Page 33 of Healing Creek
Pounding on the door told him the other Dogs had reached them, but they’d be no help.
He had to crawl across Grace to get to the man who tried for another thrust of his knife. Creek was far beyond pain or deteriorating joints this deep into fighting for their lives. He was faster and slammed into the man’s arm. The knife fell through the metal grating of the floor and out of reach, sealing his fate. Creek wove his fingers into the nearest panel and slammed it into the man’s face. Blood sprayed and the man went limp.
A stabbing pain penetrated Creek’s shoulder. Fuck! He rolled, taking the grating with him and the second man’s next jab with his knife thunked uselessly against the metal. The ship lurched and the mercenary pilot made the mistake of glancing toward the ship’s controls. It gave Creek time to get to his feet and he dove at the man, slamming the pilot’s head into a bulkhead, once, then twice. His eyes rolled up and his legs went limp. Creek dropped the man to the ground. The ship was still moving, and he had no idea how to stop it. A quick glance through the front viewport showed him a closed hanger bay door in the distance. Creek ran back to the small ship’s door and slapped the opening mechanism.
“Computer,” said Grace, with more force than a woman who’d been incoherent a moment before should have. “Emergency stop.”
The ship obeyed her command, jerking to a halt even as the noise of the engine died.
The door whooshed open.
Creek dropped to his knees beside her. She’d wiped a hand across the trail of blood at her nose, only managing to smear it across her cheek.
“Grace?” Creek gently wrapped her in his arms, and she melted into him. His chest still felt ready to explode and it was all he could do not to crush her against him. She was awake and alert and his soul settled back into his skin.
“Well,” she muttered into his tunic. “That didn’t exactly go to plan.”
Chapter Fourteen
TheAbundance
EarthAllianceBetaSector
2210.195
They’d all spent time at the med-bay. Creek had stoically tolerated being patched up by Shawber while the others talked around him. The two mercenaries were already back in their cells and would be getting a house call from the medic. Grace had been the only human to suffer nose and ear bleeds. Even the Arena Dogs with their more acute senses hadn’t experienced the bleeding. Grace was inherently fragile, always had been, but she also healed fast. By the time the other humans had been loaded onto theNeellaand the shuttle was underway to the space station, Grace was already beginning to heal from the head injury.
Now she sat quietly at the table in the Arena Dogs’ makeshift command center as the pack talked around her once again.
Cold fury stormed in Mercury’s eyes. “Where did they get sonic grenades?”
The question wasn’t directed at her, but Grace answered. “I think I have an idea.”
All eyes snapped to her.
“I’m sorry I didn’t think of it last time we talked.”
Creek touched her hand. “What is it, Grace?”
“When you found Patel, did he have a backpack? Because he was wearing one when he came to my room.”
“No,” answered Carn. “No pack. No weapons. He was thoroughly searched, just like all the others.”
“He must have hidden it, before we found him.” Mercury’s mouth tightened in a grim frown.
“Probably somewhere near the landing bay,” added Creek. “The Dreat they killed in the hall was down before the sonic blast. The two men must have held back and when everyone else moved on they must have attacked him. They could have retrieved the pack after he was down.”
“I suppose two well trained men could have taken down a Dreat. Even shackled.” Mercury growled, probably thinking of the male’s death. The Dreat’s throat had been slashed. Likely after he was already down since they wouldn’t have had the knife until then.
Sorrow knotted in Grace’s gut. The male had been killed because of her. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
Mercury shook his head. “This is not your fault. I should have foreseen the possibility.”
She didn’t speak, but she couldn’t see it that way. They had done everything possible to help her. Knock had even been willing to leave the relative safety of his friends to follow the two mercenaries—a dangerous task she’d argued against, even when she was desperate to learn where they were keeping her sister.
St. Germain had allowed her to talk with Jennifer twice after his men had brought Grace onboard. Their contacts had been brief and with the purpose of allowing Jennifer to see that Grace was being held prisoner, but unharmed. Now what would Jennifer do? She had no way of knowing if Grace was alive or dead. With the mercenaries not reporting in, it was more likely she’d think her dead. She would have no reason to cooperate with Roma any longer, which was good…and bad. Good for the future of Arena Dogs, bad for Jennifer’s life expectancy.
Creek leaned over and spoke softly. “Your sister is a smart woman, right?” When she made a hum of agreement, he continued. “She’ll find a way to survive.”
