Sheba, loping at her side, sniffed the air. “Dragon stink.”
“What do you mean?” Fianna had left the Dragons stranded on Azura.
“Smell like Dragon.”
Maybe Sheba meant the odor of unwashed bodies, the stench of the slums.
The stranger’s footprints stepped into place outside the door, then around an obstacle, then no more. Fianna observed an ambulance unloading a new patient and recognized the pattern. The stranger had loaded a floating gurney into a vehicle... Acielon?
She tapped her badge. “Security HQ? Agent Fianna Grosvenor. Show me the recordings from the hospital, corridor and entrance B, in the last hour.”
“Aye, aye. I’m sending it to your software.”
“Thanks.” Fianna tapped her temple to watch the accelerated playback of both cameras side by side. Acielon was asleep on the bench. She slowed the speed when she spotted a medic leading an empty gurney entering the hospital, then the medic in gray coat loaded an unconscious Acielon upon it. Fianna’s blood turned to ice. Acielon! Why didn’t he resist?
As the medic returned the floating gurney to the vehicle, his loose stride swaggered slightly. He had a shaved skull, and the tips of red tattoos peeked out of his gray collar.
“Triblets! That’s a Blood Eagle. They are at war with the Dragons.” What did the bloody outlaws want with Acielon?
Fianna took a slow, calming breath. “Is there a tracer on that ambulance?”
“Negative. Someone must have removed it.”
Of course they would. Triblets! “Can you follow it through the overhead cams?”
“Only for a short while.”
Fianna watched the feed through her eye implant. The ambulance entered the tunnel to the lower levels, then nothing but static.
“That’s all we’ve got.” The officer sighed. “As you go deeper, our security feeds are regularly vandalized.”
“I know.” The gangs saw to it that no one witnessed their illegal activities. “It doesn’t matter. I can guess where they took Acielon.”
“That was your alien friend?” Curiosity in the voice, no true concern.
“Yes. And I’m going after him.” She would make the bastards pay. “Could you send backup to the Blood Eagles’ Nest?”
“Your friend is not a citizen, hence not entitled to protection.”
Fianna couldn’t believe they would stand by and do nothing when Acielon was in dire need of help. “Would you mind asking around for volunteers? I’m sure you can find a handful of greenhorns eager to beat some gang meat to pulp.”
“I may be able to find a few hot heads among the new recruits.” The officer chuckled. “Security HQ out.”
Hot shame burned Fianna’s cheeks. She’d brought Acielon to this wicked place, and because of it, he had fallen into great peril. But she would find him. If the Blood Eagles touched one feather of his majestic wings, they would pay with their lives.
Fianna hailed a driverless cab. “Come on, Sheba. We have to rescue Acielon.”
The floating cab stopped. Fianna climbed into the front seat, and Sheba settled in the back, changing her pelt to black.
“To the slums,” Fianna ordered the cab computer.
“Sorry, we do not service that area of the station. It is unsafe for visitors.”
“Never mind.” Fianna waived her badge in front of the dashboard scanner. “Set up manual drive.”
“Manual drive engaged. Good day, Officer Grosvenor.”
Fianna grabbed the control stick and the open cab flew toward the dark tunnels leading to the lower levels.
* * *
Fianna knew the slums only too well. The stink of poor hygiene, the puddles of chemical waste and putrefaction... no cleaning robots ever ventured in the slums... and if they did they never returned. No one bothered to clean the bare metal streets.
Most of the residences consisted of recycled leaky containers, too damaged to hold any cargo. Some still wore the red and black paint warnings of radioactive contents.
The blind steel walls, formed by the casing of old habitats, showed holes and rusted bolts. Perfect killing boxes for the gangs who ruled the deeper levels.
Weary pedestrians stepped back into recesses and ogled her cab with greed as she floated by. Even her badge wouldn’t protect her here. Assaulting an officer was punishable by death, but not if she disappeared without a trace and her body was never found.
