“What the fuck is that?” he shouted as he mounted his horse. He kicked the beast’s sides, forcing the horse to move toward Fay. She ran toward them. He leaned over to grab her on the pass.
A green beam zipped down a foot away. More streams of red laser lights hit the trees around them. One ripped a huge chuck out of a trunk, causing the tree to tumble toward the ground. It slammed into the earth right after Arlo latched onto her arm and swung her up into his lap. He gave a shrieking hoot, kicking his horse into a gallop. “God damn it, Fay, lightning isn’t red or green. What is it?”
“Dirt Dwellers!”
“How did they find this place? How could they find us?” he hollered.
His horse raced across the field, dodging in and out of the woods. Red and green beams exploded around them, some missing them by yards, others getting as close as inches to hitting the target—them.
Fay screamed, “They’re trying to kill us!”
Chapter 8
“God damn it, Logan!” Arlo sat forward in his chair as he shot a glance at her.
Fay returned an I told you so glare as he continued to defend her.
“If she was lying about stealing the craft and coming here of her own free will, her government wouldn’t be trying to kill her, now would they?”
Logan slammed his hand on the desk. “Then they followed you guys back to the cave and somehow figured out it circled our concealed valley!”
Fay flinched at the rage in his tone.
“No way,” Drakker said. “I set off three rings. The first code was ruby to warn you of our finding Fay. The second was scarlet, to let our men know we were coming back with possible trailers, and the blue detracker so neither warning ring could be traced.”
“Did you get a confirmation your codes registered?”
“Yes, by the time we made camp the first night.” He tapped his shirt pocket. “Ortello sent scouts out as soon as the smoke signals bleeped on his screen. I got final word this morning before I came to breakfast. No one followed us home or followed the code paths.”
“Yeah?” Logan’s heated expression looked ready to explode. “Then tell me how they knew if they flew thirty thousand feet high, they could look down into the circle of mountains and find us in a valley hidden by trees? And how long before they discover our town and homes are sheltered under these cliffs?”
Fay held up her arm. “It’s the Underworld government’s implanted Search and Navigation System. We call it an SNS.”
All three men turned and looked at her with astonishment. Logan was the first to speak. “Explain.”
Fay got up and tapped her arm, making a thumping sound. “There’s an SNS implanted in my arm. They put it in when I became a fully fledged mind traveler—”
Logan’s body stiffened. “You mean when you became a spy!”
“Yes. When I was told I’d be a spy. Okay? I confess. I was a spy.”
Logan slammed his fist on his desk. “God damn it! I knew it! She’s not here because she seeks sanctuary or political asylum.”
“I didn’t come here as a spy or to spy on you. I could have spied on you without ever having to set foot in your world. Don’t you get it yet?” At his silent glare she continued. “The SNS is placed in us so the Underworld government can track us when we are on a physical field mission. I’m sorry, Logan. I’ve had it for so long I forgot about it until now.”
“You lie!”
“I didn’t betray you!” She bounded out of her chair, rushed to his desk, and leaned toward him. “I truly forgot all about it.”
“Yeah right…” Logan turned to Arlo. “Get her in the cave and keep her there! Drakker, get your men. You’ll have to find a way to set up a front at the top of the mountains on the outer side. I don’t want entry on this side of the mountains.”
“Impossible. Forget about the subzero temps. There’s little to no air up there to breath.”
“Mark my words. That craft was forging a trail for the Dirt Dwellers’ army to travel.”
“Not by foot, they won’t.”
“Yes, by foot!”
“Trust me, Logan. Nothing can survive at the very top.”
“If they found a way to get a craft safely over those mountains, they found a way for their men to survive it as well. So, why are you telling me something I now know is not a fact?”
“Facts! You want facts?” Drakker leaned his stiff body forward. “What you’re asking me to do is impossible. I can’t put men up there to defend against craft like this. We’re not equipped nor do we have the technology for it.” He turned to her. “Fay? Are all your photon crafts remakes from the downed Star Rider craft, or is one of them the original Star Rider ship that was repaired?”
