Dark Deeds (Class 5 Series Book 2) (20 page)

P
it fighting
.

It was so clichéd, Fee would have felt embarrassed for them, if she hadn't felt so enraged.

Did the scientists who dropped these animals off know what was happening to them, or was it that once they were finished with them, instead of a humane death, the staff and crew had decided to eke some entertainment out of them first?

And, was . . . she felt the nausea rise, forced it back down . . . was this what had happened to Imogen Peters?

Hal gripped her arm, pulled her back, and she realized she'd been all but hanging over the side of the narrow viewing platform.

The architect in her found the layout of this floor interesting. The stairs opened onto what was a gallery arrangement overlooking the arena. The gallery was narrow, hugging the curved walls on three sides but opening up on the fourth side, where it ended in a wall with big window insets.

Beyond, she could see a wide corridor stretching off into the distance.

“You think this is the main floor?” she asked Hal.

He gave a nod. “Entertainment, mess hall and probably exercise equipment below, offices and conference rooms up here.”

And then above that, probably the garage for their runners.

“So most likely, we'll find what we're looking for here.”

He didn't answer, his gaze moving to the side of the pit. She followed his line of sight, and saw someone who was obviously an officer trying to shout over the crowd.

It was like screaming into a hurricane. She'd have thought he'd use the crew's earpieces, but most likely they'd been allowed to take them off as part of their leave.

The pale green animal, which looked like a cross between a fox and a weasel, had finally stopped circling the animal that looked like a quarter-sized black bear, but with claws a full-grown grizzly would be proud of, and lunged in for the kill.

Its opponent swiped at it at the last moment, catching it in the throat and then pinning it down in the sand.

It hadn't even fully stood up, and it sunk back into a crouch, holding the green furred creature down while its struggles became weaker and weaker and eventually stopped.

As the fox thing died, the sound rose up at them in a roar, and Fee realized her hand had gone to the small of her back. They were almost all down there, weren't they? Hit a few crowd-pleaser cartridges into them, let them all go nighty-nighty, and they'd have the facility mostly to themselves to explore.

Hal caught her arm, tugged it away.

The look in his eyes told her he knew exactly what she was thinking. Didn't necessarily object.

“Wait,” he said, and pointed down to the officer again. “There's something going on.”

Two Tecran had entered the arena through a narrow gap in the force field, which winked out to let them through, and then winked back on as soon as they stepped beyond it. One had a bag in his hand, the other had a long metal rod. She guessed it was like a cattle prod and the bear-like animal had already encountered it before, because it shuffled back from the animal it had killed, edging toward the open crate it had been released from.

The Tecran worked quickly, scooping the dead animal into the bag, making sure the bear creature kept its distance, and then they backed out the way they'd come.

The noise level had abated a little while there was no fighting, but just when Fee thought the officer who was trying to make an announcement would finally be heard over the buzz, it swelled again, almost to fever pitch.

Fee searched for the new source of excitement and went stone cold.

The idiots were dragging the barrel bag containing the grahudi into the pit. And by the way they were struggling, it was now awake.

They left the bag in the middle of the ring, and moved back to the narrow entrance, one holding the long cattle prod and the other a small remote.

The one with the remote must have pressed it, because the center seam of the bag fell open, and the grahudi rolled out and hunched down, swaying a little.

It was obviously still woozy from the drugs, but when it shook its head, Fee thought it stood a little straighter.

The Tecran with the cattle prod had already stepped through the gate, and the one with the remote followed suit, the gate winking off to let him through.

As he moved, the lights on the floor below cut out, the only illumination the occasional flicker of energy along the force field enclosing the pit.

“What?” Fee breathed.

“The officer. He killed the power to get their attention.” Hal's murmur was right against her ear.

Well, if he'd wanted their attention, he'd gotten it.

Stunned silence reigned for a moment, and that was all the officer needed.

He started to shout, his voice silencing the murmurs that rose up with the power still off.

