Why couldn’t Elijah or Lucas be down here, dealing with the poisonous bastard? Instead, they were commandingDefianceandDominion,the two Mir-Ferrin flagships holding the blockade.
No doubt, Mican would be opening a channel to Elijah right now, informing his eldest son of Tian’s blunder.
Outside the solar, five members of Tian’s security team awaited him, flanked by two hulking battle-droids.
“Status?” Tian barked at the team’s commander.
“The breaches on Level 12 and Detention Block, Level 3, have been now confirmed, Sir,” Commander Anik replied, his visored face impassive.
“I know that,” Tian snapped. “But how did the intruders get in here?”
“We haven’t yet ascertained how they got access, Sir. No breaches have been located.”
“And the prisoners?”
“All of them have been released from their cells. Three individuals and a battle-droid on Level 12 have reached a service elevator and are traveling down to the ground floor … while three human males in the detention block are climbing out of it via a service conduit.”
Tian listened, his mouth twisting. “They’re all heading to the landing bay.”
They didn’t know how Jenna and her friends had gained access to the tower, but he guessed they intended to steal a shuttle to make their escape.
Tian swiveled on his heel and strode toward the banks of elevators. Wordlessly, his team fell in behind him. “And so are we.”
“They’re going to be waiting for us once these doors open,” Jenna informed Isla and Bea. Her niece clung to her mother’s leg, gaze wide and frightened. Bea hadn’t spoken since they’d left the relative safety of their quarters. Fear had rendered her mute. Meanwhile, Isla’s face was taut, and a nerve flickered upon her cheek; yet she remained calm.
They were traveling down in the service elevator. Someone had tried to override it, to prevent their descent, but the battle-droid had dug a finger into the control panel and reversed the command. “Obsidian will exit first and clear a path … so stay back and don’t move until I say so.” Jenna halted then, realizing she hadn’t yet told Isla where they were headed. “We’re meeting the others atThe Passage.”
Isla nodded. Of course, being Cathal’s wife, she knew about the secret way in and out of the tower. However, her gaze remained riveted upon Jenna’s face. “What happened to you?”
Jenna’s mouth quirked. “What do you mean?”
Isla gestured to Jenna’s attire and the pistol she still gripped at her side. “This.”
Jenna snorted a laugh. “Necessity.”
She glanced down at her wrist-comm, her already racing pulse jumping up a notch.
Twenty-five minutes had passed—although it didn’t seem that long.
In that time, they’d managed to alert the entire tower to their presence.
Her skin prickled then. Malik and the others should have already reached the landing bay by now.
If they hadn’t, things were about to go seriously awry.
Her gun-toting might have impressed Isla, but it was easier to be brave when a seven-foot-tall battle-droid was covering you.
Two of them against an unending supply of Mir-Ferrin troops and droids wasn’t going to end well.
As if reading her thoughts—which was impossible, of course—Obsidian swiveled around to face its human companions. It fixed Isla with its eerie blood-red stare and then unslung a laser-pistol from around its metal waist. “You will require this.” It then handed the weapon to the clan-lord’s wife.
“Do you know how to use one of those?” Jenna asked.
Isla nodded. She took the gun from Obsidian, buckled the holster around her hips, and then drew the weapon, turning its output up to ‘lethal’. Jenna felt a little envious of the ease with which she handled the pistol.
Of course, Isla was born a Mir-Galbreth—a warrior clan. She would have learned how to fire a laser-pistol as a child. There was a steely glint in her blue eyes that told Jenna she was ready for whatever they faced when the elevator doors opened.
Isla met her gaze then, her jaw firming. “Aim for the neck, armpits, or groin,” her sister-in-law instructed. “It’s where their armor will be weakest.”
