“Be smart, Sam,” said Drake. “Put the weapon down.”
“I don’t think so.”
Drake’s pistol was the real problem. The guards would have to chase them down to use the stun-sticks and Samantha was willing to bet Hera could make it to the fence before they could close the distance.
The thought of what she was about to do made Samantha lightheaded. Her belly clenched and bile rose up the back of her throat.
Samantha pressed her lips together.
She lifted the pistol higher and took aim at the center of Drake’s chest.
She squeezed the trigger.
And nothing happened.
Frustration and…relief warred in her gut. Her hands shook with the reality of what she’d been willing to do. For Mercury. Not for Hera. Not for Carn. For the man she loved more than her own moral high ground.
Drake shook his head. “Sam, I’m so disappointed. Did you really think I’d let you get your hands on a functioning weapon?” Smug confidence etched his features like the macabre grin of a slither-constrictor with a squirming rodent halfway down its gullet.
Sam dropped the gun and held her hands out.
“Rachel.” Against her will, the name came out with all the grief she was feeling. Grief for what the woman had put Lo through. Grief for the chance that help would come that had just slipped away.
If the gun was a plant, the remote might be, too.
Drake laughed—a cruel sound. “Poor, ugly Rachel has no idea what she’s done. She doesn’t even know we’ve been watching her for months. It was easy to make sure she overheard exactly what we wanted her to and even easier to swap out the pistol she left you. She led you right to us.”
Samantha sucked in that bit of information like a fire chasing after fuel. If Rachel hadn’t been working against them, she might still be able to send help.
Drake started walking toward them to close the distance. “It’s time to be sensible. If you cooperate, I can guarantee you won’t be harmed.”
Samantha shook her head. “You’ll let me go? I don’t think so.”
“I’ll hand you over to the Alliance law officers and you’ll get a fair trial,” he promised.
He knew she had Cerrillian blood. That she could never get fair treatment from the Alliance authorities. She wanted to laugh at the absurdity, but she needed to keep him talking so she could think. “What charges?”
“I’m not negotiating here,” he shouted back. “I’m offering you a way out of this that doesn’t end in you never leaving this estate.” Drake shoved the pistol into a sheath hanging from his waste and tapped the whip against his hip.
Samantha’s heart raced right into her throat. Drake’s arrogance might have given them a chance. Samantha pitched her voice low again, for Hera. “Reach down to the pocket on my left thigh.” Drake was watching Samantha and paying no attention to where Hera’s hands were. “There’s a sparker—a small metal strip. Pull it out and when I say, snap it and toss it ten meters in front of us, but don’t look at it.” She raised her voice for Drake’s benefit. “Why should I make it easy on you?”
“Because things can always be worse.” Drake started uncoiling the whip in his hands.
Hera, bless her, managed to get the sparker out of her pocket without freaking out.
Under her breath, Samantha said, “can you get over the fence, if I bring the power down?”
“Yes, I think so.”
Drake was close enough to speak without shouting and his face said his patience was at an end. “What are we doing here, Sam?”
“What’s the hurry?” Samantha shrugged and slowly lowered her hands in the direction of her jacket pockets.
Drake grinned. “I know you don’t have any more weapons. You can’t fake me out, Sam.”
“I wouldn’t even think of it,” she said sweetly. She slipped her hands into the folds of fabric and carefully fingered her jammer and the remote she’d taken off the guard. If she could trigger the remote, and it was for the fence, then she could jam the signal to keep it from going back up while they climbed. “Look around, your real targets aren’t anywhere to be seen. Isn’t Hera supposed to be the bait? Why don’t we wait and see if anyone else turns up?”
He frowned. “I have to say, I wasn’t expecting the Dogs to send
you
after the bitch.”
“I didn’t have anything better to do.”
“I see them.” Hera’s whispered words were laced with excitement. “Mercury, Carn, Lo. They’re coming.”
The news was bittersweet. Drake was getting close. Odds they could both get over the fence weren’t good. Samantha tightened her hands around the remote. “Tell Mercury—”
“No!”
“Shh. Tell, Mercury, this is my choice. I knew what I was doing when I came after you. Tell him this isn’t his fault. Promise me.”
