Every instinct was screaming at her to shoot. When Ray pressed the knife hard against Kamran's throat, she released her blaster and Donaldson took it quickly from her hands.

"Pathetic. Secure her."

Donaldson jerked her arms hard behind her back, pressing her wrists together. She turned to glare at him as he slid a plastic handcuff around her left wrist but kept her right free.

"I hope I've made those tight enough. I wouldn't want you to be comfortable,"

Donaldson said.

It was then that Haylie realized she hadn't really looked at Donaldson. He'd changed. Somehow he was able to fight Ray, or Ray's control had somehow slipped and he hadn't noticed. Or no longer cared.

"Why are you doing this?" She kept the contempt in her voice but nodded her head slightly toward Donaldson. They might have a chance to get out of this after all.

"Because I'm sick of everything Earth has forced on us. They've been controlling this colony from across the galaxy for years. No more. Ray promised that when the Ecada are finished destroying all life on this planet, they have agreed to pay an obscene amount of gold for this place. Enough that I can retire anywhere in the galaxy and never be found again."

Donaldson then pressed a cool plastic handle into her hand. It took Haylie a few seconds to recognize what she now held-a flare gun.

Ray dropped Kamran's head, letting it fall back to the ground with a thud. Kamran moaned.

"Kamran?"

She couldn't keep her voice steady. Thank G.o.d he was alive.

"Haylie?" He sounded stunned.

"Touching reunion. Bring her over here so she can be with her boyfriend one last time."

156.

Donaldson yanked her arm and managed to keep himself between her and Ray, keeping the gun from sight.

"Kamran, are you hurt?" she asked. Before things went to h.e.l.l, she had to know.

"I'm fine."

Ray moved a short distance from Kamran. "Fine until the Ecada locate you. They won't even bother to listen to your pleas for mercy, you know. They'll simply rip your bodies apart. Too bad I won't be here to watch the fun. Donaldson, when you're done there, release the clamps so we can get out of here. Our friends will be along shortly."

Kamran slowly rose to his feet, clearly in no condition to be able to help. She was going to have to move fast. But it was Donaldson who made the first move.

"I wouldn't go with you if the entire Ecada horde were on me." Donaldson sneered.

Ray spun to face him. "What?"

"If you think I'm going to get on that ship, knowing you have every intention of killing me before we even take off, you must think me a fool."

Even Haylie was surprised at the hate in Donaldson's voice.

"Of course I think you're a fool. Why else do you think I targeted this colony? You were such an easy mark, I knew I'd have no problem getting what I wanted from you."

Donaldson roared and leapt at Ray. The Briel sidestepped the attack easily and landed a punch on Donaldson's head, sending him to the ground with a crash. It was the opening Haylie needed. She pointed the flare gun at Ray's chest. It only took a heartbeat for him to recognize the danger. He lunged at Haylie but couldn't move fast enough to prevent her attack.

The mini explosion from the hydrogen cartridge echoed in the hangar. Haylie fought through the hard recoil and hit her target. She saw the b.u.t.t end of the flare was sparking from his stomach, a look of horror twisting into pain on Ray's face. He didn't speak, looking into her eyes briefly before falling to the floor. The smell of burning flesh hit her hard.

Kamran? "Are you hurt? We need to get out of here."

She reached him and they quickly hugged.

He pulled her to him. "I'm okay. Are you..."

She felt him stiffen. She pulled back to look into his eyes. She watched as they rolled back up into his head. Haylie tried to say something or at least she thought she did. But the words never left her mouth. The thoughts stopped as they were formed.

Pain sliced through her mind. Her hands flew to her head in an attempt to keep it from exploding. Screams surrounded her mind. If they were real or imagined, she was long past caring.

Right before she pa.s.sed out, she realized that they came from her.

157.

Chapter Sixteen.

Haylie woke slowly. Opening her eyes provided her with a blinding pain in her head so she quickly closed them again.

"I feel like I've been out partying all night."

"Well, you don't look much better."

At the sound of Sara's voice, Haylie braved another peek into the world.

"Thanks."

"You have a concussion, some minor internal bleeding and dust from the planet's surface stuck in your lungs. Other than that, you're the picture of health."

She felt Sara sit on the edge of the bed and then a piece of hair stuck to her cheek was moved away.

"You gave us quite a scare back there."

Haylie's brain finally kicked into full gear and she bolted upright. "Where's Kamran? The Ecada? Oww."

"Easy, hon. Take it easy or you're going to end back up in isolation."

"Sara." G.o.d, she sounded desperate.

"Kamran is fine. He's in isolation."

"What's wrong? Will he be okay?"

Haylie tried to reach out with her mind to find Kamran. There was nothing. Not the nothing she felt earlier when he was blocking her. Simply nothing. Her stomach soured.

