Page 46

Sherrod

W e woke before the artificial sunlight began to slowly ‘rise’ and started to prepare.

Neither of us spoke as we dressed and strapped on our preferred weapons.

Zephyr had her hair tied into tight buns, her face tense as she double checked the phase pistols on her hips.

I had barely resisted her last night, opting instead to give her a massage and hold her as she slept.

I didn’t closed my eyes all night.

The bad feeling that had lurked in the back of my mind had only grown over the hours I spent memorizing the sight of her face.

I tried to figure out what I was missing, why this nagging sensation that we were walking into a trap wouldn’t let me go.

But no matter how many times I went over the plan and came up with contingencies for possible fuck ups, I couldn’t find the problem.

“What’s wrong?” Zephyr asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

We were both wearing skin tight tactical suits that were connected to our CPU.

It would make communication and location tracking easier between us, and with Zelena.

It also acted as a low key suit of armor; the microfibers were military grade and could stop most weapons, leaving only a bruise behind.

She was a warrior goddess with her curves encased in the black and red, her face stern and set in a scowl, yet all I saw was the woman I’d burn galaxies for.

I wanted to deny that anything was wrong, but that was just a habit from working alone so long. She was my partner in every sense, she deserved to know.

“I have a bad feeling about the mission,” I confessed, running a hand through my hair. “I don’t know why but this feels…”

“Too convenient?” she nodded. “I was thinking the same. But it’s also the best chance we’ve found to end all of this now and save those families. I’m not sure we can afford to not go. But we don’t have to make it easy for them.”

She gave me a tight grin and dug a small cylindrical device out of a duffel on our bed.

“Holy shit, is that—?”

“A plasma torch. I may have stolen this one from my last mission. Very powerful and they’ll melt through pretty much anything but we have to be careful because they overheat very fast.”

“And all I brought were weapons.”

“We’ll need them,” Zephyr placed her hands on my shoulders and kissed me deep, like she was embedding my taste on her senses.

“We’re going to survive this,” I said, my hands around her waist. “Just don’t take any stupid chances.”

“I won’t.”

“Even when you see him.”

Her jaw hardened and she stared at my throat.

“Hey,” I tilted her head up to meet my eyes, “I know how vengeance can blind a person, and I know you’re smarter than that. I just don’t want you doing anything that will risk your safety, understand?”

“Yeah. It’s just…to be this close and if he slips away again…”

“I know. We’ll get him, together.”

“Alright.”

We kissed again, slower this time, dragging it out until our watches dinged. It was time.

Zephyr stepped out of my arms and I glanced down at my weapons duffel to make sure I’d grabbed everything. A small case caught my eye at the last minute.

The Lazarus Drive.

If anything happens, I could give her this to make sure she survives.

It was risky to take this into enemy territory, but having something that could protect her was worth the risk. Since it was only good for a short amount of time, I hid it inside a small compartment in my forearm. If the worst happened, I’d get it and shove it into her mouth if I had to.

We snuck out of the room through a maintenance tunnel in our bathroom. Zelena kept disabling the surveillance cameras around our suite, but I didn’t trust that there wasn’t one in the hall leading to the elevator.

Zephyr had a read out of the tunnel system and I followed behind her as we crawled through the spaces.

“I got the best end of this deal,” I said as we turned a corner. “Your ass is spectacular in that suit.”

She chuckled and the sound eased a tightness in my chest just a little. We traded compliments back and forth, then dreams of what we’d do after this, all to distract ourselves from the growing knot of tension in our bodies.

When we finally got to our destination, Zephyr opened the hatch and we slipped out into a small closet inside the kitchen.

There were voices on the other side and we glanced at one another, then at our watches.

We had three minutes until the droids were supposed to pick up the meal case.

What if we couldn’t get into one? What did we do then?

Another voice, higher and more demanding entered the conversation but I couldn’t quite discern the exact words.

After a few more seconds, silence fell and Zephyr opened the door of the closet a crack.

Her cyber eye glowed yellow as she scanned for life signs.

Finding none, she gestured to me to follow.

The kitchen was enormous, with gleaming surfaces in chrome and the lingering smell of savory and sweet foods.

