Chasing the Shadows (Sentinels of the Galaxy Book 2)

by Maria V. Snyder

  “Not your fault. We needed to keep you safe. But now—”

  “Locking me in my room isn’t the answer. You know that, right?”

  “I know.” She sounds just like a pouting two-year-old.

  I hide my smile.

  “It’s just I don’t trust Tace to keep you safe. He has the entire base to protect.”

  “Then you’re just going to have to trust me to keep me safe.”

  “It’d be easier if, when I look at you, I don’t see my little girl with her pigtails and chubby cheeks.” She strokes my cheek.

  That isn’t chubby. At all. “Would it make you feel better if I roll my eyes and act like a hormonal teenager?”

  “Actually yes. I think this trouble with Jarren has robbed you of your youth. You should still be attending soch-time and complaining about it.”

  “I don’t miss soch-time. At all. Do you want me to tell you why?”

  “I know why.”

  “Then you know why I need to go help Beau discover what Jarren’s hiding out there in the woods.”

  “Smart ass.”

  I tsk. “Name-calling? Now who’s acting like a teenager?” Ah, there’s a smile.

  Mom stands and smooths her shirt. “I’m not going to apologize for being a mother.”

  “Don’t worry, I know it can’t be helped.”

  “Be careful tonight, Little Miss Know-it-all.” She gives me a kiss on my forehead.

  As she leaves my room, I silently disagree with her. I’m not a know-it-all. Otherwise I would have realized that her and Dad’s lives have been altered by Jarren’s attack as well as mine. I vow to be less self-absorbed in the future.

  I join Niall in the living area. He’s sitting on the couch. “Was it bad?”

  “She wanted to ground me.”

  “Really?”

  “Don’t give me that look. It’s not a good idea.”

  “You can’t blame me.”

  I just shake my head. “I’m sorry we won’t have any time together tonight.”

  “That’s okay.” Niall stands. “I need to get some sleep. My duty schedule’s been changed and I have the night shift.”

  “Is it because Jarren’s on Yulin?”

  “No. We all have to take a night shift rotation. It’s just my turn.”

  “How long are the rotations?”

  “Fourteen days.”

  I step in close, wrap my arms around his neck, and pull him in for a kiss.

  “Not that I’m complaining, but what was that for?” Niall asks.

  “Because I can.”

  He dips his head and gives me a kiss. “Same reason.”

  “Nice to know we’re in agreement.”

  “Don’t worry, I won’t expect it all the time,” he teases.

  “Well that would just be boring.”

  “Nothing wrong with boring, Mouse.”

  “Sorry, but I draw the line at sensible.”

  “Whew. I better quit while I’m ahead.”

  Beau’s already in his office and ready to go. This time I don’t insert my tangs. Beau raises a thin eyebrow in question.

  “They make me too heavy,” I say.

  His other eyebrow joins the first, but he doesn’t ask me to clarify. Without another word, we connect and use my escape tunnel to worm deep into the Q-net. As expected, Jarren is hidden behind a mountain of protections, alarms, and hidden traps. It reminds me of the game world of Mutant Zombies from Planet Nine. Every blind corner could lead to certain death. Well, not that dramatic, but still…

  Worming through his defenses is like climbing up a slope filled with loose rocks and dirt. One wrong move and the entire thing will avalanche. Snail speed is too fast. After four hours, we’re no closer to Jarren. We’ve no idea how many people are with him. Nothing.

  We disentangle.

  Beau swigs a couple of painkillers and hands me the bottle. “I felt like I was walking a tightrope the entire time. One slip and… Pow!”

  I stretch my back. “I think we need another approach. Instead of hitting him straight on, maybe we can loop in behind his defenses.”

  “What are the odds that he’s going to leave a gap for us to exploit?”

  “Not very good.” I gesture to the terminal. “I need to be—” No. Not going to say it.

  Of course Beau asks, “Need to be what?”

  Sigh. “Asleep.” I rush to explain. “When I’m sleeping, it’s not worming. It’s flying. I have no difficulty going anywhere.”

  “Even the star roads?”

  “I haven’t tried. Nor will I. Even my subconscious knows not to mess around with them.”

