by M. Van
“Maece, please,” Harp said in a pleading voice. “You cannot ignore this. This is more important than you, me, or Saera.”
My fingers started to hurt as I squeezed my fists harder. This was unbearable.
“How long?” I asked.
“Almost there,” Kyran answered. As he said it, I heard the first sounds of trouble outside the door. Her voice was muffled, but I could clearly make out the words: “Let go!”
That was it—that was all it took. With four quick strides, I was at the door. Harp and Kyran were shouting at me over the coms, but Saera’s muffled voice drowned them out. I drowned them out. Acting on pure instinct, I opened the door and observed the space beyond. The immediate hall was empty; with the help of the heads-up. it was easy to locate Saera by the sounds she made. Using the added power allowed by the exoskeleton, I ran in the direction we had originally come from.
I reached the connecting hallway at full speed with no intention of slowing down and spotted Saera around the corner in the clutches of an AR. I reminded myself that they weren’t ARs. These were people, Subterrans and not artificial representations. The enforcer had her pinned against the wall and was reading Saera her rights. With her cheek pressed against the plastered surface, she faced me, and I saw some of the fear in her eyes replaced by relief.
The enforcer noticed my approach. His visor shifted slightly, and I could imagine the data scrolling down his screen, calculating the reason a fellow enforcer would be running toward him at full speed while he already had control of the situation. I might have been able to detect surprise in his eyes if I’d been able to see them. My heads-up analyzed his body, which had no indication of an elevated heart rate or excessive working glands. His hand moved to his hip and slid over his holstered weapon. Apparently, the risk-assessment software had determined me to be hostile.
With the help of the heads-up, it was as if everything slowed down by a factor of ten. The enforcer’s hand lifted the weapon from its holster raising until he found me in its sight. Data slid across my screen, calculating the perfect angle for the enforcer to shoot. The second the weapon reached its perfect aim, I dropped to a knee, using the moment I had gained and the slick tiles to slide along the floor. The weapon fired, and I felt the energy blast heat the air as I slid underneath it until my boot connected with the back of the enforcer’s knee.
The leg buckled and the enforcer lost his balance, releasing Saera in the process. On my knees by his feet, I reached up to grab his belt and jerked him down. His body fell backward, but before his head could hit the ground, I moved to straddle his chest. As he lay sprawled on his back, I wrenched the heads-up from his head. Gray eyes enhanced by the added glow stared back at me in surprise, just as I had expected.
Not waiting for a response, I raised the device and crashed it down on his skull. The first hit didn’t have the desired effect. Although dazed, his gray eyes still peered back at me, and I hit him again. Blood spilled from a cut on the left side of his head as his eyes closed. I hit him one more time and then threw the glasses down the hall. They connected with the wall and shattered into pieces. Enforcers wouldn’t dare to go on without their heads-up, and him chasing after a new device could buy us some time.
Within seconds I was on my feet and reached for Saera’s hand. She took it, but instead of me leading her, she tugged at my arm.
“This way,” she said.
Side by side we ran down the hall until I noticed company at our backs. Midrun I glanced over my shoulder and saw two enforcers following, weapons raised. I let myself fall back in step behind Saera to cover her. The first blast slammed into me, causing me to stumble forward. From where the round had struck me, searing heat faded out through the atomic-scale-honeycomb-latticed armor of my suit. It protected me from most weapons, including the ones used by the enforcers, although they stung like hell. The suit did protect me from most weapons, but not all. As soon as the order came in the enforcers would change their ammo, and we’d be in danger of becoming red blobs on a wall.
I regained my footing as Saera glanced back. She opened her mouth to speak, but I cut her off before she could utter a word.
“Go!” I shouted. She complied and sprinted ahead of me. To keep her in front of me, I held back. The suit could help me to be a lot faster, but Saera couldn’t afford to be hit by one of those magnetic pulses. It would render her unconscious and might even kill her.
