Dragon Emperor (Dragon Spawn Chronicles Book 2) by Dawn Ross

Author:Dawn Ross [Ross, Dawn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-02-28T16:00:00+00:00

27

Persuasion

3791:028:23:42. Another long day of working on the emitter dragged J.D. Hapker down like a slow-sucking pit of mud. The pain of his bruised body doubled with every throb of his heart.

He turned the knob one click to the right. The slight movement sent a twinge through his hand. His bloody and swollen fingers didn’t hurt as much as his head and ribs, though. Still, the beating was worth it. They’d stopped bothering Lieutenant Sharkey. He glanced at the woman beside him and smiled—or tried to.

Her eyes twinkled as her lips turned upward in return. “Your face looks like a giant pomegranate.”

Hapker suppressed the laugh that would cut into his sides. How did she do it? How could she make jokes after what almost happened? Her resilience amazed him.

He refocused on work and noted the numbers on his scanner. An increase of two-point-five-seven degrees. He documented the change, then turned another click.

So far, they had given him simple tasks, but life as a prisoner pressed against his hopefulness. Every day highlighted more problems, none concerning the emitter itself. A battle ensued inside him. On the one hand, he wanted to survive long enough to find a chance of escape. The longer they stayed here, though, the more likely Usagi would take Lieutenant Sharkey against her will.

Not that they should fix this device anyway.

“You need to have a chat with Sergeant Davis,” Sharkey said under her breath.

“Why? What’s wrong?” he replied with the same conspiratorial quietness.

“His mood is getting ugly.”

“Ugly how?”

She bent her head to his ear. “He’s talking about killing some ‘bloody’ barbarians. I think he’s planning something.”

“Does he have a plan with a chance of succeeding?”

Sharkey shook her head. “He said that since we’re going to die anyway, we should kill some of them before we go.”

Hapker suppressed a curse. “I’ll talk to him the first chance I get.”

“There’s more, Sir.”

“What is it?”

“He said something about ending the tyranny and he said it while glaring at Jori.”

Hapker’s heart clenched.

“Someone might have mentioned your fondness for the boy,” she continued. “And he’s telling everyone you don’t have the balls to get us out of this.”

“Crap.” Davis was criticizing his leadership again, this time behind his back. Worse, he had his sights set on Jori. “If I don’t get a chance to talk to him, you must tell him his orders are to stand down until I can inform everyone of a solid plan.”

“Do we have a plan, Sir?”

Hapker sighed. “No. The odds are against us. Davis is right about sacrificing ourselves to stop our enemy, but I’m considering another idea.”

Sharkey cocked her head.

A buzz sounded throughout the bay, stopping him from answering her. Time to return to their cells for a meal and rest. A coppery flavor still lingered in his mouth and his tongue stung from being bitten earlier. Perhaps he should skip the food and go straight to sleep.

Hapker held his ribs as he limped. Each step sent a stab of pain down his left side, making him unable to keep up with Sharkey, let alone reach Davis.

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