"The Betrayal" Chapter 8 snippet 1

Kate looked like a bloodied demon from hell as she strode down the dim corridors of the station. After Paul had announced they had entered the computer banks, she had flown straight down without taking time to change her flight suit. Stained with the blood of the victims of the Benhem, it served as an open reminder to everyone just who, and what, they were dealing with.

The echo of her footfall sounded depressingly alone in the empty corridors as she let her mind wander. Nothing would matter to her more then the find the people who had murdered Janice Long. The people inside Fleet and outside of it, she fumed, were to be brought to justice for the crimes they had committed. If it cost her life to achieve the goal, then so be it, but they couldn’t be allowed to walk away!

So busy was Kate in her thoughts, she hardly noticed when Loving appeared at her side. She noted with a raised eyebrow, the stunned expression that Loving had. Kate could read her thoughts over the blood on her flight suit as they walked in silence.

“You said you remember everything?” Loving said, breaking the silence.

“Every damn bit of it,” Kate said as she rounded a corner. “The bast****!”

“Kate,” Loving grabbed her arm. “Wait a second!”

Whirling around to face her friend, Kate’s eyes
blazed with the anger and determination that she felt. How could anyone question what she wanted to do now? They weren’t onboard the Benham, they didn’t see what these people had done! No, she had a mission to complete now and she wasn’t going to quit until it was completed-even if it killed her!

“What should I wait for?” she demanded. “So the people who have tried to kill me, or raped my mind, can do it again?”

“I understand,” Loving said. “I really do, but we need to slow down and approach this more carefully.”

“Can’t you see?” Kate yelled, tear nearly welling up in her eyes. “Don’t you get it? We’re caught between two opposing forces diametrically opposed to each other-and they both want power. Yes, Fleet and the government are behind this-and the attempts on my life! However, Reyes mind-f***** me for the purpose of using me as his weapon to defeat his enemies! Lost in the middle of all of this is what is right for Kate? What is right for the Alliance?”