“I’m almost there.” Fiona’s stubbornness didn’t surprise me. It seemed an automatic extension of her perpetually swinging ponytail.
“Jax!” Tess didn’t say more. One word was enough.
“Let’s go, Fi,” Jax said.
“Not without my plant.”
“Now.” Steel laced Jaxon’s voice.
“Ow!” Fiona sucked in a sharp breath.
Tess’s pace turned furious. “What?”
“I forgot it had thorns. Cut myself,” Fiona said.
“Someone’s coming,” Jax warned.
Shit. I broke into a run, my heart boom-booming with a surge of adrenaline. Tess didn’t run; she sprinted. I stretched my legs to keep up.
“Oh no, they’re here.” Fiona’s quiet horror made my hair stand on end.
“Sit on a bench. Hold hands. Look natural,” Merrick said from the ship.
We turned a corner and caught sight of the park. An eight-foot-tall spiked fence closed it off from the street. I didn’t see a gate.
Reaching out, I gripped Tess’s wrist and pulled her to a stop. Silently, I signaled for her to wait. She twisted out of my grasp with a scowl. I shook my head. If we barreled in, we could make things worse. I tapped my ear, telling her to listen to what they said. She nodded but continued toward the park at a determined walk.
“There are no benches!” Fiona’s hushed voice rose in pitch.
“Then hold hands walking around,” Merrick said.
“I’m not armed,” Jax mumbled.
None of us were. It was a risk we’d all taken. Guns weren’t illegal, but they were the height of suspicious. Getting caught with one meant an automatic interrogation for anyone without clear ties to the Dark Watch.
“Are you bleeding?” Tess asked.
“A little. Jax is hiding my hand in his.” Fiona’s almost inaudible response faded into a mere hint of sound as a whistle blew in the background. Its shrillness shot me through with tension. Tess flinched but didn’t slow down.
A masculine voice replaced the screeching whistle. “Loitering is prohibited under AGL, Regulation 19.”
“Isn’t this a public park?” Fiona asked.
“Are you talking back?”
Typical Dark Watch. Even asking a question was a risk.
“We’re new to Korabon,” Jax said after a beat of silence. “Are parks off-limits?”
“I guess you should’ve read the Citizen’s Code if you moved here. The only place it’s legal to gather outdoors is at the shuttle gates.”
“But we’re not gathering,” Fiona said.
“I see two people,” a woman sneered. “That’s a gathering.”
Tess’s head swiveled my way, her jaw dropping in silent protest.
“She giving you attitude, Drake?” a different male voice asked. “The captain told you loitering’s prohibited. That’s a fine.”
“Three hundred units.” The captain again, Drake. “Pay up and we’ll walk away. Pretend we never saw you.”
“I want to see this code,” Jax grated. “And the fines by regulation.”
The goons all murmured. Someone snickered.
“More attitude,” the female said with an audible sniff. “That’ll be six hundred units, since there are two of you…loitering.”
“Six hundred!” Fiona cried. “That’s ridiculous!”
“You bleeding?” one of them asked. That was a fourth voice, another man. The Dark Watch rarely went anywhere with fewer than three goons if they were on duty. The typical foot patrol was a unit of five.
“I tripped and cut myself.” Fiona’s carefully even tone only highlighted her hostility. “Accidentally broke a branch.” I pictured her holding out a thorny stick to show them.
“Disorderly behavior,” someone barked. “Misdemeanor, a night in jail, and full background checks.”
“This is harassment,” Jax ground out.
They laughed. Of course it was. That was the point.
Tess was done listening. She started running again. I took off alongside her, looking for a way in.
Fiona suddenly gasped. “Jax!” she cried out.
“Don’t. Touch. Her.” Pure volcanic fury boiled in Jax’s voice.
“Or what?” one of the men asked.
“Or you’ll find out,” Jax growled.
Tess and I shot through a stretch of fraught silence. Light steps. Pounding breath. The gate!
“Eight hundred, and I forget I just heard that threat,” the captain snarled.
“Extortion!” Fiona fumed.
“Big word, bitch. We charge extra for those.” The captain and his goons all grunted and snorted like animals. The Dark Watch really was the devolution of humankind. “That’s a thousand now, or we drag you both off.”
“Try.” The word rumbled from Jax like a landslide.
“Five of us. Two of you—and she obviously doesn’t count for much.” The captain paused. “You wanna say that again?”
Jax didn’t bother. A crack I’d recognize anywhere snapped over the audio, the bone-crunching sound of fist to face.
A quick and angry uproar followed. The hum of shock wands sent a buzz of electricity into my ear. Shock wands hurt like a bitch and could incapacitate. Having them probably meant this group wasn’t carrying guns.
Tess and I whipped through the gate and sprinted into the park together. Five goons surrounded Fiona and Jax.
Two turned, sensing new prey. They started toward us. One had the gall to smile, all teeth and confidence. A blue-white current sizzled at the top of his two-and-a-half-foot-long club. The second soldier widened his stance and lit up his stick also.
They had a lesson coming if they thought being armed meant victory. Jax was a solid wall of muscle, Tess was comet-fast and ferocious, even if she lacked fighting finesse, and I was willing to water this nice grass with Dark Watch blood if it meant getting all of us to safety and away from this parody of peace the Overseer had created.
I smiled back, all teeth and disgust. This was Novalight’s grand galactic gift? The calm we should all be so grateful for? The last ten years of my life suddenly made me so sick that I wanted to kick the shit out of these goons and make them pay for my regrets.
Tess didn’t slow down at all. She rocketed toward the closest soldier like a missile with coordinates locked in. He raised his shock wand, either to attack or defend. It didn’t matter. She went low, sliding in underneath it to knock him down. He hit the ground with a harsh grunt of surprise. Tess wrenched the shock wand from his hand, tossed it to me, and pounced like she was going to eat that goon alive.