They ran over to where Zayn stood near the altar.
Dathan frowned at the carved stone. “What?”
“Down there.”
He followed Zayn’s finger, and saw a fresh scratch mark on the floor. Like something heavy had slid over it. Like the altar stone had retracted recently.
Dathan smoothed a hand along the altar edge. “There must be an entrance here.”Be okay, Eos. Please be okay.His fingers touched the smallest of pressure sensors. He pressed the button.
The altar stone slid back. It didn’t make a noise, just the faintest whirr of whatever equipment was embedded in the stone.
Darkness cloaked a steep tunnel. All three of them flicked their flashlights on.
Dathan took the lead, moving at a fast pace. The tunnel evened out, but the floor was rough and bumpy. They rounded a corner, and in the distance, he heard the murmur of female voices.
She was alive!His sense of relief was greater than anything he’d felt before.
He and Eos were going to have a long discussion on staying out of the hands of nefarious treasure hunters.
He was going to be the only treasure hunter whose hands she had anything to do with.
“Weapon,” he whispered to Nik. His older brother drew a laser pistol.
Zayn, as always, refused to carry a weapon. He stepped back behind them. With his hand-to-hand combat training, he was still deadly.
They moved forward.
“Holy hell,” Niklas murmured.
Dathan took it all in in seconds. The carvings, the vault door, Darc crouched in front of it. Eos stood to the side with her wrists secured with a plas-tie.
“Dammit.” Darc thumped a fist against the metal. “That should have been it.”
“Having some trouble, Darc?” Dathan drawled.
The hunter spun on one knee, lifting her disruptor. Niklas stepped forward, his laser pistol aimed at her heart. “Put it down. That’s your only warning.” His voice was as hard as the stone around them.
Darc hesitated, her gaze on his face. Then she laid the weapon on the floor. “I wouldn’t come any closer. There are pressure sensors in the floor.”
Dathan glanced down, grimaced. “She’s telling the truth.”
Nik grunted. “That’s a first.”
Darc lifted her head. “Not everything I say is a lie.”
Dathan maneuvered closer, dodging the dark sensors. “Eos, you okay?”
“I’m fine. She was trying to crack the vault door, but no luck.”
When he got within arm’s reach, he yanked her to him. She kissed him, and he felt the tension inside him ease.
They pulled back, foreheads pressed together. “You sure you’re okay?”
She nodded. “You?”
“A few plasma burns but we’ve had worse.” He cut her bindings off.
Her hands gripped his wrist and stroked the striped markings on his skin. “Plasma nets?”
