Page 37 of Guardian's Soul

At first look, it appeared as if the ground was covered in rocks, some as large as boulders. They intrigued me with theiralmost geometrical shapes. The way they lay scattered made me wonder if, at one time, a tremendously large building had stood here that was either neglected or bombed and later overgrown with plants. It actually made me curious enough to step closer to one and touch it. That's when I realized it had a hollow, metallic sound to it. Questioningly, I turned to Thrax. "Are these old ruins?"

He stepped next to me. "I've never been to Ohrur before, so I don't know, but it sure looks like it."

He grabbed a tall slab, putting all his weight into it as he tried to bend it. With a low groan, the slab began to break in the middle, leaving jagged edges like you would expect to find if breaking a very old piece of metal.

"I think you're right," Thrax said. Bending low, he moved the dirt around with his hand, coming up with another piece of broken metal.

"Interesting," he said, pocketing it. "I have some stuff on the ship that might help analyze this."

He didn't mention that first we had to get back to his ship; oh wait, no. First, we had to survive the next few hours and kidnap Possedion!

Thrax pulled out his comm and indicated up a hill. "We need to go that way."

I got the message: the kiss was over. Whatever was going on between us wouldn't be talked about, and neither would these obvious ruins that could have once been a large city. We still had a mission to fulfill. I was about to open my mouth and say something about it, but then I wasn't sure where to start. Nor was this really the time to talk about the sex we'd had or the kiss. It didn't matter if this used to be a city that had been bombed or fallen apart. We weren't on an archaeological dig, and I sure as hell wasn't a scientist. We did, however, need to kidnap Possedion. So up the hill I went without another word.

THARAAX

This wasn'tthe moment to dwell on Hannah or the kiss we'd shared during the jump, but keeping it out of my thoughts wasn't easy. I could try convincing myself that it was just to shut her up, but that wasn't true. The wind had made speaking nearly impossible, and her terror had been palpable the entire way down. My only thought had been to help ease her fear, if only for a moment. Until our lips touched. After that, it hadn't been easing her fear that made me continue. The need to do more than simply kiss her had been nearly overwhelming. Thankfully, the hard contact with the ground had shaken some sense into my sex-lusted brain. We were here. We were on Ohrur. And the clock was ticking, to borrow a human phrase, even though we didn't use clocks any longer.

Coming across those ruins was another diversion, but it, too, would need to wait. Possedion was up that hill. If my calculations were correct, the majority of his minions would have already departed his lair to retrieve Hannah and me from the ship's landing point at the location Possedion had set for it. Only it wouldn't. It would land at a different spot that should throw him and the Space Guardians off enough to give Hannahand me time to enter his mansion, extricate him, and take him away to where my ship would land next. Possedion wasn't the only one with the know-how to program a spacecraft.

I spent hours detailing our plan. What I hadn't taken into consideration was how hard it would be for Hannah to keep up with me. She was in excellent physical shape. I noticed that during our training aboard the ship, but some of her stamina had been stolen during the weeks of imprisonment, as it showed now by her heavy panting as she followed me up the hill. At another point, I didn't have a choice but to pick her up and carry her, at least until we reached the top, where a tall, white wall announced that we had reached the edge of Possedion's property.

The wall pulsed slightly in warning that it was charged and would report any impact, like a body climbing up it. I had anticipated this. It wasn't the first sensor-alarmed wall I had scaled. I was also sure that we could have walked the entire perimeter without finding a weak spot, and since this would cost too much time, I had other contingency plans.

Here, too, the antigravitational jumpsuit I was wearing would come in handy. I had Hannah prepared for this, but I had also prepared her for the jump, and her reaction was worse than I had expected.

"You'll need to hold on to my back this time," I told her.

Her face was pale, but she nodded bravely as her eyes took in the wall at least six times my height. Next, I sent out a couple of drones to give me images of the other side. I hadn't been able to find any new footage from Possedion's compound, so I only had a broad idea of where we were.

The drones set off, sending images straight to my comm. Judging by the live footage, not much had changed since the last images had been taken here by air a few years back. Without being able to get into the Ohrur database, I had to rely on the GTU one. Since they had not much of an interest in surveillancepictures of Ohrur mansions—or if they did, they were most likely locked up in a secure database—all I had found were images taken right before Possedion bought the place.

Beyond the wall lay a park-like expanse, treeless yet abundant with shrubs and a small lake. Farther, by a pool, I made out two Space Guardians checking the perimeter.

Several security drones were buzzing around Possedion's mansion, but it seemed they stayed closer to the house. I would have to deal with them later. First, we needed to get over the wall, which Possedion seemed to rely heavily on as a deterrent.

I set the jumpsuit to counteract Hannah's and mine combined weight and attached the adhesive, magnetic climbing gear to my feet and hands. It had been a long time since I used those. Most of the criminals I chased down weren't usually as rich as Possedion and couldn't pay for high levels of security. But once or twice, I had to outwit high-tech security perimeters like this one.

The climbing gear emulated pads of animals that were adapted to climbing mountains and cliffs. They also used an adhesive to keep us up. I had to move my hands and feet in a specific manner to avoid sticking to the wall, which ended up being more tiring than I had anticipated. Or maybe it was Hannah's added weight. Either way, I was breathing hard by the time we reached the top of the wall.

Hannah was a trooper. She kept a tight hold on me with her arms and legs draped around me, mindful not to choke me.

Getting down was a lot easier. I reprogrammed the jumpsuit through the comm and jumped off the top of the wall. Hannah pressed her head against my back, stifling a cry and making me proud of her.

A large belluaga bush served as a good hiding spot for us as I took inventory of our tools. I discarded both the climbing gear and jumpsuit. Next, I proceeded to extract the necessary weapons from the backpack while examining the surveillancereports from the drones. They had discovered two additional Space Guardians by a large entrance. I shook my head in disgust. What a waste of resources. What were the Ohrurs so afraid of?

Then I dispatched two ground drones. Their finger-sized bodies moved unnoticed across the lawn and into the house, scouting for guards and Possedion.

I checked the weapons and began strapping blasters and knives to my body while Hannah watched me quietly, taking a knife and a blaster when I handed them to her. If all went well, she wouldn't have to use them, but in case she did, I had trained her as well as our time restraint had permitted. She had surprised me not only with her rudiment knowledge of self-defense but with her shooting skill. With a little practice, she would be better than me.

Her job would be monitoring the drones and me over the comm. Placing a holocaster in my ear allowed me to hear and speak to her while transferring what I saw to her comm.

"You stay here," I reiterated my earlier instructions when I laid out the plan for her. "No matter what. Understood?"

She nodded. Looking scared and so beautiful, I wanted to kiss her again. "If things go bad, put on this suit." I had shown her earlier how to work the jumpsuit. "And climbing gear and get out of here."

I had given her what I could find of value onboard my ship since the Ohrurs had canceled my credit. It wasn't much, but it would buy her passage aboard a ship that would take her to Astrionis, where I was sure Lady Silla and Lord Protector Garth would do everything in their power to help her start a new life.

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