Aurora Blazing by Jessie Mihalik

Author:Jessie Mihalik
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2019-09-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

We were almost outside when I stumbled and nearly went down as a wave of wireless signals drove a spike into my brain. I swallowed the urge to vomit. Either Riccardo had been found or something else big was happening. I tried to catch one of the messages but the effort made the nausea worse.

“What’s wrong?” Ian whispered.

“Nothing. But we need to move fast to the gate. Can you do it?”

White lines of pain bracketed Ian’s mouth, but he just straightened and said, “Yes.”

“Keep leaning on me. It’ll look like we’re out for a drunken stroll. The cuff will protect us for a little while.”

We stepped out into chaos. The evening had deepened into night, but floodlights lit up the area. Fire flickered from our left, the direction of the spaceport, and armed guards ran to provide backup. No one paid any attention to us as Ian leaned deeper and deeper into my shoulder. By the time we made the gate, I was half carrying him.

“Aoife?” I called.

She stepped out from behind the gate column, clad in her combat armor. She slid open her helmet and I caught her frown. “Why are your coms down?”

I touched my ear but the tiny earpiece was gone. “Things didn’t exactly go according to plan,” I said. “You’ll have to carry him.”

Ian growled something under his breath, but he was far too pale. Aoife pulled the gate open, setting off a screeching alarm. She took in my heels with a glance. “Can you keep up?”

I could run in these heels, but not for long. “How far is the ship?”

“Over a kilometer. The dark will help, but we need to move.” She assessed Ian with another probing glance. “I can’t put him over my shoulder with a stomach wound like that, so I won’t be able to shoot. It’s up to you.”

I took off the half mask I still wore. I needed to see as well as possible. I tried to take Ian’s blast pistol but he clung to it tenaciously. “I’m not that helpless,” he grumbled.

Aoife took off and within three steps I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep up with my shoes on. I kicked the heels off and took flight barefoot. The pockmarked pavement was littered with debris that stabbed the tender soles of my feet.

The world narrowed to running and pain. The cuff pulsed as it repelled three quick shots. Ian shot over my head and a distant scream indicated a hit. My feet were on fire, sending lightning bolts of pain up my legs, but I blocked it out as best I could.

I hit one target but didn’t have time to celebrate as another pulse vibrated up my arm. Was that six or seven? Somewhere I’d lost count, but either way, the cuff was nearly out of power.

Fatigue dragged at me and the air burned through my lungs. A side stitch felt like someone had stabbed me between the ribs and still we ran. When the ship came into view, the relief nearly put me on the ground.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.