Without Hesitation - Talia Jager (the mitten read aloud txt) 📗
- Author: Talia Jager
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“You will turn over the Empress upon your arrival tomorrow. For every hour that you’re late, I will kill another one.”
Clenching my fists, I gave a hard nod and ended the call.
After a long silence, Huxley said, “It’s the only way, Ever. You know that.”
I did know and I hated it. I hated that he had control over me. I hated that it would take too long to figure out how to kill him. I hated that I had allowed these feelings for Kaci to compromise the safety of my family. I hated that even though my cousin had been murdered right before my eyes, I was still trying to figure out a way to avoid turning her over to Caspar.
As Briar rerouted the ship, I said, “I want him dead. And Briar, find out how he knows where we’re going.”
Huxley followed me to my quarters.
“What do you want?” I growled once we stood outside of my door.
He looked away.
“You want to make sure I go through with it, aren’t you?” I shoved him.
“They’ll kill our families. You know this. She’s one girl. Sacrifice her and save all the others.”
I punched him and he let me.
“It’s not fair.”
“I know.”
Huxley let me hit him over and over until the tears started flowing, and then he gathered me in his arms and held me close.
“Ever?” Briar’s voice was somber through my earpiece.
“Yeah?”
“We’re here.”
I’d spent most of the night soaking my pillow with tears, dreading the thing I had to do this morning. There was no way around it. I couldn’t think about what might happen to Akacia, couldn’t waste time. I had to hand her over now. Huxley and I stood in front of Akacia’s door and waited for her to come out.
Maybe it was the look on our faces. Maybe it was the gun in Huxley’s hand. But she knew.
“What’s going on?” Her blue eyes were no longer full of wonder and curiosity. Instead they were full of fear and panic. “Everleigh?”
My throat was dry and tears pricked my eyes. “It’s time for you to go.”
“Go where?”
I couldn’t look in her eyes. She knew.
“You don’t have to do this.”
“It’s the job. Nothing personal.” I kept my face stoic, though I was crumbling inside.
“Return me home and I’ll see you’re well taken care of,” she pleaded.
“I can’t.”
“I’ll give you three times what they’re paying you.”
“It’s not the money.”
“You said it’s the job.”
“I have to do what’s right for my people.”
“I’ll help.”
“You can’t! Akacia, you have to let it go.” I couldn’t even bring myself to call her Kaci anymore. Kaci was what friends call her. I wasn’t her friend. Friends didn’t hand over their friends to evil people.
“Let it go? This is my life. These people will kill me.”
“No. They said they just needed to talk to you.”
“You think they’re telling the truth?”
I had to believe they were. If I let myself believe that they were going to kill her, I wouldn’t be able to hand her over. And I had to. I had to because my people needed to be kept safe. “I’m sorry.” It came out in a whisper.
“You said I’d be safe. You—” Her voice broke. She looked around the room, hoping to find an ally. Her eyes came to a stop on me again. “I hate you.”
I nodded. It was what I expected, but my heart still broke into pieces.
Huxley took her weapons from her and then led her down the corridor. He had a firm grip on her, but that didn’t stop her from trying to get free. She even punched him a few times, and he took it. Just like he had taken it from me.
Standing at the airlock, Huxley asked, “Do you want one of us to walk her over?”
“No. This is something I have to do.”
I forced back tears as my throat burned and wished that Caspar would take me instead. I hated myself for what I was about to do.
Akacia wasn’t going without a fight. I didn’t blame her. She started lashing out, kicking and broke away. She took off down the corridor, but Huxley was faster. He tackled her to the ground and ordered Zabe to zip tie her wrists together. They pulled her up to her feet and turned her around. My eyes locked with hers and I saw the pure hatred she had for me. I knew I deserved it. I had promised she’d be safe and I’d get her home, but instead I betrayed her. She was right to hate me.
“I’m sorry,” I said again as I gently placed a gag in her mouth.
The glare I received would forever be etched in my mind.
I led her down the corridor to where we were docked to Caspar’s ship. The door opened. Caspar and one of his guards stood there. Akacia started to thrash again.
“Oh, a feisty one,” the guard said, as his gaze slid up and down her body.
Bile rose in my throat. I wanted to take him out.
“It’s about time, Everleigh. You’re lucky. I was trying to decide who I was going to kill next.” He looked at Akacia and then ordered, “Take her.”
The guard grabbed Akacia’s arm and led her away.
“Nobody else gets hurt,” I confirmed.
Caspar sighed. “They’re safe, for now. I’ll contact you when I have another job for you. But, Everleigh, when I do, don’t make the same mistake. If I ever find out you are double-crossing me again, I’ll kill all of your people and you.” He pushed a button and the door hissed closed.
