by Lolita Lopez
What can I do?
The fire suppression system.
Desperate to stop the torture, she risked her life without a second thought. She grabbed the pipes above her and pulled until her muscles screamed and her vision swam. Gritting her teeth, she felt the first spray of brackish water hit her face. She closed her eyes and kept pulling until her arms were shaking.
Finally, the old pipes cracked. The loss of integrity caused the pressure in the pipes to burst other segments down the line. Water that smelled like a latrine in summer began to flood the duct. She kept her eyes closed and mouth shut as the water rushed around her, spilling through the grilles into the rooms she had surveyed.
Down below, the heinous assholes who had been enjoying their work shouted as they got a taste of electrocution. She grinned evilly as they screamed. The water pouring over her might be filled with bacteria that would make her sick, but it was worth it to see those two suffer.
The sky warrior—Cipher’s friend—showed his incredible strength and determination as he sat up while still dangling from his ankles. She hadn’t even known it was possible for any person to use their muscles in that way, especially not a person who had been starved, beaten and tortured. He used his bound hands to knock the clips from his body, dropping them into the water and ensuring the men who had been hurting him wouldn’t be walking out of that cell.
As if he had some sixth sense, he turned toward the grille where she watched. She gasped at the gnarly, puckered scar where his eye should be. This man had known so much pain. It didn’t seem fair that one man should be expected to survive so much.
He might have been blind in one eye, but he zeroed in on her. Maybe he could see the shadow of her or the faint light of the fading glow stick. Somehow, he knew she was there.
She wanted to reassure him that he wouldn’t suffer much longer. For a brief moment, she wondered if she could rescue him, but he was too tall and broad shouldered to fit through the grille or the duct. She wasn’t strong enough to haul him out of the shaft either.
No, he would have to stay. Hopefully, his rescue wouldn’t be too far away. Still, she felt like crying as she waved at him through the grille and then started her slow slog through the water and filth. The thought of saving him fueled her trek out of the mine’s duct work and into the ventilation shaft. She ignored the burn in her arms as she dragged herself up the vertical incline to the first platform. She thought of the degradation and cruelty he had survived as she climbed rung after rung after rung.
When she finally emerged from the ventilation shaft, the sun had started its glide toward the horizon. After replacing the grate and covering her tracks back into the woods, she finally dropped down onto her bottom and hung her head between her bent knees. Exhausted and shaking, she allowed herself only a short break to drink deeply from her canteen and a moment to relieve herself in the bushes.
Her break finished, she clambered to her feet. Soaked in dirty water and covered in slimy filth, she stumbled home, determined to do whatever she could to save the one-eyed soldier.
Chapter Three
Is Brook still in the mine?
Troubled thoughts occupied Cipher’s mind as he worked his way through a pile of circuits that had been accumulating in his office. The smell of solder tinged the air as he tried to occupy his mind with menial tasks. All day, he had been in a cantankerous mood. Raze had finally called him on his bullshit and excused him from SRU physical training for the rest of the day.
According to Torment, Brook had sent a message before leaving her cabin. There hadn’t been a single word of communication since. He glanced at his watch for the thousandth time and let loose a frustrated sigh. Where was she?
The worst images flashed before his eyes. Had she been captured? Was she being tortured? Raped? What if she had gotten hurt in the mine? Was she bleeding out in a shaft too far underground for anyone to hear her? What if she had run into a pocket of gas or a flooded section? What if her exit point had been blocked by a cave-in?
He hissed and snarled an expletive as the tip of his soldering iron burned his finger. He glared at the offending wound. He hadn’t burned himself like this in more than ten years. Cursing his carelessness, he set aside the iron and grabbed an instant ice pack from the bottom drawer of his desk. He cracked and shook it before pressing the cold gel against his aching finger. It would blister and rupture and be a nuisance for the next few days.
“You okay?” Raze hovered in the doorway of his office. The boss’s gaze drifted to the ice pack. “You burned yourself?”
Cipher nodded, in as much disbelief as Raze that he had done something so stupid.
“Okay. That’s enough.” Raze stepped inside the office and shut the door behind him. Leaning against it, he asked, “What the hell is wrong with you today?” When he didn’t immediately respond, Raze guessed, “Is this about the errand you ran last night?”
Because this area wasn’t secure, Cipher kept to the coded language. “Yes.”
“Is it about the package that needs to be picked up?”
He shook his head. “The package is still where we were told it would be.”
“The courier then?”
Calling Brook a courier seemed like an insult. She was going far above and beyond the expectations. “Yes.”
“Is he not trustworthy? Not up to the job?”
“She,” he said and finally met Raze’s gaze.
The bastard smiled. “Oh, I see.”
Groaning, Cipher dropped back in his chairs and tossed aside the ice pack. He rubbed his face. “That’s never happened to me.”
“What? Attraction?”
He nodded. “It was…instant. Strong.”
“That’s how it was with Ella.” Raze narrowed his eyes. “You’ve really never been attracted to a woman like that?”
