“What is it?” she asked, concern creasing her brow.
“I think we have an opportunity here,” Rem began. He glanced over her shoulder at the door as it whooshed closed. Still, he dropped his voice to a whisper. “This is the perfect opportunity to hack into the Dominion’s mainframe and see if we can get information on who has your body, and where they’re keeping Sav.”
Her eyebrows rose and her mouth dropped open. He was right. “You’re a damn genius, Rem.”
Rem smiled. “I know.”
Selene slugged his arm, but her grin didn’t fade. “We’ll add it to the plan, but let’s keep this between us.”
Rem nodded, his smile fading as he returned to serious Rem. “I’ll find out the best route to the closest computer, but you’ll need to get there.”
Selene nodded numbly. Normally, it wouldn’t be a problem, but in this body, taking on an extra mission with no backup could mean suicide. Still, they needed that information. “All right. Just find me a route, a way out of that building, and make sure the backup speeder is ready for me.”
“Of course.” Rem’s fists balled with determination, and his eyebrows lowered to shade his eyes. It had been a long time since Selene saw the normally happy-go-lucky man with such a serious face.
She smiled and turned away to follow the others. “Come on, let’s catch up.”
“You got it, boss lady.”
Selene glared over her shoulder, and Rem’s sheepish grin returned as they left the captain’s office to find the rest of their crew.
Though the accuracy of Rem’s three-dimensional rendering wasn’t exactly surprising, Selene was still amazed by how he acquired such skill with technology. From the roof of a neighboring business, Selene crouched with Erock and Flik to assess the Dominion complex.
“Everything seems normal,” Flik reported. With a pair of binoculars held to his face, he scanned the yard, the tunnel, and the rest of the building. “They’re definitely getting ready for something.”
“They’re probably expecting an attack,” Erock said.
Selene motioned for Flik to hand her the binoculars. He did, and Selene held them up to her face. The interface inside the lenses flashed at the corners, letting her know the distance she saw was one hundred meters away. She flicked the dial on the side of it, and the number jumped as she scanned the faces of the security guards in the yard, at the tunnel entrance, at the main building doors, and those she could see in the parking garage.
“You’re paranoid, Flik,” she said. “None of them look nervous to me.” She moved to look at the parking garage again. Inside, at least a dozen security guards, all clad in black, rushed around the fourth level, preparing a black hovertruck and half a dozen speeders. “They’re almost ready. It’s go time.” Selene handed Flik the binoculars, and he stowed them in his pack.
The trio moved away from the edge of the roof, and back to the other side, where a narrow alley separated the business building from a booster club. Taking hold of the long cord she had already tied off, Selene wrapped it around one hand, and snapped it to her harness before propelling over the side.
Glancing back over her shoulder, she started. The drop was at least eight stories up. Her heart sank into her stomach, which rolled with unexpected nausea. Though she’d never been afraid of heights before, she didn’t have her typical strength to back her up. It had already been a challenge scaling the building, but if anything went wrong going back down, she’d be lucky to survive. If something pierced her brain, or heart, it was all over. You couldn’t clone a person with a brain injury or severe heart trauma.
“You okay?” Flik asked.
Selene looked at him. Though the alien didn’t have eyebrows, the skin above his eyes pulled upward to show his concern. “I’m fine,” she said. Tightening her grip on the cord, Selene walked backward over the edge, holding on for dear life as she propelled over the side of the building.
Her stomach flipped as she slowly worked her way down. Her arms shook with fatigue and her legs quaked. She cursed Erock for forcing her to do this. The least he could have done was clone her with mods first. Instead, she was stuck in this useless body with nothing but mundane strength. Then again, if he had cloned her first, she’d probably have just taken off without lending a hand.
Her boots finally hit solid ground, and Selene sighed in relief. Flik and Erock descended quickly, much faster than her, and then they were off. Darius was positioned nearby in an alley with Erock’s crewmembers. She had a feeling he wasn’t pleased to be placed with the pirates, especially Andreas. The man’s sneer made her skin crawl, and Darius had already expressed his disappointment in Erock’s choice to bring the man along. Unfortunately for them, Andreas was one of his higher ups.
