Chapter 40
“One of the Grihan rescue team runners has managed to break cover. I’m watching them from the drone.
They’re headed for the base while it looks like the other group is keeping the Balcoans distracted.
” Eazi’s voice came just as Fee was parking the mover next to the other two sitting near the base’s desert landing pad.
She swung off the seat, keeping her head down, and strode to the top of the amphitheater stairs.
“Where are they headed?” she asked, pausing to look out across the desert before she swung down the steps.
“The original plan was to make entry at the air tunnel entrance and infiltrate the base to extract you,” Eazi told her.
Someone near the landing pad hailed her, and she waved an arm and began to jog down the stairs, trying to look like she was in a hurry.
Which she was.
She reached the bottom, relieved she’d managed it without meeting anyone on the way up.
She thought she heard Nukolo call Vira’s name, and hoped he thought she just hadn’t heard him as she crossed the amphitheater and pulled open the base door.
“I think I have to make sure Baruke is here first before I head down the air tunnel again,” she murmured in English to Eazi. “Can you ask them to wait for me outside?”
“I’ll try.” Eazi cut out.
She kept the scarf on as she headed left. Kilmar had implied there was lens feed in the med bay, so hopefully she’d fool any watchers into believing she was Vira for a little longer using her disguise.
She lifted a hand and pulled the silver rod out of its holder but didn’t flick it to extend it yet.
There were a few rooms off the passageway here, and she opened one up, gripping the rod nervously as the door swished aside, only to find an empty office.
She stepped back and ignored the others, looking for the wider double doors that most med bays seemed to have.
When she found it she paused for a moment, steeled herself, and then stepped up to activate the auto opening.
Inside, on a raised bed, was Hi-Lan Baruke, lying quietly, eyes closed, hooked up to numerous machines. The steady hum of equipment was the only sound.
Okay. This was a problem.
She moved toward him, her gaze sweeping the room, but it looked like he was alone.
She put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. “Baruke.” She kept her voice low, but he didn’t so much as stir.
Damn.
“He’s here, but he’s hooked up to all kinds of machines and he’s unconscious.” Fee didn’t think she could move him on his own or work out which machines might be keeping him alive.
“There’s a medic in the rescue team,” Eazi told her. “I’m still tracking them from the drone but I can’t contact them directly. I assume some of their equipment was damaged in the fight with base security.”
“All right. I’ll go down to meet them, and bring at least some of them back up with me.” She’d have preferred to have taken Baruke with her, and be done, but she couldn’t risk hurting him or cutting off some kind of vital medical support. “What’s their ETA?”
“From their speed and direction, they should be there by the time you make it to the end of the tunnel.
“I’ll leave now.” She took a last look at Baruke, but his breathing was even and there was nothing more she could do for him now, except go for help.
She slipped back out into the passage and jogged back the way she’d come. When she reached the foyer she slowed down, listening for any hint that there was someone else inside with her.
The lack of people could easily be explained by the rush to get everything cleared for the lift off, and she was grateful. She still held the silver rod in her hand and she didn’t want to hurt anyone unnecessarily.
She glanced over at the water cooler as she ran past it, and saw the cups were once again on the floor.
She looked up at the ceiling, but there was no sign of the grahudi. It had been back here, though. She was sure she wasn’t wrong about the cups.
She ran even faster as soon as she was past the foyer, and then paused in front of the entrance to the stairwell.
This is where Kilmar had got her last time.
She flicked the silver rod, extending it, and then pulled the door open.
No one.
She blew out a breath as she raced down the stairs.
She listened for voices as she passed the door to the storage area, and she did hear someone shouting, but that was probably Kilmar giving orders as he made sure nothing would catch on the frame or be taken up with it only to drop down on them as it rose into nearspace.
The basement was quiet, just the familiar hum of the machinery, and she went through the mesh door without hesitation this time.
She kept a steady pace, as fast as she dared without the risk of running headlong into a frien.
She didn’t have Bunny with her this time.
And the one that was down here, lying dead, had already started to stink to high heaven. Her eyes watered at the stench as she edged past it.
Before she reached the end of the tunnel, she heard the low sound of voices.
“Do the rescue team have the code?” she whispered to Eazi.