He shook his head. “I was starting to think something was wrong with me. I’ve enjoyed time with other women, but it never felt like this.” He noticed his knee was jumping up and down and consciously stopped. “See what I mean? I’m a mess.”
“She must be some woman.”
“I think she is,” he admitted. “She’s too brave for her own good. She’s going to get hurt, and she’s all alone down there.” He rubbed his face again. “She didn’t even have food. I left her all of my rations, but what happens when she runs out?”
“She does whatever she’s been doing to survive,” Raze reasoned. “She’ll probably be on a trip to some new place before she runs out, Ci. Unless you’ve got other plans…?”
“No.” His answer came harsher than he had intended. “She’s young. She should have the chance to live her life.”
“Did you ask her what she wants? If you trust her to handle this errand, shouldn’t you trust her to make her own decision about her future?” Raze pinned him place with a stare. “What if she feels the same way about you? Maybe she wants to be a wife, to have a family, to live somewhere safe where she’s protected and will never go hungry again.”
“Maybe,” Cipher conceded.
His counsel given, Raze switched topics. “You hear about the cargo ship that crashed near Willow’s Tears?”
Cipher nodded. “Any survivors?”
“A few,” Raze glanced at his watch. “That crew was lucky to fall so close to one of our medical missions.”
“Vaccination campaign?”
“Yeah. Also basic dental and medical,” Raze said. “It was a team from the Mercy.”
“Do they know what brought it down?”
“Mechanical malfunction is what I heard.” He winced. “There will be hell to pay for the mechanics who cleared that ship for flight.”
Cipher hummed in agreement.
“I’m headed back to quarters,”Raze said. “We’re off rotation until they call us in for the errand. Don’t stay here playing with your toys too late. You’re no good to me fatigued.”
“Yes, sir.”
Alone in his office, Cipher kept his mind on the tasks
at hand and off of the pretty miner who had turned his world upside down. He didn’t want to let himself think about the possibility that Raze was correct. He had been alone so long. It was the life he chose when he made the decision never to Grab.
He was fine with that decision most of the time, but some nights, staring at the ceiling in his cramped quarters, he yearned for a partner in life. He wanted what Venom and Raze had with their mates. He wanted someone to greet him after a dangerous mission. He wanted someone to care about him in the way only a woman could. He wanted all the secret touches and smiles.
And he wanted children. Daughters only, if he had his way. Curious and bright little things that would never be taken away from him and thrown into the meat grinder of the military industrial complex. Loving and kind girls he could help raise into strong, intelligent women who could follow their dreams and be whatever the hell they wanted to be—doctors, engineers, teachers, scientists, wives and mothers.
His watch vibrated with an alert. It was Torment calling him down to the Shadow Force sector. He fought the urge to leave his desk a mess and run. He tapped a quick message to Torment and tidied his office before heading to the elevator.
When he arrived at the Shadow Force sector, he used the chip implanted in his wrist to gain access to the highly classified unit. Pierce spotted him as he came through the second set of doors and waved him toward the war room. He found Torment there, leaning over the brightly illuminated table where holograms hovered.
Next to him, General Vicious stared at the same holograms. Terror was his best friend, and the two men had been through some serious shit straight out of the academy. Vicious had never given up hope that Terror was alive. He had insisted that his best friend was too much of a miserable asshole to die in captivity.
“Sir,” Cipher greeted his superior officer with a salute.
“Specialist,” the general replied in his deep, rumbling voice. “You prepped the asset very well.”
“Your girl did exceptional work today,” Torment remarked. “She’s thorough and deliberate. She would make a hell of a recruit into our local assets training program. She’s got the making of a first class operative.”
The idea of Brook being thrown into the dangerous world of covert operations made his chest constrict. Hiding his emotion, he calmly replied, “She didn’t seem too interested in that sort of work.”
“Too bad.” Torment flicked his hand at a hologram file and sent it to the screen on the wall behind him. “She orchestrated a diversion to protect Terror, killed at least two of theirs and got out of the mine unseen.”
Cipher’s incredulous gaze jumped to the screen. He couldn’t see anything but a blue haze. The sound of breathing and something sliding accompanied it. “Was she recording the whole time?”
“She must have hit the record button on accident. There was plenty of battery life, and honestly, the video intel is much more helpful than the still images.”
A mangled shout of pain filled the war room, and Vicious visibly tensed. The video jumped as if Brook had been startled. She seemed to hesitate before finding the nerve to keep moving. When she reached the next grille in the bottom of the duct, she maneuvered the camera probe into place.
Cipher wanted to look away from the screen, but he forced himself to watch as those pieces of Splinter shit tortured Terror. He estimated Terror had lost twenty percent of his body weight, most of it muscle mass since he had always been so lean. There didn’t seem to be an inch of skin that wasn’t bruised. There were scabbed and still oozing cuts and shallow stab wounds. Burns dotted his limbs. They had even taken his toenails and fingernails.
Behind the camera, Brook gasped as the assholes down below started to torture Terror with electric shocks. The camera’s view shifted, and he couldn’t see anything but darkness. Her heavy breaths and desperate groans filtered through the speakers.
