In Enemy Territory - Shannon West Page 0,28
to see how angry Larz’s mate Janos was. In fact, both of them looked furious, and when Janos happened to notice several of the inmates undergoing body cavity searches, he became unglued. He stormed across the yard and began beating the guards with his little fists. The guards knew it would mean forfeiting their lives if they retaliated or even defended themselves, so they hunched their shoulders and just took it.
Rasc knew that Janos had once been a Tygerian prisoner himself and had been traumatized by his truly terrible treatment in the POW camps. It was one reason Janos had vowed never to set foot on Tygerian soil again, and Larz had no choice but to stay on Laltana if he wanted Janos in his life.
Larz lost no time in coming over to rescue the guards and take his mate in hand, though he berated the guards himself and told them to immediately stop the searches. He also put an end to the fight going on in the yard, and he did it very simply, by pulling out a large disruptor and firing it in the air three times. He then leveled it at Colonel Kroman’s head and said, very calmly, “End this right now or the next one goes directly into your brain, if I can find it.”
After that, things settled down very quickly.
The governor left Colonel Bonnett in charge and disappeared back into the palace with Colonel Kroman and several of his men in tow. Rasc, who had taken himself a seat on the ground, struggled painfully to his feet and began limping slowly back toward the cells. Someone had stomped his foot during the fight. He was maybe halfway there when Bonnett saw him.
“Centarlo, stop right there!”
He came rushing across the yard and stood staring at him, his brow creased. “What happened to you?” he asked, his voice tight with anger.
“Well, the Colonel decided to do a shakedown and…”
“Yes, yes, I know about that. Why are you limping? And what happened to your face?”
Rasc touched his nose, which felt a little tender, and his hand came away bloody. “My foot got stomped on, and I think my nose must have bled when I got punched again. They’re going to mess around and break it!”
“It may already be broken. Come with me to the infirmary.”
“It’s not broken, uh, sir. It just bleeds like this sometimes.”
“Nevertheless, I want the doctors to look at that. Come with me.”
Rasc sighed but followed him into the palace’s lower levels. Some of the doctors had already been roused and were treating a few patients. One of them came forward as they walked in and took Rasc’s arm to lead him to an examining room. He made a tsking sound with his lips and felt around his nose for a few minutes before getting some antiseptic to clean the cuts around it, along with the ones on his face. The bleeding had stopped, so there wasn’t much else to do except clean him up. The entire time, Kylon Bonnett leaned against a wall and watched, a huge frown marring his beautiful face.
After a while, the doctor went over to speak to Bonnett, then left the room. Bonnett straightened and walked over to Rasc.
“Well, he says you’ll live. Your foot is bruised, and your nose isn’t broken.”
“Like I said.”
“What I’d like to know is, what were you thinking, starting up a huge riot that way?”
“Me? Oh, you think I started it?”
“According to the guards, you did, yes.”
“Then they’re liars. Kroman and his goons came in beating their little sticks on the bars and cracking heads. Told us all to get out in the yard so they could search, but then the ones at the door made the mistake of thinking they could crack my head too. So I, uh, decided to show them they couldn’t. Things kind of escalated from there.”
“I see. And yet you still claim not to have started it.”
“I didn’t! But I wasn’t about to let that-that…”
“Goon, I believe, is what you called him.”
“Yeah, that goon of Kroman’s hit me with his stick!”
He nodded, taking a step closer. “And are you feeling better now?”
“I’m okay.”
He stood looking down at him for another moment and then shook his head. “Then let’s get back to your cell.”
Rasc slid off the table and began walking toward the door. He was very aware of the colonel following close behind him, and he was also aware of the slight breeze in the by-now somewhat calmer courtyard as