“A small, unknown squad are approaching the facility,” Eazi said. “I've been tracking them from the runner for a while. I don't think they knew about the station, they didn't seem to be heading this way, but one of them climbed high enough to see it, and now they're on their way.”

“Is that what he's telling them?” Hal asked.

“Yes, he's ordering everyone on standby to suit up and head out to help intercept them.”

Fee turned to ask Hal if he thought it was his crew coming to get them when the lights below switched back on, the officer having made his point.

They dipped once, brightened, and then, for the second time, the crowd went still.

The bear thing lay dead in the ring, completely eviscerated. Every eye searched for the grahudi, and then Fee noticed the narrow entrance to the arena finally flicker on and engage.

It had been off the whole time the power was down.

The same thought occurred to most of the room below, and Hal pulled her back against the wall again as heads swiveled up and around, desperately hunting for where the creature had gone.

Someone screamed, and the sound of wild panic spiraled upward.

She'd be cheering the grahudi on if she wasn't so terrified of it.

She moved at the same time as Hal. They'd both heard the running on the stairs. Some of the Tecran escaping the mayhem below were coming up.

She reached back as she ran, pulling out the crowd-pleaser, and heard the whine of Hal's shockgun, ready to shoot.

They were halfway to the door when the first of the Tecran burst up from the stairwell in a rush of shouting and shoving.

She kept running, taking a few steps before she realized Hal had stopped and turned to face the threat, weapon raised to cover her.

As she spun back to face them, at least four soldiers stumbled to a halt as they spotted Hal.

Fee knew the camouflage was good, but it couldn't literally make them invisible, and the shockgun in Hal's hands wasn't camouflaged anyway.

It was at that moment, as the first few soldiers blinked in amazement at the sight of them, that the grahudi swung up from below, flying out the open atrium as if weightless and landing on the thin railing in the center of the gallery in a crouch.

It looked like one of the strange, malevolent gargoyles she'd seen squatting at the tops of medieval buildings in Europe, all six limbs spread out, giving the impression it could go in any direction.

It was like a spider and a rabid baboon all mixed together, and her hind brain was screaming at her to just
run
.

Hal's gaze jerked to it, distracted like everyone else, but the lead Tecran had already committed his shot, had already taken aim at Hal.

Fee saw Hal stagger back and go down on one knee. He'd said his uniform offered him protection, but it looked like it was in line with kevlar; you didn't die, but it still hurt like hell.

The grahudi leapt in her direction as she ran to get in front of Hal, to shield him, and she ducked instinctively, saw it sail over her head from the corner of her eye.

One of the crew shot it in the shoulder and it spun and landed heavily behind her. She forced her attention forward again, and shot the first cartridge from her crowd-pleaser at the Tecran bottlenecked at the entrance to the stairs.

A soldier to her right threw himself into a roll, shot at Hal as he came up in a crouch, or maybe the shot was aimed at her, but she had the sense the Tecran was aiming low, and Hal was still down on one knee, struggling to stand.

The blue light of her reflector flared and the soldier shuddered and went still as his shot rebounded back at him.

Fee moved her arm right, got off another cartridge to the crew who had started spreading out as they realized they had to move forward out of the stairwell, that there were too many coming up for them to go back down.

There was one cartridge left before she had to reload, so she reached back, caught hold of Hal's shoulder and tried to pull him up.

He managed it, staggering a little behind her, and she took stock.

Those who could were shoving their way back down the stairs, but there were still crew standing amongst the fallen from her first two shots. Some had gotten lucky, others had just arrived, forced forward by the weight of the crowd behind them.

They were all scrambling back toward the stairs, bunching together to give her scattershot the best chance of hitting them.

She chanced a quick look behind her, found the grahudi staring back, hunched against the wall.

She turned away from it and shot the last cartridge at the crew, watched them all fall.

She dipped her shoulder under Hal's to keep him upright.

“Let's go while the going's good.”

