Page 4 of Darken
“I have faced far more deadly foes than normal unenhanced overlords.”
“Some of them have converted natural cyborgs as enforcers,” Axel warned. “They can be as dangerous as we are.”
“They haven’t waited their whole lives for their mate, only to have her stolen from them. I will avoid confrontation as much as possible. To do otherwise could put my female in danger.”
“That sounds like the best approach. If you get into anything that you can’t handle, don’t hesitate to call me,” said Axel.
Darken thanked him and ended the communication. He had a new technology developed near the end of the war that could cloak him while he was in his armor so that he could not be detected by sight, even by cyborgs. From his sky cycle, he contacted Vyken Dark to let him know that he could not start his mission until he rescued his mate. Commander Dark assured him that he understood and granted leave to resolve the situation.
ChapterThree
Gina thought she must have lain there for hours before someone finally came and opened the room. She tried to look over her shoulder as she lay facing the back of the room, but she couldn’t turn her head that far. She started to tremble, fearing what was coming next.
“No, you don’t have to do this… I---I didn’t mean….”
She felt hands at her ankles breaking the rope that tied her feet in one swift pull.
“Gina, it’s okay. I’m Darken. I’m here to get you.”
“Darken? My cyborg…”
“Yes, I am your cyborg.” He quickly broke the rope binding her hands and helped her stand. “Can you walk?”
“I’m not sure. I feel kinda woozy, and I’ve been laying there for hours.”
“No problem. I’ll get you out of here.”
With that, he scooped her up and carried her out of the building. Once outside, he broke into a dead run at cyborg speed and jumped to the top of the wall where he’d broken the razor wire. Jumping down, he ran across open fields and into the woods. They finally stopped beside what Gina recognized as a sky cycle.
Darken put her on the passenger seat and climbed on in front of her. He quickly started the engine and raised the cycle straight up above the treetops. The next thing she knew, the vehicle had closed around them, turning it into a small flyer. Then he gunned it, and Gina was jerked back against the backrest.
She had a hundred questions, but she voiced none of them because she did not want to distract Darken from navigating the vehicle at high speed. She had never gone that fast in her life. It was both terrifying and exhilarating.
Gina found herself staring at Darken’s wide shoulders and broad back. He was big and well-muscled with muscles that rippled under his shirt as he moved or tensed.
“Hold on. We’re being followed; I’m going to try to lose them,” he muttered.
The only thing to hold onto was him, so she put her arms around his waist and held on. He took the plane on a series of jerky maneuvers that made her stomach queasy. When she heard him swear a string of expletives, she figured it wasn’t working. A scraping, crunching sound caused the flyer to shudder.
Gina tightened her hold on the cyborg, squeezing her eyes shut, and pressed her face against his back. She was too scared to be shy. Praying to any god or goddess who might hear her thoughts, she hoped she would get the chance to know him now that he had found her.
Darken continued evasive maneuvers for over an hour, trying to lose their pursuer. Finally, he fired off a rocket. He scored a hit just as a small rocket took out the flyer’s engine.
If Gina thought evasive maneuvers were stomach twisting, the end-over-end forward spin was far worse. Now she was sure she would die, but she felt surprisingly calm. At least, Devlin wouldn’t have the satisfaction of torturing her.
Darken somehow managed to stabilize their trajectory, and they glided upside down for a while. Apparently, the flyer had stability thrusters that finally righted them, but they weren’t powerful enough to keep them in the air.
“I’m sorry, little one, we’re going to crash.”
Seconds later, they hit the ground, skidding and flipping over, skidding some more before they slammed to a stop against a large rock.
Fortunately, the crash restraints kicked in when the sky cycle was hit, as that was the only thing that kept them alive. Even so, Darken’s internal computer had apparently shorted out. His access to the cyborg network and the regular com went with it. At least he was alive.
His second thought was Gina? He tried to turn to look at her, but his restraints would not allow it. Smelling smoke, he started ripping the restraining net away from him so he could get to her. It didn’t help that the sky cycle landed upside down, but he managed to twist around so he could check Gina’s pulse to be sure she was alive. Thank the cosmos she was.
The next feat was getting out of the cabin. Without power, he couldn’t transform the vehicle back into a hovercycle. Darken had to force open the overhead emergency hatch and lift the wreckage off them. Despite his CPU failure, he was still a cyborg strong enough to do that.
Just as he suspected, the smoke was coming from the engine compartment. Darken quickly climbed atop the vehicle, extricated Gina, and pulled out the small bag of supplies from the storage compartment. He still had his sidearm, but he didn’t have time to get his rifle as flames were shooting toward the sky from the engine compartment.
