Chapter 52: Chapter 52: Heroics

CARTER

Tommy’s neck veins bulged as he pointed the gun at Carter. “You shit! You’re wired?”

As at least some of the shock wore off, Carter focused. “I didn’t call him!”

“You did!”

“You think I have the fucking FBI on speed dial? He asked for me, not you!”

Tommy blinked rapidly, then, somehow, he actually bought it. “What the fuck did you do to piss off the FBI?”

“They don’t know anything,” Carter assured him quietly. “I’m going to send him away, and you need to let me do that. I don’t need this. You don’t need this.”

“Fuck.” Tommy visibly ground his teeth. “Fuck, fuck fuck!”

The idiot was actually panicking now. Carter couldn’t let him freak out and start shooting. Hands still raised, he took just one step. Tommy’s gun snapped to cover him, and Carter wondered if his life was going to flash before his eyes.

It didn’t.

The pounded sounded again. “Carter Reed! I need to speak to you!”

Carter stared Tommy down. “You need to let me answer that.”

“So you can rat me out?”

“So I get him gone.” Carter glared. “Just stand by the wall! You can see me and the door and both of us if he walks in. Point that gun at me from there and let me handle this shit. After he’s gone, we’ll do the plan just like we said.”

Once again, Holloway—the Tharon bounty hunter—pounded on the door. “Carter Reed! If you do not answer in one minute, I will have no choice but to open this door by force!”

“Fine!” Tommy hissed. “But I’m wasting you both if you try anything!” He backed up against the wall and pointed his gun at Carter.

That was one problem solved. Carter could open the door now. He still had to keep Agent Holloway from coming in, and get the Tharon to leave without trying to touch him and scan his mind, and not get shot by Tommy, but... at least he could get started.

He walked to the door, hooked the chain into the slot, and unlocked the deadbolt. He opened the door just enough to peek outside, making sure the chain pulled taut. “Agent Holloway?” He tried to make himself sound confused. “Why are you here?”

Outside, Holloway looked the same as he always did when mindmasking. Big dude, dark skin, big suit, and those stupid-looking sunglasses. He couldn’t actually read Carter’s thoughts by looking at him, but he could if they touched. And if he came inside, Tommy would shoot them both.

“Why did you not answer your door?” Holloway asked.

Carter scowled. “Because it’s eight in the fucking morning. Some of us sleep.”

“I see.” Holloway rested his clasped hands in front of his waist and watched him. “I apologize for the early hour. We’ve had some new developments in the case I spoke to you about weeks ago. I need to ask you a few more questions about that night.”

“This about the chick you say murdered someone?” Carter needed to get rid of this alien right now. “What’s that got to do with me? I never saw anyone that night.”

He was all too aware of Tommy glaring at him from the shadows by the wall, keeping that gun pointed directly at his head. He couldn’t get the door open and dive out with the chain in, and he couldn’t take the chain out and risk Holloway trying to get inside. He just had to convince Holloway to leave and then get outside so...

He barely held back his gasp. If Holloway was here, Allison was already watching. She and Larika had been watching for just this... for a Tharon to approach. Their plan had been to wait for the Tharon to leave and only intervene if the hunters attempted to take Carter away.

Still, this didn’t help him. Neither Allison or Larika could see into this apartment, and they also couldn’t descend without tripping Holloway’s mental Tharon hunting sense or... whatever it was. Nothing had changed. This had just gotten more complicated.

Time to escalate. “Do you have a warrant?” Carter asked.

Holloway frowned. “I did not believe I would need one.”

“Look, it’s not like I don’t want to help out the FBI, but I’ve got a shift today and I’ve got a ton of shit to get done before it starts. You want to ask me questions? Fine. I get off my shift at Subway at 6pm. You know where that is. Meet me there.”

Holloway considered him. “You really cannot talk right now?”

“No, I really can’t. I still need to get a shower.”

“And you wish me to meet you at your place of business this evening?”

“Yes.” Carter sighed. “All right? You know where I work and you know where I live, so if I don’t show up, and you can come back with a warrant and a goon squad.”

“We are not a good squad.” Holloway almost sounded offended.

