The Betwixt Book Two

By Odette C. Bell

Mini can’t come back from this. Alone, she must battle her way back to safety. But one can only be safe when all the threats are solved, and the death of her galaxy looms.
Soon, she’s thrust right into the heart of this mystery and back to the hidden world that started this all. Can she survive? One thing’s for sure – she can’t do it alone, nor does she want to.
....
The Betwixt follows a waitress and a stiff-lipped marine battling a mysterious plot to destroy the galaxy. If you love your space operas with action, heart, and a splash of romance, grab The Betwixt Book Two today and soar free with an Odette C. Bell series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Odette C. Bell
• Release date: Aug 31, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476229140

Book preview

Chapter 1

Commander Jason Cole

My lips were swollen, fat, my teeth grating against the turgid flesh every time I heaved a breath. My nose was too caked with blood to allow more than a rattling wisp of air past.

I stretched my neck to the side, trying to alleviate the pressure on my shoulders. It wasn’t easy being hung up between these two Tarians like a pig on a spit.

Marty walked in front of me, far out of reach of any lurch my numb legs could make. He watched me, eyes to the side as his head faced forward. He looked like a rookie trying to psych me out with a staged, prison-warden saunter. Except he wasn’t a rookie; I had to keep reminding myself that. He knew exactly what to make the Tarians do. He was a leader who knew where a well-placed Tarian right hook would leave my ears ringing and neck stiff from whiplash.

Still, he wasn’t going to intimidate me, not with pathetic brutality.

Don’t you see my problem, Commander? he asked, words somehow making it out of his mouth – that irritating false grin making him look more and more like a ventriloquist.

Sorry. I locked my jaw into a smile, even though it sent rippling pain stabbing through my temples. Everything looks peachy from here.

Marty stopped, brought his hands around to his front, and then didn’t appear to know what to do with them. He tried pointing at me, maybe envisioning that I may be able to withstand a Tarian beating but a good tisk tisking would send me blubbering to my knees.

He flexed them, the whites of his tendons shifting back and forth as his fingers waggled. For someone who’s in no position to be taking liberties, you sure are taking liberties, Commander. I don’t think sarcasm is the usual technique the GAM teaches us to deal with negotiations, is it?

Are we negotiating here? Sorry, I thought this was you torturing me. I was sure to keep my smile, painful as it was, firm and annoyingly visible.

Just give me the codes, just give them to me now – before I have to escalate things. Marty’s eyes darted all over the place before they settled on a point somewhere near the tip of my nose. He was looking me in the eyes without quite managing it. Maybe he’d never had to Escalate things this far, or maybe he wasn’t quite as proficient at the whole mercenary thing as he seemed. Sending a man to his death tended to be an intimate, personal moment.

Something didn’t quite scan with this guy. I couldn’t help but feel off when I was around him, which could have had something to do with his incessant need to have his guards hit me. But there was something more, something bizarre. His eye contact was there when it needed to be but then gone the next moment. He was either socially awkward, or chasing the thoughts around his mind like a rabid dog to the hare. As our journey continued, our desperate run for the Dark Rift, Marty was becoming stranger and stranger.

He caught me looking at him. Maybe my eyebrows had descended too far, my gaze becoming too keen, too searching – because he rushed right up to me, stopping a bare inch from my jaw. I – am – not – playing – games. His words were staccato, shooting out with each breath in an unsettling percussive beat. If you don’t give me the shield modulations for your cruiser, I’ll be forced to… he trailed off.

I didn’t bother with another wisecrack. I stared right into his eyes – shifting my gaze to spend equal time on each of his enlarged pupils. No.

He straightened up, shifted his tongue around his mouth – obviously trying to dislodge some annoying piece of food. Fine, we’ll do this another way.

I didn’t want to think of what other way he had in mind, but it didn’t matter. He could torture me all he liked, but I wasn’t going to give up those codes. And he couldn’t hurt her, I knew that. She was worth more to him than everything in this galaxy combined. She spelled future for him, in big, shining forty-foot letters made out of Central Credits. It wouldn’t be a future for her; it wouldn’t be an existence worth imagining. But she wasn’t in any immediate danger.

A trickle of sweat collected below my nose, running over the cut in my top lip before it mixed with the taste of metal in my mouth. I flinched at the light touch.

Marty spied the move like a hawk tracking the flicker of a mouse’s tail, far, far below. I’m a creative man when I have to be.

I didn’t answer.

