Duncan would not manipulate her into staying Ferly Mor’s captive.
Why did he care so much that she had a sister anyway? It's not like he was her— The sewing kit slipped from her fingers and tumbled onto the floor. Her stomach tightened into a knot.
I’ll make HuBReC your daughter’s living Hell, Regan had said to Duncan. He hadn’t been referring to Tess.
He'd been referring to her.
Get out of the quicksand. Focus on the escape.
Ever since Addy could remember, she’d wished to have a relationship with her biological father. Little did she know her wish had been granted when Duncan brought her to this planet over two months ago. A painful ache tightened her throat making it hard to gulp in air. Why hadn't he told her this before? Why did he wait until now? What did he expect her to do, drop everything and run into his arms? Tell him she loved him? How could she after he'd betrayed her and her mother? He'd caused them so much anguish and grief.
Get out of the quicksand. Focus on the escape.
Inhaling a calming breath, she retrieved the sewing kit and stuffed it into Max's backpack. “I have only one question.” She zipped up the backpack and shrugged into it. She gazed up at Duncan, holding his grandson in his arms. The baby had settled. “Did you love my mom?”
“Yer mother was a beautiful young lassie. So full of life and passion. Ye remind me so much of her.”
If only he’d been describing the woman she knew. That would have been a beautiful thing to witness. “Did you love her?”
“It doesna matter now.”
“It matters to me.”
Tears shone in his eyes. “Aye. I loved her.”
Her heart ached with sorrow and a sad kind of happiness. If that made any sense. The craft moved, pitching Addy forward and pulling her from her quicksand. Outside, trees and forest passed by as the craft moved and picked up speed. “He’s taking us back without Max.”
“No, lass. I can see through the trees on this wall. We’re still headed downriver. Ferly Mor is searching for the alphas.”
She let out her breath and racked her brain to devise an escape plan before Ferly Mor found Max. She entered the cab where he was driving. Maybe she’d have better luck in here.
Someone moved. She jumped. It took her an instant to recognize she was looking at herself. Only it wasn’t a mirror’s reflection, as she first thought. She was watching her training day hologram. The same hologram Ferly Mor had kept in his apartment. The image projected upward from its hologram chip on the passenger seat along with three others: Duncan, Regan, and Max. Had he shown these life-sized holograms to the HGC agents to prove they were his humans? Was that why the HGC hadn’t pursued them?
When Ferly Mor noticed her in the cab, he stroked her head. He didn’t seem at all irritated at her presence, nor did he mind her crawling the floor searching for a way out. Then again, he probably didn’t know what she was doing. Or he did know what she was doing and was confident there was no escape.
Finding nothing, she climbed onto the passenger seat and slid her hand along the transparent wall looking for a lever. But the wall was smoother than Noah’s bottom.
Duncan entered and passed her the baby so he could climb up to join her on the seat. He sat on the hologram chips and their images disappeared.
The vehicle slowed.
They stopped short of two exhausted alpha gladiators battling on the edge of the waterfall. She didn’t have to be four hundred yards away to recognize the falls. It was only a thirty-foot drop to the vine rope below where they were to cross the river. If she could sneak out behind Ferly Mor when he sublimated the driver-side door, she could descend the steep, rocky slope and bring Noah to the refuge. Max would follow and perhaps Regan, but that was all.
Her heart sped up. Think. Think.
Ferly Mor ducked into the cargo bay. Addy reached down and scooped up the hologram chips. Concealed in her fist, no images projected. Once Ferly Mor sublimated the driver’s door, she’d place them on the floor in the white vapor, tripping the safety sensors and preventing it from solidifying. It would give her a chance to get outside and run away. In the hot summer day, the sizeable, furry Hyborean would be quick to overheat and forced to slow down. If this worked, she was only a moment from freedom.
With Noah in her arms, she carefully climbed off the seat, keeping a watchful eye on Ferly Mor. He opened a cabinet door she had previously found locked, and retrieved a silver gun. “What’s that?” she asked Duncan.
“Tranquilizer gun.”
The cargo hold’s rear wall sublimated. Dammit. She had been waiting on the wrong door.