Pressing the device wrapped around her ear, Selene turned on coms. “It’s go time,” she said.
“Roger,” Darius said.
“Roger that,” Rem said next.
The three of them moved from alley to alley until they could watch Darius and the others walk across the street. They appeared casual, dressed in street clothes, but Selene spotted the bulge of guns beneath their clothes. Security was only tight at the front of the building, and at the back, while the tunnel was simply guarded at the front, and inside. No one would expect an explosion right in the middle of it.
“Tracking movement in the garage,” Lanny said over coms.
“Darius, you’re almost at the first point of entry,” Rem said. “Set the explosives now, and hurry to the next spot.”
“You got it,” Darius responded.
They all knew the plan well. Darius would set the first set of explosives toward the entrance to the garage, leaving a few of Erock’s crew there to detonate it, then he’d continue to the secondary location—the one that would trap Erock’s sister’s kidnappers.
“They’re bringing someone out to the exchange vehicle,” Lanny said. He was in charge of watching the main truck, while Rem watched the entire operation, and oversaw everyone’s location. It was a damn big job, but Selene knew she could count on him to do it. “It’s a woman. Maybe twenty-five. Curly brown hair, violet eyes.”
“That’s her,” Erock hissed. “That’s my Hallie.”
Selene’s heart panged unexpectedly. Though she didn’t know much about Erock, she never imagined the captain of pirates had someone he cared about.
The trio watched Darius and the pirates move along the street until they came to the second point, leaving about twenty-five feet in between each explosive. It’d have to be timed perfectly, or they might crush Hallie and all the Dominion guards in the debris.
Selene gulped, and stood from her crouch. Any minute.
“Charges set,” Darius said. He walked across the street, only an alley or two over from Selene, Flik, and Erock.
“The woman is in the truck. Security is assembling on either side,” Lanny said.
“We’re right on schedule,” Rem said.
“Watch for anything unusual, Rem,” Selene urged. Though everything was going according to plan thus far, she didn’t expect it to stay that way. Something always went wrong.
“Nothing to report yet,” Rem said.
“The security team is leaving the fourth floor now. Third floor. Second.” Lanny’s voice echoed in her ears, and her every muscle tensed.
“Get ready,” she said to everyone.
“Coming around the corner… First! They’re in the tunnel!”
“Now!” Rem shouted.
An explosion rocked the street, fire bursting through the end of the tunnel near the garage. The blast was controlled enough that only a few shards of concrete flew into the air. Nice job, Darius, she thought.
“Second charge!”
A second boom shook her, and echoed in her chest, sending her heart racing. Dust clouded the street as shrapnel beat the pavement like hail.
“The truck is stuck between both points,” Rem said, his voice high with excitement. “Extraction team, go!”
&nb
sp; Selene leapt from the alley, and raced across the street. She took a small black oval from her pocket, and stuck it to her jaw, hitting the ribbed button on the back to pop out a mask. The fabric circled her jaw, covering her mouth and nose. She glanced at her two comrades to find them doing the same.
Yanking the rifle from her back, Selene rushed to the hole in the tunnel closest to the exit. Their boots beat the ground, the only sound aside from the patter of concrete slapping pavement.
“Tunnel cameras are out,” Lanny said.
“You’re going in blind, Selene,” Rem warned.
Selene had expected as much. As they reached the hole in the tunnel, she slowed, and crouched beside it, working her way quietly over the concrete until she could lean her back against it. Taking a deep breath, her pulse pounding in her ears, she glanced around the side of the hole.
Inside the tunnel, concrete littered everything; from the truck half crushed by the roof, to the tunnel floor, and two bodies lying beneath it, only their legs sticking out.
