Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
It was a short ride to Nitro Hill. The midday sun was now blazing, and Zayn felt sweat sliding down the back of his shirt. He and Ria climbed to the top of the rocky hill, then dismounted.
They found the cavernous entrance to the old mine near the top. A hand painted sign declared “No Trespassers or I’ll blow your ass up!”
He fought back a smile. “I think we’re in the right place.”
Ria peered into the mine tunnel. An iron rail track disappeared into the darkness. “I see light farther ahead.”
“Let’s go.”
He walked into the tunnel, Ria one step behind him. At intervals along the tunnel, oil lanterns hung, their glow illuminating the rocky walls.
“You think she’s set booby traps?” Ria asked.
“I think we should expect anything.”
With each step, he felt the walls closing in. He liked to have controls under his hands, the chance to race off if needed. Here, trapped in tight confines, under tons of earth, he felt smothered.
“Surely you can’t be claustrophobic.” Ria’s voice echoed around him. “You squeeze into tight cockpits.”
“I’m not.” He shrugged his shoulders. “In a cockpit, you can hit interstellar speed, maneuver your ship. Here…you’re just stuck.”
Her hand slid into his and squeezed. “I’ll take care of you, flyboy.”
He heard the laughter in her voice and looked down at her. She had a smudge of dust on her cheek, but she looked like the most beautiful woman in the world. “Good to know.”
They did spot some explosive booby traps embedded in the floor and walls but managed to avoid them. Then a metallic clang echoed from ahead, the sound reverberating down the tunnel. Zayn held a finger to his lips.
Ahead, the tunnel opened out into an enormous cavern. The ceiling was so high it disappeared upward into the darkness. Lanterns, some as tall as Ria, illuminated the area.
In the center, Lala, wearing enormous goggles, was mixing a large pot over a fire. Beside it sat a work bench covered in glass tubes and containers bubbling with liquids in a multitude of colors. Over her shoulder, a small round metal ball floated in the air, following her movements.
Zayn sucked in a breath. “Jesus, she has enough explosives in here to blow the entire top of this mountain.”
“Let’s not spook her, then.”
“I suggest a more upfront approach this time.” He took a step forward. “Lala.”
The girl’s head snapped up. Her eyes were magnified by the goggles. She let out a gusty sigh. “Not you two again.”
Ria held her hands up in the air. “We aren’t here to hurt you.”
Lala shoved the goggles up on her head and thrust her hands in the pockets of her skirt. This time, it was a bright-purple one over denim jeans. “Right. Just to kidnap me.” The small floating robot jiggled around, red lights spinning on it.
“Look,” Zayn began, stepping closer. “I think we started off on the wrong foot. Let’s just—”
“Nope. Not interested.” Lala spun, yanking her hands from her pockets. She threw something at them.
“Shit.” He saw two bright-blue balls hit the ground in front of him and Ria. He dived, tackling Ria to the ground. The balls bounced back into the air.
The small balls hit again and rolled along the floor. Right toward them, automatically adjusting their course. Like little heat-seeking missiles.
He squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself.
The balls exploded with a splat.
Fluid splattered all over Zayn. There were no flames or shrapnel.
He cracked open an eyelid and looked over his shoulder. His back, side and neck were splattered with sticky blue goo.
“What the hell?” Ria shifted under him, staring at the mess.
Raucous guffaws broke out, filling the cavern. Lala was bent over, her hands on her knees, laughing so hard she was crying. The robot was doing loops around her.
“What is this stuff?” He got to his feet and pulled Ria up with him. They both slapped at the goo, but it was stuck fast.
“Oh, just a little bit of fun I’ve been cooking up. You should have seen your faces!” Lala swiped at her eyes. “Wouldn’t get too close to naked flames though. That stuff could still ignite.”
Zayn swiped the goo off his face. “Lala, we really need your help.”
