He grimaced. “I’m not going to make it.” He opened his jacket to show her that the hovercraft’s shots hadn’t missed him. His entire left side was riddled with blast wounds.
For the first time, she saw fear in his eyes that overrode his pain. His cheeks were smeared with dirt and blood that was streaked by sweat. There was a tic in his jaw and blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
He pulled out his reserve blaster and held it tight in a bloodied grip. “I’ll cover you while you run.”
She watched the blood flowing from his hand to make small splatters against the dirty concrete floor. “Caillen—”
“Don’t argue. You’re wasting valuable time you need to get clear of this place.”
Even though she hated it, she nodded. He was right, she had to get out of here. Her mother’s life depended on it. Kissing him on his bruised cheek, she turned and ran to find a back way out.
Caillen listened to the sound of her retreating footsteps as he limped away from the door and made sure to cover his bloody tracks to find some place where he could hole up and take out a few of their pursuers before they killed him. For some reason he couldn’t name, it saddened him that she’d left him to die.
She’s a stranger, what do you care?
Yet he couldn’t shake the image of his father dying alone in the filthy gutter like he was nothing but trash.
Like he was about to do.
So be it. Unlike his father, he wasn’t lying down to be executed. He would die fighting with everything he had, taking as many of the Andarions with him as he could.
Your father died protecting you…
The guilt and pain of that ripped through him as it always did when he thought about it. Which was something he tried to avoid. He knew the truth. His father was a fighter and he’d only surrendered to their pursuers to give Caillen enough time to escape and live.
Again like he was doing for Desideria.
I’m such an effing idiot.
He didn’t know her and yet here he was laying down his life to keep her safe. Not wanting to think about that either, he turned his attention to the street, where he saw through a dirty window that the Enforcers were gathering their numbers before they came in to search for him.
“Come on, you bastards. Don’t be bashful.” He crouched low and braced his arm so that he could fire on them the moment they entered.
A hand touched his shoulder.
He whirled, expecting it to be one of the Enforcers.
It wasn’t. Instead, he saw a beautiful angel who had blood and dirt smeared across her dark skin. Her hair was a tangled mess and there was a determination in her eyes that said she wasn’t about to be argued with.
“I can’t leave you here, Caillen. We got into this together. Together we’ll get out of it or die.”
He was stunned by Desideria’s heartfelt words. “What about your mom?”
“Your friend knows about her and I’d be dead if not for you. Now move it before I shoot you.”
He scoffed at her order. “You’re an idiot.”
“Apparently so.” She pulled his arm around her shoulders and helped him move through the dark, vacant building. “Any bright ideas for an escape?”
“Not really. Every time I try to think of something, the pain asserts itself to the forefront of my attention. Kind of blows everything else out of the way.”
She growled low in her throat. “Oh this is irritating. I hate it when someone gets the better of me. I can’t stand to lose.”
Desideria paused as she saw an opened trapdoor in the floor. It offered very little chance of nondiscovery, but it was the only one they had. “I have an idea.”
Caillen hesitated as he saw it too. “It’ll never work.”
“Do I crap all over your plans even when they’re stupid? No. Now unless you have a better idea, get in there.”
He mumbled something under his breath that sounded like death to bossy women as he snapped a small light stick and tossed it into the small room so that they could see. Ignoring him, she helped him down, then went to make sure there was no blood trail leading to their hiding place.
The Enforcers were just outside, working on breaking into the rusted-out door he’d locked. Their electronic torch made a loud hiss as they shouted to each other. Any second they’d be inside and shooting…
Please let this work.
Following Caillen into the hole, Desideria closed the trapdoor barely one heartbeat before the Enforcers stormed inside to search for them. The empty room was bathed in a dull blue light from his stick—a much more somber and dim light than the one he’d used in the cave. He must have chosen it for that reason.
She went to Caillen who’d passed out on the dirty floor that was encrusted with spiderwebs and rodent droppings. Probably for the best—not the nasty spiderwebs and other things, but being unconscious given their situation. If they were taken, he’d have no idea.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t so lucky.