***
When I find Yasmine, for a moment I believe that she is dead.
“Oh, God! No!” The words spill out in a rush, my throat constricting with emotion. I stop the bike, park it and jump down, landing amidst a pile of bike debris. I step over two MPs to get to her. She lays sprawled out like a rag doll, covered in dirt and leaves. I kneel down at her side and gently slide a hand under her head, lifting it as I place my free hand around her slender wrist, searching for a pulse with my fingertips. When I feel her blood rushing through her veins beneath my fingers, I breathe a sigh of relief. She’s been stunned, but she’ll be okay.
I only see two of the MPs, but I have to assume she’s taken care of the other two as there are no signs of them anywhere and she’s still alive. If the other two had been around when she was down, they’d have killed her for sure.
I hoist her over my shoulder and climb back onto the bike, settling her weight across my lap as I rev the bike again and turn back in the direction of the hideout and waiting hovercraft. I remain on edge, just in case they’ve sent reinforcements. Luckily, we make it back to the hideout without incident, though Yasmine is still unconscious. As I park the bike and hop off carefully with her slung over my shoulder, Blythe emerges from the hideout’s tunnel opening, leading a group of children hurriedly toward the lowered ladder of the hovercraft.
One of our team members, Sayer Strom, is at the foot of the ladder standing guard. He helps the children up the ladder to another waiting team member who will get them all organized and seated in the craft. Blythe, seeing that Sayer has everything under control, trots over to me with concern knitting her brow.
“What happened? Is she okay?”
I glance down at Yasmine, who I’ve taken from over my shoulder and am now holding against my chest like a child. Blythe reaches out and strokes her hair back from her forehead in a tender gesture and all I can think about is how badly I want to feel those slender, long-fingered hands on my face.
“She’s just stunned,” I answer, once I turn my thoughts away from the possibility of Blythe’s hands on my face, stroking the contours of my cheekbones and jaw. These thoughts are dangerous, even more so in this situation with peril pressing in from all sides.
“I hate this happened on her first mission,” Blythe says as she watches the last of the children board the craft. “I hope it doesn’t change her mind about wanting to be part of the team.”
I think back over Yasmine’s bold taunts toward our enemies and try to suppress a dry snort of laughter. “Doubtful. How are things going in there?”
She sighs. “There are way more than we expected. Jenica is worried we’ll have to make two trips.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “And leave the rest of them here without protection? Do they have any supplies?”
“Fuel. Lots of it. Remember, this branch of the Resistance is responsible for smuggling fuel to us and all the others. Jenica wants to come back for it, but the people are our first priority. We have months before we need to worry about a shortage of fuel.”
I nod, shifting Yasmine in my arms a bit. She might be thin, but her dead weight is wreaking havoc on my arm muscles. “So, what’s the plan? Other than fuel and scared Bios, what else is down there?”
“A little bit of food,” she answers as Jenica appears at the mouth of the tunnel with another group. Silently, they make a beeline for the hovercraft and I can’t help but feel sorry for them as I watch the procession go by. They are a bedraggled bunch, dressed in tattered clothing with wide eyes full of fear. I remember the feeling of being hunted with no end in sight, so I know what they’re going through. That feeling was, thankfully, lifted from me the moment I met Blythe. In her I found someone to take care of and it made me cast off my fear. Then we joined the Resistance and became a family. Fear can kiss my ass.
“Janner, Sol, I need the two of you to stay behind and guard the second group of refugees. We can’t take them all in one trip, so we’ll have to come back. Is she okay?
I follow her gaze down to Yasmine, who’s still out like a light. “Stunned, but fine. She took out the four MPs following her, though. She’s a tough girl.”
Jenica motions for Sayer to come forward and take her from my arms. My protective nature makes me reluctant to let her go. She’s going to freak out when she wakes up from being stunned and I want to be there when she does. But I’m not going against Jencia’s orders and I figure it’d be best for her to go in case we are attacked by MPs. I hand her over and watch as Sayer ascends into the hovercraft with her limp form.
“How long will we have to wait?” Blythe asks. I can tell she’s annoyed. She doesn’t have very much patience, and in this situation I can’t blame her. It won’t take long for the good folks in D.C. to figure out what’s going on here, and once they do, we’re in deep shit. Blythe and I can only do so much to protect these people.
