by S. E. Smith
“Roof is clear,” the other woman said.
Edge was surprised when he felt his body being turned and shoved up against the wall. The woman pressed her free hand against his chest. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he noted that she was surprisingly strong for someone so small. Her eyes flashed with a warning that made him want to smile. That astonishing fact registered in his tortured brain. He wanted to smile!
“I need you to keep your shit together for this next phase. We have to get across to the other building. We doubled the planks, but it is still too narrow for Andy or me to support you. You have a choice. You can either walk or we can try to carry you. If you screw up, it is a fifty-foot drop to the ground. It is only a matter of time before they discover you’re gone. Can you do this or not?” his goddess bit out in a soft, cold voice.
Edge gazed down at the face staring up at him. In the dim light, he saw her features better than he could before. Shoulder-length, dark-brown hair framed a face with a long nose, full lips, and fierce dark-brown eyes. Her black shirt and jacket highlighted the creamy column of her neck and the slight curve of her breasts, while her form-fitting black pants and boots showed an undeniably feminine figure.
“Why are you doing this?” he quietly asked.
The woman’s expression hardened. She slowly dropped her hand and stepped away from him. Lifting her chin, she stared at him with a look of challenge in her eyes.
“We need you. You are bigger than I remembered and there is no way Andy and I can carry your ass out of here. So, here’s the deal, if you want to get out of this dump, you need to prove it. It’s your call,” she stated in a voice laced with steel before she turned toward the door.
Edge watched the woman walk through the door. He took two steps and paused to grip the doorframe to steady himself. His gaze remained focused on her as he pushed away from the door and began to follow his Goddess.
He ignored his body’s demand that he stop and give up. Instead, he focused on the woman’s back as she walked away from him. He needed to stay with her. She was important. He needed… to help her… to protect her.
Once again, the instinctive knowledge of who she was flashed through the haze threatening to overtake his mind. The one thing a warrior craved above all. She belonged to him, his Amate. Adrenaline surged through him when the distance between them increased and he picked up speed to close the gap.
Chapter Four
As much as she wanted to, Lina resisted the urge to look back over her shoulder to see if the Trivator was following her. She could sense that his body was shutting down. As much as she would love to feel sympathetic toward him, such a feeling now wouldn’t do anything but get them captured or killed.
Too many times in the past, she had noticed the same situation among those fighting back home. Hell, she’d even felt it herself on more than one occasion. Sometimes there had been an overwhelming urge to just give up and let whatever was going to happen occur.
Lina shook her head at Andy when her friend turned to look back at her with a worried expression. If there was one thing she had learned when fighting these bastards back on Earth, it was that they didn’t give up—ever. Her hope was that somewhere deep inside the man behind her, there was a steel spine and a cast iron will to survive.
Andy slowed as she reached the low wall running around the roof of the building. The buildings on this section of the Spaceport butted up against the floor of the section above it. Stacked like the game with the wooden blocks, all it would take was to move the wrong one to make it collapse and bring the entire Spaceport crashing down.
Lina paused when she heard the echo of shouts from below. Glancing over the side, she saw several men running down the alley toward the entrance to the building, frantically issuing orders for the guards to spread out. Their attention was momentarily captured by the Waxian angrily striding down the alley five stories below. Fortunately, neither the Waxian nor his guards had looked up yet.
“Life is about to get very exciting,” she said, nodding to Andy.
Andy grimaced and looked over the ledge. “Tell me about it,” she said, turning to look back at the open door. “We need to bar the door. You get our ticket out of here across to the other building, I’ll try to delay them as best I can.”
Lina started to shake her head, but realized Andy was right. The Trivator seemed to have bonded with her and was more likely to follow her lead than Andy’s. Turning, she faced the warrior whose eyes were glued on her.
“Follow me,” she instructed as she shoved her gun into the waistband of her pants and reached out her hands.
She breathed a sigh of relief when he automatically gripped her hands. Pulling him forward, she stepped up onto the planks they had laid across the yawning gap between the buildings.
Lina slowly walked backwards. “Focus on my face,” she ordered.
Behind him, she could see Andy disappear through the doorway again. Her gaze moved back to the Trivator holding her hands in a surprisingly gentle grip. He stepped up onto the plank.
Her stomach twisted when she felt the uncontrollable trembling in his hands. Sweat glistened on his brow, and his face was very pale under his naturally dark complexion. She could see the wild expression in his eyes and knew he was fighting to maintain the fragile hold he had on his control.
“How long have they been drugging you?” she asked, moving backwards, taking one step at a time.
“I don’t… remember. It… it feels like forever,” he admitted.
Lina squeezed his hands when she saw him start to look down. “Focus on my face,” she sharply ordered before softening her tone. “How long have you been here?”
A shudder ran through him. “Too long…. I… Everything is a blur. My head…. It feels like…,” he started to say before his voice faded.
He shook his head. Lina could immediately tell that was a huge mistake when he groaned and started to sway. Fear swept through her. If he fell, he’d take them both down.
“Close your eyes,” she ordered.
He started to shake his head again, but stopped. “I can’t…,” he started to say.