In the privacy of my quarters, tears flooded my eyes and I cried until my body shook with sobs and my throat grew raw. No longer able to suppress the rage I felt at the situation, I kicked at the desk chair and it moved a few inches. Fury filled me and I grabbed the chair and threw it against the wall. I swiped everything off my desk in one fierce, sweeping motion. I tore apart my room and screamed at the top of my lungs. I didn’t stop until everything was destroyed.
I was a complete and utter mess. Feeling like I couldn’t breathe, I tugged at my shirt, and screamed until I got it off. It hurt. This thing I had done and couldn’t undo.
I slid down the wall and sat on the floor, tears flowing freely.
I brought my knees up to my chest and hugged them.
That was how Huxley found me hours later.
Chapter Five
Akacia
The door behind me hissed shut and with it all hope. I thought maybe it had been a ploy. That there was a plan. Or that Everleigh wouldn’t go through with it. But she had. She handed me over. Something inside me changed. My heart hardened.
Someone pushed me from behind. “Move.”
Swinging my right elbow upward, I hit the guard behind me in the gut. He pushed me up against the wall and backhanded me. I kneed him in the groin. Once he doubled over, I brought my knee to his face.
“Bitch!” he yelled and threw me against the wall slamming my head against it. Black spots exploded in my vision and my stomach churned.
“Steel! I need her to answer questions. Can you keep her conscious, please?”
“Yes, sir.”
Steel grabbed a handful of my hair and forced me down the corridor to a dark, bare room. Shackles lined the base of the walls and a few hung from the sides as well. The smell of copper and death filled my lungs. This room was where people died. I wouldn’t come out of this room alive.
They led me to a chair and pushed me down in it. The back of my head pounded and my vision was still fuzzy, but I could make out the guns in the hands of both guards.
“Empress. How nice to finally meet you face-to-face.” A man with inky, spiked hair stood in front of me. “I’m going to remove the gag. I hope you’re smart enough to know that screaming won’t help. You’re on my ship. Nobody here will help you. It’ll only give me a headache and I don’t like headaches, so I might be tempted to take that out on you. Understand?”
I didn’t answer.
He reached around and cut off the gag with a knife. “Do you know who I am?”
Well, yes, sort of, but I didn’t answer him. I would live longer if I didn’t answer his questions. Maybe I could buy enough time to formulate an escape or for Ever and her crew to rescue me. I didn’t want to believe she had just turned me over to a man who would most certainly kill me. She wasn’t that heartless…or was she?
“I’m Caspar. Do you know why you’re here?”
I kept quiet.
“I need answers.” He paced around me. “Your father was a scientist. He was experimenting with splicing DNA. Did you know that?”
My father was into cutting edge research and technology, but I knew nothing of splicing DNA. I wasn’t even sure I knew what that meant.
“Twenty-one years ago, the first splicers were born. Human with strands of animal DNA to make them faster, stronger, better. They were bred to be guards and soldiers. Nine years later, your father was murdered, and all the research vanished. I’ve been trying to recreate what your father did for a long time. I’m tired. I just want access to his work, his experiments. Give it to me and I’ll let you go.”
I had no idea what he was talking about. If he knew I didn’t know would he let me go or kill me? Did it matter? “I don’t know anything about his research.”
He was quiet for a moment as he continued to pace around me. “Maybe not. It could be that you don’t know anything or it could be that you do and don’t want to tell me or you might know something you don’t realize you know. Maybe you know of a secret hiding place. Or someone he worked with that got away?”
“I was seven.”
“Well, nevertheless, we’ll try to jog your memory.” He looked at the two men who stood behind him. One was the guy from the space station. The other was the guy who walked me in here. “Lorcan, let’s start with you.”
“Let me at her,” Steel growled, nursing his injuries.
They took turns using my face and body as a punching bag. I lost count after fourteen hits. Tears pricked my eyes, but I kept them from falling.
“Stop,” Caspar ordered. “Have you remembered anything yet, Empress?”
My teeth felt loose and my mouth was full of blood. I glared at Caspar and spat at him. I could feel my face swelling. There was nothing more I could say. They could do whatever they wanted to me, but I was just going to stay quiet. If I ended up dead, then so be it.
“Again,” he ordered and the beating resumed. And then, once again, Caspar stopped it and asked me if I remembered anything. It was an endless cycle and I tried to go somewhere in my head where the pain didn’t reach.
“Maybe some time alone will help. Let her think about things.” They tossed me to the floor. Loran snapped the metal shackles into place around my ankles. Only after giving the chain a hard tug to make sure it was secure did he cut the zip tie around my wrists. Seconds later I was alone. I curled
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