by Anna Argent
Rather than run, she dragged the fabric cover off of the kiosk he’d demolished earlier when he’d landed on it. Bits of glass and colorful hair accessories flew into the air as she jerked it off and set out at a dead run for the exit.
At least she was going the right way.
The Cyturs were gaining on them by the second. He could tell by the sound coming from behind him that they were closing in fast. There was no way to get out of the mall before the creatures caught them.
“Keep running,” she yelled over her shoulder. “I’m going to slow them down.”
How, he had no idea, but there wasn’t exactly time for a conversation at this point. They were seconds way from being overrun and sliced to pieces. There was no cover here out in the open—no place to slow down their attacks. If the Cyturs caught them now, the fight would last only a few seconds—just long enough for him and Ava to be surrounded by the swarm.
She flung the navy blue fabric on the floor at the end of the hallway leading to the door where they’d broken in. It landed in a rumpled pile of polyester shimmering with chips of broken glass.
Radek didn’t even slow down when he reached the blue cover. Instead, he launched himself over it so he wouldn’t slide down the hall when he hit it.
His intent was to grab Ava’s arm and run, but she ducked down at the last second, leaving him grasping for air.
He skidded to a stop and turned around to go after her, but before he’d made the full turn, flames whooshed up from her hand.
She’d set the fabric on fire, creating a flaming barrier no Cytur would cross.
Their enemy came to a clumsy stop. One of them was shoved into the fire by its peers, and screamed in pain. It flailed around, serving as both a warning and a distraction to the rest.
“That fire won’t hold them long,” she said as she grabbed his arm and tugged.
He didn’t need any more convincing. They raced out of the mall and jumped into the truck.
Normally, Cyturs hated sunlight, but Radek wasn’t about to sit around and see if the remaining glow of daylight would hold them or if they’d simply charge the truck.
He shoved the trusty Ford in gear and screeched through the parking lot as fast as the wheels would take him.
“Loop around to the other side of the building,” Ava said.
“Why?”
“Pickup.”
He did as she asked.
Ava leaned back in the seat as she caught her breath.
“Are you okay?” he asked as he sped around the building.
She nodded. “How bad off are you?”
“Flesh wounds. Nothing vital.”
A sigh of relief parted her lips.
“What about the weapon?” he asked. “Did it come through as promised?”
She pointed to a lump sitting next to a light post. “There. I left it right there when I came in after you.”
He saw a narrow log from a hardwood tree that grew on Loriah. He steered the truck toward it and collected the item they’d risked their lives to possess.
“I’m assuming it’s the weapon. I didn’t stop to figure out how to open the package, but I grabbed the only random tree branch that popped through the hole.”
He found a self-serve car wash and pulled into one of the bays. They weren’t visible from the street here, but just in case, he cut the engine and turned off the headlights.
Shadows lined her face, but he could still see the scrapes and bruises she wore. There was white dust clinging to her hair, and a look about her that said she’d had enough excitement for one day.
He only wished he could grant her a reprieve. But with her family at stake and a weapon at their disposal that might be able to put the smack down on some Raide ass, there was no taking a break.
“Why did you come back for me?” he asked. “I thought we had a plan.”
“I couldn’t leave you behind. When I came out and you didn’t, there was no choice but to go back for you.”
The idea that she cared that much about him made him feel warm and tingly around the general region of his heart. “It wasn’t smart to take risks like that. Next time, stick to the plan.”
“Next time, get your butt out to the meeting place before I start to panic. Or, better yet, how about we don’t have a next time. I’d much rather never go through that kind of scare again, if it’s all the same to you.”
“I’ll do what I can to make it a priority. In the meantime, we have work to do.” He reached for the tree branch, but Ava caught his arm.
“First, we patch you up. If things get ugly again, you’re going to need all the blood you can get on the inside, not on your seats.”
Because she was right, he didn’t argue. Instead, he let her clean his wounds and cover them with Imonite liquid skin. The feel of her fingers on his body was a better painkiller than any medicine ever created, and after a few minutes, he simply closed his eyes and let her do whatever she pleased.
“All better,” she said. “Now you can play with your toys.”
The tree branch Zoe sent was a puzzle in and of itself. It took him several tries, but he finally managed to find the hidden release that split the branch open like a clam shell.
There were two items inside, both an odd mix of Imonite and human technology. Some parts were sleek, plastic-looking pieces, while others were the intricate, interlocking metalwork and brightly colored fluids he’d come to associate with a master Imonite craftsman.
Radek picked up the larger item, which activated a screen embedded in the lid.
An image of Zoe’s smiling face appeared. She was pretty, with clear brown eyes, and hair that looked in need of a good brushing. The mess was pulled up into a sloppy ponytail and held there with a small screwdriver.
