by Anna Hackett
Reed held on tight to Natalya’s hand. He didn’t want to let her go. Watching that alien creature take her… Reed barely had his shaking hands under control. It had been the fucking worst moment of his life. He just wanted to pack her back into the boat and get out of there.
But they had a mission. And even after the ordeal she’d just faced, she was staring ahead, shoulders back.
So much courage. He smiled, and together they moved with the team, sticking to the shadows and following Devlin toward the spaceship.
It was slow going. They used what they could for cover and avoided the small duos and trios of raptors patrolling the area. Sometimes they had to lie flat on the ground as ptero ships flew nearby.
But soon, the alien ship reared up above them, a towering black hulk.
Fuck. It was huge. Devlin led them right alongside it.
Finally, he stopped. He touched the side of the ship…and his arm disappeared.
What the hell? Through his night-vision lens, Reed could just make out where Devlin was touching was a lighter-colored patch on the ship. It was a dark gray compared to the ship’s matte-black hull that looked like it was made of scales.
“It’s some sort of membrane,” Devlin murmured. “It covers an exhaust shaft that leads into the heart of the ship. We have to crawl in.”
Great. Just fucking great. Reed sucked in a breath. Nothing he loved more than climbing through a tight space. Natalya’s hand slipped into his. She looked like she knew just what was running through his mind.
“All right. Devlin will lead the way,” Marcus ordered. “I’ll go next. Then Gabe, Roth, Natalya, Reed. Claudia and Shaw, you bring up the rear.”
Devlin squeezed through the membrane and disappeared into the ship. Marcus followed, then Gabe and Roth.
“You’re up,” Reed said to Natalya. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Claudia leaned around him. “That way he’ll get to watch your ass the entire time.” She grinned. “And I’ll get to watch his mighty fine one. Hope you don’t mind, it’ll be in a purely objective, feminine way.”
Natalya smiled, took a deep breath, then climbed through the membrane. Reed shook his head at Claudia. He knew she was just trying to keep Natalya calm. With a small salute, he crouched and slipped inside.
It was dark, even with his night vision. The narrow tunnel was barely wide enough for his shoulders. Damn, Gabe had to be feeling the pinch. The sides were slick and just a little spongy. It was odd. He’d never seen anything like it before.
“Ugh,” Natalya said from in front of him.
“What?”
“Nothing important. I just have…unidentified goo on my gloves.”
He frowned. “Is it burning?”
“No, Reed.” Amusement in her voice. “Nothing to worry about. It’s just gross.”
He grinned and they kept moving steadily. The tunnel turned a little, then took on an upward gradient. A few times, Natalya slipped and he caught her. After a while, it leveled out.
Finally, Roth turned back to them. “The others have dropped down through a hole. It’s covered by a membrane like the entrance. I’ll go down, and Natalya, I’ll be waiting to catch you.”
“Got it,” she said.
Peering around Natalya, Reed just made out Roth as he swung down into the hole.
Natalya gripped the edge, determination on her face, then lowered herself into it. Reed watched her drop and Roth catch her.
A second later, he jumped through, landing in a crouch.
The room they’d landed in was filled with…they looked almost like eggs made of an amber-colored glass that reminded him of the Genesis Facility.
“We’ve seen this before,” Marcus said, staring at the dome-covered beds. “This is where the raptors sleep.”
“Really?” Natalya moved closer to one.
Reed heard the curiosity in her voice. Ever the scientist.
She peered through the amber cover, then jerked back. “Oh, God, there’s a raptor in there.” Her voice was a frantic whisper.
Reed grabbed her arm and pulled her back into the tight group of the team.
“Devlin, let’s not hang around here,” Marcus suggested.
The man nodded. “This way.”
The squad moved in a tight formation, guns up. They followed Devlin down a long, curved hall. The walls were black but a glowing orange light pulsed through them.
Suddenly, Gabe went stiff. “Raptors. Headed this way.”
