Without Hesitation by Talia Jager (english reading book .txt) 📕

head. “I’ve been trying to figure it out. The only thing I could tell was that they were on a planet.”

“So we need to take down one evil overlord and find a bunch of Splicers that have been put somewhere in the universe.” I looked out the window at the stars. “I need to contact Valinor.”

“Of course,” Ever responded. “Zia, hail them.”

“Hailing Valinor,” Zia’s voice replied.

A few seconds later, Galton, Vika and Bristow appeared on the screen. Galton scowled. “We told you the last time you contacted us, we wanted nothing to do with you.”

I stepped into view. Upon seeing me, Bristow exclaimed, “Kaci! Are you okay? How did you get there? What’s going on?”

Before I could answer his questions, Galton’s expression softened. “Empress!”

“I’m fine. How are you both? How’s Valinor?”

“We’re fine. Valinor is fine,” Bristow replied.

“You’re aboard the Nirvana?” Galton asked.

“Yes.”

“Are you safe?”

I kept my hands by my sides. “Yes, Galton—”

Anger flashed in his eyes. “Empress, these people betrayed you before. They’ll do it again.”

“They also rescued me when they didn’t have to. I trust them. I’m safe.”

His lips flattened into a thin grim line. It’d been awhile since I’d seen that expression. I was almost happy to see it.

“Very well. Can we send someone for you?”

“No. I have to do something first. Then I’ll be home. Are there any issues I need to know about?”

Vika cleared her throat. “Not anything major.”

That made me happy. Valinor was safe. “You know what Caspar wanted?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Are we in possession of it?”

“No. It was all destroyed,” Galton replied.

I wondered if he was telling the truth, but I had no reason not to trust him. “Watch out for anything odd.”

“Meaning?”

“I’m afraid Caspar will retaliate.”

Vika looked at the monitors and said, “We’ll double security. Keep our eyes on the sky.”

Once the call ended, I turned to the crew of the Nirvana. “Let’s go get the son of a bitch.”

They all laughed. “We need a plan first, Empress,” Zabe said, leading us to the table we had played cards on that day that seemed like forever ago. Nero was sitting on the table playing with dice from a game.

“You guys are serious?” Huxley’s green eyes searched ours.

Ever and I nodded. I took a deep breath and traced the tattoo on my arm. I didn’t look up as I spoke. I couldn’t. I was ashamed. “His men attacked me, starved me, and beat me with a chain. Just because I can heal doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt. Then I was starved and my head held under water until I almost passed out. He needs to die. We’ll never be safe. Never…” my voice cracked.

Finally glancing up, I noticed they all had tears in their eyes. Ever’s were dripping off of her chin. I grabbed her hand.

“Akacia, we’re sorry—”

I wasn’t sure I could handle a bunch of apologies, so I held up my free hand. “I know. I understand why. It took some time to get to this point. I don’t want to think about what I went through anymore. I want to make the plan to kill him.”

“Okay then. Let’s talk plans.”

“Is his ship his base of operations?” I asked.

“Yes. He doesn’t have a planet of his own,” Ever answered.

“So we attack his ship. Kill him and destroy all the information and research he has on Splicers and nanites. We can’t risk anyone else getting it. We can’t let him do to others what he’s done to us,” Ever said.

“What’s the best course of action?”

“We could launch a missile at the ship,” Zabe said.

Ever shook her head. “We can’t guarantee that everything would be destroyed.”

“We could go in ourselves and take him out,” Huxley suggested.

“Again that doesn’t guarantee that we destroy everything.”

“What about a bomb, planted at the core of the ship?” Briar suggested. “The probability that the whole ship explodes is higher using the bomb. To anyone investigating, it’ll look like something went wrong with the ship’s core. An accident.”

Zabe tapped the table. “I agree.”

“Zabe, can you make the bomb?” Huxley asked him.

Meeting his eyes, he gave a firm nod. “Absolutely.”

They all looked at Ever. “Do it,” she said. “How long will it take you to make it?”

“Few days. I need to see if we have everything. Might need to stop by the space station.”

“So, who is going to plant it?” Briar asked.

“Me,” I said the same time as Ever.

She huffed and rolled her eyes. “Have you ever done something like this before?”

Shaking my head, my eyes drifted to the floor. “But I want him dead. Maybe if I know he’s really gone, the nightmares will go away.”

The silence was deep. Everybody thought about what it would mean if Caspar were dead.

Zabe spoke first, “I know how you feel, Akacia. Caspar killed my brother in front of me.”

My eyes flicked up to his wet brown ones. “I didn’t know.”

“Of course, you didn’t. We all want him dead. Your…experience…has been the most recent. It’s fresh. I understand that. Ever is really good at getting in and out of places undetected. It should be her.”

Huxley ran his finger over the table. “I don’t want her going either. My first instinct is to go to protect her, but I know she is the best person for this job. If it has any chance of working, she has to be the one.”

It was late. We had been up talking about the plan until exhaustion finally hit everyone. Ever walked me back to my room.

“I’ll…uh…see you in the morning,” she stammered then walked away.

I nodded and went in the room. Why didn’t I invite her in or give her a goodnight kiss? My heart ached to be with her. I missed her when she wasn’t close to me. I missed how the air felt when she was around. I missed how my heart sped up when she looked at me. I missed feeling warm and safe. I wanted to talk to her about what we wanted, but every time I thought about it, I wondered if we defined what we were it would put an end to us.

Someone had left me a T-shirt and shorts to sleep in. After putting them on, I slipped into bed. My body relaxed against the soft mattress, fluffy pillow, and warm blanket. I lay there for a long time staring at the ceiling. This would be the first night Ever and I have been apart since she rescued me. It felt wrong.

Sighing, I turned on my side and closed my eyes.

Later that night, I woke up in a deep sweat and gasping for air. My body trembled even under the blanket. I jammed my eyes closed and fought against the panic. I tried to remember what Ever had taught me, but my brain wouldn’t cooperate.

My chest tightened and my throat burned. I pulled at the collar of my shirt. I couldn’t do this. Tears streaked down my face. Ever. I flew from my room and down the corridor only stopping when I was in front of her door. I pounded on it, hoping she was in there.

The door opened and there Ever stood with a look of concern on her face. “Kaci?” She took a step toward me and pulled me into her arms. “You’re safe.”

I shook my head, the tears building up so much I couldn’t see.

Her arms were around me, holding me close, keeping me safe. “I’ve got you.” She led me inside and to her bed almost tripping over Nero as he rushed in.