The child floated in front of them, his arms and legs splayed wide like the telekinetic was trying to tear him limb from limb. His clothes were filthy, and his dark hair was matted and unkempt. His head lolled on his neck like he was barely conscious, but even so, I could see the tears glistening on his face.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, a vest filled with explosives hugged his small torso.

My heart broke as his back bowed and he cried out again, but I couldn’t save him quite yet, so I turned my attention to the room. It was smaller than the one where we’d fought the telekinetic before, but it had just as many exits. Hallways led off both sides, and on the far wall, a heavy, reinforced door blocked our view.

The room itself looked like it had been set up for planning with long tables and displays on the walls, but everything had been pushed to the edges. A table on its side blocked the end of our hallway. It was meant to slow us down, but it also provided a tiny bit of cover. It wouldn’t stop any plas pulses, but it was better than nothing.

Marginally.

As soon as Torran reached the table, the telekinetic spoke, her voice amplified by the armor. “That’s close enough, General. Try anything and these men will kill the child—if the explosives don’t get to him first. I am keeping the trigger depressed. Kill me and you’ll kill him.”

The two men next to her didn’t remove their attention from the kid. If they weren’t trained soldiers, then they were at least trained mercenaries. Cien’s body didn’t cover them completely, so I could hit them somewhere fatal without hitting the kid, but we needed to keep the telekinetic alive long enough to get Cien out of the vest. I couldn’t do both at once, so I bided my time, discarding plans as quickly as I thought of them.

“Release the child immediately, and I will spare your life,” Torran said, his tone dangerous. His armor also amplified his voice. That was a neat trick that would’ve been useful to know about.

The telekinetic laughed. “You will spare my life anyway, unless you want the child to die.”

I tapped Torran’s back and directed my thoughts at him. “Can you break her hold?”

“Not without risking Cien.”

“Kee, can you jam the signal for the explosives?”

“I’m looking into it,” she said, “but it’ll be a temporary fix at best.”

Torran minutely shook his head. “The trigger will be on his vest somewhere. There may also be a remote detonator, but as soon as she lets go of the telekinetic pressure, it will trigger.”

“Find it,” I told him, then relayed the information to Kee.

“What do you want?” Torran demanded aloud. “Why are you working with the humans?”