He gave her a shaky smile. “I’m usually the one doing the rescuing. It’s been a long time since anyone’s pulled my ass out of the fire.” His words slurred an instant before he sank to his knees.
Shit…
If he went down, it would be a massive bitch to handle his weight.
“Dancer!” She knelt by his side.
He held on to her, but didn’t seem to be able to speak.
Bastien glanced over his shoulder, hoping they weren’t being followed, then met her gaze. “We need to get out of here before they give pursuit. You take one arm and I’ll grab the other.”
And God help them both, ’cause this bastard weighed a ton.
He reached for Dancer.
Suddenly, a deep, growling male voice came out of nowhere. “Hands up or die.”
Sumi bit her lip in indecision. Bastien saw the same desire to fight their latest attackers in her eyes that he held. But they didn’t know who or what they were facing now.
Or how many.
A flash of color narrowly missed her face. She glanced around, but couldn’t see anyone, any more than he could. Their attackers were using some kind of cloaking device.
Bastien cringed as his worst fear manifested. This group of assassins was much higher-tech than the previous ones. Most likely, they were League and had yet to realize she was one of them.
He ran every scenario he could think through his mind.
All ended with him dead, maimed, or captured.
If only he had some way of knowing how many were there and where they were located.
Without those two things…
He was screwed.
Slowly, Sumi held her hands up and put her body between Dancer and Bastien, and where that one shot had originated.
Bastien frowned at her actions. Why would she protecthim?
“Look,” Sumi said calmly, “we don’t have much. Take whatever you want. Just be quick about it. We need to tend our friend. He’s badly hurt.”
Bastien felt the burn of a stun blast.Mother fussing at a son!His nervous system fried, he dropped and took Dancer with him.
With a gasp, Sumi turned to help them.
Something flickered on the other side of Dancer.
Sumi launched herself at that small betrayal of an attacker.
Until she was lifted off her feet by someone standing behind her.
“No!” she screamed, trying to break free of the man’s hold. “He’s unconscious. He’s no threat to you. Please, just take our supplies and go!” Shrieking in anger, she picked all her weight off her feet.
The man holding her didn’t even flinch or stumble.
Damn, he was strong.
Bastien tried to fight, too, as he felt the blaster’s effects weakening, but he was cuffed so fast, it was terrifying. No one had ever been able to do that to him—other than Ember, when he was naked and cooperating. He growled unintelligible threats and spewed Kirovarian profanity at them.
