He looked up and saw Virn punch Krian, and the soldier spun around. Dray knew the moment Krian's gaze fixed on him and Lucy.
Instead of turning back and hitting Virn in retaliation, he staggered a few steps, then straightened up, his gaze locked on them.
Dray felt every warning siren in him start to wail.
“Nice and cozy, are you?” There was a smudge of blood around the right corner of Krian's mouth.
“What do you care?” Dray drew himself up. He was at least a head taller than all the Tecran. “What business is it of yours?”
“She's not like us,” Krian said, and Dray saw he believed it, absolutely. “She's not as advanced. It's . . . wrong.”
And by 'wrong', Dray could see, he meant 'disgusting'.
“I should stick to torturing her and taking her from her home planet instead?” he asked. “Like you?”
All five of the soldiers were staring at them now, and Lucy made a noise of annoyance and slid her hands a little lower down his chest and turned slightly in his arms to look at them.
“Seriously? Your friend got eaten by a kol, your leaders betrayed you and the rest of the planet by breaking UC law, they kidnapped me and spent months studying me like some lab rat, and your people are on the verge of war because you don't seem to like taking responsibilities for your actions, but you're having a little moment at the sight of me and Dray in each others arms?” She laughed, and made a gesture Dray had a shocked, sudden inkling of its meaning, even though he'd never seen it before. “Fuck you, Krian. Fuck the lot of you. I mean that quite sincerely.”
She turned completely in his arms, so her back was against his chest, and leaned back, staring Krian, and then the others, down. “Or is this just a little distraction because you can't win a fight against Virn, and you're looking for any out you can find?”
Krian reared back at that, outrage and fury on his face.
Dray fought the grin that wanted to break out. They thought she was less than them. And here she was, manipulating them in plain sight and not a single one seemed to realize it.
Krian turned to face Virn. “I'm done,” he said. “Your response to the death of one of my best friends, in one of the most horrible ways I can think of, is to shrug?” He turned to the others. “That's what he thinks of you. That's what you are. Nothing but expendable tools. Maybe you think it's worth it. I don't.”
He strode to his hover.
“You're going to go back?” Clin asked. “Like you and Graven said? Just going back to your unit and act like they never asked you to do this?”
“Yes.” Krian swung his leg over the hover.
“Will you let me know how that works out?” Clin asked.
Virn turned on him, face frightening in its fury. “He so much as thinks about opening comms to anyone on this mission after he leaves, and he had better get ready to stand up against that wall you talked about.”
“Right, because finding out you can go back without consequences would be a really bad thing.” Bly's sarcasm wasn't lost on anyone.
“You're either in for the duration, or you're out. Choose right now.” Virn's fists were clenched. “I'm not fighting you over and over. It's a waste of my time and energy.”
“I'm gone.” Clin turned to his hover.
“You go with Krian, you're not taking a hover.” Virn's shockgun was already out and pointed at Clin.
“Then I'll get my things--”
“No. You don't get to take military supplies when you're deserting. Rua, take whatever is in the storage hold of Krian's hover out.”
Rua hesitated, and Dray felt Lucy go still in his arms, waiting, like him, for the first shot to be fired.
With a sudden huff of breath, Rua moved, opening up the storage box and pulling out whatever was in there and dumping it on the ground.
“Now, don't let me ever see you again.” Virn widened his stance.
“Same goes.” Krian revved the hover's engine as Clin swung up behind him. He pointed at Virn. “When I make general, I hope you're still in the military so I can mess with your career.”
They drove away, in what Dray guessed was the direction of Fa'allen.
Virn gave a snort. “When he's a general? As if that fool will live through the rest of the week.”
Rua sent him a sidelong look. “You think?”
“Yes.”
But Dray wouldn't bet on it. And Virn's body language said he wasn't as confident as he made out, either.
He was three men down, and cut loose from headquarters.
If this was support, it was the poorest excuse for it Dray had ever seen.
Chapter 26
They traveled for another three hours until Lucy started to hear the far-off crash of massive waves against the cliffs.
After the first hour she hunched low and used Virn's body as a shield against the cold wind, ignoring the scenery around her, but when at last she looked up, she had to blink a few times until she understood what she was looking at.
A wall of white cloud lined the edge of the cliffs, four or five stories high, stark against the gray blue of the sky above.
It was like approaching a castle battlement.
One that was as ethereal as it was dangerous.
They stopped just before they disappeared into its swirling depths.
The sound of the waves was so clear, Lucy guessed the cliffs ended only meters away.
She waited for Virn to dismount and then slid down on the opposite side to stretch her legs.
“Where to now?” Rua dismounted and walked forward, disappearing into the fog.
A moment later, he was back, and Lucy could see he was energized, his demeanor going from weary to focused.
The Tecran really did love the cliffs.
“It's right here.” Bly was looking at the handheld. He slid off the hover, and Dray swung off, as well.
She exchanged a look with him, and Lucy thought he was more grim-faced than usual. Their chance for escape hadn't come yet, and they would soon be holed up in a cave.
“Let's go.” Virn gestured to the rear of the hover, and Lucy worked out he meant for her to open the storage unit.
“We're going to use the hovers to get down to the caves?” she asked as she lifted the lid. She remembered the drop down the cliff face she'd taken when she'd escaped the facility. She didn't want a repeat. Especially if she was on the back, with no safety belt.
“No. The cliffs are too jagged. We'll be climbing down.” Bly was sorting through ropes and other climbing equipment, including crossbow grapples like the ones Lucy'd found in the storage shed she'd hidden in on her first night of freedom.
She swallowed, and looked over at Dray again.
He seemed calm.
It looked like she was the only one freaked out by climbing down a sheer cliff face.
Virn was pulling out ropes as well, all neatly rolled up and new looking. He swung a grapple onto his shoulder.
“Carry the rope,” he told her, and disappeared into the fog.
She stared after him, and bent slowly to pick up the rope he'd left on the ground.
“We taking supplies?” Rua asked.
“Let's find the caves first. We can come back for the rest once that's done.” Bly gestured to Dray to take the ropes from his hover as well.