He forced himself to run, passing bodies—and body parts—strewn all over the floor. His beleaguered stomach threatened another round of spasms. On the floor behind a column, there was an inert form that wasn’t wearing the crimson Cofah uniform, but the gray and blue of Iskandia. Ridge forced aside his sickness to run to Apex, afraid he was already dead.
Apex’s uniform jacket was covered in vomit, his limbs were trembling, his face was drenched with sweat, and saliva beaded at the corners of his mouth. Unfocused eyes stared at the ceiling, and his weak breaths rasped in his throat. Ridge stumbled to his knees beside him and clutched his arm.
“Apex,” he said. Uselessly. What more could he say that wouldn’t be a lie? Ridge knew a dying man when he saw one.
“I don’t know why everyone’s vomiting,” came Tolemek’s voice from a toppled bookcase a few feet away. He heaved the obstacle away and dragged out his bag. “Some Cofah tinkering with the formula.”
“Can we discuss that later?” Ridge snapped, annoyed with the science analysis. If Apex had another minute, he’d be shocked. He needed… what, Ridge didn’t know. “You know what this gunk is? Can you do anything?”
Apex blinked, his eyes focusing on Ridge. Tears welled in them. “Should… should’ve listened,” he whispered, then took a deep breath, or tried to. He didn’t seem to be getting the air he needed.
Tolemek dropped down on the other side of Apex, digging in his bag. He pulled out a jar and a syringe. Ridge held his breath, hoping that was some kind of cure—and that it could be delivered fast enough. And that it would work. What did that mean? A Cofah tinkering with the formula? Was this something of his? That same death toxin that had almost been unleashed in the capital?
With quick, efficient movements, Tolemek filled the syringe from the jar. “I’m not going to try to make a deal with you, Zirkander, but I’d appreciate it if you keep this piranha off me in exchange for this.” He pulled out a knife, cut open Apex’s trouser leg, and jabbed the needle into his thigh.
Apex didn’t react. He didn’t even seem aware of them anymore.
“What is it?” Ridge whispered, watching his lieutenant’s face, hoping this was some miracle cure.
“Atropine. I make it in my lab from the deadly nightshade plant.”
“Nightshade?” Ridge lunged across Apex and grabbed Tolemek by the shirtfront. “I thought you had a cure, not a poison.” Was all of this just to end Apex’s suffering? Seven gods, Ridge could have done that with a knife.
“Relax, Zirkander. It’s not enough to poison him.” Tolemek picked up Apex’s wrist, his fingers resting on the pulse. He watched the lieutenant’s face and ignored the death grip Ridge had on his shirt. “Even if the Cofah altered the formula, it’s still an organophosphate. The symptoms match up, and I can tell from the abbreviated whiff I got.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” But Ridge let go of Tolemek’s shirt. Apex’s eyes had widened, and his breathing had grown less raspy.
“That’s what you get for making paper fliers during your science classes.”
“I—”
Movement behind Tolemek drew his eye. A crimson-cloaked figure was dropping down from the ceiling, not ten feet away.
Ridge remembered his rifle—back on the floor where he had left it when he had been vomiting and worrying about Apex. He clawed at the pistol on his belt, but the guard already had a weapon pointed at him. Ridge threw himself to the side and whipped his own gun out at the same time as a shot fired.
He expected a bullet to the chest, but it was the guard who reacted, stumbling forward, then spinning around. Another shot fired. The man tumbled to the floor. Ridge raised his aim to a second guard, who had been in the middle of lowering himself from the vent. He’d paused at the sounds of gunfire, and started to pull himself back up, but Ridge caught him first. His shot struck the man in the side, and the man dropped like a brick. Two more shots—not his—were fired from somewhere behind the Cofah men, both thudding into the figures on the floor. The guards didn’t move after that.
Ridge stood, his pistol in his hand, not sure whether he was about to welcome an ally… or something else.
A figure in a torn crimson uniform stepped out from behind a pillar, a Cofah shotgun in one hand and a pistol in the other. Ridge tensed. But the person spoke at the same time as he recognized the bruised, swollen face.