Four speeders with blue lights flaring through the dust hovered behind the truck. They were all abandoned as the four security guards rushed to the back of the vehicle, quickly throwing the doors open.
“Now!” Selene snapped. Leaping into the tunnel, Selene raised the barrel of her rifle, and squeezed the trigger. Blue light flared from the tip of her weapon and ripped through the torso of one man as he held open the back door of the truck.
“We’re taking fire!” someone screamed.
Flik was in the tunnel seconds behind her. He shot the man in the head.
Two bodies fell lifeless, and the second two ducked behind the side of the truck.
Some sort of radio filled with static echoed in the tunnel. “We’re under fire! Two men down! Send back up!”
Selene held up her fist to stop her team before they reached the doors. Sweat slicked her back, and her entire body heated with adrenaline. Motioning forward, Selene urged Flik to watch her back while she went around the far side.
Moving around the front end of the truck, Selene glanced inside the driver’s window. The front of the truck was decimated by concrete, and blood splattered the cab of the vehicle. She winced, only realizing now that she’d never even thought of the lives they were taking in order to rescue Hallie. She sighed through her nose. She wasn’t sure whose death had hardened her heart—whether it was young Aaron’s, or Sarah’s—but every life lost to the Dominion weighed on her heart and crushed her lungs. The Dominion deserved to die for what they did to people.
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Selene climbed the two stairs up to the cab. Using the shattered window, she propelled herself onto the roof of the truck. Spreading out onto her stomach, Selene shimmied across the top to the other side.
“They blew the garage entrance!” someone shouted over the Dominion coms. The voice was filled with static, probably from the tunnel.
Dust and debris slid beneath her as she crawled to the edge of the metal truck, and glanced over the edge. Two Dominion guards clad in all black with laser rifles in hand crouched beside the back propeller. Their eyes were wide as they held their comsets to their mouths.
“The front of the truck is down. Security at the front is down. We need backup now,” one of them whispered into his mouthpiece.
Selene brought her rifle to her shoulder, her heart racing as she aimed at the first. The second looked up, his wide alien green eyes filled with fear. He yanked his rifle high as Selene squeezed the trigger.
A laser shot flew from her gun and through the head of the first man, leaving a sizeable hole through his head.
The second fired.
Blinding pain flared through her shoulder, and a strangled scream flew from her lips, slightly muffled by her mask. Before he could get a second shot off, Selene rolled away from the edge of the truck to lie on her back. Her pulse raced, and her shoulder throbbed.
Selene held her shoulder as blood pooled around the wound. Why the hell did he have his blaster set so low? Though her pained mind screamed the question, her more rational side reasoned it was in case the prisoner tried to escape. They didn’t want to kill Hallie when they could use her.
What should have been a clean injury, sealed by the heat of the laser like the death blow she’d delivered to his comrade, was instead a half-hole, painfully torn through her skin.
“Selene!” Flik called. “Get her down from there!”
Someone grabbed her boot and tugged her to the edge of the truck. She slipped off, and into the broad arms of Erock.
“Shit, pretty. That doesn’t look good.” Erock leaned her against the truck as Selene hissed in pain. Instead of his usual deep V-neck, the captain sported nearly identical military gear to the Dominion soldiers. He ripped off a piece of the shirt beneath his jacket and quickly tied it around her shoulder.
“Ow!” she complained as he tightened it.
“You’ll thank me later,” he said.
Another flash of a laser rifle went off, and Flik flew around the side of the van, shooting inside the back of the truck.
Selene held her shoulder in one hand, and her rifle in the other as she finally got her feet beneath her. Though the pain was unreal, they still had a mission.
“Get your sister,” she hissed.
Erock raised an eyebrow, confusion all over his face, but he didn’t argue. He nodded, and joined Flik at the back.
“Enemies incoming!” Rem barked over coms.
Great.
Selene bit down on her tongue as she stood, wiped the blood from her hand and switched her rifle to her good arm.
“They’re coming in the back by the garage!”
