Blink: Phantom (Book 3)

27

Amber felt numb.

Murderer.

At first she couldn't speak. All she could do was stare in utter horror at the corpse of Theodore Logan, the head a pulpy mess of bone and brain matter, his body still twitching spasmodically. She clapped a hand over her mouth, feeling bile rising in her throat. A stunned silence hung over the group and for a long moment no-one spoke.

Eventually she hauled her eyes away from the body and looked at Darien. She did not like what she saw. His face remained twisted by a feral rage she'd never seen before, Compac hanging loosely in one hand. He swept his cold gaze over the others, watching, waiting for anyone to challenge him.

"Darien..." Amber breathed, shaking her head. "What did you do?"

"What I had to."

"That was murder," Hekket said shakily. "We were supposed to bring him back; put him on trial!"

"Are you telling me that because you think I don't know?" A hollow smile crossed Darien's face. "Or did you just not see what I saw? This place – those dead kids – it's all his fault. He would have strung us up in those cages too given half a chance. He was never going to change."

Amber stepped towards him, feeling her anger rising. "Maybe not, but who the hell made you judge, jury and executioner?"

Before she could get any closer, however, a hand shot out and grabbed the collar of her armour. An instant later Niamh stepped to bar the path between her and Darien, shoving her back and holding her at arm's length.

"Back off," she said, her voice low and hard.

Amber glared at the other girl and wrenched herself free, leaving them staring eye to eye. Niamh was as an intimidating individual, but right here, after what she'd just witnessed, Amber didn't feel like backing down. She stood there, holding the iron gaze of the squad's second officer for several seconds before she felt a hand curl gently around her arm. Jaw tight, she looked to see Hekket, his face filled with conflicting emotions.

He tugged her back, fixing his eyes on Niamh. "Let's not do this here."

"Bastard got what was coming to him," she spat back. "Save your pity for the people that deserve it – for the people he murdered."

Amber had to fight to keep her anger from spilling out, and she felt Hekket's grip on her arm tighten. Then Darien stepped forward, pulling her attention away from Niamh. He walked slowly, Compac hanging from its strap across his chest and his hands resting on it. When he met her gaze his expression remained hard, but the rage was gone. Without breaking eye contact he gave Niamh a gentle nudge with his elbow. The other girl shot him a dark look and then turned away. Amber watched her walk across the room, unable to voice her fury. In one instant of madness everything the thought Blink was supposed to be had been thrown out the window.

In the ensuing silence Idas cleared his throat, drawing all eyes to him. The burly teenager looked left and right, then let out a heavy sigh. "Let's go get Farrier out of that cage," he said quietly. "Then we can fire up the beacon and get the hell off this hulk."

"We're not using the beacon yet."

"Huh?"

Darien shook his head. "We're not leaving anything behind."

Uther looked uncertain. "But...Smith ordered us to."

"Don't you get it?" Darien exclaimed, rounding on the lanky operative. "Logan was right! The minute Smith and the Colonial Government get their claws into this ship none of this will go away. They'll try again. They'll see what Logan managed to do here and they will try to recreate it."