Behind us, boots pounded in pursuit, but I dismissed them. I scanned the hallway ahead of us and found what I was looking for.
“Next door on the right,” I yelled. “Take it.”
A few steps later, Saera’s body shifted as she slammed into the door, opening it in the same instance. She disappeared into the staircase just as I registered the click made by the trigger of a short-range magnetic-blast weapon. I ducked, keeping my head low, but the round hit me in the shoulder, and I slammed into the doorpost. I clenched my teeth to stifle a scream, but couldn’t prevent a groan from escaping.
On the steps going down, Saera stopped and turned to wait for me. I appreciated the expression of concern, but I needed her to move.
“Keep going,” I said through clenched teeth. Finding my balance, I turned, grabbing my own weapon in the same move and fired twice. I hit the first enforcer square in the chest, and he stumbled, reaching for the wall to find support. The other one anticipated my shot and ducked. I fired again and caught him in the knee. His leg wavered, and he went down.
From the corner of my eye, I saw a door open. Shock ran through me as I saw the green light of an occupied enforcer chamber lit above the door. Without waiting to see how many would venture from the room, I stepped into the staircase and slammed the door shut behind me. I started for the stairs leading down, but then Saera came bolting up my way. An energy blast connecting with the wall above her head made her yelp, and she grunted with the effort of keeping her momentum going.
“This is turning out to be a bad idea,” she said, taking the steps two at a time.
“And you only think of this now,” I replied. I let her pass so she would be ahead again and had just started up the stairs as the door behind me cracked open.
“Stop,” a female voice called out, but I didn’t slow to check who the enforcer turned out to be. I probably wouldn’t remember her anyway. I crossed the next landing in one large stride and then followed Saera’s lead taking the steps two at a time.
She opened the door to the second floor and went through. A black-clad figure crossed my vision while I felt another blast hit my suit. It had caught me in the upper leg, forcing my knee to hit the second landing. I used my hand to catch my weight and then let myself fall to my shoulder and rolled onto my back as I raised my weapon.
Ignoring the shock at seeing the enforcer hovering over me so close, I fired several times. The soft round features of a woman’s jaw poked out from under the heads-up display. Two blasts hit her, and she faltered backward, tripping on the top step and falling. She fell into the arms of the enforcer coming up the stairs behind her.
Outside in the hall, I heard a different kind of weapons fire. It wasn’t the incinerating explosion of an enforcer kill charge, but more of a smaller caliber magnetic weapon. I scrambled to my feet, stumbling past the door. I kept looking right and left until I found Saera. Without having seen it, my heads-up informed me of a white hallway similar to the one downstairs that started to fill up with at least three enforcers and a couple of regular officers. My heads-up equally informed me that they seemed to be holding their position, advising of a possible friendly fire incident. It appeared they didn’t want to shoot the enforcer who was now charging Saera.
She fired the weapon in her hand, but the large figure running at her didn’t even flinch. I started running after them, hoping I would get to the enforcer before he got to Saera. To my surprise, Saera didn’t back off. She took a fighting stance, one foot forward and knees bent. The enforcer rushing at her raised his arms to grab her, but she ducked, catching t
he brunt of his weight on her back and then flipped him over.
The body of the large man landed with a thump on the tile floor as I reached Saera’s side. A wide grin spread across her face as if telling me I wasn’t the only one who could kick ass. I managed to reply with a faint smile, but my focus was on the man lying on the floor. His body jerked as I fired my weapon at him, grabbed the heads-up from his face, and tossed it down the hall.
“Come on!” Saera shouted and grabbed my shoulder. My heads-up made me aware of weapons clicking ready, and I rose to my feet. I ran after Saera to the end of the hall and toward a dead end.
Chapter thirteen
Reece
I had no sense of motion as the Hymag sped along its magnetic lines. There wasn’t any use for windows inside this box because there wouldn’t be anything to see outside except rocks.
“The pilot says we should reach the post underneath Umbras in a few minutes,” I said as I made my way back to my seat. I plopped down on the bench next to Riffy and across from Kelle. Riffy moaned as I patted him on the shoulder.