“They’re all remakes from the original craft.”
“Are they coated?”
“Coated with what? Oh, you mean are they heat resistant. Of course.”
“No…is the metal coated with anything other than a heat-resistance resin?”
“No.”
“Good.” He turned back to Logan. “So even if they fly over, eighty-four percent of their pilots will be affected by the death zone mushroomed over these mountains.”
“Yeah? Well, it’s the sixteen percent not affected that I’m worried about.”
“Logan, the odds are in our favor. They had four ships. Fay’s was downed, leaving three in their possession. It was pure luck on the pilot’s part that he was able to make it in. Even with a pressurized cabin, the man was on a suicide mission.”
“How so?”
“The pilot couldn’t have made it back. An acute mountain illness would have affected him by the time he was heading out, if not while he was attacking. It’s possible the reason neither Fay or Arlo were hit is because the pilot was already dying and couldn’t take aim. His ship probably crashed on the other side which would now leave a total of two Dirt Dweller ships.”
“You don’t know if the pilot’s dead or if his ship went down for a fact.”
“Yes, I do. In one of his scientific studies, Andonis discovered the bacteria above these mountains will penetrate all known matter. The test samples Andonis got from Talut—”
“Who the fuck is Talut?”
“A Star Rider. Anyway, the study proved the deadly bacteria will eat into anything in half a second unless whatever it’s trying to consume has been covered in the special coating the Star Riders have. Good thing for us…only the Star Riders know how to make it.”
Logan let out a long sigh. “So, we only have to worry about drones carrying fire bombs to burn us out down here. No matter what, we’ve got to keep them from burning the forest on this side to expose us.”
“Logan,” Fay interrupted. “Please let me prove myself to you. I can mind travel and see their attack plans. You’ll know exactly where to place your men to defend this place. Trust me. Let me prove myself.”
“Trust?” His face twisted in disbelief. “Not at the cost of my people’s lives. Arlo, get her to the cave and put her in lockdown.”
“No. Please, let me help!”
“Out!”
Drakker raised his voice. “Evacuation is our only chance of survival from a burn out. I’ll go east with my men and take a group of civilians with us. I’ll have Ortello take his team west and have Quidel and Yurik take their armies and some civilians north and south.”
“I can help—” Fay yelled.
“Take her out, now! Smart move, Drakker, I’ll join you once I get Arlo and his men set to defend the homestead.”
Drakker brushed pass Fay. In desperation, she grabbed his dagger.
“Fay! No!” Arlo shouted.
In two swift slashes, she cut the flesh over her SNS device. Logan shot out of his chair, his face blanched. His eyes stretched wide with shock. Fay’s blood gushed everywhere.
Drakker yanked the knife from her hand. “What in the hell are you doing, woman?”
Before any of the men could stop her, Fay dug her fingers into the wound, drag
ging her teeth over her bottom lip at the stinging pain as she dug the embedded SNS silicon chip from her arm. It was a tiny device, no bigger than a pebble. She handed the bloody crystal-like transmitter to Logan. “Crush it.”
“No!” Drakker sheathed his knife with one hand, yanked her arm to him with the other hand, and began applying pressure to her wound. “Logan, have someone ride out of here with the chip. Her people will follow the signal to wherever he dumps it.”
“Great thinking, bro.”
Arlo stepped up. “That’s a suicide mission.”
“Only when a stealth photon fighter is above,” Fay offered.
Logan put pressure on her shoulder forcing her to turn toward him. “Do they have any other kind?”
“Yes, LSCs—Light Speed Crafts. They’re the standard Underworld Fighter Ovals—UFOs.”
“I’ve never seen or heard of them. Are they equipped to handle the temperatures of a Mach five plus altitude?”
“Hypersonic? No way.”
