Page 39 of Tyton: The Spider and the Dragonfly (Tyton #1)

Sparx tried to look over her shoulder, but Talia was just too damn tall. “What was so important at the base?”

Talia threw him an angry glance and then continued to uncoil the rope. “You’ll see,” she muttered.

Sparx turned his attention to his absurdly large boyfriend silently unlocking the access panel on the roof. “How does he do that so quietly?”

“He keeps his fucking mouth shut while he’s working.” Talia handed Sparx the rest of the rope. She placed the end in her mouth and climbed the ladder to the roof.

“You’re kind of a dick.” Sparx muttered to himself. His Opti pinged.

Sparx climbed up the ladder with the rest of the rope. Talia removed the last of the bolts from the access hatch and set it aside.

“Sync into my Opti.” Talia poked her head in the hatch and peered into the room below.

“I see everything just fine.” Sparx grinned.

“Gah. Stop looking at Tornit’s arse.” Talia yanked her head out of the hatch.

“Oh fuck, I didn’t know two-way video comms were on.” Sparx raised his eyebrows in mock surprise.

“I swear to god, if the last thing I see is a man-arse or a penis, I will haunt the everloving fuck out of you.”

Tornit smiled garishly while Sparx tried to hide his smirk. Neither of them appeared to regret anything.

“Are you serious? I’m on a rescue mission and you two can’t stop acting like jackasses?” Talia pointed a knife in their direction. “How did we not have a revolution sooner?” she muttered.

Tornit shrugged.

Sparx exchanged glances with him. “That says more about you than it does about us.”

Talia glowered. “Anyway, Opti works, but they must be jamming hers.”

Sparx held his breath and turned pink.

“Grow the fuck up.” She put the knife between her teeth.

Sparx pursed his lips to keep from laughing. The seriousness of the situation made it worse. “I’m sorry. I deal with anxiety through humour,” he squeaked.

“That requires you to be funny.” Talia held out a device. “When this goes off, anyone with a functioning strength amplifier patch in a 50-metre radius will go down.” The knife made it difficult to talk, but Sparx understood.

“Including Callie?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

Talia removed the knife and rolled her eyes. “Because I modified it.”

“What? When?”

Talia thought. “About a week ago. We were in bed.”

Sparx’s face contorted. “God, lesbians are so weird.”

“Pay attention!” Talia shoved him. “As soon as I’m at the bottom, run and wait for Sesi. If this goes off and you’re too close, you’ll go down too.”

Sparx nodded sharply.

“If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to torch anything that reads wide beam code and keep using it for a little while longer.” Talia nodded to Tornit and put the knife back in her mouth.

Tornit flexed his metal fingers and tore the housing of the transformer box. Sparks flew from the panel, but the current didn’t appear to bother him in the least. He located and tore several cables. Hexaline lights powered down and Talia heard shouts of alarm.

She rappelled down, activating the repeater. Bodies dropped in the dark all around. Talia swivelled toward a corner for cover, just in case the lights returned or an emergency backup switch tripped.

She rechecked her equipment – five knives and two IntelArms pistols she’d picked up at the base.

Those were last resort and if she had to use them, she probably wouldn’t survive.

Neither would Callie. “Fuck it,” she muttered.

“If she goes, I go.” She dropped the pistols and palmed the knife in her teeth.

Talia scanned the place with her Opti. All Hexaline. No biosig sensors functioning, no cameras that she could see. Tornit had done his job well.

Two hallways with multiple heavy metal doors branched off of the larger room she was in.

It would take at least ten minutes to check them all, assuming they had no curtain on the inside blocking the wall from viewing.

She could take the repeater with her, but as soon as she was out of range, the disabled cultists would revive.

Talia considered killing them all, but she hadn’t paid attention to how many drops there were.

One left would fuck the entire mission and this one was too important.

Talia duck walked down the first hallway, creating a viewing port with her PalmInter near the closest door. Empty.

The second blocked her view with lab supplies.

The third, a room of sleeping acolytes. Too many to fight or disable. They would be a problem if an alarm tripped.

Talia stole on, growing increasingly frustrated.

The fourth housed a reproduction chamber. She shuddered and then hid it with a seething rage. She hated how much this place got to her – how much of her childhood still kept a hold on her body.

A lone woman waited, seated at a vanity brushing her hair, bathed in candlelight, but thankfully, facing away from the door. This would have to do.

“Prison.” A knife appeared at the woman’s throat. Her breath hitched. Talia spoke low against her ear. “I won’t hurt you if you show me where the prison is.”

The woman hesitated. Talia tugged her hair. “I used to be one of you,” she whispered. “They can’t touch me and I promise they won’t touch you either.”

The woman nodded as much as she was able. The knife withdrew.

“What’s your name?”

“Jessie.” The whites of her eyes shone in terror.

“I’m right behind you, Jessie. Walk to where the prison is.”

The last loop of rope fell away. Elena turned to warn the others just as the lights died. Callie took her chance. She sprang forward, wrapping the nylon cord around Elena’s neck.

She thought of how neither Sesi nor Talia had that mental block preventing them from taking another life. And here she was, killing with nothing but a rope. Raw. Visceral. Like something infernal buried under her skin had leapt forth, a true nature, innate and primal. Dark.

But whatever happened, whatever consequence, Callie refused to let anything happen to Talia. At this moment, she refused to restrain her mother bear. Like it or not, Callie was a killer. She would make peace with that later.

Elena kicked against the door, throwing them both backward. The machete clattered against the ground and Elena rolled away. Callie grabbed for the machete, but Elena beat her to it. She swung. Callie dodged and the machete chipped the Hexaline.

Callie punched at Elena’s knee. It caused only a momentary imbalance, but it was enough and Callie had the rope around her neck again. Elena flailed the machete behind her.

Callie winced, the long blade hacking at her arms. Her muscles began to slacken from her injuries when the door opened. A girl she had never seen before screamed. Elena gasped and the machete clattered against the floor.

Like a rose, a knife appeared to sprout from Elena’s chest. Callie fell to her knees, Elena’s head on her lap and Talia’s arms around them both. Prayers of forgiveness dropped from Talia’s lips, but Elena received none of them.

Callie met the girl’s eyes wide and frozen in horror. Sesi’s hand appeared on her shoulder. The girl flinched but her eyes remained locked on the scene in front of her.

Sesi turned her by the shoulders to face her. “Walk to the end of this hall. Sparx will take care of you until you decide what to do.”

The girl froze, but Sesi held her until she gave a small nod and walked tentatively away. Sesi joined Callie and Talia in their embrace.

“C’mon Freckles, let’s get you cleaned up.”

“But...” Callie reached for Talia, her arm covered in ugly gashes.

“This is the best thing you can do for her right now.”