Page 48 of Rescued By the Convicts
Zev gripped his shoulder. “There’s a safe house, a room for company agents. C412. Code 567A290. Got that?”
Reece nodded again.
“When you secure her, take her there. Then we’ll figure out how we’re going to get off the station. Good luck.” Without another word, Zev slipped off the ship and into the corridor.
A moment later, a patrol wearing Narmir’s colors walked by. Reece waited and then headed out. He remembered this station fairly well. The center rings were reserved for the wealthy and company execs, like Namir. The man would have private access to his rooms. Namir still had to make it from the docking bay to the inner rings of the station, and that meant the transport tubes.
Reece hopped onto the first transport, only to discover it emptied into the public rings. Damn it! They’d changed the configuration since he’d been here eight years ago. He pushed through the crowds clogging the corridors. Little Horse allowed more people than it should, given the oxygen requirements, but that was far from his concern.
After twenty minutes of looking for access to the inner rings, people started screaming and heading toward him. He pressed through the crush of people, seeing a sight that both angered and brought great relief. Ivan was in a fistfight with two guards while another two stood to the side, hands on their blasters. The guards wore black shirts and pants with red piping. Namir’s men.
Reece sauntered over. Except for the lack of a blaster at his side, Reece was dressed the same as the guards, thanks to Zev’s foresight. One of the guards eyed Reece suspiciously as he approached until Reece crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall to watch.
“Take him out already, Boxer,” a guard said.
Ivan flipped Boxer onto his back and twisted his right arm up. With a familiar pop, Ivan dislocated Boxer’s shoulder. Reece hoped Ivan knew how Boxer had earned his nickname. The man could punch equally well with either fist.
Boxer rolled and came up swinging, clipping Ivan in the jaw with his left fist.
Nope, Ivan didn’t remember.
“Stop screwing around and clock him already. We have to get him to that transport before they lift off.”
Reece relaxed his arms, letting them hang at his side as the guard beside him grew increasingly nervous about the time. The blond stepped forward, and Reece slipped into position behind him. He wrapped his arm around the guard’s throat and snapped it. Before the body hit the ground, Reece knifed the second guard. That left the guard on the other side of the corridor who just noticed his two buddies falling to the floor, blood pouring from the one.
“Boxer!” he yelled as he drew his sonic blaster.
Reece dove behind the crumpled guard for coverage. The shot struck the guard, but the edge of the energy field caught Reece, disorienting him. Ivan drove his head into Boxer’s face and then swung him into the guard with the gun. Ivan stole the blaster and wasted no time in shooting both men dead center. Not killing blows, but enough to knock them out for hours.
Ivan leaned over Reece and inspected his eyes. Even though Reece could see Ivan’s mouth moving, as if he were speaking, Reece couldn’t hear anything except a ringing in his ears. That’s all he needed. . . couldn’t talk, couldn’t hear.
Ivan slapped a blaster in his hand, the intent clear. He didn’t need to hear or talk to shoot. They still had a job to do.
Ivan pulled Reece to his feet and waited as Reece swayed, then centered himself. He signed, ‘M’.Melina.
Ivan nodded and motioned him to follow. The soldier moved fast, with stealth and purpose, as if he had a plan, or at least knew where he was going. Reece hoped he did.
As they moved to the first inner ring through a maintenance tube, Reece’s ears began to clear. He spoke, the nonsensical sounds caused Ivan to turn. Reece indicated his ears.
“You can hear now?”
Reece pinched his fingers together. ‘A bit.’
“Good. Stay on my six.”
Two rings later, the lights flickered in a definite pattern, but one he couldn’t decipher. Reese pointed at the ceiling.
Ivan glanced up. “The lights? I’m hoping that’s Jayce in the station’s computers. He escaped when we got off the ship. My guess is he’s trying to disorient the guards or draw them away from us. We didn’t exactly have the chance to form a plan before he escaped.”
No shit. This entire plan had turned into one gigantic fiasco. “Een.” It was all he needed to say. Ivan would understand.
Ivan’s face grew strained. “Namir has her. And the last I saw, he was heading to his private quarters, which are in the second-most inner ring. We should find Melina there, but there’s no guarantee.”
Reece threw Ivan a puzzled look and held up two fingers.
“How do I know which ring? The guards spoke freely when they thought I was contained. Namir owns at least a third of this station. The problem is, they could be anywhere. This station has twelve levels, Reece, four of which are private.”
Reece held up six fingers this time.
