I’m almost there—maybe three meters away—when a pair of worn boots appears right in front of me. At first, I don’t realize what I’m looking at, but then the shooting stops. And the person attached to the boots squats down.
“Looks like you got yourself in a real jam this time,” a familiar voice says. “What do you say we blow this place, Princess?”
Ian. It’s Ian. He’s still alive, and—despite everything—he’s come to get me.
Chapter 80
Ian
“Everything clear?” I call to Merrick, who’s at the other end of the hallway, laser gun still drawn as he peers around a corner.
“Looks like it,” he calls back.
Good. It only took us mowing down about twenty Imperial guards to do it—maybe some Corporation security guys—but that’s no skin off my nose. I’ve wanted to shoot more than a few of these guys for a long time now.
“Okay, then, Princess.” I pull her into my arms and then stand back up. “Ready to go?”
“You’re alive,” she whispers, one trembling hand reaching out to touch my cheek like she can’t believe it.
And fuck. I’ve been so mad at her for what feels like ages now. I’m still mad at her. But when she looks at me like that, all wide-eyed and tear-stained, it’s hard to remember why I’m angry. Hard to remember anything but the way it feels when she’s in my arms.
“Sorry to bust up this happy little reunion.” Max’s sarcastic voice floods my head. “But Beckett and I are holding off another thirty guards or so up here on our own. If you’d like to help.”
“You act like it’s hard,” I say, but I’m already striding down the hall, stepping over dead bodies as I go.
Merrick’s ahead of us, racing down the hallway to our access point, laser gun tracking back and forth as he looks for threats. I’ve got to say, for a priest he’s pretty damn good with that thing. No wonder they picked him to be Rain’s bodyguard.
“You think you can walk?” I ask Kali as we get closer to the door. I don’t know what’s waiting for us out there, and I need my hands free.
She nods against my chest where she’s curled up, and I reluctantly let her go. Her curves feel pretty fucking amazing sliding down my body, but I’ve got no time to concentrate on that right now. Instead, I bark, “Stay right behind me,” as I step past her.
Then the two of us are hauling ass to join Merrick, who’s waiting for us at the door, two strangled guards at his feet. We got them on our way in.
“Ready?” he asks, then glances at Kali with a smile bigger than I’ve ever seen from him. “Good to see you,” he tells her.
“Not as good as it is to see you,” she answers, and I try not to get annoyed. All I got was a You’re alive.
“As we’ll ever be,” I snarl, then push the door open.
We walk straight into pandemonium, gunfire flying in all directions as Max and Beckett do their best to take out a whole slew of Corporation security and Imperial guards. When Max said thirty of them, he was obviously being conservative. Or maybe he was just counting the dead ones—with all the smoke floating around from our distraction grenades, it’s hard to tell.
“Where’s the ship?” Kali shouts to be heard over the gunshots.
“Right in front of us,” I tell her as we wade into the fray.
Two guards pop up from behind a huge planter box, guns leveled straight at the princess and me. Merrick takes one down while I take the other, but then three more come racing toward us.
“Give me a gun,” Kali shouts.
“Don’t have an extra one,” I shout back.
She sighs like I’m an utter disappointment, which pisses me right off, considering I’m here rescuing her ass. But what the fuck else do I expect from this woman? She’s been busting my balls from the day we met.
All of a sudden, another whole influx of guards comes running across the Empress’s previously well-kept garden at us. “There’s too many!” I shout at Merrick. “We need to move, now!”
He nods his agreement as a whole slew of gunfire comes their way from the Starlight. Several guards go down, and the others dive for cover.
“Thanks,” I tell Max.
“Thank Beckett,” he answers. “That woman can shoot.”
“Let’s go, Princess! The Starlight is waiting!”
“Where?” she yells again. “I can’t see her.”
“That’s because she’s cloaked,” Merrick tells her as he shoots a guard directly over my shoulder.
I return the favor by shooting the two bearing down on him.
And then we’re running straight toward the steady, nonstop blasts that are spraying the ground between the guards and us.
Out of nowhere, a guard jumps out and grabs onto Kali, wrapping one hand around her neck and another around her waist as he pulls her backward.
I level my laser pistol on him, but he’s using her as much as a shield as a hostage and I can’t get a bead on him. At least not one that won’t also get Kali. And I didn’t come this far just to lose her now.
Kali must feel the same way about dying, though, because she leans forward and then rears back as hard as she can, head-butting the guard straight in the nose. He screams as blood spurts everywhere, but the princess has no mercy in her. She stamps down on his foot as hard as she can, and when he loosens his grip, she spins away and then kicks him right in the balls.
“Found a few vulnerable bits,” she deadpans.
I grunt. But damn if I’m not proud of her.
“Looks like those lessons Ian gave you are really starting to pay off,” Merrick tells her as I grab onto her wrist and pull her toward me.
“I learned most of that just from watching him fight,” she answers. “He fights dirty.”
Only because I’ve spent my whole life having to level the playing field. The only good fight is one you get to walk away from.
I level my pistol at the soldier who had the nerve to touch Kali, but he looks so miserable I decide to leave him alone. A blast through the brain would put him out of that misery way too easily.
We’re almost at the ship now, and though the guards keep coming, my anxiety levels go way down. Because once we get on board, I know there’s no way they can touch us.
“Incoming!” I yell to Max as I whirl around and shoot a guy coming at us right between the eyes.
He falls down dead at our feet, and Kali jumps over him like an old pro. She’s gotten tougher since that first fight in Rangar. Much tougher.
“How much farther?” she asks.
I aim right above her shoulder and take out two more guards.
“Tell Gage to lower the ramp!” I tell Max.
“Already on it,” he says.
Without a sound, the Starlight uncloaks herself right in the middle of what I understand is the Empress’s prize garden. Looks like she’ll be needing some new Verbosnia bushes.
Merrick’s in the lead as we race up the ramp in a hail of laser fire. I grab Kali and push her in front of me so that I take any shots coming her way. The second I clear the top of the ramp, the Starlight takes off, shooting straight into the sky before the ramp is even fully retracted.