They'd lost their connection.

Haylie watched as Sara's face scrunched for a moment before realization dawned.

"Kamran's not there as a patient. Taber was injured in the battle. Kamran's visiting."

"Will he be okay?" It then hit her where they were. "I'm a.s.suming because we are having this conversation that we won?"

Sara stood and moved behind the bed. She began to fiddle with the monitoring computer. The steady blipping noise told her everything she needed to know. She was fine. Sara didn't look as good.

"Sara?"

"We didn't exactly win, more that they stopped fighting."

Something in her tone didn't gel. Haylie sat up to get a better look at her friend.

"What do you mean?"

When Sara looked at Haylie, tears were rolling down her cheeks.

158.

"I was there, you know. All the medical staff were. We tried to patch people back together as fast as we could to throw them back into battle. They just kept coming and coming. Walked through us like we were paper in a rainstorm."

Haylie's throat tightened. She blinked back her own tears and held her arms wide.

Sara returned to the bed and embraced her.

"So many people died and there was nothing I could do to stop them. A guard tried to fight them off when they made their way toward us. One of those things ran him through with its tail."

Haylie swallowed hard, "I'm so sorry you had to see that." The words were painful.

Sara had always been sensitive. Haylie knew this would eat at her for a long time to come.

"It's okay," Sara said. She stopped for a minute before continuing. "I thought I was next. They came so close. Then, all of a sudden, everything stopped."

A mult.i.tude of explanations ran through her mind but Haylie could only figure one possibility. Somehow, Ray was controlling the Ecada the same way he'd controlled Donaldson. He was the power source that drove the horde forward. His death ended the attack.

"At first they seemed confused, like they didn't really know what to do next. It gave us the chance we needed. The soldiers were able to push them back. Killed enough of them they were forced to retreat."

"I don't think we have to worry about them again."

Haylie tried to explain what had happened in the hangar. Her memories were splintered. Whole slices of her mind seemed to be missing, as if someone else were holding the memories.

Sara sat up and dried her face with her hands. "That somehow makes sense. If Ray was tampering with Ecada telepathy, it would explain a lot of the weird behavior around here."

"Things were spilling over from his mind and into the minds of those who favored telepathy? Like Donaldson?" Haylie asked.

"We humans only use a portion of our brains-we don't know what our full capabilities are. It could be that with the Ecada's help, Ray took advantage of Donaldson by gaining access to a small part of his latent abilities."

That would mean she had this ability as well. But why hadn't she felt this sort of thing before? Haylie wanted to explore this further. One look at her friend told her Sara didn't need any more problems.

Sara was lost in thought but she began nodding her head. "It makes more sense now that I think of it. The miners who were randomly going out to the planet surface.

The fights in the lower levels. Increased incidences of violence. People were picking up Ray's hate and Donaldson's fear."

159.

Haylie forgot what she was going to say next when the door to her room opened.

Kamran's surprised expression told her he wasn't aware she had regained consciousness.

"I'm sorry. I'll come back later." His voice sounded raw.

"Not at all, Amba.s.sador. I have to do the rest of my rounds." Sara stood and smiled a little too quickly at Haylie. "You're going to be just fine. Have a good visit but then I want you to go back to sleep."

"Yes, Dr. Fergus." Haylie captured Sara's hand and gave it a hard squeeze. "You take it easy today too."

"Will do."

Kamran took a step inside the room to allow Sara's exit. It brought him face to face with the one thing he didn't want to deal with. Looking at Haylie and not knowing how she was feeling was strange. He tried to open his mind, reaching out to find some thread of her. Silence greeted him. Was she doing this?

He hesitated. "Is Sara well?"

She looked at him, a strange expression on her face. "No. But she will be, given time."

He laced his fingers behind his back. She must be mad at him for something. Maybe for blocking her earlier. But why, after all they had gone through today, would she be holding on to such petty anger?

"How's Taber?" Haylie sounded unsure of the question, as if she didn't know what else to say.

Kamran felt the same. "He's doing well. The majority of his wounds were superficial. But he'd taken a nasty blow to the side from one of the Ecada. He's recovering and should be on his feet soon." And then after another awkward pause, "I didn't know you were awake. I would have come sooner." He stopped speaking, not knowing what to say.

"It's okay. I just woke up a few minutes ago." Haylie bit her lower lip and turned away from him. "Are you still blocking me?"

Panic raced through him with amazing speed, contracting his stomach, lungs and fists as it pa.s.sed.

He tried to keep his voice steady but it didn't come out as strong as he'd hoped.

"No. I thought you were blocking me."

Kamran didn't know how he felt. He'd never asked to be bonded to Haylie. The fact that a human and Briel had been able to form any type of connection was unbelievable.