Chapter 8 #2
Rylando edged farther back and left. Reaching out with his talent, he discovered his whole team was just on the other side. He sent them a warm greeting, then subvocalized a warning to Taz. “Po has a stunner. Pelvannor has the beamer.”
“Copy. Bang-flash in three.”
Even though he expected it, the bright explosive boom made his shoulders hunch. Stramlo crouched and covered his head. Po stumbled back and would have fallen over the block he’d been sitting on if Pelvannor hadn’t grabbed his arm and pulled him upright.
A blinding searchlight strobed through the now-wide gap, highlighting the new swirls of dust.
Stramlo launched himself toward the airsled and grabbed his messenger bag to sling across his shoulder.
Po snarled curses in Mandarin and pointed the stunner at Stramlo. “Set them now.”
Stramlo shook his head. “We’re too close.”
“We’ll be free in minutes. Pelvannor, motivate him.” The beam from Pelvannor’s weapon was close enough to char Stramlo’s pant leg. “The next one makes your kid an orphan.”
Rylando sent a request to Moyo. A loud, chill-raising howl echoed in the room, startling Po.
A moment later, a large, back-lit form appeared in the new opening.
Hatya stepped into the room wearing the ship-loader assist frame over her Jumper uniform.
Her loose, wild hair went perfectly with the berserker-crazy smile on her face.
“Oh, target practice! Can I play?” Twin beamer arrays rose over her shoulders.
Pelvannor lowered her weapon.
Quicker than Rylando had thought possible, Po closed the distance and caught Stramlo by the neck, stunner pressed hard into the man’s temple.
“Sure, right after Engineer Stramlo here does what I told him. I mean, what’s the point of using professionals if they aren’t going to do their fucking jobs?
And you know what? I hate this fucking mask.
” He pulled the mask off, half-strangling Stramlo in the crook of his elbow as he did so.
“Rylando,” said Taz in his earwire. “Po’s a low-level ramper and a haze of violence. Pelvannor’s a ramper, but she’s calm. She has a soft spot for animals. Moyo and Shen are armored up. Might distract her.”
“Okay,” he subvocalized. Sending a prayer to the universe to protect them, he asked both dogs to come to him. Rescue work sometimes meant hard choices — and trusting his partner’s judgment.
Moments later, Shen trotted in and made a beeline for him. Moyo followed more sedately, looking more like a working hellhound in her black GSAR protective vest and helmet.
Pelvannor’s eyes flickered to the dogs, lingering longer on Moyo.
Rylando asked Moyo to see if the woman wanted a friend. Hopefully, the dog had forgotten her long-ago military training that told her to bite and shake people holding weapons.
“Tell you what,” said Po conversationally.
“Since we all want out of this goddamn cave, Engineer Stramlo, Pelvannor, and I are going for a stroll.” He shoved the man forward into a stumbling walk, keeping the chokehold tight.
“Give us a few minutes to get out of the building by ourselves and no one will get hurt.”
“He’s lying,” said Taz with certainty.
“Pelvannor!” yelled Po. “Leave the stinking dog alone and come do what Zumu told you. Protect my ass.”
Moyo’s magic had been working on Pelvannor, but now she stepped around the dog and followed Po and his prisoner.
“Let them go,” said Taz. “More options out here.”
Hatya hesitated, then stepped farther into the dusty lobby to get out of the way.
Though Pelvannor only glanced once at Hatya, the hand holding the beamer tightened as she passed by.
The second they were out of sight, Rylando asked the dogs to follow as he crossed to Hatya. “What’s the plan?”
Hatya smiled. “Our plan is to let them self-rescue their merry way out of the building.” She tilted her head toward the exit. “Yanoshi’s plan is to detain and restrain them for ques–”
Taz’s voice interrupted. “Frelling hell. Po just stunned Pelvannor, grabbed the beamer, and took off dragging Stramlo away from the exit.”
“I can handle Pelvannor,” said Hatya.
Taz swore. “I’m going after Stramlo. I don’t want to have to explain to his kid how he died.”
Rylando blew out a frustrated breath. “I’m sending Moyo and Shen out. Wait for me.” He patted both dogs and shared an image. “Find Taz,” he told them.
As he strode toward the battered and begrimed airsled, he stripped off his mask and hooked it to his belt.
Raising his talent, he asked Otak and Mariposa to meet him.
The little owl swooped off the top and landed on his shoulder pad.
Otak soon appeared in the open doorway, nose working and whiskers quivering.
Rylando quickly scooped the rat up and into his chest pocket.
