“I’m getting the feeling that something big is on the horizon.”
The tension level in Adrien’s voice rose a notch. “What do you mean?”
He shifted to look at Shayna, watching her slide into a pair of jeans, then zip up. She already wore a long-sleeved T-shirt, cut low, which she mitigated by putting on a dark blue tank top backward like before. She sat down on the edge of the bed to put on socks and a pair of running shoes.
“Just a feeling. Be sure to let Gabriel know. And be ready. I might need your help in the next few hours.”
“I’ll tell both Lucian and Gabriel. And don’t worry. We’ll contact Rumy and see what’s going on. We’ve got your back.”
Marius hung up and slid his phone into the deep pocket of his battle leathers. He turned to Shayna and told her what was going on.
“I heard most of it,” she said, standing up and straightening the outer T-shirt at the hem.
He crossed to her and once more took her shoulders in hand, meeting her gaze straight on. “Shayna, I can go by myself on this one. You’d be safe here with Rumy and the other refugees.”
She shook her head and had never looked more serious. “No, you’ll need me. That much I know. I can feel it.”
She patted his vest and down the sides of his pants. “Good. You’re fully armed.”
He couldn’t help it; his lips twisted into a smile. Shayna was checking to make sure he was ready for war. “Of course I’m armed.”
“I guess that was a silly thing for me to do, but I’m nervous.”
“Me, too.”
She rolled her eyes. “You are not.”
“I hide it really well, but only an idiot goes into battle unafraid.”
“Okay.”
“Okay, then.”
He opened his arm and she hopped onto his foot, slinging her arm around his neck. She held his gaze for a moment, then kissed him full on the lips. “Let’s go get that weapon, warrior.”
* * *
Shayna had never been so frightened before, though she didn’t really understand why this situation was worse than any of the others. Except that Quill could fire up the weapon and Marius could die, which would mean she would be trapped in Daniel’s lair. There was that.
As he flew her east, in the direction of the Dark Cave system, she thought back on all that had happened beginning with first meeting Marius in Seattle, seeing him from the corner of her eye in flight and wondering if someone had slipped her a roofie at the club she’d been at.
Now she was here, flying once more, experiencing no pain, just an almost paralyzing fear because of what might await them or the thousand things that could go wrong.
The flight took way too long, yet wasn’t long enough at the same time. When he made his descent and they began to pass through rock, the sound of her heartbeat pounded in her ears.
He broke through the main cavern and there it was, the last of the extinction weapons, sitting on an eight-foot-wide land bridge above a large pit at least eighty feet across. She couldn’t imagine what Daniel was thinking by putting it there except that it looked like a piece of bait. So if this was a trap, how did they get the weapon and not fall prey?
The ceiling of the cave rose another couple hundred feet. In the pit, all the human women, shackled, emacia
ted, and bruised, huddled at the edges, forming a large circle well away from anything that could fall from the bridge.
Her gaze became fixed on the weapon. A large hook in the center of the red top was probably used for transport. Maybe the original concept involved cranes for placement.
Shayna, Daniel is already here.
Where? I don’t see him.
He’s beyond the land bridge hovering about thirty feet away, with a very large force.