“I wasn’t expecting you here, Colonel,” Kaika said.
Ridge swallowed. “We weren’t expecting you, either.”
Kaika looked fierce and scary at the same time as she looked battered almost beyond recognition and wearier than death. “We thought… they said you were dead, and we saw bodies hanging by the door. Wearing your uniforms.”
“Yeah.” Her eyes closed and she took a shuddering breath. “Nowon is dead. I couldn’t figure out how to get into the vault. I questioned a couple of guards and scientists, but they didn’t know. They kept saying the woman who knows isn’t here. I’ve been hiding out—I think they thought I was dead, too… after that acid trap thing… whatever it was. But I tricked the scientist who tripped it, pushed her in, then stuck her in my uniform.” She was walking toward them as she spoke, her steps slow, her shoulders slumped, as if firing those last shots had taken all of her meager reserves.
Ridge lifted an arm, not knowing if she wanted a hug, but she damned well looked like she needed one. So did Apex, whenever he was strong enough to sit up and receive one.
Kaika slumped against his side, accepting the arm around her shoulders. “I’ve been skulking around for days, using what I could find—what I could recognize—to make explosives.”
“Explosives?” Maybe someone else had his plan in mind.
“I thought if I couldn’t get to the dragon blood, I could blow up the mountain so nobody else could, either.” She looked at him warily. “The king… I mean, I didn’t talk to him directly, but Nowon said he didn’t want any of this to survive to be used against us.” She waved toward the laboratories. “And I don’t think he knew about half of what they’ve been doing here. Or even a tenth. Are you going to countermand that? Because I was about to light the fuse, but I heard the gunshots and thought—I figured it must be you people. Who else knows this place is here? I didn’t want to blow you up.”
“Those are the kinds of words I like to hear from my officers. My enemies too. Listen, Sardelle and the others have the dragon blood.” Ridge pointed at the lift, in the direction he believed them to be. “So let’s not blow this place up yet. If we can get to them, we can bring back some samples for the king and our own scientists.” He tilted his chin toward Tolemek, who was helping Apex sit up. Apex still looked like something an alley cat had coughed up, but some of the color had returned to his face. “Then we can blow up the mountain.”
“Let’s make sure we figure out how to get out before considering that route,” Tolemek said.
“Welcome back, Captain,” Apex said. “You look awful.”
Kaika looked at Ridge and jerked a thumb at Apex. “The man knows he’s sitting in his own puke, piss, and shit, right? I can’t possibly look worse than him.”
Apex’s face paled a little again as he looked down at himself. Ridge was glad he had only caught the tail end of that smoke—and had ejected most of his own vomit onto the floor. He had notions of a romantic reunion with Sardelle, and that was always easier without puke plastered on one’s shirt.
“He does now.” Ridge nudged Apex’s boot with his own. “Hope you brought a change of clothing, man. Otherwise we might not let you into our hot air balloon.”
Apex’s expression grew even more mortified. Good. If he could manage to look mortified, he couldn’t feel that awful anymore.
Ridge?
Here. We’ve met some of your ceiling rats. And their smoke bombs.
Did everyone make it?
Thanks to Tolemek, yes.
Good. We’ve separated the vials into bundles for different people to carry. Should we try to reac
h you or wait to be rescued?
Ridge snorted softly. Somehow I doubt the people who figured out how to get into that vault are truly in need of rescuing.
That depends on whether you want Jaxi randomly melting walls.
She can melt the whole place if she wants. Oh, wait. “Where are the explosives, Kaika?” Ridge asked.
The captain pointed toward the floor. “Lowest level, support columns. I’ve never done a cone-shaped building before—” she outlined the mountain form with her hands, “—but I found the architectural blueprints, so I think it’ll go down smoothly.”
Ridge wondered if he and the others had been battling those statues on the ground floor without ever noticing explosives nestled in the shadows of the walls.
“How do you get them to go off all at once?” Tolemek asked. He had repacked his bag, slung it over his shoulder, and appeared ready to march.
“I found some timers I could modify to use. I haven’t set them yet. The lift is watched so I haven’t been using that. Been climbing all over this place. I haven’t slept in… I don’t even know what day this is.”
