Page 29 of Only Rogue Actions
I’ll be back soon.I sent the thought to Asterin.
She still didn’t look at me, but her chin dipped slightly, indicating she had heard me.
Worry churned through my stomach about leaving Asterin and Siya behind, but I needed more weapons if I had any hope of rescuing them, so I drew back into the shadows, got to my feet, and left the area.
Ihurrieddownthecorridor to the closest junction.A couple of signs on the wall pointed the way to the transport garage, so I headed in that direction.Luck was on my side, and the double doors were standing wide open.
The garage was a large, cavernous space made of dull gray concrete.Several transports were spaced throughout the area, while counters filled with tools, wheels, solar batteries, and more hugged the walls.Skid marks blackened the floor, and the scents of greasy oil and smoky exhaust clouded the air.At the far end, the two enormous metal doors that served as the entrance and exit for the ships were closed.
I scuttled forward and ducked behind a massive transport bearing a House Battis sigil that had to belong to Roderick.Up ahead, someone was whistling a loud, cheerful tune.Using Roderick’s spaceship for cover, I followed the noise deeper into the garage.I came to the end of the ship, crouched down, and peered around the side.
The House Collier transport we had ridden in to the training facility was right where Siya had parked it.A man dressed in a red House Battis uniform was standing at a nearby table, fiddling with a black box that had three green lights, a small silver antenna, and a red switch.That must be the detonator for the explosives, which were most likely housed in another, much larger black box that was perched on the table.
I needed to get both the detonator and the box of explosives for my plan to work, so I got to my feet and moved forward.
I slid past one transport after another, circling around the perimeter of the garage until I was almost directly behind the Hammer.I drew in a deep breath, then let it out, raised my trident, and charged forward.
The Hammer whirled around at the sound of my boots slapping against the floor.His eyes widened in surprise, and the small detonator slipped through his fingers and clattered to the table.He cursed, then lunged forward and fumbled for a blaster lying on the far end of the table.
I quickened my pace, crossed the distance between us, and rammed the trident into his chest.The man screamed, and his sharp shriek of pain boomed out as loud as, well, a bomb in the enclosed space.
I grimaced, yanked the trident out, and pulled it back for another strike, but the Hammer staggered to the side, hit the wall, and bounced off it.His feet flew out from under him, his legs buckled, and his head cracked against the edge of the table.His screams abruptly cut off, and he dropped to the floor like a stone tossed into a pond.
Blood gushed out of the Hammer’s chest and the deep gash on his head.His arms and legs twitched for a few seconds, then stilled.His head lolled to the side, his gaze already fixed.
I waited a few seconds, making sure he was dead, then glanced back over my shoulder.No shouts or footsteps sounded, and no one rushed into the garage.No one had seen or heard me kill the other warrior.Good.
I set my trident aside, crouched down, and rifled through the Hammer’s pockets.He was carrying a tablet, and I had to resist the urge to kiss the electronic device.I picked up the dead man’s limp hand and pressed his thumb against the screen.The tablet unlocked, and I quickly keyed in an identification number.
Most folks didn’t bother memorizing other people’s ID numbers anymore, but I always did.Thanks to my many years as a lab rat, I knew just how easily technology could break, fail, and malfunction, and it was always better to know the information yourself than to rely on a tablet to retrieve it.Plus, my seer magic made it easy to memorize whatever I wanted.
I typed a message to Rigel, who was Siya’s second-in-command of the House Collier Hammers.I told Rigel where we were, what was happening, and what I planned to do about it all.Then I set the tablet to silent and slid it into my pocket.Rigel would get here as fast as possible, but the Collier estate was on a neighboring mountain, and Kyrion, Asterin, and Siya didn’t have time for me to wait for backup.
I rifled through the rest of the dead man’s pockets, but he didn’t have anything else useful.Next, I got to my feet and studied the two black boxes on the table.Just as I’d suspected, the large box contained a signal receiver and some blasting caps buried in the middle of several explosive bricks, while the small box was the signal transmitter and detonator.In the Quill Corp R&D lab, we often blew up brewmakers and other appliances to test how sturdy and resilient they were, so I was familiar with the items.
Judging from the green lights on both devices, the Hammer had already synced them together, so all I had to do was flip the red switch on the detonator, andboom!
I grinned.I finally had some serious firepower, and I knew just how to use it.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
KYRION
Isprinteddownonepath after another, plunging deeper and deeper into the maze.
I didn’t have time to look for traps, but no more blaster nozzles appeared, and nothing else slowed my progress.Even if I had blundered into an obstacle and been injured, I would have kept going.Right now, all I cared about was finding Vesper and making sure she was safe from the Black Scarab and whatever other horrors Roderick and Jeffrey might have unleashed.
Vesper?Vesper!
Her voice didn’t sound in my mind, and the velvety ribbon of her felt even smaller and thinner, as though only the longest, tiniest strand connected us.Why would she suddenly feel so much farther away?
Unless ...Vesper had gotten out of the maze.
As soon as the thought entered my mind, I knew it was true—I couldfeelit was true.
My inner monster hissed with relief, and the dark cloud of dread hanging over my head evaporated.Vesper had escaped.Even more telling, the velvety ribbon of her vibrated with determination.Wherever she was and whatever she was doing, she had a plan of attack.
A wide grin stretched across my face.Vesper Quill with a plan was one of the most dangerous things in the whole bloody galaxy, and I almost felt sorry for whoever had been stupid enough to get in her way.Almost.
