Page 106 of Victoria's Discovery

Vi’kail opened his mouth to reply, wiping the blood off his arms, but twitched when he passed over his bicep, and frowned down at his arm instead. An expression she couldn’t quite decipher in the dark passed over his face.

“We can’t.”

That surprised her enough that her focus sharpened.

Thorn grunted disbelievingly. “Why not? Can you not steer the machine? Gods’ wrath, figure it out! We canno—”

“Isn’t that. We can’t go back at all.”

“Why?” Thegan demanded, his voice low and tense.

Vi’kail’s expression was grimmer than she’d ever seen it as he reached out and ran his hand over first Thegan’s arm, then Thorn’s. He met her gaze, his face apologetic as he reached out and gently ran his fingers over her right bicep. Victoria twitched at the unexpected ache that shot through her at his touch and glanced down. There was a raised, red spot about halfway between her shoulder and elbow. She hadn’t noticed it before, but now that she was looking at it, it throbbed painfully.

Before any of them could ask, Vi’kail swore and shook his head. “We’ve been tagged.”

For a second, Victoria just blinked in confusion. “Like a cow? ‘Herbivorous quadruped animal.’ How do you know?”

He smiled humorlessly. “I remember the feeling.”

“Oh. Can’t we just—” She swallowed hard. “—cut them out?”

Her stomach dropped when he shook his head again. “Not that simple.”

Of course, it isn’t.

“I don’ know what kind of tag it is. Each is unique to the Overlord or Master it belongs to. Some explode when tampered with. Some release poisons. Others acid. But all track location.”

Understanding hit her like a slap to the face, pushing the shock back even more. “We can’t go back to the complex if we’re being tracked. That would put everyone there in jeopardy.” She paused as a thought occurred to her. “And we can’t go to the arena Aria is attacking, either. That could endanger the whole operation.”

Thegan and Thorn both cursed. Vi’kail nodded. “My thoughts exactly.”

“How do we get it out if we can’t just remove it?” she asked.

“We gotta find a tag scanner and extractor.”

“Okay, where?” From his expression, none of them were going to like the answer.

“Slave markets, pleasure lounges, arenas, the mines. Anywhere slaves are kept.”

Thorn’s mouth twisted into a snarl. “None of which are places to take Vee.”

“Wait.” Vi’kail took off running for the front of the transport.

Victoria held her breath, hoping it would be that easy, only to sigh when he returned a couple of seconds later empty handed.

“Gods damn it to the six hells,” Thorn bit out. “Which of those places gives us best odds to raid and get back out without capture?”

Vi’kail rubbed his forehead, thinking. “The slave market. It’s gon’ have more people going in and out, more points of entry. It’ll be easier to blend in there.”

Victoria chewed on her lip, then asked, “Do you know where we are?”

Vi’kail scanned the buildings around them, then up at the shiny skyscraper that looked to be a couple of miles away. “This part of the city looks near abandoned so I’d guess we’re still a few clicks from the city center. Movin’ through more populated areas unnoticed while avoidin’ capture is gon’ be difficult.”

Thegan, who’d been faced outward, watching the street for unexpected visitors, shifted impatiently and glanced over his shoulder at them. “We cannot linger here. Seemingly abandoned does not mean abandoned in truth.”

“Can we use the runner?” she wondered, eyeing it dubiously.

“Best not to. It’ll be tagged, as well.” His gaze dropped to the gun still held in her hand then back at the doors. “Lemme see that, baby. I’ll fix the doors so, they don’ look like they were busted from inside. Make it look like they were hit by an opportunistic slaver. No one will think we shook off the tranq fast enough to escape on our own. Should give us a head start.”

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