Dark Matters (Class 5 Series Book 4)

by Michelle Diener

  He steered Lucy into the middle of the street, away from the dark recesses created by the shape of the buildings and the even deeper shadows of the narrow streets and alleyways that ran beside each one.

  The sound of feet pounding toward them from behind had him spinning around, shoving Lucy so his body shielded hers.

  The Tecran came at them in a silent attack, something long and slim held over his head as a weapon.

  Dray shot him, the flash of the shockgun fire bright in the dark street.

  The Tecran went down with a cry, the first sound he'd made.

  “Let's go.” Dray spun back, caught Lucy's hand and ran.

  He saw her glance back, and then lengthen her stride. “There are others.”

  “I know.” He'd seen the movement just before he'd shot their attacker.

  They'd been waiting in the pockets of darkness.

  Whether specifically for him and Lucy, or for whoever came along who didn't look like they fit in, he didn't have the time or inclination to ask.

  He reached back with his shockgun, took another shot.

  He wasn't able to aim, but he heard a cry of pain anyway, which meant he'd gotten lucky.

  When he checked again, he saw at least two of their attackers had stopped to help the injured. The shockgun he'd taken from Bane's armory was capable of the most precise fine tuning he'd ever seen, and he'd set it to incapacitate but not kill, even if the person he shot was wearing protective clothing.

  There were still three attackers racing toward them, though.

  “What's going on?” Bane's voice came through his earpiece and Dray realized he'd forgotten all about him.

  “Under attack.” He was back in the zone, he realized. He'd be enjoying this if Lucy wasn't beside him, in danger. “We need to get to the square, or even better, the military headquarters on the cliff side.”

  “Is it the military attacking?”

  “We don't know.” Lucy's voice came out as a gasp. She was trying to keep up with him, and he slowed his pace to keep in step with her. Aimed another shot over his shoulder to keep their attackers back.

  “It looks like the front headquarters entrance is blocked by a group of protesters. Who might not be protesters at all.” Bane sounded grim. “In fact, I recognize a number of them as part of the Tecran military teams.”

  “It'd be a good way to make sure no one can go in or out without the military's cooperation.” It was clever, Dray had to admit. Clever and effective. He slowed a little more as Lucy stumbled. “We'll have to go in the back way through the square.”

  They were nearly there, anyway.

  As they came in line with a street leading straight into the square, he caught sight of the wild crowd, illuminated by flashing lights.

  Lucy stumbled again, this time in shock at the sight in front of her.

  “Come on, they're catching up.” Dray could see the determination in the three attackers who were following them.

  He'd hurt their friends, and they were determined now to get him.

  He tugged her by the hand, and she nodded and began running again, as fast as she had before.

  There were more people in this street, some resting against the walls of the buildings, some sitting, holding heads or arms, as if nursing a wound.

  The crowd was dangerous and he was leading Lucy straight into it. But there was just as much danger on the empty streets, as they'd found out.

  “Stick close to my side.”

  She nodded, her hand gripping his a little harder, and then they were in among the protesters, swept along on a current of shouting, angry Tecran.

  His hood was yanked off his head within seconds, and he suspected it wasn't simply the result of the push and pull of the crowd, but deliberate. The protesters wanted to know who was in their midst.

  He had hoped to keep Lucy's face hidden, but her shout of outrage told him that was no longer possible.

  He looked back at her at the very moment a pole was swung at his head. He caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and ducked, losing Lucy's hand with the help of a shove from the crowd. The blow landed on his shoulder, bounced and hit the person closest to him on their temple.

  The reaction of the crowd to the attacker was vicious. There were howls of outrage, and several people turned on the Tecran. He disappeared as if dragged down by the undercurrents.

  Dray spun back to find Lucy, his last sight of her had been of her hair flying around her head in the wind, the people around her staring in shock.

  She was gone.

  He shouted her name, and it was swallowed whole by the crowd as if he'd never opened his mouth.

  He had lost her, and they hadn't been in the square five minutes.

  Chapter 35

  She fought.

  Four people had grabbed her, lifting her by her legs and shoulders.

  And as quickly as they'd uncovered her head, they'd covered it again.

  Already, the sight of her had stirred the people around them. Some were frozen, unsure what to do with what they'd seen, but others reached out to grab her abductors, to stop them carrying her away.

  They were ruthlessly struck down.

  She saw more than one person collapse as they were hit with the stocks of the shockguns her abductors carried, and two people were brought down with a flash of purple shockgun fire.

  “You've been taken?” Bane's voice was suddenly in her ear, urgent and panicked.

  From somewhere behind her, she thought she heard her name called, and opened her mouth to scream for Dray.

  A hand slapped over her mouth, and she bit it as she arched her back, getting some leverage with her foot on the shoulder of the Tecran who had one of her legs.

  The Tecran whose hand she'd bitten smacked her face hard in retaliation and before she could try for another scream, slapped a sticky bandage over her mouth.

  “They're carrying you, and you can't answer.” Bane's voice was calmer now, logical. “They must have gagged you. Which they would have to do, because if the crowd works out . . . oh, some have already. They caught a glimpse of you. I'm putting the feed people in the crowd captured up on the big screens.”

