Ever Episode Two: Ever, #2

By Odette C. Bell

Genevieve is thrust together with Scott and his crew. There's no untangling them now.

As her powers continue to rise, and more dark forces come after her, Scott will have to decide where his loyalties lie – with his stalwart brother, or the mysterious woman who's fallen into his life and heart.

….

Ever follows a cryogenic woman out of her time and a transport captain fighting to save the galaxy from her power. If you love your space operas with action, heart, and a splash of romance, grab Ever Episode Two today and soar free with an Odette C. Bell series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Odette C. Bell
• Release date: Mar 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9781386092599

Book preview

1

Scott Delaney

I gripped the gun. Underneath my armor, my fingers weren’t even sweaty. The stuff was so sophisticated, you could have a significant internal injury, and it would reknit your skin in a couple of minutes. Sweat was dried instantaneously. Any physical condition – no matter how serious – would not be allowed to get in your way. Unless the armor was destroyed, that was.

And that was a distinct uncomfortable possibility. Because the soldier I was facing off against was not one of the ordinary grunts I’d attacked previously. I didn’t need to use my armor’s onboard scanners to assess what he was wearing. With one glance, I realized it was on par with my own armor – if not above.

I’d always been a man who understood statistics. If you wanted to live in this universe, you had to understand the odds that were stacked up against you. I’d survived this long because I had known when to run and when to fight. Everything I had now told me it was one of the times when I had to drop everything and bolt in the opposite direction. But I couldn’t do that with Jenny right there, her terrified gaze locked on me.

She didn’t stare at me forever, though. This great consternation passed over her. This fear, too. I wanted to tell myself it was at the prospect that she was about to get kidnapped – or strangled or shot. Maybe it was more. It didn’t last, see. She took a sigh and seemed to accept some inevitability. Then she flattened her hand on her attacker’s arm.

You have two more seconds to decide what you will do, the asshole pointed out, his voice vibrating down low. Though he’d already given me an ultimatum and I’d decided not to accept one of his shady deals, obviously he was feeling generous again. And I could see why. I’d done a good job of smashing through his buddies. Though it had been hard, I’d finally got a handle on the ship that was attacking us. I’d gone straight to the hangar bay, and I’d caught a glimpse of it. My years, not as a security officer, but as a semi-respectable bounty hunter – had quickly filled me in on what I was up against.

It was a small strike ship. They strictly had 22 crewmembers aboard. You couldn’t fit anyone else. Plus, life-support was programmed for that number and no more. It was to stop stowaways.

The ship itself was relatively sophisticated, though the assailants I’d fought weren’t. This guy, on the other hand, looked like he belonged to one of the truly powerful mob factions of the galaxy. Heck, he could even be one of the In-Betweener’s assassins, for all I knew.

But here was the rub. He had one more buddy left. I’d dealt with every other one. The guy might pretend he was in control here. He wasn’t. He needed me to surrender. Because if I chose to fight, there was still a chance I could win.

I reminded myself of that fact as I tightened my grip on my gun.

Put down your weapon. Unconditionally surrender – and like I said, maybe we’ll leave the ship and everyone on it alive. You don’t, and you’re dead.

I’ll take my chances with attacking. I’ve never liked capitulating to other people’s shady deals.

As I engaged in frivolous banter, I continually scanned the guy. I didn’t use my armor per se, just my instincts. I was waiting for an opening – anything. The slightest twitch, the smallest micro movement – if this guy lost attention, even for a fraction of a second, I would capitalize on it.

And that fraction of a second finally happened.

I should’ve been paying attention to Jenny. She twitched out of the corner of my eye. If I’d really been watching her hand, I’m sure I would have noticed that the slightest flicker of energy picked up from underneath it.

The next thing I knew, the guy twitched. It wasn’t a momentary muscular thing. It was his armor. Even sophisticated armor could have glitches. If you brought it too near some energy source, or you simply didn’t maintain it well enough, it could fail you when you needed it most.

And it failed this guy now.

I pulsed forward. With a combination of my training and the armor’s targeting sensors, I locked on to the wall just behind the guy. There was a power conduit relatively close to the surface. I fired once on it, then fell to my knees as it exploded in a cascade of sparks. I skidded along then fired just as the guy was thrown to the side, clear enough of Jenny that my blast wouldn’t accidentally catch her.

I fired one continuous powerful blast. It smashed into the guy’s chest. It didn’t and couldn’t pulverize his armor, but it was strong enough that it pinned him against the wall.

Move, I spat at Jenny.

She pushed to her feet. She didn’t run into her room. She stared at her hand for just a flickering second.

I ignored her. She went to lean down and actually touch the guy, so I shouldered her out of the way.

I reached him.

He shoved up. Whatever glitch had passed through his armor was now gone. He roared. Before I could get off another shot, he collected me around the middle and shoved me against the floor. My helmet banged into it with an echoing crunch.

