The lieutenant commander yanked her kill-zapper and shoved it into my ribs. “Let’s see if my weapon works.”
Vinco released his grip.
“Hold on, Karla,” the admiral said. “What do you mean by incompetence, scrub?”
“Look at what we accomplished. Domotor disappeared. We opened Gateway. I escaped the brig and have been living in the upper levels for a week. We infiltrated the computer system. And I’m in your control room and your captain is stunned. It was ridiculously easy to break into her office. The list of her incompetence is endless.” I tsked.
She dropped the kill-zapper—the upside of my taunt. And wrapped her hands around my neck—the downside.
“I’m going to feed you to Chomper myself,” she said, and then squeezed.
She cut off my air and I feared she would crush my windpipe. Groping for her belt, I found her stunner and pulled the trigger. A jolt ringed my neck, but her fingers kept the pressure on my throat. I dropped the stunner and pried them from my numb skin, I shoved her back into the admiral and they fell to the floor together.
Now I would go to Chomper happy.
I almost jumped a meter when Logan’s chuckle vibrated in my ear. “Thatmust have felt good,” he said. “Wish I could have been there.”
Jacy added, “We have regained control of level one and two.”
“Trell, stay with us,” Riley said. “Once Takia can open the control room door, we’ll send a rescue party.”
Distracted by their voices, I had lost track of events in the control room. After a quick scan, my mind raced to plan a way to delay the inevitable. The admiral’s red face failed to encourage me. Vinco helped him to his feet.
“Messy or not, silence the scrub,” the admiral ordered.
Vinco advanced on me with his knife in hand.
“Overconfidence, Commander. Will be your downfall,” I said. Weak, but all I could come up with.
“And a sharp blade through your heart will be yours,” Vinco replied.
Why didn’t I hold onto Karla’s stunner? I thought fast. “Actually time is against me right now.”
“Time?”
The admiral answered. “Her time is running out. Finish the job.”
Vinco raised the blade to slice my throat. Movement across the room caught my attention for a second.
“The admiral’s wrong,” I said. “What I meant by time was I didn’t think I had enough time to distract you. But I did. So I guess I was wrong, too.”
Confusion lasted mere moments. By the time they realized armed scrubs streamed into the room, half the uppers had been stunned and the room erupted in chaos.
Vinco managed to dodge the initial blasts. With his knife still aimed at my throat, he was determined to finish the job. I kicked him in the chest. Instead of cutting deep into the skin, his slash skimmed my neck.
Single-minded, he stepped closer. My back hit a wall, trapping me. He grinned with satisfaction as he pressed his blade under my chin. The steel bit into my jaw. Then strong arms pulled him away from me and spun him around.
Riley gave him a mocking salute.
Vinco was amused. “Okay, boy. You first, then the scrub.” He lunged.
Riley twisted his hips to avoid the knife thrust and knocked aside Vinco’s arm with his hand. Vinco tried again and this time Riley grabbed Vinco’s wrist, pulled him off-balance and pressed a palm to his elbow, forcing him to the ground.
“Thanks for all those lessons, Commander,” Riley said. “They’ve really paid off.”
After the take-over of the control room, events blurred together. Lack of sleep and the stress of the previous eighty hours caught up to me. With my body aching from Vinco’s attack, I blindly followed Riley back to the infirmary to have the cuts on my neck stitched. At this rate, I would use up all the thread.
The male doctor who had helped with Doreen was pressed into service while the others decided what to do with Doctor Lamont.
