There was no helping it. I was going down. But I caught onto the wrist of whoever had thrown me and managed to drag them down with me. I slammed too hard to the pavement. The Sanctum Guard I’d pulled landed heavily on my hip. I drove a palm into his faceplate and scrambled to untangle myself. He lunged for my throat, but I managed to get my legs up and catch him at the hips. With his rifle pinned at his side, he wordlessly drew the sidearm from his thigh holster.
Terror rolled through me at the grim determination of my faceless attacker.
He was Sanctum Guard. And he was trying to kill me.
I dropped my leg guard, threw myself forward, and caught his gun hand before he could put a shot in my gut. He cocked back with his left fist, but I was too occupied with controlling his gun hand to do anything other than tuck my chin and raise my right shoulder.
Not enough.
The world exploded into a confusing haze of sharp pain and blurry shapes and colors. I yelled, thrashing in a disoriented frenzy. My knee made a solid connection with something soft, and the Guard growled a curse. He raised his fist again… and collapsed on top of me without warning, leaving me pinned on my back.
I groaned and tried to shove him off, sure that I needed to move my ass. Before I’d budged my attacker more than a few inches, though, the gray-haired newcomer appeared above us, looking down at me with pale, calm eyes. Something clicked as I met his gaze, and my stomach lurched. Memories flashed, hazy and unfocused.
My parents. Kublich. The gray-haired man.
He’d been there.
A flash of blinding light. A monstrous roar.
What was happening to me? Why was I only remembering this now?
Grop it. Who or what this man was didn’t matter. I needed to get out of here. I reached for the pistol my Sanctum Guard attacker had dropped, desperate for the advantage. Before I could find the sidearm, though, the stranger reached down and pulled the Guard’s limp form off me with surprising ease.
The gun clattered to the ground.
I moved without thinking, snatching it up and rolling away from the gray-haired man. I came to my feet, planted my back to the wall, and whipped the gun up in his direction, expecting to find him bearing down on me.
He was just standing there, hands held out to his sides, pale eyes calm. He was of medium height, his build somewhat slender. I wanted to think I could take him if it came to a fight, but after what I’d just seen him do…
Keeping the weapon trained on him, I shot a quick glance up the alley to where Smirks and his two guards lay motionless. At the distant mouth of the alleyway, people were clearly starting to notice.
“I’m not here to hurt you, Haldin,” the man said, his voice every bit as tranquil as his composure. I glanced back to him. He tilted his head in the direction of the gathering crowd and said, “But we need to leave. Now.”
I hefted the pistol to remind us both who was in charge. “Not the first time I’ve heard that tonight. Who are you? How do you know my name? And what the scud were you doing at my house tonight?”
“I’ll tell you everything once we’re safe,” he said, waking his palmlight with a slow, careful movement.
“Grop that.” I clenched my teeth, fighting the fear that whispered in my ear to pull the trigger and run. “Why would I possibly trust you?”
“Because I know what Kublich is,” he said.
My breath caught.
He touched his palmlight display, and I nearly pulled the trigger out of raw nerves alone.
“And because I know what he just did to your parents,” he added.
A flicker of motion above caught my attention. A skimmer descending from the rooftop. A skimmer—I realized as it drew close—that’s rear trunk hatch hung ajar.
“That was your skimmer I woke up in,” I said quietly, my mind whirling with too many disjointed pieces.
“It was,” he said, nodding and gesturing for me to get in as the dark skimmer settled down between us. “Because right now, I’m the only person on Enochia trying to keep you alive.”
The Complete Harvesters Series Page 142