“Ouch,” he said, sounding like a little kid.
“I’m so proud of you,” I said, placing my head on his shoulder and snuggling into him.
He shoved me and growled, “Get away from me.”
I grinned and glanced at Kelle. She had been the one to gather Riffy up off the floor after Rockslide had beat him in the arm-wrestling match. The man had done honor to his name, ramming Riffy’s arm down on the old stone table. It had broken Riffy’s wrist, but before gathering our equipment, we had plenty of time for a stop at the hospital, where they had his arm fixed in a jiffy.
Riffy probably would have been able to do it himself, but the doctor had his wrist set and mended within minutes, and except for a little muscle ache, he was fine. Waiting for the doctor had taken longer than the time it took to fix Riffy’s injury, but at least we’d been in time to catch our ride.
Besides, the news I had brought them had quickly shifted their attention. It wouldn’t be long before our little band of misfits would be complete again, and that was what we all had been waiting for.
Even Kelle, sitting across from me, seemed to have perked up with the news. Not that it showed on her face, but the tiniest twinkle in her eyes betrayed it.
“I can’t believe Tyrel didn’t tell you anything more than she did,” Riffy said and huffed.
“I think Harp might have been standing next to her,” I replied.
“That would explain it,” Kelle said, raising an eyebrow.
“I still can’t believe it took this long to get her out,” Riffy said.
I glanced at him sideways and said, “There isn’t much you do believe, is there.”
Riffy shoved his elbow into my side, and I groaned. “Guess the arm isn’t bothering you anymore.”
“I just hope they’re okay,” Kelle said. Her thoughtful gaze shot straight past me to the front of the Hymag where the cockpit was located.
“I second that,” I replied, retreating into my own thoughts.
It had been so long since I had seen Maece that I wondered what she would look like. She must have changed over the years. I had seen a couple of recent images in the files Harp had kept on her, but in them, she always wore that dreadful heads-up display.
Saera hadn’t been much fun to be around ever since Maece had disappeared. Especially after she had found out that Maece had volunteered to help Harp and had disappeared on one of his missions. I blew out a breath and caught Kelle staring at me. Trying to smile at her failed, and so I added, “They’re okay, both of them.”
The pilot indicated our arrival, and as soon as he did, the door to the Hymag slid open. At the exit, I watched how clamps extracted themselves from the transport pod and attached to the platform. Metal groaned as the clamps locked on and maneuvered the transport to its parking spot. I stepped onto the circular platform where I usually took the time to take in the immense space and the craftsmanship that went into building this underground hideout, but something drew my attention to the central control station.
All desks were manned, and images flashed across the large screens hovering over them. I spotted Harp standing in his usual pose with his hands behind his back, his eyes glued to one of the screens. This wouldn’t have been out of the ordinary if it weren’t for his fist clenching and unclenching behind his back.
I glanced down at Kelle, who I knew would have noticed the same thing, and she shrugged. Riffy just stood by my side, gazing across the room as if he was seeing it for the first time, with a glazed-over expression. I shook my head, grabbed my gear, and started to make my way to the control station.
As if he had eyes on his back, Harp shifted his head to watch our approach.
“Harp,” I said, stopping at his side.
“Reece,” he replied. Then he nodded at the others.
“What’s going on?” I asked. Harp sighed and shook his head.
“I never should have involved Saera,” he said. His voice carried obvious contempt as he added, “That’s what’s up.” Then he walked to one of the other desks as if we weren’t even there.
Kelle shifted uncomfortably at my side, and I placed a hand on her shoulder.
“It was his own stupid idea,” she muttered under her breath.
I noticed Kyran and joined him at his workstation. His eyes were glued to the screen in front of him. It wasn’t hard to guess what had him so enticed. The overwhelming green images fed to the screens by an enforcer’s heads-up display flittered in front of our eyes. Kelle stepped closer as we both saw Saera bolting up a flight of stairs and dodging a magnetic blast. Her mouth moved as her face filled the screen, talking to the person wearing the heads-up. I took in a sharp breath as I realized who she was talking to.
