by Rachel Aukes
That pissed him off. In the next second, she found herself slammed against the mat so hard she could have sworn a tooth got knocked loose, a knee against her throat. She clawed at his leg. He watched her gasp for air, smiled, and the weight was gone. She grabbed the hand in front of her, and Apolo pulled her to her feet. The brace clanked as her leg straightened, pulling her healing muscles too tight. She bit her lips to keep from flinching.
Apolo showed her no mercy because she was female. He held true to the Sephian belief that females were as strong as their male counterparts. A belief Sienna firmly supported, although right now she was feeling markedly less than anyone’s equal.
She turned to face him, taking in shallow breaths while he scrutinized her. After a moment, he gave her a slight tilt of his head, like he approved. Of what, she had no idea. Apolo nodded at Legian. “Continue with training,” he said and walked out.
The moment he left, she collapsed back to the floor and inhaled sharply. Her eyes burned from sweat. She yanked off her bandana, wiped off her face, and tied it back around her wrist. With a quick tug, she tightened her ponytail then fell to her back. She could feel Legian sit down next to her as she stared at the ceiling.
“Apolo is our greatest warrior,” Legian said. “There’s no shame in losing to him.”
She grunted. “Why did he lead the Sephian force here? There has to be so much that he could do back on Sephia.”
“Krysea asked him to lead us here. I would follow him to my death, as would any other Sephian. Other than Krysea, there are no other Sephians who command such respect.”
She shook her head. “I get why she asked him, but, I mean, why did he accept?”
“He would never turn down an assignment Krysea gave him. Our leader has always done what’s best for our people. He knows that and accepts it.”
“Yeah, but what about what’s best for her? For Apolo?”
Legian brought himself up on an elbow and ran a hand over her skin. “That’s not her way. Or his, for that matter.”
She bent her leg slowly until the muscles released.
“Your leg needs rest. Why don’t we stop for today?”
Her lips thinned. “And if my leg never heals?”
“Human healing takes time. Take it one step at a time.”
“But what if?”
Legian frowned like he didn’t understand.
“What if I never heal? Apolo’s right. He can’t afford any sign of weakness.”
“Sienna, I would love it if you never stepped foot in combat. I raced to find you when I heard the base was attacked. You are many things, but you have never been weak.”
She took hold of each of his hands and he helped her to her feet. She gave him a soft kiss. He went to embrace her, but she turned away. She hobbled over to the weapons rack and grabbed a long wooden stick and twirled it in her hand.
“Again.”
Chapter Fifteen
Nalea motioned Legian and Sienna into the room. Bente, Jax, and Apolo were already there, sitting around the black table and looking down at a screen that covered nearly the entire flat surface. Standing behind Jax were three of his team, who Sienna knew only by their last names: Hurt, Quincy, and White.
She pushed the drades up her nose before she hobbled into the room, using her cane for support. Legian closed and locked the door behind them. No one else looked up when they entered. They were too absorbed with whatever was on the screen, mumbling as they hunched over the table.
Legian pulled a chair out for Sienna and she sat down, hanging the cane by its handle on the back of the chair. He took the seat next to her. Her eyes were drawn to the image on the screen. It was a detailed 3-D floor plan of what looked to be a large office building or warehouse. It was colored differently than any floor plan she’d seen, but the outline was the same. Sections were filled in with bright colors. Chartreuse for hallways, fuchsia for the open area. It was like seeing a rainbow for the first time. Beautiful, yet every color had its place.
The image looked so real, she fought back the urge to reach out and touch it. Sephians had the coolest technology. Actually, it was Draeken technology, since the Sephians had been nothing more than their worker bees for a couple centuries. Designed by Draeken, built by Sephians. It made for a nice sense of irony that the slaves had used their masters’ technology to gain their freedom.
