Taken by Force

by Anna Argent

  The wire? Maybe. But if not that, then there was something else dangerous enough that Mom didn’t simply grab Emily and run.

  Something else caught Ava’s interest, but she wasn’t yet sure what it was. All she knew was she had a nagging feeling that she was missing something.

  “Another one down,” said Radek as he searched for the next barrier on their path.

  Ava tried to shut out everything else but the photo. She zoomed in to the point that it was fuzzy and moved slowly over every inch.

  A section of concrete floor was wrong. As she studied it, she realized what it was she was seeing. It was a reflection of light on the floor—one that looked like starlight bouncing off of water. “They have a window open up there.”

  Radek gave her a distracted grunt. “I told you that the Raide have tech that allows them to open a window where and when they please.”

  “Where does it go?”

  “There’s no way to know by looking at it.”

  There was more reflected light in a dark window in the background. “It’s big—bigger than the ones I’ve seen.”

  He stopped what he was doing and came to look over her shoulder. “That’s not a window. That’s a door.”

  “What’s the difference?”

  “Size, mostly. It takes a lot of power to keep something that big open for that long.”

  Something in her brain clicked into place. “So they wouldn’t open it until they needed it?”

  “No, but the bigger it is, the longer it will take to open. They’d need a head start.”

  “How long?”

  He shook his head. “I was never very good at math, but I do know that the time it takes for a window or door to open is related to its area. I’ve heard stories about doors big enough to let ships come though needing hours to open.”

  “What’s the next phase of an invasion? After all of the scare tactics and forcing people in their homes?”

  “I suppose that depends on the situation.”

  She nodded. “The strength of the military, an enemy’s weapons, their technology, readiness and willingness to fight, status of their supply lines… I got it. Lots of variables. I’m asking you what you know.”

  “On Loriah, once the Raide had come and scared everyone with a handful of their war slaves, once they knew what they were up against and had seen our military fight, then they brought in reinforcements.”

  “Did they use doors?”

  He frowned at her. “How else would they get to us? Their world is several lifetimes away if they were to try to fly it. Do you have any idea how big the universe is?”

  “No warp speed, huh?”

  “No. Windows are the way to go. Trust me.”

  “I do. And now I need you to trust me.”

  “Okay,” he said. “About what?”

  “We need a faster way up there, because if we don’t make it to them before that door is open, we’re going to have a lot more enemies on our hands than just a couple of Raide assholes and their lackeys.”

  “I can only go as fast as I can go, Ava. Hurrying will get us both dead.”

  She quit arguing and backtracked down the steps to the next floor. The hallway on the other side of the door was being tiled. There were stacks of boxed tile, adhesive and grout, but no tools.

  She pried open one of the boxes and grabbed several tiles. They were about eighteen inches square, and heavy enough she was sweating by the time she hauled them back to Radek.

  “What are those for?” he asked.

  She picked up one and slammed the edge of it against the blue glasslike tube that she thought was acting as a camera.

  The tube shattered, and the faint glow running through it flickered out.

  “Now that they can’t see us, we’re going to set off some traps—make them think we’re dead.”

  “Why?”

  “I want to see Dimas’s reaction.”

  He frowned at her. “I’m not following your logic, Ava. Why do you want to see that?”

  “Because I need to know what he wants.”

  “Still not following you.”

  She handed him a tile. “You’re way stronger than I am. How far can you toss this? From outside the blast range?”

  “I think so. Raide traps are usually small enough that they don’t do any structural damage. Mostly, they just want to keep people away. They’re not in the business of rebuilding—they’d much rather take over what someone else has built.”

  She opened the heavy fire door on the landing below. “Come hide behind here with me.”

  “This isn’t a great idea, Ava.”

  “We have to get up there, and we’re running out of time. Please. Just toss the tile and set off one of the traps.”

  He nodded. “You go down that hall at least twenty feet.”

  “Whatever it takes to get you to play along.”

  As soon as she was at what he deemed a safe distance, he reached around the steel door and flung the heavy ceramic tile.

  Before he’d had time to do more than roll inside the door, a deafening blast shook the walls.

  Ava instinctively crouched and covered her head as dust rained down from the open ceiling. As soon as her reflexes let go of her body enough for her to move, she raced to Radek.

  He’d been pushed back by the door, and landed on his ass, but there was no blood.

  She reached down to offer him a hand up. “Are you hurt?”

  He shook his head and wrapped his wrist around hers and pulled on her to regain his feet. He swayed for a second, but she couldn’t tell if he’d been injured, or if the blast had affected his ears and balance.

  She grabbed his wide shoulder to steady him. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m fine. But let’s not do that again, okay?”

  They still had another eight floors to go, and it was definitely faster to clear them out this way.

  “Ready for the second part?”

  “Of what?” he asked.

  “Of learning just how important I am to Dimas alive.”

  “What do I have to do now?”

  “Play dead.”

  *****

  Dimas felt the explosion vibrate the floor under his feet. Alarms built into his armor sounded, warning him that his perimeter had been breached.