She remembered a time when this was home. She used to find comfort in the dismal surroundings. It felt safe then. She belonged here. No more. The people who once protected her as family now looked upon her as prey.
She spotted the stolen ambulance in front of the Eagles’ Nest. Why would they hide it? Here, they owned everyone and everything.
She’d guessed right. Acielon must be here. “Sheba, do you feel Acielon, now?”
“Sheba feel... Acielon hurt, Acielon tired.”
Triblets! Fianna drove past the structure and hid the cab in a recess out of sight. She stepped out of the cab. Sheba leapt down, her claws scratching the bare metal floor.
Fianna couldn’t wait for backup. She checked her weapons. All blades in their hidden sheaths. Shield. Hand grenades. She pulled out her hip blaster. The LED display showed green. Full charge. She set it on kill. The hell with being kind. Acielon was in danger.
She turned on her eye software to scan the Eagles’ Nest for life signs. How many louts inside? Where did they hold Acielon? But she couldn’t scan through the heavy metal walls. The Blood Eagles were well prepared. She tried the instruments at her belt but only detected static. Triblets! The Blood Eagles had their own scramblers.
She turned to Sheba. “How is Acielon?”
The puma emitted a quiet sneeze. “Acielon hurt... need help.”
“Tell him we are coming to save him.”
Sheba blinked her agreement.
Fianna could feel eyes upon her. The pedestrians had vanished from the street. Still she could sense the Blood Eagles watching her from their lair. They would not attack her in the open. According to their favorite tactics, they would wait for her to walk in.
She’d only seen the inside of the Eagles’ Nest once as a child. Only one small, unassuming door at the narrow end of the container, and separate compartments inside... but no back exit. Whatever threat came in never made it out alive.
They would likely keep Acielon toward the back to prevent escape. Maybe she could open a hole in the back with a laser cutter. It would signal her presence, but knowing the Blood Eagles, they were already watching her. She hoped to act fast enough so they wouldn’t move Acielon.
“Let’s go.” She ambled around the windowless metal walls.
Sheba loped at her side, changing color to match the gray metal and the orange paint and green rust of the surroundings.
Once at the back of the enormous container, she used the laser cutter at her belt and applied it to the metal. It sparked but the metal did not melt. Triblets! The metal resisted. It was reinforced with some laser-resistant material. The Blood Eagles were so confident of their superiority as warriors, they truly did not need a back door exit. Even explosives would not make a dent in this material.
Huffing her frustration, Fianna marched around toward the hidden front door at the opposite end of the rectangular container. From there, she would have to fight all the way in and all the way back.
She wished she’d taught Acielon to defend himself as a simple man. If they both came out alive, she would correct this oversight.
As she expected, the front door wasn’t locked. They wanted to lure her in. Fianna glanced at Sheba. “Muffle your ears.”
The cat snorted.
Fianna gently pushed the metal door open, threw a grenade inside then stepped back and covered her ears.
The explosion rattled inside the container but no cry, no alarm, no bloody or coughing human tried to escape. It only affected the first compartment. The Blood Eagles were ensconced deeper, behind layers of thick metal. Bu
t the grenade would have triggered or dismantled the first booby traps.
“Now!” Fianna kicked the door and walked through the thick smoke, aiming the powerful light of her blaster in a circular pattern. “All clear.” Four more compartments to go. She would have to clear each one before reaching Acielon, but she didn’t want to endanger him by using grenades farther in... just in case they held him in their midst.
Sheba took point. The second door was locked. Fianna blasted the lock. The door opened upon darkness and blades flew in her direction. Fianna stepped aside. Sheba leapt to shield her. Several blades bounced harmlessly off the cat’s reinforced hide and clattered on the metal floor.
Fianna turned off her blaster light and crouched in the dark. Using her night vision software, she located her assailants and fired short blasts in quick succession. Men fell. Someone screamed. No sign of Acielon.