“Logan?” Arlo smacked his brother on the shoulder. “I don’t understand the significance of all the jargon you two are talking about. What’s important to me is Drakker and I brought Fay here.” Arlo’s face held a determined expression. “It’s our responsibility, no one else’s, to risk getting the SNS out of here.” He held his hand out to Fay. “Give it to me. I’ll dispose of it.”
Fay turned to Arlo. “Head south. They know I’m running from them. Those lasers were targeting the SNS. Pilots in photon ships don’t sight a target with their eyes. It’s all done through a computerized monitor sensor. It’s possible the trees were causing the red lasers to miss. The green lasers didn’t hit their marks because of the cold temperatures the beams had to go through at the higher altitude. So stay undercover and keep to high ground as much as possible. I’d do this myself, but I’m sure Logan will think I’m trying to escape.”
“Gotcha.” Arlo grabbed the silicon chip and ran from the room.
Drakker looked at Logan. “Let’s get her arm fixed, and then let’s take her up on her offer. Let’s see what she gives us through a mind-traveling mission.”
“No.”
“Logan, we don’t have a lot of time. Sometimes you have to trust your gut. They have the drop on us. We need to get our men into the right position the first time around. We have to know we won’t be snookered from behind because we chose the wrong place to station our men for defense. We’ve got to know if it’s even necessary to move our people, or are we putting them in more jeopardy by doing so?”
“I’ll not risk our men’s lives unnecessarily. She could lie to us.”
“Yeah, I’m going to do that.” Fay was determined to make him believe her. “If I position your men in the wrong spot, they’ll take me out as well because I’ll be there with them. Logan, I’m trying to save my own skin as well.”
“She wouldn’t put herself on the line to die.” Drakker slid his glance from Logan to Fay. “I trust her.”
Logan’s stare never wavered as he tore the edge of his shirt off and lifted her arm. Fay rested her hand on his shoulder for balance while he wrapped the material around her wound. “You’d better be telling us the truth, because if you think I won’t put you on the frontline, young lady, you’re wrong. My brothers may trust you. I don’t.”
Drakker rolled his eyes, a clear sign he didn’t believe his brother would do that to her. Logan must have wanted to put doubt in her mind. As he tied off the fabric he’d wrapped around her arm, Logan looked at Drakker. “Get Andonis.”
* * * *
After Andonis, their doctor, glued her flesh together, Fay leaned back in Logan’s chair and propped her feet up on his desk. Once she was comfortable, she shot a wink to Drakker sitting in the chair across from the desk. Logan slumped on the settee by the wall and quieted. She set her mind on a target site she knew well—her Underworld office quadrant. She relaxed with a few deep breaths, closed her eyes, and imagined her mind in a crystal ball rising above her until it reached the fifth dimension.
Mind travel was like being an invisible person. She had all the senses of a physical body without all the dense matter. She moved her mind down the hall to the command center, unseen by those in the physical world. The room was unusually full. Until she could get an overview to see if there were any mind travelers there who might see her, she played it safe and dodged behind one of the room’s pillars. She floated up to the very top of the post for the best view she could get at this distance.
The first thing she noticed was three mind travelers in their remote viewing state. They were armed with biophysical lasers. Not good. The mind travelers’ black aura’s told her the men and their weapons were set to kill, and they were watching for her.
The gold energy spot on their foreheads told her they were tired, and none of them had noticed her entering the room. Tired or not, their presence spelled trouble for her. Fay wouldn’t be able to sneak in and out of the room to gather the information she wanted to collect for Logan.
If Fay tried to conceal herself by merging her energy with one of the pillars in the room, the mind travelers’ would see the molecule change and know she was there. The best she could do was to stay hidden behind the post, but it still wasn’t close enough for her to see what she wanted to see.
“We don’t have time for this shit.” Logan’s voice was rather loud. “She looks like she’s taking a nap.” His tone rippled through her mind like a rock skipping across a still pond.
