“Take it easy, Blake,” Raven said gently. “Axel is okay. We just need to get him out of here.”
Blake nodded shakily, finally finding the key he needed. He stuck it in the lock and opened the gate, reaching in and gently pulling his companion out. He staggered slightly under the weight, but held his unconscious friend like he would a large child. “We gotta go,” he said, voice strained.
She nodded once and led the way back out of the room. Pausing at the door, she made sure the way was clear. The woman was still unconscious, so Raven just stepped over her and began down the hallway.
She tried to hurry, but she didn’t want her concern for the pair behind her to make her rush headlong into danger. And she was almost as tense about striking the balance as she was about finding more guards or problems.
They reached the end of the corridor and Raven held up her hand, slowly moving her head around the edge of the doorway to look down the stairs—
A bullet flew past her, just barely missing her head. She worried she’d lost a few eyebrow hairs even, as she threw herself back into the corridor. “Back!” she hissed, backing up a few steps because she knew they’d be coming in shortly.
Two short, stocky men in general work jumpsuits came around the corner. One of them had a gun that looked like the one from the mugger while the other had a long knife. It didn’t take a genius to figure out which one was the immediate threat, so she aimed her own alien weapon—or native, depending on your perspective—and pulled the trigger.
Click.
Empty or jammed.
“I got held up with a useless weapon!” she snapped, almost angrier about that than anything.
The other man was aiming his gun.
She threw herself against the wall, registering that Blake had done the same. Raven pulled her own weapon, took a chance, and fired.
13
“That…was just dumb…stupid luck…” Blake panted as he collapsed on the rocky soil in front of Silvanus, Axel an unconscious pile of wolf on top of him.
“Dumb and stupid are the same word,” Raven shot back, collapsing on her back beside him where he’d fallen on his stomach. “You’re being redundant.” Her whole body felt like it was about to fall apart and become one with the rocks.
“Oh, shut up, woman,” Blake groaned.
She chuckled hoarsely.
The good news was that the air had not lit on fire when she’d taken a shot at that guy, and that she’d hit him, and that the other guard had run… The bad news was that they had then run, and run, and run…until they reached the ship. Now, they both felt like they were about to die. If she felt this bad, she could only imagine how bad Blake felt.
After a few moments of deep breaths, she pushed herself up onto her knees. Her legs were burning, but she ignored it as she put her arms under Axel and pulled him off Blake. Of course, the wolf seemed to weigh almost as much as she did and she couldn’t dead lift that in her current condition, so what really happened was she switched positions with Blake and was the one with the limp canine on her chest.
“Oh, geez, Rave,” Blake said, pushing himself up as soon as Axel was off—or, at least, starting to. The process took longer than usual.
Between the two of them, they were able to get Axel and them both off the ground and all up into Silvanus. They laid the wolf on the floor in front of the couch and Kyra, who normally seemed at odds with Axel, padded over and gently bumped her head against his before laying down beside him.
Raven didn’t comment about it. She knew the cat’s response would not be nice.
It took her a moment to realize that Blake was sitting in the middle of the floor behind her. She turned and knelt beside him, taking off his filter-mask and then hers and tossing them aside. She took his face in her hands and looked over his various injuries. Once mentally inventoried, she found the ship’s first aid kit and began taking care of him.
“Well, this is familiar,” he said with a weary smile.
“You never could manage to avoid a hit,” she teased with a faint smile of her own as she worked.
“At least this time, I have a good excuse. I was kind of tied to a chair.”
She winced sympathetically at just the image, hating to even think of it. Okay, perhaps in the days (or longer) immediately after their separation and divorce, she had thought of doing the same thing to him…but this was different.
“Okay, so, tell me about all of this mess,” she said, gently cleaning dried blood away from the worst of his facial cuts. “What do you remember?”
“It’s pretty foggy,” he admitted, wincing. “They hit me with something, and then when I got disconnected from Nyx… You can imagine how it goes. It makes you feel like you might be losing your mind.”
She could imagine. In fact, she pretty much had lost her mind not too long ago when she’d been cut off from Silvanus.
“I’ve been able to access Axel’s vital signs from his neural chip,” Silvanus chimed in quietly, as if afraid of being rude. For an AI, she was very polite. “I can’t access anything else, but I can tell you that he’s stable. He should wake up on his own within the hour and I don’t believe will suffer long-term effects. Perhaps some short-term ones.”
“Thank you, Silvanus,” Raven said sincerely.
“Thank you,” Blake echoed. Even though Raven had his head tilted up so she could clean and treat his face, his dark eyes drifted over to his sleeping wolf.
“So…back to what you remember,” she prodded gently.
Blake sighed heavily and closed his eyes. “The guy who questioned me was familiar, although I didn’t figure out who he was at first. I mean, it was pretty distracting to be hit repeatedly and all.”
Raven put some sealant over one cut before moving to the next. “Did you figure out who he was?” she asked, trying to focus on what was relevant rather than her emotional reactions.
“He works for Halliwell.”
That brought her up short and she froze, sealant tube hovering in place over his eyebrow as she looked down at him. “Someone from Halliwell?”