“No. I never had the chance to speak to them, and now I can’t anyway,” Eazi whispered back. “But I can open up for you now.”
“Let me make sure it’s the rescue team first.” Fee stood still and listened. Then she smiled as she recognized two of the voices. “It’s them.”
She ran forward just as Eazi unlocked the door with a click.
The team went silent at the sound and she used her boot to pull open the latticed metal gate, remembering the burn she got from handling it last time.
“Well,” she said with a grin. “Don’t just stand around.”
Natta and Trayla both grinned back.
“Fee! You freed yourself.” Trayla stepped forward and gave her a hug.
They looked good. Natta was obviously fully recovered, and although their combat gear was dusty, no doubt from the exchange of fire with base security, they both seemed full of energy.
Fee ran her gaze over the rest of the group. There were three others, two she didn’t know, but the third was Natta’s handler, Lieutenant Crin.
“Lieutenant,” she said, giving a dip of her head.
She had never warmed to Crin—she was too inclined to place blame and admonish anyone lower in rank than she was—but she wasn’t surprised to see her.
The lieutenant had wanted to be in the thick of the action since she’d met her.
If Natta had been allowed on the rescue team, Crin would have made sure she was included.
“Fiona.” Crin smiled, although Fiona didn’t think it reached her eyes. “This is Vunia and Hardy. How did you escape?”
“It’s a long story for another time.” Fee shook her head, aware of Vunia and Hardy’s curious gazes.
That was the usual reaction to any Grih who met her for the first time.
The similarities, except for the ears and the height, seemed to cause them all to react with surprise, and while she’d been taken off Larga Ways wearing her Grihan disguise, she’d set it aside when she’d showered in her cell, and hadn’t bothered to put it back on.
“Fair enough. Are you ready to go?” Crin was already half turning back to the runner.
Fee lifted her hand to stop her. “Sorry, we can’t. Baruke is here, unconscious in the med bay. We need to fetch him and take him with us.”
The surprise on everyone’s faces was instant.
“Here?” Trayla lifted a hand and wiped sweat off her upper lip with the back of her sleeve. “HQ thinks he’s being held somewhere in Distani.”
Fee shook her head. “Nope, he’s here. The whole base is getting ready for the Garmman to lift the frame. We’ll never get a better window than now to grab him.”
“Let’s go, then.” Crin stepped forward and Fee backed up to let her into the passageway.
“Something stinks,” Natta said as he followed his boss in.
“A dead frien,” Fee said. “And let’s hope that’s the only kind in here.”
She led the way, and was impressed with the silent and efficient movement of the Grihan soldiers behind her.
They reached the top of the stairs without incident, although Fee felt very nervous as they passed the door to the storage level.
While she could hear a lot of shouting and movement, no one came through into the stairwell.
When they got to the main level, everyone breathed a sigh of relief at the cool air. Fee thought she caught a furtive movement near the ceiling that disappeared around the corner, and relief fluttered through her.
She’d started getting worried she hadn’t seen the grahudi for a while.
“This way. We have to pass the main entrance to get to the med bay.”
“What’s in this direction?” Crin pointed to the left.
“Theoretically, this is a full circle, so it should get us to where we need to go without passing the main entrance, but I’ve never been that way, and I don’t want to take the chance of discovery.” Fee started right.
Crin hesitated, looking like she was going to argue, and then she fell in with the others.
There was once again no one in the passage, and Fee pressed up against the wall just before the foyer, listening, and then jogged through the waiting room.
Baruke was in the med bay, just as she’d left him.
“I wonder what’s wrong with him.” Trayla whispered.
The soldier Crin had introduced as Vunia started peeling off the tubes that were stuck to Baruke’s skin, and from the way she did it, Fee guessed she was the medic on the team.
“He’s in a coma, but his vitals are strong. We can move him.” Vunia worked with quick efficiency.
“Why is no one here?” Natta asked softly as he bent with Hardy to set up a portable stretcher that Hardy had pulled out of his backpack.
“There were injuries when the cables dropped, so I was expecting this place to be packed, but it’s so small, and Baruke being here is so secret, I think they’ve set up a medical site in the amphitheater. I’m guessing all the medical staff are there,” Fee said.
“Cables were dropped?” Crin asked.