A shaved Eagle with crazy eyes and red wing tattoos on his chest shouted a war cry and charged. Sheba pounced upon the man and ripped open his throat, strangling his cry. He collapsed in a heap. Five more attackers jumped out from behind metal screens brandishing blasters.
Sheba pounced again.
Fianna stood up and pushed a key on her arm brace, activating her personal shield. A cumbersome device to be sure, but quite useful when entering a scorpion nest alone. The device buzzed, forming a clear eggshell of protection around her. Good. The explosion had destroyed the scramblers. She might as well use her fancy equipment.
How many more Eagles hid in this lair? Her software couldn’t see through the layers of metal. She turned to Sheba. “Do you feel Acielon?”
Sheba snorted. “Acielon hurt... need help.”
“Is he alone?”
Sheba shook her head. “Acielon not alone.”
Triblets! Blaster shots fizzled on Fianna’s shield. A small fire ignited in a corner, momentarily blinding her night vision.
Triple triblets! She would have to push faster. Where was her backup? She peppered the room with short blasts, letting Sheba finish off the fallen Eagles. When she reached the next door, she blasted the lock again. Three more rooms to go.
* * *
Barely reaching Acielon’s consciousness, the clatter of blades, pounding of heavy objects, and blaster shots resounded through the metal walls of his cell. He heard Sheba earlier. Fianna was close... he could feel her presence... but she might as well be a galaxy away.
The life force slowly ebbed from his body. The pain had lessened to a raw burning sensation all over his exposed flesh. Strips of skin hung from his chest and arms. The deeper cuts ran with blood. He did not want Fianna to see him in this pitiable state.
As he closed his mind to the sound of fighting, he felt a presence... not human. A hot, spicy smell surrounded him. Eerie discordance reached his ears. Someone or something was in the room with him.
He slitted his eyes to see what had invaded his prison and shuddered. A great angel, taller than an Archon, hovered in mid air. But instead of the silver robe, this one wore black and flapped great black wings.
This angel had not come to help.
“Are you the great Archon of death come to take me?” Acielon barely whispered. He’d often wondered about death. Now he would find out.
The black angel’s orange eyes flared like flames. “I am the Prince of Darkness, and you belong to me.”
Chapter Sixteen
Fianna heard the thumping and the weapons fire of the security team sweeping through the rooms at her back, looking for survivors. About time! There would be no quarter. Engaging a law enforcement officer meant instant death on Byzantium-5. No trial required.
Blaster at the ready, she approached the metal door to the last compartment. Were there more Blood Eagles in the room with Acielon? Sheba said he wasn’t alone. Time to find out. Unwilling to harm Acielon with blaster fire or an explosion, she picked up a discarded axe and smashed the lock. Then she kicked the door open and aimed her blaster at... an empty room.
Fianna’s throat clenched at the smell of barbecue and the familiar stench of blood. Sheba sniffed the air with interest. Around an empty metal chair, string bindings lay loose in small puddles of blood. On a bench near the wall, Acielon’s sky blue jacket and white shirt... his soft boots.
“He was here!” She scanned the metal walls with her software, looking for a secret door or an escape hatch. There was none. Nor was there any trap door in the floor. Where could he have gone? Something inside her chest broke.
By the frozen hells of Laxxar, what had they done with him? Fianna picked up his shirt and brought it to her face. She closed her eyes at the faint scent of cinnamon, bringing up sweet memories of intimate moments. But Acielon was nowhere in sight.
All the tension from the fight left Fianna’s body. She collapsed upon a bench. “How could he be gone? There is no other way out.”
She turned to Sheba and offered the shirt to sniff. “Can you find him? Is he still near, big girl?”
The cat sniffed the shirt then rubbed a furry head against Fianna’s shoulder. “Sheba not feel... Acielon far away.”
“How can this be?” Fianna petted the big cat’s head. It helped her sort through her confusion.
Something on the floor fluttered under the breeze from the fan. Fianna picked it up and inspected it. A long, fluffy feather, definitely from an angel wing, but black as deep space. Not Acielon’s.
