Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Nera watched the cars being lifted up into the hold of the Drake.
The Institute team were treating them as though they were made of glass.
A few other archeologists and crew members hovered around, snapping images, taking measurements, and scribbling furiously on their Syncs.
Avril was extra perky, which made Nera feel a little ill.
“They are something,” Niklas said.
She glanced at him. He looked fine now, the pale pallor of the radiation poisoning replaced by his usual tan skin. She’d hated seeing him sick and flat on his back.
Her jaw tightened, and she looked back at the cars. Someone—or something—had tried to trap them down in that hole.
And that made her mad.
“What do you think of them?”
She focused on what Niklas was saying. “Well, they aren’t gold, but they are shiny.” She studied the lines of the cars. “I appreciate their design. There’s something stylish about them. I imagine driving them fast would have been a pleasure.”
“Yeah, I can see you driving the Cobra. It suits you.”
His blue eyes caught her, pulled her in.
Avril rushed over. “Well done, Nik. They are fabulous.”
He looked over his shoulder at the archeologist. “Nera deserves half the credit. Maybe more, because without her, we would have died out there.”
Avril’s smile slipped. “Yes, it was a close call. Well…good work, both of you.”
Yeah, Nera was really feeling the love from Luma-Symthe.
“This is exactly the kind of find we’re after,” Avril continued. “My team will decontaminate them shortly. It’s standard procedure for all artifacts we bring aboard. We clear the cargo area and let off a decon light bomb to reduce the radiation to safe levels and kill any stowaway bugs.”
“Someone trapped us in that car showroom.” Nera knew the hard edge in her voice was obvious.
Avril blinked. “But no one was near you. The other teams were already back at the ship.”
“Something was near us,” Nera insisted.
Avril lifted her Sync, her brow furrowed. “I’ll have the science team on the Magellan run more detailed scans. Perhaps some wildlife has survived in this area? However, most of the mutated animals are difficult to spot on the scans. They are so irradiated, they blend into the background.”
“When can we head back out?” Niklas asked.
Nera straightened. She was eager to get back out there, too…with Niklas. Like he’d said, they made a surprisingly good team. She appreciated his steadier approach, the way he evaluated and assessed everything.
“The med techs have given everyone the all-clear.”
“Excellent.” He looked at Nera. “Ready?”
She nodded. “Ready.”
They didn’t waste any time. After suiting up again, they headed down to the surface and were soon wandering through a new part of the ruins. Steel framework protruded from the sand, spearing into the air.
Nera touched the metal, wondering at the people who’d made it, built the structure, and called it home.
“Makes you wonder what life was like here, doesn’t it?” Niklas was staring down the dune. More of the structure was visible above the sand. It formed a giant metal framework.
“Whatever it was like, they destroyed it.” She climbed up a steel truss. “I might get a better view from up here.”
“You climb like a Zamorian leopard. It’s extremely sexy to watch.”
She almost lost her footing. She leaped up onto a flat part of the structure and looked down at him. “Are you flirting with me?”
“I don’t flirt.”
She was pretty sure he was flirting. She tilted her head, considering him.
She didn’t think anyone had ever flirted with her.
Most people were too afraid of her. Although, she guessed the little cat-and-mouse game she and Niklas had been playing the last few years might qualify. “Sexy is you without a shirt on.”
He went very still.
“Your muscle tone is unexpected in a man who enjoys books and e-records as much as you—”
“Nera—” His voice sounded a little choked.
“And that light dusting of dark hair on your chest is very attractive.”
He made a sound like a growl. “Nera.”
She couldn’t control her smile. This was kind of fun. “You started it.”
He opened his mouth to respond, but suddenly the ground started shaking.
“Earthquake!” he shouted.
Nera lost her footing. She didn’t panic, even as adrenaline surged into her system. She rode the beam down to the point where it was sheared off, then leaped out into the air. She hung there for a second, could hear Niklas cursing.
She grabbed another beam, her fingers curling around the length of metal. She swung around the beam like a space circus performer, and ended up with her hips pressed to the beam.
But the shaking continued. She wasn’t going to be able to hold on. She slid off, dangling from one hand. Her tenuous grip was slipping.
She looked down and saw Niklas running toward her. A huge metal beam crashed to the sand, just missing him.
Her fingers slipped even more. She’d probably survive the drop…but it would hurt. And she’d break a few things.
Nera fumbled for her grappler, the trusty tool of every treasure hunter. She snatched the device off her belt.
Her fingers slipped off the beam and she fell.
“Nera!”
