Page 71 of Freedom Mine
“Blue’s missing,” Liet said.
“Garitt has her,” Kayo said, no question in his mind.
“No way he’d come here to swipe her,” Ranth said.
“He wouldn’t need to, not when whoever sabotaged Sanctuary for him could.”
Kayo watched the expression on the men’s faces. Shock then anger moved from man to man, whether because Alli had been taken or because of the sabotage he couldn’t say, but he no longer felt so alone. These men, for as rough and crude as they were, were in many ways his family. He knew without asking, they had his back, as much as the men in his squad or his own brothers.
Whoever the traitor was, these men would root him out. He had to focus on finding Alli. Without her, nothing else mattered.
By the time Kayo finished checking over the landglider and slipped into the pilot’s seat, Liet, Tieg, and Masher had piled into the cargo hold.
“This could get bloody,” Kayo said, looking over his shoulder into the rear.
“Beats mining,” Masher said.
“I’m sure it does, but still. . .”
“Did you ever go into battle alone, Kayo?” Liet strapped in before waiting for an answer.
Kayo was surprised they knew he’d been a soldier. Hells, he probably talked too much when he drank, or they’d heard him screaming during one of his nightmares. “No.”
“Then why would you now? Especially when you know this is a trap.”
“Figured that out, huh?”
“We’re not all as dumb as Masher looks,” Liet said.
Masher glared at Liet, but he didn’t argue.
“It means a lot to me, guys, but this is risky.” Silence. They were a stubborn lot. “Fine, come with me, but nothing lethal, especially Garitt. The law won’t pay attention to the death of a slave, but if even one free person is killed, I won’t be able to protect you. Clear?”
All three nodded. Kayo lifted the landglider into the night sky.
* * *
ALLI
He’d chained her to the floor in the middle of an empty wooden shack, alone and vulnerable. Night had already fallen, and she heard voices outside. Garitt was waiting for something.
Whatever he was planning, she didn’t intend to be a part of it. Each attempt to pull her ankle free of the iron clamp, however, only tightened the clamp further. She had to be strategic about whatever she did next, or the cursed mechanism would cut off her circulation.
A creak sounded, and she held her breath, hoping it was the wind banging the door and not that eerie slave, the one with the ill-kept beard and no shoes, who’d already entered three times to stare at her.
She gathered the slack in the heavy chain and stepped back, the wood beneath her shifting as she prepared to whip the chain at anyone who approached. The door remained shut and she relaxed somewhat.
As she stepped back, the floorboard that she was chained to wobbled. The plank was definitely loose. Several minutes of heavy jumping on the one end started to loosen the plank enough that she could wedge part of her chain under the end of the board. She dug her heels in and pulled up on the chain until the board broke free, revealing a crawlspace beneath the shack.
Alli moved fast, prying loose two more boards. The space was tight beneath the shack, but she squeezed through until she was laying on her stomach in the dirt.
On one side of the shack, Garitt talked with three heavily armed men. Each man wore a side gun and several knives.
She crawled to the opposite side, glad the chain and still-attached board made very little sound as they dragged along the hard ground.
She crawled out from under the shack only a few feet from an expanse of trees. Carefully, she gathered up the chain, wrapping it around her left arm to keep it from rattling or catching against anything. She’d have to find a good place to hide before she figured out her next step. Once they discovered her missing, they’d hunt her.
Shouting followed by gunfire erupted in the compound. Alli ran, hoping the noise would cover her escape.