Addy sprinted across the cargo hold, was halfway there when Ferly Mor crossed the threshold. There was no way she’d make it outside before the door solidified. It had already started crackling. She flung the hologram chips with a Hail Mary pass. They hit the floor, bounced, and slid like miniature hockey pucks into the white fog. The sensors registered the objects and the phase transition halted.
Outside the wall, Ferly Mor rounded the van toward the gladiators grappling at the edge of the rocky cliff, oblivious to the small gaseous hole in the door.
She would have whooped with elation, but she didn’t want to draw Ferly Mor’s attention. “Good-bye, Duncan.” She headed for the opening.
“Addy don’t leave me. Please. I love ye, lass. I’ve loved ye all yer life. Stay with me. Ferly Mor can’t give ye up. Ye were an unsanctioned abduction from Earth. He’d get into trouble if he gave ye away. We can be a family.”
“Max and Noah are my family now.” She squeezed through the opening and into the summer heat. She quickly pocketed the holograms projecting their movies in the thickets to avoid catching anyone’s attention and then crouched behind the hovercraft, spying beneath it.
Max was trapped on his back, head hanging over the cliff, struggling to keep Regan’s knife from piercing his heart. If he rolled a half- foot to his right, they’d plunge into the waterfall. Moving into position on his left was Ferly Mor with his tranquilizer gun.
“Run to the refuge, Addy!”
How, in the midst of battle, Max could have known she was there was a mystery she wasn’t going to contemplate until she reached freedom. She held Noah tight to her breast, ran through brush and rock, navigating the steep slope Max and she had descended earlier.
A trigger’s snap echoed down the rock, drawing Addy’s attention upward. Two bodies plummeted over the waterfall. Her heart plummeted with them.
Like air being sucked into a backdraft, Ferly Mor’s frustration rushed past her upward to the ledge. Then exploded. It was as if Ferly Mor had taken a deep breath and then swore.
Had he cursed because he missed his intended target, or because he lost his gladiators over the falls?
She raced down the slope even faster. Ferly Mor would be right behind her in unmitigated fury. Considering the dense vegetation and vines, he’d have to descend the mountainside on foot, and his size and the climate were against him.
She slipped, sending a tumbling cascade of rocks to the talus below. Gasping, Addy continued down. Pressure swelled in her chest, constricting her as if Hyborean hands were squeezing blood from her heart like water from a sponge.
Were her sutures splitting? Was it a heart attack?
Sweating profusely, sucking wind and unable to bear the strain on her heart, she reached the bottom of the cliff. Through the trees, she could see Max had snagged their vine rope and was hauling himself onto the riverbank. Regan was a shadow behind him, knife blade gripped between his teeth.
Holding Noah in one arm, Addy retrived the hologram chips from her pocket. She threw them into the forest and away from the river, hoping the images would fool Ferly Mor and gain them a few precious minutes to cross.
She took in a deep breath and made her way to the vine rope.
At the riverbank, the two beaten, bloodied, and now drenched gladiators circled each other, hunched over in exhaustion. Max’s right arm hung limp, the knife wound
in his shoulder rendering it useless. How did either man have the strength or fortitude to keep fighting?
Regan lunged with the Flesheater. Max deflected the blade, but Regan’s shoulder rammed his chest, knocked him flat on his back, pinned.
Max grunted, struggling against Regan and the knife.
Quickly, Addy placed Noah in the ferns where she had made the vine rope earlier that day and grabbed the only weapon she could find. She snuck behind Regan, threw the vine around his throat and yanked it back with the strength of a pissed-off grizzly protecting her cub.
“Hello, pet,” she said with icy derision. Unlike the time she’d tried to poison him, there was no fear. There was no guilt or remorse. The bastard was going to die at her hands and she was glad.
Regan twisted around. He swung the knife wildly at her. Max redirected the arching blow into Regan’s chest.
Regan choked.
Wheezed.
His muscles slackened.
His body slumped to the ground, pulling her off balance. She wouldn’t let go of the vine. She pulled it tighter. He’d died after she’d poisoned him in HuBReC but had come back to life. This time, she had to make sure he stayed dead. She had to prevent him from ever coming after her family again. Hot tears blurred her vision as she strangled him with all her strength.
