Razov

RAZOV

I felt as if I'd been buried under a collapsed building. I could not move. I could not see or hear. All I knew was darkness, filled with one, pure and clear thought.

I had to save Amelia.

Willpower alone gave me a light in the blackness. I followed the beam of light, as pure and clear as Amelia's heart, until a wall of pain rushed up to consume me.

A growl halfway between an agonized groan and a primal howl of rage forced its way out of my throat. With difficulty, I opened my eyes and lifted my head out of a pool of warm wetness.

I blinked, unsure of where I was, holes making lace of my memories.

When had we left Kalak's apartment? What had happened after we secured the bomb? But most importantly of all…where was Amelia?

One of the plasma surges sparked through a relay, and it all came rushing back.

Our mad flight from the Nazoks, our trip into the dangerous trough. Nazoks assaulting me from all angles. I know I killed a good number of them, but then Kalak pulled out that damn whistle. If I'd been prepared for it, I don't think it would have incapacitated me. Next time, I vowed to be ready.

If there was a next time. My body was in rough shape. I didn't seem to have any limbs broken, but everything felt like one big bruise. When I pushed myself up to my hands and knees, I swooned and nearly fainted again.

I gritted my teeth and forced myself to stay awake, for Amelia's sake. Kalak had her, and he said her death would be ‘long-suffered.' As cruel as that was, it did give me some hope that Amelia might still be alive. If only I could reach her in time.

I made it to one knee, and then a klaxon sounded across the trough, yellow and white warning lights flashed all over.

Warning, the automated station system intoned. Maintenance cycle will begin. Electrification of all metallic surfaces will commence in thirty seconds.

Thirty seconds? I looked to the door we came in through, entirely too far away to make it in such a short amount of time. Maybe, if I weren't so beaten up. Now, though, I didn't know if I would make it or not.

I had to try, though. I had to do everything I could to get back to Amelia. Her spirit, her cunning, and her sensuality had been everything I could ever ask for in a woman.

And I had let Kalak take her away from me.

I kicked into a level of speed only the Vinduthi could achieve. Running extremely fast isn't as simple as non-Vinduthi seem to think. Our perceptions speed up as well, which is a good thing because we have to be very, very careful when we run at top speed. The amount of acceleration and strain on our bodies is intense, and the slightest wrong move can result in injuries…and not just to other people.

I pushed myself like I had not in many years. Not since the war and I literally ran for my life. The klaxon stopped, the first crackles of the electrification protocol cutting through the air when I was three steps from the exit.

I leaped through the door and collapsed on the deck plating on the other side. I turned back and saw…not a whole hell of a lot. I was not able to see into the electrical spectrum like some alien races could. But I knew that just because you couldn't see something, didn't mean it couldn't kill you.

I could spare no more time for myself. I got back to my feet, a painful process, as my hasty use of speed had torn open many of my partially healed wounds. I really needed to just stop and rest for a while.

But that would mean the end of Amelia.

I thought of her lovely face, her flashing blue eyes, and realized I could never allow that to happen. Even though the effort caused me more pain, I took off at a run, though without using Vinduthi levels of speed.

I brought up the station map in my head, the one that Kalak had in his living room. I knew generally where the bomb would be placed. I couldn't afford to take even one wrong turn, though. Every time I came to a junction, I fought down a wave of panic that I would not be able to figure out which was the correct path.

And yet, every time, I managed to bring the memory back. Then, I came upon a narrow maintenance tunnel, poorly lit and undulating and clogged with piping and conduits.

My going grew much slower, but I had renewed hope in the form of Amelia's scent. It was fresh, the source not far away.

Was she still alive?

She had to be. I couldn't accept anything else.

All I could do was reach Amelia and hope for the best.

At last, I shoved my way out of a mess of wires and pipes and stumbled out of the maintenance shaft. I flopped onto my belly, face cracking hard on the deck plating.

I shook it off, because her scent swam in my nostrils. A muffled sound, tiny and pathetic, reached my ears.

I looked over and saw Amelia, restrained and gagged on the floor. The bomb was magnetically adhered over her head, and the countdown indicated it had less than five minutes remaining before detonation.

More than enough time to free her. I examined her bonds as she made a grateful sound behind her gag.

"I'll have you out in just a moment," I assured her, blinking blood out of my eyes. The cord around her wrists yielded to my claws easily. The manacles around her ankles were harder, but I managed to snap the chain running between them. We could get the anklets off later.

Amelia unwound her gag while I freed her ankles. She pulled a massive, saliva soaked towel out of her mouth and promptly vomited on the plating.

"Are you all right?" I asked.

"I am now that I know you're still alive," she said.

I lifted her in my arms, grimacing at the pain such a simple feat cost me, holding her tightly until she squirmed in my grasp.

"But we're almost out of time."

"I know," I told her. "I just needed to hold you, to know you were safe, before I thought about anything else."

I set her down gently on her feet and turned my attention to the bomb.

"Can you really stop it?"

"I did some demolition disposal during the war," I admitted. "The problem was I couldn't get into the carrying case. Our Nazok friends helped us out with that part."

"Then this should be right up your alley."

"This is not a standard explosive device," I cautioned her as I looked for a way to open up the bomb so I could get at its electronic guts. "It may well be that I can't disarm it."

I turned to her as I popped the carapace open.

"It would be best if you would run, Amelia."

"I'm not going anywhere without you," she said, thrusting out her bottom lip in a display of stubbornness that grated but I could still not help but admire.

I cursed under my breath.

"Woman, I will strap you down and flog you for this."

"Promises, promises," she said, sticking her tongue out at me. "But you'll have to get us out of this first. There's only three minutes left."

I grimaced, but how could I argue with that? I returned my attention to the bomb and felt a brief swell of hope. The design was not quite as exotic as I had thought. All I had to do was disconnect the wires supplying power to the detonation switch.

Only, they had to be carefully separated from the mass of a dozen other wires…and they were all the same color and thickness. Only by matching the connecting points could I be sure I was going to sever the right wire.

Needless to say, a wrong move would result in premature detonation.

I cut the first wire in a matter of seconds. Finding the next took most of my remaining time. The clock counted down from fifteen seconds as I struggled to find the origin point of the two remaining wires.

"Razov," Amelia said urgently, getting closer.

"I know," I said, blinking bloody sweat out of my eyes as I worked.

"There's only five seconds left?—"

"I said I know, Amelia," I hissed through clenched teeth. One wire left.