She tilted her head and the gesture made her look young. “Kidnap didn’t work so you’re going to appeal to my good side? I don’t think so. I don’t have a good side.”
This time she grabbed one of the bubbling beakers. One full of something that was a lime green froth. She threw it better than a VelocityBall quarterback.
Zayn and Ria were already backing up. The glass smashed on the rocky floor and this time the explosion was blinding.
The whole cavern shook. He was knocked backward by the blast, slamming into Ria. They tumbled to the ground, and he felt the searing heat wash over them.
Fuck. The little crackpot was going to bring the roof down and kill them all.
He jumped up and sprinted across the space. Lala threw another beaker. He leaped over it, ignoring the boom behind him. Again, the place shook and several large rocks fell from the roof, smashing to the floor.
He skidded to a halt near the girl. “Stop it! You’re going to kill us all. I told you, we aren’t here to hurt you.”
Lala paused, a tiny vial full of violent-pink goo clutched in her hand. “What do you need? Some special undetectable explosive? Something to blow up a small planet? Explosives disguised as something else?”
“No.” Zayn shook his head, then paused. “You could really blow up a small planet?”
Lala cocked a hip. “I could try.”
Ria, her hair coated in rock dust, walked toward them. “I need to lure out some bad people. You’re my best bet since I know they…don’t like you very much.”
Lala’s expression was considering now. “So, I’m bait.”
“Yep,” Zayn said. “But we won’t let them get you. Help us and we’ll drop you back here, or anywhere else you want to go.”
“Who are these bad guys?”
Ria drew in a deep breath. “The Assassin’s Guild.”
The girl’s eyes widened. “In the Devil’s Nebula.” She whistled. “Cool. I love being bait! Bring it on. I can’t stand those fussy assassin bastards. They got me to do a bunch of jobs for them and I made up batches of some of my best explosives. You know what they did then?”
Zayn shook his head.
“They tried to stiff me. Tried to kill me.” She sniffed. “I blew up their base on Thoth in retaliation. Oh, and their safe-house on Rainin, and three of their starships.”
The girl showed no fear. Nothing. Zayn couldn’t help but like her. He started laughing.
Lala grinned. “I’m in. Happy to help. When do we go?”
“Now. I’m Zayn, by the way. Zayn Phoenix.”
“Phoenix. Related to Dathan Phoenix?” The girl’s eyes turned misty. “I read all about him and his treasure hunts.” A dreamy sigh. “He’s sooo good-looking.”
Zayn grinned. “He’s my brother. I’ll be happy to introduce you to him. And his wife.”
Lala waved a hand. “Wife, smife.”
“And I’m Ria Dante.”
The explosives genius looked her way. “You’re an assassin. Can tell by the way you move. Kind of sneaky.”
“Was. I was an assassin. I’m trying to…retire.”
The girl’s brows rose. “No one leaves the Guild.”
“That’s why we need your help. We need you to lure the assassins out of their headquarters. Then I’m going to sneak in and steal one of their prized possessions to buy my freedom.”
Lala whistled long and loud. “Ballsy, girl, ballsy. I like it.”
Suddenly, a deep rumble echoed through the cavern. All three of them froze.
The ground began to tremble. A cloud of dust sprinkled down on them from the roof of the cavern.
All three of them looked upward.
“Oh, shit,” Lala said.
Rocks started to rain down around them. One glanced off Ria’s shoulder. “We need to go. Now.”
Zayn nodded.
Lala shook her head. “I can’t leave my friends.” She took off back toward the center of the cave.
“Shit.” Ria sprinted after the girl. What friends did she have back there?
A huge boulder slammed down a few feet in front of her. Ria lunged to the right.
“Ria!”
“I’ll get her.” Ria yelled back at Zayn. “Wait at the entrance.”
She ran after Lala who was tearing boxes apart near her makeshift lab. More rocks crashed down.
“Lala, we have to go.”
“I can’t leave without them. They’re my family.”
