22. Cuffs
CUFFS
ULFAR
O ne month. One month I’ve been without her.
One month too long.
I still remember the taste of her lips. Her smile when she looks up at me. Her tousled hair when she wakes up and pads into the kitchen, still blinking away sleep.
Those memories and more are burned onto my brain like a brand, and I don’t think they’ll ever leave. The fact that she’s made such a permanent impression on me only cements the fact that she’s my heart-mate.
And that I need to get her back as soon as possible.
We’ve been jumping from planet to planet, picking up clues and gathering intel, but I gotta hand it to them—the Syndicate knows how to stay hidden. Even the most cunning adversaries mess up sometimes, though. And once we find that opening, not even the gods will be able to save them from our wrath.
“I’ve got something,” Orri calls, hunched over the computer.
“You’ve said that a million times by now,” I groan, scrubbing a hand over my face. Despite myself, hope flares anew in my gut. Every time, it sours into disappointment when our leads don’t pan out, but this time, maybe this time…
“No, man. I’m serious. Look.” He turns in his chair and gestures for me to come over. I suck in a breath, because even from this distance I can see the blinking cursor on the radar readout. There’s no doubt about it this time. It’s the ship we’ve been tracking for the last month, docked in the last place anyone would have thought to look.
“Got you,” I growl, every instinct rising within me to storm their base and kill everyone between me and Sarah. We’re so close now, right on their doorstep after a month of dead ends, and I’m not going to let them get away.
Heavy footsteps clomp across the bridge behind me, and I see Rathgar standing there, strapping on his armor and weapons with a determined look on his face.
“Heard there was gonna be some action,” he says, meeting my eyes. “Didn’t wanna miss out. Did we finally lock onto those sons of bitches?”
Orri nods. “As far as I can tell, they haven’t detected us in orbit yet. If we get in there, hit them hard and fast, they won’t have time to assemble their larger forces.”
“Remember what happened last time.” Soren’s sober voice cuts through our excitement. “We can’t make the same mistakes.”
I grimace. I remember all too well the devastating defeat we faced at the hands of the Syndicate all those years ago. But we have grown since then. We are stronger and better prepared. And this time, we have the element of surprise.
“I’ll be careful,” I promise Soren, but in truth, I’m not sure if I can be. My warrior’s blood is hot with desire for revenge. I know my battle brothers will back me up, but we still can’t afford to mess this up.
Rathgar holds out his arm and taps a cuff on his wrist, pulling up a holographic map of the compound below us. It’s shaped like a wheel, with a large central hub splitting off into multiple long spokes. “I’m beaming the coordinates to all four of you. We’ll each take a different cardinal direction and meet up in the middle. Deal?”
“Deal.” I gaze at the glowing map on my wrist comm. Wait for me, Sarah. I’m on my way.
* * *
I’m at the south entrance and so far, so good. They haven’t noticed a thing. If I want to keep it that way, I have to stay stealthy. As much as I want to go in there guns blazing, I have to think about what’s best for Sarah.
If they have enough warning that we’re coming, they can move her, maybe even get her off the planet before we get to her location. And I’m not going to let that happen. Not again.
So I swallow the roar building in my throat and rush toward the door when the single guard turns his back. A single, quick blow to the back of his skull and he’s down for the count. One down.
I grab his hand and wave it over the scanner to register his fingerprint. With a beep, it accepts his credentials, and the door slides open.
I’m in.
A long, windowless steel corridor stretches out in a straight line in front of me. No sounds, no movement. No guards either. Odd. If they’re not patrolling that means they’re elsewhere.
Or we’re walking right into an ambush.
The good thing about this long corridor is that no one can sneak up on me. I can see anyone approaching from meters away. The bad news? Anyone else can do the same.
So when I hear footsteps approaching, there’s nowhere to hide. Nowhere to run. I just have to arm myself and wait for the inevitable.
An unsuspecting guard rounds the corner and freezes the moment he sees me. We stand off like that for a fraction of a second, and I’m rushing him before he has a chance to radio in for backup. Blaster at the ready, I fire off a barrage of bolts as soon as I’m in range. He jolts and falls to the ground, twitching as the electric pulses shock his system.
He’s a strong one, though, and his shaking hand moves to his belt. He clicks some sort of button on a panel strapped to his leg before looking up at me with a triumphant gleam in his eye. “You’re toast,” he coughs.
And then the whole place goes up in flames.
I cough and pull down my visor, switching on the filter as I struggle to pull clean air through my lungs. Eyes burning, I tear through the smoke and look for the exit. That little self-destruct trick may have slowed me down, but nothing will keep me from the love of my life.
The downside? That explosion alerted every guard in the compound, and they’ll be converging upon my location in a matter of seconds.
“Got a little problem here!” I bark into the comm, hoping that the others are faring better than I am.
The channel opens, but all I hear is static and the sounds of gunfire. Great. So no one is coming to help me. Taking a deep breath, I summon up the shimmering holo shield from my wrist unit. It won’t last long, but if I can slice through enough of them to get to Sarah…
As the alarms sound off and bathe the corridor in red, I let out the primal roar I’ve been holding back.
No one captures my girl and gets away with it!
* * *
It’s a fucking bloodbath. I scream and cry and shoot off blast after blast into those bastards. They fall like flies, twitching corpses piling up along the corridor as I rush for the center. With a whoosh, an electromagnetic pulse speeds toward me and plasters sweaty strands of hair against my forehead.
Frantically, I tap the comm at my wrist, but I know what the response will be. The bastards scrambled our electronics!
“Orri!” I bark into my earpiece. “Orri, come in!”
Only static and silence await me.
With a growl, my fingers close around the hilt of my blade. The sound of metal rings out in the dead air.
Looks like we’re doing this the old-fashioned way.
Without a map, I’ve got to navigate based on feel. That’s never been my strong suit, but if I’m ever going to see Sarah again, I have to figure this out. Ducking into a small alcove, I let out a breath and close my eyes, trying to home in on her location.
Or something like that. If Sarah is really my heart-mate, I should be able to sense her, right?
That’s what my people believe, anyway. I never know what to believe about any of that supernatural fated-mates stuff, but my time with Sarah has me questioning everything. Orri told me that he could follow Isabella through their bond when she was lost and in need of help.
Would I be able to do that, too?
I squeeze my eyes shut tighter, trying to focus. I’m a soldier, not a shaman. I don’t know how any of this is supposed to work and yet—
There it is. A spark of light, ever so faint, materializes in my mind’s eye. It floats across the passage and then pauses, as if beckoning me to follow.
When I open my eyes, the same scene greets me. I don’t question it. I just know I have to follow, and I’ll find her at last.
I weave through the labyrinth of tunnels, following my senses and my instincts to lead me to Sarah. I don’t run into any other guards, and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. But her smell fills my nostrils and her presence warms my soul. She’s close. I can feel it.
We come to a crossroads and the spark leading the way sputters, fizzles, and dies. Cursing under my breath, I peer through the darkness and try to figure out which way to go next. My equipment is still jammed, and with it my communications and shield. But I’m too close to give up now.
As if in answer, a scream rings out from nearby and I recognize it at once.
“Sarah!” I roar and charge forward, down the lefthand path toward the source of the noise. Not once do I think that it could be a diversion or a trap. My senses are on full alert, my heart racing in time with each frantic, panted breath. It’s her. It has to be. She’s close!
And there, just out of the corner of my vision, I see it: a tall, bulky alien woman shoving a squirming, crying Sarah into cuffs and dragging her into another room. She doesn’t see me, but I’ve seen all I need to see.
I’m going in. And this time, I won’t fail.