“Okay.”
“That might trigger a malfunction alert that could gain some notice from maintenance. So once you’ve done that, head for the escape pods. You’ll know them when you see them because they’ll all be lined up in a row.”
She frowned. “You keep saying you instead of we.”
He closed the incinerator. A whoosh sounded. “I’m not coming with you.”
She stared up at him. “What?”
“I’m staying here. Keep me apprised of everything telepathically as you go. If you run into any trouble, I’ll start blasting things in here, then run and draw their fire.”
“Oh, hell no!” she blurted. “We leave together or we don’t leave at all.”
“Ava, you have a much higher chance of escaping if I keep them distracted long enough to—”
Closing the distance between them, she rose onto her toes, curled her free hand around the nape of his neck, and pressed a fervent kiss to his lips.
Startled into silence, he stared down at her.
“I’m not going without you, Jak’ri.”
“You can move faster without me. Much faster.”
“I don’t care. I won’t let you sacrifice yourself for me. We either escape together or we die together. Those are your two options. Time is ticking. What’s it going to be?”
Several seconds passed. Then he looped an arm around her waist, drew her up against him, and kissed her as if he thought there would be no tomorrow.
Her heart leapt. Her pulse quickened.
When at last he broke the heated contact, he pressed his forehead to hers. “We escape together. Just don’t die, Ava. Please. And don’t let them recapture you, whatever it takes.” In other words, leave him behind if that was what she had to do to gain her freedom.
She was so falling in love with him. “I won’t.”
Bending, he retrieved a bag from beneath one of the cabinets.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“A medic bag. I saw them take it once to tend some soldiers who bloodied each other up in a fight.” Opening another cabinet, he grabbed fistfuls of nutrient cubes and stuffed them into the bag. He did the same with larger packs that reminded her of those juice packs children on Earth sometimes used.
“What’s in those?” she asked, helping him.
“The nutrient liquid they put in our canteens.” He pointed to another cabinet. “I think they keep our garments in there. Grab a couple.”
Ava opened the cabinet he pointed to and grabbed a bunch of folded fabric she hoped would be a change of clothes for them both.
Jak’ri forced the bag closed. “Go wait by the door.”
Ava picked up the discarded shock wand and crossed the room. She blew a lock of hair out of her face, then frowned. If they were about to go into battle, the last thing she needed was for her hair to blind her.
Jak’ri entered his cell and headed for the lav.
Zipping into motion, Ava ripped a strip of cloth from the pants of the dead guard at her feet and used it to tie her hair back. Then she palmed a blaster and grabbed the shock wand.
Jak’ri fired his blaster. Through the lav’s doorway, she saw the panel above the toilet explode. He did the same with the toilet in the other cell. He caught her eye as he returned to the lab. “That should only alert maintenance that the lav is malfunctioning. But the moment I destroy the computers in here, an alarm will sound on the bridge.”
And all hell would break loose. “Okay.”
“Ready?” he asked.
Nerves jumping, adrenaline pumping through her veins, Ava nodded. “I’m ready.”
CHAPTER NINE
Jak’ri fired the blaster multiple times, targeting every panel on which he’d seen the scientists enter data or retrieve information. He fired several more shots into the lower cabinet that housed the primary data storage hub, then turned the blaster on the mechanical apparatus in the ceiling above the operating table, destroying all of it.
The lights began to flicker.
Jogging across the room with the medic bag, he met Ava near the entrance. “Let’s go. Read my thoughts and speak to me telepathically whenever necessary.”
Okay.
As they approached the lab’s exit, the door slid up. Jak’ri tensed and raised his weapon, uncertain whether they had triggered the door or if someone else on the brink of entering had.
Poking his head out, he looked up and down the hallway and found it empty. It’s clear, he thought. Ava slipped past him and started leading the way to the tertiary lab.
She looked so fragile, garbed only in shorts and a wrap-around shirt that gave the scientists easy access to her torso. She’d pulled her mussed hair back at some point and tied it at her nape, revealing a slender neck and narrow shoulders. Her arms and legs were thinner than they were in their shared dreams. The guard’s blaster looked huge in her tiny hand, as did the shock wand she clutched in the other hand. And her small feet were bare.
Everything within him demanded he lead so he would be the one targeted by the Gathendiens they would encounter. But back in the lab…
He didn’t fully comprehend what had happened to her. He only knew she was changed. Greatly changed. That alluring, compact little body could now move so quickly he could barely follow the motion with his eyes. In no more than a heartbeat, she had dropped four Gathendiens. And her strength…
He knew the second guard must have been thrice her weight, yet she had dragged him across the floor as effortlessly as she would a threadbare blanket.
As they approached an intersection with another hallway, she stopped suddenly. Someone’s coming. And they’re moving quickly.
Soldiers sent to investigate the alarm, no doubt.
Jak’ri glanced around and saw no alcove in which they could hide. None of the doors they’d passed had opened, so they weren’t communal rooms and would require passcodes.
With no other recourse, the two of them hugged the wall.
How many? he asked.
Four, I think.
Able to hear the thuds of approaching boots now, Jak’ri raised his blaster, ready to fire.
His eyes widened when Ava abruptly stepped into the intersection and turned to face whoever raced toward them in the other hallway.
“Hi,” she said with a smile and a wave. “How’s it going?”
The boots skidded to a halt.
Then her eyes flashed bright amber. She raised her blaster and fired. Shouts burst from the hallway, accompanied by energy bolts. Her figure blurred as she dodged returning fire, then dove out of sight.
Drek! Grunts and cries of pain sounded as Jak’ri ran toward the intersection. Skidding to a halt, he aimed his weapon… and gaped.
Three Gathendiens lay motionless on the floor, blood pooling beneath them, their armor and bodies smoking from blaster fire. A fourth Gathendien bereft of weapons stumbled backward with Ava perched on his shoulders, her legs locked around him.
As Jak’ri watched in astonishment, she grabbed his scaled head and gave it a quick hard twist.
Bone snapped. The Gathendien collapsed.
Ava jumped free before he hit the floor.
Jak’ri stared. Every Gathendien lay dead.
And Ava bore not even a scratch.
“How the drek did you do that?”