He proceeded to try to rip said helmet right off my neck unit. The gun had fallen from my hands. It didn’t matter. Like I already said, this armor had cost my brother an entire year’s worth of salary. It was just as good when it came to hand-to-hand combat as it was when it came to firing at a distance. With a grunt and spittle flying off my lips only to dry instantaneously on my visor, I locked my own hands around his helmet. We were now in a struggle to see who had a better set.

My visor began to blink as several warning alarms flashed across it, detailing the excessive pressure building on its external neck joints. I ignored it. With another scream, I just squeezed with all my might. I focused my mind like it was a damn laser. One that was set to cut right through this bastard’s juicy neck.

I wasn’t paying attention to Jenny. She hadn’t headed back into her room. She was just standing there. Until she fell down to her knees. She didn’t stop crying, though. She flattened a hand on the floor plating.

I couldn’t pay attention to her for too long. Another new warning alarm flashed across my visor. It said a breach was imminent.

Damn it all to hell. So this guy had better armor than me?

My gamble was about to—

There was a crunch. It came out of nowhere. Just when I was resigned to the fact that there was no way I would win, the guy jolted, whatever glitch had occurred to his armor before happening again – but on a massive scale. He convulsed as if someone had passed a thousand volts through him.

It gave me just the time I needed. While his armor wasn’t operating at 100 percent efficiency, I squeezed with the last of my combined strength. There was a crack. His helmet failed.

Your helmet was the one part you didn’t want to fail. The neck joints were some of the weakest. They had to be – because that’s where armor tended to retract from.

You also needed to be able to move the neck and articulate it at odd angles. The point was, if you wanted to win when you were in a hand-to-hand fight with someone in a fancy set, you went for their helmet.

As the guy’s helmet cracked in my hands, I wasted no time in whipping it off.

It was to the sight of his wide-open eyes. He had blue and black skin. It was flecked with spots on his chin that traveled up to his lips. Then there were two lines of light that traveled up his nose and down the back of his skull.

My hand was rounded, ready to pound into his jaw – ready to knock him out once and for all. But at the sight of his face, my gut kicked and I stopped.

I’d been right. This guy was an assassin. A seriously high-level one. He belonged to the Falcone race. They were warriors – all of them. And to a T, they were assassins.

The guy sensed my hesitation. He had no way of killing me now. But he did have a way of killing himself. As he stared up at me through his blazing blue eyes, his head clicked to the side. I saw that muscular jolt rip down his cheeks, into his chin, then into his throat. He convulsed. His arms flopped to the side, his head following soon after.

I knelt there on top of him. It took me a while to realize it was over. I pushed up.

Jenny was still right there. She was only a meter away. Her head was pressed down, her messy hair covering her face. Her hand was still flattened on the floor plating.

I stared over at the warrior one last time. Then I turned to her. Everything that had just transpired flashed through my mind. This might have been a frantic situation, but I hadn’t forgotten the facts. This assassin had come here for her. She’d brought real heat to my ship. Yeah, I’d already concluded she was in trouble. But there was trouble – then there was a strike ship of 22 coming to find you. One with a Falcone assassin on board.

I grabbed her by the shoulder and wrenched her up. She was so shocked, she gasped in my face.

I’d been ready to kick her off my ship right then and there – or just throw her in the brig. Or hell, maybe I’d hand her over to the last assailant. But as she stared at me, I saw the genuine fear shuddering through her gaze.

I hardened my jaw. I thought of Daisy and the rest of the crew. I nodded hard toward her room. You’re gonna go in there. And when this is over, you’re going to come clean. You’re gonna tell me exactly who is after you. And you’re gonna pay for this damage. You got that? And, I said, adding this, even though my better judgment told me not to, if you’re really in trouble, I’m gonna hand you over to whoever wants you. You got that? As those frustrated words spat from my lips, I commanded my armor to open my bedroom door. Then I shoved her in. Daisy was still crumpled on the floor by the doorway. I quickly, gently picked her up and placed her on my bed. My armor scanned her. She wasn’t in a great way – she certainly wasn’t about to die anytime soon, though.

I gave Jenny one more hard look, then whirled and left. It was time to save the rest of my ship.

I should’ve paid attention to Jenny. I should’ve seen the flighty look in her eyes.

You see, when she’d come aboard, I’d already noticed something. She seemed awfully good at fleeing.

And I’d just given her one big ass reason to run.

But enough of that. It was time to destroy my enemies, save my ship, and get back to my old life.

2

Genevieve

I watched him go. My stomach – and my heart – went with him.

As soon as the door closed, I locked my hands over my eyes. I fell to my knees. I quickly jerked my hands back and stared at Daisy.

She couldn’t be in harm’s way – not at death’s door, anyway. Though I hadn’t been able to see Scott’s face, I’d known from the way he inclined his head down to her that she was fine.

I shook my head. And how can you possibly know that? I asked through such a completely constricted breath, it was like I was trying to strangle myself.

I pulled my knees