Chapter 15

Harper

I didn't want to release Nick's thick neck when he landed. The beginning cramp in my thighs from clinging to him so tightly convinced me I had to let go. I swayed on my feet when I tried to stand, and groaned when the muscle fatigue only made me feel more shaky now that I was standing.

Nick didn't let go of me, his arm stayed around my waist. He kept his wings flared wide, and he craned his head left and right, searching our surroundings for any sign of danger. I did the same, uneasily appraising the buildings and their cover of dust and sand. The courtyard was a desert, and the wind blew the sand around; it covered any tracks we made in seconds.

I couldn't help but compare this place to my last visit. I'd been panic-filled and focused on surviving my encounter with Batok, but I remembered enough. This sand had been dirt then, hard packed but with scraggly plants scattered throughout, still clinging tenaciously to life. The buildings had all been gunmetal gray, utilitarian square shapes. Warehouses and bunkhouses for the goods and the people who worked there.

It all looked brown and rusted, corroded by the harsh weather. Nothing was shiny or devoid of sand. When Nick started to guide me to the doors of the nearest building, I wasn't even sure if it was the right one. Let alone that we'd be able to open the doors; they appeared to be rusted shut. Sand lay piled against the bottom of the walls and doors like snowdrifts.

I gave the doors and the big metal lock a dubious glance, then turned around to survey more of the courtyard. The buildings offered some shelter from the wind, but the huge shadow cast by the surveying spike made the temperatures unpleasantly brisk. It had been cold that day Batok brought me here too, but I couldn't remember giving it much thought at the time.

Nick tucked me into his side, his wings finally lowering. He cupped one against my back like an extra warm cloak and then used it to urge me to the doors. "These should be the right ones. I'll have them open in a minute." He was true to his word, summoning one of his drones through his implant and visor. That drone burned through the lock with a narrow, red laser in short order, and Nick used his powerful body to do the rest of the grunt work.

Pulling the doors outward as they opened and pushing the piles of sand out of the way. I couldn't tell if it was difficult for him; his face remained completely calm as he heaved. Then the dark interior of the building abruptly absorbed my attention. I couldn't see far, but what I could see made me think of ghosts and skeletons.

Goosebumps rose on the back of my neck, warning me of a danger I couldn't see. I felt like it wasn't only the shadows inside that threatened to swallow me, but the shadows in my mind. The memories of that slow decline in the vault, the starvation, the endless thirst, and the weakness that had pervaded me all too soon.

"Are you okay? To get the data I want shouldn't take more than a minute. If you prefer it, you can wait here. I'll leave my drones with you to stand guard." Nick had shoved the doors as wide as they could go and now approached me with a worried look on his handsome face.

"Yeah," I said firmly; fake it till you make it. I didn't feel fine, or sure of much of anything right now, but I didn't want this place to define me. I had to face this head-on, or it would haunt me for the rest of my life. Batok had no right to that, and I refused to let him have that much power over me. "I want to come."

Nick's tigerite eyes narrowed, the gold and black sparkling as they reflected light the way cat eyes might. "If you are certain," he said eventually, and he gave me a sharp nod. His visor gleamed blue and then his drones hummed as they passed his head, a handful of shimmering silver orbs that dove into the dark warehouse. They disappeared in the shadows, but with a click of Nick's tongue, brightness suddenly flooded the room. The drones hovered in strategic places as they shot out beams of white light.

It didn't look so threatening now. The light made all the difference, and I could now see that the space had been stripped of anything of value. It was just an empty room with a concrete floor and metal support beams; it held nothing of interest. Nothing except for the ominous shape of the vault at the back.

Nick crossed the warehouse with confident strides, but I stalled in the doorway a little longer. That vault had been my prison, and just seeing it made me flashback to all the horrible moments I'd spent inside it. More than anything, I remembered Batok's glee as he shoved me through the door, and that moment of dawning realization when I knew I'd be locked up.

My friend paused in the middle of the room and glanced over his shoulder at me. He wore a look of understanding, calm, with not a hint of judgment. He didn't rush me either, just waited and watched until I made up my mind. That helped, and his presence helped too. If anything, Nick had proven to know how to break out of pretty much any prison. He had a reputation for that kind of thing. I was safe.

With a deep breath, I squared my shoulders and started walking. Once I took the first step, it became easier to keep going. Soon, I passed Nick and was leading the way to the silvery shape of the huge vault at the back. "We're lucky they left it behind, but it might have been too heavy to transport easily," Nick said casually as we stopped in front of the big metal door.

That was the first time I heard of this concern, and I shot him a glare over my shoulder. "What would we have done if they'd moved it? Track it down? The readings from the vault's lock aren't that important, are they?" I couldn't tell what we'd do with them, since I did not think they wouldn't help us catch Batok. Not that catching the crimelord was the plan. We needed him to back off, so he'd leave me alone.

"No, I wouldn't have done that. The readings on the orbiting station were already most helpful. I just wanted to know when Batok came back here, and if anyone else had access. I wanted to know when he locked you up." He'd already explained this, but his theory that he could connect those visits to important incidents in the crime world still didn't make sense to me. It would be too vague to help us figure out what data had been hidden on my translator implants.