Everyone froze. A second later, Reed heard it. The distant sounds of footsteps and raspy raptor voices.
Shit. He looked around. There was nowhere to hide here. No doorways. Nothing for cover.
He pushed Natalya behind him. They stayed there, frozen, ready to fight.
Then the sounds slowly faded.
“Keep moving.” Marcus murmured.
Devlin led them into the cube room he’d shown them on the camera. Natalya gasped and hurried over to the stack of cubes. They towered over her head, all blinking on and off.
“Reed, watch Natalya.” Marcus indicated with his head. “Everyone else, secure the exits. No one in or out.”
Reed watched Natalya work. A crease furrowed her brow as she studied the cubes. She pulled one of her cubes out and clicked it into place, then she looked at her analyzer. All that focused concentration. He was so proud of her. Coming here was her worst nightmare, but there was no sign of nerves at being in the center of an alien spaceship. She was nobody’s victim.
Then she cursed under her breath and looked up. Her brown eyes were troubled. “It’s not working.”
Reed sensed the others tense.
“It should work.” She shook her head. “But nothing’s happening.”
“Stay calm.” He edged closer. “You had it working back at base, right? You said it neutralized the other cubes you tested it with. Come on, use that exceptional brain of yours. I know you can work it out.”
She released a long breath. “The tests worked perfectly. I know the virus is fine. So…it must not be interfacing with these cubes properly.”
“Why wouldn’t it work here?”
“I don’t know,” she bit out. She turned and stared at the mountain of cubes. “Something here is stopping it.” Her gaze traveled over everything in the room. “I don’t see anything—”
Her voice cut off.
Reed followed her gaze. “What? What do you see?”
“That.” She moved forward.
Reed saw what looked like a small, black comp screen on a stand. It was connected to the cubes.
She reached out, hesitated for a second, then pressed her palm to the screen. It flared to life and she snatched her hand back. She held up her analyzer.
“This is it.” Excitement in her voice. “It’s some sort of…authorization panel.” Her face fell. “Oh, no, Reed. We need a raptor to do this.”
Raptor symbols—they looked like claw scratches and gouges—appeared on the screen in a bright-gold color.
Natalya shook her head. “I don’t know any raptor. Elle’s the expert, right? And we can’t contact her.”
There were a few muttered curses behind them.
“Maybe you do,” Reed suggested carefully.
Natalya turned her head slowly to face him. “I don’t even remember speaking the raptor before, Reed. It wasn’t a conscious thing. I certainly can’t read any of this.” She banged a fist against the screen.
Reed cupped her shoulders, hated that the armor hid her skin from him. “So stop thinking.” He lifted her right hand, tugged off her glove, and gently placed her palm on the screen. “Just feel.”
She closed her eyes.
The screen flashed, and then her fingers were moving, touching various symbols.
There was a deep beep. Natalya snatched her hand back, and pressed into Reed’s chest.
The lights on the nearest cube to Natalya’s, flickered…then blinked off. Slowly, the surrounding cubes did the same.
“It’s
working!” She pressed her hand to her mouth. “The virus is spreading, slowly but surely.”
“You did it.” He spun her and yanked her up for a quick kiss.
She was grinning.
Marcus came over. “Well done, Natalya.” He eyed the cubes. “Looks like it’ll take a while to spread to all the cubes. Devlin tells me there are more in the rooms connected to this one. Five rooms in total.”
“The process should speed up as the virus replicates exponentially.” Natalya watched the dying lights. “But the raptors will figure out something is wrong soon. We can’t let them stop it.”
“Okay, Hell Squad.” Marcus swiveled. “We need to make sure no raptors get to these cubes before the virus finishes its job. Stay alert.”
Once all the cubes had turned black, they moved into the next room. The virus was already well into killing the next set of cubes.
Hell Squad was tense, waiting at the doors, staring down their sights, ready for anything. Reed knew the aliens would come. It was only a matter of time.
The waiting was agony. It seemed to take forever for the lights on the cubes to wink out.
