Chapter 52 Lacy
Lacy
“I think we’re getting close,” Dax said. He pointed at the growing pinprick of light ahead of us.
The last ten minutes had been spent mostly in silence, only broken when somebody had pointed out a light or checked behind us for tails.
It had been both stressful and amusing to glance back and see Mercer leaning out the door to look behind us, while Orion had a death grip on his belt with one hand and gripped the shuttle’s door frame with the other.
“Should I approach head-on?” I looked over at Dax.
He gave his answer serious thought. “Pull to either side when we get closer. Whichever one looks less bright.”
I opened and closed my hands around the controls, releasing the tension. “Then what?”
When the silence ticked on, I asked, “Do I just fly by? Are we landing? Going up to the front door?”
Ever since we’d approached the hangar, unsure of what we’d find, we’d been improvising. Which was fine, sometimes plans fell apart. But the closer we got to Layla, the more winging it was stressing me out. I wanted a solid plan, one that would guarantee success.
“If it’s dark enough, we’ll land and proceed into the compound. If it’s too bright, continue past and we’ll find a better place to set down.”
“Daylight’s a few hours away.” Midnight had come and gone while we were in the hangar.
Sunrise on Kottke was in six hours and I didn’t know if it would be the gradual kind of sunrise or the hello, wake up kind.
Six hours to find Layla, get back to the ship, deal with any surprises, and get off-planet.
Easy, right?
Dax’s hand landed on my thigh. “We’ll get her out, Lacy. Trust me.”
“I do.” It was true. I trusted Dax. I even trusted his team. I just didn’t trust the universe to not fuck with this rescue even more. If Layla wasn’t at the compound . . . Well, I didn’t know what I would do, but I doubted it would be pretty.
“We’re getting closer.” Dax swiveled in his seat. “Douse any lights.” He leaned closer to the windshield.
My gaze danced from my controls to the growing lights ahead of us. As we neared, the single light broke apart, becoming distinct light sources.
“Circle right,” Dax said abruptly.
I nodded and eased the controls right to take us in a wide circle. The area below us looked more like an abandoned ranch than a compound. I slowed down and dropped closer to the ground.
“Are the sensors reading anything?” Burn leaned over my shoulder.
“No sensors.” I felt everyone’s gaze snap to me.
“What the hell does that mean?” Burn asked.
“It means that someone really fucked with the wiring on this shuttle. I got it to start, but I don’t know what else they did down there.
” Someone had messed around under the hood of the shuttle a lot.
Like, a lot a lot. “The way this baby was wired, there’s a chance I could turn on the sensors and the horn could go off. ”
“Shuttles have horns?” Burn sounded truly curious.
“Usually, no, but with what they did to the ignition, I can’t say this one doesn’t.”
“Okay, people, focus.” Though Dax kept his voice quiet, the command in it was unmistakable. “We have visual and that’s it. So keep your eyes peeled.”
“Will do,” Burn said before she disappeared back into the belly of the shuttle.
“I’m not seeing anything but the buildings,” I whispered. “Do you think it’s a trap?”
Dax shook his head. “No. I think they’re complacent. This is, after all, the ass-end of nowhere. They’re surviving mostly on luck. Ships go missing on the edges all the time. If they were closer to the core planets, I think someone would have noticed and shut them down.”
I flicked my gaze over to him. “Someone like your team.”
“Exactly.” His nod was sharp. “I think your sister is an outlier. This Farrow, whoever he is, he was looking for information, not a ship to strip for parts. Based on what that mechanic said, Farrow was pissed they were treating her like business as usual. I think they want her research.”
“Then she’s only safe until they get it.” My stomach clenched at the implications.
“Lacy, if your sister is half as stubborn and creative as you, she’s keeping them on their toes and they don’t have that research yet. Have faith.”
His words didn’t eliminate all my worries, but I was able to breathe again.
He pointed toward a fence. “Set down over there.”
“I don’t think the fence is going to provide much cover.” Not if we were landing inside it.
“The tree next to it will help,” Dax said.
Trusting the former marine’s tactical instincts, I eased the shuttle down to the ground. We were a hundred feet from the closest building in the compound. There was a high-pitched whirr from the engine but it settled down almost immediately.
“Shh,” Mercer growled from the back of the shuttle.
“Shh yourself,” I snapped.
I powered off the shuttle and crossed my fingers that she would start up again after we rescued Layla. “Thank you,” I whispered to the ship and ran my hand over the controls.
“That’s really disturbing,” Mercer said.
“You’re really disturbing.” I swiveled around just in time to catch Burn give him a shoulder check.
Dax unfolded from the copilot’s seat and stood between our two chairs. He braced his hands on the ceiling and stretched. I leaned back in my seat to enjoy the view. The man looked good in everything, including combat armor.
“What’s the plan, boss?”
“I counted half a dozen buildings as we flew over. Anyone get something different?”
Well, shit. I hadn’t been counting buildings. Then again, I’d been concentrating on flying. Fortunately, everyone else knew that was a thing and they all agreed with his count.
“We work our way in toward the main house, starting with there.” He pointed to the one structure we could see. “One of the buildings is probably the barracks. We want to avoid that if possible. Any questions?”
“Teams of two?” Burn asked, a gleam in her eye.
A sharp nodded from Dax. “You and Orion take point. Mercer and I will be right behind you.”
I could do math and I had a bad feeling about where this was going. “What about me?”
“You stay here and keep the shuttle ready. We’ll get your sister and then get the hell out of here.”
“Nope. No way in hell! She’s my sister!” I was getting damn tired of arguing about this. I thought Dax understood.
“That’s why it’s better if you stay with the shuttle. That way we can keep both of you safe,” Orion said kindly.
“That’s exactly why I should go. All she’s going to see if you go without me is another group of strangers kidnapping her again.”
“We’re rescuing her,” Orion protested.
“She doesn’t know that, does she?” I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at them, ready to take them all on. Not my wisest decision ever, but I wasn’t going to back down. “I crossed half the fucking galaxy for this. Got you cargo in exchange for this.”
“Stole our ship for this,” Burn added.
I glared at her. “Not exactly.”
She just gave me that lopsided smile of hers.
“Are you doing this because you want the glory?” Mercer asked.
I sputtered and wanted to take a swing at the asshole. I didn’t because I knew that was stupid and we didn’t have time to waste. “I’m doing this because she’s my sister and I want her to know that she’s safe.”
“Enough,” Dax said and we all stopped talking.
“The longer we stand around here arguing, the higher the chance that we’re caught.
” He pinned me with his gaze. I could tell he wasn’t happy, but I knew that I was right.
Layla and I had the same upbringing. I’d be leery of a new group of people breaking me out. It would feel like a trap.
“You’re with me,” Dax said. “Stay between me and Mercer.”
“How about you and Burn?” I tried to bargain.
His glare turned harder.
Burn snickered.
“You want to come, you abide by my rules.” Dax didn’t say anything else until I’d nodded. “Stay between me and Mercer. Do what I say, when I say it, no questions asked.”
This all sounded very familiar and I had a flashback to my dad giving me the very same lecture. It was almost like he’d kept some of that military training. Who knew?
“Fine,” I grumbled. It wasn’t the most graceful acquiescence, but I didn’t care.
We were finally here. After trying what felt like forever to get them on my side, we were finally doing this.
Soon my sister would be safe and we could leave this backwater planet.