The corridor blurred past as Jo’Aquin ran with her in his arms. Although she liked being where she was, strength slowly started to return to her limbs. “Stop. Put me down,” she said.
His arms tightened around her. “You can’t run.”
She blinked, her mind becoming clearer with each heartbeat. She drew her arms around his neck, holding on to him. She looked up into his strong features, taking in the angled slash of his cheeks, the sharp jaw, the stern set of his sexy mouth. If this was her last view of her life, she was happy. “I’m better now. Stronger. We’ll be faster if you don’t have to carry me.”
He glanced down at her, looking perplexed. “You’re not heavy for me, Lauren.”
“It’s the Reptiles. They do something to my body. Now that none are around, I’m feeling much better. I can walk.” Her face scrunched with the realisation. She was feeling better with each step they took away from those awful creatures.
Jo’Aquin paused long enough to set her on her feet. “Are you sure?”
She gave a quick nod. She’d rather go to her death on her own feet, on her own terms. “If we dodge those slimy bastards, I’ll be fine.”
A resemblance of a smile touched his mouth for a moment. “Slimy bastards. That is a good name for them.”
“Well, they’re not so slimy, more scaly than anything else, but they are bastards.” The kind of bastards she wanted to eradicate from the known universe. Maybe her sacrifice could do just that. She grabbed his hand, glad to have seen even a small smile on his face. That was a good memory to have. “We’d better find this mastermind soon. My guess is that more Reptiles will be coming and I’m not sure how long I’ll last if they get too close again. That was...hard. The sleep. The lethargy. It’s irresistible, Joe. I nearly...didn’t make it.” A deep shudder passed through her body.
His face transformed into hard lines as he took her hand and pressed her knuckles to his mouth. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. That gesture was far stronger than words could ever be. She didn’t have the words to say what she felt, either. They stood there like that, her knuckles pressed to his lips, her pressed against his body, drawing strength and comfort.
There was a flurry of footfalls, hisses, and clacks. Lauren tensed, heart pounding. More Reptiles were coming! A figure darted around a corner. Not a Reptile though. A person with dead eyes. The Reptiles were using MalCom’s people as collateral. Despicable. Snarling, Jo’Aquin fired the blaster she’d stolen. A chip exploded from the wall. The man fell to the ground, stunned but not dead.
“Come. We must hurry,” MalCom yelled.
Jo’Aquin grabbed her hand, her feet flying over the floor trying to keep up with his much greater speed. She ignored the indescribable urge to curl into a ball. Her bursting lungs. Her straining muscles. The absolute terror that more Reptiles and mind-trapped would try and stop them. Expecting the piercing burn of a blaster in the middle of her back.
She concentrated on putting one foot ahead of the other, fighting off the light-headed feeling that seductively called every cell in her body. Oh, she wanted that darkness so badly. It was the mastermind. Of that, she had no doubt. She needed what it offered. More. She craved it. But if she gave in to its beckoning call, she knew she would never come back.
23
T hey bolted down the corridor, tugging a heavy-footed Lauren. MalCom cast a furtive glance over his shoulder, cursed and shot his phaser over his shoulder as he ran. There was an explosion as the blast hit the wall and chunks of hard rock rained down.
“More,” MalCom panted.
He fisted the Reptile phaser Lauren had tried to use. It was remarkable she hadn’t blown her hand off. As much as he was angry at her for firing such a weapon, it had allowed them to make an escape.
“We must find shelter,” Jo’Aquin yelled. Lauren wasn’t going to last much longer running like this. Her face was white and sweat ran freely down the sides of it. She was fighting an inner battle as well as the Reptile army behind them.
The corridors ran like a warren, one emptying out into another. They bolted down another twist, heavy footfalls behind them. A blast scorched the wall near his head, and he blanched without losing pace. They couldn’t afford that.
“In here,” MalCom slid to a polished wooden door that filled the wall from floor to ceiling. MalCom slammed a panel next to the door with his palm. It slid open a crack, and Jo’Aquin shoved Lauren through. A blaster fired behind him, shattering the wall next to his head. Splints of rock cut his cheeks as he twisted to fire behind him. MalCom slid after them, slapped a panel inside, and the door blessedly slid shut.