Taking a deep breath, Selene took a few steps from the truck as laser fire flared behind her.
“That’s all of them,” Flik said.
She glanced back to see three bodies dead inside the back of the van, and the one who’d shot her lying on his back, his eyes wide and sightless as he stared at the tunnel ceiling.
Erock pulled a woman from the back, cradling her in his arms. He squeezed her tightly, his forehead wrinkled in concern. “Hallie, I’ve got you.”
“Jensen?” Hallie asked. Her eyelids fluttered. She was still in shock.
Jensen?
“Yeah. It’s your big brother,” Erock said.
Selene raised her eyebrows. So Jensen was Erock’s real name, or maybe his first name. She made a mental note to ask him later.
“Let’s go,” Flik said. He looked down the tunnel at her.
The flash of a laser lit the darkness down the tunnel, burning a hole through some of the cement debris on the ground.
“Get down!” Flik shouted.
Selene dove to the side of the wall. Damn. She still had a mission to complete. Even if she was injured, she had a part to play, and information to acquire.
Setting her rifle on top of the large slab of concrete she crouched behind, Selene returned fire, aiming as best as she could with one arm. “Go!” she shouted at the others.
“Selene, come on!” Flik yelled from behind the truck.
They were close enough to escape. They had to go without her. She had to make them. “Get out of here!” Selene snapped. More laser fire scorched the concrete beneath her feet and burned holes in the truck. “I’ll hold them off!”
“What?” Flik balked. “Get the hell over here!”
Selene shook her head, and continued to fire. This was all part of the plan. They had to go so she could finish it. There was a service door a few feet from her hiding place, along the left side of the wall. All she had to do was get to it.
“Go!” Selene shouted as loud as she could. “Don’t make me order you!” It was unspoken, but Selene was leading the show, at least for now, and Flik wasn’t typically the type to question a command.
“You bitch!” Flik cursed. “You better not fucking die!”
Selene smiled. “Wouldn’t dream of it, Flik!”
Two sets of feet scrambled over
rubble behind her. She didn’t dare look back, and instead shot into the darkness at the end of the tunnel, trying to distract all fire from her comrades. Though the dust had cleared, the explosions had knocked out most of the tunnel lights. All that remained were the headlights of the speeders behind her.
Selene glanced at a speeder parked mere feet away. An idea sparked to mind, and a grin spread on her face.
Keeping low to the ground, Selene turned the speeder around slowly, careful to watch the tunnel, and reach over to return fire when she could. Luckily, shots from the enemy were few and far between. They had no idea if their men were still alive, and wouldn’t risk killing them.
“Come in, alpha team!” the words buzzed over a comset behind her. Selene shook her head. No answer would come.
With the speeder facing back the way it had come, Selene jammed autopilot to take it right down the tunnel, back toward her enemies. The lights would serve two purposes: to cover her and blind them. With any luck, it’d give her enough time to find the stairwell.
“Hold your fire, that’s one of ours!” someone shouted from the other end of the tunnel. His voice echoed off the walls. “Turn those lights off, soldier, or we’ll be forced to consider you hostile!”
Selene grinned, and sent the speeder off. It careened down the tunnel at full speed.
“Hold it, soldier!” the man screamed.
Selene leapt from her hiding spot and raced to the door on her left. Shouts, and rifle fire filled the tunnel as she opened the door and ducked inside, sealing all the noise behind her.
Her heart raced as she pressed her back against the cold metal of the door. She’d done it. An adrenaline fuelled grin spread on her face. But this wasn’t over yet.
A set of metal stairs led down to a long grated walkway parallel to the tunnel. Pausing to take a deep breath, Selene ripped the mask from her face and tossed it on the ground. Now came the hard part.
Selene took a right, only walking a few paces before she turned into a hall, and opened another door into a stairwell. She closed it behind her, and raced down as fast as she could, her rifle in hand.
The Zahkx Alliance: A Sci-Fi Dystopian Adventure (Dominion Rising Book 2) Page 8
