Page 127 of Dustwalker

“How do I know that?” Ronin demanded. “How do I know they’ll take care of her?”

The captain dipped his chin. “We have the facilities to help her, but you’re unknowns, which means we must err on the side of caution until we determine whether you’re a threat.”

“I can’t leave her. I won’t.” Ronin was the one wasting time now.

She’ll die if I do nothing.

“My name’s Cooper. Captain Edward Cooper. You have my word that she will receive the best care we can offer. The faster you cooperate, the faster we can take care of her.”

An electric tingle skittered across Ronin’s cheek. He nodded once, extending his arms. “Be gentle with her. Her left arm is broken, and her ribs might be fractured.”

Walker and Garrison stepped forward and carefully collected Lara. Ronin was unable to remove his optics from her until she was carried out of sight.

This is the only chance she has.

“Captain Cooper,” Newton said, “I can assure you that I will vouch for?—”

The captain raised a fist, silencing Newton. “You’re unknowns.”

A heavy metal door opened somewhere behind the spotlight. Boots marched over the concrete floor as six more armed soldiers entered the corridor, surrounding Ronin and Newton.

“These gentlemen will escort you inside,” Captain Cooper said. “You will keep your hands to yourselves. They will not answer questions, so don’t bother asking. Any sudden movements that can be interpreted as hostile will be treated as such.”

The soldiers separated, with four taking positions behind Ronin and Newton while the other two remained ahead.

“Should you consider doing any of my men harm, it may be of interest to you to know that some of them are bots. They’re just as physically capable as both of you, and much better armed. I trust you’ll behave.” Cooper stepped aside, waving the escort forward.

Ronin followed the soldiers in front of him automatically, his processors dominated by thoughts of Lara. Would she be all right? Where was she now? This facility’s size, layout, and personnel were mysteries to him. It could take days of searching to locate her on his own, and she didn’t have that kind of time.

They proceeded through a doorway, and one of the rear guards slammed the steel door shut behind them. The corridor narrowed here beneath a low, arched ceiling, but the electric lights were working, and the floor was clean. Bundles of pipe and conduit ran along the walls.

Ronin couldn’t dismiss the possibility that he’d never see Lara again, that the time he’d spent with her was all he’d ever have, that those moments would be the only ones they’d ever share.

There’d been no goodbye, no parting words of love. There’d beenonly the pain on her face and the agony of her cries. Why was that last, terrible event so much more powerful than everything preceding it? Why did it overshadow all the rest of their time together?

The corridor hit an intersection, and Ronin turned left with the group, logging step counts and measurements in his memory. They were moving in the direction of the old base.

“Where is she?” Ronin asked.

“You guys actually walk around out there?” one of the soldiers asked as though he hadn’t heard Ronin’s question. “Like, through the storms and everything?”

“Doesn’t affect bots the same,” another answered. There was an odd, contradictory blend of smoothness and rigidity in his posture and gait that wasn’t entirely human. The pointed stripes on his chest meant he was a sergeant.

Beside Ronin, Newton perked up, brow plates rising. “That is correct, but it does have a number of averse?—”

“I just ain’t been off the base in a long time,” the first soldier interrupted.

“You’ve never been off the base, Ramirez,” the sergeant said, and the group fell silent.

Their boots thumped on the floor, undercut by the clacking of Newton’s metal feet, and their equipment harnesses jingled softly. The hum of the lights was barely audible through the other noise. None of it could distract Ronin from thoughts of Lara. His processors tumbled through hundreds of thousands of possibilities.

“Where is she?” he repeated.

“Who?”

“The woman I brought here.”

“Oh, the one that looked like pounded meat?” Ramirez asked. “You do that?”