Page 319 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Eoin

When I arrived at the warehouse with the safe, my heart was pounding from the difficult climb and run.

My body was much heavier than usual, since I’d filled myself up to maximum capacity with metals in those mines.

There was a not wholly unpleasant burn in my thighs and calves, but I forgot all about that when I walked inside.

Two mercs were standing guard on either side of the door, their laser rifles at the ready and their eyes alert.

I saw two more on the walls, where one was rapidly working on the laser cannon that Sin had taken care of.

It looked to me like they hoped to get it working again, in case they needed to defend this place against incoming reinforcements.

I hoped it wouldn’t come to that. We had no way to know what kind of forces could be inbound.

We’d hoped to delay them, with the orbiting station out of the running, slowing down their communications.

If it became another fight, I wasn’t sure how we’d be able to get our rescues out of there.

As it was, I wasn’t sure how they’d all fit onto the shuttle, people would have to sit on the floor to make it work.

The inside of the warehouse was disappointingly empty, with only two full crates of mined Iridium.

Still, it was a small fortune and already plenty to pay the mercs with.

However, it was extremely heavy stuff, so it might be too difficult to transport.

Those two crates certainly wouldn’t fit on the shuttle along with all the people.

The Captain, with his long, shiny black body, was curled around one of his subordinates, and he turned a watchful gaze on me as I entered.

He was standing protective guard over the comms specialist, Mitnick.

That male was easily recognized by his feathered head and the thick cloak around his shoulders.

“Ah, finally,” he said, his voice taking on a slightly sinister drawl that reminded me uncomfortably of Drameil, the slave owner from whom most of my friends had escaped.

I shrugged in greeting, already studying the thick metal safe door in front of them.

It was a huge thing that blocked off the entire back corner of the warehouse.

It could store countless valuables, and it was obviously giving the hacker a hard time.

With a completely baffled expression on his face, the hacker turned to me and said, “This thing is analog! Who the fuck makes analog safes?” He was so affronted by it that I couldn’t help but laugh.

Obviously, it was working, so they had good reason to do so.

Mitnick didn’t appreciate it when I pointed that out.

They made space for me in front of the heavy door, and I wasted no further time.

Pressing my hands against the metal over the locking mechanism, I started a push and pull—pulling the heavy metals the safe was made of through my palms and then excreting what I couldn’t keep in nice, square little blocks.

It took concentration and a lot of skill to reshape the metal at that speed, so I had to shut out all the noise around me.

Still, some of their surprised exclamations registered, especially when the hole got big enough to see into the safe.

When I’d reached and demolished the inner locking mechanism, I dug my fingers into the metal and, with a good heave, the door started swinging open. The Captain and Mitnick immediately jumped in to help, and soon we were standing next to each other, peering into the dark interior.

I whistled through my teeth at the sight of several trays of glimmering gems on a table along one wall.

There were also two huge stacks of gold, the glimmering yellow bars stacked neatly on the metal floor.

Perfect—now Tori and I were at least no liars, and it definitely wouldn’t be our fault if they didn’t manage to carry this out of here.

The thought had just crossed my mind when I heard a shout go up outside, followed by the sound of laser fire.

I didn’t hesitate, rushing out of the warehouse to see what was going on.

I hoped Tori and her charges were out of the mines.

We had to hurry to get out of here. Aramon was our pilot, though I figured most males here, like myself, could pilot a shuttle.

I would still prefer to have the best man on the job if we’d be taking off under fire.

Jaxin came rushing past me, a wide grin splitting his face nearly in two, his laser cannon cradled in his arms. “Make way, I’ll take care of this!” he shouted as he ran straight for the gate. An explosion followed a moment later, and then silence reigned.

Looking out the gate made it obvious that a single land vehicle had approached, possibly just trying to check out what was happening, a scout.

Jaxin had blown up the whole vehicle, and debris and bodies were scattered everywhere; he had definitely taken care of this problem.

There was no doubt that more would soon follow.

