Chapter 18

EIGHTEEN

"What doyou mean you can't get a hold of him?" It's been hours since we saw Riann at Ganfrey's, and the man doesn't look any happier.

"He hasn't answered or returned any of my comms."

When I don't answer him right away, Riann asks, "Do you need me to explain it in a different language?"

"He shouldn't be unreachable," I say, pulling up his outpost data.

"Well, when you get in touch with him, tell him I'm waiting on his call. I just had to explain to my boss why I haven't mentioned the cavrinskh connection yet and he spent an hour yelling at me like he hasn't been avoiding every other problem under him for the last month and a half." Riann hangs up and I immediately dial Kilo's comm.

No answer.

When I override the comm, there's no one to greet me but his zurgle.

It lounges on his couch, tail twitching as I call out Kilo's name.

Again, no response.

"What's going on?" Kimba asks, coming up the stairs, her hair still wet.

"Kilo isn't answering his comm and he doesn't seem to be at home." Through the comm video I can't see the things I would be able to if I was there.

"I'll see if he's at Margot's." She goes to make the call, toweling her hair.

I check the schedules. Fault is at Margot's, which means we're the closest.

Pulling out Kimba's coat and boots again, I grab my things. I already know what Margot is going to say.

"He's not there."

I hold out a hat. "It's quicker to get to his outpost by crossing the Zone."

There's a fizzle of uncertainty and I offer what I already know she'll refuse. "I can go alone."

"No way." She snatches the hat and pulls it down tight. "Let's go."

Once we both have our cold gear on and make our way to the lowest level, I start to worry.

Kimba doesn't.

"Front or back," she asks.

"Front." If a cavrinskh comes at us, I don't want it tearing her off of me.

But no cavrinskh attack. I don't see another living thing until we get inside Kilo's outpost and his powder blue zurgle watches us with contempt.

Kilo's outpost is meticulously clean, and he isn't here.

The only movement is the twitching tail of that zurgle that watches both of us with its star-filled eyes.

Perched on top of the kitchen island, it glares at us like a sentry. The low whistle of its disapproval tickles a nerve cluster at the base of my spine, telling me to get out.

"We'll leave in just a minute." I tell it, before going to the screen beside the door. "He's gone."

Kimba doesn't argue that we need to check the other levels of the outpost. "His car is here. Is he out in the Zone?"

"Bike's still here. He wouldn't have gone out on foot." I pull up the recordings and watch as Kilo leaves, hurrying down the drive and hopping into someone's car. But before he gets in, he turns back, as if inspecting the outpost. His lips…

"I might need help." I repeat what I see.

"What?" Kimba looks at the screen, glaring at Kilo's face when I replay it. "I don't see anything."

"Safe to say he knew I was going to be the one who saw this." I take the registration number from the car and shoot it over to Riann. "He'll get me the address before we get to town."

Kimba nods and turns to go. I pause, looking at Kilo's zurgle. "We're gonna go get him. Don't worry."

"Does it understand you?" Kimba asks.

"I've been told they might be able to. And if it can, I'd rather set it at ease, wouldn't you?"

The zurgle lets out a chirp and I tell myself I'm being ridiculous when I think, for a moment, that it's the creature's way of saying thank you.

"We'll take his car." I say, grabbing his neural link from a square dish by the door. "It'll be faster."

I don't get more than three steps before Kilo's zurgle hops onto my shoulder, claws digging in.

It lets out a low yowl before hopping down and going to paw at a tablet on the couch.

When I open it, I curse. "Nevermind.

Kilo was doing more than following and observing. He was tracking movements and keeping notes… and planting the cameras that now show him tied to a chair, having the shit beaten out of him.

"Saints," Kimba whispers. "Where is this?"

Kilo has that marked on a map as well. "Remember those abandoned outposts I told you about?"

She nods.

"It looks like someone is squatting."

The car won't be faster after all.

"There's no way I'm going to convince you to go home, is there?" D asks for the fifth time as Shock and Risk join us. The cold boys blend into the icy landscape better than D does.

"No chance." I manage not to shiver.