Hera made a yipping noise then nodded. “I promise.”
Samantha triggered the remote and watched the red light at the top of the fence posts go dim. She triggered the jammer. “Okay. Now!”
Hera tossed the sparker and they both turned and ran. Even with her back turned, the light flashed in her vision and the crackle and pop made her ears ring. With any luck, Drake would be temporarily blind and disoriented.
Samantha pumped arms and legs, adrenalin helping her ignore the pain in her ribs, but she couldn’t keep up with Hera. The woman might not have the aggression of the males of her species, but she clearly matched them for strength. She went up and over the fence without looking back.
Samantha knew she wouldn’t make it up the fence in time, but she continued to struggle forward, her mind unwilling to accept that she might never again see her mother’s smile or lay in Mercury and Lo’s arms. She hadn’t gotten enough of either.
The slap of Drake’s whip against her boot shot bolts of fear through her body, but Samantha didn’t stop. She put her whole heart into pushing forward. A brutal tug yanked her foot back and her body slammed hard against the ground. A sickening snap and a flash of icy cold gripped the arm she’d thrown out instinctively to protect her face. She would’ve screamed, if she hadn’t lost her breath from the impact.
Samantha pushed up with her good arm and searched for Hera through the fence. She’d made it out forty meters where the men had run out to meet her. Mercury was in the lead, that amazing speed of his, but Lo and Carn were close behind.
Hera threw herself into Mercury’s arms. Samantha watched as her love’s arms closed around the female he’d bonded with then a tug on her boot jerked her back again. Her arm gave out and her face slapped against the hard packed ground. Lights flickered behind her eyelids as pain radiated out from her cheekbone but it couldn’t compare to the pain in her heart.
Hera and the others would be safe. Satisfaction pushed her fear and her grief aside for a moment and she clung to it, let it fill her heart.
As the weight of Drake’s shadow fell over her, she closed her eyes and imagined them all happy, living together, looking out for each other. Drake’s boot came down on her wrist and he dug into her pocket and came up with the remote.
He fumbled with it for a moment before growing frustrated. “Fuck.”
Samantha took pleasure in the momentary victory. He couldn’t get the fence back up as long as the small device still in her pocket was transmitting.
“Give me your stun-stick,” he barked to someone outside her field of vision.
“Sir?” The guard sounded confused and uncertain.
“It’ll fry whatever jammer she’s using. Hand it over!”
His boot lifted off her wrist and she tried to push up, get to her knees.
“Faster than searching her,” he said.
Lightning struck her ribs. Her muscles twitched—all of them tightening in agony at the same instant. Fuck, how did Mercury stand it? The pain blazed through her brain and time slowed. When the worst of the agony faded, pain still washed through her like water sloshing in a shakily held bowl.
Howls filled the air in a sweet chorus that settled against her heart like a balm and terrified her at the same time. They sounded close, too close. Why weren’t they running far, far away?
With the realization that she couldn’t yet give into the pain, she fought the lingering weakness. She could almost feel the surge of adrenaline. Her breath came easier and control of her limbs slowly began to return. She pulled her useless arm tight against her body. Her fingers pressed lightly against the cool metal of a low tech blade she’d taped to her belly. It had been the only weapon she could carry hidden beneath that skimpy dress.
“That’s right, Mercury.” Vile expectation slithered beneath Drake’s voice. The remote was in his hand. “Come on over the fence.”
Mercury’s answering howl rang with frustration. Stars, he was so close. He had to know the moment he touched the fence Drake would trigger the pulse system. He’d be stunned and Drake would have him back in a cage before he recovered.
“Put down the remote.” Mercury’s voice vibrated with menace. “
Then
we’ll come over.”
“He’s afraid to face us,” Lo growled. “Without chains and bars between us.”
Something squeezed a fist around Samantha’s heart. She took a fortifying breath and lifted her head. Mercury crouched just beyond the fence, beautiful storm cloud eyes locked onto hers. “I won’t leave you.” His voice was so low and rumbling she doubted anyone could have understood, but she knew him. Knew his voice. Knew his soul. He’d promised her once. It was the only thing, he’d said, the only thing he had to give her. His promise not to leave her behind.