  As he said it, from all around her came shocked gasps and shouts of outrage.

  Lucy caught a second of it as she twisted in her captors hold, and then two more Tecran joined the four carrying her and she felt her ribcage creak under the pressure as they gripped her even harder and pinned her arms to her side. They forced her knees to bend and folded her into a much smaller package, one that made it harder to move.

  “We're still getting looks.” One of the Tecran carrying her hissed. “We need to get off the street.”

  “Agreed.” Whoever answered steered them all to the left, and a few moments later, they stepped through a door and into a dark space.

  She was dropped to the ground.

  Ow.

  She tried to roll, but was hemmed in by a circle of boots.

  She had a feeling they wouldn't think twice about kicking her, so she stopped moving, and took stock.

  “Do you think holing up in here is a good idea?” The Tecran who spoke was a woman. Lucy couldn't see her face in the darkness, but she wondered if it was the same woman who'd tried to follow her in the square . . . could it really have only been four or five days ago?

  “You got a better idea, Fai? Because that thinking system has us up on every screen.”

  There was silence and an icy hand of fear gripped the back of Lucy's neck because although she couldn't see his face, she recognized the voice. Silius. The Tecran officer Bane had shown her and Dray footage of, inciting the riots. Her old guard from the facility.

  “You think it's definitely the thinking system?” One of the men asked.

  “The United Council only just arrived. Who else knows our systems and can surf the handheld lenses like that?” Silius shifted. “We know it traveled with them. And whatever it fooled the politicians into thinking, it's not outside the solar syst
em. We know how we used it in the past. It knows all the tricks because we taught it.”

  “You're right.” Fai blew out a breath. “What do we do?”

  “They better start praying to Karn,” Bane said in her ear, tone grim. “Because they'll wish they'd never taught me anything when I'm done with them.”

  His words centered her. Calmed her.

  “Can you twist your body to give the lens a different angle? I might be able to work out where you are.” Bane whispered in Lucy's ear. “I wasn't able to follow you much after the other two joined the group.”

  She slowly lowered herself down even further on her elbows, then tipped back, trying to get a sense of the height of the room, and anything over the heads and shoulders of the soldiers who surrounded her.

  “It's too dark.” Bane's voice was tight. “But I'm projecting this in the square, mainly for the audio. So everyone understands there are bad actors among them.”

  Lucy wondered if one of the soldiers would say where they were. That would cause a stampede of people to haul them out.

  “How did you find her?” Silius asked the team.

  “It was chance. We were assigned to the street into the square from the south, and we saw the Grih. We guessed she was the person with him, even though she was in a cloak. We followed them in and Gitma attacked the Grih to distract him, and we got her.”

  “Good work.”

  “Dray is searching for you, but the crowd is impossible to get through,” Bane whispered. “I've persuaded him to go into military headquarters and get some help from Ambassador Dimitara and his other colleagues. It will be easier to search for you as a coordinated effort. He was wasting time trying on his own.”

  She wanted to ask him if Dray was all right. If the attacker had harmed him, but Bane was talking as if he was fine, and she had to hope that was true.

  Leaving the square without her would have been hard for Dray. It would have killed her if the situation had been reversed. But Bane was right. The only way he'd find her was with help.

  And she had Bane looking for her right now. She would find a way out of this.

  “Lucy?” Dray's voice sounded as if it came from right beside her, and she flinched, frightened for a moment they had him, too.

  Then she realized Bane must have patched him through.

  “Bane says you can't answer. If you can move your hands, block the lens with your finger to let me know you can hear us.”

  She looked up. Silius was talking to the others about operations, and she should be listening to them, but she couldn't concentrate on what they were saying with Dray in her ear. She lifted her hand and tapped the tiny lens embedded between her breasts.

  She heard Dray breathe out in relief.

  “Are you near the square?” he asked.

  She pretended to rub her temples with her hands, and then, when she lowered them, slid a finger over the lens again.

  “Why're you so compliant?” Silius suddenly crouched beside her, his face suspicious. Of course, she'd never been compliant for him in the facility. “Have you checked her for trackers or an earpiece?”

  There was a moment of stunned silence.

  “When would we have had time?” Fai asked, outraged. “Have you checked her?”

  “That answers the question, anyway. We can't stay here. They probably know exactly where we are.” Silius dug out a slim flashlight and pointed it in her ear. “Oh, yes. That thinking system is behind this. I've seen earpieces like this before.”

  Lucy gritted her teeth as he dug the earpiece out, dropped it on the ground and crushed it with the butt of his shockgun.

  “She'll have a lens, as well. So smile everyone. He's probably projecting this right now.”

  They all lifted their face coverings back over their mouths and noses, but they must have known they were too late.

  “Good thing it's dark in here,” one of the men muttered.

  Silius shoved his hand into the neck of her tunic, running one hand inside, the other on the outside of the fabric, and gave a grunt of triumph as he found the lens and ripped it out.

  He ground it up with slow, furious movements, then flicked his gaze up to hers.