He pressed Lauren against the wall. Safe. She was safe.
He covered her body with his, raised the gun and blasted the panel into a charred hole. Hisses and bangs sounded on the other side of the door, becoming more frantic as the Reptiles discovered the door was not only closed but couldn’t be opened with the damaged command panel.
A hot pain seared his arm. He spun, drawing the gun as though it was an extension of himself and fired, operating on instincts that were faster than his brain. A Reptile staggered backwards and fell to the ground, an oozing green open wound where his chest once was. Frek . He hadn’t considered there’d be anyone inside this room.
MalCom threw a dagger into another Reptile. The knife sliced into its brain. The creature was dead before it hit the ground.
Jo’Aquin took in the surroundings. The room was steeped in shadows. A malevolent green glow cast a sickly green tinge from a large cylinder in the middle of the room. Various wires tangled into the top of the cylinder, attached to a large, silver disc of flashing lights positioned above it.
There was movement inside, but first, he had to secure the room before he could study whatever made his skin crawl from the cylinder. He gestured to MalCom to go one way around the cylinder, and he would go the other. MalCom nodded and stepped slowly without making a sound.
The room was eerily silent but for a quiet hum coming from the metal disk, and the banging from behind the closed door. Jo’Aquin couldn’t get past the feeling of eyes watching every move he made, as though the walls themselves were conscious.
He spun slowly, his gaze settling into each corner of the room before MalCom greeted him as they met on the other side of the cylinder. Jo’Aquin’s attention was diverted to a flat screen. A communicator! He could contact his Starship. Striker would come. Lauren would be saved!
“Nothing?”
MalCom shook his head and relaxed, dropping his weapon to the side. “We’re alone in here.”
The feeling of being watched still tingled his skin, but there didn’t seem to be an immediate threat. He set the uneasy feeling aside.
MalCom’s gaze ran over the cylinder, his mouth fell open in astonishment. “I can’t believe it. This is the mastermind!”
Jo’Aquin diverted his attention from the communication panel. The green liquid inside the cylinder was calm and still. Just like a clear spring day on Hexion, the bright green of new leaves unfurling from sleek brown twigs to capture the sunlight after a frigid winter. The green illuminated, growing to encase his vision. So warm. So welcoming. He could just curl up and sleep in the warm sun, just like he’d done as a child.
A loud thud echoed throughout the chamber. Jo’Aquin shook his head, as though throwing off the onset of a deep sleep. He drew a deep breath, the fog in his mind clearing.
Beside him, MalCom stared at the cylinder, a blank look on his face, shoulder stooped, knife on the floor at his feet.
He shook the man by his shoulder. Life came back into his body with a long, inward drawn breath. How long had he been like that? They been like that?
“Don’t look at the green. It draws you in,” Jo’Aquin said.
Horror lit MalCom’s face as he realised he’d been in the same hypnotic state. No wonder they didn’t need more than two guards. They didn’t need any. The mastermind was strong.
“Lauren.” Lead hit the pit of his stomach
, and burned, churning. He ran back along the outside of the cylinder to see Lauren crouched on the floor, her head sagging over bent knees.
He slid onto his knees beside her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and carefully tilting her head backwards. Her eyes were wide and wild, her mouth sagged open, skin pale. She panted as though she’d run a marathon. “Lauren!” His voice was no more than a mere croak.
He tapped her cheek. How long had she been like this while he’d been caught in that dream? Her eyes found his, her vision cleared, and he nearly buckled in relief. Her mouth tipped in a weak smile, and she sighed, as though she’d just waited until he’d come.
MalCom laid a hand on his shoulder. “We have to hurry. She’s fought as long as she can. There is no time left.”
Jo’Aquin wrapped his arms around her. He couldn’t do it. Wasn’t going to let her discard her life like this. There was a way! There was always another way! She was a female. Females should be protected at all costs. Just like his sister, only he hadn’t protected her. He’d failed. He wasn’t going to fail again. “There’s a communicator. I’ll call my Starship. We’ll find another way to save Lauren.”
