Apolo eyed Roden before turning a hard glare on her captor. “Release her this instant, imposter, or die.”
Ten blasters were aimed on Otas, but there was no way to shoot him without hitting Nalea. Roden paused when light reflected off her necklace. The woman he knew wasn’t one to wear gaudy jewelry. He narrowed his gaze on it and tensed. “Damn it, Lea.”
She bristled but didn’t say anything.
“Roden?” Apolo asked.
Roden sighed and lowered his weapon. “As much as I’d like to kill this imposter, we can’t shoot him without killing my
tahren
. A neck-charge, Otas? How
undignified
.”
Apolo cursed.
Otas chortled as he pulled her back a step. “Dire times call for dire measures, although I wasn’t expecting you here so soon.”
Nalea’s eyes widened. “Behind you!”
The sounds of pounding boot steps broke through the silence. Roden snapped around to find guardsmen pouring into the office behind them. Wync flung himself at the wall and hit a switch in time to cut off the newcomers and Roden’s squad, leaving Roden and Apolo trapped inside the small cavern with Otas and Nalea.
Gunfire and shouts filtered through the wall. Otas smiled. “I believe we’re at an impasse.”
“Here’s your only chance,” Apolo said. “Stand down and we won’t shoot.”
Nalea stood firm, turning first to Apolo and then holding her gaze on Roden, as though she were contemplating what to do next. “Kill him,” she said suddenly.
Roden looked into her eyes. She believed that eliminating the Grand Lord was more important than her life?
Never.
“No,” he ground out.
She must’ve seen the truth in his eyes because she turned to Apolo. “Finish this.”
Apolo, face hard, shook his head slowly.
A low hum erupted around them. It’d been nearly three years since Roden felt that kind of power. “Oh,
fyet
. The power cells are active.”
Otas grinned as he backed up a step.
“Don’t move,” Apolo commanded.
With a sudden twist, she yanked free and lunged toward the wall furthest from Roden and Apolo. She clutched the pendant. “Kill him already!”
Otas yelped and went to press a button on his wrist-com. “If you shoot me, I will kill her.”
Roden pulled the trigger. A shot blasted through Otas’s hand, and he cried out.
“Can’t set off her disjunctor without a hand, can you,” Roden sneered.
“Damn you!” Otas snarled and pulled out a handgun with his other hand. A
human
gun. What the hell was the imposter doing dirtying his hands with human technology? “You will still die today, Zyll!”
Apolo shot Otas in the leg. The man stumbled with a grunt but quickly returned to full height. With protective body armor covering most of the man’s body, blaster shots were easily absorbed by the material.
Roden fired another shot at the man’s uninjured hand at the same time Otas pulled off a shot. Apolo began to fire, knocking the Draeken down. A sudden pain blinded him. He stumbled back, and Nalea grabbed onto him.
Otas twisted around and barked out a command. A narrow door opened behind him and he leapt through the small door just before its jaws snapped closed.
Apolo lunged forward and searched for a keypad.
Roden tried to move forward to help, but pain burned his shoulder and he reached up to find wetness. A familiar, numbing pain climbed through his veins.
Poison.
Nalea came down with him, holding onto him as hard as he embraced her. “You feel so good,” he whispered.
“I shouldn’t be close to you. Too dangerous,” she whispered.
“He was bluffing,” Roden said with a grimace. “You’re too valuable to him. He needs you alive.”
She didn’t pull away, instead pressing against the bullet wound, trying to staunch the blood flow, but Roden knew the tangy scent of poison too well. “
Tiscalin
,” he muttered. A common poison because of its effectiveness. Often used in blood charges, it was both an anticoagulant as well as a deadly venom that would eventually paralyze his heart. He looked up at Apolo. “Tell me you’ve packed anti-venom.”
Apolo was already pulling out a small syringe as he ripped open a bandage. Nalea allowed the Sephian access, but she still held tight onto Roden as Apolo shot the syringe of anti-venom directly into the wound. Apolo then slapped a bandage over the wound, none too gently, and Roden cursed and glared at the other man.
Apolo smirked before backing away. “You’ll survive.” Then he turned and spoke into his wrist-com. “This is Team Three. We need an evac at Kilo Tango. Multiple injuries. Prep for a
tiscalin
treatment and Draeken blood transfusion.”
