Chapters (48)
- Cover
- Dedication
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- Copyright
Priya and Bian dove too, but Bian was too slow, and the alien caught her again. She screamed in agony as its claws tore through her neck. “Bian!” Priya roared, and the two women collided on the floor in a messy, bloody heap as she fumbled at Bian’s throat, trying to stanch the blood.
The creature targeted them, but Cage launched to his feet, whipping past it. He grabbed the cutlass as he passed and wrenched it free, and the alien gave another shrill scream.
Two more answered.
Close.
Very close.
“We have to get out of here!” I shouted.
Priya straightened, her face pale, and Bian stopped choking, stopped moving. Slowly, Priya passed her hands over the other woman’s eyes. Then she raised her arm and fired.
The bullet caught the alien in its left eye. Its head jerked, and its howl echoed through the halls. “Move!” she ordered.
None of us argued. I grabbed Rune, dragged her to her feet, and hauled her the way we’d come. Cage followed at a regular speed, and Priya brought up the rear, running backward with her weapon aimed at the hall behind us.
We returned to where we’d left Liam only to find, unsurprisingly, that he’d vanished. “I thought he’d at least wait for his weapons,” I said in disgust.
“Who?” Priya demanded sharply.
I shook my head. “Never mind. You don’t . . .”
My voice trailed off, because all at once Priya’s posture registered. She’d turned her back to the aliens and now had her gun trained on us. “Sorry,” she said. “But in the name of Omnistellar Concepts, the three of you are under arrest.”
THIRTY-FIVE
“ARE YOU GODDAMN KIDDING ME?” Cage demanded. “Didn’t you see what happened there? This is survival, not a political battlefield!”
“Survival or not, I always fulfill my contracts.” Priya’s face was set, unshed tears almost completely hidden. “Drop your weapons and kick them over here or I’ll open fire. And I’m not holding a stun gun. I’ll aim to incapacitate, not kill, but I can’t make any promises.”
And who knew what the sound of her weapon might summon? We’d already stayed here too long. I hadn’t exactly had time to focus on the alien cries, but the meaning was clear. The creatures were calling reinforcements.
Cage and I exchanged glances over Rune’s head. Was drug-fueled adrenaline racing through him the way it was me, urging him to fight, to run? I had to resist it. I was stronger than some drug. I shook my head, and Cage nodded. As one, we dropped our weapons and kicked them to Priya.
She left them where they were, instead removing a pair of cuffs and tossing them to me. “Cuff the boy,” she said. I glanced at him. I could see him calculating, but she added, “If you take off, I’ll shoot anyone you leave behind.”