Page 69 of Rescued By the Convicts
Reece’s thoughts exactly.
“How’s Jayce?”
“His heart is faster than I’d like. He needs to rest.”
Ivan glanced at the door again. Reece could see the wheels turning in his head. The man was planning to scout ahead, serve as a distraction if need be.
Reece shook his head and then latched his fingers together. They’d go together, no matter the outcome.
“It seems Reece doesn’t want me to go ahead.”
Melina brushed Jayce’s hair out of his eyes. “Perhaps I should—”
“No!” Ivan snapped as Reece rose to his full height over her. There was no way she was going out there by herself, let alone as a sacrifice.
Ivan hoisted Jayce over his shoulder again. “We stick together.”
Three little words. Odd how in all his years working as a bodyguard no one else had ever spoken those words to him, or he to another.
Reece slid out the exit, assessed the area, then motioned for the others to follow. He could tell from the black and red trim along the doors that they’d entered Namir’s section of the station. And yet it was more than the colors throughout that made the hair on the back of his neck rise.
No one moved through the area. No sounds, no sense of anyone present. The quiet reminded him of being underground on Veenith. Though the air smelled better here, with something citrus cycling through.
Two turns down the corridor later, they found themselves standing behind a stack of crates in the ship bay. A few workers were performing routine maintenance checks. They posed no threat.
Ivan gently laid Jayce on the floor and motioned for Melina to stay with him. Reece veered left and snuck onto the ship without being seen while Ivan began taking out the maintenance crew one-by-one. Once he confirmed no one was aboard, Reece returned to Melina and carried Jayce onboard. He set him on a chair and took up a post at the door.
“Go help Ivan,” Melina said, stroking Jayce’s very pale cheeks. The man didn’t look well. “We’ll be fine here.”
Not leaving you. Reece stared out the hatch, rifle drawn. That’s when he spotted the guards wearing black and red moving into position throughout the bay. They surrounded the ship.
He, Melina, and Jayce were trapped in a perfectly good vessel. . . without a pilot.
“You have my little kuvak,” Namir said from across the bay. “And I have your soldier.”
“You have your orders, Reece,” Ivan shouted, but his words were cut off with a muffled groan.
Reece spotted the two guards holding Ivan and the man who’d slammed an iron rod into his gut. A tall, well-built man. The type that could easily abuse a female but would never survive against Ivan one-on-one.
“An even exchange. Or better yet. You keep the ship. No need for you to go back to Veenith. Just give me what’s mine. Or would you prefer I gut the soldier right here in front of you?”
“No!” Melina screamed as she tried to duck past Reece. He grabbed her by her waist, pulled her out of the doorway, and tossed her back into a seat along the wall. He wished he could speak, now more than ever, to tell her she better not even think of going near that door again. If anything happened to her. . . Hell, he refused to finish the thought. There was nothing without her. For any of them.
“He wants me, Reece. He’ll kill Ivan if you don’t let me go out there.”
He shook his head. She wasn’t going anywhere.
“Would you just leave Ivan to die?”
Oh, she was so not playing fair. They’d all known the risk and now was not the time to deviate from the plan. Even if he were stupid enough to let her go out there, Ivan would kill him for it.
“I’ll never forgive you if anything happens to him when I could have prevented it.” Melina seemed to get the message as she crossed her arms over her chest. He hated seeing her frustrated, but there was no choice here.
Melina unfolded her arms and relaxed rather quickly as she cleared her throat, tilted her head back, and seemed to relax as if she were suddenly in control. Maybe she was. . . She was definitely up to something, except Reece had no clue what.
When she rose, he pointed to the chair again. ‘Sit,’ he signed.
“I’m checking on Jayce.”