“It would be smarter to leave me.” She whispered, but she knew he heard.
“Sometimes,” he said. “It’s better to go with your heart and your instincts.”
He used almost the same words she’d used back on the
Gwendella
and there was absolute certainty in his face. He finally understood. She groaned with a heart full of love and grief. Why now, when she needed him to be smart instead of giving into his emotion and instincts? He wouldn’t give up now, even if it got them all killed.
Lo paced like a trapped animal, searching for some flaw in the fence that would allow him to get to her. “Be the man you claim,” snarled Lo, stare fixed on Drake with a laser focus. “Toss away the remote and let us in.”
Samantha had been willing to give her own freedom to save Hera, to save them, but she wouldn’t allow Mercury or Lo to be put back in a cage. If they were willing to fight for her, she had to find a way to help them.
Her hand closed around the blade handle and yanked, tape and all. Thrust it hard into Drake’s booted foot.
“Fuck!” The remote hit the ground with a soft thud. Drake dropped to his ass, grabbing for the handle of the blade and pulling it free. “Fucking bitch.”
Samantha batted a hand at the remote. She struck it with a rewarding amount of strength. It flew across the ground, well out of reach of Drake or any of the others.
Mercury and Lo flew up the fence with the grace and power of dancers. They dropped to the ground in one, two, heavy thunks that sent dirt flying into the air.
“Fucking, hell,” Drake swore as he scrambled toward her.
A fist in her hair jerked her head back then pain exploded in her temple. Drake screamed. Mercury snarled. He pinned the whip-master to the ground. She tried to blink them into focus. Mercury’s hands held Drake’s head. He looked ready to crush the man’s skull.
And then he hesitated. His muscles went slack. He landed in a pile atop Drake, who shoved him to the side and scrambled to his feet.
Lo lay a few meters away, equally still.
Tears welled and her belly revolted. What little she’d eaten that day came up and spilled onto the hard packed ground. Her belly heaved again, but there was nothing left inside.
Samantha pushed away from the mess and rolled onto her back. Her energy drained away as the adrenaline rush faded and her injuries roared into her awareness.
Through the blur of her own tears she saw two shapes form out of the shadows of the juvenile center’s roof. Blobs became columns—human columns with rifles cradled in their arms. They’d never really had a chance.
What had she done?
RomaRex Arena Medical Center, Roma
Earth Alliance Beta Sector
2210.185
Everything hurt. It was the first thought Samantha had. Her head ached like a herd of cattle had trampled across it. And she couldn’t remember where she was.
“I want her on her feet and ready for the arena in an hour.” She recognized that voice. Drake. She forced her eyes open to see a woman with ice-blue eyes and short blonde hair leaning over her. She wore a white med-coat.
Samantha was in a med-bed, but she didn’t remember how she’d gotten there. As she tried to bring it back, grief swamped her.
“Mercury. Lo.” The words cut free of her chest and across her lips like blades cutting through a fleshy scabbard.
“They’re fine.” The woman spoke with confidence. “They were sedated using dart rifles. They’re being taken to the arena staging area,” the woman explained.
Relief surged up and nearly took Samantha back under. Something pricked her arm. Gentle hands applied something cool to her cheek and temple. Across her lips. Slowly she became aware of distant cheers and low thuds from above. They must be directly under the arena.
She tried to speak and nothing came out. She swallowed and tried again. “What will happen to them?”
“You should be more concerned about
your
situation at the moment,” answered the medic.
“Please.”
The woman shot her a sympathetic look. “Owens is slating them into the arena schedule tonight. He wants them back in the arena one last time so that everyone can see they’re back where they belong.”
“Then what?”
“Oh, I don’t expect there’ll be a
then
anything. Owens doesn’t like to lose an opportunity to make profit, but he wants them dead and there’s no way he’ll risk anything going wrong again.”
“He wants you there.” The man attached to the voice came into view. Short cropped hair and a med-coat. Another medic. “He’ll want you on display for the crowds. To show that no one gets away with stealing from Roma.”