What do you think will happen if your ship catches up with us, ha? Do you think it will sweep in and save the day? Or do you think, just maybe, I might not be so willing to give up my prize? You think I’m going to put so many years into this, just to see you walk off with my money, my glory, my Mi—

She doesn’t belong to you. I used all my strength to pull my head up, to face Marty like I was fit and able, strong as ever, unrestrained and ready to back up my statements where it mattered. She’s not a prize to be won. You have broken so many laws, crossed so many lines, done more to screw up this galaxy than most – but don’t you ever forget she’s not your toy. And no, I don’t think the ship will sweep in. I think they’ll hunt you down, pull you into a gunfight, rip through your shields, then take out navigation and propulsion. I made sure my lips were rounding around each word – spitting it out with sharp, definite clarity. Then they’ll board, take out the sentries, take out—

Enough. Skip through to the part where I successfully repel their efforts— Marty began.

You are one ship, one light cruiser, you’ve got twenty Tarians, at most – are you delusional?

Then skip through to the bit where I shoot my hostages, rather than have them taken alive. Marty’s expression was still as he spoke, his lips the only things barely moving.

I watched him unflinchingly. There was nothing I could say to that, nothing I could do. I thought I knew enough of the situation to guess that this was a bluff – some puff of bravado to scare me into giving him the classified GAM information. Then again, the more I stared into those shadowed, gray eyes, the more I realized Marty was trying his hardest to be unpredictable, unstable, freakish. It was either an act, or something was rotting right between his eyes.

They would have changed the modulations when I was captured, I said in a half-truthful.

But you’d still know weak points, the locations of the shield generators, the—

You think that’s going to help you? You’ll be outgunned, outmaneuvered whatever the hell you do. My eyes were starting to sting, my effort to keep them open without a single blink stretching and pulling at the skin. Face it, Marty, my cruiser is coming; the GAM is coming. You thought you’d be fast enough to leave them behind in a trail of confusion, but you weren’t. And now they’re catching up – and soon you’ll be right where you belong.

Marty grinned. I have faced that possibility, but I don’t like it. I prefer the one where you crack under torture and tell me everything I need to know. That, or we get to the Dark Rift first, and your precious little ship is ripped to shreds trying to follow us in.

I nodded, sucked in my top lip until it looked like I was thinking very hard about his words. And what happens, mercenary leader, when you come out of the Dark Rift? Don’t you think they’ll be waiting for you? Don’t you think GAM would have sent more ships to investigate? Hell, I’ve heard the Destiny Star is just a couple of systems away, and she’s our new flagship. She’s got new generation Hantari pulse disruptors. You wouldn’t stand a chance.

What I bring out of the Dark Rift, Commander, is going to change the balance of power in this galaxy. You think anything the Hantari can make is going to be better than the weapons of the most technologically advanced race to ever have lived in the Milky Way?

My expression soured; it was automatic, uncontrollable.

Oh yes, I forgot, you still don’t really believe me, do you? After all you’ve been through, you still don’t believe in the Enlighteners, the Twixts – any of it at all. Gee, that’s just going to crush poor Mini when she finds out.

I grated my teeth together, shifting my bottom jaw back and forth. The truth was, I still didn’t know what to believe. Too much had happened too fast. Too much was unreal, too much was unexpected. And I wasn’t about to trust him, trust this madman to have told me the truth. I knew how the Tarians operated; I’d dealt with their kind before. Lying, manipulation, fabrication – these weren’t exactly above them. It would be one hell of an elaborate game, but still possible.

And as for Mini? She was being pushed from one unlikely, impossible, adrenaline-filled situation to the next. She hardly had time to breathe, let alone think straight. Once we got out of here, then we could find out what was really going on. The Dark Rift, the Enlighteners, the Twixts – we could launch a proper, detailed investigation into it, find out the truth rather than stumbling along this crazy path.

So, that’s all I had to do: concentrate on getting the hell out of here, and fast. The GAM was coming, I knew that much. It wasn’t just Marty torturing me for shield modulations that told me the army was breathing down his neck. No, it was the look of charged terror in his eyes, the flicker of fear between control.

All I had to do was hold on, bide my time, look for opportunities to exploit. And I had to trust that Marty wasn’t desperate enough – far enough gone – to go through with his threat of killing us before the GAM could come to the rescue. And if trust weren’t enough, I’d just have to get in his way.

You know, Commander, Marty came in close again until I could see the pores stretched and open on his ruddy face, You have no idea what’s going to await us on the other side. It will change your world, turn it upside down and inside out. And who knows, it might just end it altogether. Marty turned and made for the exit to my cell. If you won’t give me those shield modulations directly, I will find another way of getting them. You can’t imagine what is at stake. I can. And I know just what I’m willing to sacrifice to get it.

With that, he walked out of the cell, the door swishing into place behind him.