Lina stopped and pulled him closer to her. She tightly squeezed his hands. Her gaze remained locked on him.
“What’s your name?” she asked in a soft voice.
He blinked. “Edge. I am called Edge,” he replied.
“Edge, I need you to trust me. Please, we are almost there. Close your eyes,” Lina insisted.
She watched indecision and confusion flash through his dazed eyes. Behind them, she saw Andy thrust a metal bar in the door panel before running across the roof. Andy paused, her concerned gaze locking on Edge. Lina jerked her head for Andy to come forward.
“We’ve got to move, Lina. What I did won’t hold them for long, and they are bound to work their way up here,” Andy warned, coming up behind Edge.
Lina felt Edge stiffen and start to turn. She gripped his hands and pulled him closer to her again. He was very close to losing it.
“Edge, honey, I need you to close your eyes and trust Andy and me. We’ve got this. We won’t let anything happen to you. I promise,” Lina said.
“You should leave me, little goddess,” he murmured, closing his eyes.
Lina saw Andy’s eyes widen and her mouth silently repeat the words ‘little goddess’ with a raised eyebrow. Rolling her eyes, Lina shook her head at her friend. They were in a critical situation. Now was not the time to go into the political correctness of words.
“Andy is going to hold you steady while I guide you across,” Lina continued.
Andy made a face at her and quickly shoved her gun into the waistband of her pants. Lina nodded grimly, and they began working their way across the plank to the other roof. It seemed to take forever before Lina felt the drop off to the roof.
Stepping down, she quietly instructed Edge to step down after her. Once they were all down, Andy took his one side and she took the other. Edge was done.
“The planks�
�,” Andy said, looking over her shoulder.
Lina shook her head, grunting under Edge’s weight. “Doesn’t matter now. We won’t be coming back here. Get him to the chute. He needs medical attention,” she huffed.
Andy nodded, looking at Edge’s pale features. “Do you think Bailey will be able to help him?” she asked, staggering under Edge’s collapsing weight.
“I sure as hell hope so or we are going to be living in the sewers for a very long time,” Lina replied.
Lina slid around behind Edge and supported his upper body, while Andy grabbed his legs and lifted them onto the lip of the chute. Slowly crab-walking forward, Lina pushed Edge’s now unconscious body as far as she could into the chute without losing her grip on him. She would have to slide down with him. There was no way she was going to risk him breaking his neck now that they had made it this far.
“Follow me as fast as you can. It won’t take them long to figure out what we did once they reach the roof,” Lina ordered, climbing into the chute and wrapping her arms around Edge.
“See you at the bottom, Lina,” Andy said, pushing on Lina’s back to give her momentum.
Lina locked her hands together around Edge’s broad chest. She could feel the bones of his ribs through the leather vest. Resting her chin on his shoulder, she used their weight and her legs to help guide them down the chute and as a way to slow them down when they reached the bottom. Less than a minute later, Mirela and Bailey were helping her lay him down and cover him up in the cart. Andy handed her a cloak. All hell was about to break loose and they were all anxious to get out of there before it did.
Chapter Five
“Clear,” Andy murmured, stepping around the corner onto the crowded street.
Lina nodded to Bailey and Mirela and they pushed the cart out into the gathering of pedestrians. They each wore the elaborate headgear of the traders who frequented the Spaceport and masks depicting an alien visitor’s face. Mechelle had created different costumes for each of them so they could move around the station with ease.
Lina merged into the crowd with several people between her and the cart.
Their small group had become experts at blending in over the past two years. They worked as a team, each scanning the crowded lane. Shouts sounded behind them and the crowd slowed as most people tried to glimpse what was causing the commotion behind them.
Lina gripped the pistol in her hand as she peered through her mask.
“Move out of the way,” a harsh voice ordered.
A patron who was standing behind Andy was shoved aside by one of the Waxian’s guards. Andy turned and stepped to the side to avoid a collision as the men swarmed the market.
Mirela and Bailey continued to push the cart at a steady pace several yards ahead of them. Lina bit back a curse when she saw the Waxian striding down the lane. People parted like the Red Sea, quickly moving to the side. Anyone who didn’t move fast enough was tossed aside or shot.
“Search every cart! Find him,” the Waxian ordered.
“Yes, sir,” one of the guards replied as he lifted his hand and signaled the others in the hunting group.
Lina’s eyes moved to Andy. Her friend had already slipped into the shadows and was working her way through the crowd and down a narrow alley.
Turning to glance down the lane, Lina’s mouth tightened when she saw that Bailey and Mirela were ordered to stop. Both women stopped and bowed their heads. Lina pushed her way through the crowd toward them.
Fear washed through her when the Waxian paused by their cart. His penetrating look ran over Mirela and Bailey before he turned his attention to their cart, and he reached out to pull off the cover on the top.
As he yanked off the cover, Lina lifted her gun. Two guards moved, effectively cutting off her view of the cart and the Waxian. Frustrated, she pushed between several patrons so she could get a clear shot. Her eyes widened when the Waxian turned back in fury.
“Find him!” the Waxian yelled.