  As if he didn’t already know.

  “What was that?” asked the older human woman.

  Korlayan answered for him. “That was the sound of your daughter being blown to very small pieces.”

  Alice let out a sob and hugged her unconscious daughter tighter.

  “We don’t know that,” said Dimas, not because he wanted to soothe the woman, but because he needed to teach his son a lesson. “All we know is that our monitoring conduit was destroyed, and a moment later, one of our traps went off. Some sort of rodent could have come by and detonated the device.”

  “My apologies, Father. I will go see what happened and report back to you.”

  Dimas threw him a patch kit for the broken monitoring conduit. “Make the repair while you’re at it.”

  “Yes, Father.” Korlayan beckoned two Dregorgs to accompany him and disappeared behind the stairwell door.

  The woman was crying quietly in her cage, distracting Dimas.

  “Why do you care what happens to her?” he asked. “She’s not even of your own flesh.”

  “I raised her from the time she was in diapers. She’s a smart, courageous, loving young woman who has worked hard to take care of our family when I couldn’t. Only a monster wouldn’t cry over her loss.”

  Humans were odd creatures, putting far too much value on each other. They were emotional, but not in any predictable way. The same stimulus evoked a range of responses, based on the particular animal. While this woman responded with tears, another would have shown him rage at the death of a loved one.

  If Dimas didn’t figure out how to determine what made these humans behave as they did, he was never going to be able to control them.
<
br />   And that was why he needed Ava. She was Loriahan, but she had lived among these human animals. She knew them, called them family. If that experience combined with her inherited genetic knowledge of strategy and tactics didn’t give him the leverage he needed to overthrow Earth, then the battle here was going to be long and exhausting.

  “I don’t think Ava is dead,” he told Alice.

  She sniffed and looked up, but didn’t meet his gaze. “You don’t? Why not?”

  “Because it would inconvenience me greatly.”

  “Inconvenience you?”

  “Yes.” He pointed to the lower section of the command console where a timer counted down the minutes until the door to a war slave home world opened. “I realize you can’t read our language, but suffice it to say that when that timer reaches zero, doors all across your planet are going to open, bringing in the gears of my war machine. It is Ava who will lead them in taking over this world.”

  Denial sharpened Alice’s features. “You’re wrong. This is her home too. She’d never do anything to help you hurt the people here.”

  “She will. It’s why you’re here. Why your daughter is here. If there is one thing I know about Ava, it’s that she would defend her family to the death. I’ve spent a long time studying her, and there is no doubt in my mind of that truth.” He moved to the edge of the cage, daring the woman to look him in the eye. “When the human race falls, it will be because Ava loved you too much to let the two of you die.”

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Ava laid so still she barely breathed.

  She’d scored a cut across her cheek, smudged her face with soot, and scattered broken bits of drywall over herself before sprawling next to Radek on the landing.

  If she looked half as dead as he did, her trick might just work.

  All she needed to do was get them upstairs where Dimas held her family. She’d hidden several weapons on her body in the hopes that even if they searched her, she’d still have at least one left on her when she arrived.

  Heavy footsteps sounded on the floor above. At least three creatures were headed this way. The musky smell of Dregorg reached her first, hovering just below the scent of charred plastic and drywall dust.

  She stayed still when one of the Dregorgs stepped so close she felt it shift the debris around her.

  “Is she alive?” asked a man she thought was Korlayan.

  “She breathes little,” came a low, rough Dregorg voice.

  “Pick her up. Gently. If you kill her, Father will punish you.”

  She heard more debris being moved, like someone was rooting around in it. Maybe Radek was buried deeper than she thought. The need to take a peek and see what was happening screamed at her, but she resisted. If she gave away the fact that she was playing unconscious, it could endanger Radek’s life as well as her own.

  Big, hot Dregorg hands slid under her body and lifted her up against a soft, stinky chest. Not gagging on the smell took every bit of her willpower.

  “Bring her,” said Korlayan, his voice already fading as he left.

  “Bring the Sorican male?” asked a second Dregorg.

  “No,” said Korlayan. “Orac failed to kill him before and his family was punished. Learn from his mistake, Arut. Kill him.”

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Radek opened his eyes to find a giant pair of orange Dregorg eyes staring back at him.

  He reached for his maulst, which lay nearby, hidden under a broken section of drywall. Before his fingers could finish closing around the handle, a huge, scalding hot foot pinned his arm in place while a hand covered his mouth.

  The need to fight pounded through Radek’s body, but his instincts told him to wait.

  When the Dregorg made no move to obey his orders to kill, it became clear that there was something else going on.

  Radek caught a fleeting glimpse of Ava’s limp arm disappearing up the stairs as the Dregorg took her away.

  He shoved against the giant’s hold, but all he got for his trouble was more weight pinning him in place.

  “Be still, friend of Oc,” whispered Arut.

  Like Radek had any choice.