And use it the Sephians did. The base was filled with technology adapted to their needs. They were experts at survival, and adjusting to other cultures seemed a tool of the trade. Since she had come on the base, she’d begun to see familiar objects pop up everywhere, from video games to guns, and laptops to magazines. The Sephians were starved for anything they could get their hands on. She figured it had something to do with growing up in slavery. There wasn’t a Sephian on this base who had owned much of anything before they broke free from Draeken control. Some, like Legian, maintained a minimalist attitude, while many others turned into pack rats.
Sienna wanted to spend more time pondering what made the Sephians tick, but there were more important things at hand. She leaned back in her seat and made eye contact with Apolo. “What am I looking at here?”
Apolo shot her a quick look before his eyes dropped to his wrist computer, which reminded her of a wide smart watch with metallic straps. He hit a series of buttons, and a strange silver glow with a muted vibration fell over the room. It seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time.
“Dampener device,” Apolo said in Jax’s direction. “It prevents any type of audio from being tapped from this room.”
Squinting, Sienna examined the walls and ceilings for some small contraption, but she couldn’t find the source.
Apolo gestured over the image. “What you see before you is the last piece of viable intel I received from my Draeken informant before he went silent.”
Sienna narrowed her eyes, waiting for Apolo to continue. He didn’t, so she spoke up. “How do we know we can trust that what your inside guy gave us was any good? They could have gotten to him long before the base attack.”
Apolo’s attention snapped to her. “This intel came in two weeks before the ambush, and came through with visual and audio unlike the faulty intel we received later.” Suddenly, he hit the table with his fist, causing the image to shiver. Everyone froze in their chairs while he clenched his fists. Apolo’s moods were worsening, and rumors were spreading that he may eventually lose his mind after being separated from his tahren for so long. The odds weren’t in his favor.
The plastic-like material ended up with a perfect knuckle-sized indentation before slowly regaining its original smoothness. When Apolo finally continued, he didn’t look up. “I should have known better than to trust that intel. Instead, I grabbed onto an opportunity that seemed too good to pass up. The chance to stop the Draeken in one fell swoop. Someone played me for a fool.” He clenched and unclenched his fists as he spoke. “The intel that led us into the attack on the base was the last communication I received from him. Before that, he reported in multiple times a month.”
He paused and glanced at each face around the table. “This data, although incomplete, is good; I’m sure of it. I have been holding on to it until my informant could send more information. At this point, we know he’s gone silent or has been compromised, and so I must assume we will be unable to collect more data.”
“If they got to your informant, it makes sense that’s how they found the location of our base,” Bente added, softening his usual brusque tone.
Apolo shook his head. “Impossible. My man does not know the location of this base. He is nearly unbreakable—”
Bente raised a finger.
Apolo replied to Bente’s unvoiced interruption by patting down the air with his hands. “Yes, I know everyone can be broken. That was why I ensured my informant knew nothing of our base location. It’s safe to assume we have our traitor to thank for leaking the location of the base to the Draeken. If only my informant wasn’t so protective
of his own people and had shared the location of the Draeken camp before…”
Apolo came to his feet, clasped his hands behind his back, and walked around the table. Everyone sat in silence and watched the leader pace. He was seemingly oblivious to anyone else in the room. On his third time around the table, he paused and pointed at the image. “We need to focus on what we can control. So far, we have nothing more besides this floor plan and a partial address.”
His fingers brushed over the image, and the screen zoomed in on a section of rooms. “Bente, you’ve spent more time in Draeken facilities than any of us. Look closely at this block of rooms. My informant believed this to be the location of something along the lines of a Draeken-human interaction center.
“After looking at the floor plan, we believe it may be a medical center. A human breeding facility, to be exact.”
Sienna shoved her chair back from the table in a rush. “Human breeding? You can’t mean…” Her voice trailed off.
