She scowled at him. “The professionals use it for training.”
“They also have field experience where they used real weapons. Creators, deliver me!”
As they argued, Jaylin resumed fire.
“How can I help? You said you needed me.”
He said nothing for a moment, but managed to pick off another man, based on the screams. “You went to college, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Ever go out drinking to one of your bars?”
“Of course, it’s a requirement for graduation.”
He glanced at her, then up toward the ceiling. “Grant me strength, she’s being cute.”
“What do bars have to do with the pickle we’re in?”
Even as he aimed and systematically pulled the trigger, his lips twitched.
“Be serious, I’d like to get out of here today.”
“Did you ever play darts while out drinking?”
“Sure.”
“For real?” he asked sharply. “Not any of that fake simulator shit.”
“Yes, I played real darts,” she snapped. “Steel tipped points with an authentic bristle board, not the sellout electronic kind. At home, Daniel had a game room with billiards, snooker, and darts.”
“Yeah, but were you any good at it?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’ll kick your ass at darts and 9-ball the first chance we get. What does any of this have to do with the jam we’re in?”
“Answer the question, Dani,” he growled. “Are you any good at darts?”
“My friends and I won a trophy in a competition once. So, yeah, I’m pretty good.”
She couldn’t hit a battle cruiser with a photon cannon if she had it on radar lock and dead to rights, evidently, but she carried her team at darts that night, scoring more points than anyone on either side. It was one of her fonder memories from school. Donna, one of her few lasting friends, had helped her sneak out. Without guards walking two feet in front and behind her, scaring away anyone who might have tried to talk to her or given her a glance or a smile, she felt like a normal college kid.
“Why are we having this conversation now?” she asked him.
Crouching, he drew her closer. “Remind me to have Malik give you a lesson in following orders when we get back. You’re due. After I kiss you senseless, that is.” He withdrew an evil-looking red-tipped dart about four inches long. “This is a pellet dart. Embed it somewhere in your target’s body and it does the rest of the work.”
“How?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“I do, or I wouldn’t have asked.”
“What’s gotten into you?”
“Other than being lied to by every man in my life, you mean?”
“Dani....”
“Never mind. What do the darts do?”
“Upon impact, they release tiny pellets into the victim which migrate to the bloodstream. There they expand and clog the large vessels. In under thirty seconds, your attacker’s heart will stop, dead.”
Grimacing, she shuddered at the image his description created. “How awful.”
“It is. But if it comes down to them or us, who would you rather it be?”
“Them, of course.”
He gripped her shoulders and pulled her within an inch of his face, all humor, teasing, and threats of spankings gone. “Be straight with me, Dani. There’s no shame in not being able to take a man’s life.”
“I’m tired of being kidnapped, bound, and bruised. The gag and blindfold were the last straw. I want out of here.”
“You’re sure? If not, I’ll find another way.”
“I’m sure.”
He claimed her with a fierce kiss, murmuring gruffly against her wet lips when he ended it. “Be careful, keep your head down, and do exactly as I say. Exactly, Dani. I’m counting on you being in one piece when we’re through here, today.”
She swallowed, wanting it, too. “Keep low, and follow orders. That I can do, I swear.”
He searched her face for a second, then nodded. “Follow me. When I stop and provide cover, we have a target within range. I’ll give you the location, and you’ll take them out with one of these darts. We’ve got six, so make them count. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“Let’s go.”
Liking her head on her neck between her shoulders, she kept low as she scurried behind Jaylin, who was much quieter and more agile, despite his size. She blamed her clumsiness on the lingering effects of being restrained for hours, or it could be the fact she had to pee. But it would have to wait. No time-outs for potty breaks allowed during mercenary rescue missions.
Besides, Jaylin’s head would probably explode if she mentioned it.
Abruptly, he stopped, which meant she had to, or run into him. “To my left, behind the red-and-white striped crate, at nine o’clock.”
Crouching behind him, with her hands on his shoulders, she popped up and scanned for the target. He hadn’t seen them move and she had a clear shot. “Easy pickin’s,” she whispered in his ear.
“Go for it.”
Easing around to his side, she got down on one knee. Lining up her shot, she took a deep breath and released. The man didn’t react much at first, as if her dart was no more than a mosquito bite. He reached down, pulled it out and turned their way, searching for the source. She ducked, leaning into Jaylin who also crouched down.
“I don’t understand,” she whispered. “I hit him dead center in the thigh. Maybe it malfunctioned.”
“It acts in thirty seconds, remember?”
She stared back at him while, silently counting. At fifteen, she heard a clatter.
“His gun hitting the floor,” he explained. A few seconds later, they heard a choking sound and a thud. “And that was him keeling over.”
Dani mentally filled in the one word he’d left off. He’d keeled over dead. She felt the blood drain from her face, and she began to shake inside.
His hand came to her cheek. “Doing okay, sweetness?”
“I don’t think so.” She wanted to throw up.
“Breathe, Dani.”
She nodded, sucking in a big gulp of air.
“You don’t have to go again. I’ll do it, but I’m a lousy shot, so cross your fingers.” Already, he was moving into position.