  “But you don’t have control.”

  “Not at first. Not to connect to the Q-net, but once I’m there and I realize what’s going on, I have full control of where I go and what I do.”

  “It’s still dangerous.”

  “I’m not planning on doing it on purpose, but if it happens, I’m going to take full advantage.”

  Beau walks me back to my unit. Radcliff’s still awake even though it’s oh-one-hundred hours. He waited up only to hear we were unsuccessful.

  “Report to Dorey’s office at oh-nine-hundred hours,” Radcliff says to me. “I’ll inform Officer Keir you won’t be training for the next few days. Gathering information about Jarren is your and Officer Dorey’s priority right now.”

  “Yes, sir,” I say. Nodding good night to Beau, I go to my bedroom.

  Resting my pounding head on my pillow is a small slice of heaven. I’m asleep in seconds. No dreams or invitations to fly through the Q-net interrupt my sleep. The next day, Beau and I spend eight hours getting absolutely nowhere. We break for dinner and try again. Then it’s bedtime. I wake up and repeat.

  I lie in bed and stare at the painting of the Chinese guardian lion. It’s been three days of utter failure. Three days of frustration. Three days of discovering I’m not as good at worming as I thought. Eventually, I fall asleep.

  Radcliff wakes me at oh-three-hundred hours. He’s wearing a jumpsuit. Never a good sign.

  Fully awake, I sit up. “What’s wrong?”

  “Get changed. We’ve a situation.”

  “Jarren attacked.” It’s not a question.

  “No. The HoLFs.”

  Sixteen

  2522:239

  By the time I wiggle into my security jumpsuit and clip on my weapon belt, Radcliff is gone. I slow to a stop. The emergency lights are on, which means the base has lost its main power. Weak orange-ish-yellow light illuminates the room. Not near bright enough. Lots of shadows everywhere.

  We’re so dead.

  A mind-numbing fear freezes me in place. The shadow-blobs are going to slice everyone on this base into little pieces. When the Protector Class ship arrives, they’ll find bits of us scattered all over the floor.

  “…Ara!” Elese shouts from the open doorway. “Let’s go. You can have your freak out later.”

  I snap from my paralysis and join her. We run through the hallways, encountering no one.

  “See? All those laps you complained about. They came in handy,” Elese says, breathing easy despite our speed.

  “Groaning is not complaining.” But I gotta admit it’s nice not to be gasping for breath. However, I am sucking in more air by the time we reach the stairwell that goes down to the archeology lab. It’s the only lab that is below ground level so it’s easier to access the Warrior pits.

  Other members of the security team are already at the entrance to the stairwell along with a big battery-operated floodlight. Everyone has their flashlights in hand. I pull mine and check the beam.

  Radcliff spots me and says, “Any HoLFs in the vicinity?”

  I search the shadows as I test the air. “No. What happened?”

  “They attacked the officers in the lab. Tora escaped, but…”

  There’s always two on duty and guess who has the night rotation. I scan faces. Tora presses a cloth to her cheek. Splotches of bright red stain the white fabr
ic. All my blood suddenly rushes into my heart. It expands, pressing painfully on my chest as if ready to explode.

  “Niall’s still there,” I say, my voice barely a whisper.

  Radcliff nods.

  I turn to go down the stairs, but a hand clamps on my shoulder and yanks me back.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Radcliff demands.

  “To save Niall.”

  “Tora said the HoLFs were everywhere. We need to wait for more lights.”

  “He could be dead by then!” I shout.

  “And so could you.” Radcliff grabs my other shoulder and leans in so we’re almost nose to nose. “Once the lights get here, we’ll go in, until then sit tight.”

  Sit tight? Sit tight? My heart’s about to erupt. And— Deep within Radcliff’s gaze is raw pain. That’s his son in danger. I nod and he releases me.

  “Where’s Beau?” I ask.

  “In the Control Center, trying to get the lights back on.”

  “What caused them to go out?”

  “We don’t know.”

  It’s suspicious and the urge to worm into the Q-net wars with my panic over Niall. One way to help him is to get the lights back on. But my full attention is needed here just in case shadow-blobs escape. Grrr.