That’s when Ria saw them. A small insect-like robot and the metal ball from earlier hovering above the first one. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Lala snatched the ball out of the air. She was reaching for the other when Ria looked up. Shit. She dived, taking Lala with her, both of them rolling across the ground.
The jagged boulder slammed into the bench. Boom.
Explosives ignited. Sparks flew, radiating out like fireworks. Ria felt something singe her cheek and smelled her hair burning.
“Fuzzy!” Lala still had the ball tucked under her arm and was scrambling to reach the insect-shaped robot. She grabbed the machine’s leg, but his body was trapped under a rock.
“Lala, leave it.”
“No.” The girl looked up, tears shimmering in her eyes. “They’re all I have. The only things I care about.”
Ria was frozen, staring into the face of a young girl.
Lala might act tough and adult, but she was a child.
One who was alone, yet had carved a life for herself and had managed to survive.
Ria looked at the metallic arm of the robot.
She’d never had toys. Nothing that had been hers. Nothing that had given her comfort.
She scrambled over a rock and then hefted the smaller one on top of Fuzzy upward.
Lala snatched up the robot and hugged it. “Thank you.”
“Now, let’s go.”
With a nod, Lala bounded up, shoved the robots in a bag and sprinted for the entrance. Instantly Zayn was there, gripping her arm. His gaze hit Ria. “Okay?”
She nodded. “Better once we’re out of here.”
They ran in a zig zag pattern, dodging falling debris and the rocks already scattering the floor. They flew through the tunnel. Ahead a bright arch of blue sky beckoned. The tunnel walls around them were vibrating, more dust raining down.
So close. Ria pushed for more speed. She heard a deep rumble, like a giant beast on the hunt. She glanced over her shoulder.
Oh no. “The tunnel’s collapsing. Faster.” She gripped Lala’s arm, thankful the girl was quick on her feet.
Zayn was bringing up the rear. “Run!”
Ria broke out of the tunnel, Lala a step behind her. They dived, tumbling a few feet down the hillside.
With a deafening roar, the tunnel collapsed. A huge cloud of dust washed over them.
Ria coughed and rubbed at her stinging eyes. She couldn’t see. Her eyes watered. “Lala, you okay?”
The girl coughed. “Yeah.”
“Zayn?”
No answer.
“Zayn?” Ria scrambled up. She stared at the collapsed tunnel. No. The bottom dropped out of her stomach.
“Over…here.”
She swiveled. He lay sprawled on his back beyond some rocks. Blood coated his face and neck.
“Zayn.” She climbed over the rocks and leaped down beside him. “What happened?”
“Rock to the head. I’m fine. Just a scalp gash. They bleed like hell.”
She cupped his cheeks, studying his dust-covered features. He was right about the cut. It wasn’t deep. Releasing a breath, she leaned forward, her forehead bumping against his. “You scared me.” She wasn’t used to worrying about someone else.
But this man, this reckless flyboy, made her feel things she never knew she was capable of feeling.
“Sorry.” He pressed a kiss to her lips. “I’m fine.”
“Yuck.” Lala’s exclamation was followed by various choking noises. “Do you guys do this kissing stuff all the time?”
“We’ve just started doing it.” He sat up and slung an arm across Ria’s shoulders. “So get used to it, kid, because I plan to do a lot more of it.”
Lala wrapped her hands around her neck and mimed gagging.
Ria couldn’t hold back a smile. Give it a few more years and Lala’s aversion to the opposite sex would morph into something else. Heaven help the man who caught her attention. “Sorry about your home.”
“No probs. This is the third time I’ve blown up my lab. My living area is in a different section of tunnel.”
“Lala, do you have any horses?” Zayn asked.
“Nope.” A wicked grin. “But I have some hoverboards.”
“Excellent.” His matching smile was wide. “I love hoverboards. We’ll need them to get back to my ship. Pack a bag and then let’s ride.”
Ria groaned. “Hoverboards? You can’t be serious.”