Page 68 of Sol Survivor

“You’re an idiot.”Vic started with an insult, drawing a groan from Drafe.She didn’t dare glance his way.“Despite my obvious skill and my years as a gladiator for Carne, you think you can take me?”

“A what?”Leah squeaked, her cheeks paling under a fine sheen of sweat.

Vic tutted.“Ah, your lover didn’t divulge everything.”

“You lie.Nikko would’ve told me.”Leah met Vic’s gaze, raising her chin, as well.“You’re bluffing.”

“Right, when I managed to gain the upper hand in the alley?”Vic sighed.“I see, you want your fingers crushed again.”She ran her hand along her cybernetic arm.“The irony abounds.You’re escorting prisoners to a medical facility that perfects skin healing technology and cybernetics.”She flexed her fingers.“Which I now sport.”

Leah raised her blaster, preparing to fire.A bolt of white from the shadows shot it out of her hands.She cried out, shaking her fingers.

With Leah disarmed, Vic tossed a glance at the shadows.“Drafe, butt out.”

“She dies by your hand.No blasters.”His baritone ran over Vic’s senses like chilled syrup over a hot bun.

Leah called out, “Who the farg is there?Show yourself.”She took a tentative step back, as if to escape through the door.

Vic lunged forward, using her cybernetics to boost her speed.She caught Leah’s arm and flung her into the room.

Drafe leaned a little into the light, exposing his face and glowing yellow eyes, and caught her only to steady her.“Hello, human female.”

He revealed himself and, with Caah behind him, strode from the room.

Leah blinked, staring after them.“What the farg—?”

“My rescuers.”Vic grinned and holstered her blaster.“Times awasting, Leah.Let’s get this over with?”

Leah squared her shoulders and faced Vic.

“What did you do to Tiny?”Vic raised her fists and rested her weight on her front foot.

“Knocked her over the head and left her in the med-bay.Let the traitor bleed to death.”

“I doubt it.”Vic chuckled.Confidence was key, messing with Leah’s psyche as crucial, not that Vic needed those tactics, but it was second nature.“Seems like you can’t even kill a blind woman properly.”Farg.Nenn better get to Tiny and save her.Lord knew what Vic would do if she lost the only ally she’d made onMula Pesada.

True to her stupidity, Leah fell for the taunt.She screamed, announcing her attack.

Vic swung a punch at Leah’s throat, hitting it with a sickening crunch.As she crumbled to the floor, gurgling for air, and her eyes wide, Vic crouched beside her.“Alas, I don’t have the time to pretend to take a hit, to give you false hope, to toy with you.I want off this fargen ship, and if it means killing you, then so be it.”

She strode out of the cell as Leah gurgled her final breath.Not once did Vic look back.

Fire lanced through her right bicep, the force wrenching her to the side.The blaster shot came from the engine room.How the hell—?Caah yanked her to the floor as Drafe headed in that direction, weaving in and out of darkness like an apparition.

Fargen hell.Shehadthought it had all been too easy.

When she tried to rise, Caah pinned her down with his arm across her shoulders.He gestured to Drafe, who stalked like a predator, his movements confident and silent.“Let him hunt.He will need vindication for the scent of your blood in his nose.”

She bit her lip, fighting the compulsion to help.What if he needed back-up?What if he was wounded too?Who the farg had fired on her?In the deafening silence, nothing reached her.Not Drafe’s location or the shooter’s.

Just in case, she unholstered her blaster, wincing when her arm burned anew.

“If you shoot him, he will never live it down.”Caah grinned, his white teeth bright in the dim lighting.

“Then help him,” she snapped.

“And steal his vengeance?I am no fool, Vic.”

She shoved at him, ready to jump up and charge forth.

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