Ridge clasped her shoulder. “The day we get out of here and go home. Would you be terribly offended if I sent you back down there to set those timers now?”
Kaika slumped a little, but she said, “No, sir.”
“Can you give us… three hours?” Ridge thought they could find the others and the way out Sardelle had mentioned in less than two, but couldn’t imagine there was a need to make it close. Other than the fact that the Cofah might find the explosives if they were given more time to do so.
“Most I can do with the clocks I found is an hour,” Kaika said.
“Oh.” That would be close.
Sardelle? he asked, hoping she might be monitoring his mind or whatever it was telepaths did to communicate with non-telepaths, but he didn’t receive a response. Guess she wasn’t obsessed enough with him to want to stalk his every waking thought. Probably a good thing for his sanity. And hers.
“Sir?” Kaika said. “This is why I was sent. Nowon was supposed to get the blood, and I was supposed to destroy the research facility.” She gazed past him, at the wrecked furniture and lab, or maybe at nothing. “I can stay behind to give the rest of you more time to escape.”
And get herself killed if she couldn’t get out in time, if not in the explosion then in trying to pick a path through those geysers.
“No, we’ll all get out of here together,” Ridge said. “Set the timers, and meet us at the top floor. There are hot air balloons that we can launch from there to escape.” Or so he had been told. He hoped Jaxi’s assessment of the mountain proved accurate, or they would all be in trouble.
“Yes, sir.”
“I can give you some company if you’d like, Kaika. To watch your back while you work.” As soon as he said it, he realized he would have to be that company. Tolemek might be needed to burn a way in to free the others, and Apex would be lucky to walk out of here of his own accord.
Or so Ridge thought. Apex pushed himself to his feet, using his rifle for support. “I can help her, sir. I’ll, ah, grab one of these Cofah uniforms since mine is in… disrepair. We might be less likely to be shot if we look like them anyway.”
Ridge lifted his eyebrows, wondering if Kaika would want someone who had almost been dead ten minutes earlier. He wouldn’t have much energy.
From the way her lips screwed up thoughtfully—or was that dubiously?—Kaika was mulling over the same thing. By this point, she might be desperate enough for company to take him anyway. Ridge felt bad about sending her down to the bowels of the mountain again, but she was the demolitions expert. He wouldn’t know where to begin to set the charges.
Kaika finally thumped Apex on the shoulder. “Fine. You can hold my rifle while I tie knots. Let’s go.”
Surprisingly, Apex perked up at this offer. Or maybe it wasn’t so surprising. Ridge remembered that Kaika had kissed him the last time they had seen each other. Duck, who had been more openly ogling her, hadn’t received similar treatment.
Before heading away, Apex looked back at Tolemek. “Thanks for the help.”
It wasn’t exactly a peace offering or an apology for all the digs he had taken at Tolemek, but maybe it was a start. Ridge didn’t know, but he hoped so. He didn’t want to have to reassign Apex to the other side of the continent to ensure he wouldn’t come in contact with his nemesis.
“You’re welcome,” Tolemek said.
“Well, Tee,” Ridge said as the other two walked away, “shall we find our ladies?”
Tolemek looked up at the open duct access point. “Yes. It was foolish of us to misplace them in the first place.”
“I agree.”
Chapter 16
Sardelle waited underneath a vent opening while Duck lugged out the last bag of vials they had packed. They had done their best to insulate them, but glass still clinked when he set it down. Sardelle hated the idea of the containers breaking and spilling their precious contents, but that was better than having the blood used to power weapons that would be employed against Iskandia.
Ahn was up in the duct system already, searching for a route that would get them to the other side of the lift. A couple of shots fired somewhere above and in the distance. Ahn? Taking care of the Cofah? Or someone shooting at her?
“I should have gone up there with her,” Duck said.
Sardelle eyed his tall form. “You’ll be lucky if you fit. She’s the logical one to squirm around in there.”
“I know but—”
Soft grunts and bangs drifted down from the ducts. When Ahn had shimmied into the system, she hadn’t made a sound. And those were male grunts.