He sighed again. “Yes, although I don’t know his name. He was one of those guys you interact with sometimes, but not that much. At least, I didn’t. You may have.” Pausing, he opened his eyes and peered up at her. “He’s human. A little taller than you. Dark hair but balding, and he apparently doesn’t care. Hasn’t gotten the hair treatments to get it back. Dark eyes. Little eyes. Made me think of a rat.”
Raven had to think about that one. While she did, she forced herself to get back to treating his injuries. She had met a lot of people during her time working for Halliwell.
“Jason Stillwell,” she finally said. “He worked in logistics and assignments.”
“Well, he and his goons—neither of whom I recognized—just kept wanting to know about where I went after I illegally took off and all. They asked over and over, wanting to know every little thing. Then they just kept asking if I knew… Did I know. Did I know. But they would never tell me what it was they wanted to know if I knew.”
“Not the most effective interrogation,” Raven said with a sigh. She sat back and looked at his face before going to her processor and getting him a glass of water and something to eat. Her mind reeled from the idea of someone in Halliwell being involved in… Well, she didn’t yet know what this was, but it was enough to abduct Blake and beat him up, so it definitely wasn’t anything legal.
“They took Nyx somewhere too,” Blake said miserably. “I don’t know what they’ve done to her either. Unlike Axel, she hasn’t answered at all.”
“Well,” Raven sighed, “I guess we’re going to have to find her too.”
14
After making sure that Blake had food and water, and Axel’s vital signs were still stable, Raven made herself a cup of coffee and some painkillers for the headache that was trying to drill its way from one temple to the other.
Blake sat on the floor next to Axel and Kyra. He leaned back against the sofa, and
Raven wasn’t sure if he was even still awake.
“I’m alive,” he mumbled without opening his eyes.
“Good, because Nyx will kill me if you’re dead by the time I find her,” Raven said. “We need to figure out where she is so we can get your brain ironed out.”
“Sounds painful.”
“Shut up and help,” she snapped, then sighed. “Come on, Blake. Help me out here. She’s your ship.”
He sighed heavily and lifted his head back up. “You’re right. Okay. Where do we start?”
Raven drank half of her coffee. “Jason Stillwell. I didn’t really know him well while I worked in Halliwell. I think he worked in finance before transferring to logistics and assignments. He wasn’t usually the one who handled my assignments.”
“I think he handled mine,” Blake said, “although I didn’t usually talk to the people in the department. I just got the notice.”
She nodded. Raven had tended to deal with more of the people within the organization than he had.
“I really don’t remember much about him, though,” she went on. “He was always kind of weaselly, though. I never liked him, but I never thought he was into something illegal.” She sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. It felt like it was made out of steel, none of the tension having gone anywhere. “You were abducted out of a public place, which sounds kind of dumb…although it did work. But then they chose this planet, which was really kind of smart. People get warned off, and it’s not the most pleasant of places. Not a dumb thug but not a criminal mastermind either.”
“Sounds about right,” Blake agreed. “So where would someone not a total moron and not a total genius take an AI ship?”
Silvanus entered the conversation. “They wouldn’t be able to take her anywhere if she was still conscious, such as we are. They would have had to disengage her entirely and then slave her to another ship. That means they would be towing her, although they could make it appear that she was flying with them by choice.”
Raven nodded slowly as she tried to prod her brain into working through the problem. “It would make it a little more of an ordeal, and it might limit some of the places they want to go,” she theorized out loud. They wouldn’t want to go anywhere that would examine the ships too closely. If someone saw that an AI ship was being towed, they might start to ask questions. There could be legit reasons, but since their’s wasn’t, would they want to take the chance of being found out by going somewhere too populated?
That could narrow down their search.
“I think…” Blake began uncertainly.
She turned her head to look at him, seeing his brows knit and eyes focused on nothingness. “You think what?” she prompted gently.
His brows drew further down. “I think I can remember landing… I wasn’t totally coherent and they had my eyes covered, but I remember landing and then…a vehicle ride. It took a while to get to the building and city. I think the guys stayed in the building while I was there. I mean, most of them usually seemed to be involved in harassing me, and that happened often.”
“So they landed here and carted you off to town and then stuck around…” She thought it through. “It sounds possible that Nyx is still on the planet. Silvanus, can you look for her?”
“The transponder is off,” Blake said wryly. “We torched it when we ran away because we didn’t want anyone from Halliwell using it to find us.”
Raven stood and stretched. “We know,” she said. “Because we tried to use it to find you.” She walked the few steps to the console and took a seat, watching the screen as Silvanus began showing satellite imagery.
She heard a groan behind her as Blake stood up and came to stand behind her. “So how can you find her?”
“This is a primitive planet,” Silvanus answered.
“The elements in your ship aren’t going to be naturally occurring on this planet, nor will there be other similar ships. That means if we can scan deeply enough to find one of the substances in the ship then we can find her,” Raven further explained.
She heard him sigh overhead. “No wonder you were always better at this job than I was.”