“Should be no longer than overnight,” Jenica mumbles distractedly as her COMM device crackles to life. I can hear the panicked voice of Gage Bronson on the other end. “This is Swan,” Jenica says calmly. “Bronson what is your status?”
“We’re taking heavy fire!” he responds through the device. Indeed, rapid gunfire can be heard between every word and I hear Blythe gasp at my side. My arm reflexively goes around her shoulders and I draw her to my side. “We have freed the prisoners but the MPs sent reinforcements faster than we expected. I … I believe McNabb has been hit!”
My gut twists as Olivia’s face flashes through my mind. We weren’t exactly involved but we’ve screwed around a few times. She’s the Resistance Headquarters’ slut for sure, but she’s not a bad person. In fact, she’s one of the best people I know besides Blythe. If we lose her, it will be a great blow to the Resistance.
“Get out of there Bronson!” Jenica shouts into the device, her voice rising a bit. The human part of her face is as passive as the robotic half, but her eyes are darting, and I can hear the anxiety in her voice. Jenica pretends not to care but I see through that. Her problem is not that she doesn’t care, it’s that she cares too much. “Concentrate on getting out and I will put in a call to Headquarters for reinforcements. The lives of Bravo team rest on your shoulders. You wanted to be a part of this thing… this is what we do.”
I can practically hear the steely determination in the stubborn bastard’s voice as he responds. “Roger, Miss Swan. I won’t let you down.”
The device goes dead and silence falls over us. The gunfire didn’t slow or cease during that short conversation and I know things can’t be good at the holding facility in D.C. where Gage and Olivia are supposed to be running a rescue mission.
“Oh my God, Agata!” Blythe cries from beside me, her human eye filling with tears. I know she feels guilt over helping to talk Gage into using the girl as a weapon against the MPs, and she’ll be lucky if Gage gets her out alive. “We should never have talked him into taking her. He’ll never forgive us if she dies.”
“Pull yourself together,” Jenica snaps, once again her commanding self. “We can do nothing for them here. You two can get in the hideout and guard those refugees until morning. I can run these people back to Headquarters and call backup for Bravo team. These are things we can do. We are the Resistance and we don’t have time to fall apart. People are depending on us.”
Jenica’s pep talk is all we need to get moving. I make sure that Blythe takes a weapon from one of the fallen MPs before we move to the opening of the hideout. We stand in the dark doorway and watch as Jenica leads the last of the passengers up into the hovercraft and steers up and out of sight. I pray silently that she is fast. Something tells me those stunned MPs aren’t going to wake up happy. They’ll be back with some of their boys.
Once Jenica is gone, I pull the accordion-like metal gate closed over the opening and secure it with the padlock before pulling the steel sliding doors closed behind them. It won’t be enough to keep the enemy completely out, but it will slow them down. After I slide the doors cl
osed, we are cast into complete darkness. Luckily, Blythe’s bionic eye has night vision so she wordlessly slips her hand into mine and begins to lead me down the cement tunnel down into the ground where the hideout is located.
The darkness is suffocating, as is the heat that increases with every step that takes us further and further underground. But I trust Blythe to lead me and walk blindly with my hand clenched tightly in hers. I can feel her tension. It’s in her grip, but it’s also thickening the heavy blanket of hot air around us. I know that despite what Jenica says, Blythe’s mind is on what’s happening in D.C.
“This isn’t your fault,” I say as we walk down the tunnel. “You couldn’t have known things would go wrong up in D.C. and the girl wasn’t supposed to leave the hovercraft.”
“Things hardly ever go according to plan,” she responds, her voice reaching out to me from the darkness. “Agata should have never been there. Gage either.”
My jaw tightens at the thought of the blond Blythe has lost her senses over. She’s become way too trusting of him way too fast and there’s just something about him that rubs me the wrong way. “He asked to be here, remember? He wanted this. That means he gets to deal with the consequences of his actions. That includes Agata’s and Olivia’s deaths.”
Blythe gasps and I know I’ve gone too far. “Don’t talk like that! We don’t know if they are dead or even if they’re hurt. Gage didn’t seem sure.”
I want to disagree but I keep my mouth shut. Losing everyone I’ve ever loved has made me pragmatic. I am prepared to face the deaths of those I care about.
“You’re probably right,” I say to pacify her as light finally appears at the end of the tunnel. “We won’t worry until we have to. For now, let’s just concentrate on taking care of these folks here. They’re probably scared as hell right now.”