Read Slave Empire III - The Shrike for Free Online Page B

give me back.”
    Probably. Once
you’ve been returned, he’ll have no reason to continue his attacks,
and they hope to have the information by then.
    She shook her
head, dismayed. “This is crazy. They’d risk so much to catch one
man?”
    A man they
think trades in hundreds of thousands of slaves, and runs the
greatest outlaw empire ever founded. They consider him a danger to
them and their allies.
    “Why? He’s
never attacked any of their allies, has he?”
    Not all of
their allies are as law-abiding as they pretend to be. There have
been a few incidents when the Shrike has destroyed drug-running
ships that belonged to Atlan’s allies.
    Rayne sat on
the bed as her legs shook. The information she had demanded from
Tarke could doom him and millions of innocents as well. It seemed
likely the Atlanteans would succeed. Tarke’s fleet was several
hours from any Atlantean planets.
    Rayne had no
faith in her weak mental shields. A powerful telepath would rifle
through her memories at will. The door opened to admit three
white-suited Atlanteans with grim, impassive faces.
    “Shadowen,
destroy this facility, before it’s too late. Do it now.”
    I cannot obey
that order.
    She kicked
herself mentally. Of course he would not do it. “Tell the cruisers
to do it, then. Hurry.”
    The telepath’s
scrubbed, sterile psyche probed her mind. She threw up useless
shields and buried Tarke’s image in a jumble of childhood memories,
mixing it with the faces of all the men she had ever seen. The ploy
was almost successful, but she knew she could unravel it, and
therefore so could the telepath, given time. She sensed his pity
and scorn. He disliked empaths, and considered them inferior.
    Rayne agreed
with him, but there was an important difference in their abilities.
A telepath’s intrusion was blatant. His subject knew of his
invasion and could guard against it, while an empath went unnoticed
unless he gave himself away by reacting to what he sensed.
Telepaths could be dangerous, while empaths were supposed to be
harmless. Rayne knew what it was to harm another with empathy,
however. The Envoy’s pleasure, used against him, had helped to
destroy him, because he had also been an empath. He and the ship
had been vastly more powerful than the most skilled person, even
than the Shyanese, yet she had survived the battle of their minds,
albeit not entirely intact.
    The telepath
shot her a false smile and went over to the machines as the other
two men approached her. One of them, a distinguished-looking man
with black and white hair, smiled at her with genuine pity.
    “Hello my dear.
I’m Endrin. Would you lie down and make yourself comfortable? This
won’t take long, and it won’t hurt a bit.”
    She shook her
head. “I won’t co-operate. I want to speak to Tallyn, or better
still, Vargon. This is an outrage. Do you know who I am?”
    “Of course we
do. But you’re also the Shrike’s wife, and that tends to dilute
your religious importance to the Atlantean people. You should have
stayed away from him. Now you’re considered tainted goods.”
    “I see.” She
lifted her chin. “I’ve ordered my escort to destroy this facility,
so I’d advise you to leave now. I’ll die before I reveal my
husband’s identity. Don’t doubt me. He saved me on the Crystal
Ship, so this will even the score.”
    The elderly
doctor radiated concern. “My dear, we mean you no harm. Only the
Shrike can order your escort to kill you. He will, of course, to
save himself, as he has murdered many others. Allow us to carry out
this small procedure before that happens, and you’ll be safe. We
have no wish to put your life in danger. The Shrike is a mass
murderer and slaver. He’s not worthy of your loyalty.”
    Endrin was
genuine, she sensed, and committed to the cause of capturing the
Shrike. He believed what he had just told her, which made him
convincing. Her faith in her husband was unshakeable, however, and
she was not afraid to die to protect