She blocked out Niklas’ shout. She aimed the grappler, focusing on the sturdy beam far above her head. She shot the grappling line.
The thin, ultra-strong line whizzed out with a quiet ticking noise. She kept falling, the ground rushing closer.
Then the grappler hook hit the beam.
Her fall was stopped with a sharp jerk. She hung there for a second, then the grappler retracted and she zoomed upward.
Once she pulled herself safely onto the beam, she sat there for a second to catch her breath.
Belatedly, she noticed the earthquake had stopped.
Niklas stood below, his face stark, his hands on his hips. “You okay?”
She nodded.
“Come down. Now.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. He didn’t often put on that autocratic, bossy tone, and it should grate on her. She would never take orders from anyone ever again. But somehow, with him, it was different.
She shimmied down the beam, walked across another, and then when she was low enough, she jumped down to the black sand.
In an instant, strong arms engulfed her, yanking her to his hard chest. Her face was pressed against his shirt.
“Don’t do that again.” His voice was raspy.
“I am not responsible for an earthquake, Niklas.”
“Just… Be quiet. Let me hold you.”
So she did. Because he seemed to need it. She let herself relax into the solid warmth of him. She liked it. Most of all, she liked the fact that he cared whether or not she lived or died.
Yelling from the bottom of the dune had them pulling apart.
One of the Institute security team was jogging toward them.
“What’s going on?” Niklas asked.
“Solomon. Quake knocked him off the structure he was exploring and it opened up a huge chasm in the earth below him. He’s going to fall into it any second if someone doesn’t help him. I’m headed back to the ship now to get help.” The man took off at a run.
But Nera read what the man wasn’t saying. Solomon didn’t have that long.
“Come on.” Niklas jogged down the dune. She followed.
They passed Gunn trudging back up the slope.
“Where are you going?” Niklas demanded.
Gunn scowled. “I’m hungry. Time for a snack.” He ignored Nera.
“That man needs your help.” Niklas stabbed a finger to where they could see Solomon’s lean body was dangling from a beam. As they watched, the beam slipped a little bit farther, dropping him toward the huge, cavernous hole beneath.
Gunn shrugged and turned away. “Not my problem. I’m not risking my neck for anyone.”
Icy rage slid through Nera’s veins. “Don’t you mean, you’d like to reduce the number of people the e-creds are divided by?”
A snake-like grin. “There’s that, too.”
She wrinkled her nose like she’d sniffed something bad. “Coward and an asshole. How shocking.”
Gunn’s jaw tightened. He looked like he wanted to confront her, but they both knew he was too afraid of her. He stomped up the hill.
Niklas reached the edge of the chasm first. “Holy shit.”
That was putting it mildly. A ragged gash had opened up in the dark sand, like some sort of horrible, gaping maw.
He peered in. “I can’t see a bottom.”
Not good. She eyed the young treasure hunter dangling above. He was holding on, but his face was strained.
“Hang on, Solomon,” Niklas called out. “We’ll get you down.”
The younger man nodded, but as the beam slipped some more, his body swung, one hand sliding off. Nera held her breath. He tried to reach up a few times and finally caught the beam again, managing to get a better grip.
“Ideas?” she asked.
“That beam there below him looks pretty sturdy.” Niklas pointed to a partly twisted length of steel. “I could climb out, get him to drop down, and grab him.”
The beam didn’t look sturdy at all. “It won’t hold the weight of both of you.”
Solomon cried out, the beam slipping again.
“He doesn’t have much longer,” Niklas said grimly.
She eyed the chasm, and the ruins around it. “I’ve got a better idea. But I need your help to make it happen.”
He didn’t hesitate. “Tell me.”
“I’m going to use the grappler and shoot it over another beam. That one above Solomon’s head. Then I’ll swing over, grab Solomon, and swing back. I need you to hold the grappler at this end.”
A muscle ticked in Niklas’ jaw. “It’s risky.”
She tensed, waiting for the usual stupid male response about him being the one who should swing over.
“Risky,” he repeated, “but it should work.”
A warm glow filled her insides, but she shook it off. Now wasn’t the time to moon over Niklas Phoenix.
“Hey,” Solomon called out. “I hate to break up your little party over there, but if you guys are going to do something, now’s the time.”
“Okay, let’s do it,” Nera said.
She stood right at the edge of the chasm, and aimed the grappler toward the beam above Solomon’s head. Niklas waited beside her. She took a deep breath and fired.
The line whizzed up and over the beam. She pressed a button that sent the grappling hook zooming right back toward her.