Chapter 28

Chigs's eyes widened as Emmy aimed her rifle directly at him, his hearts threatening to explode. Was she mind controlled again? Then he realized she wasn't aiming at him—he was aiming behind him. He spun in time to block a blow from the denaidan female's knife. With a focused ionic blast, he sent her staggering backward.

She tripped over a fallen guard and landed hard on her back next to Tovik.

Staggering slightly and bleeding from his temple, Tovik took advantage of her momentary daze and lunged forward, pinning her to the ground. Meanwhile, Rust ended his struggle by lifting a guard overhead and slamming him down onto the ground with a sickening crunch. Kashatok, covered in sweat and blood, elicited a blood-curdling scream as he drove his blade into the side of one guard, then turned to another. And like the sudden turning of a tide, Marlis and Noatak also took down their adversaries in perfect synchronization.

Just like that, the battle was over.

Chigs's gaze frantically sought Emmy in the residual chaos, double hearts hammering. Please tell me she's survived this. He spotted her crouched behind Qaiyaan, helping him sit up.

Hurrying toward the pair, he snagged Emmy's arm and pulled her to her feet. "What in the name of Ellam Cua were you thinking?" His words were harsher than intended, his hearts still pounding with adrenaline and relief. "You could have been killed!"

Emmy blinked at him, wide-eyed, her face pale and her body trembling slightly. The rifle was slung over her shoulder against her back. "We were losing, Chigs. I had to help." She yanked her arm out of his grip. "Go check on Tovik."

A wave of admiration washed over him. His mate might not be a warrior, but she was a force to be reckoned with. He turned to find Tovik arguing with the denaidan female.

"Please, stop!" said the woman. "I'm on your side!"

"Then why the hell did you attack us?" Tovik released her and stood.

"Uminaq! Do not release her, Tovik!" Chigs shouted. "She's mind controlled!"

"No, she's not. I put my shielding around her," Tovik said.

Chigs watched the woman as she backed away, her previous soldier persona replaced by over-exaggerated sobbing. "I'm not sure it worked, kid."

"We thought you were more of Dollard's men," she said between wails. "We panicked when you rushed us."

Rust moved in behind her and grabbed her arms. "That wasn't panic." He began tying her wrists behind her. "That was a coordinated attack."

The woman moaned in pain, and Tovik glowered, fists balling at his sides. "Take it easy, asshole. She's injured."

"Don't tell me what to do." Rust didn't look up from his task, but his touch seemed to gentle sightly.

"Please don't let him hurt me." The woman kept her eyes locked with Tovik's, like she knew he was the weakest link.

Unease churned in Chigs's stomach. "We're not going to hurt you, but we need to keep you restrained," he said as he tore a strip from the edge of her tunic and shoved it against her teeth, tying it tight behind her head. "You can forgive me later."

"Do you really need to gag her?" asked Tovik. "That seems extreme."

"We can't have her screaming for help." Chigs looked at the woman. "You understand, right?"

She thrashed her head, her muffled words full of obvious vitriol.

Tovik patted her gently on the shoulder. "You'll be back to yourself soon, and then we can free you. I promise."

She glared back at him. Chigs was fairly certain if she could've bitten the kid, she would've.

Chigs and Emmy guided the group onto the elevator and, from there, down the hallway toward the stairs. He didn't like how quiet the base was. The group who attacked them couldn't have been all of Dollard's guards. And where were the denaidan women? They'd seemed to be an integral part of Dollard's team. Though he had to admit he was glad there weren't more denaidan women involved in the battle. He only prayed they found them soon and that Tovik's device worked as planned.

The captured denaidan woman trudged down the stairwell, face sullen. Tovik kept giving her lovesick glances. The poor kid never seemed to catch a break. Chigs reflected on how strange it was that at one point he'd expected to find a mate among these females. Now his duty to rescue them for the sake of his people was overshadowed by his fierce desire for Emmy; he'd do whatever it took to protect her.

His dual hearts pounded as they emerged from the stairwell into the long hall leading to the mainframe in the bowels of the facility. The metallic walls felt like they were pressing in on all sides, held back by a coiled spring ready to snap. Ahead, past a few closed doors, the door to the mainframe stood ajar, a crack of light spilling into the hallway.

"That's it." Chigs pointed. "Through that doorway."

"Dollard probably posted guards in there," added Emmy, radiating regret. "I let it slip about Doug cracking the security firewalls while he had me under mind control."

"It wasn't your fault," said Chigs, taking her hand and squeezing.

She nodded, but he knew she still felt weighted with guilt.

Kashatok and Tovik scouted ahead, pausing near the door to listen. After a tense moment, Kashatok pushed it fully open with one hand, revealing the bright lights of humming servers inside. Chigs's eyes immediately darted to the spot where the dead guard had lain, but there was no sign of the body and no additional guards.

"That's strange." Emmy pressed herself against his side. "Why isn't it guarded?"

"Maybe those guys on the elevator were it," suggested Tovik hopefully. He looked at the bound woman for verification, but she just stared at him sullenly.

