“Damn it. No, Kellan, I need you here. Can you go, too? You and Wade?”
I was glad he didn’t try to stop me. I’d have done it without his permission, a la Corbin, and then we’d have had a problem. “Sure.”
“Good. We’re going to fix up Artemis, and I’m sending Trenton over there to see if there is anything we can use. By the time you get back, I want to be back on Artemis, assessing things and away from this mess.”
I clicked the button. That sounded like a plan. But Blaze and I both knew that plans went to hell. A lot. The universe was expendable. Everyone but Sienna. I was starting to love these guys like brothers, but I was sure they’d sacrifice me for her. I’d do the same. And while I’d have some regret, I’d do it anyway.
She. Was. Everything.
Sienna
They stared at me like I had two heads as I plowed through the door. Three men in their fifties. One of them stumbled to his feet. “Miss? Can we help you?”
Women really were like mythical creatures here. None of them knew what to do when they saw me. “My name is Sienna MacKinnon. And I’m here to save you in your negotiations. I’m really special, and if you use the things I can give you, they can’t touch you in the marketplace.” I hoped that was what it was called. “I can make you more money than you ever imagined.”
They stared at each other and finally the one seated all the way to the left rose. “Are you lying? Is this some kind of trick?”
“No, but we’re in a building filled with Super Soldiers. So I’m here to tell you we don’t have time. Do you have a syringe? You’re going to want to take my blood.”
The first one who spoke shook his head. “No, we’re just the deal makers. We don’t carry that.”
“Well, then I’m going to suggest that one of you run out there and find one. I wouldn’t know where to look. My blood is key. I am a Super Soldier, basically. I have all the makings of one in me. Something they don’t let happen. If you want to compete with them, I’m going to need you to take my blood and, uh, sign an agreement to leave my people alone. Always.”
The silent one ran from the room. “This will drop their stocks right? And raise yours?”
Nods followed my questions. “Why are you doing this?” Lefty asked me. “Why help us?”
“At this point, I don’t care who is good and who is bad. I know Evander is coming after my people. I don’t want them invading our space anymore. If you prove to be a problem, I can assure you that I have a lot of people on my side who can blow you to smithereens. You won’t like that.”
He smiled, slowly. “You know why they don’t make women, right? It’s because it takes care of the fertility problem. We’ve seen the science. They won’t show anyone how to do it because the same tech, the manipulation of the female system, it could end our girl problem. What you’re giving us, it could take away the power to control love and reproduction. You might just save the universe.” He took off his glasses. “Oh, and we’ll be richer than any of us could imagine.”
It really did always come down to that. But that was fine. If I could help anyone have a full life, then this would be worth it beyond my own needs. I had to stop Evander. “Once you get my blood, I’m going to suggest you run. I have no idea how long we’ll get to be okay before the wrong person hears repeated to them what we just said.”
This was why Ari and Canyon had sent me here. It wasn’t just us. We really could save everyone.
But what happened to me now? I had no idea.
15 Tricky Situations
Corbin
I forced the door to the transport machine open and stepped out of it, knowing immediately where I was. I’d lived here, mostly in the basement, for several years when I’d gotten out of training. That was when they’d made me a killer. Before that, my job had sometimes required death dealing, but here is where they made it so I didn’t care.
Sure, these days I’d tamed. I’d done it the second I’d met Sienna. I’d grown my hair out for years, done things that made me seem loose and easy, but it wasn’t until I met her that I meant it. She was my everything. Evander had been my reason for living for a long time. They’d made me, literally, and I owed them my existence. Now? That was all Sienna. Her existence had remade me.
I listened for her heartbeat, and it met my ears, fast, as though the sounds of her living homed me in instantly. Good, now I’d find her.
“Hey,” someone called, and I looked over my shoulder at them. It was a small man, maintenance crew. They liked to bully us around here because we were relatively sedated when we were in this building. I was fairly certain that was because they’d drugged us to keep us tame here. And then when those drugs wore off, we’d be even more lethal. But that didn’t matter now because he thought I was one of the ones that worked here, and didn’t know that I didn’t currently have an ounce of restraint in my body when it came to not ending his life.
This whole building could burn once Sienna was out of it.
“Why were you touching that?”
I looked where the man indicated. He must be in charge of this thing, guarding it or something. They probably never gave any thought to non-Evander people coming through it. Why would they? Who in the hell would want to come here if they didn’t have to?
“I’m not touching it.” I stated the obvious. This guy had about ten more seconds of my time before he was done.
“I saw you touching it, and what is with your hair? Why did they let you grow it like that?”
I sighed. Done. Done. Done. I grabbed him, and his eyes widened before I threw him against the side of the wall. He went down, not dead but unconscious. If he woke up, he’d report this, but my guess would be that by then, they’d know I was here.
Following Sienna’s heartbeat, I ran.
She was three floors above me, that meant the offices. That’s where the executives were. I spent one whole day there following a douchebag around while he showed me off as some model to his superiors that they should invest in. It really always came down to money.
There were five ways to get there. The stairs would be the fastest, and no one ever used them. I sped toward them as fast as I was able to run.
I wasn’t going to lose Sienna before I had a chance to really show her how much I loved her. As usual, I’d hesitated too long, waited because I had no idea what I was doing with regular human relationships. For the first time in my life, I’d been afraid. I had to get her back to undo that. To explain. She was my love. She had to know.
Sienna
“We don’t have to run with it.” The man to the left spoke fast.
I rubbed my arm where he’d just taken my blood. I pressed a tissue to it, but it was already clotting. The benefit of my nanos. I healed fast. “Why not?”
The door flung open, and two panting executives stood there. “What are you doing?” One of them charged at us, and I zapped him, sending him backward into the wall. The other one abruptly stopped.
“Because it’s in the tablet and sent to our people. Mr. Wordwith, we take back our offer. We don’t need to be acquired by you. We are now on our way to leaving. And we’ll be taking Miss…” His voice trailed off. “I can’t remember your name, and you just saved our whole company.”