Chapter 25

They’d made their way closer to the compound when Dante suddenly looked concerned. “Stop,” he hissed, throwing out his arm.

“What?” Tinsley whispered back.

Instead of answering, Dante plucked a hair out of his head—Tinsley winced—and tossed it out in front of them. The hair was caught by a slight breeze and drifted away from them.

“Wha—”

Dante tapped Tinsley on the lips and pointed, indicating she should watch. She waited, sure Dante knew what he was doing. They stared out into the dark for a while until they caught a faint glimmer of red.

“Lasers,” Tinsley said.

Dante nodded. He army-crawled back in the direction they had come from. Tinsley groaned and got down on her stomach. It was the only way to avoid the radar, but she was getting sick of being half an inch off the ground, and her elbows were getting sore.

They retreated out of range of the radar. Dante turned over and sat down. Tinsley crawled up next to him.

“How did you…”

“You shouldn’t have to whisper anymore.” Dante spoke at a normal level.

“Better safe than sorry,” Tinsley retorted.

“True,” he said quietly, smiling at her. “Can we risk a snack?”

He reached into one of the pockets on his pants and pulled out two ration bars. Tinsley took one, trying to hide her disgust. The emras were compact and provided a good amount of nutrition along with a caffeine-like stimulant to keep a person alert. Anytime she tried one, though, she always found them disgusting.

She knew from experience to only eat half. They were designed for someone much taller with a lot more muscle. She opened it and took a small nibble, hoping for a decent flavor. When the signal from her taste buds reached her brain, she sighed. No matter what the label said, they all tasted like dust.

The stimulant shot right to her brain, though. She took one more very small bite, rewrapped it, and then shoved it into a pocket. It took a while for Dante to finish his. Since they were trying to keep quiet, she used that time to daydream about a nice frothy cappuccino. She added a pistachio biscotti on the side. She decided to cover the biscotti in chocolate—but dark or milk? She couldn’t decide.

Dante finished his bar and wrapped his arm around her. He smelled really good, and all snacks, no matter how delicious, vanished from her mind. They were trying to be very quiet and not get caught, so a quickie was out of the question. The idea of it was rather exciting, though.

Finish the mission,she thought harshly. Then they’d have fun. Lots of it. Dante had taken out his comm. He held it out in front of her and pointed.

She squinted at the screen and nodded. “What about the lasers?”

“I think maybe they wouldn’t have bothered. You see why?”

She nodded again. Not only was the wall of the facility straight-up, with no windows or balconies, but a drop-off continued at the foot of the compound. It was slightly less steep but completely full of rocks.

They had some basic gear, but it was a pretty serious climb. Still, Tinsley didn’t have a better idea. “How long do you think it will take to get over there?”

The really unfortunate part of the plan was their only access was on the exact opposite side of the building from where they were.

“And that’s being hopeful,” Tinsley muttered. “It’s not a slam dunk by any stretch of the imagination.”

“Huh?” Dante frowned.

She waved him off. “Terran game. Tell you later.”

It was their only idea. They had to get over there and check it out in person. He took off crawling again. Tinsley groaned, and Dante motioned for her to follow him.

An hour later, they had safely made it around the building undetected, and Tinsley was dreaming of a full spa day complete with a long hot soak in some scented water. They took another break. Dante ate another emra while Tinsley choked down a few more nibbles of her first one.

“I want you ahead of me on the rocks,” Dante told her.

Tinsley nodded. He was plenty strong, but it was easier for him to try and stop her descent on the way down should she stumble.

“Do you smell anything?”

Dante took a large sniff and made a face. “Just Jorvlens,” he said. “No lasers.”

“You can smell them?” She jerked back in surprise. “How close are they?”

“I was joking.” He grinned. “I can barely smell them from this far away. But up close, well, trust me, some of them are pretty ripe.”

“Ha-ha.” Tinsley stepped out onto the rocky cliff.

She cut a path across and up at the same time. They reached the bottom of the wall with no major incidents. Some smaller rocks broke loose a few times, and they had to freeze, but they saw no sign that anyone inside their target destination noticed.

Tinsley reached the wall first. She ran her hands up and down it with no small amount of dismay. It was perfectly smooth. Dante was already at work undoing the short rope.

“How can we climb it?” she wondered aloud.

He grinned and put his palm against the wall. Then he plunged his fingers into the rock.

“Look,” he said. He shined his comm light into the hole he had made.

Tinsley’s jaw dropped. He laughed and picked her up, handing her his comm. She could see the rock had been attached to steel fencing that would be easy to grab on to.

“Typical Jorvlen cheapness,” he said. “One sniff of the wall and I knew. This is just a veneer made to look menacing. Climb on.”

She climbed up onto his back. He started passing the rope behind her, lashing her to him.

“I can hold on,” she told him.

“I’m not risking it, no way. A fall from even a short height, onto that…” He indicated the rocks they had just traversed. “There’s no telling how bad the injuries would be.”

Tinsley admitted he was right. She laid her face against his back and decided she would not look down no matter what.

Dante climbed carefully but steadily. The biggest issue they had was the dust he generated. Still, Tinsley was very glad when he stepped onto the roof, where they made their way carefully. Tinsley pointed out the air vents, and he nodded.

They sat down. Dante went for another emra bar, but Tinsley indicated he should eat hers. While he chewed, he dug into another pocket and came up with a black gooey energy bar. Tinsley watched while he broke off two small pieces. She thought he was going to offer her one to eat, so she was surprised when he stuck them on the ends of his horns.

He wrapped his arm around her and leaned in close.

“Tip from one of my brothers,” he said in her ear. “Trigg. He almost got stuck in a duct a few times, and it helps to put something slick on your horns.”

Tinsley had to stifle a laugh. “Is crawling around in ducts a family activity for the Lorr?”

“Just the Lorrz family,” Dante said with an amused sigh. “Once we’re… someplace that isn’t here… I’ll tell you stories. Or maybe my brothers can.”

“Noted,” Tinsley said with a smile. “So where are we going?”

“Recon. Once we have intel, we can get a better idea of where to start.”

“Okay,” Tinsley grinned. “Kiss for luck?”

After a very long, thorough, and annoyingly arousing kiss, he pulled away. They walked to the vent. Dante carefully pulled the cover open, and they peered inside.

“Ladies first,” he offered. “Isn’t that a human thing?”

“So is age before beauty, old man.” Tinsley climbed in. “But I’ll go ahead and take one for the team, as they say.”