Finally, they moved into the final room. And their luck ran out.
“They’re coming,” Gabe said.
Reed couldn’t hear anything but didn’t doubt the other man’s uncanny hearing.
Marcus settled against a doorway with his carbine. “All right, Hell Squad, let’s do what we do best. Ready to go to hell?”
“Hell, yeah.” Their war cry was murmured, but no less powerful. “The devil needs an ass-kicking.”
Reed waited at his assigned doorway. Natalya was crouched by the cubes with as much cover as she could find.
Raptors poured down the corridor, their boots pounding on the floor, their weapons firing their burning poison.
Hell Squad opened fire.
The aliens kept coming and Hell Squad kept shooting. Claudia lobbed a grenade. It exploded, filling the hall with flames, smoke and screaming raptors.
Suddenly, a body appeared beside Reed, shooting. Natalya.
She held her laser pistol gripped exactly how he’d taught her. And her face had the same, steady look he’d seen on many soldiers in the field.
“Shit, watch out for the floor!” Roth yelled through the comms.
Reed swiveled and saw parts of the floor were opening and closing in the room. Trapdoors. One opened and a part of the pile of cubes poured down through it.
Another opened nearby and Gabe leapt off it just in time.
Reed gripped Natalya’s arm. “Watch out—”
The floor opened up beneath them and they fell.
Chapter Fifteen
Natalya hit the ground, her hip taking the brunt of her fall. Pain shot through her. She heard the slap of Reed’s body hitting beside her.
She was a little dazed, but he jumped to his feet and pulled her up.
“Anything broken?” he asked.
She shook her head. She squinted through the darkness. It was some sort of storage area beneath the room above. Organic raptor pipes and cables snaked along the walls and the floor. Fallen cubes were scattered around like giant dice.
Then she heard the grunts. She stepped backward, bumping into Reed.
He shoved her behind him and lifted his carbine. Three large raptor soldiers stepped out of the darkness, their red eyes glowing.
Reed fired. “Get down!”
Natalya obeyed and scuttled backward. She watched Reed kill one raptor, but the other two were on him. The fight was so fast, bodies whirling, fists hitting flesh, she couldn’t work out what was going on.
Then she saw Reed tumbling, wrestling with one of the raptors. They slammed into a wall and then were rolling again, each fighting for supremacy.
That was when Natalya saw two black boots appear in front of her.
She looked up—way up—at the third raptor. His teeth were bared, his gaze fixed on her.
A shiver ran through her, but she forced her fear away. She was done cowering. She stood. Her hand fumbled on her belt, but her laser pistol was gone. She must have lost it in the fall. Her hand touched the second cube. She pulled it out. It wasn’t much of a weapon…unless…
The raptor snorted and she lifted her chin. “You should have left us alone.”
As she spoke the raptor language, the raptor’s eyes widened. “You are…Gizzida?”
She shook her head. “I am not one of you. I’m human and we will fight for what is ours. Our lives, our planet.” She lifted the cube, its red lights casting a glow on her hands and the raptor’s scaled chest. “And I’ll fight for the man I love.”
The raptor moved, swinging his weapon up. But Natalya sprung forward and jammed the cube against the raptor’s neck.
She leapt backward, watching as red electricity ran over the alien’s body. He jolted, his eyes wide, a gurgling sound coming from his throat. Then he collapsed.
Reed staggered toward her. He was holding his combat knife and it was covered in blood. “You all right?”
She eyed the raptor she’d just killed. “Yes. I think I am.”
Reed pulled her close. “You got a scratch on your cheek.” He rubbed at it. “I heard you speak to it. What did you say?”
“That I’d fight for my life, my planet…my man.”
His lips quirked. “I’m your man, huh?”
She gripped his neck and yanked his face down to hers. “You are, Reed MacKinnon. You’re not getting away now.”
“I have no intention of going anywhere.” He shifted her to his side. “Come on. Let’s get back upstairs and find the others.”
