It took Doran and the crew twenty minutes to remove the lab doors from the hinges with a screwdriver they’d found in a drawer, twice as long as it should’ve taken because the shock of everything Doran had just learned was making his hands clumsy.
He couldn’t think straight. Nothing made sense anymore. The mother he’d missed for half his life cared more about vengeance than her own children. The father he’d idolized since he was old enough to toddle in the man’s footsteps had placed the family business ahead of his actual family. And Gage. The dead had risen. It was all too much to take in.
“Doran!” Kane snapped his fingers an inch from his face. “Wake up!”
Doran blinked, suddenly alert as he followed Renny and Kane into the hallway. He couldn’t afford to let his thoughts distract him, not if he wanted to reach Solara. She was counting on him to keep a clear head, and he wouldn’t let her down.
“The com-link’s dead,” Kane announced, tapping the button on his chest.
“Then someone shut down the system,” Renny said darkly. “And the only way to do that is from the pilothouse.”
That was all Doran needed to hear. He donned his oxygen helmet, and the three of them jogged toward the air-lock chamber. By the time he crawled onto the planet’s surface, he was tensed and ready for a fight.
Fists raised, he spun in a circle…and found nobody.
He lowered his arms, confused as he glanced to and fro. The icy landscape looked exactly the same as when he’d left it. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary—until he turned his gaze skyward and noticed the pirate ship looming overhead, its hangar door closing behind a convoy of shuttlecraft. Then realization hit, and the fear of losing Solara and Gage caused him to push so quickly to his feet that he expected to rocket to the moon.
With a firm shake, Renny redirected his attention to the Banshee and her shuttle, still docked on the opposite side of the air-lock hatch. Doran’s legs moved to run, but Renny jerked him to a stop and used two fingers to communicate We’ll check it out first.
Once Doran forced himself to calm down, he nodded in agreement. Pirates weren’t likely to leave behind anything useful, like a ship and all her cargo. Some of them were probably still here.
Renny led the way to the boarding ramp. Once they reached the bottom, Doran peered inside and caught a glimpse of movement. He quickly drew back, but not before the two pirates rummaging inside the cargo hold had spotted him. One shouted to the other, and they clomped down the metal ramp to investigate.
Doran’s heart lodged in his throat, and he backed into Kane, who was futilely glancing around for a place to hide. There was nothing to conceal them, not even a boulder.
While they continued backing away, Renny ducked beneath the ramp until the men passed him by. Then he climbed up behind the pair and crept silently toward them. In the time it took Doran to blink, Renny swiped a pistol from one man’s holster. The pirates spun around, and he instantly shot them both in the chest. Before the smoke had even cleared, he used hand signals to announce that he was going inside and disappeared up the ramp.
Doran tried not to notice the steam rising from the bodies. He took the other man’s gun while Kane pilfered himself a pair of knives, and they joined Renny in scouring the Banshee. After searching every crevice of the ship and finding no other scavengers, they met in the bridge to discuss what to do next.
Boots paced the floor, none of them able to stand still.
“We can’t spend any more time here,” Doran said, tapping a nervous finger against the helmet latched to his hip. “We have to go right now. Demarkus could be—”
“Agreed,” Kane cut in. “Let’s get airborne and figure it out as we go.”
Renny tried reasoning with them, lifting a hand. “We’re up against a fully armed battleship, and the only weapon we have is the element of surprise. That’s why I haven’t activated the com-link yet. If we go off half-cocked, we don’t stand a chance. We can’t help anyone if we’re dead.”
Doran understood, but he couldn’t stand around while Demarkus killed everyone he loved. There was a simple solution, and it would only work if they hurried. “It’s me Demarkus wants. So take me to him.”
“Out of the question,” Renny objected, pulling off his glasses to rub his eyes. “Demarkus is smarter than you think. He won’t let anyone go; it would make him look weak.”
“I’ll make sure they get out,” Doran said.
Kane arched a curious brow. “How?”
“They have to be suited up, right? Otherwise they couldn’t have boarded the pirates’ shuttle,” Doran pointed out. “If they still have their oxygen helmets, I can—”
“Flush them out an air-lock, or an open hangar,” Kane finished, shifting his gaze to Renny. “It could work if you’re there to pick them up in the Banshee.”
“I’m hearing a lot of ifs in this plan,” Renny said.
Ignoring him, Kane turned to Doran. “I’m coming with you.”