Three refrigerators took up one wall, next to that was a series of sinks, and then three different stoves.

In the center was the prep area, where knives and cutting blocks were set out for the next meal.

It wasn’t hard to find the cases. There were several sets of them, laid out for the different families to the right of where we exited the closet.

The Krynn meals case was clearly marked with a deep red rose.

There was a large one that would indeed barely fit the two of us and a smaller one that had a biometric lock on it.

The large one was sealed with a basic lock and I cracked it in about two seconds.

We’d just climbed in and secured the lid when voices came back into the room.

Zephyr and I looked at one another, a second of sheer, stomach dropping terror that whoever this was had seen us climb into this thing and we were about to be captured. But it never happened.

We heard the metallic click and drag of the other cases being loaded onto hover carts by droids, and snippets of inane conversation by whomever was in charge.

It wasn’t until our case was being dragged and loaded that someone said something that caught both our attention.

“What’s Krynn got up her ass this morning?”

“No fucking idea. She’s such a bitch that I’m surprised anyone noticed a difference.”

Zephyr’s eyes went wide and we both strained to hear more.

“All I know is her creepy right hand man went to talk to that female fighter of theirs and found her missing. Two of Mistress Zelena’s guards tried to keep them out of the suite, and it took six of the Krynn guards to take them out. Then they roughed up Mistress Zelena pretty bad too.”

“Fuck, that’s messed up. Mistress Zelena is worth a hundred of that bitch.”

“No argument here.”

We were out of ear shot by then but I’d heard enough that my entire body was numb. Zelena…what had they done?

“What have I done?” I breathed.

Zephyr grabbed my hand.

“This isn’t your fault.”

I swallowed the knot in my throat and tried to accept that but it was impossible. I’d dragged Zelena into this and if anything happened to her…

“They know I’m gone,” Zephyr whispered. “They could be expecting us.”

That snapped me out of my spiral and I forced myself to face our current situation with the same lethal calm I did any other mission.

“Or they’re out looking for you. We left no trace of where we’d gone. Which means…” I ran my hand over my mouth to try and keep from getting sick. “Zelena, they’ll torture her.”

“Not if we get to her first.”

Zephyr’s eyes closed and then her cyber eye turned green, projecting the same 3D schematic as Zelena showed us last night.

“I need you to help me figure out where they could be holding her,” Zephyr whispered.

Whether she really needed me to or not, giving me something to do instead of letting my mind unravel was the perfect way to keep my head in the game.

I studied the schematic, knowing where the preparation rooms were for the food, where Lady Seraph’s rooms were.

The schematics of the other rooms indicated bedrooms, a training room, a living space, entry way, and small ballroom.

But I didn’t detect anything that could be a torture room.

Not that it would be labeled as such.

I looked again, knowing that time was not on our side. It would only take the droids a few minutes to get to the Krynn wing and then we’d have to go forward with plan, or defend ourselves if they knew we were coming.

Everything looked standard except…

“There,” I pointed the small ballroom, “there’s an odd shape to this part of the room, almost as if there should be a room there on the other side but it’s not on the schematic.”

Zephyr nodded.

“I was thinking the same thing. Alright, this is what we do, you go get Zelena, I’ll go to Lady Krynn. If she’s holding Norris anywhere, it will be in her personal suite of rooms where she can keep an eye on him.”

I hated the idea of splitting up but she was right, there was no other way to do this.

The moment one of us acted either against Lady Krynn or to save Zelena, it would set off alarms. I quickly found an alternate route to take me to the ballroom and what we assumed was the secret room.

It would be a little tricky but hopefully it was too early for many of her staff and sycophants to be up.

“We’ll have to do this at the same time,” I said, “I’ll send your CPU a ping when I’m ready to go.”

“I’ll do the same when I’m ready.”

I nodded and closed my eyes. This had already gone tits up and we had barely begun.

“I can’t lose either of you,” I whispered. “I just…I can’t, Zephyr.”

In response, she pressed her forehead to mine and held my hands. We could promise all we wanted, but when the shit hit the fan, anything could happen.

“I love you,” she whispered when we came to a stop.

“I love you too,” I kissed her lightly and waited.