“Boss says now.”
Marli elbowed the man. He spit a curse.
Anya shot Elise’s guard through the grating. He roared in pain. A black, smoking line charred his shirt.
The guard at the door whipped out his laser and Anya squeezed off another round at him. Out of the corner of her eye, Joshua launched himself onto Marli’s captor’s back.
The guard at the door thunked to the ground, taking the camera with him. Elise fought her guard. When her captor’s back turned briefly to Anya, she shot him again. Fire hit his neck. He collapsed on top of Elise.
Marli was now free, and the knife swirled halfway across the floor. The big, bald man shook Joshua, who was on his back, like an angry bear. Joshua hung on, his elbow tight around the man’s neck. The bruiser backed up and slammed Joshua against the wall, again and again. Joshua’s head hit hard the sixth time. He released the guard, but landed on his feet. The guard spun and his meaty fist connected with Joshua’s jaw. It made a horrible, sickening sound. Joshua slid to his knees, but evaded the next punch.
Marli darted into Anya’s line of sight. Now Anya couldn’t get a good line on the bruiser, who was sure to kill Joshua. She had to get into the room.
Fury mottled the guard’s jowled face, and he lunged for Joshua. Joshua rolled sideways, then lunged up and staggered forward, ramming his shoulder into the man’s stomach.
Anya scuttled forward, searching for the entry panel into the room. Here. She shoved it aside and dropped almost three meters down, straight into the fray.
Roaring obscenities, the bruiser beat Joshua, who had collapsed to his knees again. Marli had the knife. With wide eyes and shaking hands, she advanced toward the Altai man.
“No, Marli!” Anya shoved her aside. She shot the man point blank in the base of his skull.
“Watch out!” Elise screamed.
Anya spun. A fourth guard, whom she hadn’t spotted, smashed a fist into her face, and pain exploded, so hot and black and fierce she couldn’t think.
She fell. Then the guard’s face twisted like an overwrought cartoon character, and he crumpled to the ground, too. Elise gripped a laser. She must have retrieved it from the dead door guard.
Groggily, Anya sat up. Marli sobbed wildly, struggling to pull the massive man off of Joshua. Elise ran to help, and Anya crawled to do the same.
They rolled the heavy man backward. He was dead. And Joshua…blood covered his face, and he lay unnaturally still.
“Is he dead?” Marli cried out.
Anya pressed shaking fingers into Joshua’s warm neck. A faint pulse twitched beneath her fingertips. “He’s alive.”
“We’ve got to get out of here,” Elise said, her voice high with fright. “More guards will come.”
Anya pressed a hand to her throbbing temple and looked up at the opening through which she had dropped. Then she glanced about the empty room. “Stack the guards. We’ll climb on them, and then crawl out.”
“What about David. And Joshua?” Marli whispered. “They’re unconscious.”
Anya crawled to her brother. Although his face was terribly bruised, his pulse felt stronger than Joshua’s. “David.” Urgently, she shook his shoulder. “David! We need you.”
After an excruciatingly long moment, her brother’s eyes opened. They were black, bleary, and unfocused.
“Can you sit up?” Anya said urgently. Under normal circumstances, she would urge him to lie still until a doctor could determine the extent of his injuries. But if he remained here, Onred would kill him. “Come on,” she said, pulling his arm. “We’re going to escape. We need your help.”
David partially sat up, propped up on one arm. His eyes closed, as if dizzy. “How? I…don’t think I can walk.”
“Can you crawl?”
“Yes. I think…maybe.”
“Elise, you go up first,” Anya directed. “Then Marli and I will push David up to you. You’ll pull him through.”
Elise was a stronger girl than she looked, for all of her slight figure.
Anya boosted Elise up through the opening, and then she and Marli struggled to get their brother up onto the guards’ backs.
Anya held him steady while David slowly rose to his feet. “Hold your arms overhead,” she instructed. “Elise will help you through. Come on, Marli. One, two, three…” Anya gripped David by the waist and heaved him upward with all of her strength. Marli did the same. Her little face looked grim, teeth gritted, with the strain of trying to lift her big brother.