The banging at the door became louder, more persistent. There was a screech of metal and the door buckled.
“There’s no time!” MalCom sounded as desperate he felt. “We need her to do this. This planet needs her to do this. Please.”
Lauren shuddered. She blinked slowly, as though her eyelids were weighted. She grasped his arms, using them as leverage to lean from the wall. “Help me, Joe. Need…to do…this”
He shook his head. He couldn’t do it. Wasn’t going to let her sacrifice her life. She was too precious. Sacred.
His .
Lauren struggled to stand, her movements heavy. “They’re going to…get in. Help me, Joe, or it’ll be too late,” she whispered.
He gripped her shoulders. “Hold on until Striker gets here. That’s all you have to do, Lauren. Hold on one breath at a time.”
“It won’t work. Mother said…needs my blood. Only way,” Lauren said.
“It can’t be. There’s always another way. I’ve just found you. There’s no way I’m going to let that go. Let you go.” A cold numbness spread from the middle of his gut, and a high-pitched whine started inside his ears. He couldn’t lose her. Not Lauren. Not now.
He was a Starship Commander. He was responsible for hundreds of lives. He’d seen death. Had sent others to their deaths, but all of that unravelled with Lauren in his arms. He couldn’t do it. Gods rest his soul, he just couldn’t send Lauren to her death.
A faint smile lifted her mouth. “I love you, too…the next life. Find me in…the next life.”
“No.” He brought her to him, crushing her lips to his, sliding his tongue between her lips, delving into her mouth, tasting her, breathing her in. It wasn’t enough. It would never be enough.
Another bang. The door dented further inwards. He reluctantly broke their kiss. Her plump lips glistened, eyes slightly dazed. “I’ll die…happy now.”
His fingers tightened fractionally. “You will not die. Not if I can do anything about it.
He carefully leaned Lauren against the wall. Her arms flopped at her sides, her chest rose as she even struggled to breathe. Jo’Aquin ran to the communicator. He only hoped he could contact Striker. That whatever connection he could find would make it through to the ship. Striker would come quickly, he knew that. He just hoped Lauren could remain conscious until then.
The communication panel was somewhat familiar, and soon he had sent an emergency code through on a secure frequency. One thing had been on their side. Another thump and the door right next to Lauren jarred. There was a flash of outside light from a cracked seam.
Lauren had somehow clambered to her feet. She was strong. Far too strong for her own good. He’d spend the rest of his life showing her that she didn’t have to be that way. That she would be cherished. Spoiled. Deserving of anything he could give her. Her limbs trembled, her hands splayed beside her as she used the wall to keep her up. She wasn’t as strong as the grim expression on her face indicated.
“Lauren. Stop. Help will come soon.” He stepped towards her, arms raised towards her to steady Lauren. Her eyes widened, shock and then something else – anguish – registered on her face.
“I’m so sorry, Joe.”
A heavy weight clouted the back of his head. Black edged his vision. His knees gave way, and the floor rushed up towards him. Horror reared through him when he realised Lauren and MalCom had worked together. This wasn’t what was meant to happen. Lauren was meant to be safe. He should give his life for her! He should die. Not her.
He reached for her hand. “Lauren. No.” He didn’t even know if he spoke her name. He fought the darkness, saw tears tracing down Lauren’s cheeks as she reached towards him before a heavy fog descended and he was lost.
24
“H elp me to him, MalCom.”
MalCom slung a shoulder beneath her arm and helped her to Jo’Aquin’s inert form sprawled on the floor. She sprawled on the ground next to him and brushed the midnight, silky strands of his hair back off his forehead. His eyes were closed. Shadowed crescents fell across his stubbled cheeks. His features were relaxed, as though he was just sleeping. How she wished he was. “You didn’t hurt him too badly?”
MalCom shook his head. “Just enough to keep him unconscious for a few minutes.”