“Hey, guys. If you’re seeing this, then it means that the drop off worked and my DNA recognition program identified contact with Radek.” She waved, showing off long, graceful fingers meant for crafting delicate, complex tech. “Hi, Radek! I imagine you don’t have a lot of time, so I’ll be brief.” She held up the smaller gadget. “This is a device designed to detect Raide communications. Just go to the top of a building or some other high ground—at night—and turn it on. It’s pretty intuitive. This,” she held up the larger device in the box, “is the weapon. You operate it by putting in your target or exclusionary DNA here.” She lifted a small door in the side of the machine that was just big enough for a finger to fit inside. “This is the button that makes it go.” She pointed to a button in red labeled KILL.
“If you put a sample in the hole and push the kill button, then everything in a planet-wide radius that is like that thing will be killed. There’s a sensitivity knob here.” She turned the weapon around and showed where it was. “High sensitivity will get you closer to the sample, so if you’re trying to kill a specific person, set it all the way to eleven. If you want to kill his family, then nine or ten should do it. If you want to kill everyone who is of a similar kingdom—say all animals—then set it to one. Three should kill all mammals. I’ve put a handy-dandy color code on the knob to help with choosing your preferences. Just keep in mind that human, Loriahan, and Raide DNA are close enough that if one species is set to be killed, all of the species will die. No planet-wide killing of just one of those races. My simulations show that the closest you can reliably get is killing one specific family.
“There are also settings for Dregorgs and Cyturs, which I had DNA samples for, but there’s only enough juice for one blast, so choose wisely. The machine will burn itself up when it detonates. I’m working on another, but it will be a while.
“Obviously, I haven’t done much testing, so I’d be really careful with how you use the thing. It would be super easy to kill yourself, which none of us want to happen. That whole kill several species at once thing is really a last resort, because I’d like to see your smiling face again soon. Got it?
“If you have any questions, I’ll be standing by at the next few open windows.” Zoe gav
e the camera a strained smile that reeked of fear. “Good luck. You’re going to need it.”
The recording winked out, leaving him staring at the weapon in his hands.
“Holy weapon of mass destruction, Radek. Who was that woman?” Ava asked.
“A brilliant inventor who I really hope was on her A-game when she cranked out this thing.”
“No kidding. Did you see these settings?” She pointed to the knob. “Kill all Dregorgs. Kill all Cyturs. Kill all humans/Raide/Loriahans.” Her face was pale and stamped with disbelief. “Is she fucking kidding?”
“I wish. Sadly, I think she knew exactly what she was doing when she set up the weapon.”
Ava sat back and stared out of the window. “The possible potential for devastation is mind boggling.”
“I’m glad to see you taking it seriously.”
“I don’t even want to touch the thing.”
“It’s not that scary. All we have to do is get a sample of Dimas’s DNA and put the sensitivity up high. Only the Raide of his bloodline have to get hurt.”
“What about the Cyturs and Dregorgs? If the Raide are killed, how will we deal with them?”
“We’re just going to have to take this one step at a time. Dimas is known to use his children as military leaders. Once they’re all are dead, it’s going to be a lot easier for the human military to clean up what’s left. With no one to give orders and plan attacks, Cyturs and Dregorgs will scatter. No more troops will be sent here. The invasion will be over. Humans will go back to their lives in just a few weeks.”
She shook her head, making her curls dance. “We don’t even know how many Raide are here, or how many of their soldiers they brought.”
“No, but I do know that the longer we wait, the more troops will arrive. I’ve heard stories about how a single Raide commander can overthrow an entire planet using only war slaves. Fear is their main weapon of choice, and they’ve learned how to use it well.”
“And they have my family,” Ava said.
He covered her chilly hand. “We’ll get them back.”
“How? We don’t even know where they are. All we know is that Dimas tortured my mother and sister until they agreed to say whatever he wanted. If I do what he wants and walk into his trap, chances are I won’t live long enough to rescue them.”
“Then we don’t walk into his trap. We figure out where he is now and take the fight to him and kill him.”
“You make it sound easy.”
“Oh, I’m sure it’s not, but at least the first part will be.” He picked up the small device Zoe had built. “As soon as it’s dark, we’ll use this to find him.”
“That tracks communications, not people.”
“Yes, but if you’d ever been in war, you’d know that communications are crucial. There’s no way Dimas would be out of contact with his troops or any commanders he might have in play.”
Her face brightened a bit, making her even more beautiful than normal. “You think this will show us where he is?”
“Or where his son is. Either way it’s a win.”
She took the device and cradled it in her hands, turning it over with loving care as she studied it. “It’s getting dark. Let’s go find us the tallest building around, Radek.”
A wave of dizziness swept through him, and his hands started to shake.
He hadn’t had a dose of blockers in too many hours, and like always, the symptoms hit him hard and fast.
“You don’t look so good,” Ava said. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.” His voice cracked as a muscle spasm gripped his body. His stomach cramped, and the muscles of his back tightened in ripples of pain.
He couldn’t stop the gasp that left his lips, or the way he curled in on himself.
Ava’s voice wavered with fear. “Radek? What’s wrong? Talk to me.”
He couldn’t speak. Not while in the throes of this spasm.