“I’ve got him,” Elise said.
“I can help,” David muttered. He went up on his elbows at the air duct’s ledge, and with a combination of Elise pulling under his armpits and Anya and Marli pushing him up by his knees, he went through the opening.
“Now you, Marli.” Anya gripped her sister about the thighs and lifted her. She wavered on the guards’ backs, trying to keep her balance. Marli swayed.
“You can do it,” Elise encouraged, face pinched. Anya teetered. “Got her.” Anya steadied when Elise pulled Marli upward. The last she saw were her sister’s feet wriggling through the opening.
Now for Joshua. Anya stumbled off of the dead guards and collapsed onto her knees beside him. Gently, fearfully, she touched his battered face. Was he still alive?
His eyelids twitched before she could take his pulse. Relief made her feel weak. “Come on. Time to escape.” She tugged at his arm.
His bruised mouth moved. Blood dripped from his split bottom lip. “No.”
“We’ve got to leave now,” Anya whipped a glance at the door. “Before more guards come.”
“No.” His voice was weak, but his swollen eyes slitted.
“Joshua please,” she implored. “We’ve got to leave now. Can you stand? I’ll help you.”
“No.” His voice was stronger. “I’ll…slow you down.”
“Don’t be a hero.” Tears filled her eyes. “We need you, Joshua. Please.”
His hand lifted, and then settled like a heavy weight around the back of her neck. A tiny flexion of strength urged her down, closer to him. His breath touched hers. Behind the swollen, bloodshot eyes, she glimpsed tawny fire. Joshua. Her Joshua was alive and well inside of his mangled body.
“I love you, Anya.” Gently, he kissed her. “Go. Now.”
Her fingers clutched into the solid muscle of his body. She whispered, “I love you, too.” Tears welled. “I won’t leave without you. Please. Try to come with me.”
“No. Go. While…still time.”
He clearly could not move, and she didn’t have the strength to lift him. She wanted to rage at him to fight…to try. Not to give up. “No. I won’t…”
“Go.” That low, forceful command silenced her.
Lips quivering, she stared at him.
“Trust me. One…last time. Go.”
Biting her lip, she sat back on her heels. He was a stubborn man. He had chosen his fate, and Anya reluctantly understood that she would not be able to change his mind. The least she could do was obey his last wishes.
“I’ll take them to safety,” she told him. “And then I’ll come back for you.”
He closed his eyes, but did not answer. Clearly, he believed he would die a battered, broken man in Onred’s prison.
“Anya.” Marli’s small whimper drew her attention. Her sister was afraid. As she should be. More guards would soon discover their escape.
Anya kissed Joshua’s temple—the only spot not battered by bruises or blood. “I love you,” she repeated. “And I’ll be back. I won’t leave you here to die.”
Joshua did not respond. Was he now unconscious? Anya wished that she and her sisters possessed the strength to lift him into the air vent. But they had barely managed to boost David through the opening. Joshua was much bigger and heavier. She needed help. She would get it, and then she would come back.
Chewing on the inside of her lip to keep back the tears, she grabbed two of the guards’ lasers and piled them into Joshua’s lap. When Onred’
s men came, at least he would be able to defend himself. Then she hoisted herself into the air duct.
Before setting the diamonite square back into place, she looked one last time at Joshua, sprawled awkwardly against the wall. She loved him so much. Oh God, please keep him safe.
Gently, she replaced the square. Unchecked tears streamed down her cheeks as she led her siblings away from the man she loved. Using her phone as a flashlight, she headed toward the conference room…and ultimately, for access to Gorno’s roof.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Travel in the air duct was slow. Elise whispered that they hadn’t eaten in days. David’s slow crawl appeared to be fueled by determination alone. Shivers intermittently racked Marli’s small body, for her clothes were still damp from Onred’s first torture session.
