I would find her. Whatever it took, wherever she was, I would find her.
I engaged the accelerator and guided the Raycer forward, through the gap in the low stone wall and toward the tunnel that would take me out of the valley. The darkness swallowed me, then released me into the harsh brightness of the world beyond.
I pushed the Raycer faster, shooting across the rocky terrain, toward the unknown.
CHAPTER 12
IRIS
Consciousness returned slowly, and it felt like wading through thick mud.
The first thing I noticed was the smell. Musty. Old. The kind of stale air that came from enclosed spaces that hadn’t been properly ventilated in a very long time. Stone and dust and something faintly organic that I couldn’t identify.
The second thing I noticed was that my wrists were bound behind my back.
I kept my eyes closed and my breathing steady, forcing myself not to react. Training kicked in automatically, overriding the surge of adrenaline that wanted to flood my system. Assess before acting. Gather information. Don’t let your captors know you’re awake until you understand your situation.
I opened my eyes. The space was pitch-black to normal vision, but my left eye, the cybernetic one, switched to night mode automatically. The world resolved into shades of green and gray, sharp enough to make out details.
A small room. Stone walls, rough-hewn and ancient. The ceiling was low, barely two meters high, supported by beams that looked like they’d been placed there centuries ago. Debrislittered the floor. Rubble. Collapsed sections of what might have once been shelving or furniture.
Ruins. This looked like ruins of some kind.
My mouth was dry, coated with a sour taste I recognized. Chemical sedation. Some kind of fast-acting compound delivered through the bloodstream. My limbs felt heavy, sluggish, the aftereffects of whatever they’d dosed me with still working through my system.
I let my mind drift back, piecing together what had happened.
My room. I’d entered my room after Baleck left me at the door. Had barely taken two steps inside before something pricked my neck. A dart. I’d known immediately what it meant, had felt the chemical start to spread even as I spun to face my attackers.
Three of them. Large. Male. They’d moved like D’tran, had the build of D’tran, but they’d covered themselves in dark clothing from head to foot. Hoods, gloves, fabric wrapped around their faces. No identifying features visible. They’d been prepared.
I’d fought them. Even with the sedative already taking hold, I’d fought. Threw the first one into my table. Kicked the second in the knee hard enough to hear something crack. Got my hands on the third one’s throat before my muscles started to betray me.
Made a mess of my room in the process. Good. Someone would notice. Someone would know something had happened.
And then the chemical had won, and everything had gone dark.
Now I was here. Wherever here was.
I focused my attention on a sliver of light that outlined what appeared to be a door. Not an original feature of the structure. Someone had fitted a makeshift barrier into an opening, blocking the only exit. Beyond it, I could hear voices.Low. Muffled. Speaking in what sounded like D’tran, though I couldn’t make out the words.
I was not in the village. That much was certain. The architecture was wrong, the air was wrong, everything was wrong. They’d removed me from the valley entirely.
My neck itched where the dart had hit me, and I thought about the tracker embedded beneath my skin. A small comfort, knowing that someone could find me if they had the right equipment. But the longer-range scanners had left with the larger delegation when they’d departed. The equipment Sophie and the others had access to was shorter range, and it would be limited by interference from the communications center.
They would search for me. I had no doubt about that. Sophie wouldn’t abandon one of her people. But it would take time. Time I might not have.
I thought of Baleck.
The memory of him surfaced unbidden. His warmth. His openness. The way he’d held me outside my door, gentle and steady, asking nothing in return. We’d parted there just cycles ago. Or had it been longer? I had no way of knowing how long I’d been unconscious.
Something in my gut told me he would search for me. Not because it was his duty or his mission, but because he cared. Because whatever was building between us, whatever strange connection I’d been trying to deny, was real enough that he wouldn’t simply accept my disappearance or leave it to someone else to find me.
The certainty of it made me relax, just slightly. Just enough to think clearly.
I began working on the bindings around my wrists.
They were well tied. Rope, not wire, which was a small mercy. Wire would have cut into my skin with every movement. But whoever had bound me knew what they were doing. Theknots were tight, complex, positioned in a way that made them difficult to reach with numb fingers.