“Okay. But that’s how it needs to be today, all right? I really need to get to work.”

Holloway sighed. “I wish I could believe that, Carter Reed.” He raised one hand. “But you are not alone in there. I need to see who you are with.”

“What?” Carter had forgotten Tharons could sense the presence of nearby humans.

“I must verify your story for myself.” Holloway pushed on the door and smoothly snapped the chain. Carter had just one instant to realize how badly he was fucked now.

Holloway was coming inside. Tommy was going to shoot them. The rest of the Tharons and the police would all come rushing out here to find out what the fuck had happened, and Allison would get captured, too, since she’d never fly away when she had a chance to save him.

Even so, the moment Holloway tried to come through the door Carter tackled him.

But not before the gun went off.

 

***

 

ALLISON

When the massive bang rang inside Venus, Allison feared for a moment that something had exploded in their apartment. Then, as her mind pushed through the haze of adrenaline filling her body, she realized it was not just a bang. It was a gunshot.

Someone had just fired a gun inside Carter’s apartment.

Venus dropped like a rock, and Larika mentally cursed as Allison took full control of the ship. Even so, her twin sister didn’t stop her. They both knew that they had to get to Carter immediately and deal with Holloway and... deal with whoever had just tried to shoot them.

Once the ship was backed up above the parking lot, Allison rushed for the exit with Larika on her heels. Both clad in their black spacesuits and holding their suppressors, they leapt out the back of the invisible ship to land on the second-story walkway outside Carter’s apartment. Allison almost dropped her mental defenses when she realized what waited ahead.

The door to their apartment was open. In that doorway knelt Agent Holloway, the Tharon bounty hunter, with his hands pressed to Carter’s side. Carter was there too, lying in the doorway. Not moving. With blood pumping out of him.

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The moment Larika aimed her suppressor, Allison mentally ordered her to stop. They saw that Holloway was doing all he could to stop Carter’s bleeding. As she rushed over and literally tore a seal of flesh off her own hand, she dropped at Carter’s other side.

“Let me,” she ordered.

“The bullet entered below his right armpit,” Holloway said calmly. “It also passed through his lung. I cannot see deeper.”

The Tharon raised Carter’s arm and supported his body without visible effort. While they was far too much blood to make out where the bullet had gone in, Allison simply ripped Carter’s shirt off. She then slapped a patch of her own flesh down his side.

Stop the bleeding. She had to stop the external bleeding. Once Carter was out of blood he would die, and while he might still die, stopping the bleeding was the first step. There was already so much blood, his blood, spreading across the concrete. It touched her knees.

Holloway spoke quietly. “He saved my life.”

From who? The gun? Allison spotted another figure out of the corner of her gaze—Tommy, now with blond hair—collapsed in their apartment, with a gun resting in his hand. It was obvious he had collapsed the moment Holloway unleashed his mind blast. Like her, the Tharon had done so too late to save Carter. Like her, he had also tried to do so.

“His dive, into me, is the only reason that criminal did not shoot me,” Holloway continued softly. “Before Carter passed out, I touched his mind. He intended to save me.”

“Fucking heroic asshole!” Larika glared. “So who’s the shit with the gun?”

“Thomas Vale, a known felon with prior convictions for assault and possession with intent to distribute.” Holloway scowled at the unconscious man. “He will not wake up any time soon. However, several neighbors have already called 911. We need to get Carter inside.”

“Why?” Larika demanded. “Why aren’t you blasting us?”

Allison wanted to demand something from someone. She wanted to ask something, do something, but all she could do was stare as the man she loved took shallow breaths and tried to live. She could not lose him like this. She refused to lose him like this.

The only way to save him was the hospital, and if she took him there...

“Carter Reed just saved my life.” Holloway rose. “I owe him a debt. When the police arrive, I will speak to them as Agent Holloway and present Thomas Vale, a fugitive I came here to arrest. They need not enter this apartment or interrogate anyone.”

“And why the fuck would you do that?” Larika demanded.

Holloway glanced at her and hissed. “This human just saved my life, syren. You know what that means for us.”

“Larika,” Allison whispered. “He’s telling the truth.”

