My ninety-minute timer still had a few minutes left, but that didn’t mean anything. The response had arrived from XAD Six. MineCorp had no record of me, and they had been hacked recently. They requested I be held for extraction tomorrow. The mercenaries were to be sent on their way after questioning. The ship would be kept under surveillance.
Rivers was ordered to subdue both of us because they figured my guard wouldn’t take lightly to someone attacking me, even if he wasn’t complicit in my plot. Rivers quietly acknowledged the order. I touched Ian’s arm and tipped my head at Rivers. The corporal was very carefully not looking at us.
He knows, I mouthed to Ian.
Ian frowned. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rivers go white-knuckled around the stunstick. I couldn’t let that touch me. Ian’s eyes widened and he moved just as Rivers brought his arm up to hit me.
I scrambled out of reach as Ian caught Rivers’s arm. I heard the crunch of bones, but by the time I turned around to see if Ian needed help, Rivers was unmoving on the floor and Ian had the stunstick.
“How did you know?” Ian asked. He riffled through Rivers’s pockets, pulling out his blaster and com.
“I heard the messages,” I said. I slashed a hand through the air when he would’ve questioned me further. “Leave it at that. MineCorp has outed me as a fraud and asked Rockhurst to hold me for questioning. You and the other ‘mercenaries’ are to be questioned and released if you weren’t in on it. When Rivers doesn’t report back, they’ll send the base after us.”
Ian pocketed the com and handed me Rivers’s blaster. He sent Aoife one of our encoded messages, the one that meant we were fucked, then said, “Turn off your mike.” We both went radio silent because Rockhurst could track us by our conversation if we didn’t.
Ian looked around at the three captives staring at him with wide eyes. “If you want to live, stay quiet and don’t harm her,” he said, pointing at me. They all nodded.
Ian lifted his shirt and drew a blaster from the pouch strapped to his stomach. “Stay here,” he said. “I’ll take care of the guards up above and let you know when it’s safe.”
“They’ll hear you,” I whispered. “I can help.”
“They won’t hear me.” He pointed at the two remaining captives. “Check them.”
Ian didn’t wait for me to agree. He tucked the stunstick and blaster in his waistband, then climbed up the outside of the cage. He paused on the top for a second to assess his options. He gripped the chain closer to the pit wall and hauled himself up hand over hand with no apparent effort. It was only after he disappeared into the darkness above that I remembered he didn’t have any smart glasses. At least the guard room was lit.
I edged around the three standing captives. Their eyes darted between me and the blaster in my hand. “Don’t think about it,” I murmured. “Even if you get it away from me before I shoot you, Ian will be back in two minutes. It’s not worth it.”
The last two people curled on the ground both had the right build. Hope warred with worry. The first person was a young man about the right age, but despite the massive bruising on his face, I knew it wasn’t Ferdinand. The young man didn’t respond to my touch at all, but a faint pulse beat in his neck.
I turned to the last person in the pit. “He’s the instigator,” the young woman I’d examined first said bitterly. “We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him.”
The man, if it was a man, was curled tightly with his arms protecting his head. I touched him, but he didn’t move. Every centimeter of visible skin was mottled with fading bruises. I carefully pulled one of his arms away from his hidden face.
He lunged up at me, growling low in his chest. I stumbled back in shock, but I wasn’t fast enough. The chain around his ankle brought him up short, but he took me down with him. Pain drove the breath from my lungs with a gasp as we landed on the uneven stone floor.
He’d tackled me around the waist, so the blaster remained out of his reach. He clawed for it, dragging me toward him a painful few centimeters at a time, while I tried to kick him off.
My smart glasses adjusted and I stared down into familiar brown and green hazel eyes. Shock stole my voice and he used my distraction against me. His hand closed over my upper arm, the grip bruising. I hissed out a curse, trying to stay quiet.
“Ferdinand!” I whispered harshly. “Stop! It’s Bianca.”
He pulled my arm down, reaching for the blaster. In desperation, I tossed it over my head. It slid off the edge of the raised floor and into the gutter. Ferdinand growled again and wrapped his hands around my neck.
I tried gently breaking his grip, but he was past reason. I pulled my air filtration mask down, revealing my face. “Listen to me! I’m your sister!” I hissed. I knew at least half a dozen ways to get out of this hold if I didn’t mind doing serious injury to my attacker. I hesitated, even as my throat closed.
Strong arms pulled Ferdinand’s hands away from my neck. Ian. I smiled in relief and took a grateful breath. Ferdinand tried to turn on Ian, but Ian refused to let go of his arms. “Stop!” Ian commanded, his voice quiet but forceful. He shook Ferdinand lightly. “You’re attacking your allies. You hurt Bianca.”
Ferdinand froze and blinked, squinting at me in the uneven light from the light stick I’d dropped. He looked so different with his shorn hair and bruised face. He made a noise, then grunted in frustration.
I climbed to my feet. My back ached, but I tried to keep the pain off my face because Ferdinand was still watching me. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
He made more sounds, then finally opened his mouth and gestured. There was a void where his tongue should be. Shock and horror bloomed into furious, impotent rage. Someone had cut out his tongue. I clenched my fists against the need to move, to act, to somehow fix it.
“Did Silva do this?” I asked.
Ferdinand nodded. Ian let him go but kept a close eye on him.
I should’ve killed Riccardo when I had the chance, promises be damned. Silva had mutilated my brother. “We will make them pay,” I promised, “but first, we need to get out of here. Are you able to walk?”
Ferdinand grunted, then nodded. I handed him my canteen and he opened it with trembling hands. He drank the water so fast it ran down his face. Apparently the guard hadn’t been joking about dehydration.
I turned and retrieved my blaster while Ian crouched and fiddled with Ferdinand’s shackle. The metal opened with a screech. Ian turned to the remaining four people. “I am going to release you. Do not make me regret the decision.”
The three who were responsive agreed instantly. “Take us with you,” the young woman pleaded.
“We can’t protect you,” I said. “You’d be fodder.”
“But you’ll protect him?”
I tried to cut her some slack because she’d had a shitty few days at the very least, but her tone grated on me. “He’s my brother, so yes, I’ll protect him,” I snapped.
Her eyes rounded and she clamped her mouth shut.
I caught a message meant for Rivers’s com, asking about his status. “They’re going to know the guard is down in about ten seconds,” I told Ian. “We need to move.”