Page 43 of Galaxy Games Four-Book Box Set (Galaxy Games)

43

CQB Close-Quarters Battle

T itan

We make our way down alleys and between buildings, stealthily zigzagging, although the drones must be filming our progress. Monteen probably knows exactly where we are. Who knows if he’s set up traps and trip wires around and inside of his building? One of us must take him out. I’m proud I’ve convinced Blaze to stay far away from the fight.

Perhaps it would be best for Monteen and me to kill each other. Blaze would be the immediate winner.

“You need to stay here, Blaze,” I say when we stop a few blocks from his ten-story building. Altair sent us intel through a backchannel on the pad the Halckon gave us in the crowded street. He confirms what Zedd said. The male is on the seventh floor.

“I’m coming with you, Titan. We’re a team.”

She looks up at me, her jaw jutted in defiance.

I set my sword on the ground and pull her into my embrace. For the swiftest moment, I breathe in her scent. It’s full of fear, but her words were full of determination.

“If there are gods, they have a poor sense of humor,” I say. “To give you to me at such a terrible moment. You’re everything a male could wish for, Blaze, although I never allowed myself to wish. Wishing is a fool’s errand for a slave. We don’t get what we want. We get what we’re given.

“And I was given you.” I pull her away so I can see her beautiful face. “You’re lovely, but that’s the least of your charms. Your strength and bravery? Who wouldn’t love you? I imagine people from all over the world have donated millions of credits to you because of it.”

Her eyes are welling with tears.

“You can’t sweet talk me out of it, Xzavic. I’m coming with you.” She shakes her head and dashes the moisture from her eyes as if it could hide her emotions.

“No. You’re not. Don’t make everyone on the planet hate me when I punch you to knock you out in order to save your life. I’m going alone.”

When she starts to protest, I lift her in my arms and whisper in her ear, “I love you, Blaze. More than life itself. I’m going in alone. If you take one step after me, I’m going to knock you out. I won’t yield on this.”

She inspects my expression, the firm set of my jaw, the determination in my eyes.

“Come back to me, big guy.”

I nod. “Take care of Red while I’m gone.”

She reaches to allow him to scurry from my shoulder to her palm.

“And whatever you do, don’t read the propaganda the network is spreading about you,” I say.

“What?”

“Stay off the Intergalactic Database while I’m gone.”

“That’s a tease. You know that’s the first thing I’m going to do.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” I toss over my shoulder as I jog to Monteen’s apartment building.

I baited her on purpose, hoping she’d look herself up. It’s what I did when I was waiting for her under the boot. She’ll be so consumed with her fury she won’t have much time to worry about me. It said her owner entered her in the game after he discovered she was planning on killing the King of Plesmore.

Despite my peril, my lips tip into a small smile. Treason. That’s ludicrous.

Monteen’s abandoned apartment building borders a large common area. In the middle of the weed-strewn square is a flagpole with The Game logo. At one time, this must have been a classy part of town. Now it’s abandoned.

I skirt around his building, doing recon to find my way to an entrance without fully exposing myself. The network and the resistance said he has no weapons. I don’t believe that. He’s had days to acquire some.

I zigzag my way to the building using abandoned hovers to hide behind. I run the last hundred feet. Although I’m surprised Monteen didn’t shoot me when I was fully exposed, I will not let my guard down. He could still have a weapon. Perhaps he didn’t see me, or perhaps he’s a terrible shot and just wants to lie in wait and shoot me when I enter his apartment.

This place has been sitting abandoned for decades, maybe longer. The doorway is ajar. I slip in and wait for my eyes to adjust to the gloom.

Just as I thought, there’s a tripwire on the second step. Easy does it.

I take my time, picking my way through piles of trash, tripwires, and a heavy piece of concrete set to swing at my head when I stepped on what appeared to be a large, old leaf. Finally, I arrive at the seventh floor.

If he has a laser weapon, he would be smart to be standing in his doorway and simply shoot me when I exit the stairwell. I considered taking Blaze’s rifle, but I’ve never shot one before. When I held it, it didn’t feel right in my hands. It’s a long-range weapon, and I work best in close quarters. I might have been good with a pistol, but that wasn’t an option.

Thankfully, the stairwell door doesn’t make a sound when I open it. I step quietly through the trash-strewn floor on my way to the corner room, mindful of other traps.

I’m almost to his door when I’m struck with an idea. I hadn’t yet figured out how I would barge into his room without getting immediately picked off, even by someone with inferior training and strength.

When I see a crude explosive device partially hidden under a pillowcase, I get a flash of an idea. It’s easy to pick up a heavy brass doorknob someone long ago pried off one of the doors on this hallway. I proceed to Monteen’s door, then toss the knob onto the incendiary device.

The blast is loud and fiery and almost knocks me off my feet. Having just survived another explosion down the street, my heart kicks into double-time. I wait silently, not moving.

It seems like an hour. Maybe it is. At some point, even the most patient person will have to stick their head out their door to see what just happened in the hallway.

If our intel was right, he’s been here since the first night. Because of the rules, that means he’s been without a drone or any intel. He must have heard gunfire, and he certainly heard and felt the two recent explosions down the street. He has to wonder what’s going on out here.

Sure enough, he finally opens the door. I’m holding my sword over my head, and the moment he pokes his head out the door, it will be separated from his shoulders.

That’s exactly what happens.

My heart squeezes in my chest. Perhaps it’s stupid, but I feel sorry for him. He raced here and holed up without food or water, just trying to outwait all the aggressive males in the competition. His strategy almost made him the winner.

“I’m sorry, Monteen,” I say, shaking my head.

I pick my way carefully through the hallway and down the stairs. I wouldn’t want to blow myself up now that it’s Down. To. Two.