Rust clomped around the glowing server. "Dollard's a spineless rat. He probably triggered the auto-destruct and is scurrying to the shuttle bay like a coward."

"Uminaq. I didn't consider that. I'd better check." Tovik plopped down at a console. After a couple of breathless minutes, he stood again. "No self-destruct that I can see."

"Fuck, kid, you barely looked," said Rust. "Do I have to do everything?" He yanked a panel from one side of the console and planted a hand against the bare wiring. His cybernetic eye flashed green, then gold, as he used his cyber sensitivity to scan the system.

Chigs scratched his beard, keeping one eye on the denaidan woman. Her eyes remained locked on Tovik, but her face showed no emotion. If there was a self-destruct counting down, was she capable of caring?

"I need one of you to give up your pendant so I can tie it into the mainframe," said Tovik.

Emmy pulled hers free. "Use mine. Both Marlis and Rust would be far more dangerous under mind control."

Marlis punched her shoulder lightly. "I wouldn't say that. Look how you handled yourself in that last fight."

Chigs would've preferred Emmy that keep the device, but giving up hers was the most logical option. "Just remember to stick close to me, no matter what," he reminded her. Then he leveled a pointed stare toward Tovik. "This plan better work."

Tovik rolled his eyes. "Stop being such a doubter." He cast a smile toward the denaidan female. "Once I'm done with this, I'll be able to untie you."

She nodded, though her eyes remained cold. Tovik beamed back. Chigs prayed this worked, or the kid was going to be heartbroken.

Pendant in hand, Tovik opened a nearby control panel and leaned inside. After a few moments of fiddling, he emerged, features pinched in thought, and he moved to the nearest console. His fingers danced over the keyboard, seconds bleeding into minutes that felt like hours.

Rust pulled his hand from the wiring. "Kid was right. No self-destruct."

"Told you," Tovik mocked in a sing-song voice as his fingers continued flying over the controls.

With a last flourish, he pressed a key and spun to look triumphantly at his team. At the same moment, the denaidan woman collapsed, crumpling to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut. Emmy gasped, her fingers digging into Chigs's forearm.

"What happened?" Qaiyaan demanded.

Kashatok dropped to a knee and pressed his fingers to the woman's throat. "She's alive."

Noatak glowered at Tovik. "What did you do?"

Tovik shook his head, his face ashen in the flashing lights from the computers. "I boosted the signal through the comm system. It should've freed her from Dollard's control." He turned an angry glare toward Rust. "You must have messed with the system while you were in there!"

Rust raised both hands. "I didn't change any programming. Only looked."

Letting out a shaky breath, Tovik focused back on the mainframe console, poking again at the controls. "Come on, come on," he muttered under his breath, desperation coloring his words. He stopped typing and spun to look at the denaidan woman again. "Okay. I turned off the signal pulse. Is she back?"

Kashatok pulled back the woman's eyelids one at a time. "Still non-responsive."

With a frustrated growl, Tovik slammed his fist against the console. "I don't know what else to do!"

"Did this happen to everyone on the base?" asked Noatak in a quiet monotone Chigs had learned to recognize as deadly serious.

Tovik nodded, his voice trembling. "Everyone within a hundred meters of a comm unit that had been mind controlled like she was."

Chigs felt like he had been punched in the gut as he started to put everything together. "What if these females didn't have minds to control?" Dollard had said the woman whose body he inhabited had been "long gone." Brain dead after the abominable attempts to use her for breeding. Had that been the fate of all the test subjects? "What if they were… possessed, like the female Dollard?"

Silence filled the room, made heavier by the hum of the mainframe.

Emmy's fingers gently brushed a strand of hair from the woman's face. "Then we freed them from slavery. I know I'd rather die than live controlled like I was."

"Are you saying that the body Dollard was using is probably just like these now?" asked Kashatok.

"Fuuuuck!" shouted Rust. "I need to find that bastard and finish him myself!" Before anyone could react, he stormed out of the room, his heavy footsteps echoing down the corridor.

Emmy rose, her lips in a grim line. "Dollard mentioned something about women still in cryo pods. I was supposed to help prepare them for…" She swallowed distastefully. "Breeding. But I think it means their minds are still intact."

Qaiyaan ran a hand over his face, his expression grim. "Assuming Dollard hasn't done his usual cut and run, taking them with him. We should split up and secure the rest of the base."

"There may still be Syndicorp guards," Kashatok said. "Keep your shields up."

Tovik's gaze swung between the collapsed female and the door. "What about this female? What if she wakes up?"

"I don't think she will, Tovik," said Kashatok. "Mek hasn't been able to wake the ones back on the Icarus."

"But we can't just leave her here," Tovik insisted, his ginger brows furrowed in worry. "What if there are more Syndicorp guards? Or if Dollard isn't dead and comes back?"

"We'll carry her with us," Chigs said. "We'll get all the females out of here, brain dead or otherwise. It's the least we can do."

"I'll carry her," said Tovik with a crack in his voice. He lifted the female into his arms as if she were spun glass.

As they headed for the door, Chigs prayed to Ellam Cua that they could find the females—and that they were still alive.