Page 6 of 3 Secrets to Love
I lowered to my knees and wrapped my arms around her. “I’m here. I’m alive. But we need to find those kids. Which way did they take them?”
Xacalla nudged her head toward the north exit of the USRA headquarters. “I ran out after the fake guards and tried to stop them, but they shot me.”
As I pulled back, I noticed the blood flowing from under her hand at her side and pooling on the floor below. “Xacalla, you are not okay. I need to treat your wound. I’ll be right back.”
All pilots had trained in first aid, with Reena and I having recently completed our recertification course. I ran down the hall to the first aid room and grabbed a kit from the supplies shelf. All medication was kept locked away, but I didn’t have time to worry about finding that for Xacalla.
Back at her side, I opened the kit, grabbing the sterilized pads first. “I need you to remove the top of your uniform.” Like most working people in the quadrants, she wore a one-piece business suit, representing her employer. While I would have loved the opportunity to unzip it and peel it off her under different circumstances, I needed her to do it while I charged the wound cauterizer.
With shaky hands, she lowered the front zipper before yanking her arms out of the sleeves. Underneath, she wore nothing, her breasts small with pebbled nipples looking like the jewels mined on Dynam. I shuddered, trying to keep myself in check. I had to treat her wound then go after the kids.
Xacalla sucked in air through her teeth when she peeled her top from the gash in her side from the plazer blast. It had pierced the edge of her side, not leaving a hole clean through her but a lesion. It looked like it had started to cauterize on its own but opened again when she pulled the clothing away.
I applied the sterilized pad, holding it there with pressure even as she whimpered. But with her hand on mine, she never tried to push it away.
“I’m going to remove the pad and spray on some antiseptic spray.” I shuffled through the kit with my other hand to find the bottle. “It’s going to sting. Are you ready?”
She nodded, closing her eyes tight.
It was quick. Xacalla grabbed my wrist and squeezed but didn’t make a sound. After a couple moments, I used the cauterizer, sealing the wound for good.
Then the commotion in the hallways started, people coming out as if they had just noticed—or deemed it finally safe after—the forceful abduction of three children.
“C’mon, let’s go.” I yanked Xacalla to her feet and helped her to redress. We didn’t have time to answer questions of the authorities that were likely on their way. Instead, we needed to get out of there.
Chapter Five
Xacalla
“Where are we going?” I wanted to bring back the children, but with no idea where those fake guards had taken them, the task seemed impossible. Yet, Phalon rushed through the halls with the determination we had to and could find them before they left the planet.
“C’mon.” He tugged my wrist as we burst out of the north exit of the USRA headquarters. “There is only one spaceport anyone can fly out of right now, and it’s reserved for the pilots putting on the shows and the racers practicing.”
A light mist fell as we sprinted across the tarmac of the private spaceport. Strange weather for a mostly hot and dry planet, but I hoped it might help us somehow. Maybe slow down those who had taken the children.
We searched from one hangar to the next, only finding technicians working on spacecraft or racers having team meetings. No signs of the Kalpierene children or their abductors.
My side ached, and I was sure my wound hadn’t fully cauterized before Phalon yanked me to my feet, but I kept up with him, just as determined to find them. My P-comm buzzed in my pocket several times already, but I didn’t have time to answer it.
Phalon halted and pulled me in between two of the hangars. “We only have three buildings left to search. If they are not here, we should be able to get to them before they can leave at the main spaceport.”
I nodded, unsure why we’d stop searching. If we only had three buildings left, we needed to keep going until we checked out all of them. He’d been so anxious before and then turned hesitant.
“The next hangar belongs to Team Sren.” He peeked around the corner then darted back. “I have some bad blood with them, so I need you to go in by yourself while I go behind to check the one after.”
I shook my head and sighed, remembering all the beefs between teams my siblings had told me about over the many star cycles they’d raced. “Fine, but let’s go.”
As I stepped out from between the hangars, a small cargo ship taxied out of the one at the end, heading for the runway.
Phalon charged out after it, no longer worried about an encounter with anyone from Team Sren. I tried to keep up, but both were too fast, and my calf cramped.
As I limped past the closest hangar, one of the racers came up to me. “What’s going on? Who’s Phalon chasing after? I didn’t see anyone go past, and there’s no one scheduled for take off at the moment.”
“Kidnappers,” I managed to blurt out as I winced in pain.
“Phalon kidnapped someone?”
“No!” I paused to stretch out my calf. “I brought children here to meet him through the Four Corners Wish Foundation. And two guards came in with plazers, shot the guard with us and took the kids.”