“Well, I’m not.” She could tell by their silence she’d surprised them. They obviously didn’t know a mind traveler could focus her attention in two places at once. “I’ve sent only my mind’s eye to see the target. My physical brain still works, and I’m very capable of hearing every snide remark you make.”
Drakker’s familiar snort of amusement made her smile.
“Good.” Logan’s tone was curt and without apology. “Then we don’t have to wait. Tell us what you’re seeing. Let’s get this over with.”
“I’ve taken cover behind a pillar in the government’s Combat Center. I didn’t expect to see active mind travelers here. I guess they figured I’d be by to see what they were doing. They think they’ve set a trap for me.”
“But you’re not there in the physical, so how can they trap you?” Logan asked.
“They’ve got three armed mind travelers active at this site. If they see me, they can hold my energy…trapping me there or—”
“How?”
“Logan, energy is just as physical in this dimension as it is there.”
“Can they hurt you?” Logan’s concern kissed her heart and showed he did care. The thought brought warmth to her soul.
“If they discover me here, or shoot me with the weapons they’re armed with, yes.”
“How can we protect you?” Drakker’s deep tone made it evident he was concerned as well. Her heart swelled with conflicting emotions.
“You can’t.”
“Then get out of there.”
Was that stone-hearted Logan? Her heart fluttered knowing it was him. Perhaps she could find a common ground with him after all. “Repeat that…please.”
“I said…get out of there, and don’t lead them back here.”
“No, Logan, I won’t.” She checked the other mind travelers’ locations to be sure they hadn’t moved and couldn’t see her in her hidden position. “Hmm. I’ve never seen this before, but I’ve heard about them. Oh wow, it’s cool.”
“What?”
“I’m seeing an NCR map for the first time.”
“What is it?”
She wasn’t sure who spoke. “It’s a raised three-dimensional holographic map. It shows real-life features of the land in colors and details. If you were blind, you could see it.”
“How?”
“From what I’ve heard and am now seeing, the solidity of the hologram allows your hand to move up over mountains and down into valleys. Not only can you feel the different textures of the trees, but the
NCR allows you to feel the temperatures of the rivers, lakes, and oceans. If the mountain is high enough, you can feel the snow atop it.” She drew a breath. “Hmm. It’s quite apparent…when activated, those near the NCR can feel active real-time weather conditions over different areas of the map. Oh!” She giggled. “The guy I’m watching just got his finger zapped by lightning. Idiot. He can see the thunderstorms over those mountains. He shouldn’t have stuck his hand in there. From what I can see in this dimension, a blind man can even see colors in his mind when looking at this map…it vibrates the color-wave frequencies right through you. Essentially, if you can’t see, you can still read this map.”
“Great. Don’t tell me they have our mountain range up.”
“I wish I could follow your orders, Logan, but—”
“They do?”
“Yes, but the good news is they’re not focused on that area right now. I think they’re talking about an area where they think my ship went down.”
“Crap!” Logan swore as the sound of someone pushing out of a chair reached her. “Why can’t you hear them so we know for sure?”
“I can’t get close enough to hear because I’ll be seen by the other mind travelers. They’re positioned there on purpose to keep me away. Wait a minute. I see a messenger coming in. He’s reporting the fighter’s interaction with Arlo and me when we were in the valley.” She grimaced before letting out a sharp breath. “And now, they’re focusing on the mountain range.”
“Shit! I need a brandy.”
A dragging sound near the shelf ruffled her sensitive vibes. A splash of liquid hit the bottom of a glass. The lack of chitchat told her he had to be downing it. Glass met a surface in a slap, and the sudden raspy sound of Logan’s voice rattled her concentration even further.
“What are their plans now? And remember…your body is here with me, Fay Avalon. You lie, you die.”
“Over my dead body, bro,” Drakker warned.
“I can see to that too, dear brother.”
Her heart sped up until she heard Drakker snicker. “Good thing your bark is nastier than your bite, or we’d have a problem.”
Sinful Surrender Page 17