He nodded. The only part of his face she could see through his camouflage mask were his eyes, and they were half-closed and jittery.

They had to pass the grahudi, something that made a part of her gibber in mindless fear, so she ignored it, putting her back to it as she edged Hal sideways toward the door, covering him as much as possible, although there was no longer a single Tecran standing.

Hal looked heavier than he was, and although she would never call him light, given their size difference, she managed okay.

When they reached the door, it was locked. She touched the glowing white circle to the left of it over and over in frustration, the thought of the grahudi behind her making her hands shake, and then she remembered her prize possession. She dipped her spare hand into her bra, tapped the encryptor against the keypad and almost collapsed in relief as the doors opened instantly.

As she hauled Hal through, she couldn't help but look back over her shoulder. She shivered as she saw the grahudi was still watching her as the door slid shut, eyes gleaming through slitted eyelids.

It was silent on this side of the door, and much cooler than it had been in the atrium, with the gentle hum of air filtration she'd gotten used to on the
Fasbe
and the
Illium
.

Considering how many of the crew had been in the pit, she wasn't surprised there was hardly anyone here. With luck, she'd find an empty room.

She dragged Hal down the passage until they hit an intersecting corridor. She turned left at random and tried the first door she came to.

It opened without the need for an encryptor, so she tucked it back in her bra and took stock. The room wasn't just empty, it was unfurnished, with only a few crates stacked against a far corner and no lenses that she could see.

This place would do until Hal recovered.

She closed the door behind them, lowered Hal to the floor, and pulled the mask off his face to see how he was doing.

His mouth was tight with pain, but he tipped back his head and closed his eyes, and she thought he relaxed a little.

She needed to secure the room as best she could, so she dragged the crates in front of the door. They wouldn't stop anyone coming in, but they'd slow them down, give her the second or two she'd need to aim her crowd-pleaser.

“Fiona?” Eazi spoke to her for the first time since they'd taken the stairs up to this floor, and Fee jumped a little in surprise. “Are you all right?”

“Yes.” She blew out a breath. He'd have seen everything that happened through the lens on her shirt, and she could only assume he hadn't spoken because he hadn't wanted to distract her. “Thanks for not talking to me while I was shooting it up. My focus was fractured enough as it was.”

“I could see.” He sounded surprised and . . . happy, she realized. He hadn't expected praise. “I still can't get into the system, so I won't speak for a while. I think you should stay in this room until I can get into the lens feed at least.”

“Okay.” As she said it, the adrenalin she'd be running on simply gave out, and she put a hand to the wall to keep herself standing.

She carefully and deliberately reloaded her weapon, hands fumbling she was so exhausted, and then lowered herself to sit next to Hal like an old woman, searching his face for any sign of increased pain. He was exactly as she'd left him, eyes closed, head tipped back against the wall, but she thought he looked better than he had.

Not sure what to do for him, she leaned back, pulled her own mask off her head and closed her eyes herself.

The back of Hal's hand brushed over hers, comforting.

She kept her eyes closed, and just enjoyed the feel of him pressed up against her.

The idiot had stood in front of her when the Tecran came charging after them. He'd protected her, again, even though she was better protected than he was.

It had been instinct, she guessed, and training. Save the civilian.

Her mind flashed back to the sight of the grahudi, rising up out of the gloom of the pit like a demon from hell, and the terror of the moment washed over her again.

“Shh.” He gripped her hand, his thumb rubbing across her knuckles in a way that was more intimate than a kiss.

“They had no business playing with that thing.” She was angry as well as frightened, she realized. It had done nothing,
nothing
, but be what it was.

“I know.” It was the first time he'd spoken since he'd been hit, and his voice was rougher than usual.

“I thought you said your uniform had good protection.”

“Their shockguns were set to kill.” He sounded grim. “I shouldn't be surprised, but I am. They were shooting in their own facility, and anyone caught in the crossfire would be their own crew. It doesn't make sense.”