Sardelle backed away, and Duck did, too, raising his rifle toward the hole. Fearing more Cofah with smoke canisters, she reached out mentally to inspect the intruders. The two men jostling their way through the ducts toward them were familiar.
“It’s Ridge and Tolemek,” she said, placing a hand on Duck’s arm so he would lower the weapon.
An upside-down head and a dirt-smudged scarf dangled through the vent hole. The face, when it turned to search the chamber, was equally dirt-smudged.
“Over here.” Sardelle walked over and smiled up at Ridge. “Did you cross paths with Ahn?”
“Not yet. We’ve had to deal with a couple of Cofah scampering around in here, though. We found a way up to the top level too. Want to hand me those bags? Then we’ll pull you up.”
“You’re not going to come down for a reunion hug? I thought you were dead, you know.” Despite her teasing, Sardelle could sense the urgency emanating from him—he had barely returned her smile—and picked up a bag.
“We have less than an hour to get out of here before the mountain blows up.” Ridge caught the first bag when she carefully tossed it up to him. He pulled it through, then his head and arms came down for another. “Though if you can jump high, I imagine we can manage a quick upside-down kiss.”
“How romantic.” Forgoing the jump-kiss, Sardelle tossed him a second bag.
Duck came over and picked up the next one. “Good to see you, sir. I’ve been keeping your lady safe in your absence.”
“Oh?” Ridge shifted out of view to push the bags back behind him. Tolemek grunted and said something too muffled to make out. “Is that why you’re so beat up, and she’s unscathed?” Ridge added when he returned for the next bag.
“Yes, sir.” Duck winked at Sardelle.
She was still amused that sharing a vomiting experience with the man was what had caused him to accept her into the group.
This time, when Ridge disappeared into the duct with a bag, more time passed before his head reappeared.
“Problem, sir?” Duck asked.
A third person had joined them in the duct. Ah, Ahn. Good.
“I just lost my helper to, judging by the noises, some kind of kissing session.” Ridge thumped a hand against the side of the duct. “We’re on a schedule, you two.”
/>
“I see Tolemek is versed in the ways of romantic reunions,” Sardelle observed.
A quick exchange of words followed, then Ridge returned to the opening, waving for another bag. “Actually, I think Ahn pounced on him.” He wriggled his eyebrows at her.
Before she could contemplate a response, a loud, deep gong sounded in the depths of the mountain, the echoes reverberating through the walls. Ridge’s suggestive expression turned into a grimace.
“Alarm system?” Sardelle guessed.
“I don’t know, but we have even more reason to hurry.” Ridge accepted the last bag from Duck, then scooted back so the lieutenant could run, jump, and catch the lip of the duct. Barely. It wasn’t a low ceiling.
Ridge pulled him in, but Duck must have lost half the skin off his chest in the process.
Due to the confines of the narrow shaft up there, it took some rearranging before there was room for Sardelle. Bangs and thumps drifted down—the alarm had stopped after three bongs, so she heard them well. It sounded like Duck was trying to push past someone else, so Ridge could return to give her a hand.
Sardelle summoned her reserves to give herself a magical boost to duplicate Duck’s athletic feat. She caught the lip of the hole at the same time as Ridge’s head reappeared. His eyes widened, but he caught her hand and pulled her in. Thanks to being lighter than Duck, it went more smoothly—she only lost a quarter of the skin on her chest as she was pulled onto her belly in the duct.
She clunked her head and found that she couldn’t rise higher than her elbows. How the bigger men were navigating around up here, she couldn’t imagine.
“This way,” Ridge said, and backed away from her.
It was dark, but Sardelle followed the men’s thumps and grunts easily enough. They reached an intersection, and Ridge was able to turn around and face forward. She kept his boots within reach. Nobody had given her a bag to carry, but she could hear the clinking of glass from ahead. She kept herself from nagging at them to be careful—they knew it was a precious load they carried.
“Ridge, Apex isn’t with you?” Sardelle asked softly, realizing he was the only one in their group who wasn’t in the ducts ahead of her. She hoped they hadn’t lost him, but if he had been injured, and there was a possibility that he wasn’t dead and that she might help…