Chapter 46
You don’t expect to find an airlock at the bottom of a mine.
Kael blinked once, then again. The door didn’t vanish. Just loomed. Huge, matte gray, and foreboding
“Time to find out if GEO was right about my access,” he noted, keeping his voice neutral.
“Being trapped in an airlock is not my preferred next step. You trust him?”
Kael laughed, “No. But it’s either this or turn back. You game?”
He was surprised to find he meant it. If she—
“Punch in the code, Major.”
Or they could just go forward.
It was a standard airlock and keypad, so the comparatively thin gloves of the HZES posed no problems entering his access key.
“That’s a long access code,” Wraith commented.
“Sixteen digits. Pretty standard for low-level stuff.”
She stared at him as if she wasn’t sure if he was serious—he was—and then the airlock hissed and swung open. He heard her mutter something about SID needing more hobbies.
“One at a time?” he offered.
“Not unless your code will let you enter twice.”
Good point.
He held out a hand, “Together then?”
The door swung shut behind them, its massive clamps locking into place.
Kael was still holding her hand. Or she was holding his.
One of the two.
The airlock was blindingly white. Clean. Clinical. The lights flared as the clamps locked, bouncing off the walls and floor. Wraith felt like a lab specimen.
It reminded her of her cell on the Other Ship. Only colder and less likely to react if she punched the wall.
Kael squeezed her hand as they waited. To measure the time, she counted heartbeats.
Seventy-two. Seventy-three.
A muffled beep from the inner door. Then it slid open, revealing a dim hallway ahead.
She and Kael glanced at each other, then down at the suit monitors. The air was Standard EarthOx mix. No toxins detected. Grav normal.
She shrugged at him, released her helmet and pulled it off. His was off less than a second later. He glared at her.
“You’re the one with the access codes, Major. Technically you’re less expendable.”
And that didn’t even take the Tether into consideration. And she wasn’t going to think about that right now.
He frowned at her, but didn’t argue. Good.
She stripped off her HZES. Beneath it, she wore a Penumbra suit. It was a significant upgrade to the active camo gear she’d used in the War.
Skintight, it would fool thermal sensors, help them blend into the shadows better, and as an added bonus, could take two hits of SlugGel before melting.
Speaking of which…
She picked up her pistol and holstered it. Then reached into her backpack and pulled out the monomolecular blade she’d swiped in the Folly along with a couple of nasty surprises Rina had given her.
Something was definitely pulling on her now.
Kael checked his HushTec revolver—basically the silenced version of an SG pistol—and pulled out his own blade.
They’d kill quietly as long as they could.
Then they’d switch to something a little… noisier.
Kael wiped blood off his blade.
The man at his feet retained the surprised expression you get when a shadow stabs you unexpectedly.
He looked like a civilian scientist. The SID prototype weapon slung under his coat told a different story.
Ahead, Wraith raised two fingers. Two more coming.
Since they’d left the airlock, he’d become increasingly aware of her. Like the bond they’d shared in the Void had snapped back into place.
He wasn’t sure if it was integration. Couldn’t ask her, because her attention was far more focused on whatever was calling her than on him.
But she remained tactically aware.
And deadly.
He crept forward, stopped behind her.
The footsteps were coming closer. If they turned in through the door, Wraith would take them. If they walked past, he’d ensure they were dead before they knew they were dying.
Closer. Closer.
They were talking about vibration thresholds and the latest genetic results. They walked past the door.
He stood and shot twice. Two silent head shots. Two thumps. Two dead operatives. He’d swapped standard rounds for frangibles.
Cleaner kills, less mess. Less chance of screaming.
Wraith dashed into the corridor, footfalls nearly silent. He frowned. Her steps were too loud in his ears—he’d have to show her proper technique.
He waited a five count, then followed. Silently.
By the time he reached her, she was standing in a small office, blade still wet. A fresh corpse on the floor.
It was going to take him a long time to work his way through the death they were causing.
Void help him, he hoped it was necessary.
The frisson of a reply whispered over his skin. He shoved it away.
He needed some new emphatic oaths.
Yesterday.
It was getting louder. They were getting closer.
The sound of metal scraping on a hull. The vibration of a transpo hitting atmosphere. A creeping dread she couldn’t ignore.
Although that last one might just be internal.
Part of her wished they’d convinced Rina to come with. But her big sister didn’t have the patience for stealth or silence.
Still, the extra backup would have been nice.
She stepped around the wall she’d been leaning against and swiped her blade in an upwards arc.
A blond woman crashed at her feet, gurgling slightly through a sliced throat. It wasn’t loud, but a man stepped out of a nearby room, brows furrowed.
Hadn’t heard him. Shit.
She dashed forward, but he collapsed as Kael shot him between the eyes.
On the other hand, the Major was proving to be enough back up all on his own. Who knew?
Her head turned, almost of its own accord. They were almost there. She couldn’t slow now. Couldn’t rush either.
She looked back at Kael, pointed left and raised a finger to her ear.
Three fingers.
She nodded once, then again as he offered to take point. The noise in her head was getting distracting. She couldn’t afford another misstep.
She leaned against the wall, breathing even. Waited the five count they hadn’t even discussed and stepped around the corner. He was standing at a door a short distance ahead, three bodies lying between her and him.
She moved forward. The door was keypad locked, by the looks of it, so she crouched next to him, covering the corridor as he stood and entered a very, very long sequence.
The door opened.
The mental assault hit her like a wave—anxiety, then fear, then pain. None of it hers. Not from within. It tore through her, as if the walls themselves remembered something terrible.
And just as she thought she might be getting to grips with it, a voice dropped her to her knees, blade clattering from her fingers.
Baby bird. Fly away.
It’s already too late.