Apolo nodded tightly. “Yes. I do. We know the Draeken female population was decimated in the Noble War. Their numbers are desperately low. It makes sense that they are pursuing the survival of their race through cross-breeding. In fact, we believe this may be the primary reason they chose this planet. As we’ve discovered ourselves recently,”—Apolo waved a hand in Legian’s and her general direction—“humans are genetically compatible with our race. There’s no reason not to believe it is also the case for the Draeken.”
“It’s like a bad sci-fi movie,” Quincy said from behind Jax.
“Yeah,” Smith added. “Not only do they want our world, but they want our women? No effing way.”
“That’s assuming they’re willing to stoop that low and taint their Draeken bloodlines,” Bente added from the side.
“If their numbers are low enough, they can’t afford pride,” Jax retorted.
Bente scowled. “You sure this is a medical facility? It’s not laid out like one.” He went back to looking at the screen. His eyes narrowed, and then he pointed at a long hallway with a series of rooms on the screen. “This area looks suspicious.”
“My informant couldn’t confirm its use,” Apolo said, “but he was confident it was neither a military installation nor a place that brought harm to humans. He advised me of the location with the intention that I avoid it rather than go after it.”
“We’re going in, aren’t we?”
“Yes,” Apolo said.
Nalea pointed to the same area of the floor plan that Bente had noted. “This area should be our primary target. Outside of the larger area, all the smaller rooms attach to this hallway. It’s the hub. Most of their medical equipment and prisoners are likely to be contained here.”
“Is there any way we can verify what your informant said is true?” Sienna asked.
Bente leaned forward stiffly and examined the image. “Recon.”
“Do we know if they’re drawing the human women to this location, or are they capturing them then bringing them there?” Legian asked.
“We believe they are being drawn there. Tanel researched the location and said that this large room is used as an entertainment venue.” Apolo’s fingers brushed over the display he wore on his forearm. He paused to read it. “It’s called Mayhem. Tanel says it’s called a ‘Goth’ club. He’s researching it further now.”
“That means it’s a night club where folks in dark clothes get together to hang out, dance, drink, and what not,” Sienna explained.
Jax nodded. “It would be easy to drug women’s drinks in a dark bar.”
She jerked at the truth in his words. The idea of drugging someone pissed her off. It was one thing to fight someone face to face, but taking advantage of someone like that was dishonorable. “You’re right. They probably use something like roofies. From there, they could restrain the poor girls throughout the pregnancy.” She fidgeted with the bandana on her wrist as she spoke.
“But the simplest plan would be to let the girls go,” White continued. “They wouldn’t even need to keep their victims more than a couple hours. Just long enough to tag ’em and bag ’em. The girls would never know what hit them. Basically, it would be a breed-and-release program. If they picked carefully, the girls would think they got knocked up during a one-night stand. The Draeken could sit back and wait until their nine months were up then go in and take the infants.”
Sienna leaned back and shook her head. “That’s wrong in so many ways.”
“I think the victims would catch on when ultrasounds showed extra appendages,” Jax added on.
Legian wrapped an arm around Sienna. He did that whenever he was stressed. And with a clenched jaw, he was definitely looking stressed. “Hybrids likely wouldn’t develop wings, but we can’t know for sure. They likely restrain the victims.”
“We can get intel from a distance to see the amount of traffic the place gets, but we’d need to get up close and personal to know for sure,” Nalea said.
Sienna glanced up at her friend. She hadn’t noticed how Nalea had nearly lost her Sephian accent. Before long, she’d be like any other American. Well, except the golden skin and black eyes. That would still be a bit of a problem. Contacts would hide the eyes, but there was no realistic makeup to do the trick to their skin.
Apolo nodded. “We need to get an inside look.” He looked from Jax to Sienna. Legian’s grip tightened on her shoulder. “Jax’s team and Sienna will be our scouts. Jax and Sienna will enter the club as a pair, with Bravo Team armed and ready outside. We need to verify the Draeken have set up a facility.”
