Dance by the Light of the Moon Read Online Free

Cade
nodded toward the console beside him. "All I ask is that you allow me to
take your transport pod and be on my way."
    The
officer smirked, half-turning to his partner. "Disarm him. I'll cover
you."
    Hesitating
a moment, the second officer approached Cade and gripped his weapon with both
hands extended out in front of him.
    Eyan
should have warned him.
    Blood
gushed in a thick spray. The man screamed, staring at his wrists, severed clean
through flesh and bone. His gun and both of his hands lay on the floor.
    The
officer at the door cursed and fired his sidearm, sending a barrage of pulse
rounds at Cade. But as Eyan had seen before, he was far too fast, whipping his
blade side to side now, deflecting every round that came his way and sending
them into the walls and ceiling to spark and fizzle into black burns.
    Cade
watched the bleeding man drop to his knees and pass out. Then he turned his
gaze to the officer hastily reloading his weapon. Cursing and sweating, the man
fumbled with his pulse rounds, glancing at Cade's white robe—now covered in a
wild blood spatter pattern.
    "Kill
him!" the UW official shrilled.
    Eyan
drew her prod and came up beside the security officer. Without a word, she
jammed the prongs into his abdominal wall. Jerking and barking gibberish, he
collapsed to the floor.
    "Don't
come in here." She stared down the UW official who hugged his slate to his
chest like it was a small shield and remained rooted on his side of the
airlock.
    "I
will not hurt you." Cade sheathed his sword and beckoned to the man.
"You will want to see this."
    Turning
his back on both Eyan and the official, Cade activated the wallscreen.
Instantly, monochrome video footage appeared showing two naked figures in a
narrow shower stall.
    "What
is this?" Eyan demanded. The prod sizzled in her grip.
    "The
truth," Cade said.
    Frowning
pensively, the UW official came to the doorway but proceeded no farther, his
eyes riveted to the screen as Cade swiped the display and broke the footage
into quadrants, each showing a different scene, taken from what was obviously
surveillance footage. The young Xavier appeared in each frame—showering,
writhing in bed, arguing, but never alone. Eyan was right there with him.
    "What
have you done?" She nearly choked.
    "It
took some work to assemble everything from the crew's eyecams, but now the sum
is greater than its parts. Your relationship was a secret to no one aboard
Futuro 2."
    The
screen showed Eyan coming upon Xavier and Rojas kissing, and in a single move,
Eyan had whipped out her prod and jammed it against the woman's throat.
    "This
never happened—none of it's real. I don't know how you've manage to fabricate
this footage—"
    "Of
course you would not remember any of it." Cade's tone remained even.
"It occurred during your fourth lifetime."
    "You
said it was suicide, that Xavier—" She frowned at that. Of course he would
have lied to her.
    "I
will leave this evidence for you." Cade drew his sword slowly and beckoned
again to the UW official. "Please. I must be on my way now."
    Glancing
from Cade to Eyan with uncertainty, the man stepped lightly over the unconscious
bodies of his security personnel and hung back against the wall, clutching his
slate.
    "Are
you armed?" Cade strode to the airlock.
    The
man shook his head quickly.
    "You
may want to borrow that." With the tip of his blade, Cade pointed out the
gun on the floor with the two severed hands attached. "I am leaving you
here with a killer, after all."
    The
man blinked and stooped to retrieve the weapon with a look of horrified
disgust.
    "You
have no proof." Eyan pointed at the screen as it ran the looped footage.
"There's nothing here that shows I killed Xavier!"
    Cade
lingered at the airlock. "In this world, all that is required is a
reasonable doubt." He shrugged slightly. "But I would not worry. Your
time here is about to end."
    With
that, he stepped outside and shut the door. The airlock sealed itself
automatically, and it wasn't