Despite the dark gaps where the glass had failed, the wreck of the building held firm as I climbed, and it didn’t take long to haul myself onto the small, flat roof. A frozen machine half-buriedin decades-old snow gave me cover from both the wind and the gem-droids. A perfect perch to watch from.
From this angle, the outer spaceport was visible. What I saw wasn’t encouraging. The Collectors’ robots patrolled, sunlight glittering off their crystal bodies, and their patterns seemed designed to lure me in. Whenever I thought I’d spotted a gap, I looked for the trap. It was always there.
Even reaching the port was a challenge. If I used the road, they’d spot me instantly. The cliffs were better, with rocky outcroppings offering some cover, but the risk remained too high. One moment of bad luck and the gem-droids would see me on the slope, making me an easy target. I needed a safer route up.
None presented itself. Over the millennia, the Collectors had honed their skills, and their security was excellent. I scanned the rock, hoping against hope that I’d spot a hidden maintenance access they might have missed. No luck. I didn’t want to return empty-handed, but unless I stumbled on something to hunt on my way back to the vault, it looked like I’d go back to my human with neither food nor hope to offer.
A thunderous boom shook me loose from that morose thought. A ship exploding? No, the explosion was too small. This was a personal-scale boom, bigger than a grenade but not the earth-shaker of a starship’s engine overloading. A drone’s battery cooking off? I risked raising my head over the wall I sheltered behind, and saw the Collectors’ drones whirling in complex patterns, dodging enemy fire. As I watched, they swarmed into the port, out of sight.
Another explosion followed, and the distinctivecrackof plasma weapons. Someone had attacked the spaceport, leaving the opening I’d hoped to find. This was our chance. Perhaps our only chance—if I moved fast enough. I cursed the distance between me and the vault, dropped my spear, and ran.
Frozen glass crunched and flexed under my boots as I raced downhill, juggling speed and balance. A slip on the icy surface would send me sliding down the pyramid, afastdescent but hardly asafeone. I begrudged every moment wasted, my chances of reaching Penny in time slipping away.
Which is why I fixed my focus on where to put my feet. If not for that, I’d have noticed that I had company. Instead, the predator came as a complete surprise, pouncing out of a broken window without warning. I threw myself aside, twisting out of the way, and claws slashed through the space my torso had occupied a moment earlier. Powerful jaws snapped shut on thin air, a hair’s breadth from my face.
My narrow escape came at a cost. I came down on a patch of smooth black ice, my feet sliding out from under me, and I landed hard. Before I could recover, I was sliding down the pyramid’s face, bouncing off frozen struts and icy outcroppings as I went.
The creature followed more carefully, its long, sinuous body low to the surface. It moved fast but couldn’t keep up with my fall. Since it avoided getting bruised and battered on its way down, I suspected it got the better end of the bargain.
I kicked clear of the building at the last moment, rolling to absorb my momentum. The jarring impact hurt, but didn’t injure me, and I sprang to my feet and leaped to meet my pursuer. That wasn’t in the creature’s script, apparently, and it let out a yelp of surprise, its pitch so high it made my teeth itch. It tried to stop, scrabbling at the glass, but didn’t have time. We collided in an ungainly pile, lashing out at each other.
I got the better of the exchange. The creature’s throat opened under my claws, hot blood steaming as it sprayed in an arc around me. With a final snarl, it flopped down and lay still. I backed away, keeping a wary eye on it. A predator can be at its most dangerous when dying.
The throbbing pain in my right side told me it had already gotten some measure of revenge. Deep claw marks sliced into the flesh below my ribs, blood pumping from the wounds at a worrying rate. I clamped a hand over the wound, biting back a hiss.
Each step sent a pulse of agony burning through me, but I refused to let that stop me. If I slowed now, I’d have no chance of reaching Penny in time. Also, I’d probably die. Somehow that seemed less important than getting to the exasperating human female fate had chosen for me.
19
PENNY
Wrapped in whisperlight, the engine gave an angry whine as I twisted the throttle wide. The dying planet’s chill worked to my advantage, keeping the skimmer from overheating as it bolted forward. I managed not to crash into the ruined mansion by the skin of my teeth. Between the weight of the painting in its crate and the power of the engine without safeties, the vehicle was damned near uncontrollable.
How the fuck did Varok steer this monster?I heaved at the controls, as though my weight would make a difference. The skimmer’s nose turned painfully slowly before suddenly careening around in a spirited attempt to crash into an ice-wrapped statue of some ancient dignitary.
I pulled up short, gasping down lungfuls of frozen air, and kicked the skimmer’s engine casing. “Are youtryingto kill me, you piece of junk?”
No answer came. I kicked it again before reversing and trying again, as patiently as I could manage. Less than half the speed Varok managed, and I hated my brain for making that comparison. It wasn’t the fact that he was a better driver, I just hated remembering that fucker at all, knowing I was abandoninghim. Each thought of his name brought me face-to-face with memories of his crooked grin, his exasperated sighs, the way his eyes gleamed the moment before he pounced on me. The raw, animal confidence of the alien—the first man I’d met who earned every bit of that confidence.Am I really going to leave him to freeze?
Taking the painting from him was one thing. The Night Watch belonged on Earth, and we were both stealing it already. Stranding Varok was altogether different, but I doubted I’d have another chance to get off-world. If I waited for him to return, we’dbothfreeze. What good would that do anyone?
I opened the throttle a little more, sending the skimmer careening around the wide, frozen road. Faster again, forcing myself to concentrate on driving rather than distracting questions or memories. Then slower, as I side-swiped a wall, lucky not to overturn my vehicle.
Debbie kept me pointed in the right direction. Without her to guide me, I’d have gotten lost in the winding streets, but her auto-mapping software showed me the route. Unfortunately, monitoring her, watching the road, and wrangling the unfamiliar controls all at once was more than I could handle. I bounced the skimmer off crumbling walls, frozen trees, and abandoned vehicles, leaving a trail of destruction in my wake.
That’s the only excuse I have for not spotting Varok before I’d almost passed him. Debbie led me onto a half-collapsed overpass, and I nearly missed the fight going on in its shadow. Movement caught my eye, pulling my attention back to the broken concrete.
By sheer luck, I turned left rather than right. And there he was, silver skin gleaming, ground stained dark around him. It wasn’t all his blood—no one who’d lost that much could stand, let alone fight.
Dead monsters lay all around him, their throats torn open or necks snapped, but more stalked closer as I watched.Well, fuck.
I’d convinced myself that leaving him behind wouldn’t matter, but that was entirely different from watching him die. I glanced back at The Night Watch in its travel case, reminding myself why I’d come to this frozen hellhole.
“Screw that,” I said. The Night Watch was a cultural treasure, an important relic of the time before we met aliens, and an irreplaceable part of Dutch history. Weighed against Varok’s life, that was lighter than a feather.
The engine howled in protest as I gunned the accelerator, drawing far more power than was safe and driving off the torn freeway. The skimmer’s anti-grav ate the fall, turning a fatal drop into a bone-jarring impact and sending out a shockwave that sent the pack flying. Varok spun to look at me, and his expression of surprise and awe set my soul on fire.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he roared. Yep, that broke the moment.