“Let go, Addy.” Max’s voice was gentle. Somehow, he had gotten off the ground and was kneeling besides her, peeling her fingers from the bloody grip she held on the vine. “He’s dead.”
* * *
“But that’s not enough.” She turned to him with tearful, red eyes. She sniffled and wiped her face with the back of her hand, smearing blood under her nose. “We have to make sure he never comes back to life. We have to get rid of his body.” Her gaze darted around their surroundings.
She looked crazed. Manic. A knot formed in the pit of his stomach. This wasn’t good.
“We have to throw him in the river.” In the next instant she was on her feet, pulling on Regan’s arms in an attempt to drag his body. “Help me, Max.”
“Leave him. Ferly Mor will be here any second. We have to cross the river now.”
“But—”
“Addy.” He took her soft hand in his. His gaze held hers. “Is Regan’s ultimortem more important than saving our family?”
Her pupils dilated. She blinked as if waking from a nightmare. “No.”
Relief flooded him. She was going to be okay. “Come on.” He walked her to the ferns where she retrieved Noah, cradled him, kissed his head. Joy surged through his beaten body at the sight of his son, alive and well and with little awkward limbs moving randomly in his momma’s arms.
But this wasn’t reunion time. “We have to cross before FerlyMor—”
Rustling leaves drew his attention to the Hyborean aiming his tranquilizer gun.
“Duck, Addy.” Max dove and rolled to Regan, yanked the Flesheater from his lifeless body and heaved it.
Ferly Mor pulled the trigger an instant before the knife penetrated his hand. The dart embedded in Addy’s neck.
Dammit, why hadn’t he pushed her out of the way?
The gun fell on the ground...too late.
Ferly Mor’s target was textbook. Head and neck hits resulted in almost instantaneous unconsciousness. She had thirty seconds before her entire body shut down. He could already see that drowsy, clouded look filling her eyes.
Stumbling forward, she reached for a low hanging branch. The branch snapped, but before she could fall, Max was at her side, easing her and Noah to the ground. “Don’t be afraid.” He kissed her forehead. “You’re just going to sleep now. It’ll be okay. Trust me.”
“I do.”
Ferly Mor moved toward them. He had pulled the knife from his hand and retrieved the tranquilizer gun.
Max grabbed Addy’s broken branch, cocked it at his shoulder, and jumped between her and the alien. “You’re not taking her back, you bastard.”
Ferly Mor sent him calming thoughts as he fiddled with his tranquilizer gun. He seemed to be having a hard time of it since he still held the knife in his other hand. What was the alien doing? Recalibrating the drug for a heavier body?
Fuck that.
Max charged. Each swing of the club connected with the Hyborean’s legs, gut, arms. The gun sailed out of his leathery fingers.
With knife clutched in front of him, Ferly Mor backed away. The stupid alien should have kept the weapon moving, but he wasn’t a fighter. He was a doctor.
Soon he’d be a dead doctor.
One swing knocked the knife to his feet. Another swing shattered the Hyborean’s knee. Ferly Mor buckled and fell, but Max didn’t stop. He clubbed him again and again, beating the fucking life out of the Hyborean.
Behind him a trigger snapped. A needle pricked his calf. He pivoted around and saw Duncan’s gun hand, extended in front of him, shaking uncontrollably. “I’m sorry, lad. But I canna allow ye to kill my master.”
Max plucked the dart from his calf. He snatched up the Flesheater and slashed his leg, hoping some of the drug would drain out with his blood. He had one minute, tops.
Shit.
Abandoning the Hyborean, he ran to Addy and carried her and Noah to the bank. He yanked the vine rope from the sapling, tied it around his chest and, holding tight the only two people who gave his life meaning, plunged into the cold river.
He struggled to keep three heads above water as the rushing current swept them all downriver and across.
On the verge of white water, fierce undercurrents sucked at his legs. Pins and needles anesthetized his body, whether from the cold water or the tranquilizer, he wasn’t sure and didn’t give a damn.
Duncan called out to him from the opposite bank, but he couldn’t comprehend the words. A fog seeped into his head.
