Istiffened and instinctively positioned myself in front of Skye. As much as the woman infuriated me with her incorrect assumptions and her compulsion to challenge everything I said, I would not allow her to be harmed.
It was bad enough that I’d been ambushed while rescuing her and that we’d been taken captive by the enemy. What was even worse was that I hadn’t been lying about why they’d kept us alive. I knew the Zagrath too well to believe there was any mercy in their actions. Keeping us alive served a purpose, although I wasn’t entirely sure which one of us they believed to be more valuable.
As heavy footsteps echoed off the low ceiling, I readied myself. Skye might not think that overpowering the guards and making a run for it was a clever plan, but I’d found that sometimes simple was better. And what could be simpler than beating the enemy into submission?
As the figures drew closer, I bit back a curse.Tvekkinghell, there were three imperial guards, and they were all pointing blasters at us. I might believe in Vandar strength, but without a battle axe, even I didn’t give myself good odds against three blasters.
“You,” one guard barked as he tipped his head to me. “Vandar.”
I didn’t give him the dignity of responding. I didn’t even act like I’d heard.
“Move to the back of the cell,” he said, waving the point of his blaster in my direction. “Face the wall with your hands over your head.”
“You don’t have to put chains on me again. I will come without a fight.” This was a lie, but one I hoped the guards would believe. No chains meant a better chance of disarming them.
One of the other guards slid his gaze to Skye. “Who says we want you, Vandar?”
Skye flinched but didn’t stand.
So, it was her they wanted. My mind whirled as the first guard ordered me to the back of the cell again, leveling his blaster at me.
When they opened the cell door, I’d have only a handful of moments as they retrieved Skye. I would have to disarm the guard inside the cell and closest to me while avoiding being fired on by the guards outside the cell. Then I’d have to shield Skye while getting to the guards outside the cell and taking their weapons before they could shoot me. All with no weapons of my own.
I flicked my eyes to the floor, mentally measuring how many steps it would take. Maybe I could use the bench to jump off. If I came at the guards from above, that might throw them off enough to give me an advantage.
“Move!” Now the order was shouted, and more blasters swung to point at me.
I turned slowly, catching Skye’s eye. There was no time or way to tell her my plan, although her barely perceptible shake of the head told me she suspected I had one. Picking a spot on the wall that was only a single leap away from the metal bench, I flattened my palms against the wall above my head and kept my head turned to Skye.
This seemed to satisfy the guards, as the door swung open with a creak. I waited until I heard one set of footsteps approach.
“Get up!”
Skye didn’t get up, though. She put a hand to her forehead. “I’m actually a bit dizzy. I’m not used to the heat, you see, and I haven’t eaten in, well, you tell me how long it’s been.”
“You can stand or we can drag you out,” the guard said, unmoved by her claims.
“Really? You want to explain to your bosses why their prisoner is unconscious and unable to tell them anything?”
It was almost hard to reconcile the weak, shaking voice and sagging form of Skye with the woman who’d just been arguing vigorously with me. I had to admit that the woman was good at pretending to be something she wasn’t.
A glimmer of hope awakened in me. If she got the guard to help her, that would be one less enemy I’d have to worry about shooting at me.
“Why do you think we need you conscious?” The guard stepped closer to Skye and closer to me. “Maybe we like you better when you can’t fight back.”
Skye’s sagging body twitched, and fear flickered across her face for the briefest of moments, but she didn’t stand.
“I’ll do it,” another guard huffed as he stomped into the cell and toward Skye. “We don’t have all day.”
Two guards inside the cell. This was probably the best odds I was going to get.
I spun around with my arms wide, knocking the blaster from the grip of the nearest guard. The weapon clattered to the floor as I used the momentary distraction of the guard I’d disarmed to jump onto the bench and leap forward in a diving kick.
My boot slammed into the guard’s chest, and he stumbled back into the other guard, whose blaster fire went into the ceiling as his arm jerked up. Skye dove off the bench and scrambled for the blaster on the floor, as I landed in a crouch and then lunged for the closest armed guard.
Bellows and orders filled the air as I tackled the guard, landing on top of him and pinning his arms to the floor. I didn’t hear a female scream, which meant that Skye should have retrieved the loose blaster. In a breath, we’d both be armed.
I reached for the blaster in the hand of the guard I’d pinned. His face contorted in impotent rage beneath me, but my weight kept him from bucking me off. The genetically modified Zagrath might be bigger than humans, but they were stillno match for the Vandar. Yet another reason they hated us so much. We were still the superior race despite all their wealth and body modifications.