The guards pushed past her while the Waxian turned and retraced his steps. He had only gone a few feet before he stopped and slowly swiveled in her direction. Lina hurriedly stepped into the shadowed recess of a doorway and froze. After a few seconds, the Waxian pivoted on his heel and disappeared into the crowd.
Releasing the breath she’d been holding, Lina turned back toward Bailey and Mirela who were again proceeding down the lane. Where in the hell had they hidden Edge? He should have been in the cart!
Lina quickened her step until she was even with the two women. They turned down the next lane and Gail fell into step next to her. Near the end of the lane, Mirela and Bailey abandoned the cart they’d been pushing and grabbed the handles of another cart waiting in front of a cloth vendor. Andy nodded and fell in behind them.
The small group continued, sometimes close together and other times spread apart. Two dozen turns and three levels down from where they had started, they slowed as they neared a series of grates barring access to the internal workings of the Spaceport.
The third grate from the end swiftly opened. Mirela and Bailey pushed the cart inside. Lina, Andy, and Gail turned to make sure no one had followed them, then nodded to Mechelle, and swept past her. A moment later, the grate sealed behind them.
Only after the second door had closed behind them and the lift descended deeper into the belly of the Spaceport did Lina look over at Mirela and Bailey. She couldn’t see their faces behind the masks, but she could feel their excitement. The lift slowed and opened into a dark tunnel.
Andy and Gail took the lead, Mirela, Bailey, and the cart were in the middle, and Lina was in the rear. In the year and a half that they had been in hiding on this Spaceport, they had never encountered anyone down this far. Still, there was always a chance it could happen. The engineers or whoever had designed and built the Spaceport had used the remains of a small moon that had been locked in orbit around the Waxian home planet. Lina and the others had discovered this section which had been built with surplus supplies after the Spaceport’s main construction was completed.
They all paused as Mechelle punched in the code to a large abandoned storage bay they now called home. The small door set in the larger bay door clicked and slid to the side. Gail entered first, making sure the area was clear before motioning to Andy and Mechelle.
Mechelle stepped inside while Andy stood by the door and motioned for Mirela and Bailey to push the cart through. Once they entered, Lina followed with Andy, double-checking the corridor before stepping inside and resealing the door. Only when they were safely inside their makeshift home did they relax.
Lina slipped off the hood of her cloak and removed her mask. She took a deep breath before walking over and folding down the tarp covering Edge. He was pale, sweat covered his face, and his body was violently shaking.
“Bailey,” she said, looking up at the other woman.
Bailey handed her cloak and mask to Mechelle and stepped up close to the cart. She bent over Edge, and shone a small light into his eyes, observing his dilated pupils. She looked back at Lina.
“Did he give you any indication of what they did to him?” Bailey asked.
Lina pursed her lips. “He said drugs. I imagine it was more. Can you help him?” she bit out.
Bailey frowned and raised one shoulder. “Without knowing which drug, how it affects them, and what can counteract it, the only thing we can do is hope he can make it through detox without severe withdrawals. If he has internal injuries, that is going to be even worse. I’ve only got a rudimentary understanding of the alien medicine we stole,” she explained.
Lina nodded her head in understanding. She reached out and gently touched Edge’s forehead. He was burning up. He softly groaned at her touch.
“Let’s make him as comfortable as possible. Bailey, I’d like you to examine him as best as you can,” Lina instructed.
“Of course,” Bailey said, motioning for Mirela to grab the other handle. “Let’s get him over to one of the beds.”
“He can have mine. I’ll make another one,” Lina said.
“Why don’t we just leave him in the cart?” Mirela suggested. “This way, if he dies, all we’ll have to do is wheel him up to the top level and leave him.”
Lina scowled at the other woman. “He’s not going to die!” she snapped, motioning for them to take him to the section she had created for herself. “Bailey, I’ll help you.”
It took all of them to lift Edge out of the cart and onto Lina’s bed. Fortunately, they were able to use the blanket he was lying on as a stretcher. Once he was on the bed, Bailey motioned for everyone but Lina to leave. Lina pulled the curtain closed, giving them privacy.
“What do you need me to do?” she asked Bailey.
Bailey looked up from where she was taking Edge’s vital signs. Lina patiently waited until Bailey was done. Bailey used the side of a crate to write down some numbers.
“Get some water, lukewarm is best. We need to get his fever down. I can’t tell exactly what his temperature is, but I know it is higher than is safe. If it stays high for too long, there’s a chance of brain or organ damage. I’ll check him over for any visible physical injuries,” Bailey replied.
“I’ll be right back,” Lina murmured and turned around. She pulled aside the curtain, then paused to look at Bailey. “Do you think he’ll make it?”
Bailey looked up, and her expression softened into a look of compassion. Lina shifted uncomfortably. There was a lot riding on this Trivator’s health. They all knew it. Just because she was remembering how he had looked at her, and how his voice had become an intimate growl when he called her goddess, didn’t mean she wanted him to get better more than the rest of them did.
“Let me assess him first and I’ll feel more comfortable answering that question. We know that he’s been through a lot. Still, he’s a Trivator. We know just how tough they can be,” Bailey answered.
