“I’ll jump.”
Aeron surged up out of the pilot’s seat and rushed out of the cockpit. He could hear Rona following right behind him, her little bare feet pattering on the hard floor of the corridor.
“You’re going tojump?” she exclaimed.
“Affirmative.”
He swung into the armory and started gathering what he needed. An auto shotgun with a drum magazine, a pair of sidearms, and a parachute. He secured the harness around his torso and legs, then turned and went back into the corridor. Rona was standing there watching with a worried expression. Aeron pressed the button to open the ship’s hatch, and the boarding ramp lowered amid a whistle of high-altitude wind. The stink of polluted air filled the ship.
“Aeron,” Rona said, raising her voice to make herself heard over the noise. “Be careful down there… please.”
“I will.”
He gathered her small, soft body against his own and kissed her hard and rough on the lips. Then he turned, ran down the open boarding ramp, and dove out into the morning sky.
CHAPTER 29
Rona clung to the side of the hatch and watched as Aeron fell. In a matter of seconds, he looked no bigger than a bird in the sky. A speck. Then she couldn’t see him at all. She hit the button to close the hatch and rushed back up the corridor. Her heart was in her throat.
In the cockpit, she dropped into the pilot’s seat. The pads were still warm from Aeron’s body heat. In front of her, overlaid across the windscreen, was a holographic bird’s-eye-view of the terrain below, captured by a special scanner mounted on the underside of the ship. She could even seethroughthe terrain, into the warrens of tunnels beneath. The camera picked up the heat-signatures of the raknids scurrying throughout the tunnels. The dead raiders were there too, though their cooling bodies had now almost blended into the surrounding rock.
At the west end of the map, she could see Murdok and Zeth. They weren’t moving, but their bodies were still bright and warm. A good sign.
“Please be okay,” she whispered.
She suddenly remembered that there was a mic in the cockpit. Aeron could hear her. Perhaps Murdok and Zeth could too.
“Guys, if you can hear this, just hang tight. Aeron is coming to get you out.”
As if on cue, something moved at the eastern side of the map. It was Aeron. His parachute had opened safely, and he was now gliding into the landing zone outside the entrance of the mine.He touched down and jogged to a stop. Then he started to unfasten his harness.
“I’m down,” he said. “Rona, can you hear me?”
“Yup! I mean, affirmative.”
She turned her attention to the space just inside the east entrance to the mine. The spot which the Mercs had designated as Checkpoint Alpha. Something was stirring inside. A mutant from the looks of it.
“Aeron,” she said. “Remember that raider they took prisoner? Looks like he’s awake again.”
“Copy that. Thanks for the heads-up.”
Rona could see that Aeron had his harness off now. He headed toward the mine with his shotgun at the ready. At the entrance, he paused for a moment, as if looking inside. Then he rushed in and knelt by the surviving raider.
“Restraints are still secure,” he said.
“Just kill him,” said Rona, fearing for her lover’s safety.
“No. I want one of them alive for questioning.”
Rona saw Aeron make a quick motion with the butt of his shotgun, and a sound came through the speakers like two blocks of wood knocking together. On the screen, the raider’s body stilled.
“I’ll be back for you in a bit…”
Aeron headed deeper into the mine, following the middle of the three tunnels that branched off from the first chamber. Thesame path Zeth and Murdok had followed. After that, Rona gave him directions, guiding him through the winding network of passages. Up on the screen, he looked like a mouse running through a maze. Rona might have smiled at that thought, if the situation had not been so dire.
“You’re coming up on Sector Bravo,” she told him, remembering the name the Mercs had used before. “That means you’re about halfway— oh no.”
“Rona? What’s the matter?”