A voice coming through his wrist-com quickly responded.
“Acknowledged. Pickup at Kilo Tango in three minutes. We’re reporting a serious influx of power coming up around the base. Status of target?”
Apolo scowled. “Target has escaped.”
A pause.
“You better move fast.”
Nalea commented, “Sounds like you came prepared.”
The humming in the room grew, and Roden noticed a slight glow emanate from where Hillas escaped. The glow was slowly filling in the wall. He winced. “Otas has initiated a force barrier.”
Apolo cursed. “Clearly we weren’t prepared enough.” He stood and hit another key on his wrist-com. “Team Three,” he said. “Report status.”
“Room is secure.”
Apolo nodded to Nalea, who swiped her hand over the wall, and the door opened.
Biting back the writhing tentacles of agony expanding outward from his wound, Roden staggered forward into the larger room. Already, an additional squad was filtering in. They stopped at each fallen Draeken, disarming and restraining before moving on to the next one. One of Roden’s least favorite Sephians, who now bore a nasty burn shot through his arm, came to his feet upon seeing them.
“Bente!” Nalea called out.
Cradling his arm, he smiled. “Good to see you, girl.”
“Pickup is on its way,” Apolo said.
Bente nodded. “I heard.”
Roden’s muscles tensed as he tried to hold himself up. “Let’s move.” Nalea watched him suspiciously for a moment, and then wrapped her arm around his torso. He gave a weak smile. “I’ve missed you, too.”
She grunted in response.
“I say we leave him,” Bente added.
“Shut up,” Roden and Nalea said in unison.
“Bente, grab that gear bag,” Apolo said as he walked past the pair.
The Sephian lifted his own arm. “But I’m injured.”
Apolo huffed. “That scratch?”
Roden glanced down at his woman, and she looked up as though knowing his eyes were on her. He frowned, and then turned his attention to Apolo. “You have any people who know how to remove a neck-charge without detonating it?”
Apolo’s lips thinned and he shook his head slowly.
Nalea stopped, swallowed. “I have to stay. I’m a safety risk to you.”
“Like hells you are,” Roden countered, pulling her tighter against him.
“What are you talking about?” Bente asked.
She pointed to her necklace. “There’s a charge set on this. Otas has the detonator. He could set it off at any time.”
“Suvaste,
” Bente muttered.
Roden nodded toward the humming wall. “The force barrier is already filling in. There’s no way to get to him.”
“Don’t be foolish. You’re coming with us,” Apolo snapped at Nalea.
She shook her head. “I don’t know how big the blast could be if he detonates it. I won’t risk your lives.”
“We all will get fried if we don’t get out of this room right now, and I’m not letting go of you,” Roden said with a wince as he wrapped his injured arm around her as well. “Besides, the warrior woman I know would never give up.”
“I’m not giving up, you mad
fregee
. I’m trying to protect your worthless hides,” she muttered.
“You’re coming,” Apolo barked over his shoulder. “And that’s an order, Nalea.”
She shared several colorful words but didn’t push away from Roden as they walked through the hallway. Without the cauterization brought with blaster injuries, his wound was excruciating.
Damned human weapons.
It took every ounce of strength he had to walk, but he wasn’t about to show weakness.
He’d only stumbled twice — blaming it on debris both times — by the time they stepped through the collapsed door that led outside the base. He glanced down to see Nalea’s eyes closed, a smile on her face. He’d nearly forgotten how long it’d been since she’d been outdoors. And it’d been his fault. For that instant alone, he was glad she had the disjunctor so she wouldn’t feel his guilt. No wonder he’d thought she died. He had to get that neck-charge off her. Even though the disjunctor blocked anything he could feel from her, his heart clenched at the thought of losing Nalea again.
A
whoomp-whoomp
sound brought his attention to the night sky. Three helicopters lowered onto the ground as gently as birds to their nest.
Losing his balance, he fell to his knees, his strength now gone. A couple of medics jumped out of one of the aircraft with a long board. They rushed forward, and reached for Roden. He hissed, drawing back from their outstretched hands. “Help the others first.”
The medics froze, looking to Apolo, who stalked over and helped him back to his feet. “You go with them or else I’ll shoot you myself.”