  Dr. Carson races toward us. She’s wearing her lab coat over pajamas. A step behind her is a tall lanky man with black hair. He’s carrying a long cylindrical object.

  “Officer Radcliff,” she calls.

  Not waiting for an invitation, I join the three of them.

  “…still testing it. We don’t know how effective it will be,” she says.

  “What do you know?” Radcliff asks.

  “It will emit a counter radio wave, but you have to aim it directly at the HoLF.”

  “Not a problem,” I say. “Show me how it works.”

  Bertie looks at the man. “Jim?”

  He’s staring at me with his mouth open.

  I suppress a sigh. “Yes, I’m not dead, get over it and show me how this damn thing works.”

  Jim recovers. “Um…here.” He hands it to me. “Hold it like this.”

  There’s a short post underneath the front. I grab it with my left hand, making a fist around it. The cylinder rests on the top of my hand. It’s about ten centimeters in diameter and approximately a meter long. Jim places the back end over the crook of my right arm. The sucker is heavy.

  “The controls are where your right hand is. Do you feel it?” he asks.

  “There’s two…teeth?”

  “Close enough. All you need to do is aim the weapon, and squeeze those two teeth together, which will trigger the counter wave. And don’t forget this.” He puts a leather strap over my neck. “In case you lose your grip.”

  I move my left arm so the strap sits across my body. It helps hold the weight. I swing the weapon around, getting a feel for it. “How long do I need to keep this aimed at the HoLF?”

  “Sorry, all we know is it emits a counter wave. The rest is up to you to figure out. It’s not like we have a HoLF in the lab to test it on.”

  True. Well there’s no time like the present. “All right, here’s the plan,” I say. “I’ll take point. I need two people who will grab Niall and carry him out. The rest can follow with flashlights and—”

  “Junior Officer Lawrence, you are not in charge. You will not be making plans,” Radcliff says. “We’re waiting for more floodlights.”

  “But we have the emitter.”

  “Which may do nothing at all, like the lasers.”

  “We should take the chance. Time is not on our side.” Niall could be bleeding out as we argue.

  Just then my parents arrive with a bunch of techs in tow. They’re carrying more portable, battery-powered floodlights. Thank the universe!

  Radcliff shouts orders and details a plan that is almost exactly the same as mine. But I’m not going to quibble over whose idea it is, because I don’t care. There’s a primal wild impulse in my core that’s pushing on me to go, go. GO! Run, run. RUN! Right into the archeology lab and get Niall.

  When Dr. Edwards appears with a couple nurses, I bite back a scream. Or I think I do. My mom gives me a wide-eyed look as if I’ve turned feral. And that’s fine with me. I’ll go all feral on those shadow-blobs—just let me at them!

  Bendix, Ho, Elese, and Rance heft the floodlights. They enter the stairwell first, illuminating the steps. But I’m right between them, sensing the air. No cold sensations. I think. It’s hard to tell since I’m sweating.

  “Clear,” I say and start down with Ho on my right and Rance on the left.

  Right behind us are Bendix and Elese, then Radcliff, Morgan, Zaim, and last is Dr. Edwards, who insisted on coming along. Good for him.

  Drops of blood on the steps gleam in the bright white light. My heart rate ratchets up from super-sonic to the speed of light. But I keep an even pace. We reach the bottom of the stairs. Beyond our position are the doors to the lab. They’re wide open. One is marked with a bloody handprint. Not good. I swallow.

  Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

  The temperature drops, turning my sweat into ice. Pressure builds on my skin.

  “Lawrence?” Radcliff asks.

  “There are HoLFs in the lab.” Also there are no emergency lights on. It’s pitch dark inside.

  “Where are they?”

  “I’ll know better once we’re inside. Ready?”

  A chorus of yes. Flanked by the floodlights, I enter the lab and gasp. Just to the right of the doors is Niall. He’s lying on the floor next to the wall. And he’s curled into a ball with his hands laced behind his neck—it’s a protective posture. Except he’s not moving and there’s a large pool of blood underneath him.

  No. No. No. NO!