A few minutes. That was all she needed. A few minutes and he would wake to find her dead. She nodded and bent to brush a kiss on his brow, on his cheek and across his mouth. He didn’t respond, and her heart tore.
She breathed in his scent. Pine, cinnamon and sheer masculinity. She closed her eyes, savouring the essence that was just him. She touched her forehead to his for a moment before drawing back.
The constant thuds of the door boomed throughout the room. “Ok, Mal. Let’s do this.”
MalCom’s hand curved around hers. A shoulder beneath her arm had her standing. She tried walking, but her knees gave out. A wave of seductive darkness washed over her. So tempting to give in.
Something moved in the green sludge in the cylinder, swishing around like a fish in the liquid. A grey piece of meat sidled against the glass before disappearing back into the green. Bile rose in her gut. “Did you see that?” she asked.
MalCom grunted. “The mastermind.”
“It’s…living,” she gasped.
“Living and dead. The Reptiles have been able to combine biological material with artificial intelligence,” MalCom said.
“Like a big…cyborg brain?”
“I don’t know what this ‘cyborg’ is, but it is a mix of organic and manufactured materials,” MalCom said.
Lauren stumbled, leaning heavily on MalCom. Her limbs were fast going numb as lethargy tugged her mind and body. “If I don’t do this soon, it’s going to be too late.” She spoke in a breath, her voice weak. She tipped her head back, her gaze drifting to the riot of blinking lights and wires above the top of the tank. The top of the cylinder towered way above her head, too high for her to be able to do what she needed to do. “How are we going to get up there?”
“There are steps at the back. This way,” MalCom said.
He all but carried her around the side of the cylinder to where, true to his word, steps lead off the side of the cylinder and led upwards. Her breathing was laboured as she concentrated hard to keep the darkness at bay. It edged her vision, waiting for a moment of weakness, if her willpower should waver.
Between the both of them, somehow they managed to get to the top of the tank. The green sludge stirred. Grey meat appeared from beneath the liquid, poking through the surface for a moment, black wires embedded into the maze-like mass. The lights above the wires lit in a blaze of sparks, as though it knew exactly what she was about to do.
A wave of darkness crashed down on her. She doubled over, fingers gripping the rim of the tank. She was moments away from succumbing to its sweet
pull. “God. MalCom. You have to help me.” Her tongue was thick in her mouth, her breathing laboured, her vision spotting.
“I’m sorry, Lauren. I can’t do it for you. It has to come from a mind born of a free will.”
His voice sounded down a tunnel. She was barely aware of something pressed into her hand. Her mind grappled for a moment before she realised it was the handle of a dagger.
He moved her arms so that the blade was poised over her wrist. This was it. Ground zero. She sobbed as she used the last of her energy, slicing deep down into her wrist. She barely registered the pain. She swiped the blade through her vein, hacking again and again. Switched hands, sawing through her other wrist.
Blood, deep red, streamed from her open wounds and into the mesmerising green. As the drop of blood fed the liquid, black exploded like decay, reaching out, further and further, deeper into the liquid. Mesmerised, Lauren watched the colours bleeding into each other. Red. Green. Black.
How long would it take the heart to pump out all of the blood from the body? One minute? Two? Her heart beat like a piston-pump. Adrenaline fuelling a desperate bid for survival.
The grey meat-brain thumped to the side of the tank with a dull thunk. The structure shuddered with every thump and thud as the brain ran from side to side in a desperate, futile attempt at escape. Her brain whirled, lightheaded. She sank against the rim, unsteady on her feet. MalCom propped her against the side, helping her keep her wrists over the liquid. He cooed words too low for her to hear, but they soothed some of the fear away.
The thump of the cylinder combined with the banging behind the door. Metal screeched. Liquid sloshed over her hands, spilling to the floor in gushing waves. The tank shuddered. An electronic-sounding, high-pitched scream started wailing, buzzing along the wires. The structure above the tank shook. Wires broke away. The last of the green morphed into an inky black. The brain slowed, the movement sluggish until it stopped moving altogether.
JoAquin_An Alien Abduction Paranormal Romance Page 15