  “You have been nothing but trouble.”

  She couldn't respond with the tape over her mouth, so she simply stared at him, refusing to blink.

  He grabbed her tunic in both fists and shook her, then released her and rose, stepping back and turning away.

  “We need to leave.” His hands were fisted.

  “No shit. But not the same way we came in.” The soldier who spoke hauled her to her feet.

  “Wait, is she armed?” Fai jerked her closer and patted her down, then pushed her away. “Apparently not.”

  Silius had turned back to her. “Where have you been since you escaped? And where is Virn?”

  She slowly lifted a hand and began to gently remove the tape, but Silius batted her fingers away and ripped it off.

  The pain caused her eyes to water and she stood, head hanging, as she blinked back the tears. She rubbed her lips together and then wet them with her tongue. “Virn is dead.”

  The whole group froze.

  “And how did he die?” Silius's voice was low.

  “A nynt got him.”

  Her answer was obviously the last thing they expected. Most of them gaped at her, open-mouthed.

  “A nynt?” Silius stepped closer, into her space.

  “He took us to hide out in some caves in the cliffs to the west of Fa'allen, and unfortunately for him, a nynt with a broken wing was taking shelter in it. It didn't like us being there, and threw Virn into the sea below.”

  They glanced at each other.

  “How do we know you're telling the truth?” The soldier who'd pulled her to her feet asked.

  Lucy shrugged.

  It was suddenly so quiet, she could hear the sounds of the protests in the square beyond the door.

  “Let's just kill her right here and be done with it.” One of the other soldiers touched Silius's arm.

  “The point is to make her disappear, not leave her body to be found. That defeats the whole purpose.” Silius stepped back and she saw the glint of frustration in his eyes. “I don't know what Virn's orders were, but he was clearly trying to hide her, and if he had orders to kill her, he'd have just tossed her from a high perch into the sea.”

  “If we can trust a word she's saying,” Fai said.

  “Yes. I'll need to check in and see what Virn was told and where he was sent. Which is getting harder to do as the UC takes over our comms. It'll take a bit of a work around to get word to the top.”

  “Then let's get out of here, hide her somewhere safe, and find out what we have to do with her.”

  She was pushed deeper into the room by the soldier who'd pulled her to her feet, and another came and flanked her other side.

  She didn't know where she was, and neither did Bane or Dray. She was on her own now. But that was okay. She was used to it.

  Chapter 36

  He'd failed her.

  Dray spun in place, his gaze searching the crowd for any sign of Lucy.

  She was gone.

  Bane had allowed him to hear the last few minutes of comms feed from Lucy's earpiece and lens, as Silius had searched her and then destroyed them.

  All their precautions, useless now.

  “You do her no good turning in circles.” Bane's voice in his ear was cutting. “Go get help. I'll keep searching all the lens feed I can find.”

  Dray gave a hard nod and ran for the door that he had stepped out of three days ago. Time had both passed in a blink and stretched out in a long, viscous thread since that moment.

  He wouldn't change any part of it, except the last ten minutes. If he had that over again, he'd hang on to Lucy, and not let her go for an instant.

  He reached the door and pushed it.

  It didn't budge.

  “I need to communicate with my team.” Dray rapped hard on the door. “I'
m locked out.”

  The door opened suddenly and Chep stood back to let him in.

  “I saw you fighting your way through the crowd on the screens from the office window,” he said as Dray clasped his hand and then started running for the lifts.

  “Where's the ambassador?”

  Chep kept step with him. “Give me a minute.” He tapped his earpiece, murmured the question. Then looked up at Dray, his massive eyes crinkling in concern. “Cossi says the ambassador's in the building, up on the top floor, but she's not answering her comms.”

  “How concerning is that?” Dray didn't have a feel for the mood on the ground here anymore.

  “Since early this morning, as a result of you showing us the visual comms which implicated military forces in stoking the unrest, Dimitara's been in high level talks with the elected heads of Tecra. Things are tense.” The way he said it, Dray guessed Chep was making an understatement. “Cossi says three of the top cabinet members have accompanied her here to military HQ from the parliamentary offices to talk to General Ulima about what's going on.”

  “And my team?”

  Chep waved his hands as they reached the lift. “They've been assisting the ambassador, as I gather you ordered them to. Some of them are probably with her now.” He looked at Dray as they stepped inside the narrow, cylindrical space. “What's going on? Where's the Earth woman?”

  Dray clenched his fists. “I lost Lucy in the square. A team of Tecran soldiers grabbed her.”

  Chep sucked in a breath. “You're sure?”

  Dray gave a tight nod. He leaned back against the wall as the lift flew them upward. “Bane, you have a record of what happened when they took Lucy, and what was said?”

  “I do.”

  Chep looked at him curiously, and Dray guessed Bane hadn't shared his answer through Chep's comms.

  “He says he does.”

  Chep winced. “That's going to change the tone of the meeting Dimitara is having.”

  “I can't believe it's going all that well anyway,” Dray said. Especially if the ambassador wasn't answering her comms. Either the situation required all her concentration, or something was very, very wrong.