“Grab his gun!” I shout to Gage, nodding at the dead man’s pistol, which has fallen a few feet from his dead body. “Then count to three and fire at whoever is coming over this desk.”
I don’t wait to see if he’s going to be able to get it. Instead, I hiss, “Close your eyes,” then shoot out the overhead lights.
It’s not night outside, but the storm has turned the sky a dark, dismal gray. Add in the fact that there’s only one window in this shithole, and the whole room plunges into a twilight shade of darkness. Then I grab the dead asshole’s coffee cup and pitch it at one of the side walls as hard as I can.
As soon as it hits, the fuckers on the other side of the desk whirl toward the noise, guns blaring. It’s only for a second or two, but it’s the break I’ve been waiting for. I pop up just enough to fire a laser blast at the guy closest to us.
I aim for the head, and what’s left of him hits the ground in an instant. I whip toward the second guy, sending a stream straight at him, too. But he crouches to the ground fast, and the white-hot blast goes right over his head.
“Did you get the gun?” I shout at Gage.
“I did!” Kali tells me, and she waves the thing in the air like it’s some kind of toy.
“Don’t do that!” I shout, giving Gage a what-the-fuck eye roll.
But he’s looking a little green as he gives me a what-could-I-do shrug, and I tell myself I shouldn’t kick an injured man’s ass. But fuck is it tempting.
“You’re the one who said to get the gun!” Kali shouts back.
“Yeah, to point at them, not me.”
I peer around the side of the desk, just to see what’s going on. But it’s too late. One of them is already here, leaping over the top and landing right on Gage, who yells as the guy’s weight crashes into his injured side.
I grab the guy with my free hand and yank him off Gage just as the second one comes barreling around the desk. I send his friend flying into him and then take aim. But Kali beats me to it, waving her gun in their general direction before pulling the trigger several times in quick succession.
Most of her shots go wide—really wide—but they give me the cover I need to fire as well. Mine don’t miss. And seconds later, they’re both on the floor, as dead as their two friends, and I’m slumping down against the desk, taking a deep breath and trying to figure out what the fuck to do next.
Chapter 42
Kali
“Well fucking done, Princess,” Ian says as he yanks my cuffed hand toward his so he can give me the most sarcastic slow clap in the history of Senestris.
“What?” I ask, affronted. “Those guys are dead, aren’t they?”
“No thanks to you.” He reaches over and rips the gun out of my hand. “Have you ever even fired one of these?”
“I have now,” I tell him, and I can’t help feeling a little proud that I played a part in defending us. I’m also happy that I didn’t actually kill anyone. I’m not sure how well I’d handle that—there’s a wide gulf between pulling my weight and murdering people.
“I don’t even know what I’m supposed to say to that.” Ian rolls his eyes, but a small smile plays along his mouth, and I can’t help but grin just the tiniest bit, too. Then he turns to Gage. “How are you holding up?”
“I told you. It’s just a graze.” But his pained haughtiness says otherwise.
“Yeah, well, we need to get the fuck out of here. Who knows how many reinforcements this bastard called in.” He bends down and gathers the planetas that scattered on the floor during the fight and shoves them in his pocket, then turns to me. “Just do me a favor and don’t shoot at anything else, will you? I don’t think Gage and I will survive a second time.”
I can’t help but laugh. “Hey, I was shooting with my left hand! Because someone handcuffed my right! And look, I did a number on that wall over there. Crushed it.”
“Oh, you crushed it all right. You showed that plaster who’s boss.” We’re both laughing now, and I kinda can’t believe it when there are four dead people at our feet.
“I think you did great, Kali,” Gage says with a weak smile. “You kept them busy until Ian could take them out. It’s a super important job.”
His words warm my belly, but they also remind me that he’s the one who was shot here. “What can I do to help?” I ask Ian.
“Get the door. We’re leaving—now.”
“What about Gage?” I ask, worried by just how nauseous he’s looking. “I don’t think he can go very far—”
“If it’s a choice between staying here and dying and getting the fuck out of here and living, I’m pretty sure he’ll take the second choice.” Ian starts moving more quickly, half helping, half dragging Gage along.
“I will, definitely.” Gage hobbles faster in an effort to keep up. And since I know exactly what that feels like, I deliberately drag my feet so that Ian has to slow down a little.
At least until I scoot past them to push open the door and step out into what is already a full-blown storm. Like, a textbook storm—the kind I doubted in geography lessons with my tutors on Askkandia. Within seconds, the wind and snow are slapping us in our faces so hard that there’s no need for me to slow Ian down. Nature is more than taking care of that for all three of us.
Suddenly, the concept of snow falling from the sky isn’t as sweet and innocent as it felt earlier. And I’ve got more of it in my mouth than I ever could have asked for.
I really don’t want to go out there—Glacea has turned into a frozen nightmare. But as Ian so graphically explained, the other option is staying here and waiting for the dead men’s backup to arrive and kill us.
Frozen nightmare it is.
The second we’re outside, another gust of wind whips up and snatches the door from my hand, slamming it shut. For a minute, we stand in the small shelter provided by the building, getting our bearings as we try to figure out what we can possibly do next.
I tremble as the wind cuts through me and icy rain lashes at my face. “Which way do we go?” Gage asks in a much more subdued voice than I’m used to hearing from him.
“We just need to put a little distance between this place and us,” Ian answers as he starts striding down the level, Gage—and me—in tow. “Max will be here any minute to take you back to the ship.”
“How do you know?” I ask. “Has it really been long enough—”
“Is it safe for him?” Gage cuts me off, his voice filled with a concern that has me looking over at him to read his expression. It’s…one I don’t recognize, twisted with pain.
“Is anything on this shithole safe?” Ian shoots back.
The answer is no—nothing on Glacea feels safe right now, especially not the elements. “We should all go back—” I start but break off when Ian gives me the fiercest, angriest look I’ve ever seen.
“You wanted to come on this trip, Princess. Now you’re here. So chin up and let’s get this done.”
He continues walking quickly, forcing me to scramble to keep up despite the icy wind and snow slapping at every millimeter of exposed flesh. He doesn’t stop until we ride an elevator down to a courtyard with a giant iron fence. We slip inside the narrow entrance.