Page 25 of Darken
“I do. They have a den up in the hills with a litter of pups. I told them where our den is, and they know the area. When the pups are big enough, they may come to see us. We’re family now.”
Darken started to say something then stopped, staring into space. He frowned and blinked. “We have to go.”
Gina cast him a worried look as he took her hand and led her to the sky cycle. As they climbed aboard, Darken bid their wolf friends farewell.
“What’s going on?” Gina asked.
He set the cycle in motion, rising vertically from the ground. “Someone blew up Commander Savage’s house and took his mate. He’s calling the team to go help him get her back.”
“We’re going?”
The sky cycle lurched as he gunned it. “I’m sorry, babe, I’m taking you home. You’re not trained for this. I need to know you are safe, so I can focus on the mission.”
They arrived at their home minutes later, and Darken escorted Gina inside. He immediately went to his weapons room to gather his knives, two blasters, and a shock wand. Sheathing the knives in his armor, he holstered the blasters and shock wand in his weapons belt, adding a couple grenades to his pouch and a bolus of nanites into a pocket on his belt. His ion rifle was already in the sling on his cycle.
Gina watched him anxiously as he finished gearing up. Seeing her worried look, Darken went to her and took her in his arms. “Don’t worry, my love. We’re good at this. I will be back as soon as I can. I will com you when I know more. We’re going all the way to the east coast, so it will take a few hours before we even get there.”
“Just make sure you come back to me.”
“Always,” he said huskily. Unable to say more, he kissed her a slow, searing kiss. It was hard to leave her, but Blaze needed his help to get his mate Phoebe back. His captain would do the same for him.
Darken turned and strode from the house without looking back. He was secretly glad Gina was not fully trained for armed combat as he was. That gave him a valid, logical reason for not letting her accompany him on what could be a dangerous mission. The whole team knew it was a trap, yet they were going anyway.
Together they had faced far greater odds than calculated for this operation.
Darken rode for hours at breakneck speed and met the cyborg ranger team in a wooded area about a half-mile from Stone’s compound. Walking stealthily through the heavily wooded area surrounding it, they silently killed the guards walking the perimeter outside the high chain-link fence.
Max Steel cut the power to the fence, and Stalker used a laser to cut a large opening. The six-man team sprinted through the gap and split up to take out the gangers patrolling the land around the mansion. Their battle armor made the gangers’ projectile weapons useless against them.
The cyborgs killed them all. The gangers were guarding the man who stole Blaze’s female; therefore, they had no redeeming value.
Darken, you go in through the front with Stalker and Max. Let them believe you are me. Phoebe is upstairs, so I’ll go around to the back and climb up.
Affirmative.Darken responded through their network.
The other four Cyborg rangers reported entering the building and going room to room, clearing the opposition.
Falcon Rader hacked into the security system and killed the alarm. So far, they had cleared all the rooms on the first floor without finding Phoebe.
“Stairway that way.”Max Steel pointed to the left.
Led by Darken, the rest of the team headed to the stairs, ion rifles poised and ready to shoot. Three armed and armored cyborgs blocked the way. Blaze’s cohorts all pointed their rifles at them.
“Blaze Savage?” The one in the middle questioned.
“What?” Darken answered, neither confirming nor denying his identity.
“Mr. Stone said you should go upstairs alone, unarmed, if you want to see your female alive again.”
“Why? So, he can kill her in front of me?”
The other cyborg didn’t answer. A blood-curdling feminine scream and crying came from upstairs.
“Or you can stay down here and listen to her scream while he uses the pain stick on her.”
Darken gave his rifle to Shadow and took off his weapon belt, and pulled four throwing knives from secret sheaths in his armor. He dropped them all onto the floor but only retracted his helmet to reveal his emerald green eyes. When the three rogues were satisfied, he was unarmed; they let Darken pass.
As Darken climbed the stairs, another blood-curdling scream echoed through the house. When he reached the top of the stairs, he could see Blaze’s female tied helplessly to a metal pipe frame, naked and weeping softly.