Jax used his fingers to move through the floor plan. Even with this being his first time using the technology, he operated it like a pro. “We need to know what we’re looking for, as well as their usual security measures.”
Nalea rubbed her neck. “Trust me. You’ll know. While Draeken technology is far more advanced than human technology, it is also noticeable. I can show you common equipment to look for. As for security, assume the worst.”
Bente looked Sienna up and down, and she frowned at him. He frowned back. “If it is a Draeken facility, they will have surveillance throughout and around the building. It will be critical to blend in. You do not look like the usual clientele.”
“And Roden’s seen her before. If they have any kind of professional op going on, we’ll be busted before we walk through the door,” Jax chimed in. “Sienna should stay behind. My team can handle this.”
Sienna held up a finger. “First, with some hair color and makeup, my own mother wouldn’t recognize me.” She held up a second finger. “And nine tough guys walking into a Goth club will look a hell of a lot more suspicious than a couple.”
“But with a shit leg, you still put the mission at risk.”
She narrowed her eyes at Bente, aka Mr. Pessimist. “Doc has been working up a new brace for my leg. He thought he could have it ready by tomorrow. I’ll be able to go without a cane. He says I might not even have a limp when I wear it. Besides, I’ll have Jax with me. He’s trained for this sort of thing. He’s a super commando.”
“Special Operations,” Jax corrected.
“Sienna’s going in,” Apolo said. “If this is a breeding facility, a human woman will help Jax gain access to the club. A single man, let alone multiple single men, may not be able to enter the club without drawing notice.” Whatever he typed next caused the screen to go blank. “We’ll have analysis back from the comm-tech by tomorrow. We’ll reconvene after second meal to finalize preparations. In the meantime, get some rest. You’ll need it.”
Then he tapped out a few more keystrokes. The lights switched back to normal and the mild vibration disappeared. Apolo exited through the door to his bedroom without another word. Everyone stood—Bente taking as long as Sienna to get to his feet—then left, Legian and Sienna silently following the others out of the room.
Going deep into Draeken territory terrified her, but she wasn’t going to complain. Hell, she was finally getting a chance to make a differen
ce.
There was no way she’d let her new people down.
Chapter Sixteen
Jax pulled the car to a stop, and then looked over at her. “I’m impressed, Sienna. You’ll fit in perfect.”
“You clean up pretty decent yourself.” In fact, Sienna was surprised at how well Jax Gothed up. They had used matching deep red and black hair color, and he’d even let her use kohl eyeliner on him. He wore black leather pants, motorcycle boots, and a tight black tee.
She, on the other hand, was dressed all in black, from the leather strapless corset over a black satin shirt to the full-length skirt hiding her new leg brace.
A hodgepodge of black plastic-like straps, the brace looked more like some kind of bondage toy than a medical device—oddly appropriate. The kinetic bands harvested energy from her body, which was then converted into power for the brace. She didn’t even limp, let alone feel much pain, with the brace; it was an extension of her body.
The cane was now unnecessary, but she’d kept it anyway, hanging it on her wall to remind her of the risks she’d faced.
A valet opened the car door, held out his gloved hand, and helped her out of the car. Her steel-toed black leather boots made a solid thump on the sidewalk. She then waited at the curb.
Jax walked around the car and held out an arm, which she looped her hand through. His nose ring caught the light as he watched her, like he was measuring how badly she was going to screw up. “Ready to do this?”
“I have a knife in each boot, a gun tucked into my garter, a tracker in my corset, and I’m wearing an earpiece. I think I’m ready.”
Sienna could barely hear Legian’s warning to be careful in her ear over the bass radiating from the club. She stayed on Jax’s arm as they approached the front door. Jax handed the doorman a couple of large bills. The man unhooked a red rope and they stepped under the neon Mayhem sign written in dripping blood-red letters. They strolled past two more large doormen then down a long, dark hallway that opened up onto a huge ballroom. Everything was exactly as the floor plan had shown.