They didn’t find any stairs, but they did find some stringy ropes hanging down from an opening to the upper level. Reed shimmied up like a pro, but it took Natalya a little longer. Then they followed the sounds of battle to rejoin Hell Squad.
The fighting was fierce in the cube room. Raptor poison and laser fire was everywhere, creating sizzling patches on the ground and scorched burn marks on the wall.
She glanced at the cubes and saw they were almost all shut down. Her heart leapt. Three. Two. She watched the flickering lights on the final cube blink out. One.
The room plunged into darkness.
“Night vision!” Marcus called out. “And that’s our cue to leave.”
The night-vision lens helped, but Natalya had trouble making out who was who in the funny green shadows.
“Get back to the vent shaft.” Marcus was already walking backward in the direction they’d come, but still firing into the corridor.
But when they all reached the doorway to the previous cube room, Natalya gasped.
More raptors were coming in. And this time, they had a pack of canids with them.
“Shit,” Reed muttered. “We’re cut off.”
“Get this door closed,” Roth called out.
Someone found the switch and the door slammed closed. Then the team fired on the control panel.
What were they going to do? If they couldn’t make it back to the vent shaft…? Natalya wasn’t going back into raptor captivity, that was for sure. And she had too much to live for to die in this damn alien ship.
Then a strange, high-pitched sound echoed through the room. Something darted in from the corridor, moving fast. The creature leapt up on the pile of inactive cubes, sending dozens scattering across the room.
Natalya swallowed, felt all of Hell Squad tense.
She’d never seen one, but knew what it was. Knew that it was a vicious, cunning killer.
Shaped much like the velociraptor dinosaurs of the past, it had clawed feet and an agile, strong body.
A velox.
“Damn.” Marcus fired his carbine. “We need a way out. Devlin?
“I’ve got nothing,” Devlin said. “We’re stuck.”
***
Roth
Things were not looking good. Roth Masters looked at the small comp screen strapped to his wrist. They needed a way out. Fast.
He really
did not fancy getting gnawed on by alien dinosaurs.
In front of him, he watched Hell Squad take down the velox.
But he knew more of the damn things would be on their way. And whatever other nasties the aliens had here on their ship. He suspected they hadn’t seen everything, yet.
A map of the ship appeared and he tapped the screen. It wasn’t complete. When they’d first entered the vessel, he’d set off an experimental mini-drone. It wasn’t much bigger than a bee and was busy buzzing its way through the place, taking scans as it went.
In a break in the firing, he caught Marcus’ gaze. The other man’s face was hard as stone, his scar stark against his tan skin.
“I think I have a way out.” Roth tipped his arm to show the map. “We can go down through one of these trapdoors.”
“It was just storage down there,” Reed said.
“But it looks like there’s an area of offices—or whatever the raptor equivalent is—adjoining it.”
“Incoming,” someone yelled.
Everyone turned to fire at the raptors dumb enough to try to storm the door.
“If the map’s right,” Roth continued. “There’s what looks like a window in this office.” A way out.
“It’ll be a hell of a drop, Masters,” Marcus said.
Roth raised a brow. “A rough landing or become raptor bait.”
“I guess a jump is better than what we’ve got,” Marcus grumbled. “Let’s move, Hell Squad. Masters is taking the lead.”
Roth sprinted for the nearest hole in the floor and jumped down. His boots hit the ground and he rolled, then leapt back on his feet.
He heard some of the others drop down after him.
“Masters?” Reed called out.
Roth moved under the hole. “Toss her down.”
Reed lowered Natalya and Roth snatched her out of the air.
“Thanks,” she said.
He set her down and gave her a once-over. She was staying calm and steady. He approved. MacKinnon dropped down beside them and pulled her to his side. Roth mentally nodded. MacKinnon was a hell of a soldier and he sure as hell deserved a woman who looked at him like Natalya did.
“MacKinnon, you up for setting a few booby-traps?” Roth gave the man a thin smile. “Slow down anyone who follows us?” He knew Reed was an expert with explosives.