"Arc is going to be so pissed off," Shock says as he slips off his bike and joins us. "He's all the way up in Ward's territory."

"Do I know him?" I ask. The name sounds familiar.

"No." D glares up at the outpost. "Someone's been making changes. There's a lot of Lasap paneling that wasn't there before."

I don't ask how they managed a renovation under the brotherhood's noses.

"What do you think they're hiding?" Risk asks. But he doesn't look up.

He's watching the Zone. We should probably all be paying more attention to it than we are.

I don't know which direction holds the least savory monsters, out or up.

All four of us know what D found the last time the Company was involved and Lasap was used.

D grimaces. "Whatever it is, I don't think we're going to like it."

The lower entrance to the outpost is half iced over and very clearly hasn't been used in a while. Risk tosses Shock a blowtorch and the man gets to work melting.

"I can code it so that the sensors don't note that it's opened," D says as we stand in the cavern-like space that hides us from the outpost far overhead. "But the power isn't on, so it shouldn't anyway. We're going to have to manually open it and take the stairs."

"I haven't done my cardio yet today," I say, still trying to ignore the sinking ache in my gut.

Pulling up a map that projects over his hand, D points out Kilo's location, where the Lasap is. Two places where the hallways have been blocked off. They've encased a few hallways and bedrooms in Lasap.

I don't know how many people are on site. Including Kilo, I count six, but who knows how many are hidden behind that metal.

"Sure is nice to have someone who can do recon from outside." Shock says with a low whistle. "So how are we doing this?"

D looks at me, a question…

I don't have to answer Shock's if I don't want to.

He's giving me the choice.

I turn to the other two. "You two are actually cold, right?" I ask. "Like… won't trigger the thermal sensors up top cold?"

Risk nods, still watching the Zone. "And we have a knack for sneaking into places people don't want us to be."

"D and I should go in here. The two of you should circle around and go in from the side. That way if we run into trouble, they don't nab us all at once."

"Nab?" Shock asks, head tilting to the side as he kills the torch.

It's the only word I didn't translate.

"Sorry, so they don't catch us all at once."

He tips his head in a curt motion.

D checks his guns' charge, and then mine. "Our first goal right now is to get Kilo out. We know he's there. I know we're all assuming they have something to hide behind that Lasap, but Kilo first. Then, depending on the state of him, we'll see how much more we can do right now."

The other two nod and go to their bikes, pulling climbing gear from the myriad of supplies strapped to the sides.

"I go first," D says.

"I know." I tap my chest and then his. "Even with this shirt on… you can bounce back from a harder hit than I can."

D opens a panel beside the door, connecting wires that don't look like they've seen electricity in a decade and when he's satisfied, Shock comes over and helps him pry the door open.

It lets out a horrific shriek. We all go still.

But Drift looks up, watching the things none of the rest of us can see and after a moment, he nods. "No one heard us."

"Good." Shock steps aside and helps me over the hatch, and once we're inside, he wishes us good luck and helps close it again.

The lowest level of this outpost is pitch dark and I hesitate.

"How well can you see?" He asks.

"Everything is pale gray lines…" Everything is vectors and grids.

"Welcome to my world."

"This is what you see?"

"It is right now." He starts for the far wall and the open doorway there.

More darkness, but the stairs that zig zag back and forth, leading upward. It feels like I'm in an old, low-res video game, but I don't say a word as we climb. Up and up… until we get to a door with no markings.

D pauses at it, pressing his hand flat against the panel and I catch his wrist, stilling him.

"Make me a promise, okay?"

He dips his head until our foreheads touch. "Anything."

"Don't make me a widow twice over."

"We will both walk away from this, Kimba." He kisses me, so sweetly… "Do you think anything in this universe would stop me before I've had the opportunity to breed you in truth?"

He takes a deep breath and his exhale is a growl. "We have our futures to live for. The saints know what I would do to them if they took me to meet them before I was done with you."

He kisses me once more and then releases me.

I stay back as he eases the door open. There's light on the other side… but it's a distant light, creeping into the hallway he leads me out into.

"The walls are lined with Lasap," he says quietly. "I can't see around corners here."

