Page 99 of Stealing Mercury
Drake was close enough to speak without shouting and his face said his patience was at an end. “What are we doing here, Sam?”
“What’s the hurry?” Samantha shrugged and slowly lowered her hands in the direction of her jacket pockets.
Drake grinned. “I know you don’t have any more weapons. You can’t fake me out, Sam.”
“I wouldn’t even think of it,” she said sweetly. She slipped her hands into the folds of fabric and carefully fingered her jammer and the remote she’d taken off the guard. If she could trigger the remote, and it was for the fence, then she could jam the signal to keep it from going back up while they climbed. “Look around, your real targets aren’t anywhere to be seen. Isn’t Hera supposed to be the bait? Why don’t we wait and see if anyone else turns up?”
He frowned. “I have to say, I wasn’t expecting the Dogs to sendyouafter the bitch.”
“I didn’t have anything better to do.”
“I see them.” Hera’s whispered words were laced with excitement. “Mercury, Carn, Lo. They’re coming.”
The news was bittersweet. Drake was getting close. Odds they could both get over the fence weren’t good. Samantha tightened her hands around the remote. “Tell Mercury—”
“No!”
“Shh. Tell, Mercury, this is my choice. I knew what I was doing when I came after you. Tell him this isn’t his fault. Promise me.”
Hera made a yipping noise then nodded. “I promise.”
Samantha triggered the remote and watched the red light at the top of the fence posts go dim. She triggered the jammer. “Okay. Now!”
Hera tossed the sparker and they both turned and ran. Even with her back turned, the light flashed in her vision and the crackle and pop made her ears ring. With any luck, Drake would be temporarily blind and disoriented.
Samantha pumped arms and legs, adrenalin helping her ignore the pain in her ribs, but she couldn’t keep up with Hera. The woman might not have the aggression of the males of her species, but she clearly matched them for strength. She went up and over the fence without looking back.
Samantha knew she wouldn’t make it up the fence in time, but she continued to struggle forward, her mind unwilling to accept that she might never again see her mother’s smile or lay in Mercury and Lo’s arms. She hadn’t gotten enough of either.
The slap of Drake’s whip against her boot shot bolts of fear through her body, but Samantha didn’t stop. She put her whole heart into pushing forward. A brutal tug yanked her foot back and her body slammed hard against the ground. A sickening snap and a flash of icy cold gripped the arm she’d thrown out instinctively to protect her face. She would’ve screamed, if she hadn’t lost her breath from the impact.
Samantha pushed up with her good arm and searched for Hera through the fence. She’d made it out forty meters where the men had run out to meet her. Mercury was in the lead, that amazing speed of his, but Lo and Carn were close behind.
Hera threw herself into Mercury’s arms. Samantha watched as her love’s arms closed around the female he’d bonded with, then a tug on her boot jerked her back again. Her arm gave out and her face slapped against the hard packed ground. Lights flickered behind her eyelids as pain radiated out from her cheekbone, but it couldn’t compare to the pain in her heart.
Hera and the others would be safe. Satisfaction pushed her fear and her grief aside for a moment and she clung to it, let it fill her heart.
As the weight of Drake’s shadow fell over her, she closed her eyes and imagined them all happy, living together, looking out for each other. Drake’s boot came down on her wrist and he dug into her pocket and came up with the remote.
He fumbled with it for a moment before growing frustrated. “Fuck.”
Samantha took pleasure in the momentary victory. He couldn’t get the fence back up as long as the small device still in her pocket was transmitting.
“Give me your stun-stick,” he barked to someone outside her field of vision.
“Sir?” The guard sounded confused and uncertain.
“It’ll fry whatever jammer she’s using. Hand it over!”
His boot lifted off her wrist and she tried to push up, get to her knees.
“Faster than searching her,” he said.
Lightning struck her ribs. Her muscles twitched—all of them tightening in agony at the same instant. Stars, how did Mercury stand it? The pain blazed through her brain and time slowed. When the worst of the agony faded, pain still washed through her like water sloshing in a shakily held bowl.
Howls filled the air in a sweet chorus that settled against her heart like a balm and terrified her at the same time. They sounded close, too close. Why weren’t they running far, far away?
With the realization that she couldn’t yet give into the pain, she fought the lingering weakness. She could almost feel the surge of adrenaline. Her breath came easier and control of her limbs slowly began to return. She pulled her useless arm tight against her body. Her fingers pressed lightly against the cool metal of a low-tech blade she’d taped to her belly. It had been the only weapon she could carry hidden beneath that skimpy dress.
