Page 47 of Shielded Heart 1
You give me my mate and at the same time throw in a bonus mystery organization that wants to kill me. If I had known, I would’ve declined the two-for-one and just taken the female.
“Be ready to make that opening, Drak. I’m going to free up Kil and Kor, and you can swing around back and pick us up.” He glanced back at Samantha. “Almost there. Almost done.”
From down the hallway, there came a soft, high,familiartone.
“Kraasz ka’val,” Arcanthus muttered, borrowing Drakkal’s favorite Azheran oath as he looked past Sam.
The third member of the elevator crew stepped into the corridor near its far end. Arcanthus whipped around to face the lone alien, swinging Samantha behind him again. He raised his blaster and fired.
Plasma bolts darted down the hallway, hitting the walls, ceiling, and floor. Before any of the shots struck their intended target, the elevator crew’s sole survivor shouldered a large weapon. The weapon flashed and roared, and a rocket—trailing smoke and fire—leapt out of its end.
Several of the bolts struck the alien a moment after his weapon fired; the falling body was obscured by the oncoming rocket’s trail.
Arcanthus flicked his gaze to either side; there were doors nearby, but they would all be locked, coded to the ID chips of their residents, and he couldn’t outrun a rocket. He did all he could; he wrapped his left arm around Samantha, tucking her against his body, let the auto-blaster fall away, and activated his already depleted hardlight shield.
He crouched over his terran and turned his face away.
The impact of the rocket against the shield blasted up hisarm and into his entire body, rattling his bones. A deafening explosion filled the corridor. Arcanthus clutched Samantha, and she clung to him as a wave of heat swept over them, followed by a dust cloud and raining debris.
Chunks of concrete, metal, and other substances clattered onto Arc, much of it striking with as much force as the onigox’s punches. He gritted his teeth and held on. Samantha grunted and stiffened for an instant before her arms fell away, and she went limp.
In the ensuing silence, Arcanthus’s heartbeat rose in a rapid, panicked rhythm. He blinked away the dust and shifted Samantha in his arm. Her head lolled back. The dust made her face look even paler than before and lightened the color of her hair, heightening its contrast to the dark trail of blood dripping down from her hairline.
“Samantha,” he rasped, shaking her gently.
She groaned and almost lifted her head. Her fingers grasped his tail weakly, but she didn’t open her eyes.
A blow to the head. How fragile are terrans when it comes to this sort of injury?
Shouts came from down the hallway, their origin shrouded by the slowly dissipating haze. He knew only that they weren’t any of his people.
The hardlight projector on Arcanthus’s right forearm sparked and powered down. Fortunately, his arm’s functions were undamaged. He slipped the arm beneath Samantha’s legs and lifted her off the floor, holding her against his chest as he stood.
A few moments before, there’d been a wall and an apartment door on the left side of the hall. Now there was only a gaping, jagged hole. The shouting in the corridor drew nearer.
“Almost there,” he whispered, stepping through the breach. “Almost safe.”
The apartment was small, set up just like Samantha’s, with sparse furnishings spread around a single room—a room blanketed in dust and debris. The window looked out onto the alleyway between this complex and the next one over.
“Drak, new plan. Bring the car around to the alley. I’ll meet you there. We’ll get the cren brothers after.”
The commlink crackled to life, and Drakkal said, “On the way, Arc.”
Arcanthus stopped a few meters away from the window and lowered Samantha’s legs to take hold of the auto-blaster dangling from his shoulder. He fired several bolts through the window. Rather than cracking the glass, they left glowing, oozing holes. But all he wanted was the glass weakened.
Releasing the weapon, he scooped Samantha up and strode forward.
The window gave after two kicks.
Once the buckled glass panel fell away, Arcanthus leapt up onto the windowsill, thrusting his tail out behind him for extra stability. The voices in the hallway were closer than ever.
“Bastard is around here somewhere with thatji’tas,” someone said from just beyond the gaping hole in the wall.
Arcanthus leapt out the window.
It was a three-meter drop to the ground; his cybernetic legs absorbed the impact, allowing him to remain upright and reducing the jolt to Samantha. He turned his head to see the black hovercar speeding toward him.
The vehicle’s rear swung slightly sideways as it came to a sudden halt in front of Arc. The back door swung open, and Sekk’thi waved Arcanthus inside. He passed Samantha in; the two vorgals took her and laid her carefully on the back seat.