I look down the hallway cluttered with crates and drop cloths and discarded Lasap panels. "Okay. We take it slow and we're careful."

Easier said than done.

Before we get to the next corner, two men turn it.

"Hey!" One shouts in surprise and D shoves me to the side as a light flicks on.

The flashlight is blinding, and I stumble, off balance, falling behind the crates.

There's a scuffle and I try to get myself upright but…

FREEZE.

It's not a word, but a feeling that shoots across the bond.

It's a command that I obey without even thinking.

I don't move a muscle as the struggle on the other side of that short wall comes to an end.

I can't hear what D says to the men who have him. But one thing quickly becomes clear.

They don't know I'm here.

The sharp and heavy feeling coming through the bond doesn't ease until silence has fallen once more.

I untangle myself from the trappings of their renovations and get myself upright. The men are gone and so is the light they brought with them, but there are windows on this level and they let the moonbeams in. They wash the metal walls in pastel hues and it's enough that my eyes don't turn everything to those eerie lines.

Hand on my gun, I listen for any sound that might hint they're coming back, and then I make a choice.

I head in the opposite direction of the one they took him.

Kilo first.

I know where he is, and I'm going to want backup when I get to wherever they've taken D.

There's no other artificial light—no one to run into—until I get to the room where they are holding Kilo.

This outpost is massive, and they've got him in one of the myriad bedrooms on the second floor.

Two Sian stand with their guns trained on Kilo and their backs to the door.

They're not worried about a rescue.

There's a fire that paints the room in strange shadows and orange light.

I switch the gun to shoot an electric stun pulse instead of the energy impact bullets and step out of the shadows so that Kilo can see me.

He jerks a little when he notices, and his eyes narrow.

"Think you hit me too hard, boys." Kilo says, rolling his head to the side. "I'm seeing a beautiful woman." He chuckles. "And she certainly wouldn't be here alone.

The one on the left of the door tells him to shut up. The one on the left tells his compatriot that Kilo's just hallucinating again.

Kilo chuckles in the chair he's been tied to. His jaw doesn't look right. It's been dislocated.

"I think I asked too many questions, boss." Kilo looks up at me and winks with the eye that isn't swollen shut.

I think they were reeling him in from the beginning.

"Don't worry about this, I've been hit harder by half dead cavrinskh. These guys have done everything I've wanted them to. Playing right into my hands."

But the two men with guns trained on him smile like they've got everything under control.

They still haven't looked back at me to check whether I am a hallucination or not.

Too bad for them.

I shoot them both, the second man jerking from the impact a moment before the first hits the ground.

"I get that you're not a cold-blooded killer, boss lady, but it would be better for all of us if those ones don't wake up."

"You're lucky they didn't turn around."

He shakes his head. "I got them ready for you. Claudia told me the story of ‘the weeun who cried wolf,' and I remembered."

"The point of that story is to stop you from telling lies."

Chuckling, he says, "And yet, I learned the correct lesson."

He rotates and stretches his wrists when I get him untied. "Have you lost feeling anywhere?"

"No, just a little rope burn. I'll be fine." He gets to his feet, but he wobbles a little.

I'll ignore it until I think it's going to cause a problem.

"Who did you bring with you? Or did you actually come to get me by yourself?"

"D and I got separated." I glance out the window at the rocky mountainside, glad I can't see the others. "Risk and Shock are here too."

"If those two are here, then Arc will no doubt turn up at just the wrong time too."

"Then we better have everything ready for him when he decides to crash."

"Crash and burn." He snorts and stretches out his shoulders. They both pop, horrifically, before he picks up both men's guns. He inspects them, checking the safeties and doesn't look at me when he says, "You might want to turn away."

There's something in his tone that tells me I can't argue with him. So I turn toward the door. I don't watch.

Both shots are quiet and I shiver as Kilo passes me and heads for the hall. He checks both directions, signaling the all-clear and then asks, "Where are we headed?"

It should unsettle me that he waits for my direction.

But it's not who I was that makes him do it. It's who I am.

I made a choice when I took D for my own. This was part of the package deal.

I lead, I don't linger.