Don’t black out, now. You’re an arm’s length from freedom.
With Noah in his bad arm, he reached out and half-placed, half-tossed him into the mud.
There was no pain now. Max was floating into a dark abyss.
He clawed his way up the bank with his bad arm.
He kicked his legs.
With his last gram of strength, he pulled his hips from the river and collapsed with Addy on the muddy bank of the refuge.
Chapter Fifty-three
Somewhere in the dark, Max heard an angel singing. It was a lullaby. His eyes opened. A curtain of red and green lights gyrated between him and the two moons in the starry black sky. The Southern Lights. A visual effect from the refuge's electromagnetic fields. They'd made it to Pele. He filled his lungs, and tasted freedom.
Pain pulsated in his head. His nose. His mouth. His shoulder. His—. Oh hell. Where wasn’t there pain?
Rocking and softly singing to Noah, Addy sat to his left in front of a small fire. Its soft glow lit her face and shone on her tear-streaked cheek. Light danced in her hair, highlighting the red strands. If he had thought she was beautiful before when her hair was matted and stringy, her face tired and dirty, body smelling of sweat and blood, then she appeared a goddess now, clean and pure with a golden firelight aura.
She turned in his direction. “You’re awake. Oh, thank God.” She practically jumped on him, throwing her arm around him, kissing his face, hugging him tight with the arm not cradling Noah. It hurt like hell, but he wasn’t about to complain.
“How long?” he croaked.
“You were out three days.”
Sitting up made his head spin and he fell back.
“Careful.”
“Three days?”
She nodded. “I was scared you weren’t going to make it. You had a fever and the chills. That’s why you’re covered in leaves. I had to keep you warm after using your shirt to bandage your shoulder. There’s a hot spring right over there. You can clean yourself up when you get your strength back. Are you hungry? I found berries and caught a squirrel, or whatever they’re called here.”
“No.” He coughed to clear paste from his throat.
�
��You need water.” With Noah on her hip, she took a clean piece of rag that had probably been part of his shirt, dunked it into the river and brought it back. “Drink this.” She placed it on his lips and squeezed.
Cool water trickled over his tongue and down his gullet revitalizing him.
“I made spears. In case Regan or Ferly Mor returns.”
It had been three days yet no one had come after them? Ferly Mor must have seen that Addy had only managed to drag Max’s unconscious body to the tree line. Why then hadn’t he reawakened Regan and sent him to retrieve them? Perhaps the alien was in worse shape than he thought. Had he needed medical treatment he couldn’t administer himself? Had he returned to HuBReC?
“Speaking of spears,” Max said. “I—I’m sorry. Can you forgive me for killing you, again.”
Her fingers on his lips silenced him. “If anyone should ask forgiveness, it’s me. I shouldn’t have gone after Regan with the bat. I should have stuck to our plan. Maybe then you wouldn’t have lost so much blood.” Her voice cracked as she talked while crying. He reached out and wiped away her tears, but more replaced them. “You’d think I’d be dehydrated after three days of this, yet the tears still come.” She didn’t quite manage a smile.
Max sat up, leaves falling from him. “Don’t cry. Everything is going to be okay, now. We’re safe. We’re free.”
Her head fell onto his chest as she wept.
He wrapped his arms around her, held her against him, wishing he could eliminate her pain. “I was so scared you wouldn’t make it,” she said, and he tightened his grip but not too tight that he’d squish their beautiful son in her arms. His chest contracted against her with inward sobs for their freedom and their new life.
“Let it out, Max. Crying is a human emotion.”
He peeled her from him to show the tears spilling from his eyes. Her jaw quivered as she smiled through her own tears then hugged him again.
Having her in his arms felt wonderful. Warm. Safe. Like home. He squeezed his eyes shut and tightened his grip, wanting to feel her pressed against him, her breath on his skin and her heart beating against his.
The fire popped and crackled. The wind rustled leaves and carried to him a sweet fragrance of some flower he recognized but didn’t know the name. Above them, the red and green Southern Lights moved, intertwined, separated, and moved again. And still he held her until his senses filled completely with the night, the woman and child in his arms, and hope for their future.
Captive (The Survival Race) Page 32
