Page 26 of Alien Devil's Prey
"They're between us and the exit," I observed.
Tamsin stared at the checkpoint, her whole body gone tense as wire. This close to Kelloch, this close to finally confronting the architect of her personal hell, and armed guards blocked the path.
"There's a maintenance shaft," she said finally. "Parallel route that bypasses the checkpoint. I can get you around them."
"Us," I corrected. "Get us around them."
But when she looked at me, I saw something in her expression that made my blood freeze. The look of someone whose plan was finally coming to fruition.
"This was always the plan, wasn't it?" I said, the realization hitting me. "You used my mission to get back inside."
"I helped you get your prize," she countered, shoving her scanner into my hands. It showed the escape route. "My payment is access to Kelloch."
"Tamsin, no?—"
"I have unfinished business." Before I could grab her, she slammed her palm against a nearby control panel. A heavy blast door shrieked down from the ceiling, the metal slamming into the deck between us with a deafening boom. She had trapped me on the side with the escape route, and herself on the side with Kelloch.
"The Regalia is what matters," her voice came through the comm, thin and distant. "Finish your mission, Talon."
"The mission includes you!" I slammed my fist against the unyielding metal. "I'm not leaving without you!"
"You have to." Her voice carried absolute certainty. "This part was always mine alone."
The comm went dead.
I stood frozen for a heartbeat, staring at the blast door. She had outmaneuvered me completely. The rational choice was obvious—follow the route to the docking bay, complete the extraction, return toThe Penumbrawith the Regalia.
But rationality had stopped mattering the moment I'd realized she meant more to me than any objective. The Regalia was a cold weight in the pouch on my suit, a reminder of everything we'd fought for, everything my team was counting on.
Everything that suddenly mattered less than her.
I turned away from the maintenance shaft, my eyes scanning the corridor for another way around. I wouldn't let her face her demons alone.
TAMSIN
The blast door slammed shut, the boom echoing in the sudden, ringing silence. On the other side, Talon was safe. On my side, Kelloch was waiting. Every step I took toward the command center was a choice I’d made eighteen years ago.
The station-wide emergency had pulled most of the guards from this level, creating the chaos I needed. Two guards remained at the command center entrance, but they were distracted by the constant stream of status reports crackling through their comms.
My comm unit buzzed against my wrist. Talon's voice, tight with controlled fury: "Tamsin, what did you do? The door is sealed! Find another way out!"
I switched off the comm without responding. He didn't understand. I wasn't looking for a way out. I was looking for a way in.
The choice should have been simple. Survival over vengeance. But I hadn't spent eighteen years planning for the smart play.
The first guard went down silently—a nerve strike Talon had taught me. The second turned just in time to see my shockrod before fifty thousand volts shut down his nervous system. Neither would stay unconscious long, but long enough.
The command center doors recognized my forged credentials—maintenance worker responding to system alerts. I stepped inside Kelloch's sanctum, and eighteen years of carefully controlled rage crystallized into perfect, lethal clarity.
He was exactly as I remembered, and somehow worse.
The years had added bulk to his already massive frame, eight chitinous legs supporting a body that spoke of indulgence. His six compound eyes were arranged around a face that radiated the casual cruelty of someone who'd never faced consequences.
"Sir," one of his lieutenants called out, voice tight with panic, "we've confirmed the vault breach. The Regalia is gone."
Kelloch's mandibles clicked in irritation, the sound like breaking bones. "Impossible. That vault represents three million credits of security systems."
"The intruders are still on station. We have them trapped in section seven."