Nick got to work on the electronic lock with confident motions of his hands. He hooked up cables to his datapad to gain access and was soon tapping away on the screen. I thought he'd forgotten that I was there, but after a moment he started to casually talk. "Last time I was here, we were raiding this place to save a few humans. Not you. Our contractor didn't know about you. I stood at this door to unlock it while the rest of the crew was fighting."

He glanced my way with his right eye, the one not covered by his glowing visor. "This time, I'm prepared for the mechanical lock that barred my way. We were lucky our contractor's particular skills were with metal, or I wouldn't have found you." For the first time, I realized that arriving at this place was emotion-laden for him too. He didn't like seeing the vault any more than I did.

His voice turned rough with a growl as he jabbed at buttons on his screen. "I knew even before that door opened that I didn't want to turn away, that something special was in that vault that I needed to find." That wing was curling around my back again, pushing me closer to his side; urging me beneath its protective shelter. "The mate bond is that strong. You feel it too. Don't you, Harper?"

I caught a glint in his one visible eye that made my toes curl in my shoes. He had moved on to distraction mode, and he was doing it by flirting, by talking about the vibrant emotions that hung between us. I flushed with heat as I recalled our steamy encounter not long ago, Nick was potent like that. I could instantly feel heat rise in answer to that call in his eyes. He was right; I did sense it, or I wouldn't be here.

"Yeah," I said, "I do feel it. That's why I knew you needed me that day in the brig." I vividly recalled the sense of doom, the danger, and the urgent need to see him as soon as possible. That wasn't natural, or rather, not natural for a human. It was natural for Nick; he expected it.

His mouth quirked in a smile, and they flicked back to his tablet. "Ah, I've got it. We don't really need to open the vault. I've got all the data I wanted." He paused to look at me with a question, one dark red eyebrow raised. I shook my head, no I didn't need to see the inside. I was happy I'd managed to get this close.

***

Mitnick

Harper was quiet as I flew the two of us back to our shuttle. She leaned against my shoulder and watched the barren landscape through her protective goggles without seeing anything. I had my own thoughts to keep busy with; plans and theories spinning through my brain now that I'd read the logs from the vault lock.

Batok had arrived a few weeks after we'd been there and raided the place. Then never again, but another male had been to the vault daily: the foreman. He loaded the vault with that day's mined precious metals, and he had deprecated the vault when the mining location got abandoned. This male might know more about why Harper had been there, he was trusted to handle the precious metals after all. My stolen logs from the station told me exactly where he was, so I could pay him a visit.

This thorough dive into not one but two systems run by Batok's security also gave me a better idea about his encryption measures on the data stored on Harper's implants. I was bursting with new ideas on how to break it. If I was right, I might even do so today. With the added knowledge of the name of the ship that Batok used to get to the planet, I now felt confident I could track him , too. If all else failed, I'd be able to attempt killing him directly. It would be a satisfying result, even if it would be extremely dangerous.

Visiting that vault had given me much of what I thought I needed to avenge Harper and ensure her safety. It was clear that while the visit was fruitful for me; it had put her in a bad space in her head. I felt a deep sense of guilt for asking her to face that place again, to risk her mental health. If it would help her feel better, I would happily blow that vault to smithereens. A bit of strafing fire from the shuttle would do the trick but I didn't think it would help her.

I spread my wings as we caught a warmer wind current and drifted on it while I used my sharp eyes to inspect the terrain below us. It was only a short flight; the dead copse of trees was already visible beyond the next sandy hill. I wanted to hustle Harper into the shuttle and ply her with her favorite foods, so she knew she had enough, that I would always provide for her.

A shiver of unease shot down my spine and made me flare my feathered crest. Something was off, but I couldn't see what; the landscape seemed undisturbed. I'd left a drone behind to keep watch, and I'd never lost contact with the shuttle itself, so I knew no one had entered or approached. All my data told me it was safe to land next to it, but my instincts were screaming at me.

I circled above the shuttle instead of coming in for a landing, searching for any sign. "What's happening?" Harper asked, her head lifted from my shoulder to peer over my arms to the ground far below. The magnification settings on her goggles would help her see, but still not as much as my eyes could from this height. I was pleased that she'd jerked to awareness. My mate was clever, and she had good survival instincts.

"Not sure," I told her, while I looped around again, wider this time, so I could scan more of the dead woods. "Something is bothering me, but I can't tell what." Right as the words left my mouth, a sound drew my attention. From the corner of my eye, something red flashed and my reflexes were the only thing that saved us. My wings snapped shut, and we plummeted out of the path of the laser fire. I felt its heat scorch my wings; that was a close call.

"Did someone just shoot at us?" Harper demanded, outraged rather than scared. She craned her head as she searched for the shooter just like I was, but I was equally focused on flying erratically to make us a harder target to shoot. The silver glint of a laser rifle gave away the shooter, who was lying in wait on a distant hill. They'd seen our shuttle, and they had laid a trap.

This was a sniper of some skill. His second shot skimmed the edge of my wing as I tried to get out of his range. The third shot struck my neck right at the edge of my armor. Pain blazed through my nerves, and my vision spun and danced. I fought to keep us aloft, my dual hearts pounding fiercely in my chest. Must protect Harper.