Suddenly, her eyes cleared and she nodded. “Yes, I’ll follow you.”
It was the answer he wanted and yet, somehow, it offered little reassurance.
Chapter Nineteen
***
GUNNER PRIED THE DOORopen.
Several men, including Chesnik, waited for them on the other side. They rose to their feet and peered at him and Ely. Elodie squeezed past his side before he could stop her. For a moment her tall, willowy body brushed up against his, bringing back vivid memories of the last few days. A surge of jealousy zapped him as she rushed to her father’s side.
He bristled, watching the reunion, but followed shortly after, ducking through the door himself. Gunner stopped himself from tugging Elodie back into his arms and away from her dad.
She washis. She had promisedeverythingto him. The jackal urged him to prowl and corner his prey but he stopped the bestial impulse before it could ascend to the forefront of his thoughts. He knew the terms were left unspoken between himself and Ely.
He dropped his hand atop Elodie’s shoulder and settled with towering over their reunion.
“Chesnik,” he said.
“Cyborg.”
If looks could kill, the man would be drowning deep in the red glow from his irises. Elodie detached herself from her dad and stepped back. As she did so, a couple others ex-prisoners approached and looked on with curiosity.
She lifted the distress beacon out of the jacket’s inner pocket.
“Did you get it to work?” Chesnik asked.
“The parts are all in place and it turns on. It just needs something to boost it. We still need to wire it to the ship.”
One of the other prisoners came over. “What is it?”
Elodie answered, “It’s a beacon to the network, a signal outside of this place and since the security is down, if I can get it to work, we could maybe get some help.”
Gunner reached out his hand. “It’s a backup plan.”
Chesnik eyed him suspiciously despite Elodie handing over the contraption. Gunner found the power switch and turned it on. All eyes fell on the Cyborg, looking to see if the homebuilt piece of tech met his approval. Elodie had made it work and he was proud. He didn’t know when it had happened, but he did feel a weak, fluttering signal coming from the device. He shut his eyes and shared his energy with the beacon. The signal intensified as he poured himself into it, using his own tech to channel farther outward. Before long, the white-noise static of a radio signal sounded from the audio board.