15
“On the upside,” Raven said as she looked her gun over, “the ship is parked in an area with somewhat clearer air, so less chance of lighting it all on fire.” She holstered it and then crossed the cabin to her small weapons locker. “On the downside,” she went on, looking at Blake over her shoulder, “you still look like a corpse that was run over by a ground forces tank.”
“As always, your compassion is astounding,” Blake said dryly. “Although I can’t be too annoyed, since I feel like a corpse run over by a tank.”
Pulling out a second gun, she turned to face him fully. “Are you sure you’re up for this?”
He stepped forward and held his hand out for the weapon. “I’m sure,” he said. “Just like before, there’s no choice. Even with Kyra, you still need me for Nyx. They obviously have done something to her, so you need me to get her running again. No one knows her like I do.”
Raven blew out a breath as she sat down to pull her boots back on. Axel remained asleep beside the couch. Until that moment, Kyra had been watching over him, but now she stood up and peered at Raven with a nearly defiant expression. It was one that said Raven better not even try to leave her behind again.
“I’m about to partially ascend into the atmosphere,” Silvanus announced. “We will not get near to spaceborne again, but we’ll be able to quickly reach the clearing where I believe Nyx is located.”
“Will the natives be able to see us?” Raven asked as she sat down on the sofa, careful to watch her feet around the wolf.
“There’s a good chance that any looking at the sky will catch sight of us, but they will not be able to distinguish what we are. They should disregard us as something odd but not worth noting. Perhaps considered to be a bird, if they have birds on this planet,” the AI responded.
Blake sat beside her. They didn’t buckle in, because her ship only had one set of restraints since it wasn’t meant for multiple people, and they weren’t going spaceborne anyway. “I can live with that,” he said. “We’ll just get to be some UFO lore for Kona IV.”
Raven snorted a laugh. “Just what I always aspired to.”
She could feel the engines engage, and the ship shuddered slightly. As it did, she felt Blake’s hand wrap around hers. Her head snapped down to look at it, but she didn’t say anything in her surprise.
“Thank you, Raven,” he said without looking at her. “Thank you for coming to get me, and for helping me find Axel and Nyx. I probably would have died in that warehouse without you.”
Raven wasn’t really sure what to say to him. She swallowed down the emotion in her throat. “Well,” she said, a touch hoarsely, “you know me. I figure if anyone gets to kill you, it really should be me.” She smiled slightly at him.
He laughed quietly. “Fair enough.”
Neither spoke again until Silvanus had landed the ship. To avoid detection—at least easy detection—the AI had chosen an area to land that was a bit of a walk away from where they believed Nyx to be, but not too far. Raven was worried about Blake’s stamina, but he had been right that they didn’t have many options.
The ship touched down with a gentle thud and the door hissed as it depressurized and opened.
“Come on,” Raven said, just now letting go of his hand as she didn’t hesitate in moving to the door.
“Guard Axel, Silvanus,” Blake said as he followed.
Kyra made sure that Blake knew his place as she curved her body quickly between the two humans on their way out.
“I promise, Blake,” the AI replied.
They stepped off the short ramp out of the ship and immediately felt their boots sink slightly into semi-muddy dirt. Raven grumbled, looking back at the ship and hoping Silvanus didn’t have trouble taking off later.
‘Please tell Blake that I hate him,’ Kyra complained as they made their way along the
squishy ground.
Raven was glad Blake couldn’t hear the cat. ‘I’m not going to tell him that. Besides, judging by the looks you’re giving him, he probably already knows.’
There was a brief growl from low in the cat’s throat. Blake looked down at her with open concern. ‘Good,’ Kyra griped. ‘I hate you too, by the way. But I’m still willing to get my paws muddy for you.’
‘Your dedication is touching, Kyra,’ Raven replied dryly.
One of those “looks” came her way, but she just stared back, unimpressed.
They left the clearing and entered a dense forest. Oversized roots rose up from every conceivable angle, desperately trying to break an ankle or two, or eight. They tread as quickly as they could while staying cautious. Kyra’s audible grumbling was nearly constant, and Raven wondered when she was going to stop to breathe.
“She hates me, doesn’t she?” Blake asked as he reached up and grabbed a low-hanging branch, pulling it back for Raven to pass.
“Pretty much,” she admitted. “She hasn’t really been a fan of yours for a while.”
He didn’t reply to that, just sighed and let the branch drop after he passed beneath it.
Somehow, the forest seemed to become denser the further they went. On the upside, though, the ground became dry and rocky, so there was less squishing to deal with and less Kyra-grumbles. Until she found that the small stones hurt her paws, and then they started up again.
Raven thought her big cat was tougher than that, but just wanted to torment her.
When they finally reached the edge of the forest, Raven held up a hand that brought them up short. She approached the tree line cautiously, peering out to see a shallow valley just ahead of them.
And there, sitting in the center, was the BHS Nyx.
16
“I can see two guards from here,” Raven said as they observed the ship and her captors from the safety of the trees and shadows. “I would guess at least one will be inside, monitoring the AI.”
Double Sharpe Page 5