She shook her head. “No, you’d need cover, which I can’t give you. l can do it.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s get this done and go see Malik on the Renegade.”
Breathing in slow and deep once again, she strove for a calm she didn’t feel. After a moment, she met his gaze and nodded. “Okay, I’m ready.”
He wound a hand in her hair and pulled her to him for a hard, quick kiss. “That’s my brave girl,” he whispered against her lips before he released her. “Follow me, stay close, and keep your head low, like the last time.”
He was on the move again, pausing to peek around a crate. With a jerk of his head toward the wall, he ran to it, bent at the waist. She followed, thankfully without tripping and falling flat on her face. Once to cover, they dropped down, their backs against the metal storage box.
“To my right, up on a scaffold. There are two of them.” He passed her two more darts before he shouldered his weapon and took aim. “Now, baby.”
As Jaylin provided cover, she peeked out and saw the two men. They shifted from behind some bins when his blaster shot above them. This worked to Dani’s advantage because they exposed themselves, giving her clear targets. In rapid succession, she threw, hitting one in the back, the other dead center in a rather plump ass cheek. Jaylin continued shooting, while she counted. With the same precise timing, they dropped their weapons at fifteen seconds, and fell, one after the other, at thirty.
“We’re almost to the doors. Once outside, Malik can transport us up.”
She stared at him a beat. “Why can’t he do it now?”
“Something in here is causing interf
erence. We have to get to the hall. Then we’re good to go.” He stepped around her, while tugging on her sleeve to get her going. “C’mon.”
Running while folded in half wasn’t easy, doing it while blasters fired her way made it twice as hard. She must have flinched and blinked because she didn’t see Jaylin stop until the last second. The water pooled on the floor made it slippery, and she skidded past him, beyond the half wall where he knelt. For a moment, she was without cover. A blast of weapons’ fire exploded just as his hand dug into her waistband and he yanked her back.
“Sorry,” she whispered. “I slipped.”
He nodded, which she found odd until she glanced his way and saw he’d gone ghostly pale. “Backtrack.” His usually smooth voice sounded gruff. Her strong, fearless, badass captain was rattled. “This time,” he urged, “stay focused, eyes wide open, and whatever you do, stay behind me.”
On the move again, they stopped once while he fired and dropped a man crouched on a thirty-foot-high stack of shipping crates, and another time when he passed her dart number four, pointing out a man moving up behind them. It seemed her aim was true for more than stationary targets because she spun, threw, and caught him square in the chest. The impact toppled him before the dart did its job.
She was out of breath the next time they stopped, from the exertion and the adrenaline rush from the danger.
“Two darts left,” she whispered.
“Mmhmm,” he acknowledged while checking his weapon. He tossed it away and withdrew a long black knife.
“Jaylin!” she squeaked.
“It’s dead. No use to me now.”
“And you’re left with only a knife in a gun fight!”
“And your two darts.” Once he’d handed them both to her, he twisted, and peeked his head out to plot where they went next. A spray of old-fashioned bullets whizzed by his head. He jerked back just in time. “They’re getting low, too,” he murmured, “or desperate.”
She watched his face as he glanced around, plotting their next step. He stared thoughtfully at something, and was on the move again, this time to a crate resembling an old-time steamer trunk in the corner. He raised the lid and looked inside. “Dani, here,” he ordered while he reached in and removed some of the packing, mostly straw. Then he lifted out two smaller boxes containing what looked to her like grenades.
“Can we use those?”
“Not unless you want to go for a spacewalk today.”
“No thanks.”
“Didn’t think so. Get in.”
She jerked back, before turning to stare at the trunk. “You mean inside there?”
“Yes.” His unwavering gaze met hers. “Now is the time to follow orders, Daniella. And to trust me.”
She hesitated a split second more, then she nodded, and climbed inside.
“Curl into a ball on your side.”
She did this, too, with the help of his big hands guiding her. Next, he pulled his black blade, and, as easy as slicing through butter, punched several air holes in the top.
Once finished, he caught her wide-eyed stare. “Obsidian sabre, I never rescue beautiful captives without it.”
“I can see why.”
“Stay inside and be quiet. I’ll be back for you.”
He started stuffing in the straw he’d removed. Before he covered her completely, she whispered, “Jaylin.”
His beautiful silver eyes cut to her.
“Please, be careful.”
“After your dead eye with those darts, the rest are easy pickin’s.” Returning her cocky words with an equally cocky grin—badass mercenary captain that he was—he dropped the remaining straw and shut the lid.
She could only see four slivers of light coming in through the holes in the top. With a dart in each hand, ready to throw if the lid came open, she waited, straining to hear something that would indicate he was coming back. Without anything to mark the slower-than-normal passage of time, she started counting in her head.
One-one thousand, two-one thousand, three-one thousand...
At thirty-eight-one thousand, a loud crash made her jump. Not too close, yet near enough to jar her nerves jagged from the last few hours, not to mention the past two traumatizing weeks. She continued her count, panic setting in as she passed sixty, and well into an all-consuming freak-out when she hit one hundred twenty.
