Page 107 of Stealing Mercury
“Mercury and Diablo? Of course. If they weren’t drugged, they might even have a chance to win.”
A spark of hope flared. If Chelle managed to switch out the drugs they might survive. But for what? More slavery? An execution? “Is that all you care about? Winning?”
“It’s all I can afford to care about.”
Drake was right about Mercury’s tactics. The behemoth had been steadily swinging at them and getting sliced up in the process. The beast managed to swing through a chunk of the wreck and caught Lo in the head.
Samantha gasped. Her heart beat like a hyper-motor, ready to speed out of her chest at any moment. She leaned against the wall for support as her legs quaked. This had to stop.
It had to stop before she lost one or both of the men she loved.Stars, she loved them. Both of them.
Her heart wouldn’t slow. Her stomach cramped with fear. Frantic, she searched for someone familiar in the sea of faces. If wanting could make something happen, there would be an army of help in that crowd, but she knew Captain Artane too well. The captain wouldn’t risk her crew in what could be branded an open act of terrorism. Artane had plenty of courage, but she wasn’t foolish and she took her responsibility to her crew seriously. No, Samantha wouldn’t find help in that direction.
The crowd drew in a collective gasp. She jerked her gaze back to the arena floor. Mercury and Lo were wrapped around the beast’s back. Out of its reach, they jabbed at it with relentless repetition.
The creature turned in a circle—a macabre dance—as it bled from dozens of cuts and punctures. Suddenly, it reared up with a roar and rammed backward into the wreckage. All three went down in a heap amidst the twisted metal.
Mercury and Lo climbed free of the tangle while the behemoth still struggled.
“They should be getting weaker.” Drake’s confusion added another spark to the quietly building fire of hope in Samantha’s belly.
She put a hand over the spot. Was she truly pregnant?
Motion drew her gaze to the guards standing to the side and to the crowds beyond them.
Knock!
His face came into focus as he slipped back into the crowd and disappeared. She looked away, not wanting to draw attention. Knock was out there, waiting for an opportunity to help.
The noise in the arena spiked and more guards spilled out of the tunnel below where she and Drake stood. In the center of the arena, the behemoth lay unmoving. Mercury and Lo climbed to their feet, leaning heavily on one another. “They won.”
“Fuck!” Drake grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the tunnel they’d emerged from before the match. She looked up catching site of Grande Owens beaming out at the arena with a smile too wide to be anything but forced. As they headed into the tunnel, the roar of the chanting crowd followed them. “Live, live, live...”
More guards waited at the distant end of the tunnel and she realized this was not the direction she wanted to go. Mercury and Lo were in the arena and Knock was somewhere in the crowd. Samantha balled her hands one over the other and swung hard for Drake’s face. Smack.
“Bitch!” Momentarily stunned Drake released her to pinch his nose as blood spurted out in a dripping mess. Surprise must have been on her side. She had no intention of wasting the advantage. She dug in her heels and ran back out into the light. The guards that had been holding off the crowds lay at Knock’s feet.
“Come on.” He held out his hand.
Samantha grabbed for it and let him pull her through the noisy, distracted crowd.
They were halfway around the oval when he started to drag her toward an exit tunnel.
“No!” She screamed to be heard over the chanters. “I’m not leaving them.”
He grinned. “I know. I’ve got some equipment near the opening of this tunnel. Cutting tools to get us through the barrier and climbing gear to get them up into the crowd.”
She wanted to hug him, but they were already running toward the small space between the tunnel archway and the adjacent seating area. The entire arena was on its feet, so no one paid any attention to them.
Knock reached into the shadows and pulled out a colorful bag. He pulled the strap over his head and settled it diagonally across his chest. He slapped a cutting laser into her hand and she sprinted to the nearest section of polycarb. The cutter hissed to life in her hand as she heard a shout of alarm.
She ignored it and kept cutting.
As she worked, the arena floor was a blur beyond her focus, but she could tell hell had spilled onto the sand. A battle between Dogs and guards played out for the entire arena to see.
“Maybe now they’re entertained,” she muttered as she worked.
She slid along the barrier then started the next cut. Beside her, Knock struggled with an unwieldy bolt-hammer in one hand and a plasma pistol in the other. The audience around them scattered, scrambling for cover or the nearest exit. Guards came at them from every direction, but most carried stun-sticks or shock-whips, not pistols, and none were close enough to stop them... yet.
