A new fear came to her when she realized that he was going to reach her level and find nothing but a window that didn't open.
She would need to find something to break it.
This at least gave her something to do other than fretting about his crawling progress up the wall. The hotel-like room was notably lacking in items such as hammers or tire irons, but she searched for anything that could possibly be of use, and collected it all by the window. The chair and desk were particularly good candidates, but then she found the best one of all, a lamp with a heavy brass base. Mira gripped it in both hands and did a couple of test swings. Yes, she thought, even if the glass was reinforced, that ought to make a hole.
The wires would take more work to get through. Could they be electrified? Just in case, she pulled down a curtain and wrapped it around the lamp to make herself a secure, non-conductive gripping surface.
Thinking of something else, she ran and grabbed a thick wool blanket off the bed. Dane was going to have to crawl through the window naked, and she couldn't let him get cut up with broken glass and bits of wire while he did it.
More problems occurred to her. She took the chair and dashed over to jam it under the doorknob. It wouldn't hold for long, but as soon as she started making noise inside the room, it would likely bring company. She had already noticed during the visits to feed her that there was a guard on her room stationed out in the hall.
She returned to the window after blocking the door, and was greeted by a dark head appearing at the bottom of the window. A quick grin was flashed to her through the glass.
ItwasDane! She had been almost sure, but at the sight of his face, that last little nagging bit of doubt vanished in a flood of relief that left her wobbly at the knees.
With gestures, she indicated for him to duck. As soon as his head vanished, she grasped the lamp as she had practiced and gave it a tremendous swing at the window.
The glass spiderwebbed into cracks and sagged under the base of the lamp. She swung again and again. The window shattered and the wire mesh tore up. There were some sparks that made her realize she had been right to guess that it was electrified.
A rattling noise came from the door as the guard started to open it and found that it was hung up on the chair inside.
The window, though shattered into fragments, was held together with the remains of the mesh and still lacked enough space for Dane to get in. Mira cursed under her breath and went into a wild smashing frenzy, trying to clear a man-sized hole. Then she frantically jammed the blanket into what space she had managed to make.
From the door came a tremendous crunching sound. The guard had finally gotten impatient, and the chair collapsed in a tangle of broken legs, while the door slammed open.
Mira whirled around with a wild scream and charged the guard with the lamp.
He was momentarily caught unprepared, evidently not expecting a screaming woman waving a brass lamp trailing a wrapping of curtains. By the time he got himself together, she was already on him and slamming the lamp into his face. He went down hard, and Mira whacked him over the head with another blow from the lamp to make sure he stayed down.
Panting, she pushed him out of the way so she could shut the door, after first testing the knob to make sure it would stay unlocked. Then she ran back to the window to help Dane.
He was already most of the way in, having scrambled up in a hurry at the sound of the commotion and Mira's screams from inside. She gave him a hand through, and he tumbled to the floor and then leaped to his feet.
"It's okay!" Mira said breathlessly. "You're okay. We're okay. But we need to get out of here because I bet there are alarms and—oh—"
He was ice cold and shaking. She threw her arms around him, and he hugged her back fiercely. Then, unable to resist, she took his face in her hands and kissed him.
He kissed her back with passionate abandon, and for a moment they explored each other's mouths until something stung her face and she pulled back to discover that his hair and shoulders were covered with glass. His face glistened with it.
"Oh no," Mira gasped, trying her best to brush it off without hurting him more. Her lips still tingled from his kiss, and all she really wanted to do was drag him onto the bed and reassure herself through physical touch that he was all right. She settled for brushing the glass off his shoulders. "I guess I was giving you a glass bath down there. I'm sorry, I just had to get the window open as fast as possible."
"It's fine. You did great." His voice sounded scratchy, and she realized that the horrendous climb had taken more out of him than he wanted her to know. Mira grabbed another blanket off the bed and wrapped it around his shoulders.
"Oh, your poor hands," she moaned, cupping them in hers. They were scraped up and bleeding, the fingertips swollen and purple. His feet were in no better shape.
"I'm fine," Dane reassured her. "It'll heal fast. You're right, we gotta get out of here. And I need something to wear."
His gaze fell on the unconscious guard. Dane crossed to him, went down to one knee, and began unceremoniously stripping off the guard's uniform.
"How did you get here?" Mira blurted. "I'm so glad to see you, but—are you really an orca?"
She could have kicked herself as soon as the words were out. She really hadn't meant to ask that way. Dane glanced up with a sparkle of humor in his green eyes, chasing away some of the haunted expression.
"I was going to tell you in a better way," he said. "I just hadn't figured out how yet."
"Youare. Oh, wow. Did youswim here?"
"Yes." He began quickly putting on the guard's gear. "Take his gun. How's your target practice?"