I felt the slightest pressure on my upper arm and looked down to see Kelle standing next to me with a concerned expression on her face.
“Holy crap,” Riffy said, glancing up at the screen, “is that both of them?” I nodded, not fully able to verbalize my thoughts, but I doubt he needed the confirmation.
“Goddammit,” Kelle said under her breath as we watched Saera holding her ground while a six foot tall, broad-shouldered mountain of a man wearing heavy armor charged her. My left hand balled into a fist as the right one subconsciously maneuvered to the weapon strapped to my thigh.
Anger started to gather inside my chest, and I knew exactly who to blame. My eyes shot toward Harp, still standing in his trademark pose. He should have called us in sooner. We could have backed them up.
“Jesus,” Kelle added as the enforcer hit the deck, followed by a sigh of relief. She shifted uncomfortably on her feet, surely feeling as helpless as I did. Riffy’s gaze had dropped to the floor, occasionally drifting up, peeking through squinted eyes at the screen, with a face torn into a grimace.
Maece’s heads-up revealed an almost white image as the intense glow from the sun penetrating the dome reached the green spectrum of her goggles. As her arms whirled to disarm an officer aiming his weapon at Saera, her vision again trailed to the window engulfed by the bright light. At that moment, I knew that the years that had passed had done nothing to sever the connection we had shared, because I knew exactly what she was thinking.
“They’re gonna jump,” I said, barely audibly. Kelle, who had heard, pulled both her hands over the fuzz of black hair on her head, keeping them there as we watched the scene unfold.
“What?” Riffy asked.
Kyran dropped the HDA that he had been chewing on from his mouth, pressing buttons as he shouted into his mouthpiece, “They changed ammo.”
Unable to stop myself, I gripped Kyran’s shoulder, willing him to do something as the screen showed what I knew to be Maece’s hand pulling Saera down to the ground.
Chapter fourteen
Maece
The intense glow of the sun penetrating the dome lit up the window at the end of the hall as we ran toward it. A door on the left opened, and a gun-wieldi
ng law enforcement officer stepped out. Saera dove to the ground as he took his shot. She hunched into a roll, and a chunk of tile exploded into pieces near her foot.
The officer’s eyes followed Saera’s roll across the floor until she emerged in a crouched position in front of him. He aimed his weapon again, ready to fire, but by that time, I had reached him and slammed the palm of my hand under the arm wielding the weapon. The gun flew from his hand, and the surprise in his gaze was evident until I punched his jaw. Following the motion through, I connected my elbow with his temple. He fell back inside the room from which he had appeared.
I grabbed Saera’s jacket and pulled her to her feet. Behind us, voices yelled, but if it wasn’t for the heads-up display, I wouldn’t have registered them. I did hear Kyran’s voice boom inside my head as it came over the coms.
“They changed ammo!” he shouted. He had barely spoken the words when green letters on my screen added a warning. Incoming, it read. Still holding Saera’s collar, I jerked her down this time as I let us fall to the ground. I maneuvered my body over hers to protect her with my suit as a massive explosion rocketed the hall. I gritted my teeth, and Saera screamed as the heat of the residual flames rushed over us.
The once-white hall filled with gray smoke, and black soot covered the walls where the blast had hit. I fought a cough as I scrambled to my feet. Smaller caliber ammo fire erupted behind us, but none of the strikes came close to us. In a quick glance, I noticed the gray smoke filling the hall was worse behind us—nearly black. It must have thrown off their aim.
I shoved Saera ahead of me. At the same moment, a searing pain erupted between my shoulder blades, telling me that the smoke hadn’t interfered with the enforcers’ aim. The suit deflected most of the energy, and I felt the heat run along my back into my limbs. I gasped and felt Saera’s arm wrap around me for support.