“Just a little further,” Anya encouraged, checking her GPS. Soon, they’d need to drop into a room, find an elevator—if they were still working—and take it to the top floor of Gorno. No easy task. She might need to leave her family in the air duct until she could find help. Had the extraction team landed yet? And what about Michael? If she made it to the roof, he had said she could activate her transponder and he’d arrive within minutes. Of course, an air battle waged outside right now. But Michael possessed his remarkable shield. He’d make it through. Maybe he could help rescue Joshua, too.
A shudder rippled beneath their knees as they crawled.
“What was that?” Marli whispered.
“Our forces and Richert’s are attacking Gorno.”
“Richert is helping us?” David’s voice cracked.
“He’s on our side. For now.” Anya checked her GPS and slowed down. Here was the conference room where she had first accessed the air ducts. Dared she check inside?
Might as well. She lifted a finger to her lips. “Shh. I’m going down. You three stay here. I’m going for help.”
Marli clutched her arm. “Don’t leave us!” Her whisper verged on hysteria. “Don’t, Anya, please!”
Elise’s wide eyes looked frightened, too. She clutched Anya’s hand. “If something happens to you, we won’t know where to go. Don’t leave us. I’d rather die with you than stay here.”
David asserted, “I can walk.”
“And I’ve still got the guard’s laser,” Elise said. “Thanks to our father, I’m a good shot.”
The idea of taking her frail family through Gorno’s dangerous hallways did not seem like a good idea at all. However, with their frightened, pleading eyes staring at her, how could she say ‘no’?
“First, I’ll make sure the conference room is safe,” she compromised. “If it is, we’ll all jump inside. From there, we’ll take it one step at a time.”
Elise nodded, and the others looked relieved.
Anya pried up the diamonite slab and peered into the conference room. All three men lay where she had shot them. Were they dead, or unconscious? Sickness stabbed at her. How many people had she killed today? She swallowed back bile. No time to think about that now. She had to get her family to safety.
Silently, she swung down into the room. “Come on,” she whispered, and helped the others down.
Next, she slipped to the door and peered out. Hordes of people swarmed down the hallways. While the uniform shirt Anya wore would help her blend in, she feared her brother and sisters would stand out like sore thumbs. In addition, every Altai citizen must have seen their faces broadcasted on Alpha.
“They’ll recognize you,” she whispered. “This isn’t a good idea.”
Three pale, frightened faces looked back at her.
David slowly staggered to the far end of the room, where the men lay. When Anya realized his intent, she ran to help him. The jackets they pulled off the bulky men were too large, but their black color would help her siblings blend in with the Altai people better than the pale clothes they wore now. Marli drowned in her jacket, but Anya directed her to walk tight in between Elise and herself so others wouldn’t notice her.
“When we leave, walk straight, and with purpose, like you know where we’re going,” Anya instructed.
“Where are we going?” Marli asked, hugging the jacket tighter around her for warmth.
“The elevator. I’m hoping generators are still powering them. If not, then the stairs.” Although she didn’t say it, Anya didn’t know how her weak family could possibly climb three flights of stairs. She sent up a silent prayer for help. “We need to get to the roof.”
David offered a feeble grin. “Think our guys have landed yet?”
“Maybe.” Unexpected goose bumps rippled across Anya’s skin. The temperature was dropping. It remained to be seen how much destruction Emelie’s virus had already wrought in Gorno. “Let’s go.” Another blast shook the floor beneath their feet.
Making it to the elevator proved to be easy. People ran in the corridors now, as if panicked. And thank goodness, the elevator door opened.
Inside the elevator their lone companion, a woman, stared at them in suspicion. “Hey. Aren’t you…”
Elise shot blue fire into her spine. The woman crumpled.
“Yeah, sis.” David shot a look of respect at Elise.
Slowly, the elevator slid up.
With a sideways glance at Anya, Elise said, “Did Joshua actually kiss you?”
Anya drew a quick breath of surprise. Her sister had seen. The change in her relationship with Joshua must have come as a shock to Elise. Quietly, she admitted, “Yes.”
No surprise registered on her sister’s face; just a calm, steady knowing. “You’ll go back for him.”
“Yes.”
Marli squeezed her hand. Approval gleamed in her eyes, and David smiled.
