TAUREX
When the sleek Montana Building finally came into view beneath him, its glass exterior reflecting the early evening sunlight in long sheets of gold, disbelief gave way to a cold, simmering anger.
The children weren’t being held in some abandoned warehouse or remote compound on the edge of the city, as he had imagined when the Goddess warned him they were in danger. They were here—inside his own building.
Orlov had been living right beneath him.
He guided the golden shuttle to the building’s rooftop landing area and brought it down silently.
Ordinarily he used the parking levels when operating in terrestrial mode, but there was no reason to announce his arrival today, and the roof offered direct access to the private elevator system reserved for the uppermost residences.
The instant the shuttle settled, he was out of his seat and moving, every warrior instinct he had spent years training rising effortlessly to the surface. His earlier grief had vanished beneath something much colder and more useful—purpose.
Cody and Lisa were somewhere below him and he was going to get them out.
Taurex used his exclusive access key to call the golden elevator, then rode it down one level to his penthouse first. The doors opened onto the familiar foyer, and he moved quickly through the silent rooms toward the locked compartment where he kept the weapons he normally carried when conducting business on less civilized worlds.
There were several choices available to him—short blades, pulse weapons, and a compact Kindred blaster he had acquired years ago through legitimate military channels. Taurex chose the blaster immediately.
It was not without risk. The weapon was Kindred technology and any forensic examination of the damage it caused might eventually point investigators toward someone with access to off-world arms.
Taurex didn’t particularly care about that at the moment, but he cared very much about getting Cody and Lisa out without alerting every armed male in the suite below.
Human projectile weapons were loud. They were primitive, violent things that announced every shot with an explosion and sent metal fragments tearing through flesh and walls alike.
The Kindred blaster was nearly silent and right now stealth and speed mattered more than anything else.
Taurex checked the charge, slid the weapon beneath one side of his dark jacket and returned to the elevator.
His reflection stared back at him from the polished golden wall as the car descended a single floor—a huge horned male with golden eyes gone cold and flat, all traces of the businessman who argued with Terra about filing cabinets replaced by the warrior he had once been.
The elevator doors opened soundlessly and Taurex stepped into the hallway.
The coordinates had narrowed the location to the largest apartment on the floor.
It wasn’t a true penthouse—his own residence occupied that designation—but it was large by human standards and shared the same expensive finishes as the rest of the building.
Cream stone floors gleamed beneath recessed lighting, and decorative panels of dark wood lined the walls between doors.
Taurex walked toward the unit at the end of the corridor. Before he reached it, he heard something—a child crying.
The sound was faint enough that a human probably wouldn’t have caught it through the thick apartment walls, but Taurex’s sensitive Monstrum ears picked it up instantly. A high, broken sob followed by another softer sound—someone trying desperately not to cry.
Lisa.
His blood went cold—the Goddess had been right.
Taurex stopped outside the door and forced himself to breathe through the surge of Rage that threatened to overwhelm his judgment.
Charging inside roaring might satisfy every protective instinct he possessed, but it could get the younglings killed.
He had no idea how many males were inside or where they were positioned, and until he knew, he had to move carefully.
He knocked.
For several seconds nothing happened. Then Taurex heard heavy footsteps approaching from inside.
The door opened perhaps four inches, restrained by a security latch.
A human male peered through the gap. He was broad through the shoulders and wore a dark T-shirt with a gun-shaped bulge beneath one arm, but Taurex dismissed the possibility that this was Orlov almost immediately because there was no white stripe in his hair.
Terra had described Viktor Orlov’s appearance several times without realizing how useful the information might someday become.
Slick black hair with a distinctive white streak on one side, pale gray eyes, expensive suits and the oily confidence of a male who believed currency placed him above consequences.
This male had close-cropped brown hair, so not Orlov—one of his guards.
“The fuck are you?” the human demanded, staring up at Taurex’s horns.
Taurex kept his expression calm.
“Taurex, of Intergalactic Imports.” He drew one of his business cards from his pocket and held it where the guard could see it. “I have business with your employer. I was told he might be interested in acquiring rare blue diamonds from the Kuiper Belt.”
The guard stared at the card without taking it.
“From the where?” he asked, frowning in confusion.
“The Kuiper Belt,” Taurex repeated patiently.
“Never mind.” The human shook his head. “He ain’t seeing anyone.”
He started to close the door and Taurex moved.
He caught the edge of the door before it could shut completely. At the same instant he drew the blaster, slipped the muzzle through the narrow opening and pressed it against the guard’s forehead.
The male’s eyes widened.
“What the—”
Taurex squeezed the trigger, and the blaster made a sound like, Zzzzp.
The sound was barely louder than an insect buzzing, and the guard went limp immediately as a steaming hole the size of a golf ball appeared in his head.
Taurex caught him before his body could hit the floor, released the security latch from inside, and pushed his way into the apartment while supporting the dead male’s weight against one shoulder.
The living area beyond was nearly as opulent as his own penthouse, though perhaps half the size.
Cream-colored leather furniture surrounded a wide glass table, and an enormous entertainment screen covered most of one wall.