He’d wanted to stretch out the doses he had left and make them last, but obviously that wasn’t going to be an option. When the prison wardens had concocted their chemical leash, they’d made sure it was a strong one. No way was he going to last another few minutes like this, much less a few hours.
“Tell me what to do,” she said. “You’re freaking me out.”
“Syringe. Glove box.” His words were barely recognizable through his clenched jaw.
He heard her rifle through the compartment, searching for the blockers. A couple of seconds later, she handed it to him. “Here.”
He didn’t even bother disinfecting his skin—just jabbed the three-pronged needle into his thigh to empty the cocktail into his system.
The spasms eased almost instantly, giving him room to breathe.
He sat there, panting for a minute.
“What the hell was that?” she asked.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead and gave her what he hoped was a casual nod. “Nothing. Just a little perk-me-up.”
“Bull. Now spill.”
“It doesn’t matter, Ava. It’s all over now.”
“Will it happen again?”
“No,” he lied.
“Well, it had better not, because that was the last syringe you have.”
Panic stole over him as her words sank in. “What? No. There was another one in there.”
She picked up the remains of a broken syringe. The three tiny tubes running through it that had once held the antidote to his poison were crushed, and all the fluid had leaked out.
“It’s broken. Looks like it got pinched in the latch the last time someone closed the glove box.”
His heart sank. That was his last dose, and there was no way to get more—not on this planet.
As reality worked its way in through the cracks in his denial, he realized what this meant. He had only a little more than day left to find Dimas and kill him—only a little more than a day to spend with Ava before his clock ran out.
It wasn’t enough time, not with Ava. It was never going to be enough time, not even if he got to spend an eternity with her. He would always want more.
All he could do now was accept that his run was over and make the most of what he had left, because in roughly twenty-six hours, Radek was a dead man.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Radek was hiding something. Ava could tell by the way he wouldn’t meet her gaze and refused to answer her questions for the last two hours.
She refused to give up though, because whatever was going on with him was big. Huge.
“I’ve seen you fight swarms of Cyturs and not look half as afraid as you are now,” she said. “You might as well tell me what’s going on.”
He drove like a madman, slinging around corners in the parking garage like death itself was on his tail.
“Nothing you need to worry about. We just need to focus on getting up high enough to find Dimas.”
“You’re rattled. I think I deserve to know why.”
“You deserve to be reunited with your family, which is exactly what I’m trying to do.” The truck came to a squealing stop on the top level of the garage. He left the engine running while he got out and pulled Zoe’s gadget from the back seat.
His usual fluid grace was gone, as was his jovial spirit. He was all stern determination and cold business now, and she didn’t like it.
She followed him around to the bed of the truck. He stepped up in it, squeezing to one side of his motorcycle. She crawled up to stand beside him, struggling to look past his wide shoulders.
He held the gadget in front of him and pushed the GO button.
Liquid hissed as it was sprayed in the air. She couldn’t see it or smell it, but there was a faint shimmer wherever light passed through the mist.
After a couple of seconds, strands of yellow light began to solidify within the fine spray of liquid that surrounded them. The strands looked like grainy ribbons stretched tight between different points. Some went overhead, others could barely be seen in the distance, but they all seemed to be conver
ging somewhere to the north.
“Whoa,” she breathed.
“Yeah. No kidding. Zoe’s got a knack for this stuff. I’m glad she’s on our side.”
Ava was too. She couldn’t even begin to figure out how this technology worked, much less replicate it. “What does it mean?”
“The yellow light is Raide communications.”
“Their signals are going everywhere.”
Radek nodded. “Not good news for the human race.”
“It means Dimas has a lot of ground troops spread out, doesn’t it?”
“That would fit the pattern for their typical invasion tactics. More aliens showing their faces means more fear. More fear creates more chaos. More chaos makes it much easier for the Raide war machine to move freely about a planet.”
Ava refused to spend too much time thinking about how bad things could get. So far everyone was hunkered down in hiding, but once they got hungry, the desolate peace on the streets right now would disappear. Riots and looting would get worse. People would kill each other for what they had, and as soon as dead bodies started piling up, disease would spread, creating more desperation.
She couldn’t let that happen. She had to do whatever it took to stop Dimas cold. “We have to go north. That’s where the majority of the signals are coming from. Dimas has to be there.”
“Agreed, but I can’t tell exactly where. The communication trails lead over the horizon, out of sight.”
“We’ll stop again in a few miles and see where we stand. Make sure we’re on the right track.”
He turned off the device and turned it sideways. There was a clear vial filled with liquid. Like a graduated cylinder, small marks along the edge of the housing showed a measure of how much was left inside. “We used up a quarter of the liquid already.”
Three more chances. “It will have to be enough. We’ll make sure it is.”
His expression was grim, but he didn’t argue. “Come on. Once the sun is up, we won’t be able to see the light at all. We need to know where we’re going before sunrise.”
They piled back in the truck and headed north.
After a few minutes of silence, she couldn’t take it anymore. Her imagination kept coming up with horrible scenarios that would slaughter her will to keep going if she let them take over. She had to stay positive and focused. Or at least distracted.
