’ He pressed a kiss to her temple, the curve of her cheek. ‘It’s alright, I’m here. I’ll look after you.’ His was such a human response, she thought, merely a natural reaction of the strong protecting the weak; nothing more. He was giving the sort of comfort she gave Alexie when he was scared.

His cheek rested on hers, his hand stroking her hair. Love swamped her. She had only to turn her head….

King’s kiss had been hot, but it paled in comparison to Hunter’s solar flare. She was on fire the second their lips touched, the minute his fingers fisted in her hair. Hard, demanding with, what felt like, desperation. Everything went molten inside as his hands pressed her to him, as she felt his heart drumming against hers through their clothes. She sank into the kiss, felt it deepen; her breath caught when he whispered her name.

They were both breathless when they finally pulled apart. Holding her at arm’s length, he looked stunned; appalled. ‘That did not happen.’

She lifted a brow. ‘I think you’ll find it did, sir. Kiss me again.’ Angling forward, she closed her eyes.

‘Skye. Listen to me.’ He gave her shoulders a shake. ‘Open your eyes and listen to me.’ When she reluctantly obliged he dropped his hands. ‘This is wrong. I never intended to let anything like that happen. I’m so sorry.’

‘You’re apologising for kissing me?’

‘Of course I am. Skye, apart from the huge age gap between us, I’m your commanding officer. It’s unethical, to put it mildly. I have a duty of care and I just crossed a line.’

She almost laughed. ‘I’ve just survived one of the worse nights of my life; we’re covered in dirt; trapped underground with a dead body and a torch that’s not going to last much longer, right? And you’re worried about protocol? Are you saying you didn’t mean it?’ She held very still in case this lovely dream shattered. And it must be a dream, she thought, because Hunter had held her in his arms. She could still taste his mouth on her lips.

His eyebrows formed a sharp V as he frowned, ran a hand over his hair. ‘Yes. No. Christ.’ To Skye’s way of thinking he was giving a great impression of a drowning man going down for the third time. ‘It was the spur of the moment,’ he blustered. ‘Relief we were still both alive.’ As she took a step forward he took one back. ‘Don’t.’

‘I don’t believe you,’ she challenged. ‘Look me in the eye and say what happened just now wasn’t real. I love you. I don’t know when it happened, I didn’t want to love anyone, I still don’t, but it’s sort of crept up on me. You’re moody and crabby and impossible at times, but I don’t care anymore. I know you don’t love me back, but you do feel something. I know you do.’

Scrubbing his hands over his face, he blew out a sigh. His shoulders slumped in defeat. Sinking onto a pile of masonry, he sat down, resting his forearms on his thighs, studied his hands. ‘I do care – too much. More than care. I didn’t realise it was happening until it was too late,’ he sighed. ‘In the beginning you amused me; I liked having you around. You were like an irritating itch I didn’t want to scratch.’ He gave a rueful smile. ‘You made me feel alive, and I haven’t for a very long time.’

He held her gaze for a moment longer, then shook his head. ‘Until you’ve finished your training, our relationship remains strictly non-personal. If you still feel the same way when you graduate from the Academy we’ll see where this takes us.

As the sound of muffled voices calling reached them, he leapt to his feet. A pin-prick of light, high up near the roof, shone through, what must be, a tiny gap in the wreckage. Hunter cupped his hands to his mouth. ‘Hey! We’re in here, behind the rock fall.’

‘But that’s like two years away. I’ll be…twenty…old.

He dropped her hands, nodded. ‘Exactly and I’ll be thirty three - almost in the grave.’

The light withdrew. ‘Lieutenant! Can you hear me? Are you okay in there?’

‘We’re fine, Sergeant, no injuries. Forrester’s with me. But we have two deceased personnel – Narelle Keating and Dr Cahill. What’s the position outside, any casualties?’

Skye held her breath. King - what if he hadn’t made it? She didn’t think she could bear it if he’d died.

‘Captain Yao and a civilian terminated; two uniforms and a couple of civilians in ICU. Otherwise, a couple of minors from our side, three fatalities from there’s. Building’s a mess. Um, this wreckage’s going to take some time to clear. They’re bringing in the equipment. We’ll be as quick as we can.’

A civilian terminated. Skye’s heart dropped. She had a horrible feeling about this. ‘Sir.’ She tugged at Hunter’s arm. ‘Ask him if…’

‘Did you stop the shipments? Any slip through?’

‘Some, but we’re chasing them up. Public Health’s all over it. Spooks are here too. They’re rounding up the rest of the organisation, and we’re fending off reporters ten deep.

We’re going to have our work cut out keeping the lid on this one.’

She’d thought she’d go mad if she didn’t find out in the next microsecond. ‘Sir!’

‘Do what you can, Sergeant. See you in a while.’

‘Wait! Sergeant Newman, wait! Did King make it?’ The words hung in the air. Beside her, Hunter’s eyes widened. She closed her own and braced for bad news.

‘He’s in ICU. Last I heard he’s holding. He’s unconscious but the medics were pulling him through.

Something loosened inside her. The breath she’d been holding whooshed out of lungs in one huge surge of relief. Alive. At least he was alive. He was young, strong. He’d make it. He had to, so she could give the stupid idiot hell for saving her life.

‘So, are you going to tell me?’ Hunter was staring at her. ‘And there are a few other things that need explaining – like what you were doing in my house tonight?’ His eyebrow lifted in warning.

‘Ah. Long story. Probably best left for some other time.’

‘Hmm.’

They sat down to wait.

‘So why are you going to Australia?’

‘Jesus!’ To Hunter’s credit, he didn’t roll his eyes. ‘You test my patience, Skye, you really do. If you must know I have an Orb Industries shareholders meeting in Sydney next Thursday. I’ll only be away overnight. Now, if there’s nothing else you’re going to spring on me, you’d better try and get some rest.’

It was cold and she was exhausted and reaction was beginning to set in; her knees wouldn’t stop shaking. ‘Will you visit me in the academy?’ She had to clench her jaw to stop her teeth chattering.

She felt Hunter sigh, then shift to move closer. ‘Come here.’ He put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her to him, and rubbed his hands up and down her arms to warm her.

‘No… Maybe.’ When she looked up his mouth turned up. ‘Probably. Just to remind myself how peaceful life is without you around.’

‘You’ll be a general by the time I finish and I’ll never catch you up. You’ll always find an excuse for leaving me behind.’

‘Skye.’ He ran a finger down her cheek sending shivers of a very different kind through her body. ‘I’m not looking for a reason. I’m thinking of what’s best for you.’

‘Fine, if that’s the way you want to play it.’ She smiled quietly to herself. He may think that was the way it would be, but she’d tasted the heat in his kiss; saw the way he looked at her even now. She made a silent promise: She’d work harder than any cadet had ever worked before; she’d graduate with honours; become indispensable to him and the unit. She’d put up with Dawson’s bitching. Whatever it took, she’d do it in spades. She’d been a damn good thief but she’d be a better snatcher. And in the end she’d snatch the biggest prize of all. Lieutenant Stephen Hunter wasn’t going to know what hit him.

The End