  “Lawrence, focus on the HoLFs, we’ve got him,” Radcliff says as he and Dr. Edwards rush over to him.

  My priority shifts. I need to protect them so they can save Niall. “Fan out around Niall,” I bark.

  Rance, Ho, Elese, and Bendix spread out in a semi-circle around the group on the floor. I scan the shadows. They’re alive.

  “Aim your flashlights at the shadows.”

  “Which ones?” Elese asks.

  “All of them.”

  They do. It doesn’t take long for curses and grunts of surprise to echo in the lab as the shadow-blobs sneak weaponized tentacles through the gaps in the light. I target the shadows with my weapon, but I can’t see the individual HoLFs. I step out of the ring of light.

  “Where are you going?” Bendix snaps. “Damn things are everywhere.”

  “It’s too bright.” I aim at the middle of the first shadow-blob that dives for me. Squeezing the trigger, I brace for…well, I’ve no idea.

  The shadow-blob slows, then there’s a sizzle-zap sound and the HoLF explodes into a million little black dots that wink out of sight. I whoop. The rest of the shadow-blobs pause as if in shock. Then they dive for me. I backpedal until my back hits a wall. Then I aim at the closest HoLF. Sizzle-zap! And the next. Sizzle-zap! Sizzle-zap! Sizzle-fun!

  Tentacles lash at me with sharp blades. I duck the strikes as my training kicks in. And I keep aiming. Sizzle-zap! A handful of slashes run along my shoulders and arms, but the jumpsuit’s material protects my skin from getting cut. Sizzle-zap! Sizzle-zap! Sizzle-zap!

  A jagged knife of agony pierces my side as a shadow-blob gets past my defenses. I zap it, but I realize that the jumpsuit won’t protect me from a straight thrust. And they’ve figured it out, too. Plus I’m outnumbered. Sizzle-zap! Sizzle-zap! Sizzle-zap! And I’m quite a few meters from the protective semi-circle of light. When did that happen? Sizzle-zap! Sizzle-zap!

  “Lawrence, retreat,” Radcliff orders.

  Not until Niall—but he’s gone. One less thing to worry about. I step toward the lab’s doors when another burning puncture erupts on my upper right thigh. Remembering Niall’s mother, I freeze. A tentacle stabs into my left shoulder. I fumble to squeeze the trigger of my weapo
n, but my fingers are numb. And I’ve no feeling from the knees down. Am I bleeding out?

  Bright white light shines on me and the shadow-blobs flee. A hand grabs my arm and yanks me to my feet. When did I sit down?

  “Ara, move!” Radcliff pulls me along.

  I stumble up the stairs. The light holders are just two steps behind as they protect us. We burst out into the hallway. Radcliff shouts orders about stationing the floodlights in the stairwell. The air is warm and light. Too bad the base is spinning.

  “…HoLFs?”

  “Huh?” I blink, trying to focus on Radcliff.

  “Did any of the HoLFs escape?” he asks.

  I scan the area. Other than the walls undulating, everything appears normal. “No.” Then I remember. Fear clears my unsteady thoughts. The base stills under my feet. “Niall?”

  “Alive,” Radcliff says, but he doesn’t look relieved. “He lost a great deal of blood.”

  Oh no. “Where…”

  “Dr. Edwards and his team rushed him to surgery.”

  “Why aren’t you there?”

  “Nothing I can do for him at this point. Besides, I have to ensure my team is all right.” His gaze slides to my shoulder. “How bad is it?”

  It was fine until he asked. Multiple injuries flare to life. The emitter in my arms all of a sudden gains a hundred kilos. I try to take the strap off, but my shoulder is having none of it.

  Radcliff lifts the weapon with ease. “Did it work?”

  “Yes. It did great. Just too…many of them. And they…” The floor buckles under me and I stagger to the side.

  Radcliff puts his hand on my waist to steady me. I hiss in pain.

  “You need to go to the infirmary.” He calls for my parents to escort me.

  They admonish me for not saying something sooner. Dad puts my good arm around his neck, supporting me as we navigate the hallways. My mom clucks at me, but I’ve no idea what she’s saying. It takes all my concentration to stay on my feet. The nurses in the infirmary frown at me.