Fianna smelled it and flinched at the strange smell. Something about the feather bothered her. She shuddered. “This can’t be good.”
“All the scramblers are off!” an officer shouted in the adjacent room. “We have contact with HQ.”
Fianna stood up and activated her internal link with Security HQ. “Acielon has vanished, but he was here. Do you have any recording of him leaving the slums in the last half hour?”
“Sorry, Officer Grosvenor. Nothing, human, vehicular or otherwise left the lower slums since you and the backup team entered that level.”
Fianna frowned, unable to process that information. “Nothing at all?”
“We had a team blocking the exits. No one in, no one out.”
“Thanks for your help.” Fianna didn’t know where to go from here.
“I’m sorry, but knowing this particular gang, your friend is most likely dead, quartered, and his pieces rotting at the bottom of a garbage chute.”
“Acielon cannot be dead!” Fianna severed the communication. She refused to consider that scenario. Besides, there was no garbage chute in this particular room.
She tucked the black feather in her belt and marched into the adjacent compartment, where officers in black tactical gear gathered the few survivors. “Don’t kill them yet!”
She approached a Blood Eagle crumpled on the floor and kicked his burned and bleeding knee. The man winced from the kick but showed no fear in his eyes, only hatred. Sheba hissed at the man, baring her deadly fangs.
Fianna crouched next to the Eagle and seized his bloody jaw, forcing him to look into her eyes. “Tell me the truth about your prisoner’s whereabouts and I might let you live.”
The man grimaced and spat on the dirty metal floor, barely missing her hand. “He’s in the back room. A tough one. Thor couldn’t make him talk.”
Fianna shook her head. “The back room is empty.”
“It can’t be.” The surprise widening the man’s eyes looked genuine. “I locked the door myself and the foreigner was still inside. He was bound and in bad shape... passed out on his chair after Thor gave up on him. No way he could have escaped.”
“Then where is he?” But Fianna already understood her worse fears had come true. If an angel had taken Acielon, it could only be an Archon, since only they could leave their planets. And when Fianna and Acielon escaped, the Chief Archon told them Acielon would face a death sentence and a public execution on Azura.
“What should we do with this vermin?” The officer had his blaster pointed at the Eagle’s head.
“He told the truth. Let him live.
” Fianna always kept her word. “Do what you want with the others... but make sure the one named Thor suffers, if he’s not dead yet.”
The officer nodded and turned to his team. “Kill them all, except this one! Which one is Thor?”
Blaster shots echoed throughout the metallic structure. Someone screamed, probably Thor, but Fianna didn’t feel any better. She marched toward the exit. “Come on, Sheba. We have to go.”
Sheba snorted and followed her. “Find Acielon?”
“Yes.” Fianna’s anger roiled in her chest. She had no idea how she could fight the powerful Archons all by herself, but she would not abandon Acielon in his hour of need.
She drove the ambulance out of the cursed slums she swore she would never enter again. The teams at the checkpoints waved her through. Then she headed for the docking bay where the Silver Angel awaited.
Back aboard her ship, she welcomed the fresh air from clean scrubbers, took a deep breath, and went to the command console. “Computer, prepare for departure.”
“Aye, aye, captain.”
She could feel the crystal on her chest warm her like a cocoon. Acielon said it would protect her... but he was the one needing protection.
Sheba settled for a nap on a large gel-covered box.
Fianna flipped the switch to space control. “Officer Grosvenor requesting authorization to leave Byzantium-5."
The jolly face of the port manager appeared on a side monitor. “I’m sorry to hear about your friend, Officer Grosvenor. This place was never kind to foreigners. What is your destination this time?”
“I’m in between jobs and I need to forget and relax before I take another one. I’m thinking of swimming in the turquoise pools of Calderona.”
“Never been there, but I hear it’s beautiful and warm, and a lot of fun. May the Guardian Angels of the universe protect you on your journey!”
Fianna forced a chuckle. “I doubt they will, but thanks.”
Angel Mine Page 18