On top of everything else, she felt a sneeze coming on. Damn straw. She rubbed her nose, when it didn’t help, she pinched it, willing herself not to sneeze and give away her location. She thought she’d conquered the impulse, but as soon as she let go and drew in her next breath, the sensation returned, except worse.
Squinching her face, closing her mouth, and blowing out while she held her nose closed only made her ears pop. She tried praying and a combination of everything else, but nothing worked. To make matters worse, footsteps approached, growing louder.
She opened her eyes wide, having read somewhere it was physically impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. More prayers followed that it was true.
The thudding footsteps stopped, replaced by the scrape of boots on the floor. She held her breath. When the crate creaked and the lid started to open, she became convinced she couldn’t believe a damn thing she read. The sneeze was upon her as the top came off the box.
“Ah-choo!”
Nothing followed for a heartbeat then she heard a low rumble of laughter.
Her lashes flew wide and she took in Jaylin’s gorgeous face smiling down at her. He reached in and lifted her out in a cascade of straw.
“What are you doing?” she hissed. “They’ll see us.”
“Targets neutralized,” he said while he crushed her against him. “You were awesome, baby, unbelievably brave. I don’t have words to describe it. For a second, however, when you slid through that puddle, my heart stopped and I thought you were gone.” He buried his face in her neck, his lips moving against her skin as he whispered, “Thank the Creators for saving you.”
Her arms wrapped around his middle, squeezing him back. “You caught me. I think you had a hand in saving me, too, honey.” His arms flexed so tight she couldn’t breathe. “Please,” she squeaked, “say we can go now. I am so not cut out to be a commando.”
“Yes, baby,” he murmured, while pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. “We can go.”
Jaylin didn’t put her on her feet, instead, carrying her swiftly through a set of sliding doors leading to a short hall off the immense cargo bay. And, thank heaven he did because with the threat over, she crashed, hard, her body trembling, and both legs limp like noodles.
Once out in the hall, he flipped open a handheld communicator.
“I’ve got her. Transport, now.”
The tingling sensation hit, and the corridor wavered as a dozen Elzorian guards burst through the doors after them. She buried her face in Jaylin’s neck, holding on tight, prepared for this to be her last living moment before laser fire sliced them to ribbons.
It didn’t happen. Rather than certain death, she was swept up in a swirl of bright light and the sense of disorientation that transporting caused.
Chapter Fifteen
“Jaylin! Daniella! Thank heaven! I thought I was too late. And considering my damn bad luck, it’s a miracle I wasn’t.”
As greetings went, it wasn’t the most eloquent, and far from polite, but Malik’s frazzled voice had never been more welcome or sounded so sweet. It took a moment to regain her equilibrium and longer for her eyes to focus, but in time to see him charging toward them, hair wild and sticking up all over his head as if he’d raked his fingers through it.
When Jaylin stepped out of the glass transport booth, his arms around her went slack, as others, longer and leaner, surrounded and cradled her.
“See to her. I’m getting us out of here.” Jaylin strode to the lift, his long legs eating up the distance in seconds. He passed by the half door and was up the ladder, gone in a blink.
Still hazy and weak, she clung to Malik’s s
houlders, her fingers digging in. A sob escaped her, the reality of their narrow escape setting in.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured, moving in the opposite direction of the hall leading to her bedroom, and the bed she longed to curl up in and sleep for a week. Carrying her as easily as his brother, he took her straight to the small medical clinic and laid her on the exam table.
“I’m shook up, Malik, not hurt.”
“Humor me.”
Her clothes seemed to melt away then his insistent, yet gentle fingers examined every square inch of her. After he declared her uninjured—like she’d told him—he had her open her mouth and swiped a testing swab along the inside of her cheek. After sliding it into an electronic sleeve, he pushed a button on the end, and waited no more than three seconds before he looked at the display.
“You’re dehydrated,” he announced. “We’ll take care of that right away.”
Turning to the wall-mounted touch screen, he typed a moment. The room darkened, warm air began to blow, and a blue light mounted in the ceiling came on. Her skin tingled as though tiny fibers trailed over her everywhere at once. It felt odd, though not unpleasant. After a few moments, Malik removed what looked to Dani like a large wet towel from the bottom section of the metal cupboard. Though soaked, when he laid it over her, covering her from shoulders to mid-thigh, its warmth soothed her, so she didn’t complain.
“What does the blue light do?”
“It eliminates infectious organisms in the room, including those on your skin.”
“Wow. Earth doctors still use topical antiseptics. You’ve got some impressive new technology.”
“This isn’t new. It was developed and put into use on Trilor before I was born.”
“So long ago?” she teased, thinking to lighten the mood although he couldn’t have been too much older. He didn’t take offense, leaning over her with a gentle smile, his eyes more golden than brown—so handsome.
“So, what’s your plan of treatment for dehydration, doc?”
Arching his brow, his lips twitched in a hint of a smile. “First, an infusion of electrolytes then it’s off to bed for you.”
“I have no problem with that. When do we start?”
The Renegades' Reward Page 20
