The wave of relief and hope Danika felt when they broke through and she realized they weren’t going to be trapped inside until they ran out of air was offset by her fear that Seth, Dane, and Niles would be shot the very moment they opened the cavern up. The urge to burst into tears fell over her like a tidal wave, clogging her throat so that she couldn’t speak for several moments. She fought the impulse back, clearing her throat, trying to think how she could warn them without getting herself shot. “We can handle it. Why don’t you guys go make sure the … uh … traitor is gone?”
“Belay that order!” Master Sgt. Felton growled. “We’ll need you to remove the debris.” He paused. “Lt. Brown is dead. He was caught in the cave-in.”
A chill washed over Danika that had nothing to do with the frigid temperatures. Fear tingled along her spine as she added Felton’s comment to the impressions she’d hardly been aware of when the cavern began to cave in. She didn’t dare look at Felton, afraid he’d read her expression. She knew, though, that Brown hadn’t been standing close enough to the cave-in to be crushed—without help. She’d heard the scuffle and the scream—and Felton was the only person standing close enough to Brown to have been able to pitch him beneath the falling rocks.
And she didn’t trust Felton any more than she had Brown. Brown, at least, hadn’t been mentally competent. She didn’t believe there was any actual malice to his orders. He had simply not been able to sort reality from his delusions anymore and had been getting more and more paranoid.
Felton was a seasoned soldier and his decisions were by the book—combat. He coldly decided who was a liability and who was an asset and eliminated liabilities.
He seemed to have accepted that her squad mates were assets. But could she trust that impression?
It didn’t seem to be up to her. She’d already told her men to run and they’d stayed. She didn’t think they would ignore Felton’s order and follow hers now.
The moment the cyborgs had cleared an opening large enough for the men to squeeze through, they began pressing forward and clambering out as quickly as they could. Danika, shoved back by the tidal wave of escapees, was among the last to get out despite her efforts to squeeze into the packed mass of men.
Once outside, she discovered that Felton had organized several groups of men to check the perimeter for any sign of the cyborgs. The majority, it seemed to her, had left. Beyond her squad, there were maybe a dozen other cyborgs who’d stayed to help clear the entrance to the cave.
She wondered if it was significant that most of the cyborgs who’d stayed were squad members of teams led by female squad leaders—at least of those who seemed to have changed. Those who clearlyhadn’tchanged were still lined up as ordered—awaiting further commands.
Felton stalked back to where the cyborgs had resumed their efforts to clear away the remainder of the snow and ice from the cave entrance. “Which way did they go?”
All of the cyborgs stopped what they were doing and came to attention when he spoke, but none of them said anything.
“You! What’s your name?” Felton demanded, staring straight at Seth.
“Seth CO1543.”
“Which way did they go?”
“I did not see. We were trying to remove the debris from the cave entrance.”
Felton’s eyes narrowed. “We’ll finish this. I want you to take a detail out and discover which direction they took when they left.”
Frowning faintly, Seth glanced at Danika.
“We’ll take the ridge and see if they headed north,” Danika said.
“You’ll stay put,” Felton responded. “You’re on cleanup detail.”
Uneasiness instantly flickered through Danika. Maybe she was getting as paranoid as Brown had been, but it seemed to her that he meant to hold her hostage for their behavior. “Branson! Your squad deserted. I want you to take this squad out and see if you can locate them.”
Something flickered in Seth’s eyes. Since Felton’s attention was focused on forming up new squads, she took the opportunity to sidle a little closer to Seth, Dane, and Niles. “Watch your backs,” she said quietly and moved away immediately and set to work on the clearing. When she flicked a glance toward them again, she saw that they were already leaving with Branson—who’d taken up the rear.
Consternation filled her, but she knew they had to have heard her. It was the best she could do for them.
She just hoped they had enough sense to take off when the opportunity presented itself—or make an opportunity. Felton wasn’t crazy like Brown had been, but she didn’t trust him any further than she could throw him. He had to know that the cyborgs were the only real assets they had for combatorsurvival, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t weigh that against the possibility that the others would ‘turn against’ them and become a threat rather than an asset.
She didn’t believe they would if they weren’t put in the position of having to protect themselves. She didn’t believe Reuel and the others had turned against them. They had been designed to protect themselves from harm if, by doing so, they did not endanger humans. She supposed it was debatable whether Reuel had or not, but he must have calculated the threat and decided they stood a good chance of being able to dig their way out of the cave. If his intent had been to kill them outright, it would have been easy enough for them to simply wait until the humans came out and mowed them down.
She didn’t see that he’d had any other options that included self-preservation.
Command wouldn’t see it that way. As soon as they heard the report they would be dead set on hunting the ‘rogues’ down and destroying them.
Which meant it was only a matter of time, she thought in dismay. They hadn’t done anything except bought themselves a little more time—maybe. Because if the planet didn’t get them, the government surely would.
* * * *
The eruption of gunfire outside brought everyone in the cavern abruptly to their feet as if they were spring loaded. Darkness engulfed Danika almost instantaneously. A wave of dizziness followed and despite the adrenaline rush that had shot her to her feet to start with she nearly fell flat on her face.