  After what felt like another hour, but was probably less than two minutes, the beast finally moved his hand so Radek could speak. “I need to go after her.”

  “Your mate is safe. For now.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “Dimas needs her. Not you. You will be killed.”

  “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to be doing?”

  “Dregorgs need Radek. Come.”

  Arut helped him up and waited while he gathered his maulst and the duffel bag containing the weapon Zoe had created.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Dimas brings Dregorg children here to fight. You must close the door. Stop him.”

  “How do I do that?”

  Arut pulled out his red blade and cut Radek’s upper arm deep enough to bleed.

  “Ow! What the hell, Arut?”

  “No time. You go. Save mine.” He ripped the maulst from Radek’s grip and stole the duffel bag.

  “Give those back.”

  “Proof of death, friend of Oc.” He held up the maulst. “Trick is broken without proof of death. Blood is not enough this time.”

  Oh, right. They’d already pulled that blood trick once and Radek was still alive, but only a dead Sorican warrior would give up his maulst.

  “Make sure Ava gets that bag. There’s a weapon inside she’s going to need.”

  “Yes.” Arut shoved Radek toward the stairwell entrance. “Go. Door must not open.”

  “How am I supposed to stop it?”

  “I protect mate of Radek. You save Dregorg children from human slaughter.”

  He didn’t know if Arut meant that he was supposed to save the humans from being slaughtered by Dregorg children, or if he was saving the children from having to be the ones to slaughter humans. Either way, his decision was the same.

  “Okay. You’ve got a deal. Keep Ava safe and I’ll protect your children from war.”

  “Cyturs guard Dregorg children. Cyturs will kill mine if Dimas orders it. Too many Cyturs for Dregorgs to fight. All mine will die.”

  So, not only did Radek have to stop the door from opening and bringing through reinforcements, he also had to find a way to keep Dimas from sending through orders that would cause the large number of Cyturs on the Dregorg home world to slaughter innocent Dregorgs.

  No problem. He’d find a cure to his little poison problem while he was at it too.

  “How long until the door opens?” Radek asked.

  Arut frowned, making the flesh folds along his head quiver. “Six puruk.”

  Radek did some quick calculations, converting the Raide measure of time to human hours. “That is right at eight tonight.”

  His blockers weren’t going to last much past that, but he thought he’d have enough time to do this one last job. Save a bunch of Dregorg children. Go out with a bang. It was more than a lot of men ever got.

  Rather than think about the fact that death was speeding his way, he focused on the task at hand. “Is there another way up there? I’m assuming that I can’t just walk up the stairs without being killed.”

  “Use the tunnel. Only two traps.”

  “Tunnel?”

  Arut pointed his thick finger up. “Tunnel in center of building.”

  “You mean the elevator shaft?”

  “Yes. Two traps, friend of Oc. Find both.”

  “Got it. And when I get up there, how am I going to cut open the doors without my maulst?”

  “Tap. Arut will hear.”

  “And you’ll open the doors for me?”

  The Dregorg nodded. “Two traps.”

  And then he left.

  Radek watched Arut leave, hoping the Dregorg was good to his word. Ava was up there alone, and while she was smart and brave and tough, she still had a tender heart. With her family at stake, it was going to be easy for Dimas t
o use that against her.

  Radek was going to make sure he got up there and killed the fucker before he could.

  *****

  “I know you’re awake,” Dimas said. “What I don’t know is what game you’re playing. If you’d met my troops in Texas as we’d arranged, you wouldn’t have had to go to all of this trouble to find me.”

  Ava debated keeping up her ruse, but playing the unconscious victim wasn’t getting her anywhere. She needed information. A plan.

  A way to save her family.

  She cracked open her eyes just enough to make sure she wasn’t staring into a Raide pain gaze. As soon as she saw that Dimas was several yards away, standing next to some sort of command console, she sat up.

  She was lying on the unfinished concrete floor. The Dregorg who had carried her up here stood nearby. Korlayan was over by his father. Several more Dregorgs and Cyturs stood around the perimeter of the large space, lining the walls of windows. Half of them were facing inward, watching her, and the other half were keeping an eye on what was going on outside.

  One entire half of the floor was taken up by the flickering, liquid light of the door. It was huge—at least sixty feet wide and fifteen feet high, floating in space with no support or framework she could see.

  The light wasn’t solid yet—the door wasn’t open—but it was close. Only a few open spots remained, giving her fleeting glimpses of the wall behind it.

  On the other side of the room was Mom and Emily. They were sitting on the hard floor inside a perimeter set by a glowing orange ring suspended at waist height. Emily was pale and lying with her head pillowed in Mom’s lap.

  Tears streamed down Mom’s face as she watched Ava.

  This was the woman who’d taken her in and raised her as her own. She was the one who’d been there for all of the schoolyard fights and the mean kids who’d tormented Ava because they instinctively knew she was different. This was the woman who’d kissed her boo-boos and given her every chance at some kind of normal life here. And now she was being held prisoner by monsters who were using her to get to Ava.