She spoke aloud only for Holloway’s benefit. They remained in the middle of a fierce mental debate, but Allison settled it with one last reminder that she needed Carter to live. They had to make a deal with this Tharon. They had to save Carter first.

Larika bared her teeth. “Fine. Inside. But I’ll zap you the moment you get out of line, cobra boy.”

“That’s unnecessary,” Holloway said mildly. “I have already given you my word, and my goal now is to save the sapient who was willing to give his life for mine.”

Allison needed no help to carry Carter back into his apartment. She held him close and cradled his unconscious body as Holloway followed her inside. Larika followed them, pointing her suppressor at the Tharon’s back. Once Larika slammed and locked the door again, there was still the blood to deal with. How would they deal with all the blood?

“I do not believe Carter will survive much longer without your aid,” Holloway said. “Why have you not healed him?”

“I can’t!” Allison shouted. “I wouldn’t do that to him! He has a family here!”

“So you did not already heal his wounds after Thomas Vale stabbed him?” Holloway sounded surprised. “Then how—”

“I patched him,” Allison whispered. “I did not heal him. He is still fully human.”

“I see.” Holloway took a moment. “Then it seems you have a choice to make. Regardless, my debt to Carter Reed remains. As you are his partner, that debt extends to you.”

“Why are you even talking to us? Larika demanded.

“This is my plan.” Holloway’s tongue briefly flicked out from his lips. “When the police arrive, I will mindmask and dismiss them. I will also ensure they take Thomas Vale into custody. He will go to prison for attempted murder, of me.”

Larika frowned. “I suppose shooting at a federal agent might raise a few eyebrows.”

“Then, after the police are gone, I will open my mind to you.”

“To us?” Allison looked at him. “You would open your mind to us?”

“I cannot allow Carter to come to harm,” Holloway said. “As I see it, bringing news of you and your sister to my pod would harm Carter, since he is your partner. However, I also cannot pretend I didn’t see you. My pod will know. Moreover, I will break other oaths.”

“So you willingly offer us access to your mind,” Larika said. “You’d really let us change your memories so you’ll have no recollection we were here?”

“I will consent to such alteration,” Holloway agreed. “My oaths and debts now conflict, but my debt to Carter trumps all. Once I have saved you from the police, I will allow you to alter my memories of this encounter. I will not have to hide you from my pod if I don’t remember I saw you. Instead, I will remember interviewing Carter Reed. I will verify he is not involved.”

“Okay,” Larika said. “If you’re willing to let us do all that to your mind, you actually might not be a total asshole. Who knew?”

Holloway looked at Allison. “You have my offer, and my word. Are these sufficient?”

Tharon bounty hunters did not give their word easily. They also didn’t betray debts. Their honor and altruism was well known among interstellar species, and moreover, Holloway had already lowered his mental barriers. That was a gesture of immense trust.

He was not deceiving them. Larika confirmed it with her own scan. Holloway had given them a way out, and she now had a choice to make. Betray Carter... or lose him forever.

As the sound of sirens became audible in the distance, Holloway straightened. “Whether you heal Carter or rush him to the hospital is your decision. I leave him in your hands. If you decide to take him to the hospital, your sister can handle wiping my mind.”

“Right,” Larika said. “Your call, sis.”

Allison couldn’t decide this for Carter. She couldn’t commit him to exile from his own planet, and she also couldn’t simply drop him at the hospital to get arrested. This had to be his choice, but he was passed out from blood loss and they had but minutes to choose.

She dropped at Carter’s side and pressed her palm to his forehead. She had no choice but to dive directly into his mind. They had not practiced this and he would not be ready, but there was no other way they could communicate. No other way they could know.

No other way she could tell him how much she loved him before she sent him away.

“The police have just arrived,” Holloway said.

Larika waved with her suppressor. “Go take care of them. I’ve got this.”

“After you change my memories, I will not remember Carter Reed saved my life. But please, tell him I appreciated his effort. Tell him I honored him.”

Holloway effortlessly picked up Tommy’s unconscious body and thumped it over his shoulder. He also took the gun. He stepped outside to greet the police coming to investigate the gunfire and left Allison alone with the partner she loved.

And as Larika kept watch, Allison opened her mind to say goodbye.

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