He grimaced but finally relented with a nod. The two medics pulled him onto the portable stretcher. They had Roden strapped down within seconds, and he pulled at the straps. “Imbeciles,” he muttered as they slid him none too gently onto the floor of the helicopter.
Nalea backed away, touching her disjunctor and Roden motioned out for her to come to him. She shook her head, then turned and walked away as though he carried death.
His head collapsed onto the cushioned stretcher. Pain coated his senses, numbing his mind. “Nalea,” he called out. When he looked again, Apolo stood there, watching him with blank features, before stepping closer and grabbing Roden’s hand.
His mind glazed, Roden looked out to where Nalea had disappeared. He squeezed the Sephian’s hand. “Take care of her,
ta deiti
.”
“I will.” A pause. “Old friend.”
Nalea had never seen Roden injured before, and the sight made it hard to breathe. The Roden she knew was too strong. He couldn’t be injured, let alone die. Everything within her went taut as though she’d simply disintegrate if he’d died. When they’d loaded him onto the helicopter … the way he’d looked at her …
She wanted to run to him and to never let go. Instead, she’d bolted. Plain and simple, she’d turned into a coward rather than face the truth. She stood under the tree, hidden by low branches, breathing deeply. The night air, even with its metallic hints of machinery and petroleum, strengthened her.
Freedom.
It’d been so long that she’d nearly forgotten the smell of fresh air. Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply. Then she remembered the disjunctor, and the air grew stifling and dull.
Every second wearing it, the disjunctor around her neck grew heavier. Why hadn’t Otas killed her yet? What was he waiting for?
“He’s going to be all right.”
Nalea jumped at Apolo’s voice. She turned and saw him walking toward her from where the helicopter carrying Roden lifted off. “I don’t care,” she blurted out a little too quickly.
His lips pursed, but he didn’t have time to respond. A human soldier stepped forward from her past. “Good to see you, Nalea,” Ace said before turning to Apolo. “It looks like a contingent of Draeken have holed up within the central communications room.”
Apolo didn’t seem surprised. “Our target is there. With a force barrier in place, we may not be able to get to him, but at least he can’t get out. We need to lock up any escape routes, and we need to do it now. I want you to take point. I’ll apprise Sommers.”
Ace nodded before taking off into woods, disappearing within entering feet of the darkness.
Apolo reached for her chain and she gripped his hand. “Can we remove it without detonating?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Otas is wearing the detonator. If he’s killed, it goes off. He can set it off manually, too.”
“
Suvaste
,” Apolo muttered before turning back to the helicopter. He rummaged through a crate of gear and returned with a black vest. “We’ll get that thing off you back at the base. In the meantime, try this,” he said.
She frowned. “What is it?”
“A bullet-proof vest. I don’t like you still being at risk, but it makes you safer to be around others. Cover that thing with the vest, and if it discharges, the vest should catch most of the charge.”
“You sure about that?”
“Just put the damn thing on, Nalea.”
Apolo helped her fasten the straps. “Now, we need to head back to the base and regroup.”
When she opened her mouth to object, he cut her off with a wave of his hand. “Before you even think you’re not coming back because of that thing around your neck, let me tell you this. If you don’t get on that helicopter, I’ll have you arrested and carried on board if I have to.”
With a scowl, she snapped away and stomped toward the helicopter. She climbed on board, grabbing the closest seat. Bente lifted himself with his good arm and took the seat next to her. “I know we have to keep the bastard alive for your health,” he muttered as she helped strap him in. “But I’d rather leave him behind to rot.”
She didn’t respond.
“He even said you were dead.”
Nalea glanced up. Bente’s eyes spoke the truth. Roden told everyone she was dead? Had the disjunctor worked that well?
Presumptive fregee
. If no one knew she lived, no one would’ve come for her. It’d been pure luck they discovered her today. She’d been quite literally left for dead. The clavicles of
aloneness
around her heart tightened. She shot a hard glare at her friend. “Do I look dead to you?”
Bente belted out a chuckle. “Gods, it’s good to have you back.” Then his features hardened. “Wow, of all the males in the universe … ”
Nalea sighed, leaning her head against the seat. “Tell me about it.”
“
Suvaste,”
he muttered before cocking his head. “The bastard was lying about you all along.”