Struck with worry for Tori, I spun away from the gate and started running toward the mines again, only to be surprised when an all-terrain vehicle came roaring up the slope, Aramon behind the wheel, grinning like a maniac.

I didn’t see my Tally, but this was a transport meant for people as well as goods, she was probably in the loading bed among the others.

Aramon parked the vehicle with a dramatic squeal of brakes and a cloud of dust, leaping out before it had come to a complete stop.

I still beat the male to the back of the truck, searching for my Tally among the crowd of tired alien faces.

It was easier to spot Solear, his deathmask drawing the eye with its bright whiteness.

Tori was right next to him, her small figure dwarfed by everyone around her.

Noticing me, she gave me a radiant smile before she turned to her charges and began directing them out of the vehicle’s loading bed.

It was immediately obvious why she had procured it, most of the males were a sorry, ragged bunch, moving slowly and with clear exhaustion.

If not for this thing, they never would have made it up the slope.

“Eoin! Are we still in time? I thought I heard fighting!” Tori asked me as she leaped confidently out of the truck without assistance. Then she reached up a hand to help a shaggy, slow-moving male—the human she’d come here to rescue—climb down.

I squashed the irrational surge of jealousy at the sight of her holding hands with another male, and smiled at her instead.

I was immediately rewarded for my restraint when she came my way, leaping into my arms to press her mouth to mine.

I reveled in the open display of affection, not ashamed to admit that I took the chance to thoroughly stake my claim.

“Right on time. It was a minor skirmish with a scout. We’ll be out of here soon,” I told her when she pulled back for air. Her cheeks were a little red, but I was pretty sure that was from exhilaration, not embarrassment. Her smile was huge, and her dark brown eyes were positively glowing.

“Good,” she said with a nod, then wriggled in my arms. “You can put me down now, we’ve got to get moving.

” Reluctantly, I let her body slide down mine, enjoying the feel of her curves as they pressed against me.

As soon as her feet touched the ground, I took hold of her hand and tried to locate the Captain.

Surely he had a plan to extract us and the goods; I just had to figure out what it was so I could make sure those who mattered to me were on the first ride out.

*

Tori

My adrenaline surge had mostly run its course now that I was standing next to Eoin again.

I’d done what I wanted to do—I’d saved them—without his help.

I felt a little weak in the knees thinking about what I’d just done, I’d actually ordered Aramon to procure that vehicle.

I’d vehemently argued with him for nearly a minute before he’d been willing to leave his “post,” as he’d called it.

But I had won that argument, and look how it had turned out! We’d made it to the top in time.

I was pretty sure the next step had to be that Aramon and Solear went to fetch the shuttle we’d parked out of sight, but just as I was about to open my mouth, I heard a noise.

Looking up at the sky, I realized that a shuttle was approaching.

Someone a little further up in the courtyard was waving their arms, directing the small vessel to land.

It was sleek and black, shaped like a bullet, nearly identical to the one we’d arrived on the planet in.

As if all of us were thinking the same thing, Eoin, my rescued people, and I all turned to head that way, only to pause when the hatch dropped open.

It was a cargo vessel; not a single seat lined the interior, and mercenaries immediately started moving.

They were a well-oiled machine, moving quickly and with little instruction needed. I felt a little niggle of disquiet when I realized they weren’t prioritizing getting us off the planet, no, they were loading gold and diamonds into the ship.

Even Mitnick was no longer glued to a screen but trotting from the warehouse with a bundle in his arms. I was shocked to realize that he’d taken off his big cloak and wrapped it around whatever he was carrying—mostly because I hadn’t even suspected for a moment that he was hiding a pair of big wings beneath it.

Considering the feathered mohawk on his head, it wasn’t entirely strange.

“Aramon, why don’t you go fetch the other shuttle? I don’t think our charges can walk that far,” Eoin suggested quietly. I didn’t listen to the reply, just vaguely heard Aramon explode into a denial about not leaving my side, as he’d been ordered.