“I think ... yes. But, Reuel, they slipped in. I do not know how they managed it, but they are practically on top of us and ... there is about twice as many as we had expected.”
“Shit!”
Dalia sat up as Reuel leapt from the bed. “What is it?”
“The company.” His face was grim as he lit the lamp and began snatching his clothes on.
“Oh my god! How? How could they have found us?”
Reuel turned and looked at her grimly.
A cold chill went through her. “I didn’t! Reuel, I swear to you, it wasn’t me! I cut my locator out and destroyed it. You’ve seen the scar!”
His lips tightened, but he shook his head. “You took one out.”
She gaped at him. “But ... there was only one. I rememb....” A terrible fear seized her. She scrambled to her feet. “Please, Reuel. Believe me! I didn’t knowingly bring them down on us.”
He shook her off. “It doesn’t matter now.”
Dalia swallowed with an effort. “It matters to me.”
His gaze flickered over her face. “I have to go.”
The words were scarcely out of his mouth when an explosion of white light lit the world outside as if it were daylight. Almost instantly, an ear splitting concussion followed and directly behind that everything around them shuddered.
“Neutron,” Dalia gasped, staring down at her hands, expecting them to disintegrate before her eyes.
When she looked up again, she saw Reuel’s eyes were trained upon the ceiling, as if he could see through it. “The shield will not take many hits like that,” he said grimly. Turning, he strode to the door.
Dalia stared at him, too stunned to assimilate what he’d just said. A shield?
He paused at the door and turned to look at her. Swallowing with an effort, he pulled the key from his pocket and tossed it to her. “Give me your word, Dalia. If this goes badly, do not let them take you. Do not give yourself up. There is a craft hidden in a cave north of here. Take it and find a safe place to raise our child.”
Dalia blinked at him uncomprehendingly. “What about you? Come with me. We can go now.”
He shook his head.
“You can’t fight them! You’ve got nothing to fight them with!”
A grim smile curled his lips. “You’d be surprised.”
Dalia stamped her foot angrily. “Damn it, Reuel! This is a hell of a time to decide to make war! Let’s just go! We can arm ourselves, set a trap, and have the advantage!”
He studied her a long moment and she saw relief in his eyes that thoroughly confused her. “Thisisthe trap, Dalia.”
She gaped at him, but as he turned to go, she rushed after him. Grasping his wrist, she tugged on it until he stopped. When he did, she flung herself against him, holding tightly to him. “Be careful.”
He peeled her loose and set her away from him, but caught her woebegone face between his palms and dropped a quick kiss on her lips. “I love you.”
Chapter Thirteen
Sheer terror washed over Dalia as his words echoed hollowly through her mind.
He was going to die. He knew he was going to die or he would never have said that to her. Frantically, she looked around for the key. She’d been too stunned by everything that had happened within the past few moments to more than register the fact that he’d tossed it to her. She couldn’t even remember catching it.
Had she caught it? Or had it landed on the floor, or the cot? Whirling, she headed back into the room. Just as she reached the doorway, however, two neutron bombs exploded overhead in quick succession. The concussion knocked her off her feet. Around her, the hut shuddered and began caving in. She covered her head, huddling in the door jam, hoping it was stronger than the rest of the hut had been. When the debris settled, she looked around her and found the quickest route out of the wreckage.
The morning sun was just cresting the horizon, throwing blood-red light over the compound. Above her, she saw it gleaming off of the domed force field that encompassed the entire compound.