Floor-to-ceiling windows looked out over downtown Tampa, offering a view that under other circumstances might have been impressive.
Two more human males sat in chairs facing the screen—neither had heard the shot.
One turned when the door opened and frowned.
“Hey, what—?”
Taurex had already raised the blaster.
Zzzzp.
The first guard’s head snapped backward.
Before the second male could get out of his chair, Taurex shifted his aim.
Zzzzp.
The man collapsed sideways.
Taurex lowered the weapon.
Three shots. Three kills. His years serving as a warrior in the Monstrum military had not been wasted.
He dragged the first guard fully inside and dropped the body behind the couch where it wouldn’t be immediately visible from the entrance, then moved quickly toward the interior hall.
He felt nothing resembling guilt. These males had participated in the kidnapping of two younglings and were armed while guarding them.
Whatever choices had led them here were their own.
Cody and Lisa’s crying was louder now.
Taurex followed the sound.
The apartment was arranged around a wide central hallway with several closed doors on either side.
Unlike his own penthouse, which Terra had often complained felt too empty and impersonal, Orlov’s suite seemed deliberately ostentatious.
Expensive-looking paintings covered the walls and sculpted pieces of glass and metal sat on illuminated pedestals, as though the owner wanted anyone entering to understand immediately how much currency he possessed.
Taurex barely glanced at any of it. He found the children behind the second door on the right. The door was closed but not locked. He turned the handle slowly and opened it only wide enough to look through the gap.
His heart clenched at what he saw.
Cody and Lisa sat together in the center of an enormous bed.
Their little wrists had been tied with rope, and they were clutching each other as best they could despite the restraints.
Lisa’s face was red and blotchy from crying, while Cody was trying to comfort her even though tears were running down his own cheeks.
Taurex’s first instinct was to push the door wide, rush to them and cut them free. But somehow, he stopped himself.
There was no guard in the room, which was a blessing, but Orlov was still somewhere in the apartment. If Taurex freed the children now and one of them cried out—or if they tried to flee before he had neutralized the remaining threat—the situation could become much more dangerous.
Just a little longer, younglings, he thought. I will free you soon.
Cody looked suddenly toward the door and for a terrifying second, Taurex wondered if the boy had seen him, but Cody’s eyes passed over the narrow crack without recognition.
Taurex closed the door silently again. The act cost him a lot—every instinct screamed that he should remain with them, that he should put his body between those children and the rest of the world and never allow anything to frighten them again.
But the warrior in him understood that the threat had to be removed first.
Taurex continued down the hallway. Another door stood partly open near the end and faint electronic light flickered through the gap. Taurex approached without making a sound and looked inside.
A human male sat in a swivel chair facing an entire bank of monitors. At first Taurex assumed he had found another alert guard, but then he noticed the male’s head had fallen to one side. A faint snore escaped him—he was sleeping.
Taurex’s gaze moved to the screens and his anger intensified immediately.
Several of the monitors displayed live surveillance images.
One showed the exterior of Terra’s bungalow.
Another provided a view of her backyard.
A third appeared to be aimed directly at the front porch, close enough that Taurex could clearly see Lucy’s glowing purification plant sitting beside one of the chairs.
That fucker Orlov had been watching Terra’s home. Watching her mother. Watching Cody and Lisa. Taurex’s hand tightened around the blaster.
Then he saw another feed and recognized his own penthouse.
For a moment, he simply stared. The camera angle showed the living room and part of the hallway leading toward the office. It was positioned high enough that Taurex immediately began mentally searching his memory for where a surveillance device might have been hidden.
Orlov had been watching him too. Perhaps watching Terra work beside him. Watching them eat lunch. Watching every time Taurex stood too close to her or looked at her for too long.
The realization brought a new level of fury. This human had invaded not only Terra’s life but Taurex’s own domicile, watching them like specimens through glass while he waited for an opportunity to strike.
Taurex looked over the other screens. There were views of the building garage, several hallways and the lobby.
One monitor showed the rooftop landing pad where his golden shuttle now sat.
How had the operator failed to notice him arrive?
Then the man snored again. Taurex almost laughed—what an idiot.
A male like this would have been expelled from the Monstrum military on his very first day.
Well, now he was going to pay for working for Orlov.
He slipped through the doorway and the human never stirred. Taurex crossed the room in three silent steps and came up behind him. Then he clamped one enormous hand over the man’s mouth.
The operator jerked awake, his eyes flying wide as he began flailing immediately, both arms striking uselessly against Taurex’s forearm as he tried to wrench himself free.
“Mmmpf! Mmmpf!” were the muffled sounds that came from him.
Taurex pressed the muzzle of the blaster against the back of his neck and the struggling stopped.
“Be still,” Taurex murmured into his ear, his voice so low it was almost a growl. “If you make a sound, you die.”
The human froze. Taurex could smell the sudden burst of fear pouring from him. Good. For the first time since entering the apartment, Taurex allowed himself to smile, though there was no humor in it.
Now he was going to find Viktor Orlov.