Anya smiled back, feeling relieved that her family, at least, supported her heart’s choice.
The elevator slid up two floors, and then one more. She sent up another silent prayer of thanks. Things were going so well. Much better than she had anticipated.
With a soft ding, the doors slid open. A tiny gasp escaped Anya’s lips.
A solid, impenetrable wall of uniforms blocked their path. Five men trained lasers upon them.
“On the floor,” shouted the largest one. “Now!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
As soon as the diamonite slab slid back into place overhead, Joshua forced one swollen eye open. His hands curled around the lasers Anya had left in his lap. Slowly, painfully, he pushed himself into a sitting position. Every muscle in his body ached. Images blurred in his left eye, his head pounded, and he felt nauseous.
Making one determined effort, he rolled to his feet.
“Sorry for tricking you, Anya,” he muttered, taking stock of his balance and mental acuity. “But I’ve got one last mission to finish.”
Fingers clumsy, he pulled knives and key cards from the guards’ belts, and pocketed one of their phones. When he straightened, dizziness and nausea again overwhelmed him. He gritted his teeth and remained stationary until the pounding in his head became tolerable, and then moved forward.
Joshua swiped the key card in the slot, and checked to make sure the lasers were set to kill. Gathering his mental focus, and tensing his body for combat, he jerked open the door.
* * * * *
“On the floor!” shouted the red-uniformed man again. “Now.”
Richert’s men. Tarim soldiers had already infiltrated Gorno. Relief hit Anya, followed swiftly by caution. Just because they were her uncle’s men did not mean she could trust them. Richert probably played a game of his own right now. She didn’t know what his ultimate goal was, or what he had ordered his men to do to achieve it.
Anya touched Elise’s arm, and the two went down flat on the floor, hands on their heads. Marli and David quickly followed their lead.
Hard hands ripped weapons from her belt, and her phone, too.
“I’m Anya Dubrovnyk,” she said. “These are the hostages.”
“Yeah? We’ll see about that.” When the man seemed satisfied that she’d h
idden no more weapons on her body, he said, “Sit up. Slowly. Hands over your head.”
Anya and her siblings obeyed. Sitting on their knees, they looked up at their captors.
The apparent leader, a burly man with a blond buzz cut, stared back, his thick lips set in a straight line. “So. You are Dubrovnyk. On your feet. Slowly.”
“We have to get to the roof,” she told him. “And I need to go back for Joshua. He’s still a prisoner.”
“Van Heisman’s a prisoner.”
Surely he knew that from the Alpha feeds. “I need to go back for him,” she repeated. “As soon as my family is safe.”
The man eyed her, as if reluctant to agree to her demands. Anya wondered what training Richert had drilled into his soldiers, should any of them have the fortune to run across her, or any of their other top enemies. Kill her on sight? Certainly, he wouldn’t allow her to slip through his fingers.
“Exactly where is Van Heisman?”
Anya didn’t know if she could trust him. But she did need help. Maybe Michael could help her, if he came quickly. On the other hand, these men were here now…
“He’s on the sixth floor,” she compromised. “I’ll take you to him.” And, if necessary, she’d lose them along the way.
“Ty.” He nodded to one of his men; a tall, thin young man with a pockmarked face. “Take the kids to the roof. Dubrovnyk stays with me.”
Elise’s eyes widened. “No!”
Thinking fast, Anya said, “I need to make a call.”
“Why?”
“To schedule transport for my family.”
The burly man scowled. Clearly, he wanted to deny her request. Something held him back. She wondered what it was. Abruptly, he nodded, and relinquished her phone. “Hurry up.” Perhaps he viewed Anya as the main prize. Her powerless family might be expendable.
While lifting the phone to her ear, Anya covertly hit the transponder button on her collar, so Michael could get a fix on her general location. Unfortunately, in order to call Michael, she had to transmit on Donetsk’s secure housekeeping network. Alpha was out of the question. Hopefully, the blond giant wouldn’t rip the phone from her hand before she could log off.
Ice Baron (Ice Chronicles, Book One (science fiction romance)) Page 23