“You’ve both been very brave. Triple treats when we get back. ”
More carefully this time, he extended his mental invitation to the little kinkajou and held out his forearm as a perch.
After a few hesitant steps, the little animal made an astonishing leap from the far corner of the sled onto his arm, then ran up to sit on his other shoulder and cling to his collar.
He sensed Jhidelle’s presence encouraging the animal to trust him.
He stepped up into the sled and grabbed the face masks for the animals and the last filter mask. On his way out, he picked up the medical kit and carried it by the strap.
When he joined Hatya at the exit, he handed her the filter mask. “Just in case. The dust is bad.”
Hatya took it and led the way out.
Taz tried to split her focus as she tracked Po on her scanner while watching Moyo and Shen greet Lerox and the cats in their shared crate.
Hatya emerged from the lift lobby and went straight to Pelvannor’s unconscious form.
One of the knots in Taz’s stomach untwisted when she saw Rylando, a little worse for wear, emerge and cross to her. Mariposa and the kinkajou riding on his shoulders gave his GSAR uniform an eccentric flair.
His eyes flicked to the new dents and scratches on her suit before meeting her gaze. “You okay?”
“Green go. My suit took the damage. You?”
He touched the swollen red mark on the side of his face. “Nothing a burn patch and a couple of bruise washers can’t fix.” His head circled in a quick neck stretch. That familiar gesture told her he’d been under a lot of stress.
Hatya used the ship-loader assist frame’s forks to lift Pelvannor. “Want me to take the kid’s pet to her?”
Rylando nodded and walked closer to her, arm extended up to Hatya’s shoulder height. “Go on. She’s only scary on the outside.”
The little brown creature obligingly crawled onto Hatya’s shoulder and burrowed itself under her hair and wrapped its long tail around her neck.
A delighted smile lit Hatya’s face. “Don’t tell any other Jumpers about this, or I’ll never live it down.” She turned to leave. “Keep in touch.”
A pang of loss went through Taz. She’d probably never see either Hatya or Rylando again after the GSAR reorganization.
Rylando squared his shoulders. “Where is Po taking Stramlo?”
She ordered herself to focus on the here and now. “Probably closer to the hypercube facility below. I’m guessing he needs Stramlo, or at least his biometrics, to operate the detonator.” She pointed to his team. “Want me to carry the crate, or are they walking with us?”
He looked at them for a long moment. “Shen and Moyo want to walk. Lerox and the cats will ride.”
“Copy that.” She sank to one knee to give him easier access to the back of her suit. “Hook it up.”
He rapped his knuckles twice on her shoulder plate when he was done. “Thank you for not asking me to leave them.”
The implications of his words sank in as she rose to her feet. “Captain Bhayrip is a platinum-plated asshole.” Jutting her chin forward unrepentantly, she added, “And I’ll say it again for the official record if you want, Field Commander, sir.”
Hands on his hips, he gave her a mock glare. “Just for that, I’m promoting you to Field Co-Commander as of right now. Let’s go after those lifesigns.”
Amusement relaxed some of her tension as she turned toward and started on the path Po had taken. “The scanners say they’re still on the move.” She held out her arm to show him the holo map and the realtime scanner trace.
Rylando walked beside her. “I’m assuming the detonator won’t work.” His tone held a note of uncertainty.
“I disabled the timers.” She’d wait to tell him how many there had been. He might not appreciate how she’d used his team to help. “Damn, I wish we had our flying camera set.”
“We have the next best thing.” Mariposa launched herself from his shoulder and flew ahead of them. He slid the medical pack around so he could wear it as a backpack. “Po sure was talkative all of a sudden.”
Taz appreciated his circumspect phrasing. “I asked the ERC if they had any sifters who might help make him more tractable.” She’d gotten the idea from the instructor they’d rescued that morning. “Probably needed more time.”
She glanced at Rylando but couldn’t tell if he was upset. GSAR rescuers weren’t supposed to use their talents that way. Asking a civilian to do it was a gray area headed toward black.
“Oh, so that’s how you knew he was lying. And that he’s a ramper.”
Oops. That had been her. “Sifter talents are interesting, aren’t they?”
“Yeah, they’re ace. Wish I knew...” His feet slowed. “Mariposa found them. Po isn’t dragging Stramlo anymore, but he’s still holding the beamer on him. They’re stopping. Po is telling Stramlo to set the countdown. Stramlo is shaking his head.”
Taz held up her scanning holo map again. “They’re in this short hallway. If I distract Po, you and the dogs can streak by and pull Stramlo around the corner.”
He stopped and frowned at her. “He’s fast. Your suit is not beamer proof.”