The cool calm Anyas projected cracked for the very first time when I slung the girl over my shoulder and dropped her on the couch in the room he’d been given in the building. He gasped. “What have you done?”
“It was necessary.” The girl’s head lolled back, and I was reassured when her chest rose and fell slowly. I hadn’t killed her; she was just unconscious. I’d been too worried about being spotted to stop and check on her.
I carefully arranged her arms and legs, trying to make her a little more comfortable. No reason to leave her awkwardly splayed out. Besides, it looked indecent. Her face was unlined, her thick lashes settled on smooth cheeks. Her lips were light pink against the dark skin of her face. She had speckles across her forehead. If she’s bruised from my blow, I couldn’t see it.
As soon as I straightened, Captain was there. He pulled me into his arms, one hand capturing my face. “Are you okay?”
“Fine. They didn’t hurt me.” I decided not to mention my numb fingers; the sensation was starting to come back anyway. “You?” I studied him. He was in charge and the Elites would remove him to prevent the crew from rallying behind him.
“Anyas kept us safe,” he said.
“For a while, I wasn’t sure if he had turned on us.” I could admit that to Captain, the whisper of words spoken against the skin of his neck when he pulled me close, reliving the stomach-churning fear and loneliness. “I’m glad he didn’t.”
Captain narrowed his eyes. “He wouldn’t have survived the attempt.”
Anyas snorted, and we broke the embrace to turn and face him. “As if I’d perform at less than my best. These are Elites. I’m an arrogant fucker, but they are even more arrogant than me. They see what they want to see and only that. It has been longer than I thought since I was among them; inattention and sloth has crept in. They will be easy to overthrow.”
We hadn’t been talking quiet enough, apparently. A certain gleam entered his eyes, and I had to wonder if we were setting ourselves up to face a more devious enemy later… but I’d just make sure we kept Anyas as a friend.
Freska gasped. “We have incoming. Time to go.” I grabbed Captain’s hand.
“Should we leave her?” Deke asked, gesturing toward the woman. He had a weapon out and pointed at the doors.
“No, absolutely not. This may be the best thing for us, even better than our plan before.” Anyas glanced at me. “Well, if she doesn’t hold a grudge.”
“Why?” Danie was standing by Freska, one finger on her neck while she was patched into the system. “Freska controls their systems. What do we need an Elite for?”
“Because the guards can still fire weapons, and a battle will endanger your crew. A bloodless coup is always more desirable. With the A.I.s working with Freska and the city on lockdown, they will be forced to treat with us in person. And with her, they will go very, very carefully.”
“Why?” I asked. “Who is she?”
“She, my surprising friend, is the daughter of the High Councilor. His heir to his seat. And, as he is wasting away after a millenia or two, she is about to be acknowledged in the next year.”
Captain blinked, his hand tightening on mine. “Are you saying the most powerful of all the Elites is this slip of a girl, and she was wandering around all alone by herself in a prisoners wing, and Kohen knocked her out and kidnapped her?”
“That is exactly what I’m saying,” Anyas replied. He raised an eyebrow. “Was I unclear in some way?”
“Was I unclear saying we had to go? A whole troop of those damn guards are coming this way. We need to get to the interior conference room and lock it down. Now!” demanded Freska.
There was a flurry of activity. Unwilling to let others touch her for some reason, I grabbed the girl and, more carefully this time, put her over my shoulder and secured her with one arm around her thighs. That left my other arm free for a weapon. I was put in the middle—where Captain would have put me anyway, even with my strength and abilities—and we were off.
Freska had disengaged her leads from the system, but she kept a hand on the sides of the building whenever we neared an electronics panel, reading the data screens on the vids that lit at her touch.
“Shit!” Deke fired over his left shoulder, yanking his body to one side to avoid a stunner blast. His weapon was not set to stun, and the guard who had tried to intercept us was unlucky enough to find out. We left him on the side corridor, blood oozing from the blackened edges of the burn blazed into his armor.
“Almost there,” Freska panted. “Gotta work on my cardio.”
“Sitting behind those machines will do that to you. Why not have Danie carry you out?” Anyas was annoying cool and dry, unlike the rest of us.
“Not everyone can keep calm when armed guys are after them. And Danie was zapped cause he touched what he shouldn’t have.”
“Stop!” Freska made them all stop and backtrack. A nondescript gray door in the middle of the corridor. A blue band went around it. “This is it.”
“This?” Deke didn’t look convinced.
“Yep. Hiding in plain sight.” Freska touched the keypad, just one fingertip, and the door seal cracked. The door popped open with a hiss.
Deke went first, a guard following, Freska, Anyas, me, and Captain pulling up the rear with the other guards. They pulled the door shut, and Captain said, “Watch out.”
I hid my eyes just in time for the screen to go up in a shower of sparks from his shot.
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