Flinx’s lock. It had worked.
I didn’t give him time to fix it. I closed the distance. Grabbed his wrist. Twisted. The bones broke with a crack. He screamed. I took his weapon and drove the butt into his temple. He dropped.
Four seconds since the lights died.
Tarsus had moved. Not toward me. Toward Carys. His blaster pressed against her, using her as a shield.
“Very clever,” he shouted, his voice echoing in the small, quiet room. “But pointless. This building is locked down. Security is already mobilizing. You have nowhere to go.”
I raised the stolen blaster. Aimed at his head. The shot was possible. Tight angle. High risk. But possible.
Carys stood perfectly still between us. Her eyes met mine in the red emergency lighting. Brown. Calm. Waiting for my decision.
Flinx moved.
His synthetic black form darted between my legs and straight at Tarsus. Low. Fast. A blur in the red shadows.
Tarsus’s attention shifted. Just for a moment. His blaster tracking toward the new threat.
I fired.
The pulse caught his shoulder. Not lethal. But enough to make him stagger. His grip on Carys loosened.
She moved. Dropped low. Rolled away from him.
I crossed the office in three strides. Grabbed her arm. Pulled her up.
“Can you run?”
“Yes.”
Flinx leaped onto my shoulder, his claws finding purchase in my jacket as his weight settled against my back.
I yanked the office door open. The corridor beyond was quiet, bathed in the same pulsing red emergency light.
We burst through.
Now the alarms shrieked. Building-wide. Triggered by the unauthorized door breach and the weapons fire.
“Lock down the villa!” Tarsus’s voice screamed from the office behind us. “Seal every exit! Find them!”
The corridor stretched ahead. Branching paths. Service doors. Access panels. I’d memorized the general layout, but Carys knew it.
“The service tunnels,” Carys said, her breathing controlled. “Flinx has a route.”
“Lead.”
Guards appeared ahead. Two Krelaxians in security uniforms. They saw us. Raised their weapons.
I fired first. Two quick pulses. Both guards went down.
We jumped over their bodies and kept running.
“Left at next junction!” Carys shouted, Flinx already feeding her directions. “Then second right. Service access in forty meters!”
I followed her lead. We rounded a corner. More guards appeared behind us. Shouting. Weapons ready.
I fired backward without looking. Suppression fire to slow them down. The pulses hit walls. Equipment. One caught a guard and he went down screaming.