Just as he realized she was pulling on something, the high pressured hiss of water echoed in the duct. Pipes clanged, and water splashed loudly. The camera’s view turned misty and droplets of water clung to the lens. She turned in the duct and looked down into the cell.
The two torturers who had been working over Terror flopped like fish as the current of their poorly grounded generator zapped them. Terror used what strength he had to lift himself into a sitting position while still suspended and ripped free the clips they had used to electrocute him. He seemed to know she was in the duct because he looked right at the camera. It wasn’t clear from the recording, but the movement of the lens convinced Cipher she was waving at Terror.
The recording continued playing in the background as Torment drew his attention back to the table. “She uploaded extremely detailed drawings and measurements along with a message.”
The recording on the screen stopped as Torment flicked his fingers and sent another file to it. Cipher stiffened in shock at the sight of her. She was covered in filth from head to toe. Whatever she had encountered in the ventilation shaft and ducts had been far worse than he had expected. Thinking back to her reluctance when she proposed going into the system, he felt extreme guilt in sending her down there alone.
“I don’t know how much longer your man has,” she said urgently. “You have to get him out as quickly as possible—or else he’ll end up like the dead man.”
“What dead man?” Cipher asked, his gaze still focused on Brook. He wanted to bring her to his quarters, strip her down and wash her before feeding and cuddling her in his bed. The urge was so strong he could practically feel her soft skin on his.
“Devious.”
Cipher tore his gaze away from the screen. “I thought he was deep undercover with the Splinters.”
Vicious nodded gravely. “He was.”
“You don’t think Terror…?” He couldn’t finish the thought.
“No,” Vicious answered forcefully. “He would die before he betrayed a single one of us.”
“The mole?” he guessed.
“That’s my concern,” Torment acknowledged. “There have been too many coincidences on the ship and in the field. There is a double agent on the Valiant.”
“How do we even start to narrow the list of thousands of men and their mates down to a workable number?” he wondered aloud.
“We’re working on it,” Torment said.
Cipher understood that meant he wasn’t going to learn any of the details until they needed his help. Whatever the plan in the works was, it likely violated privacy regulations and other laws meant to protect the men who served. He wasn’t looking forward to implementing it.
“How soon can you mount your rescue?” Vicious asked as he leaned forward on his hands and studied the schematics the computer program had created from Brook’s intel. His massive forearms rippled, and not for the first time, Cipher wondered how the general managed not to harm his delicate mate when they were intimate.
“We’re going down tonight. After the crash so close to their hideout, they’ll want to relocate. I want us in that mine before sunrise.”
Cipher glanced at the still image of Brook on the screen. “Does she know?”
“I sent orders before I messaged you. She will be planting explosives to cause a cascade of failures. The Splinter forces will evacuate through the front of the mine—the only working entrance and exit—and we’ll slaughter them. They’ll bring Terror out with them when they flee or we’ll go inside to get him. Either way, he’s coming home with us.”
He had no doubts about that. He did, however, have concerns about Brook. She had just spent nearly twelve hours in a cramped tube, crawling and climbing. Even if she managed to rehydrate and fill her belly with rations, she might not be able to recover in time for the precise work of planting explosives.
“You’re worried about the asset?” Torment noticed his pensive turn. “Don’t be. She’s tenacious. She wants off that mountain. She’ll do whatever it takes to get what we promised her.”
“That’s what worries me,” he grumbled.
Vicious cocked his head as he looked at him. “Holy shit, Cipher. I never thought I’d see the day that you were lovestruck.”
Cipher frowned. “I’m not lovestruck. I’m just concerned for her. She’s young and small and underfed and alone and…” His voice trailed off as Vicious grinned wider and wider. Growling, he said, “It’s not like that. I barely know her.”
Vicious shrugged his massive shoulders. “I saw Hallie for a few seconds before I knew she was the one. I ran her down, collared her and brought her home. When you know, you know.”
“I’m not going to run her down and collar her.”
“You don’t have to,” Torment interjected. “We offer all female assets the same deal. In exchange for their help, they can choose a man interested in having them. If she’s interested in you and you’re interested in her…”
“No.” Cipher slashed his hand through the air to put an end to the discussion.
Vicious smiled. “You know, there are vacant quarters on the same floor as Venom and Raze. I could have them reassigned before you touchdown tomorrow morning.”
Cipher groaned and rubbed his face. “Can we please get back to the mission and stop worrying about matchmaking?”
Both men nodded, but he could tell this was far from over. Once the general had his mind set on something, it was impossible to sway him otherwise. Torment was sneaky and underhanded. The two of them working together would be nothing but trouble.
Yet, as Cipher helped Torment plan the assault, he couldn’t help but wonder if this was exactly the sort of trouble he needed.
Chapter Four
Coughing into her bent elbow, Brook took one last look around the cabin. If she survived planting the explosives, she would leave the mountain forever today. She had packed those few precious items she couldn’t bear to leave behind in her pack, but there were so many more important things she wanted to take with her. The quilt, especially, was hard to leave, but it was too heavy and bulky to fit in the one bag she had been allotted to bring.