The Tarians who’d held me still didn’t immediately move. I could tell they were thinking about what to do next. Do you still beat the captor even when the leader has appeared to give up on torturing the information out of him?

Both Tarians peeled off, but one swung around with a left hook that sank right into my jaw. I slumped forward, face a muck of pain and blood.

Damn, these sure were Tarians – to them, beatings didn’t have to be justified.

As I flinched, waiting for more, I heard the heavy footfall that singled they too were leaving. The sharp, pneumatic hiss of the door closing left me in sudden and ringing silence. I didn’t immediately pull myself to my knees and search out my injuries with swollen, stiff fingers. I lay there, eyes half open, staring at the section of floor I’d slumped over.

Things were coming to a head. Marty was clearly becoming more desperate, keen to get along with his evil plan while the GAM offered the only real obstruction. But an obstruction to what? Was he that far gone that he actually thought some out-of-date cruiser he stole from Central Docks could make it through the Dark Rift? There was a reason that place was an NGZ – it destroyed absolutely everything that went near it.

And weapons waiting for him on the other side, weapons capable of fighting inter-dimensional beings who fed on the light of life? Right. It sure would be a hell of a thing to go all the way there and find out there was nothing but massive disruptive forces that would suck the hull off his ship.

He was right – I still didn’t believe. And yeah, he was also probably right about Mini. I’d watched her face, seen her expression when Marty had apparently shown Mini her mother. I’d seen that lost look in her eyes igniting into something else. I couldn’t help but tell her I believed in the Twixts, but it was only to reinforce her when she was about to fall.

It wasn’t as if I didn’t believe, as such. I knew something was going on here. These were strange times, after all. But that strange? The galaxy was full of turns and twists – but Twixts as well? I needed more.

I kept staring at that one section of the floor. It was dark, shadowed by the bulk of my form – the dim light above barely enough to illuminate the rest of the cell, let alone make it past a shadow. I stared at the dark until I found the strength to push to my knees.

Every part of me creaked and wavered like a rotten window shutter flailing in the wind. Erggh, I moaned as I felt my jaw with prying fingers.

There was only one solace, only one bright side. She would be fine; he wouldn’t do anything to her. He wouldn’t hurt her then, not a finger, not a mark, not a hit.

I closed my eyes, grabbing a hand to the bridge of my nose in a familiar move that nevertheless saw a spike of pain descend through my forehead. I didn’t care. I couldn’t be a damn idiot for much longer. There was a catch 22 staring me right in the face here, and I wasn’t going to avoid it by lying to myself. Either Marty believed in the Twixts, and therefore really did want Mini and wouldn’t dare hurt her. Or Marty didn’t believe in the Twixts, and this was all some elaborate game played for some unknown reason. In which case, he didn’t need Mini. In which case….

Goddammit. I struck out with my fist, planting it on the immovable floor, the bones and tendons cracking and popping under the futile blow.

Chapter 2

Mini

I sat staring at the place where a window should have been. If one had been there, I would be able to see out into the depths of space as this light Tarian Cruiser raced along, desperately trying to reach the Dark Rift before the GAMs caught up with it. I would have been able to see the stars flitting past in long lines of bright color and the strikes of black between them. Instead, I only had the drab, metal wall of my quarters to comprehend.

It was funny, in a way, that Marty had put me in quarters as opposed to some dingy cell. It made sense. I was currency to him now, something precious that had to be kept safe so it could fulfill its designated duty. So what if my Designated duty was to defend the galaxy from Twixts – it was still just Central Credits to him in the end. And you don’t put your money-making-machine in the brig to get all dirty and stressed out.

Right now, more than anything else, more than having a window, more than being out of this cruiser, more than being free of this horrible destiny – I wanted to be in the brig. I wanted to see Jason, check that he was all right. It had been two weeks already, two whole weeks since I’d last seen him on the bridge. Who knows what Marty had done to him in that time? Who knows what injuries, what…?

I banged my head into my open palms then let them slip down to cover my eyes. I blocked out all the light until it was just me and the darkness. If it was dark, if I couldn’t see the walls around me, then I could imagine things were different. If I didn’t have to look out upon my wasted, ruined life – I could pretend there was nothing in existence but the dark between my eyes and hands.

I didn’t know what was going on – how close the GAM were on our tails. All I knew was Marty was desperate to get every edge over them he could. He’d even come to me, sat down on the edge of my bed, eyes all watery as he’d tried to look genuinely concerned. Is there anything you know that could help? he’d asked.

I’d been afraid he’d stretch out a hand to cover my own in some kind of warped attempt to show how serious he was. So I’d inched away from him, eyes wary.

Mini, he’d tried again, "Kid, if the GAM