And deep down, I knew why he’d been willing to bring me in. Nathaniel Bridgebane could sacrifice individuals, even me, for the greater good.
Now, the GIN Project was in motion. Uncle Nate had wanted to keep the Overseer from doing something drastic in search of more type A1 blood by handing over some of mine, but he’d been too late. We both had.
“We’re close,” I finally answered, my thoughts in turmoil, the next turn in sight. There’d be no going back for Shade’s cruiser. The Queen Bee was lost.
“We’re all coming out in a cargo attachment from the bottom,” I said for our crews on the ships. A big box with thrusters would have to do for a getaway ship. No clue what was in it. Something useful, I hoped.
Both temporary captains acknowledged that.
“You pick ’em up. I’ll run interference,” Asher said.
Merrick grunted an affirmative response.
“Go for two if you can,” Sanaa said, speaking for the first time.
Was she for real? She wanted us to climb the stairs to Lower Y and take another box? What the hell? Not all of us were super soldiers.
“Damn it!” Frank growled a curse. “All for nothing.”
All for nothing was the least of it. We’d be lucky to get out of here alive.
“We’re coming in low,” Merrick said. “Just push straight off, and we’ll attach you as fast as we can.”
“I’ll catch you, Tess,” Gabe whispered right in my ear, his voice low and intimate and a little bit hoarse. “Just come back to me.”
I didn’t answer. There was way too much in that request for me to deal with right now.
I slanted a look at Shade. He stared fixedly ahead.
We rounded the corner, my heart seizing in fear when shouts to stop and sudden shots chased us around the bend.
I glanced back. At our rear, Frank spun, stuck his arm around the corner, and hammered off several rounds from his Grayhawk. He sprinted to catch up. “They’re closing in!”
The last turn loomed ahead. “Left here, then straight to the end!” I took off at a dead sprint, ignoring my aching legs and burning lungs. If I got to the door fast enough, the others might not even have to slow down.
I ran as if death itself chased me. It did. My nerves frayed a little more with each step, thinning until the raw bits sawed against each other. I finally came up on the exit door to the cargo spine and slowed just enough not to flatten myself against it. Lifting my hand, I pressed the pad of my right thumb firmly into the center of my left palm and touched all five fingers together like a pointed roof over it. A tingle webbed out from the center of my hand, spidering toward my fingertips.
What I hadn’t told Shade was that I had to activate the AI. Someone just holding my hand up to a lock wouldn’t get anywhere. Body scans wouldn’t pick it up unless it was turned on. The whole thing was disturbingly discreet. A secret weapon—a tool for a spy or a thief. Or a genocidal control freak.
As soon as my hand went completely numb, I positioned it directly in front of the control panel next to the door. I shook, partly from fear and the fatigue of the run and partly because a piece of my body was being controlled by something other than me right now.
“Come on!” Anxiety pumped through me and kept my hair on end. Not even the heat and perspiration of running for our lives could keep the sudden chill from my skin.
I glanced over my shoulder. The others raced down the corridor. Caeryssa clung to Jax’s front like a monkey, her arms around his neck, one hand stretched out and firing. Shade and Frank both turned to shoot, loping sideways and trying to cover each other. Bullets pinged around them, but the goons on their tail were taking cover behind the bend and shooting wildly down the hallway without aiming. I’d bet my ship they were waiting for a swarm of Red Beams.
I held my gun in my free hand, shifting nervously. Numbers started flashing across the lock’s small screen faster than I could read them.
The lock beeped just seconds after the override started. This type of control panel used simple badge recognition for workers unloading supplies to this level. Nothing fancy, and even quicker than I’d expected.
I pushed through and stepped onto the grated metal platform, holding one side of the double doors open. The cold hit me instantly. I shivered. It was pressurized and livable in the open space between the shells, but it sure as hell wasn’t heated like the inner station.
I glanced up, remembering what Sanaa said about nabbing two cargo holds. Zigzagging flights of stairs and a latticework of unloading platforms climbed above me until the curve of the rounded spacedock cut them off from view. There was definitely no making it to the food storage on the upper tier of the station, but one more level might be doable.
I turned back to the others. “Red Beams!” I shouted.
A drone army rounded the corner. Dozens came at us. I could barely see the ceiling. Stun blasts chased my friends down the corridor. They sprinted as though the floor were on fire, and I curved my body around the doorway and shot above their heads. I didn’t have to aim. I just fired and hit things.
Goons moved in behind the cover of the drones, masks down and shields up. They weren’t taking any chances.
Jax careened past me with Caeryssa, clipping my shoulder. I righted myself and kept shooting. I’d be out of bullets soon.
Shade spun around and faced the Dark Watch as the hallway erupted into a war zone. Drones exploded in the air like bombs, raining down sparks and bits of metal. Frank barreled through the doorway next, and Shade brought up the rear, covering everyone’s asses.
He backed toward us, crimson lasers flashing all around him.
“Shade!” I cried. “We’re in!”
He turned and sprinted the final steps. I tried to cover him, but a Red Beam swooped down and fired. A stun blast hit him square in the back and he toppled forward, one hand reaching through the doorway.
Chapter 16
SHADE
My back is on fire! I clawed at the metal flooring under my fingers and tried to haul myself forward.
My shoulder didn’t work. The muscles didn’t respond. I couldn’t feel my upper legs, either.
Tess lunged, grabbed my outstretched arm, and dragged me through the doorway. Where’d she find the strength? I was fucking heavy.
Jax slammed the door on the stun rays blasting into the loading area. One hit my right calf before the barrage cut off. My body erupted in flaming agony. My whole leg went volcanic, and I sucked in a sharp breath. Then I grimaced as a painful loss of control took over. The inability to move chilled me to the bone. Hot. Cold. Fucking terrifying. It felt like most of my body was missing.
Frank plugged the electronic lock on our side with two quick rounds, blowing it to pieces. Sparks flew. It went dead just as the doors rattled.